I was standing in one of the first Apple Store's in the country in 2002ish. Selling Macs. Why? Because Windows has always sucked and always will. But while I was standing there telling Mall Shoppers about Apple computers, I was telling them about --
-- the power of Unix. The stability. And that beginnings of the open source movement. I spoke to them about what an amazing turn of events this would be in computing, despite being an English major type. I used Macs because they were approachable and they worked. I sold them because I wasn't about to let my favorite 'toy' die and actually end up using some Wintell POShinola. Nope.
You might ask why a Mac user would was poetic about Linux INSIDE an Apple store. I just knew it was the future. And by future I mean the only way to unseat Microsoft. A one two punch -- Apple being the left, Linux being the right. I hoped someday Linux would become an acceptable alternative.
Let me explain acceptable and selling Macs. I told people right up front I resented Apple prices too. Believe you me. But I considered PCs and Windows unacceptable. Would you drive a brand new car with a fuzzy windshield and no steering wheel? I wouldn't. No matter how cheap. So I told people that I was a reluctant but happy Mac user MAINLY for this reasoning. If someday some sort of Linux that worked as well as Mac OS X came along, why I'd seek out a decent PC and install it over Windows. In a heartbeat.
That day hasn't happened yet. But it's getting REALLY close.
Thanks to VirtualBox, I've narrowed it down to Elementary OS and Mint KDE. I'm in no hurry and so I'm going to keep playing with these systems. I must say though I'm very impressed at how far things have come. There was a year or two there I gave up on Ubuntu for being ugly as hell. Were it not for eOS I'd have given up on even glancing at Linux. I like where things are now. And I sense the best is yet to come. And imminent.
