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Linux is the only winner in the PC vs Mac war

Wednesday, 7 February 2007 apple linux microsoft technology

Over the past several months Apple has been battering Microsoft’s software with a series of adverts. It’s getting to the point where you have to be a hermit not to have seen them especially with the localized versions popping up.

Get Linux?

While there is no official Microsoft reply, many anti-Apple protesters have risen to the occasion, Laurie McGuinness’s being the best I’ve seen… so far.

While I cannot condone the tactic of trying to smear the other guy, it is funny to watch but Apple forgot something when they started this battle — exposing consumers to the idea that there is more than one operating system will inherently mean they find out about the third “contender” in all this: Linux.

Don’t Apple see that by showing that they are the underdog and they might make superior hardware and software combinations that there might be even more out there? If a computer that a consumer thought would only run Windows can now do more than that with another operating system, they might investigate the term Linux and find something they like.

Linux is more mature than OSX, growing (feature wise) much faster than OSX. In fact, OSX wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for the Unix operating systems. Linux (et al) all have more available software then Windows and OSX combined with the vast majority of it being free, including the operating system.

Once you factor in that it runs more efficiently than the new operating systems and should be able to make your older computer run for a lot longer, the economics start to speak for themselves. The consumers might even learn that governments around the world are swapping out millions of copies of Windows for its free and more secure contender — why aren’t they choosing Apple’s OSX?

It might look like I’m hinting that educating the masses is a bad thing but quite the contrary — it is only going to be bad for the two people who have significant financial interest, namely Apple and Microsoft.