Confessions of a Mac OS X User

An anonymous reader writes "Here's an interesting commentary on OSDir.com about one Mac OS X user's guilt over using it instead of Linux on his laptop, and how he's been burned by the dreaded iBook logic board problems so much that it underlines the tyranny of hardware vendor lock-in: it's not that Mac OS X isn't F/OSS, but that it only runs on Apple hardware. It also raises the obvious question: have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X instead of Linux?"

Don't ask me..

[grub]

have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X instead of Linux?

You'll have to ask my ex-wife; she took the Mac. :(

Confession of a Mac OS X User

[Anonymous Coward]

iDidn't do it.

No

[Anonymous Coward]

It's pretty far down on the things I feel guilty about. I'm a middle-class white American male, you insensitive clod!

umm.....

[paranoidsim]

tap. tap. tap.
click. click. click. ......
mmm......

no.

Yes,

[El_Ge_Ex]

I fell guilty about using Windows XP.... opps, sorry wrong subject.

-B

Re:Felt guilty for using Mac OS X?

[ArmorFiend]

Heh, at least its not a bomb with burning wick and the message "an error has occured [ok]".

Slashdot

[sport_160]

Sometimes I feel guilty about doing some work, while I am trying to read Slashdot.

Re:Don't ask me..

[McAddress]

have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X instead of Linux?

umm.. no. however i do feel guilty for having a linux box without paying $699 to SCO. wait a sec. i don't feel guilty about that either.

Re:Nope.

[TedCheshireAcad]

Don't feel guilty. In fact, you should go by the unspoken Apple mantra that those of us who use OS X are better than everyone else.

This post is more right because it was posted from OS X.

Executive summary -

[ericspinder]

I think that I've got it...

(Paraphrasing)When to a show in '02, bought a wireless PC card and had trouble installing said card on Linux laptop. Bought an Apple laptop, (you know the one with the bad logic board), sent it for repair, still a problem. But this is not a "harward issue" as it is software issue because I cannot keep a second machine running Linux, every time I need to use my second machine I need to reload the OS with my preferences and settings. So, I hate fucking OSX for not setting up my Linux box for me while my Power book is in the shop again. Damn vendor lock in

I think that he is going to try to load Linux on his Power Book. That's a followup story I'd like to see! I don't know if it is possiable, but he seemed to have trouble getting an wireless card running....

Re:Nope.

[Deraj DeZine]

Ask RMS that question... but bring a pillow.

My uncle's ashamed

[superpulpsicle]

A couple years back my uncle wore some lousy Apple t-shirt when he was fixing his car. He got more sh*t from random people than yankees fan in boston.

Ever since then my uncle gets extremely embarrassed when he mentions he's a mac user. He just doesn't know what to expect next.

iKnow iDon't

[metrazol]

Why would iFeel guilty about using OSX? I'm a new PowerBook owner and iFeel having a nice UNIX/BSD/Whatever core under my iHood is a feature. Linux is, as many have stated, not ready for mass desktop usage (though iDisagree, with the latest KDE builds...) so running OSX gives me a system my iFriends, my iMother, my iCoworkers, etc. are more comfortable using while it is secure, powerful, and pretty. That review of BSD yesterday said just that, "Greater server, but the desktop is lacking." OSX gives us Aqua, which solves the desktop problem.

Now, some people will say that using OSX and Apple hardware brainwashes people into supporting Apple blindly. That is not the case. iLove Apple. They have never done anything that iDislike and iHave never noticed any kind of subliminal messages. iLove Apple. iPlan to upgrade and iPlan to stick with this company. iCal tells me to...

I feel guilt.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes, when my wife has gone to bed, I stay up late at night with OS X. And when I'm certain everyone in the house is asleep, I go in the office, lock the door, and ... well... I do things. I really put OS X through all the paces.

Sometimes I take extra long showers and my wife bangs on the door telling me to hurry up, but really I'm just in the bathroom with OS X. It's not easy to resist it. Sometimes the urges just overwhelm me.

Once, I with OS X in my car and parked in this little out of the way park. I figured it'd just take a minute and I need some relief, and just as I was starting to use OS X some cops pulled up...

You gotta be a total loser...

[binary paladin]

I've used a number of operating systems over the years and while Linux is where I spend more of my time anymore I can't see any reason to feel guilty over using something else if it did the job better and that includes keeping me entertained, which Linux does better than anything else. Who needs games when I've got prism54 drivers to get working?

Seriously though, if you feel guilt for the OS of your choice on top of already being a fucking nerd, you're a fucking loser and you need to never, ever touch a computer again. I haven't even read the article but just the thought of guilt setting in over this shit...? Please, email me your address so I can take a 2x4 to all your hardware and then to you.

Quite the opposite...

[tonydiesel]

Guilty? Nah... I have the opposite problem. [cafeshops.com]

Re:No

[Anonymous Coward]

Right, so just go clod bashing, you bigot.

Re:Let's all step back for a minute.

[Anonymous Coward]

"....windows XP professional help"
-- anonymous sales rep

Re:-1 Troll

[l1_wulf]

LOL, how very true. But just think, every /. reader would read the same ten articles (9 of which are +1 Funny -- but not really), skip the rest be bored for the rest of their lunch/evening and maybe do something else. It'd be the fall of /., therefore it will never happen.

Anyway, to remain slightly on topic... While I've never used OSX, I would think that someone who agonizes over what OS their using has more to worry about than just computer stuff. I can see it now, "Ooooh, I love OS Y, but I really should be using X. Gosh, the joy I get from using Y is almost eclipsed by the agony of neglecting my beloved X. Is this guilt normal? Maybe I should go see Dr. Petres... Shh! Did someone knock? Quickly, quickly! Reboot, select Linux... ./LookLikeImWorking.sh... [yells]COMING!!!... ok, there... [answers door]"

so I like my desktop to look like candy...

[afbialek]

how could I feel guilty about OS X? ok, it's gross that icons wiggle and pop up when you click them, that the iBook itself looks like a jelly bean, and that sometimes the running iChat man makes me laugh...but some of us like computers to seem happy :). (why else do you think emoticons were invented?)

Re:Nope.

[nojomofo]

Unspoken?? We generally say it loud and clear!

sometimes

[minus_273]

I wake up in the middle of the night crying.. knowing that i use photoshop, dreamweaver, office and many other wonderfull programs on my unix box. I feel horrible that my favorite OS is supported by hardware manufacturers and works seamlessly with windows PCs but i dont have all the issues of a windows user..

Re:Makes perfect sense...

[NDPTAL85]

So you are saying you can't take an industry standard laptop drive from a Dell laptop and drop it into the industry standard laptop slot of an IBM thinkpad?

Re:This article doesn't make sense.....

[stephanruby]

What has this World come to. First a religious rant that actually goes against Apple and now an iBook owner that actually comes back from the dead to defend Apple.

Re:Vender lock in

[Bizzarobot]

It's like being taken hostage initially against your will, then realizing your captors are the Swedish Bikini Team.

Re:so I like my desktop to look like candy...

[happyfrogcow]

I just pictured Homer Simpson standing in a computer store drooling over a Mac. "MMmmm, Candy Computer" and then he tries to eat it.

Re:This article doesn't make sense.....

[daeley]

Everyone in the office was coming over to slobber over it...

I think I know what the problem was. ;)

Re:Makes perfect sense...

[Anonymous Coward]

What if having repeated Mac problems you decide you want to find another vendor? If I get sick of Dell then I can try IBM, HP/Compaq, Alienware, or even build one myself. If I get sick of Apple I can pretty much go fuck myself.

Re:Bad Batch

[cosmo7]

That sounds like a testament to Dell's ability to piss people off.

guilt?

[Anonymous Coward]

> have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X
> instead of Linux?

Confessions? Guilt?

What is this, a Catholic group-therapy site?

Re:Executive summary -

[sammy baby]

See also, Yellow Dog Linux [yellowdoglinux.com].

Re:I guess that makes it Mac OS eX?

[pi radians]

More like Mac NOSeX...

Re:Don't ask me..

[bfg9000]

-have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X instead of Linux?
-You'll have to ask my ex-wife; she took the Mac. :(

I was lucky. Mine got stuck with my Windows 98 box. They deserve each other.

Re:This article doesn't make sense.....

[kinnell]

The more I hear these stories, the more I wonder if people try to boot their machines by throwing them against a wall

...or maybe he just takes the word "boot" a little too literally.

Guilty?

[shking]

It also raises the obvious question: have you ever felt guilty over using Mac OS X instead of Linux?"

Nope. I feel smug, just like the rest of my cult... err... community

Re:Don't ask me..

[Anonymous Coward]

You have a seventeen foot powerbook?

It's a Sin

[Xebikr]

When I boot up my Mac OS
It's always with a sense of shame
I've always been the one to blame
Linux is what I long to do
But everything I really choose
Has one thing in common, too

Chorus:
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a sin
Every app I've ever run
Everything I ever do
Every game I've ever played
Everywhere site I'm going to
It's a sin

And Slashdot taught me how to be
A Linux God, and very l337
They didn't quite succeed
Linux is what I long to do
But everything I really choose
Has one thing in common, too

(Chorus)

Linus, forgive me, I tried not to do it
Burned a Knoppix CD, then I ignored it
Whatever you taught me, it didn't compile
Linus, you got me a brand new OS
But I still don't understand

So I boot up my Mac OS
Forever with a sense of shame
And I'm the one to blame
Linux is what I long to do
But everything I really choose
Has one thing in common, too

(Chorus)

It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin
It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a sin

Re:Don't ask me..

[ack154]

If you really wanted to get to her, you should have just put ME on it... ;)

What?

[Frobozz0]

What? Why would I be using Linux on my laptop? I'm not a masochist.

As I'm typing this on my dual G5...

[ImTwoSlick]

I'm feeling terribly guilty.
..Sigh..

and here's the link ...

[zpok]

Knock yourself out you horrible linux user you [apple.com].

...trying some reverse psychology here, aiming for guilt, revulsion and a subconscious unnatural urge to play with his erm... garageband)

Re:Don't ask me..

[Anonymous Coward]

You want to be inside this guy's ex-wife's box??