Opinion: PearPC a sign of what's to come?

[handan2002]

Hi Everyone,

As most of you would probably know, some Mac enthusiasts have developed a new software that enables PCs to run MacOS. Its called PearPC and can be downloaded from the sourceforge website (

[url]http://pearpc.sourceforge.net/[/url]

).

What do you think about it? A good step forward for Apple because more people might buy its MacOS?

Also, as a side topic, what do you think about Macs in general?

Looking forward to discussions

 

[GavinO]

I see it less as a way to move PC users to MacOS (they've already learned Windows or Linux, unless they're odd and use OS/2) and more of a way to bring Mac users to open world of choice on the PC. You don't need to learn anything new from the software standpoint; you're now just running your familiar software on a VM on top of (IMO) better PC hardware. Everyone's got their favorite OS, and being able to use it is a big factor in selecting a machine. Not to get into a hardware platform jihad, but a PC can be had for a lot less than a Mac, so it just makes sense if you're into MacOS and are on a budget to run a VM.

 

[handan2002]

(This is really gonna go off the topic but what the heck) The compromise on speed when using VM, any VM, is still huge isn't it? Even Microsoft VPC, (arguably) the most stable and efficient VM around crashes all the time so wouldn't it defy the purpose of switching to a more secure/stable OS environment?

Also, would you think the increase in people using Mac OS will see a large increase in the amount of people trying to compromise it (i.e. hackers, virus makers, etc.)?

To everyone: sorry for spitting out seemingly random questions. I'm just interested in peoples' opinion on Mac and Other OSs (in particular, windows and flavours of Linux).

Oh yea, by the way, what do you think of the renewed claims that Linus didn't make Linux?

 

[GavinO]

Well, yes, a VM will run slower than the actual hardware, unless the host system is pretty fast (for example, MAME can get a Z80 running several times faster than any physical part has ever run). For emulating a modern system, there probably will be a bit of a performance hit. Most of the reason that people are into OSX, though, is that supposedly fantastical interface (which I'm still not seeing ... but oh well).

As for compromising OSX, when its on a VM you're really not able to do much other than trash the VM when you compromise the system. The beauty of a VM is that there isn't really any downside to frequent backups (restore points), so a system won't take more than a few minutes to get back up.

As for the AdTI's claims about Linus and his part in Linux, I think that ESR does a pretty good job of trashing them here: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/samizdat-response.html . The thing with open source is that there actually *is* documentation telling you who came up with most stuff, as opposed to closed source stuff where you can't even investigate where you think something might have been borrowed.

 

[handan2002]

Apple does make most of its products strikingly appealing doesn't it? iPod looks very elegant, OSX has those fading windows, etc... Admittedly, I think OS X looks nicer than XP (although i'm not a big fan of Apple). Then again, there's really only so much you can do before you over do it- that's the way I think of presentational aspects.

That Linus-Linux report is quite interesting. Do you think Microsoft may actually be behind all of this? If they are, I think they've gone a bit far this time...

Oh yeah, and what do you think about the notion of "Nobel" Hackers and crackers/warez-makers?

(C'mon everyone! Post something!)
Edit: Anyone?