Why I'm Buying a Mac

As a huge Linux/open source supporter and enthusiast, it may surprise you that I will, indeed, be buying a Mac.

While I'm quite excited to play around with Leopard (as I was with Vista), I'd like to let you know that this doesn't exactly signal a change of heart. I still have a number of issues with Apple as a company - how they bundle software with hardware and all that software with the operating system, etc. that would get them in monumental trouble if they had larger market share. Look at Microsoft: they don't do this bundling to nearly the extent of Apple, yet for the past 8 years, they've been getting billion dollar fines left and right because of their dominant position in the market.

But, at this time, to sanely live in this world we call the Internet, it's necessary to be on one of the two larger, proprietary platforms -- although with this whole Web 2.0 bubble, that dependency has become less and less, but it's still there. I've extensively used and lived with every version of Windows since Windows 95, and even have a bit of experience with Windows 3.11. I don't think anyone can deny that XP SP2 is a half-decent, solid operating system. Vista? ...Not so much.

I do, indeed, (legally) virtualize XP SP2 using Sun's newly-acquired innotek's open source virtualization software innotek VirtualBox on top of Linux. It runs at near-native speeds, and the software is really a joy to work with. So, until the full Linux version of Adobe Flex Builder comes out, that's what I use to fire up Flex Builder for AIR/Flex development.

However, more recently, Ari and I have decided that it's necessary for some of our future projects that we be on the same platform, and naturally we decided on Mac OS X, since Ari already has numerous Apple products. Which meant I had to get a Mac.

So I will be getting one.

I have a number of commitments to the Linux community and to others that require me to use Linux, and honestly, I have never had the intention - nor will I - to "abandon" the Linux community. In fact, that's as far from the truth as possible. Linux will continue to run full-time on my laptop and this Mac will only run Mac OS X (though I do think at some point I will buy Parallels and virtualize Linux just for the heck of it).

And let's face it: if I have to use a proprietary operating system, I may as well use the better of the two. February 14th, 2008 / Tags: os x, xp, vista, linux / Trackback

What is the true meaning of innovation?

Throughout my journey on the Internet (and particularly technology-related websites), I've always found lots of talk about innovation.

Innovation is great... right? But what is it? How can one define it?

In the technology realm, I really see two types of innovation. There's open source-type innovation, and there's Apple innovation.

Open source innovation is really the larger ideas (such as, "build a better browser with great security and a revolutionary addons system"). That's what has created Firefox, Thunderbird, Apache, Linux, OpenOffice.org and countless others. But they don't have to be open source, per se - I see the GUI (which Xerox first developed) as open source innovation, even though the code was proprietary.

Then, there's Apple innovation. Apple innovation takes the open source innovation (either the idea/s or the literal source code, depending), polishes it, makes it nicer, maybe adds some more convenient features while limiting some freedoms in terms of options and customizations, and then re-releases it. That's what has created Mac OS X, the iPhone, the vision (not result) of Windows 95, Photoshop, Flash, and many other decent products.

Let's look at Mac OS X Leopard for example: a lot of those 300 new features are, in fact, not Apple-pioneered. As a Linux user, I die a little bit every time someone suggests that Apple created the idea of multiple workstations (i.e. Spaces). Multiple workstations have been available in countless other UNIX-like and non-UNIX operating systems for decades.

What features did Apple pioneer in Spaces, then? Not really any. But they did the whole idea of multiple workstations right. They made it useful - no, beyond useful - to more than just the complete power user or l33t Linux hacker. And they absolutely ought to be commended on that. They shouldn't, however, be praised for "inventing" multiple workstations. Or for "inventing" the countless other examples that fit in just like this one.

So, which one is actual innovation? Many dictionaries define innovation as "the act of introducing something new." Obviously "open source" innovation fits under that. Does Apple innovate? Yeah, but maybe not to the extent of "open source" innovation - at least in terms of the "big picture."

What do you think about this? Apple and the open source/Linux communities innovate in different ways, therefore should there be two definitions of innovation? Should we support the people coming up with the ideas or the people who polish the ideas and re-release them? February 13th, 2008 / Tags: apple, linux, open source / Trackback