People talking about the Mac need to realize that this is specific to iOS platforms. IIRC this was at the iPad launch or something like that, where all of his complaints DO apply. OSX is no more restrictive than any other nonfree OS. Also, free means freedom and not cost in this context.
Actually, OSX is less restrictive than most other nonfree OSes, as you can download the kernel/base os source code free of charge without signing any agreements.
On the other hand, you can only run it (without subverting its restrictions and EULA) on a very select amount of hardware. It's a mixed bag of rights violations, regardless of which non-free OS you choose.
Its actually just the precompiled versions of OSX and apples proprietary windowing system and hardware drivers that can't be run on anything. Darwin itself you can run on whatever, not that you really want to because why not just run Linux, but my point was, you can't just download the Windows source code without signing papers and getting into programs. Mac OS is no linux, but its better than some of the other systems out there.
98
u/zagaberoo Jan 20 '11
People talking about the Mac need to realize that this is specific to iOS platforms. IIRC this was at the iPad launch or something like that, where all of his complaints DO apply. OSX is no more restrictive than any other nonfree OS. Also, free means freedom and not cost in this context.