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I know the question in the headline of this post might seem like anathema to a whole host of Mac and Windows fans, who treat their operating systems the same way some people treat their religious beliefs (namely, as something to argue incessantly about). But C.K. Sample asked the question ov
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10 months ago
10 months ago
OS is not important to most end users except for how the browser behaves. I still prefer aethetically the way that most sites look in IE7 over Opera, Safari and FF (even FF3 - not that impressed), but FF is more stable so I switch between them constantly, and they behave differently depending on which system I'm on.
10 months ago
Still, I tell my students that platform doesn't matter. Everybody pretty much does everything the same way and just as well now.
10 months ago
That, really, is what effects whether you're platform agnostic or not. I'm not. There is no Windows or Web tool for managing my to do lists as good as OmniFocus. The same is true for Scrivener, which lets me research, structure and write longer documents better than anything else I've ever come across. On the OS side, Time Machine has taken my backup regime and actually made it work.
And at the end of the day, that's the kind of thing that keeps me preferring my Mac - the unique things that I can't get on any other platform.
10 months ago
10 months ago
If I find myself worrying about what OS is running, I've probably already failed. It's a very easy mistake! What I think an OS is for and what a commercial vendor thinks an OS is for are very different things. I want to OSes to be like you say they are; freely replaceable, just a small matter of preference. But OS vendors work very hard to ensure that is not the case. You have to shave with Microsoft razor blades and drive on Apple roads, if there is any way they can manage it.
Everything I do is also on the web, but I look at the web from the other side of the screen. From my point of view, Microsoft makes designer consumer products for the purpose of generating constant cash flow. There's an OS in their product somewhere, but it's like the OS that might be embedded in your photocopier; you're not really allowed to use it. I am not terribly familiar with OSX and I am inclined to think that it is not as bad, but Apple has been extremely "innovative" in the area of user lock-in. I assume I'm just ignorant of how the OS helps achieve that goal.
I work hard to isolate myself and my code from the host operating system. I consider it none of my business, and I appreciate it when it keeps out of mine. But it takes a great deal of careful discipline to achieve. So I agree with you philosophically, and perhaps there is a convincing user-level illusion that all OSes are the same... but try and change the OS that hosts your web applications and databases, and see if it's a simple matter.