OSX is not perfect for anybody [LWN.net]

OSX is not perfect for anybody

Posted Feb 7, 2012 9:08 UTC (Tue) by khim (subscriber, #9252)
In reply to: OSX is not perfect for anybody by kragilkragil2
Parent article: Canonical pulls funding from Kubuntu

100% agree. To really measure success of MacOS X (as compared to success of Mac) you only need to take a look on the Hackintosh - i.e. on the version of MacOS which is not developed in tandem with the hardware it runs on.

It's hard to get strong numbers but empirical evidence shows that it's less popular then even Linux. Most users who do a conscious choice about the solftware they want to use pick [illegal copy of] Windows, not [illegal copy of] Hackintosh or even [legal copy of] Linux.

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OSX is not perfect for anybody

Posted Feb 7, 2012 11:02 UTC (Tue) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

I don't think it's valid to measure OS X popularity by the uptake of Hackintosh OS X. If you want to install Linux or Windows, almost any PC will work, whereas for a Hackintosh you need to be very careful about what hardware you choose (see the front page of the main Hackintosh site: http://wiki.osx86project.org/wiki/index.php/Main_Page ).

I don't think OS X is perfect, but as pre-installed on Macs it's clearly quite usable, and Apple has done a lot of usability testing that shows in the product.

When Ubuntu or Mint are installed and configured correctly they can also be very usable, and they are probably easier to lock down and simplify for people who just need to run a few apps.

OSX is not perfect for anybody

Posted Feb 7, 2012 12:35 UTC (Tue) by danieldk (guest, #27876) [Link]

"I don't think it's valid to measure OS X popularity by the uptake of Hackintosh OS X."

Indeed. I have used various Linux distributions and BSD operating systems since 1994. Even after some amount of work, I was not able to install Hackintosh on my HP desktop machine. So, it's nothing what a very tiny contingent of enthusiasts would or could install.