Complexity is Too Expensive

I've read the blog posts about various people switching from one OS to another and what it means for each OS, but I just keep coming back to the simple conclusion: I'm not interested in switching to something that's more complicated and less polished than what I use now. I'm not looking for new ways to spend time staring at a screen in frustration.

I respect the fact that somebody would feel strongly enough about open source software to use Linux at least partially on principle rather than purely on how it works. I just can't do that, though. At the end of the day, the reason I spend any time on this blog is that Macs and Cocoa usually leave you with more free time than the alternatives, and help you to better enjoy actual work time.

On paper, open source software does theoretically let you do whatever you want with your software (including not pay anyone for it), but what if all you want is for the thing to work right out of the box? A liberal software license doesn't help me at all when I can't get the OS or app to work properly. I'm not willing to drop everything I'm doing and download an entire tree and dig into layers of C/C++ source.

Of course, sometimes the open source package works better, in which case I'm more than happy to use it.

Snap Out of It. We're Human.

Hard core geek opinion about Apple has sort of ebbed and flowed over time, but I think the persistent swell of support we've seen in the last few years is due to a large-scale awakening to the idea that things really should just work right. Odd for that to sound like an epiphany, isn't it?

There's nothing wrong with things looking nice either. It doesn't have to increase productivity to be worthwhile. We're humans, not robots.

The reason I can't get too worked up about Mark Pilgrim switching to Linux is that it's just not reasoning I can relate to. There's nothing he needs to be convinced of and I don't think his decision even reflects poorly on Mac OS X.

The shock of a Mac user switching to Linux is that people don't usually switch to something that's less hospitable. It doesn't a make a lot of sense until you find out that Mark prefers Firefox, VLC and Emacs to Safari, QuickTime and any GUI editor. This frames the situation differently.

I don't know it to be a fact, but I assume Mark is willing to compromise on usability, aesthetics and overall polish in the name of having source code for his software. Part of his reasoning is that he's willing to accept some hassle now to avoid possible hassle later. My brain doesn't work this way.

Who's In the Majority?

Is this part of a trend? Only if you believe most Mac OS X users would be willing to accept more complication and less polish. If that was the case, they'd probably be using Windows. Although Mark has a history with the Mac, he really isn't the type of person Apple is making computers for today.

There is some overlap between Mac OS X and Linux, but Apple's portion is the sort of user that cares about unix, but is interested in a better experience and polished desktop apps. This is the category I fit into.

I want to spend less time at my computer. More specifically, I want every minute that I'm staring at the screen to count for something. I don't want to troubleshoot, configure, hack or otherwise spend time on things that don't involve the actual task I want to complete.

Yes, Mark Pilgrim may find that using open source apps will somehow give him access to data twenty-five or fifty years in the future that he wouldn't otherwise have, but I doubt it's really going to matter. In any case, I'm not willing to sacrifice my minute-to-minute and day-to-day user experience for something that is unlikely to ever happen. I strongly suspect most Mac OS X users feel the same.

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