On Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Mike Cantrell wrote:
> Anyone else intrigued by Mac OSX? I've never been a big Mac fan (I've
> never been able to get over the single mouse button thing). I really
> like how the 'under side' of the OS is concealed because it just seems
> to work and there is no need to go mucking w/ the internals. That's also
> something I dislike. I guess I think it's neat more than anything else.
>
I haven't tried OSX, but it's based off of the philosophy of NEXTSTEP,
which is probably the best overall OS ever made. The GUI is different,
but the idea of having a really easy-to-use interface on top of *nix
is taken from NEXTSTEP.
> I'm really interested in Mac OSX. Since I'm not much of a Mac person
> (which is probably obvious), I was wondering what everyone else's
> opinion is. Can a Mac OS based on a BSD kernel be made as simple as the
> normal Mac OS?
IIRC, it's not a BSD kernel. It's a Mach microkernel, just like NEXTSTEP
was based on. Mach microkernels have BSD emulation, so they feel and act
just like BSD, but they aren't BSD. Mach has always really interested
me. It's a great concept. IIRC, GNU Hurd is also based on Mach.
>If so, could this be a start for 'normal users' to start
> using Unix type OS's with ease?
The normal user won't even notice the difference (except for the
GUI) between OSX and the other Macs, but power users will be able to start
with the GUI and then, as they get more knowledgeable, progress to the
CLI.
> What would change if they had decided to
> use the Linux Kernel?
It would be much less flexible. Mach is (IMO) the most flexible OS base
out there. Right now, it just suffers from a lack of user interest and
support.
> I find this very interesting.
>
Me too.
> Regards,
> Mike Cantrell
>
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