At first the iMac was a cool product, all shiny, all aluminum. The construction was the selling point; I also liked OSX Tiger. I went all-in too. I bought Photoshop CS3 and a dozen other paid applications like Transmit, Textmate, etc. Everything went well for a while. I tried Quicksilver and found it marginally useful at best (experts disagree). Fortunately Quicksilver is free so I didn’t loose anything by trying it out. Unfortunately, the other apps I bought were not free and I found them to be only marginally useful as well.
Everything I was doing with Transmit I could do with gFTP. Everything I was doing with Textmate I could do with SciTE. I wasted around a hundred dollars on software that had equally good open source alternatives.
THE GIMP ROCKS
And then we get to the issue of Photoshop, the $700 gorilla in the room. I got it for web design, but you know what? To this day I have never used Photoshop for something that The Gimp couldn’t do equally well. Maybe if I were designing print media Photoshop would be more useful. Maybe if I were a professional photographer. But for web design The Gimp does everything I need it to.
ITUNES SUCKS
iTunes sucks. I hate it, it’s as robust as a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest. When you compare it to amaroK iTunes is so completely lacking in features that it’s sickening. The iTunes store sucks too, everything is so DRM-ified that I can’t do anything with the music except listen to it on crappy iTunes. And it’s all in the stupid mp4 format. </rant> The only cool thing about iTunes is the cover flow. That’s all. FWIW, from this point forward I’m purchasing all my music through Amazon. They’re cheaper, DRM-free and higher bitrate.
RIGHT CLICK BLUES
And you know how all those Mac fiends tell you that you never miss the right-click? They lie. I got so freakin’ sick of command-clicking that I literally threw up on my ultra-skinny, ultra-cool Mac keyboard. Oh yeah, and the mighty mouse sucks too; the microscopic scroll wheel to blame.
MONEY MONEY MONEY
I then wanted to change the desktop theme on my Mac. No dice. I had to buy an application to do that. I wanted to create an iso of a DVD I had. No dice, it would cost me $70. I wanted this, I wanted that; money money money. All the while there was my Ubuntu box offering all these things and more for free.
ILIFE ROCKS
To its credit there are things that Macs do better than Linux. iLife really is a great suite of applications. iMovie and iDVD rock. Though I must admit I feel a bit retarded saying the names of those applications because they all have that “i” in front. Garage Band would be cool if I were actually in a band.
WANT TO EXPAND?
One of the glaring weaknesses of an iMac, however, is the fact that you are only allowed by Apple to add and remove RAM. Nothing more. I’m sure that other, more expensive Mac towers are more easily modifiable. But I find it very disconcerting to think that if I wanted a larger hard drive, or a different video card, or a faster processor that I’d have to send my whole computer in to Apple and let them do it. As I’ve said before, I’m a DIY kind of guy. I want to be able to add a hard drive, buy a new processor or get a better graphics card. Since a Linux box uses a standard PC tower I’m afforded that possibility.
LEOPARD
And then Leopard came out with its shiny new virtual desktops and 3D dock. For a little over a hundred bucks it could all be mine. But . . . wait. Didn’t Ubuntu have those very same features already? Seriously.
CONCLUSION
So look, here’s the bottom line: Macs aren’t BAD per se. But Ubuntu, especially since the release of Feisty Fawn, is really just as good an option for the vast majority of the population. The only reason you should need to use Photoshop is if you’re in print media or a professional photographer. Every web designer can use The Gimp to just as much effectiveness.
If you’re using Windows or Linux and you’re thinking about springing for that new iMac, don’t. It’s really not any better. Essentially it all comes down to personal taste and personal opinion . . . and a good dose of highly effective marketing strategy.
37 Comments
Great to see a Mac user like ubuntu more than Mac.
Excellent article.
So Ben, how much $ did that lesson cost you? Just curious….I currently go back and forth between Ubuntu and XP, and was considering a Mac sometime this year. Your article here may save me a lot of money! Maybe I should go back and learn all that Linux stuff I keep putting off.
intersting article, but the reality is in my opinion that you couldn\’t see the wood for the trees. There is in fact a host of opensource, freeware and shareware apps for the mac that do all those jobs you mention.
as for Itunes, thats a personal thing and I respect your opinion here…fact is on my macbok pro I also run Ubuntu throught the Parallels desktop application
if you had the might mouse you would know you can programme it to right/control click ( as I do with mine).
As for Gimp..check here: http://www.gimp.org/macintosh/
If you know your way around Unix you can easily change icons and theme your mac, otheriwse you are right its 12-20 dollars.
Now my last point is important, I dont understadn why disgruntled switchers want their mac to be a PC, the old adage was that whilst PC users did things to their PC, mac users did things WITH their mac. Its a mac, you don\’t ned to change this and that, you can have it built to order anyway….why add this graphics card or that drive and have all that PC hassle of conflicting or non operational drivers. In a mac as they say…it just works and thas the way we want it.
check this:
http://sikanrong.com/blog_entries/view/12
or this interesting thread
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=874257&ign=1
your mac is never going to be a PC. Its a mac, Linux is competitive and their is alot of opensource material out there which is good…best of all as I have said about my mac is that it can run OSX 10.5 and XP and Ubuntu, side by side.
@Anthony: Around $3,000usd.
@Macmend: You\’re absolutely right, there are a lot of opensource apps for OSX. But have you seen The Gimp on OSX? It looks horrible compared to Linux. Open Office for Mac is still in beta and is buggy.
Your point about Macs \”just working\” is absolutely correct. You can\’t change them, they come to you and you use it. If you just want a box that does stuff, that you can\’t fix yourself, that you can\’t expand, and that if it breaks you have to send it back to the manufacturer then Macs are great. You also need to overlook the ridiculous vendor lock-in.
Parallels and other similar software are great applications. How much do they cost again?
And yes, you can pay for parallels to install XP or Vista . . . but you have to buy XP or Vista first (that is, if you don\’t have them already. I don\’t have either.)
However, to imply that Linux or Windows users don\’t or can\’t do things WITH their PCs is foolish
I am not implying anything, I work with PCS and Macs, Unix, Linux, Windows and Mac OS. as far as I am concerned they just do jobs, but the mac is the easiest to use and the best looking and for me this is important.
Alot of PC users are in the hobbyist tech bracket, they have a PC because they like building technical stuff and solving the problems etc. Theres nothing wrong with that.
To say macs can\’t be altered is not to understand the mac range. I have altered many hardware installs on macs i have and have had, disks, ram, graphics cards etc….however the iMac mentioned in the above articel has always been aimed at a particular niche home market (originally this was women). What is now called he Mac Pro is really as high end PC, which is configurable.
Lets be honest here, if you want software for free it is availbale, if it can be digitised someone somewhere has made it free. Opensource by the way does not always mean free…take a look at what happened to invision powerboard.
This vendor lockin is why mac users buy the mac, we know what it is and where it came from.
Its just different ways of thinking, just like people buy different wash powder, or cars or chocolate bars or radios or TVs…they are products.
Point taken. But I think you hit the crux of the issue here. There are two reasons people buy Macs: Aesthetics and Marketing. They\’re seen as the \”cool\” thing to have, especially by young people, and they\’re pretty to look at. But like you said, all the software that costs money has perfectly viable open source alternatives. And in many (though not all) ways, these open source alternatives are every bit as easy to use as their paid counterparts.
Ben - interesting article. I think you know I am a die-hard mac fan, though this doesn\’t mean I don\’t have my complaints as well.
But I have to disagree with you on the two reasons why people buy macs, I think those are two of the reasons but not the only two. Macs are good computers Ben, and while looking good may in fact be an important part of computing in the years to come, I think Mac can hold its own. This would explain why Mac has such a huge 3rd-party developer community.
So, in your frustration, don\’t completely throw the whole thing out. If it was just marketing and good looks, these computers wouldn\’t be around any longer, and we\’ve seen plenty of electronics in the past that fell under such categories.
Partially due to my own cheapness, partially due to my own theological persuasion, I make it a point to use open source software when and where I can. But I won\’t lie, I have programs that I have purchased because of their functionality, options, and stability.
I used cyberduck (ftp) for about 3 years, and just bought Yummy FTP for a cheap upgrade due to some Mac-special the company run a year ago.
I like the Gimp and use that some even though it isn\’t as flashy as it is on UNIX.
I used text-wrangler for a really long time for text editing but I also bought textmate which I personally really like and think is a top-notched program (but I also got that on special).
I can\’t argue with you about itunes, I have no experience with any other players other than Windows Media player, which makes me rather listen to screaming babies then music. But for me, does what I need I need it too, works well with my iPod (obviously), is perfect with my Airport Express, and great for sharing music around the house with my other macs. I\’ve never used a Unix box so I don\’t know, but what is it you\’d like for iTunes to do?
About the mighty mouse, I agree. I have a wireless one, and I wish I would have bought a third-party mouse. I like that mine works with bluetooth, but I hate using so many rechargeable batteries. I think I have to recharge just about every 3 days! The ball also gets gross, but I have figured out a good way to clean it. I dump some rubbing alcohol on a paper towel, turn the mouse upside down and rub the ball on that clothe for a few min. Works every time. Oh and I use the right-click on my mouse, but have never cared that my macbook didn\’t have one.
I am surprised you didn\’t get into quicksilver, it seems like the thing you\’d like. Have you watched the 43folders stuff on it, and theappleblog.com tutorials? That really helped me get into it more.
Oh and I really like Neo-Office, I think it works better and looks a little nicer than Open-Office.
All in all, I am sorry you\’re unhappy with that iMac, let me know if you want me to take it off your hands! I just got my iMac back from the shop. Apple had to replace the hard-drive (it was only 2.5 years old). But they replaced the 80gb drive with a 250gb drive, so no complaints on this end.
Ben, next time your in town, I think we have to have a sit down with Nick and show him the penguin.
Great post.
@Wess: Oh yeah, I totally agree that Macs can hold their own. But are they better than the alternatives? Hardly. I find just as much stability, robustness and usability in my open source apps (as you have found) as I do with the paid-for apps. So if the open source apps work fine on Macs then why get a Mac? The shell. The container.
Well, that\’s not all. You made a great point, that Macs work absolutely seemlessly with other Mac products. I don\’t want to be that dependent on one company.
It\’s going to be a hard, uphill battle to convince me that OSX is inherently any better than Ubuntu. It\’s got a shiny shell that looks really good (the icons are posh) but functionally it\’s no better. And it\’s certainly not worth the $100+ upgrade fee to move to Leopard IMHO. Not for the average user anyway.
I watched the Tuts on Quicksilver. Didn\’t impress me. I tried it out for a while and gave it up really quick.
Neo-office is nice but it\’s s-l-o-w. I agree though, the icons in neo-office look better than open-office. And FWIW, the open-office beta for OSX will eventually come to completion. Yet, for me, the point remains that I can still use that app on Linux.
I respect what you say, Wess, and I\’m not trying to dismiss you. But after trying both options, I\’m just not as impressed with Macs as I thought I would be. It\’s not that they\’re bad, or worse than Linux, it\’s only that I can\’t find any solid reasons to say they\’re better.
As for iTunes and lack of functionality. amaroK is amazing. Seemless integration with wikipedia, finds lyrics upon request as you\’re listening to a song. Super easy (as in, click a button) integration with Last.fm (iTunes uses a plugin if I recall correctly). Works with iPods just as well as iTunes. Automated fetching of album artwork. But one thing that iTunes lacks and amaroK features is song and album tagging. I love tagging my music as I have a lot of it. Also, through amaroK you can play Last.fm stations. amaroK is the real deal when it comes to music apps.
@mwilsonemt: totally. We can even install Ubuntu on his Macbook Pro
WOW, this must be the first time I\’ve seen Mac users respond in a civilised manner.
The biggest thing that puts me off Macs are the fanboys who have given the brand a bad name. I also believe this is the cause of everything else that puts me off Macs, how can they ever improve if the majority of their users are happy with anything apple no matter how bad it is?
Lets all thank the God of UNIX for this
- In my opinion … Unix its like the grandmaster of the temple that taught all of the followers.
-Linux Its the young disciple that follows It\’s master philosophy yet improves on it
-Mac its kind of like judas, He betrayed the master and says he \”follows the philosophy\” but really does not
-Windows would be kind of like the town whore. Everyone uses it but we all know its no good
Get PC if you want a PC, get a mac if you want a mac, you should know what you\’re in for before you buy the product. I know someone who has a house full of macbooks and mac pros and they\’re perfectly happy with them because they do exactly what they want. I use a PC because that\’s what I\’m used to using and I like to be able to upgrade when I want and tinker around a little. Bottom line is, if you research your needs then buy the product to suit them you should be fine.
Nice message.
I know you\’ll check out our website..
Thank you again
@bigbluealien: So true.
@TyLLy_4: HAHAHAHA! That\’s the funniest (and most accurate) description of OS\’s I\’ve ever heard.
@Keiran: Of course, you\’re right.
Thanks for the comments about civilised manner. I always found all that my computer is better than yours stuff a bit boring, I think also the PC wars are over, applications are becoming platform agnostic, mainly because of the drift to the internet, look how google has expanded its suite, things you used to only be able to do on a PC you now do online, gaming photos, databases, writing, drawing, email, messaging, forums, blogs etc etc all online, now it doesn\’t really matter which platform you use as long as your computer is powerful enough and web accessible.
In fact part of macs recent rise in popularity is down to this very fact, then you start buying a computer not on whats in it or what apps it has but merely on whether its good looking and easy to use.
Online everything…watch this space!
Ben - I just don\’t know that you can be happy using one thing longer than a month, without switching to something else
@Will: You know me
@macmend: This is very true. Everything is going online now and Google is leading the way.
It\’s good to see a comparison like this, a true reflection of your experience. By the sounds of it I too would find using a Mac slightly annoying in some areas. I don\’t have any plans to purchase one anyway as they\’re too expensive for me haha. I\’m quite content with my dual-boot of Linux Mint and Windows to be honest.
I would have to echo what you said about Ubuntu, or in my case Linux Mint (which is based on Ubuntu, it uses the say repositories and Debian packages), that so many programs available for it can do just as much and more than some commercial programs.
Ben - I\’ve never used Ubuntu so I don\’t have the same kind of vantage point as you.
I like things about the mac that go beyond what I can get with open-source software. What I mean is there are things about it such as The OS and all its features, the number of pre-installed software like you suggested, the Apple\’s Support Warranty, as well as it\’s functionality, design, ease-of use and reliability. I am not saying Ubuntu doesn\’t offer these things, I don\’t know if it does, but that these are all things that make it worth it for me.
I don\’t mind having to depend on one company the way I \”depend\” on Apple. There are all kinds of companies and brands we depend on daily, but those companies that \”trust\” are ones that at least take care of their customers, offer a good product that is reliable, and have decent ethics running their company (as best as we know). I feel this way not only about my computer, but an assortment of other companies where I purchase things from.
How usable is Ubuntu for the average person, again coming from someone completely ignorant of how it works? I found PC\’s a bear to work with and the switch from PC to Mac ridiculously simple (though I am sure there are a variety of experiences here). Is Ubuntu easy to install and use? Do you know if it\’s possible to have Ubuntu run on my Macbook, as a second OS Install? I\’d be interested in trying it out if you know whether it can be done or not. I don\’t have any interest in putting windows on this machine though.
I\’d like to see some of the functionality you suggested for itunes, that would be cool.
Also, I cannot make the claim that mac is inherently better than ubuntu (for reasons stated above), I guess my point is that Mac is a great computer and a worthy contender. It may not work for everyone\’s needs or preferences, but then again I don\’t think there is really any objective way to make a claim about something like this. It really boils down to what we feel attached to, prefer, and/or understand the best.
All in all, let me know (you or any of your readers) if I can install Ubuntu on my Macbook with 10.5 installed (I have bootcamp) and where I can learn how to do it and I will give it a shot!
You and I absolutely agree, there is no objective way to settle a debate like this. In the end it all comes down to what you find important.
I should say, though, that the \”intuitive interface\” argument is somewhat awkward. As someone once said, \”The only intuitive interface is the nipple. After that its all learned.\”
I went from Windows to Ubuntu and had a very positive experience with the change. The biggest hurdle for me with the switch was the sheer amount of choices I had before me. I was used to having only a handful of options and now I could do anything. I also had to learn to leverage the collective knowledge of the community. This, I think, would be the biggest turn off for most users. Ubuntu isn\’t hard to learn, but you just have to learn how to make choices again because you don\’t have a corporate office making them for you.
Many people, I think, like Windows and Mac (though Apple is somewhat different because it vends hardware as well as software) because there\’s a company backing them up. And that company has to back them up because they paid them to. Linux, however, has no single company backing them up. Instead there\’s an enormous user base supporting them. Most people don\’t like this or are at least uncomfortable with it. They\’d rather pay someone else to watch their back, to guarantee their product, their service. I can\’t blame them for feeling this way.
Ubuntu is dead simple to install. Super simple. If you have bootcamp you should be able to install Ubuntu. I don\’t have any experience with dual booting OSX and Ubuntu though
.
You said,
I agree that Gimp can do wonders, but there really is no comparing it to Photoshop. While Gimp is much easier to get acquainted with for web design, when you do get good with photoshop, Gimp becomes a pain to even consider anymore. The quality is the first thing that you notice after using PS for a while, there\’s just something about Gimp that looks off when pictures are made to look high quality. Anyways, I agree, Mac is great, but Ubuntu and Linux in general do much of the same things as other Os\’s. In fact, I would abandon XP completely if major companies started providing more Linux support, Mainly Linksys. Good article, though, very well written.
You and I may be having different experiences with Gimp. I\’ve never noticed that my Photoshop images are any better. But for me, having spent most of my time on Gimp, Photoshop is a pain
so in that sense it goes both ways. At any rate, if the argument is true, and Photoshop is better than Gimp, I really, really don\’t think it\’s $700 better 
.
Thank you for the kind words
.
Ben,
It\’s good to see that not only Windows users are converting over to Ubuntu. I thoroughly agree with all of the things you have listed here.
One of the other things that I like with Ubuntu is that most of the programs that I already had used in Windows, like Gimp and Blender (3d modeling), ran way faster in Ubuntu and loaded more than twice as fast.
Before I had even read any reviews of Amarok, I fell in love with it too. I especially like the fact that it is so easy to update my entire music library. Once I was organizing some files on my music hard drive, and I moved most of my files from my old folder to the top level, and Amarok automatically detected it once I told it about one file! I knew that was a sign of how amazingly wonderful Ubuntu could be.
Best of luck in 2008!
-Jeff
Most of the stuff with ubuntu is like that. When I install an application on my computer it automatically detects when there\’s an update. It tells me there\’s an update and then I click \”install\”. Couldn\’t be simpler.
Gotta say I agree. I also installed Ubuntu on my Macbook Pro. My experiences:
http://kahvipapu.com/blog/2007/12/29/liberating-macbook-pro/
I admit that my time on Ubuntu has been brief, but I didn’t take to it. The reason I got a Mac after a decade of Windows was that I was fed up with having to tinker with it. I found myself spending too much time following guides explaining how to get my keyboard working… I didn’t really think it was a good use of my time spending it in the terminal window.
- THE GIMP ROCKS
GIMP works on a mac, but there are plenty of other image editors open source and beneath the $30 mark which will do everything photoshop can do.
- ITUNES SUCKS
I spent years with Winamp, iTunes is a much better way to play music. It works with my iPod, and I buy only DRM-free music from iTunes.
- RIGHT CLICK BLUES
You do know you can plug in any USB mouse and get right click functionality?
- MONEY MONEY MONEY
Maybe I’ve been looking in the right places, but I haven’t found much that I can’t do using open source or freeware apps. I’ve bought quite a few, because I believe in supporting developers that make good software.
- ILIFE ROCKS
Yes. iMove is a bit twee, but then I use Final Cut Pro.
- WANT TO EXPAND?
I haven’t needed to make any changes, and to be honest I don’t have the interest to fiddle with the hardware. I have better things to do with my time.
- LEOPARD
Yes Ubuntu does have most of it already, but it looks better on a mac.
- CONCLUSION
I am not a mac fanboy, simply someone who has a fairly stressful job, a long term girlfriend, all of which take up most of my time and I have no desire to spend what limited time I have left arguing with my computer. Simply put, my iMac works, perfectly, ever single time I use it. Maybe I have just been lucky.
I totally agree with you. I use a MacBook Pro running Leopard as my daily work computer, as I need to run Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash as part of my web developer job. If you are wondering why, our designer gives me the designs and I code up the HTML and backend work. However, other than those programs what do I use? Emacs and Netbeans. My work on the servers (which are Debian)? Standard command line SSH client. I also use the standard suite of UNIX utilities via ports. Before getting this OSX work computer I ran Linux via various distros for about 10 years. I can tell you that having seen the pace of development of Linux over that time that it won’t be long until the naysayers don’t have anything to complain about. OSX is really a great operating environment there’s no doubt about it, but I can tell you that after using it for about a year now, that there are just as many quirks and things that annoy as any window manager I’ve used on Linux.
At the present, the major advantage the Mac seems to hold is in small-scale video production. The tools available for the Mac just perform better, currently. A number of Open Source projects promise to turn the tables in the near future, but right now, for video go with a Mac.
Even tired, old Windows has its niche, but, in business, mostly its good only for maintaining compatibility with previous work. This realization is far from universal, but it is literally growing every day.
The GIMP is the best tool available for producing images for the web. Photoshop holds a definite advantage for print, but its functionality for the web is inferior to the GIMP. For example, I have bought highly-touted plugins for Photoshop which don’t do as good a job of compressing JPEG’s as the native facility in the GIMP. And the GIMP isn’t just a little better than these plugins; it flat buries them, maintaining image characteristics with files half the size of the plugins, for comparable quality. I have worked with DTP since its inception in the ’80’s. Those who disparage the GIMP only display ignorance and a lack of professionalism.
Hello!
Use whatever you want. It’s up to you.
I just want to let you know that you can go to ‘System Preferences >> Keyboard & Mouse >> Trackpad’ and enable “Tap trackpad using two fingers for secondary click” to get the right click functionality.
Just tap it with two fingers simultaneously. You can also scroll around 360
@above Linux naysayers: I’m not saying that Mac’s are bad. I’m just saying that they’re not any better than Linux. Dave had it right, the development of Linux is lightning fast and you’re going to find bugs and/or annoyances in any operating system.
Nah, I’ll take my FOSS.
I take it you’ve seen Mac4Lin already. If not it’s a nice little transformation pack that brings more of the look of Leopard to Ubuntu. I’m not a Mac guy but I used a Mac on an old sound gig and liked some of the features (like the dock). I checked our Mac4Lin just to see how it looked/worked and it’s now on my list of things that had to be reinstalled if I do a wipe and reinstall of my Ubuntu Box. You can check it out at http://sourceforge.net/projects/mac4lin and there’s a nice support topic on the Ubuntu Forums at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=555373
that you may want to peruse as well. infra_red_dude really knows how to support a program and he’s even been patient with me while I asked some noob questions about the MacMenu.
@peng: That looks really sweet. When I said I liked the way an iMac looks, however, I wasn’t really talking about the desktop environment. I was more talking about the whole iMac aesthetic: the aluminum and glass, the all-in-one design, the thin keyboard, etc.
Yeah, nobody can touch that. Too bad it’s so expensive and so closed or else I might have been looking at a Mac the last time I was looking at new hardware. Not likely, but maybe.
That’s part of what I don’t like about Apple. They (just like every other company) are very closed. They have to be to maintain profits.
Ben,
Thanks for the post. I totally agree with you. I have used macs for 5 years, but a year and a half ago I switched for linux (various flavors, but mostly ubuntu), and haven’t looked back since then (well, only occasionally). As you, I’m not saying macs are bad: they are actually quite good for what they do, but I’m a hacker and got sick with the closeness of it all, the drm of iTunes, the incessant paying for applications, etc, etc.. all the reasons you list in your post.
And yes, as has been said, you can run linux on a mac, dual booting or with parallel, but what’s the point? All I need to do I can do now with ubuntu (on a cheaper PC), with much more freedom/openness and hacking capabilities.
I’m missing something here. If you’re happy with your Linux and I’m happy with my Mac, why does there have to be an issue?
Actually, I run Ubuntu* also, on my Mac!
As a programmer, I used to carry three laptops with me. Now it’s one laptop running three OSes. I highly recommend the MacBook Pro to any programmer who needs a laptop (and doesn’t need to kack it).
Oh, the first thing I did with my MBP is replace the RAM and the hard drive.
*7.04, via Parallels. Why give up the OS X/iLife goodness?
Great summary and I wish I could argue with you on a lot of points, but I can’t. However, you should look at a Mac as a piece of well designed hardware that comes with its own mostly proprietary OS. For a fairly modest price, you get great, integrated hardware and OSX does a good job at brining it all together. Most things that you don’t notice work smoothly, like Quartz. Its based on a BSD type system and I have found ubuntu (which I love) reminds me a lot of OS X. To make the unix side of my OS X box more like debian/ubuntu, I’ve even built and replaced a lot of Mac commands (like ls and sort) with gnu equivalents. That said, the day I can get ubuntu with (1) a vector drawing program as powerful and stable as Illustrator, (2) openoffice with support for reference management and bibliographic formatting (like Endnote), and (3) the ability to edit and save PDF forms, I’m switching completely to ubuntu and never looking back.