Mac OS X and Unix
Paul Fatula pointed me to a series of great posts in the MacFixIt forums by “thalo.” I don’t agree with everything this guy (or gal) says, but there is a lot of sense there.
That’s the problem with this whole “bleeding edge” in the OpenSource world. We get these bits and pieces, these glimpses and tours-de-force that amount to a grand total of squat for you and me. I applaud the minds that make this crap, but software development, to me, is about conceiving and realizing great ideas and sharing them in such a way that creative people can tap into things computers do well and actually create. Finding a way to bring YOU AND ME to the top of Everest along with those guys who were the geek pioneers. Building the ladder or staircase that gets us there. Not rubbing our faces in merely the fact that god gave these guys juicy chess club brains.
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I guess what I’m saying, is that when Apple talks about “putting the power of unix at our command,” I want that to mean something. I want Unix to really BE powerful. I want to unlock its mysteries and find that they are worth unlocking. I don’t want to FINALLY gain access to something like gimp, only to find that Photoshop makes it look like a flint knife. If it turns out that Mac software has ALWAYS been better than Unix software in say, the graphics industry, then why bother making or porting Unix graphics software? If Unix games are primitive compared to Windows games, then why bother making Unix games? We need to find where and how Unix’s power is best deployed in our lives, what it does right, where it is in fact powerful, and then demystify it for every tom dick and thalo out there.
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Thalo has been beating the same drum for two years. He doesn't like OS X and Aqua. He just likes to say so often and at great length.
If thalo makes sense, you need your head examined. Last time I checked, "thalo" and "crackpot" could be used together pretty much any time you wanted it.
Of course, I could be remembering some of the other "long live OS 9" crackpots in the MacFixIt forums.