Wednesday, July 1, 2009

I Love my Macbook

I love this laptop. But like love between humans, my attachment to my Mac is not perfect, and comes with reservations. Firstly, computer software sucks generally. The Mac is only a partial exception to this general rule. Second, I want all information to be free. I know this is childish and unrealistic, but that knowledge doesn't help. I am irrationally committed to Free Software. So the fact that the Mac is proprietary occasionally makes me cringe.

Here's a portion of an email I sent to a friend that works at Apple that sums up my feelings about my new machine:

You guys keep churning out great stuff. I bought a MacBook Pro the beginning of March, and I have no hesitation in saying it's the best damned laptop I've ever owned, and I've had *lots* of laptops. The thoughtful physical design, ergonomics, all that is fine. But it's the software that really rocks. Coming from Linux, I occasionally get annoyed by proprietary road blocks or toll roads. But it's nothing compared with the pit of impotent despair that I sink into while wrestling with the execrable, wasteful, irredeemable pile of stinking rotting fish that is Windows. OS/X makes towing the proprietary line seem OK. Windows brings out the insurrectionist in me. Depending on your political point of view, you could say that OS/X is Obama and Windows is Bush. They both represent the same system, but differences in style and substance make one a whole lot more tolerable than the other.

So keep up those long hours. Domestic tranquility depends on them. :)

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