> Every new release getting better, faster, more usable; growing market-share faster all the time...
You could be describing Windows or Mac OS X with that.
> What goes up must, must come down, at some point.
That rule doesn't really apply to software. The main thing problem in producing an operating system is coming up with a significant improvement over the previous release. For example, Windows XP was and is still good enough for almost everybody. Vista makes a lot of things easier and simpler, but for many people that isn't a compelling reason to upgrade. I'm sure Mac OS X has the same problem; except for programmers, I've never met a Mac OS X user that has upgraded Mac OS X.
I used Windows XP for years and then switched to Vista about six months ago. AFAICT, there is nothing slower about Vista than XP on the same machine (an old ThinkPad T60). But, because of usability improvements in Vista, I can get things done faster. UAC removes a lot of the hassles of running as a limited user in XP, and that is the main reason I upgraded. UAC probably saves me at least an hour a week.
> > Every new release getting better, faster, more usable; growing market-share faster all the time...
> You could be describing Windows or Mac OS X with that.
Not really, no.
No Windows release in this timeframe was a match for the transition to Tiger, or the transition to Leopard.
Vista isn't faster then XP for most things, nor is it more usable. That's reserved for Windows 7.
And their market-share is actually shrinking faster all the time.
> > What goes up must, must come down, at some point.
> That rule doesn't really apply to software.
I sure hope so.
Though your evolutionary strategy view is very corporate-y, shareholders and quarterly profits is squeals. I'm more of an actual user of the said systems, so I don't care much 'bout that.
MS lost me in 2005, when I could run Ubuntu and do all the same things with none of the hassle. And they won't get me back, because they move too slow -- I've gotten used to good things fast. All of this is to say that Windows is irrelevant to my original comment. I didn't come to MacOS X from Windows.
My original comment was a bit on the off-topic side, if you will. I was interested to know if anyone else feels the big boot looming over their computing habits. That's all.
I'm genuinely curious. What do you do with your computer that makes Mac OS X better than Ubuntu? And especially, what made Ubuntu better than Windows XP back in 2005?
For me the lack of management (malware, registry, NTFS) was a big boon back in 2005. The magical UNIX terminal where you could get new functionality by piping pieces together into your own customized tool was hard to start with, but grew on me in a couple of months. That was the point when I couldn't really go back -- Windows didn't run my favourite software -- the bash shell coupled with transparent mount-points for FIFO and tools like SSH, VIM and Python. Yeah, I know Python runs on Windows. It makes little ice-weasels cry, though.
And later on, my Wacom + Painter/Photoshop (I really hate Photoshop, I do) doodling hobby required too much effort to support with Linux. As of late this has gotten better, including Linux apps for painting, but by then I was gone.
Then I sort of bought into some of the software specific to the platform, such as Panic's Coda, the iTunes on the Mac, and now I'm stuck here. I could move onto a Linux machine for the web-development, even now I can.
But I don't want to. It's very cozy in here. "Everything just works" -- there's some emotional truth in that.
You could be describing Windows or Mac OS X with that.
> What goes up must, must come down, at some point.
That rule doesn't really apply to software. The main thing problem in producing an operating system is coming up with a significant improvement over the previous release. For example, Windows XP was and is still good enough for almost everybody. Vista makes a lot of things easier and simpler, but for many people that isn't a compelling reason to upgrade. I'm sure Mac OS X has the same problem; except for programmers, I've never met a Mac OS X user that has upgraded Mac OS X.