Gillmore is in for a shock

Story: This Mac devotee is moving to LinuxTotal Replies: 13
Author Content
gus3

Jun 21, 2010
6:45 PM EDT
He bashes Steve Jobs for laying claim to the "enlightened dictator" fiction, then he says he's moving to Ubuntu, because he likes Mark Shuttleworth's design philosophy.

Words fail.
bigg

Jun 21, 2010
8:16 PM EDT
But once he's used Ubuntu, the transition to Slackware will be easy.

I've heard of Salon (and read articles there) but don't know much about it. Judging from the stories, it looks like it is a political site. If so, it should reach a lot of people who know nothing about Linux.
gus3

Jun 21, 2010
9:16 PM EDT
It is primarily, but not exclusively, political. I don't really hold with most of the site's political views, but there is one columnist I read regularly, who understands the importance not only of content, but also of presentation. I've learned a lot from said columnist, who I won't name here.
Alcibiades

Jun 21, 2010
11:16 PM EDT
It is interesting that the true nature of Apple is starting to appear as stories in the mainstream media now. But if you read the comments to the story, you can see that the cult of unreason is alive and well. Freedom is buying what Apple makes. The hardware quality is still said to be outstanding. Probably we have the fabulous beast of 'integration of hardware and software' mentioned someplace.

I can never decide whether the mac fanatic tendency is real people, or just Cupertino astro turfing. Well, who cares really? Its equally contemptible whatever it is.
jacog

Jun 22, 2010
3:50 AM EDT
I usually start to get ill when the words "form factor" are used.
phsolide

Jun 22, 2010
8:24 AM EDT
Gillmor knows what he's getting into. He used to write for the San Jose "Mercury". He wrote about having troubles getting linux to install during his tenure with the Mercury. I'm sure he's used linux in the past.

The important part here is the ideological change. His new insight into Apple is giving him vital theoretical praxis.
patrokov

Jun 22, 2010
1:53 PM EDT
phsolide: You missed the point. The "shock" didn't refer to Linux per se, but to Mark Shuttleworth's dictatorship style, "I don't like how Jobs is a dicatator. Let me go over to Ubuntu where Shuttleworth is...also a dictator." One might say that Gillmor is jumping out of the frying pan into the fire.
Steven_Rosenber

Jun 22, 2010
3:25 PM EDT
I didn't see that many specifics regarding what he doesn't like in Mac and does like in Linux. Sure there's the openness and the pace of development, but what about REAL applications he wants/needs to use, and actual features of the two operating environments.

It doesn't sound all that thought out at the moment, excepting that he's using a VM to test Ubuntu Lucid.

Having just bought a new laptop myself (I haven't even unboxed it yet ...) and realizing that Linux often needs substantial time to catch up to the "newest" hardware, even as it spent the past two years hammering on my old hardware. There's a sweet spot in there ... not too old, not too new - and while Windows-focused hardware vendors are to blame, it's still a pain.
tuxchick

Jun 26, 2010
2:34 PM EDT
I don't think you can compare Mark Shuttleworth to Steve Jobs as being a comparable iron-fisted dictator. I think Mr. Shuttleworth is an arrogant jerk, and maybe he would like to have Job-like powers. Though I don't think so, for all of his personal ickiness he does seem to believe in Free Software and an open, distributed development process. He is a strong leader with a lot of clear ideas on design and usability. Whether they are good ideas or not time will tell. Unlike the secretive, paranoid Steve Jobs we can all see the Ubuntu sausage being made.
azerthoth

Jun 26, 2010
7:28 PM EDT
TC would it be fair to say then that he is Linux's Jobsian Fail?
phsolide

Jun 27, 2010
10:40 AM EDT
Quoting:Unlike the secretive, paranoid Steve Jobs we can all see the Ubuntu sausage being made.


Tell you what, I'm going to borrow that phrase structure. That's a good one. Hopefully, I can use that sort of thing at work. There's a slim possibility that someone will notice.
Steven_Rosenber

Jun 27, 2010
1:28 PM EDT
A Ubuntu LTS arrives once every two years, and for this LTS to be packed with experimental features that kill performance and aren't anywhere near ready or proven for the majority of users — that's a fail in my book.

The LTS needed to be 9.10 with bug fixes, not a 10.10 or 11.04 pre-alpha.
underscore88

Jun 28, 2010
7:21 AM EDT
Well, I understand what the writer is saying, but in my case I have migrated in the opposite direction. I have used ubuntu, fedora, suse and gentoo. Not necessarily in that order. For the last year I used gentoo exclusively and I loved it. However, when it came to buy a new laptop I chose a macbook pro 17''. It might not be the best hardware/price combo, but I've got to tell you that I have never been happier. It's the small things like the magsafe adapter, ambient light sensor, or the big/shiny/soft trackpad that make me like it so much. Osx is also very good. I won't say it was easy at first to get past some of the restrictions. Being a gentoo user i was used to full control over configuration and content and being a KDE user meant that I found some of OSX apps quite plain. Still I find that osx has a good enough balance between advanced features (mostly due to it's unix heritage) and low maintenance. And that is where linux loses to osx. Being highly customizable has the downside of making it a little more unstable and, some of the most recent features that are supposed to make your life easier are not well thought and in fact are contributing to more instability. In the end you have to chose what suits you better. I am a law student and have always liked computers as a hobby, but at the time I don't have the time to maintain a gentoo installation, and there is no way in hell I'd install or recommend ubuntu to anyone, anyone at all.
bigg

Jun 28, 2010
7:39 AM EDT
> at the time I don't have the time to maintain a gentoo installation, and there is no way in hell I'd install or recommend ubuntu to anyone, anyone at all.

You're picking a couple of the extremes. There's no way I'd recommend Ubuntu either. I've even started using Windows 7 on my wife's netbook, I'm so tired of troubles with Ubuntu getting stuck in the suspend process (and a netbook can run a long time with the lid closed), having trouble with the wireless, and various other issues that have come about due to updates.

That doesn't mean it's either Gentoo or Ubuntu.

> I've got to tell you that I have never been happier

It's all a matter of what you're doing with it. I'd even bet that there's at least one user out there for whom Windows is the best choice.

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!