[TriLUG] Mac vs. Linux, was: Where is Linux today?

[Cristóbal Palmer]

On Sun, Jun 22, 2008 at 9:14 PM,  <kwoodie at gmail.com> wrote:
> Just because everything on the mac isn't open source doesn't mean that its the end of the world.  Developers have to make money for code development or we wouldn't be able to make our living in technology.  I do agree that a plain old xterm is much better than the Terminal.app application but the great thing is that they at least provide one for you, can't say that for windows.  I simply wanted to state my happiness from being a mac owner.  I don't feel I have to justify the lack of open source software on mac OS X nor should I have to take your attitude.  Hostile responses are not welcome.

Please accept my apology. I'm sorry you saw my response as hostile; it
wasn't intended that way. My intention was to point out that there
/is/ at least one significant, fundamental difference between a
package that ships from Apple with OS X 10.5 and a package that ships
from Dell with Ubuntu, and that difference is easy access to source
code. Also, if your assertion is that software must be closed for
people to make money developing it, then I think your argument is
clearly wrong, since there are developers at Red Hat, IBM, HP, Novell,
Dell, and others who all draw paychecks for writing code that gets
released to the public. Hell, there are developers at /Apple/ who draw
an Apple paycheck to work on code that goes immediately public. One
mrowe at apple.com comes to mind:

  http://trac.webkit.org/

There's nothing wrong with loving your mac. My dad loves his macs. I
don't think he's a bad person or has made some fundamental mistake
because of that. I think he values different things than I do.
Honestly I enjoy using his macs in some contexts. I wouldn't buy a new
mac, though. My problem was with the argument I thought you were
making, not with you.

Cheers,
-- 
Cristóbal M. Palmer
"Small acts of humanity amid the chaos of inhumanity provide hope. But
small acts are insufficient."
 -- Paul Rusesabagina