Why not make Linux like MacOSx

[killerasp]

ive been using a new G4 Mac with OSX on it. As everyone knows, its uses FreeBSD as its foundation. The UI is slickest thing on the market, much better than its windows counterpart. Why dont linux developers develop its UI as advanced as OSX? I have switched over to this G4 because as a php progammer, its far superior to anything linux desktops can offer as far as UI. Im wondering why not more people use OSX as their main *nix platform.

[sarah31]

Well there are a few probloems with trying to do that.
Darwin is the core of OS X and it is open source and only has very limited x86 capabilities at this time. With more development this will change (ei. once Darwin is capable of existing on ufs and other filesystems.

Darwin also needs alot of development in having more native apps/drivers built into its core. For example I connect to the internet via PPPoE and Darwin is stripped of both PPPoE and PPP functions. Why I don't know but I have been trying to ge it running for two weeks now.

Darwins developer tools are very kudgy and need development. Not the compilers per se but the editing tools, etc.

Aqua, the beautiful UI in OS X, is not, I believe open source and is not available to anyone but Mac users. Unless Aqua is released to open source then you can count out that it will appear on any other desktop outside of Mac desktop.

OS X/Darwin has fantastic potential to become the first mainstream OS available to all platforms. However, there is a long way to go before this. The open source development of OS X/Darwin is all up to Apple. They have to decide whether or not they want to be hardware and OS developers or just hardware developers. Personally OS X/Darwin would be better served in the full open source community, aqua and all.

[mswales]

Im wondering why not more people use OSX as their main *nix platform.

The insane pricetag for current Mac hardware :rolleyes: :mad:

Personally OS X/Darwin would be better served in the full open source community, aqua and all.

Dreaming? :)

[proffy]

Originally posted by killerasp:
<STRONG>Im wondering why not more people use OSX as their main *nix platform.</STRONG>

Yeah, I'm afraid it's the price. I just put together a kickin' PC and the whole thing ran me ~$600. Not bad. But a nice G4 with equal RAM and video card and you're looking at a couple grand.

Don't get me wrong, I like the new OS for Macs, but I don't don't have the money for the hardware + software for it.

-Proffy

[sheek]

with a little work kde can look like aqua..
I had no idea mac products were that expensive
i always thought they were cheaper than pc's

[mswales]

It costs a lot to be the only ones to develop, build, sell, and support a product; And you get to pay for it (that is...if you buy a mac ;))!

A couple grand for a G4, maybe used :(