[Smaug] Friday, August 23....

[Rick Moen]

A few thoughts on the subject:  

Calling the Friday crowd's attention to the option of using Linux on
(especially) older Mac hardware sounds like it could be a winner.
However, there are hazards.

I've spent time on OS X user mailing lists, attempting to welcome users
to Unix and help them solve problems.  Most of those present appreciated
it -- but there were a vocal minority who resented the hell out of
someone who's primarily a Linux user even being present at _all_ (even
though my household network includes OS X hosts).  Those people kept
frantically (and unilaterally) attempting to pick fights with me, not
because of anything I said, but solely because of my host's OS and
domain name.  The constant barrage of non-sequitur evangelism and even
outright hatemail became really tiresome.

Also, there's a mindset among many such users that understanding how
things work is literally undesirable, and that, if one believes Apple
Computer, Inc. to have recommended something, that's an unassailable 
argument in its favour.  For example, I was repeatedly told I was
_wrong_ in favouring the UFS filesystem over HFS+, and the sole
justification cited was that Apple formatted its preloads using HFS+.

Bear in mind that many of the people who'll turn out on Friday will
reject anything that's not Apple-blessed.  Those with older Mac hardware
will already have an Apple-blessed operating system (Mac OS 9.1 or
lower) that has in the past met their needs.  Even where those machines
will never run OS X, interesting them in a non-Apple OS might be a hard
sell -- even if you hand out CDs, and offer to install them.

Don't forget that many of them don't really think of the OS as a thing
separate in itself:  Exactly as Apple intended, they refer to the entire
hardware + software experience as "Macintosh".  (I literally confused
the mailing list members by saying "Of _course_ I like Macs.  My old
7200 makes a great Linux box.")

What I'm saying is that, if you intend to reach out to Mac hardware
users at the Friday sales event, beware of a vast chasm of user cultures
-- and of triggering signficant hostility even if you don't court it.

Lee McKusick wrote:

> The Mac product reflects Steve Jobs executive position and interest in
> elegance, power and years of experience ... and UC Berkeley education
> and years with that exquisite mid 80's Unix box... what was it's name?

The NeXT machines and NeXTStep.  OS X is basically NeXTStep 5.0,
slathered with MacOS makeup.

-- 
"Is it not the beauty of an asynchronous form of discussion that one can go and 
make cups of tea, floss the cat, fluff the geraniums, open the kitchen window 
and scream out it with operatic force, volume, and decorum, and then return to 
the vexed glowing letters calmer of mind and soul?" -- The Cube, forum3000.org