Apple vs GNU+Linux

People complaining about lack of Linux support should try to install MacOS on anything apart from Mac hardware. Unless you have a cracked version, it's not even possible (and good luck finding/trusting new ones!) Even with hacked versions, try to find driver support for all your hardware. Linux is worlds ahead when you want to choose your hardware. If you don't feel like shelling out a thousand or more bucks every time a computer dies, using an older computer, or making a special-purpose computer for a friend without taking out a loan, the choice is clear. If you want to be guaranteed the same compatibility you get with Apple's OS, then you can still use Linux, pre-installed in a laptop from Dell, etc. Wow, it just works! Magic! :P

Linux (especially Ubuntu, lately), has become a definite advantage to people who want to choose their hardware, and it gets better with every release.

With Apple, unfortunately, you buy more than just hardware and an OS, you've officially bought a style, image, and a glowing apple to make sure everyone knows that the computer is far more important than whatever you happen to be doing on it. Apple's marketing machine makes sure that every Mac user is a walking/talking advertisement for it. That's good for Apple, but that's a lot of pretentious corporate overhead for me. I don't want to buy an image. I don't want endless throngs of consumer drones commenting "Wow, is that the new Apple whatsit? I want one of those!" People don't care what you're doing. It's all about that Mac with the glowy apple logo. You might as well not be there. I'd much rather be using Blender, GIMP, Photoshop, Open Office, and be appreciated for what I'm doing, rather than having endless queries about Apple's latest gadget. I do a lot of cool stuff, so it helps (especially for my business) to have people's focus on the artwork, and not the laptop.

People will even attribute your success to Apple's hardware. "Well, I could be good too, if I had one!" Of course, disillusionment follows, after having shelling out the money for one; No, no, you can't be good just for buying an overpriced machine with go-faster stripes. It takes a lot of hard work! Endless hours of practice, and honing your skills to be good, even with Apple's glory-glory ware! They will happily take credit for your work. And people merrily give it to them. "Yeah.. huh huh. I use a Mac! Macs are BETTER for graphic design!" Yea? Try graphic design without Adobe's software. You realise Apple doesn't make that, right? Try using iPhoto. Then you see how much better Apple is at graphic design! Better yet, try and find where that crapware stored the file you're working on? Thousands of high-res photos/projects? Notice how iPhoto takes 4 minutes to load? Yep. Better!

I know a whole company of graphic designers, all on Mac, all very very embarrassed to be walking Apple stereotypes, and just waiting for something else to come along that runs the latest version of Adobe's Creative Suite. Unfortunately, only available for Macs and Windows PCs. (Adobe's fault, not Linux).

I'm a professional graphic designer (with 12 years of industry experience). I choose Linux, and if Photoshop is a must (it is sometimes), I use WINE. If the latest version of the Creative Suite is a must (Often it is for the printing/publishing industry to deal with), I'll run a VM with Windows XP.
Or maybe I could run OSX in a VM? Oh wait... no, no I can't. Apple's suing machine won't allow an of the VM developers to make that possible. Okay. Well... guess I have NO USE for OSX then... at all! :D

I do this all from my laptop/Linux workstation, which I paid like $400.00 for, from a guy selling it to buy an iPad. Lol. I guess there IS some benefit to Apple's advertising machine after all! :D I haven't needed a desktop machine, (or a laptop that costs over $600) for anything in over a decade.

Moreover, I have a full install of Ubuntu 10.10 installation on a USB keychain, so if my hard drive fails, I can boot off the keychain and keep working from my backed up files (using Ubuntu One's free cloud) while I order a new one, without missing a beat. I don't even have to go home from the coffee shop! Magic! :D

I'm sure when Apple does the same (or strikingly similar) thing, they will call it the best innovation ever, and praise themselves for being ahead of the game in all things. "All others can only follow", and other rabid fanboy rubbish. So when that happens (again), know that the better informed world is laughing at everyone who adopts idiotic mantras like that. To those people, we're happy to tell you your wrong, explain clearly why, then watch you snort, put your nose up in the air and continue to pretend your Mac makes you more sophisticated, efficient, and cool.

We'll smile, and continue using Linux, and reaping the benefits, making it better and easier to use for the "average person" (like it's not already? Try Ubuntu 10.10), and enjoying some of the best eye-candy interfaces out there, for free (thanks Compiz folks!).

To end this bloody dissertation (TLDR)
I'd like to extend thanks to the Linux community (including Canonical) for making supremely good software that everyone can use free of charge, and continuing to make Linux better, and easier to use for everyone.

And remember, kids: It doesn't matter what Apple fanboys "think". You could slap an Apple logo on anything and they'd take out a second mortgage just to have it. If you listen to that kind of opinion, you certainly deserve to be excluded from the joys of Linux. :)

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