When someone like Mark Pilgrim broadcasts his reasons for switching after he switches, it’s to start an argument that he can only win. He has switched, so there’s no talking him out of it. And given his personality, it’s not great leap to think this is his agenda. (I haven’t read his piece and am not really interested. I don’t care what anyone uses, unless they are making work for me as a result. Can you tell I have been working on a project with Windows as a component?)
Then there’s Tim Bray. He wants to be talked out of it, specifically by Apple.
Will I Switch?
Yes. For Mark’s reasons, and because I’m pretty darn sure that either Ubuntu or some other distro will eventually get the key things right.Alternatively, Apple could open-source a few of their apps so we could all fix the pain points, and they could start having an actual conversation with the world. Nothing less is acceptable.
As John Gruber points out, neither Mark nor I are exactly typical. But you know what? I think that if the GNU/Linux/Solaris community can sustain its current level of energy and progress, and if Apple maintains its dysfunctional communications culture, there are going to be better choices just not for me, but for a lot of other people too.
He’s right: they are not typical. If he can make it work, he’s welcome to. Linux is still linux, I expect: a name shared by a bajillion slightly different collections of userland apps, packaging systems, and window managers, most of which are crummy, none of which are designed, but instead simply collected.
Good luck to both of them.