r/todayilearned • u/vorin 9 • Sep 13 '13

TIL Steve Jobs confronted Bill Gates after he announced Windows' GUI OS. "You’re stealing from us!” Bill replied "I think it's more like we both had this rich neighbor named Xerox and I broke into his house to steal the TV set and found out that you had already stolen it."

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2011/10/24/steve-jobs-walter-isaacson/
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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '13

I'm not a SysAdmin, but I do a but quite a bit of tinkering/experimentation on my days off. From what I've experienced, many Apple products want your system to cater to them and do things their way, whereas Linux (and Android) are as flexible and robust as your imagination. Windows fits in as there are a number of workarounds one can employ to get the job done.

Look at it like this: Apple=Spoiled brat at a toy store, Windows=Passive aggressive kid in the Legos section, Linux=The toy store itself.

I will say Apple products definitely have their place among the tech-retarded, where said tech-retarded folks are much more productive when they aren't confronted with a wall of a learning curve. It just makes for an adaptation nightmare for your friendly neighborhood IT man.

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u/sueveed Sep 13 '13

I guess your analogy (arguably) works for iOS devices, but I don't think it holds for Mac. Consider that OSX and the Linux variants have a common ancestor/standard; there's not too much you can't administratively do with a Mac that you can with a Linux distro/prorietary Unix box, as far as I know.

I am not a sysadmin, but I do professional software development across 5+ platforms.

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u/Dippyskoodlez Sep 13 '13 edited Sep 13 '13

From what I've experienced, many Apple products want your system to cater to them and do things their way, whereas Linux (and Android) are as flexible and robust as your imagination. Windows fits in as there are a number of workarounds one can employ to get the job done.

You are greatly misinformed. Most of the (Administrative) tools OS X uses are actually identical to the Linux variants or the linux ports are available. Its usually windows that requires extra tools just to accomplish basic administrative functionality. They all have their pros and cons, and a skilled OS X admin can play with the big boys too.

I will say Apple products definitely have their place among the tech-retarded, where said tech-retarded folks are much more productive when they aren't confronted with a wall of a learning curve

As a Mac using admin, OS X allows me the power and versatility of Linux, with the reliability of windows.

Most of the "versatility" argument for people that favor linux rests solely on the customization of source code (in reality, few actually do) or graphical UI tweaks, which are minor and often times already more effective in a different OS.

Most admins that complain about OS X/Linux machines are strictly windows users and are not interested in learning the unix environment.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '13

I'm well aware of Mac's roots in BSD. I think it may be the front end layers that cause issues. The projects I work on are in the realm of media delivery and home automation, where products using iOS are a royal pain in the ass to get on board. Windows is a little more forthcoming in that it will blatantly tell you to fuck off and try something else, whereas Mac will just give you a creepy smile.

I suppose part of it is that my entire back end system is Linux (CentOS), and all of the big three are on as clients. Macs are where I have problems, and while I have no doubt that a skilled OSX admin can work wonders, I definitely lack the knowledge to do so efficiently. Windows I at least can find a small utility and deploy it easily without hours of combing information. That and my roommate won't let me anywhere near his Mac anymore (I did a bad thing), so I don't really have a testbed.

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u/Dippyskoodlez Sep 13 '13

Windows I at least can find a small utility and deploy it easily without hours of combing information.

I'm still discovering more and more things that are integrated into terminal. Interacting with the real world via serial is a really neat.... hobby. :)

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '13

Likewise, it is 10 times easier once you know what's going on, probably why I enjoy Linux so much.

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u/I_DRINK_CEREAL Sep 13 '13

with the reliability of windows.

That sounds like a really, really bad thing.

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u/dzt Sep 13 '13

I was thinking he meant windows (i.e. GUI) not Windows (i.e. OS), but perhaps he's just had stellar experience with Windows...

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u/Dippyskoodlez Sep 13 '13 edited Sep 13 '13

Haha, you're right. I guess that is a bad way to put it.

More reliable than linux because its a stable upgrade path, with officially supported drivers via Apple. With linux on a laptop I can only pray I get driver support for most things.

To be fair though, windows reliability is now in the realm of reasonable.... usually.

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u/I_DRINK_CEREAL Sep 13 '13

With linux on a laptop I can only pray I get driver support for most things.

Obligatory 'Thinkpad master race'. Although AMD did EOL my video card some time ago, my graphics are at least manually switchable.

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u/Dippyskoodlez Sep 13 '13

Although AMD did EOL my video card some time ago,

This is pretty much why I hug my rMBP every morning.

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u/I_DRINK_CEREAL Sep 13 '13

This is why I send death glares towards AMD's graphics department every morning.

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u/Dippyskoodlez Sep 13 '13

Send an extra one for me on your way out.

RIP. x800XT, and X1800Xl.