Double posting because you'll probably have responded to this by the time I haul off this load of tripe.


Pre-installed doesn't mean just operating system, AKA you boot the first time and you're in a shell. Pre-installed means when you boot you go straight to XDM, log in and you're at a GUI. No monochrome command-prompt death.


I use blackbox and a command prompt because I can, and because it teaches me more. But you don't have to. With Gnome or KDM as a desktop you've got a full-fledged GUI at your fingertips, with graphic file exploring, integrated (shitty) brower, the works. That is all Mac OS X is... a pretty GUI on top of BSD, with everything closed up in binaries.

I don't have a problem with OS X. If Apple released it for x86, my ass would be down at the store buying it so I could fiddle and see if I could strip it down to a level I'm comfortable with. And they could release OS X for PCs with extreme ease. The hardware support is there, the proper kernels are there, sure you'd need to tweak the GUI a little bit but the work required would be laughable.


Why don't they? Because hardware is where Apple whores you out. In an age when computers are ten times more flexible and upgradble than they were even four years ago, Apple is still stuffing the same old inflexible, pre-packaged products down your throat. Why? To force you to purchase new computers sooner than you normally would. And that is why I refuse to buy their products.