[CLUE-Tech] Enthusiasm for Linux

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

On Sat, 2003-10-25 at 20:20, Kevin Cullis wrote:
> Zonker,

*snip*

> > Yes, Mac OS X has a lot going for it -- but one huge drawback, namely
> > Apple continually dropping support for older models. If you notice,
> > almost every OS upgrade from Apple comes with a list of older Macs that
> > are no longer supported. Since I doubt that Apple is incapable of
> > supporting those older Macs, I tend to draw the conclusion that it's
> > basically a system of planned obsolescence. Since Mac hardware is damned
> > expensive, I'd want to run a machine until it gave up the ghost
> > completely rather than having to buy a new machine when Apple decides
> > it's more profitable to force me to buy new hardware to go with the
> > newest OS. 
> 
> While I agree with the idea, does MS still support DOS?  How far does MS
> support stuff?  If Apple had $50 BILLION in the bank I would think they
> would be more supportive as well, but then with OS X you don't have
> viruses to worry about.

Um, I'm not advocating MS or MS-DOS, and that misses the point anyway --
namely, that Apple has control of both hardware and software, and still
drops support for older hardware -- and I'm not just talking about
ancient hardware. I could understand Apple not supporting severely old
machines like the Quadra with OS X... but the decision not to support
the "Beige" G3 is probably not a technical one -- it's a "we can drop
support for some older hardware and force users to buy new machines"
decision. 

> > The lack of older hardware support bothers me more than the fact that
> > buying the upgrade costs upwards of $100. People who bought G3s just a
> > few years ago can no longer run the latest Mac OS, which means they're
> > going to be out a few thousand dollars or they're simply out in the cold
> > when it comes to newer features and updates. I'm not even sure if Apple
> > provides updates for older Mac OS versions -- I mean, I know they have
> > upgrades that might bring you from 10.2 to 10.3, but if 10.3 is
> > incompatible with older hardware, can you get security updates and
> > bugfixes for older versions that won't break your OS?
> 
> Not quite right, all CPU's from G3 on up can still used by Mac OS 10.3

It's not the CPU that's the problem. If I understand correctly, there
are older G3s that came with the ADB (I think that's the term)
connectors for keyboard and mouse -- and Panther is not compatible with
those machines. So, if the G3 happens to be in the "Beige" machines,
Panther support is out. 

Found a story, though it's a bit older: The "Beige" G3s Apple was
selling circa 1997 is now unsupported:

http://www.lowendmac.com/musings/03/0630.html

Here's another:

http://www.macwrite.com/harrisonfiles/beige-g3-1997-2003.php

Here's Apple's system requirements page:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/upgrade/requirements.html

Note that the Beige G3's and some of the older G3 powerbooks
("Wallstreet") are not on this page. They were selling the Wallstreet
machines into 1998 -- five year life-span, not so hot. 

I'll leave it to the reader to decide whether it's reasonable that Apple
is abandoning five and six-year-old hardware. Given the price of Apple
hardware, I would say not. 

Let's say you're considering buying an Apple or a generic PC. Your
choices are the Mac OS or Linux. I know that if my PC is
Linux-compatible now, it will continue to be Linux-compatible until it
rots. Further, I can put together a machine with a processor faster than
2GHz, 1 GB of RAM, a large hard disk and a CD-R or DVD drive with a
decent video card and sound card for less than $1,000. If I go with
Debian or Fedora, my OS and upgrades are free and I have full source
code. 

If I want a mid-range Mac system, I can count on paying more than
$1,500. Full upgrades will run me about $129 every nine months or so. I
will get *some* source code, but have no control whatsoever over the
proprietary bits of OS X, such as Aqua. 

I'll get fewer apps with Apple out-of-the-box, though I will freely
admit that some of the for-pay apps are much nicer and slicker than the
Linux equivalents. I've heard very nice things about the presentation
software, for example. 

Finally, you can assume that your Mac will be "obsolete" in six or seven
years, more than likely before the hardware craps out. Your x86-based
Linux PC, on the other hand, will be obsolete when the hardware craps
out. It will probably seem a bit slow over time, but it will still run
newer software. 
 
> > For a while, I kind of considered Apple a nice middle ground between
> > Linux and Microsoft, but I quit being willing to endorse Apple products
> > after the company broke features in iTunes with an "update" -- thereby
> > removing features that people wanted and had come to use, just to
> > appease the music companies. 
> 
> Seems like you're throwing the baby out with the bath water. Windows has
> too many security problems but people still use them.

Again, I'm not advocating Windows or MS. Until Apple went and broke
functionality in iTunes, I was willing to recommend Macs for people who
might not be ready for Linux -- I've not been willing to advocate
Microsoft since I started earnestly switching to Linux in 1998. 

I'm saying that I don't hold with buying a product from a company that
intentionally reduces functionality in software with a so-called
upgrade. 

> > 
> > If you're willing to sacrifice control over your system, and willing to
> > buy in to the idea that you'll have to buy new hardware every few years
> > to remain up-to-date, then I guess Apple is a better way to go than
> > Microsoft. But I really don't see Apple as a very good alternative to
> > Linux. 
> 
> In fact, with OS X's X11 you're getting more control.  Check out the
> OpenDarwin.org and other Darwin stuff. It's much better than MS
> "Thrusted Computing" of it's source code.

More control than what, exactly? More control than Microsoft? Possibly.
More control than Linux? Not bloody likely.

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
http://www.dissociatedpress.net
http://www.corante.com/openmind