Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 13:43:44 +0200 From: Brad Knowles <brad.knowles@skynet.be> To: Bob Bomar <bulldog@fxp.org> Cc: chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Windows as opposed to Other OS's Message-ID: <a0520051eb9a77c3a39b9@[146.106.12.76]> In-Reply-To: <20020911232728.GA24843@peitho.fxp.org> References: <20020911232728.GA24843@peitho.fxp.org>
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At 7:27 PM -0400 2002/09/11, Bob Bomar wrote:
> I am looking to gather information on how and why people
> choose an OS. I am also looking to gather information on
> why other OS's were not choosen.
I've been using Apple computers since around 1982. They are what
we had at my high school.
I've been a Mac fan since late December 1983, when I got to see
an early prototype for the original 128k Mac -- five minutes playing
with MacPaint and MacWrite was all it took to convince me that this
is the kind of human interface that would be used for all computers
in the future. In the summer of 1984, my parents bought an Apple ][+
for me to have at home. I knew what was going to be the future of
human-computer interaction, but it was not yet available to me.
In the fall of 1984, I got my first Unix account -- nothing like
the Mac, but provided the kind of power you couldn't get with Apple
][, ][+, or //e computers, much less PCs running MS-DOS, etc....
Sometime around 1998 (I think), I bought a Mac SE with dual FDHD
floppy drives. I had been using Macs at the Library computer center
for a couple of years, but this is the first one that I owned myself.
Sometime around 1990, I recall seeing and playing with a NeXT
cube for the first time. Again, five minutes of playing with it
convinced me that this was the wave of the future -- for Unix, this
time.
I've been waiting ever since then for a computer that combined
the full power of Unix with the ease-of-use of the Macintosh -- NeXT
had a good UI, but it wasn't Macintosh. I remember the abomination
called A/UX. I remember MachTen -- I want my MacOS running under
Unix, not the other way around.
I remember when Apple bought NeXT, and I was in heaven. I
eagerly awaited Rhapsody. I waited for Blue Box. I saw MacOS X
Server come. I watched MacOS X arrive, and still I waited -- 10.0.4
was the first semi-useful version (according to all reports), and
that's when I tried it myself. I quickly made MacOS X my primary
(and now almost exclusive) OS, and I am working on backing up my
system so that I can make a clean install of MacOS X 10.2, a.k.a.
"Jaguar".
For me, MacOS X offers the full power of Unix, with a proper
Macintosh UI, access to my extensive archive of Macintosh programs
(Canvas 1.04m still runs, albeit under Classic), and access to the
other desktop programs I care about -- I prefer WordPerfect to Word,
but I did buy the Microsoft Office package for MacOS X, so I can
still do PowerPoint, etc.... If necessary, I can even install the
VirtualPC software that I bought (but which has not yet been taken
out of the shrink-wrap), and run real honest-to-goodness PC programs
(if that were a life-or-death requirement).
In other words, it really is the best of both worlds. For the
most part, I don't have to deal with Microsoft BS. I have a suitable
UI, and the full power of Unix. All on my PowerBook G3 "Pismo"
laptop, with 1GB of RAM, a 48GB hard drive, and built-in 802.11b
wireless networking.
> In my opinion, as a server, FreeBSD is a great choice.
Yup. Even today, I would not use MacOS X as a server.
> It is fast, reliable, and very well built. But as a
> desktop choice, it leaves a little to be desired.
As do all *nix OSes, save possibly MacOS X.
> Windows, IMHO will remain a main desktop choice for
> a long while,
For other people, perhaps.
--
Brad Knowles, <brad.knowles@skynet.be>
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania.
GCS/IT d+(-) s:+(++)>: a C++(+++)$ UMBSHI++++$ P+>++ L+ !E W+++(--) N+ !w---
O- M++ V PS++(+++) PE- Y+(++) PGP>+++ t+(+++) 5++(+++) X++(+++) R+(+++)
tv+(+++) b+(++++) DI+(++++) D+(++) G+(++++) e++>++++ h--- r---(+++)* z(+++)
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