2000: Slashdot is a fantastic source for Linux news and a variety of other user-posted topics. One of the biggest independent computer news sites on the Internet, it has among the best implementation of technology, while keeping a very simple and quick-loading layout. However, it has one largely unnoticed weakness: Its Apple news.

It almost seems as if Slashdot created its Apple category to keep Mac fans from whining. Rarely is an Apple submission, or even one remotely related to Apple and its technologies, posted, and they’re often anti-Apple.

The most recent one came on May 15th, and was titled Apple Delays Mac OS X. [We’ve posted a link, but Slashdot has been the subject of several DDOS attacks since their battle with Microsoft began late last week. You may have difficulty accessing their site. dk] It complained about how Mac OS X 10.0 won’t be available until January 2001, unlike what had been announced at Macworld San Francisco. Instead of a finished product, the public beta will be released this summer.

Mac OS X hasn’t been delayed at all; it has simply been re-marketed. Apple was originally going to sell the final version in the summer and then pre-load Mac OS X on Macs in January. This was so that non-novice Mac users could test out Mac OS X firsthand and send their comments to Apple, so that when it was time for all new Macs to have it, the operating system would reflect the needs of users even more.

This is precisely what a beta version is for! Novices, who wouldn’t try an unfinished version, would then buy the software pre-loaded on their new Macs, or as an upgrade for their older ones, and reap the benefits of an ultra-complete product. This is an excellent plan.

Slashdot didn’t post anything about other announcements, like the release of OS X Developer Preview 4, only dwelling on a seemingly bad thing for Apple. Slashdot’s negativity towards Apple is also reflected in founder Rob Malda’s “node” about Apple on Everything 2, a user-content-posting site. This is what it said:

“It’s more than just Fruit! Steve Jobs now runs this nutty company gone awry. From stealing all their interface ideas from Xerox Parc to gouging customers on price while pushing crash prone operating system software, it’s no wonder they only got a 10% market share. The new G3 Mac’s are very fast, and very cool. I would definitely buy one, and put Linux on it.”

Not only is the founder critical of the company, the only two editors (out of dozens) who will actually post Apple-category submissions are “Hemos” and “timothy”.

Slashdot is a great resource for Linux and GPL news and the like, and Low End Mac often links to sites posted on Slashdot. However, as evident in the fact that there are seven categories for Linux distributions, and only one for anything related to Apple and the PowerPC processor, it will never rival Low End Mac and numerous other sites for anything Mac-related.

keywords: #slashdot