For the last week or so I've been considering dropping slashdot from the list of news sites I follow but this article pretty much pushed me over the edge. I've been reading since 1998 but it really has taken a turn for the worse lately. Maybe the editors will turn things around with fresh articles that haven't already been posted with better commentary days earlier on other sites, but I'm not holding my breath.

My point wasn't that it was unreasonable. It's their OS and they can run it how they want. But it's hard to call an OS open when users don't get to be the ultimate decision makers anymore.

Sure. Here's one for Mac:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=700835

I'll admit I didn't immediately find one for Windows. Instead I found that fun incedent where MS added their own Firefox extension as an update to Windows Live without prompting. So I guess the responsibility of the OS distributor goes beyond just keeping API breaks from affecting users.

You keep saying it's too much for one group to handle and yet, Linux distributions don't seem to be having all that many API-break related problems. Maybe you have a specific example to support your case?

I see what you did there. _

Basically, the job of a Linux distribution is to vet updates to libfoo to make sure that in the process of fixing some random bug they didn't break the API. If they did, the distribution has a choice of of patching libfoo to fix the API break (or cherry pick the just the fix) or mitigating the security issue in some other way.

[citation needed]

Even if what you say is true, it's somewhat interesting that on in the past, Linux sales on humblebundle.com have been pretty close to Mac sales, and Linux users consistently pay 10 - 20% more when given the choice.

I use a Mac at work and have an old iMac on my desk, next to my Linux desktop. Apple restricts non-appstore apps from accessing notification center or iCloud document storage. Some people think that's the thin end of the wedge and some people think Apple will go this far and then no further. As for me, I'm just not putting all my eggs in one basket. If OS X keeps being open enough, I'll keep using it. Otherwise, I'll switch to Linux full time.

Even now, non-appstore apps can't access certain APIs, such as Notification Center. As far as I'm concerned, the writing is on the wall for OS X.

MacPorts isn't *bad*, but it's certainly not apt.

I prefer MacPorts over Homebrew. Homebrew has some good goals, such as using OS-included libraries when available, but it's really a house of cards. Meanwhile, MacPorts works reliably and lets you override stuff at a lower level. I used to like Fink, but kept running into issues. It might be better now. *shrugs*

Yeah, not any more. Go look at the latest iMac teardown from ifixit.

Well maybe we can compromise: How about we put a sane upper limit on how long works can remain under copyright? Right now things stay under copyright long after the author's death.

I think part of the confusion comes from that fact that despite NT having had some of these things first, people still ran into them first on Linux. I mean, up until 2000 (or was it XP?) the first user you made was setup to run all applications as administrator by default. Microsoft has a ton of really smart people creating some incredible stuff. Then marketing seems to get a hold of those ideas and drive them into the ground or hobble them.

In Linux, applications (such as browsers or web servers) can be restricted from writing to arbitrary directories with SELinux or AppArmor. Most modern distros have it baked in and enabled by default at this point, and many have had it available for years. OTOH, the best security is security that's actually used. If the only way for people to get into a building is by someone else holding the door for them, sooner or later someone will just sneak in. Similarly, if your admin can't get something to work without having to mess with NT's ACL folder permissions every time, sooner or later he'll just change them to "Everyone - Full Control."

Linux is a kernel. It is a bit awkward that people typically refer to it as an OS, but that doesn't change the facts. And yes, iOS should probably be considered if you were counting the marketshare of the BSD/Unix kernel.