Blackmoor Vituperative

Playing on Apple’s past “Switch” ad campaign, which was aimed at getting Windows users to migrate to Apple’s Mac OS X-based computers, a few longtime Mac and open-source gurus are vocally publicizing their switch away from Apple’s platform to more open-source solutions.

Though the practical impact is impossible to gauge, their arguments have been making waves.

The first was Mark Pilgrim, who wrote free software for the Mac in the mid-1990s.

He is involved with various current open-source projects, was a certified Mac OS X trainer and has written about Web site accessibility and scripting.

In a post on his blog, Pilgrim wrote that though he has long been impressed by Apple’s hardware and software, he thought that the latter had grown less attractive and more “restrictive,” leading him to seek alternatives.

Pilgrim wrote that he regretted that Apple’s software, including the operating system, was not open-source (Pilgrim has published software under the GNU GPL [General Public License]; the license states that software published under it includes the source code, which users can modify to their liking as long as they document the changes.)

He noted that most applications he uses are so open — “Why keep running them on an operating system that costs money and restricts my rights and my usage?”

(from eWeek, Tech Gurus Say They’ll ‘Switch from Mac’)

And here I thought that there was no hope for Mac users once they drank the Kool-Aid. If even a Mac user can come to her senses, maybe there’s hope for other apparently-lost causes. Good heavens — I think I may be feeling optimistic!

While on the subject of the poisonous fruit, check out Defective By Design.