🚀 go-pugleaf

huntley@copper.ucs.indiana.edu (Haydn Huntley) writes:
>What I would like to ask you is, why doesn't the FSF create an
>alternative OS that is better than Apple's, and runs on their hardware?
>There is nothing legally preventing that, is there?  If there was such
>an OS, then Apple's users would naturally prefer it, and Apple would
>lose much of their market influence due to the free market's behavior.

Though I tend to disagree with the FSF's attitude towards Apple, your
argument here won't work.  The price of the "Apple OS" (not A/UX) is
bundled into the price of the hardware.  Writing another OS that ran
on that hardware would have no price advantage, since it is already
paid for.

Note, too, that much of the bundled software cost of the Macintosh is
gained back by their efficient use of the hardware that they sell.
(Given that you want a graphical user interface, that is.  If a GUI is
just a frill to you, then you make different choices.)  $5000 will buy
me quite a lot of Macintosh, though it isn't necessarily that much
hardware.  This also makes it hard to edge out Apple with free
software, because it just won't run well without a great deal of
tuning effort.  Slow = bad user interface = people won't like it
better than Apple's.

Of course, hardware is getting cheaper at a good clip, and that will
almost certainly change things.

David Chase
Sun