Friday 06/04/2001

It's odd. After something like fifteen years in the industry I'm still not able to understand half the things Apple does. I mean -- PDAs, good, yes. User-friendly, good, yes. The Newton -- uhhhh... And the iMac: make something look incredibly cool, good, yes. Ruthlessly exploit Apple's non-Intel, alternative image, good, yes. Make the latest round of updates look like some teenage girl's fantasy fabric designs -- uhhhh...

And then there's OS X. Open source Unix-based? Could be good, yes. Transplant that marvellous, if spotty, Apple talent for front ends that make you want to sit at the computer all day, good, yes. Release the software in a blatantly incomplete, unreliable, under-resourced form that drives your most steadfast fans screaming from the room -- uhhhh....

Now here's Linus saying that OS X is based on a bad idea badly implemented. He could be saying this for a number of reasons, not all of them absolutely pure. Industry OS politics and sour grapes may be part of this. But nonetheless, the software doesn't seem capable of standing up for itself, and that's what counts. So why, Apple, why? Why have good ideas and, just when they get their running shoes on and limber up on the starting line, shoot them in the feet?

Perhaps I'll get it in another fifteen years.