Mac OS X Rapidly Catching on with *nix Geeks
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Dirk Pilat - 2002.09.27
Hi!
I can almost hear you groan, "Oh my (insert personal choice of supernatural being in here)! It's that annoying person living in New Zealand again!"
Yep, sorry. It's me again. Not to grovel or complain or anything, but, au contraire, report on an interesting trend that was already noticeable about 12 months ago, and since then has developed into an unstoppable tsunami.
What am I talking about? The transformation of OS X into
the preferred toy for alpha-geeks, of course. You see, I always
aspired 
to be an alpha
geek: It's not so much the dress code or the Jolt
Cola, but the fact that you can write your own device drivers,
debug Python-code, write Java applets, get invited to O'Reilly conferences, and have
incredibly good karma on Slashdot.
The only problem I have is that I can't program. Not one dot. Apart from Sinclair BASIC, that is. So, without the credentials, I at least want to have the hardware. So I got myself my first beige PC, learned how to us OpenBSD (well, let's say I am getting there), and started to fumble around with the BSD-underpinnings of OS X.
And I am not alone, because Apple hardware seems to be getting the flavour of the day in the alpha geek world:
As Ian Betteridge, the editor of MacUser UK, predicted, X's BSD core makes it incredibly seductive for a hard-core Unix/Linux/*BSD user to buy hardware that actually works and for which he/she doesn't have to write the device drivers. Look at Moshe Bar's article on Byte.com on switching from a Linux Laptop to a TiBook, the ensuing comments by the titans of geekdom, Hemos and Cdr. Taco from Slashdot and the 985 replies (and counting) to that story (pretty good even for Slashdot).
It is definitely hip again to have one of those cool Apple toys. The reasons are obvious: Not only does the hardware work out of the box, but it has a great GUI, runs MS's industry-standard software (which does not mean that it's a particularly good standard), and also runs every geek toy you wish, so you're not without XWindows, Pine, Vi, Emacs, etc.
For goodness sake, it comes with a Python compiler! I am pretty sure that Microsoft does not include a C and Python Compiler with XP.
So, although there is still plenty of controversy around Mac OS X, Apple seems to have made the right choice by using NeXTstep and BSD Unix as the foundation for OS X.
I don't know if BeOS would have attracted the same amount of interest from the nerd community, and it would certainly not have had the same range of compatibility to the *nix set of tools.
Well done, Steve. 
Recent Down But Not Out Columns
- Thoughts and advice on replacing a two-year-old iBook G4, 02.01. This iBook G4 has taken a beating. Does it make more sense to buy a new iBook G4, wait for the Intel models, or look at the used market?
- iBook on last legs, Mac mini saves marriage, and Macintel meanderings, 01.23. With the iBook G4 "falling apart at the seams", does it make more sense to buy a new G4 iBook or wait for the Intellified next gen iBook?
- First impressions of the 14" iBook G4, 11.13. "Apple has managed to produce a machine that combines everything I want from a portable computer with appropriate processor performance for a competitive price."
- More in the Down But Not Out index.
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- More links in our archive.
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