Friday, December 5, 2008

Ubuntu Fanboys Love Apple.

There seems to be a growing trend of Linux users using Macs. Recently it occurred to me that everyone I know who runs Linux on a Mac use Ubuntu. I'm not sure exactly what this means, I just find it interesting. As I pondered about this I began to realize a few other common characteristics of Linux+Mac users (L+Mu) which I would like to share with you. Now please understand that this is just my observation, not an in depth study of any kind.

1. They all run Ubuntu. Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu is a great distro, I run it on my main PC at home, but I also run Slackware 12.1, Fedora 10, PCBSD and Crunchbang! (essentially Ubuntu). It just seems Ubuntu is by far the distro of choice for L+Mu.

2. Not only do they run Ubuntu, but they always dual boot MAC OSX. It doesn't just seem to be a love of Apple hardware for L+Mus, but they also seem to have a fondness for the operating system as well. They seem to boot into OSX and use it. Again, OSX is a good OS, it's just not my cup of tea.

3. L+Mu seem to be this rising new generation of Linux users that began in 2004-2005, around the time Ubuntu first came out. I don't see many "Old School" users turning to Mac. By "old school" I mean pre-2.4 kernel. I started using Linux in 2001 and consider myself a 2nd generation Linux user. The 1st generation of users being from 1991-1997/8, the 2nd generation from 1998-2003-ish and the 3rd generation from 2003/4 on. Each generation seems to have their own characteristics and personalities, which I won't get into this post. Before I get too far topic though, I 'll just say that it seems the trend of L+Mu are newer Linux users.

4. Finally, you don't find too many FOSS purists among L+mu. I guess this is obvious with the simple fact that they are using Apple hardware. Again don't get me wrong, I don't have a shrine to Richard Stallman at home, but I have a respect for GNU and his ideas. Now I believe this is one of the characteristics of this new rising 3rd Generation mentioned above, that they don't seem to see anything wrong with proprietary / close source software. They actually see it as a good thing.

Am I the only one noticing this pattern or am I completely off? Please give me your opinion to this trend of Linux+MAC users.