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...as I write this (on my iMac) I'm installing a new Ubuntu build on an old laptop.
I still believe that Apple makes some of the best software and hardware around, but I'm starting to have my doubts about the company and its commitment to its customers.
I've been with Apple for so long that when I think about computers, I'm not thinking Microsoft or Dell or IBM, I'm thinking about Apple. The first one I ever used was a brand-spanking-new Apple II Plus, brought home by my dad. Later we moved on to an Apple IIe, followed by the first Macintosh and the Mac II. He bought me a Performa when I was in college and I eventually moved on to a Quadra 700, which was a killer machine at the time. The list goes on, up to my current iMac and my wife's older iBook G4.
I think it's fair to say that I have Apple street cred. So why have I been experimenting with Linux over the past few months if Apple has been so good to me over the past nearly three decades?
It's because I think they're starting to show the early signs of evil empire-ness. Locked iPhones; serious booting issues for users who just upgraded to 10.5; system updates innocently described as 'bug fixes' that actually address major security issues; the continuing existence of QuickTime Pro, which is obnoxious; iTunes and DRM; and the general, ongoing focus on the iPod, which, I fear, is distracting much of the company's talent away from actual computer development. There's more and I could go into a lot more detail, but this is already tl;dr.
For sure, I'm not abandoning Apple. The Mac OS is still far superior to Windows (though that's not really saying much), and I plan on using it for years to come. But I feel the need to get to know something different than today's Apple, something that more resembles the Apple of years ago. For me, right now, at least, that's Linux/Ubuntu.
It's not that Ubuntu is generally superior to the Mac OS. It's not. I'm upgrading to the second-latest version right now, and I don't expect any fireworks. But Ubuntu does most of what I need, it's very speedy on a rather old machine, and, most importantly, it's totally open source, totally free, and the antithesis of operating systems created by big money-making machines... a term that increasingly applies to Apple.
In Steve Jobs' defense: that old machine that runs quite nicely with Ubuntu? It's an eight year-old PowerBook G3.
