From Newsgroup: comp.sys.mac.system
Davoud <
star@sky.net> wrote:
Gnarlodious wrote:
I thought I never wanted to see a command prompt again after a career
with DOS, but now I do most of my stuff in Terminal. The true power of OSX is its smooth integration with *NIX servers.
For you.
And me. And quite a lot of others.
It is my impression that the majority of Mac users rarely,
perhaps never, see the Terminal.
That's probably true. But just because that's a majority doesn't mean
there aren't plenty of us others. If you want to start down that line,
the majority of computer users don't ever see a Mac. In the scientific
and engineering comunity, the Unix base of OS X, along with all that
implies, is *THE* reason why a lot of folk such as myself have switched
to Macs. There are a non-trivial number of us. You are probably right
that we are not a majority, but we are a pretty substantial minority
these days.
It seems to me that if one's main objective were smooth
integration with Unix servers one would buy a computer much less
expensive than a Mac.
I assume that this isn't your objective (not much of an assumption, as
you explicitly say the same) and that you therefore have never actually researched the question. I have. Quite a lot, actually. And I now have
Macs, as do many of my co-workers. I don't know where you are going to
find these mythical Unix computers much less expensive than a Mac.
Suns? Yeah. Sure. I've had Suns. Still have a bunch of them out at work.
We've spent literally several million dollars on them (not each, though
there are some of the bigger ones around half a million). Cost is the
main reason I moved away from Suns; other factors contributed, but cost
was a big one. Suns are not cheap; if you think they are, you've been
listening to too many sales folk lines.
Linux boxes? Yes, they can be cheap... until you add system integration
costs. I've done system integration, having built quite a few Linux
boxes, both at home and at work. I know well what I'm talking about. One
of the things you are paying for with a Mac is a good job of systems integration. A good job of that doesn't come cheap; it has real value
and costs real money. You certainly can put together a cheap Linux box, particularly if you are doing it as a hobby so the value of your time
doesn't get added in. Get a well-integrated and supported one, and
you'll find it not so cheap.
And then, in the workplace, the capital cost is almost negligable
anyway. It is dwarfed by the costs of things like sysadmin, network infrastructure, etc. If I recall, our desktop systems at work cost
somewhere around $250 a month, for systems that we nominally keep for 3
years. You can do the arithmetic and figure out about how much of that
is the initial hardware cost, but in case you don't want to bother, the
short answer is "not much of it".
We've got all 3 of the above-described systems at work - Sun's, Linux
boxes, and Macs. Plus a few odds and ends of other Unix systems in
special places (an HP or two; still one old Dec Alpha system around
somewhere, but I don't think the IBM RS 6000s are still here). And, of
course, a bazillion Windows boxes. Nobody, but nobody has ever said
anything along the line of "why don't you use some cheaper Unix system
than a Mac". They would probably get a funny look if they said that,
because it just wouldn't make much sense.
--
Richard Maine | Good judgement comes from experience;
email: last name at domain . net | experience comes from bad judgement.
domain: summertriangle | -- Mark Twain
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