[ale] macbook and linux

Mon Nov 26 08:00:03 EST 2007

I have a MacBook Core2 that I use for testing OSX integration with my customer's environments.  I have found it to be easy to use, and very good for quick boots and good battery life at wifi sites, but I rarely use it for everyday productivity.  I find it to be limiting and non-intuitive for my work habits.  I have five desktops and three notebooks running openSUSE, and I wouldn't use anything else based on my experiences so far.

-jt

James Taylor
The East Cobb Group, Inc.
678-697-9420
james.taylor at eastcobbgroup.com
http://www.eastcobbgroup.com

>>> On Sun, Nov 25, 2007 at  8:36 PM, in message
<C36F8D49.C3F2%gcanter at speedfactory.net>, Greg Canter
<gcanter at speedfactory.net> wrote: 
> I think you are entirely correct.  When I tried to put Windows 2000K on a
> laptop I discovered that there were no drivers for Windows 2K for some
> features- only XP (Vista was not an option).  Needless to say this "forced
> upgrade" has not been forgotten on my part to this day.  I think Dell (as
> well as HP) knows that those who use Linux/*BSD will do whatever they need
> to do anyway.  But yeah, I think the fear of a MS retribution weighs heavily
> on their minds, as well as whatever agreements with the devil they signed
> that are not public knowledge. MS has in the past created barriers for their
> competitors to work with their own software (Lotus 123 vs. Excel comes to
> mind first).  If MS wanted to teach them a lesson I am sure it would be
> pretty painful to the Dells and HPs.
> 
> From what I have heard about selling to WalMart it goes something like this.
> You go to their HQ and are escorted to a plain vanilla school
> lunchroom/prison visitation like room with the only features being a
> lunchroom table and a picture of "The Sam" on the wall.  The vendors are
> then beaten by WalMart to give up every cent possible as well as bend to
> WalMarts particular requirements (i.e. RFID's) for vendors. The article's
> theme seemed to be that it was not a pleasant experience for the vendors and
> the phrase "win/win" was not in the WalMart vocabulary.  Such is the ritual
> to gain entrance to WalMart.
> 
> Personally in the last year I have used my MacBook Pro at home (using OSX)
> 99% of the time.  Studio64 on my dual Opteron accounts for the other 1%.  I
> am pretty happy with OSX for everything except for Apple's lack of giving
> back to the community in proportion to what they have taken. <-- Just my
> personal opinion.  Parallels is fine for what I have had to do with any
> other OS.
> 
> - Greg
> 
> 
> 
> On 11/25/07 5:10 PM, "Geoffrey" <lists at serioustechnology.com> wrote:
> 
>> Daniel Howard wrote:
>>> I would not characterize Dell as anti-Linux.  The fact that they are
>>> offering Linux boxes at all is positive, and as for the cost aspect, I
>>> suspect it has much more to do with basic economics than being
>>> pro-Windows: you can always charge less and make a lower margin for an
>>> item you expect to sell many more of,
>> 
>> I find this hard to believe in this instant.  You basically take the
>> same hardware and install a different OS on each computer.  Once you've
>> installed it once, repeating that process is quite simple.
>> 
>>> and so far Dell's Linux sales,
>>> while increasing, especially on the server side, are still only a small
>>> fraction of what Windows based systems are for them.  Walmart can charge
>>> $200 for a Linux box because they are so much bigger and their shoppers
>>> typically only care about price, whereas Dell shoppers go there for
>>> quality/support, so the Linux business is likely to grow much more
>>> slowly.  The cost of support per sale for Linux may be higher for them
>>> as well due to users not being familiar with the OS and calling for more
>>> basic things (where is the IE icon?).
>> 
>> If you check out the options, you have to pay extra for Linux support.
>> The support options specifically state 'hardware support' in the case of
>> Linux.
>> 
>> Before I characterize them as
>>> anti-Linux, I'll wait to see over coming year or two how the
>>> price/hardware performance compares as sales of Linux based systems grows.
>> 
>> Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy they are providing Linux based
>> systems.  I believe the reason you don't see more if it is more an issue
>> of the companies fearing retribution from Microsoft then anything else.
>> 
>>> 
>>> Best,
>>> Daniel
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:06:44 -0500
>>> From: Jeff Hubbs <hbbs at comcast.net>
>>> Subject: Re: [ale] macbook and linux
>>> To: Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts <ale at ale.org>
>>> Message-ID: <4748CAA4.3030902 at comcast.net>
>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>>> 
>>> This, to me, paints Dell as both anti-consumer and anti-Linux.  I
>>> wouldn't reward them with my business.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Geoffrey wrote:
>>>>> James Taylor wrote:
>>>>>>> The specs are not to great compared to what I can pick up for
>>> sale at similar or better prices from Costco, Office Depot or even
>>>>>>> Microcenter.  You don't pay the microsoft "tax", but you pay more
>>> for less performance.  It might feel good, but it doesn't make sense
>>>>>>> economically.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> It's hard to take Dell seriously about this when they offer the
>>> low end of each of their lines for not great prices on their non-ms
>>>>>>> boxes.
>>>>> 
>>>>> You're right.  I just priced an Inspiron 1420 with Ubuntu and with
>>>>> Windows.  Identical systems:
>>>>> 
>>>>> Ubuntu:  $1518
>>>>> Windows: $1318
>>>>> 
>>>>> And the windows laptop has a 250G drive, whereas the Ubuntu could
>>> only go as large as 160GB.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So you're paying $200 MORE not to get windows, along with the
>>> smaller hard drive.
>>>>> 
>> 
> 
> 
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