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January 27, 2006
Geek Group Think
I've always been amazed by the open source community, more specifically by the Linux hackers out there. Their tenacity for putting Linux into places it's never before been seen is really quite impressive. It's also always left me with the big question, "who cares?"... I mean really, do I need a full Linux OS to run on my iPod? For those moments when I might, umm, need to run my webserver or ssh into a non-networked device.
It's with this same skeptical look that I read articles (such as this) about the possibilities of dual-booting the new Apple Intel machines. Who cares? Let's look at it another way...
Dual booting Linux - I've never been a huge fan of Linux, much prefering to use OpenBSD or FreeBSD instead. I just find the BSD way of doing things cleaner, elegent, and simplistic. Regardless, the advantage Linux brings to an Apple Intel box is that it runs a UNIX variant. Hrm. On older Windows machines and pre OSX this made a lot of sense, but Mac OS X is already based upon a UNIX variant. You can even get a terminal. In fact, most of the tools/utilities/applications from the Linux world are easily re-compiled for OS X thanks to things like Fink and DarwinPorts. So what's the big advantage here? Cost of upgrades is all that I can think of. If you're buying an Apple machine, the cost of a possibly $150 yearly upgrade isn't going to convince you the simple ease of use and the "it just works" factor aren't worth it.
Windows - Unfortunately, most Mac users have to actually use Windows in their daily jobs (I'm one of them). In quite a few cases, an application will only exist in Windows binary form, making the dream of dual booting become a possible life saver. Now let's look at this from another angle. Macintosh users are a crafty bunch. We squirm, wiggle, fight, and push our way through the daily grind to come back to reasonably sane and useful OS. Face it, it's a right of passage to attend the Macca event at least once in your Macintosh ownership days. When we encounter an application that does not exist on our platform of choice, we find a way around this. We'll find other applications that will create formats readable by our intended application. We will essentially circumvent the problem so that we may continue to work. If you work with Windows daily and have a Mac at home, you've probably already done 90% of this without thinking twice. The only real advantage I can see in this dual booting realm comes from entertainment, and possibly things like Vegas Video. Actually strike that, the last big advantage comes from VPN software, for which there seems to be an abundent amount on Windows. I've found that even this can be circumvented most of the time with just a few google searches.
Posted by Dan at January 27, 2006 11:51 AM