[TriLUG] MacOS X and free software

[John Matthews]

The messages to the mailing list this morning have me thinking about a
thought I've been turning over in my head. The idea, I'm sure, isn't
original or even earth-shattering, but the nagging in the back of my
mind is more insistent with every event like this morning's discussion.

I'm not trying to start a flame war (famous last words) but I would be
interested in a *discussion*, so here goes:

I think MacOS X could well be seriously damaging the advancement of
other UNIX-workalike operating systems, including Linux and *BSD.

Let me describe to you the change that has occurred around me over the
past year. I do some writing in my spare time for a Linux-oriented
website and we have a "staff" IRC channel where we congregate. Of the
people that hang out there, three have bought Apple machines recently
(last 12 months) for the express purpose of running MacOS X. That's
about half of the core members, and there are times when the channel
becomes dominated with MacOS X chatter. As an example, there have been
many discussions in the past two weeks about Jaguar features and
improvements.

Furthermore, two friends in my profession (I'm a mathematician) have
been considering using their grant money to buy MacOS X machines. This
was especially more attractive, apparently, when I informed them that
Matlab was going to be released for MacOS X. (The Mac port had
previously been stalled at version 4, while versions 5 and 6 had come
for other platforms. The new Mac version will be in sync with the
others, mostly, and starts at 6.1.) The guys had been using Sun and
Linux machines before, and before MacOS X were simply concentrating on
getting Linux machines when they upgraded. While the talk has now moved
back to Linux in the past weeks, there have been many times when they
seemed ready to head for Apple's products and not look back.

The number of MacOS X users on this list makes me feel that perhaps the
uptake of MacOS X will displace interest in Linux and *BSD systems.
That, in itself, may not be inherently bad, but I do see Linux and *BSD
as the very heart of the free software movement, and damage to their
progress I see as also damaging to the spread of free software.

I am aware of fink, and I do know that the three folks in the IRC
channel all use it to get the free software packages that they're most
attached to. (One mentioned installing GNOME and Pan, just the other
day.) Yet, I've always seen free software on a closed system (like fink
and cygwin, or Mozilla and Apache) as a tool of convenience in an
environment that requires the closed system. Or a way to slowly accustom
the neophytes to the idea of free software as the basis for a system,
with the long term goal of getting someone onto a free system
completely. (It is in this context that I would condone the use of WINE,
for example.)

I'm not sure that that is likely to happen with MacOS X, and I fear that
the effect could be more parasitic on the free software world than
helpful. That is, lots and lots of users with almost no feedback, no
growth of the community, and potential exploitation of the codebase
(which is allowed for *BSD, I realize). Perhaps these are already
happening on Linux (that is, poor community citizens exist everywhere,
regardless of their system of choice) but in general, the Linux users I
meet are much more mindful of being part of the system.

And those from our current community who may be good citizens puzzle me
when they want to give their money to Apple. It seems to be trading
freedom for convenience or apps that are pleasing to the eye, and at
some level that makes me uneasy.

I realize I'm just a zealot. My best friend tells me that all the time.
But I can at least say that I have a very odd feeling about the rise of
MacOS X, especially among the people in the existing free software
community. And I'm not sure that I feel that the people that are seeing
free software in production use for the first time via MacOS X are
getting the message (I guess, the message I want them to get) that the
freedom part is very important.

Perhaps I'm the only one that's uneasy, but I'd sure like to hear what
other people think.

I hope I've not offended anyone, but there you go.

matt

-- 
Matt Matthews     \ ph: 919.660.2811        \ Use GNU/Linux  _o) w00t
Duke Univ., Postdoc\ jvmatthe at math.duke.edu  \____________   /\\
Dept. of Mathematics\ http://www.math.duke.edu/~jvmatthe/ \ _\_V
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