Comparing Penjuins, Apples and Windows doesn't work.

So today I was reading a NY Times story posted on Digg about Ubuntu, an interesting article but containing some of the usual FUD about Linux. While commenting about this on Digg I found myself in a familiar argument, an argument that I have seen often but that does not hold water in my opinion. It goes a little something like this...

I won't use Linux because I had hardware issues the last time I tried and I never have any on my Mac.

You see the issue I have with this is that you cannot compare your experience with you Mac to your experience of installing some favor of Linux on some randomly configured PC. The people that put forward this argument always fail to admit that their Mac is a closed system that does not allow them to install any old piece of hardware. If they were to be fair they should compare the experiences of the Hackentosh community to that of Linux, they would then at least be in the same ball park.

The second aspect of their argument that I have an issue with is this, neither Apple or Windows have really been in the position that Linux is. Linux as an OS needs people to adopt it now so that hardware vendors will improve their support, something that has started happening thanks to Dell and AMD.

In reality if you want to compare Apples to Linux you should be comparing a Dell or System76 PC with a Mac.

Crunch Bang Linux Desktop

Crunch Bang Linux Desktop
Originally uploaded by kiwiboyus

Here's a screen shot of my current #! Crunch Bang Linux desktop. I love how clean looking Openbox is with just Conky and Gwibber running.

Love this design.

I just stumbled across this blog while looking for a good Kiwi icon to use as my avatar, I maybe a Pakeha but I really like this design. It's the islander in me, just like my need to live near the ocean, it's a Kiwi thing. Oh and I found my icon.