again, the wrong question
|
| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| gus3 Apr 28, 2010 7:13 PM EDT |
Asking which of Microsoft and Apple is worse for FOSS, is like asking if you prefer a tax audit or a root canal without anesthetic. They're both miserable to experience; any attempt to compare/contrast the two is purely academic, and a waste of energy. Besides, Microsoft is now part-owner of Apple, so they aren't as separate as their PR would suggest. The correct questions are: 1. Can methods of fighting Microsoft's anti-FOSS efforts work against Apple as well? 2. If not, how must we adjust our methods? |
| questioner Apr 28, 2010 7:21 PM EDT |
and then there is CUPS:
http://www.cups.org/
"CUPS is the standards-based, open source printing system developed by Apple Inc. for Mac OS® X and other UNIX®-like operating systems." I don't like how they treat all their Jesus-items. But hey it would suck to have no printer support. |
| gus3 Apr 28, 2010 7:31 PM EDT |
It wouldn't happen. CUPS is under the GPL, with special adjustments for printer drivers, SSL, and Kerberos. http://www.cups.org/documentation.php/license.html I expect if Apple tried to jerk around CUPS users, a fork would promptly appear called SPOOC, the Standard Printing On Our Computers. |
| tuxchick Apr 28, 2010 8:09 PM EDT |
Apple did not invent CUPS, they bought it a couple years ago from its inventor and main developer, Michael Sweet. |
| Ridcully Apr 28, 2010 8:31 PM EDT |
Coming back to the main idea however, I agree: Apple is now as dangerous as Microsoft, if not more so; gus3 hit it right on the nose in his first post. I used to suggest to exasperated Windows users to move to Apple if they thought they could not handle Linux in one of its many distro forms. I have not done so for the past year and never will again: I now recommend nothing else but Linux. A prison cell with gold plated taps, ensuite, ultra modern furnishings, pristine cleanliness, entertainment system and guards in fancy clothing .........is still a prison cell (Oh yes, and you pay, and pay, and PAY for remaining in that cell ~ a curious inversion of normality). As far as I can see, Apple has only one aim now (apart from increasing profits) and that is to ensure vendor lock-in is applied even more brutally and efficiently. Use Apple, lose freedom......a simple motto, but not yet understood by the lemmings galloping towards the cliff of Apple nirvana. |
| Alcibiades Apr 29, 2010 3:34 AM EDT |
Apple is way more dangerous than MS. MS has been motivated by traditional business motives: revenue and market share. Its been willing to cut corners to increase them, but its never much cared what you did with your machines, as long as you did it with MS stuff. MS has also always been willing to trade off big segments of the market to others, in exchange for dominance of the bits it is in, and an increase in the total size of the market and thus the absolute size of the segment it dominates. Apple is pursuing a quite different strategy, its total control of everything users do. If you look a the iPhone/iPad as the realization of Cupertino's dream, its a model in which the supplier dictates what hardware you run the OS on, what software tools are used to develop apps, what apps may be run, what content may be bought, how you buy it. A company that gets itself into the position of banning content on hardware customers have bought and paid for, because they find it indecent, though its perfectly lawful in the jurisdiction, well, it speaks for itself. A company that bans political cartoons in case some people should find them offensive!? On phones that they have sold outright! Apple has always been supply limited because of its approach. Back in the last century, if Apple had had its way, you want a computer, well, just wait until we get around to you, and pay huge amounts. The licensing issue of the OS had the consequence that if you wanted a computer, you were obliged to go elsewhere. If Apple had its way, the total market would be a fraction of what it is now, prices would be far higher, conditions on use would be draconian. It would be a bit like waiting for the Trabi in East Germany. Stand in line until we decide you are worthy to be served. Doubt it? Well, what about the lifetime quota on purchases of iPads? This approach is basically incompatible with Western liberal values. The danger of it is that we end up with a world in which Apple does not necessarily have dominant market share, but in which dominant market share is owned by a corporate oligarchy which shares its approach, and the result is limitation of debate and access to information. Ricullly and gus3 are right both of them. But the question we should be asking is perhaps a bit wider: which of MS and Apple is more dangerous to society, and what can we do about the dangers to society and intellectual freedom that Apple poses, that MS does not pose. One answer is never to buy their stuff, and to argue against its purchase by any public bodies we influence. What is really needed is to get Apple totally out of the education sector. That is where their example of unacceptable limitations on intellectual freedom can do the most damage. |
| r_a_trip Apr 29, 2010 3:36 AM EDT |
Use Apple, lose freedom......a simple motto, but not yet understood by the lemmings galloping towards the cliff of Apple nirvana. It's the glitter of "Ooh shiny" blinding their eyes and the myth that owning Apple kit makes you "young, trendy, hip and important". It is the only reason I can think of why some rabid Apple fans defend the corrupt ways of Apple to the death. If they truly believe Apple is their only ticket to "stardom"... |
| gus3 Apr 29, 2010 9:37 AM EDT |
Quoting:myth that owning Apple kit makes you "young, trendy, hip and important".Follower, gullible, pawn! Quoting:If they truly believe Apple is their only ticket to "stardom"...People used to think the same of the RIAA. |
| hkwint Apr 29, 2010 10:26 AM EDT |
Quoting:If they truly believe Apple is their only ticket to "stardom"... Did you read the Brittish survey in which they found out 'men who own an iPhone' are more attractive? The problem is not only men believing Apple is their ticket to stardom, the problem is also women believing men who own an iPhone are more succesful and better at their jobs. http://www.cellular-news.com/story/42948.php |
| techiem2 Apr 29, 2010 12:34 PM EDT |
ROFL.
Thanks for the morning laughs.Quoting: One respondent suggested "if he has an iPhone then he's obviously intelligent and well-off." uh...yeah...or stupid and in debt.... Quoting: "There's just something about a man who's good with computers that makes him more trustworthy," gushed Lucy, a 23-year-old gold-digging primary school teacher from London. "If he's got the cash for an iPhone then he must be very good at his job, too." Since when does knowing how to use an iPhone make you good with computers? edit: Almost missed this one: Quoting: In another recent study, however, it was discovered that men who own the iPhone tend to have £3,750 less disposable income per annum than those who do not own an iPhone; proof that first impressions may not always be accurate in the dating game. Man, maybe I SHOULD buy one of the fake Rolexes I'm always getting spammed about...maybe it really would make me irresistible and make all my dreams come true! :P |
| jezuch Apr 29, 2010 3:20 PM EDT |
Quoting:In another recent study, however, it was discovered that men who own the iPhone tend to have £3,750 less disposable income per annum than those who do not own an iPhone; proof that first impressions may not always be accurate in the dating game. Well, yeah, they spend so much on overprices Apple gadgets that they can't afford food anymore... |
| DrDubious Apr 29, 2010 3:45 PM EDT |
Apple and Microsoft are both busy setting up new tollbooths to siphon money off of people with. Apple appears to be focussed on having users directly pay at the tollbooths. Microsoft lately looks to me more like they're setting up their tollbooths at the "provider" end (getting companies under NDA's to pay Microsoft for permission to use Linux, etc.). |
Posting in this forum is limited to members of the group: [ForumMods, SITEADMINS, MEMBERS.]
Becoming a member of LXer is easy and free. Join Us!