Apple’s efforts with Mac OS X may bring UNIX into the mainstream. That’s the word from Peter Jackson, writing for AnchorDesk UK in an article entitled Another bite of the Apple.
Jackson said that UNIX and LINUX advocates, and companies like Red Hat, SuSE and Mandrake have been trying to make the operating system more mainstream for years, but have had little success outside the server market. “Apple is trying to change that with Mac OS X,” Jackson posits.
Mac OS X’s UNIX underpinnings represent a big change from what Mac OS enthusiasts are accustomed, said Jackson.
“Like Windows users going from 98 to 2000, they have had to learn the disciplines involved in ‘professional’ operating systems, and been forced to accept things like user accounts and restrictions on what types of files they can put where,” said Jackson.
Mac OS X users have also had to adapt to a brand new graphical user interface, application flakiness, and compatibility issues. Regardless, suggested Jackson, Apple’s doing what it does best, “being bold again,” as it was when it made the switch to PowerPC microprocessors, introduced the PowerBook, and created the iMac.
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