If you choose, you lose
A few years ago some of the members of my old bands’ forum got into an in-depth discussion, which quickly escalated to an argument and finally a mud-slinging match over the age-old Armenian VS Calvinist debate.
It was pretty sad to be involved with, watching a bunch of men and women, united under Christ, flaming each other over a 500 year old debate. As a side-note, I should mention that I found it quite interesting that when all the cards were laid down, it turned to personal attacks. However, that’s not really the point I want to make today.
The reason I bring all that up again, God forbid, is because I find it a perplexing parallel to the “OS Warsâ€? that have been raging on over the last couple of years. You don’t have to search too far to find an argument between Linux and Mac users (particularly) over who’s OS (of choice) is better.
I personally am a Mac user, who is very fond of what’s going on with Ubuntu and I have it installed under Parallels on my machine. Though, admittedly, I haven’t really found a good use for it just yet. There are definite strong points to both OS’s and each definitely has its’ place, but I don’t really (fully) understand why we’re arguing with each other.
The truth of the matter is that when you trace the steps back, both Linux and Mac are, for lack of a better word, bastardised versions of Unix. The Linux crowd hacked it to pieces to make it work on beige-boxes and Apple commercialised it and now make us pay a pretty penny for the privilege.
I don’t care much for entertaining this argument. While I most certainly could be considered an Apple “fanboiâ€?, the truth is that I’m equally open to using Linux and do. I just find it really ridiculous how passionately hateful some of us can be towards each other, when really aren’t we all united in the great war against Windows? :P
One of the arguments that’s often thrown around is the point of “choiceâ€?. The interesting thing about this “choiceâ€? is that it is almost always used in an enigmatic way. Let me explain;
About an hour ago I finished reading an article on APC about how two “notableâ€? Mac users recently switched to Linux. In the comments to that article I noticed that one Linux user put forward the point that; what Linux brings to the table is the ability for people to freely “chooseâ€?. What I find odd is that he is using that as a “winning card” over buying a Mac. But, doesn’t that actually negate the whole idea of free choice? Free choice, to me is to be able to select from ALL the possible options available (without making a wrong one), so really someone “choosingâ€? a Mac for instance shouldn’t be against this guys ideology. Yet, this was the centre-piece for his argument AGAINST buying a mac… Go figure…
There are many, many good reasons to go down the Linux path and certainly users’ of the Open-source OS will always have price-point against the Mac (granted). But, there is ONE thing that I just cannot stand for any longer from the Linux community.
If I hear one more person try to tell me that somehow “The Gimpâ€? is even slightly close to being a worthy candidate against Photoshop, I think I’m going to blow a gasket. Open source has brought about many amazing pieces of software. I for one am a huge fan of Open Office and I am actually typing this in NeoOffice (the Mac port of Open Office). But in all (slightly over-exaggerated) honesty the fact that “The Gimpâ€? has colour-palletes DOES NOT MAKE IT A WORTHY ADVERSARY FOR PHOTOSHOP!!!
Let me make this clear, just in case you’re confused. I’m all for “The Gimpâ€? project; I think it’s something that definitely is needed in the Linux community and I can’t wait for it to become a concern for Adobe, but it’s just not. I am an internet professional, with real clients, designing real websites, WITH REAL SOFTWARE and I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I cannot do, in “The Gimpâ€?, what I can do with proprietry software. It’s a sad fact, but I think you’ll find that the overwhelmingly large consensus in the design community confirms it.
There is one other sad truth that I want to put on the table with regard to “The Gimp� also; Every single person who has ever put forward such a strong argument for this tool has been completely and utterly void of design sense and ability. I apologise in advance to anyone with real talent who is keen on “The Gimp�, but I have never met you, nor anyone like you.
I love Ubuntu and quite seriously, if Adobe ever got the courage to port Photoshop to Linux, the Lord knows I wouldn’t have much of a need for OS X anymore, but I think that day is a while away yet and to be honest I am, at least, a little glad. OS X is still the sexiest OS around on some of the sexiest hardware around. That is a subjective point of course, but it’s my subjective point; SO… NYERR!!!
