The Big Mac Hoax. aka OS X is a dog 406

You seemed to be saying Linux on the desktop isn't good at all. I was countering that statement.

There are also likely to be jobs that the Mac can't do, or Windows can't do.

For quite a number of people, Linux is perfectly fine on the desktop. For quite a number of people, Mac OS X is perfectly fine on the desktop.

Your requirements seem to be DTP and graphics - which are niches where the Mac has always done well. But the Mac isn't just a niche product; it's also a mainstream one.

Linux certainly fits my niche requirements. However, it also can be a mainstream product. (SuSE is a good example. It's a very polished product, has all the apps most people need, and it's easy to use. You can even get support for it, just like Mac OS X or Windows.)

The people that find that Linux (or the Mac) aren't a good fit for them are very likely to be advanced users and aren't mainstream anyway. They can either make something work, or they'll choose another OS or platform.

I can't see anyone using Word for any long document. :-) OO probably wouldn't be much better though.

I wouldn't say it's the best server platform around, but it's very good for some uses.

Mac OS X Server evidently makes for a very good workgroup server. I haven't actually used it myself since it was Rhapsody though. :-)

It's possible to argue that Linux or Mac OS X suck. You just concentrate on the areas where they have weaknesses. (And they both have them.) But from a broader viewpoint, they're both very good, and they're both valid choices for a lot of people.

Let's take my Mom as an example. She uses e-mail, browses the web, word processing, spreadsheets, and wants to be able to copy her CDs so she can use the burned copy in the car so the original won't get damaged. She's also been listening to some internet radio, and she transfers pictures from her camera to CD. She wants to create a couple of databases for stuff like her DVD collection and recipes. (She's used to Access from work, but there's no Access for the Mac so I've got her using Base from OO and she feels it will work. She doesn't think it will be worthwhile buying Filemaker for what she's doing.)

I bought an iMac for her because I thought it would be a very nice, complete package. She absolutely loves it.

I would bet that I could have bought a PC and put Linux on it. SuSE would probably do everything she needs. I bought the Mac because I thought she'd like it more, not really because of functionality.

Linux isn't for everyone, but the Mac isn't either. Hell, Windows isn't for everyone, no matter what the wintrolls say. :-)