Re: The business case for using a linux client (or Mac...) versusa windows client

[Henri Yandell <bayard@generationjava.com>]

On Thu, 19 Dec 2002, Michael Fortin wrote:

> I by no means what to start an os war but being one of the few Mac OSX
> users here I'd like to chime in on my favorite os.  Sadly, it also gets
> shunned in the business community.

OS X is a big underground Java movement. Lots of Java developers use
powerbooks now for their personal work [and thus open source work].
Companies haven't quite figured this out yet though.

> 6) all open source java tools work on the mac including java ide's,
> like intellij, sun one, eclipse, borland, etc., not that linux doesn't.

I find that Java GUI apps are less stable on OS X than they are on linux,
though they perform a lot better.

> 8) integrating into a windows network is seamless but I image you could
> say the same for linux.

Does it have Network Neighbourhood yet? I've not noticed one.

> To be fair my one big criticism of the mac is that the 1.4.1 vm is
> still in alpha development.  And I'd also have to say that their server
> offerings are to immature to consider but something to keep an eye on.

For a personal developer, the 1.4.1 issue has been a big thorn, but I
imagine very few companies are deploying to 1.4 yet. Throw in the high
quality of Apple's 1.3 offering and it looks good.

Their servers are immature, but are definitely very good in terms of
specs.

Hen