power and simplicity (Score 5)

Apple has just done something that no other company has done with the success that Apple will have--taking unix to the mainstream consumer channel. Apple's retail market share has nearly doubled since the introduction of the first iMac, and nearly 30% of mac purchasers now are either new to computers entirely, or switching from a wintel platform--and they won't be losing constituents when macos X arrives. Macos 9 sold a million copies in the last 2 months... macos X should do even better.

the most interesting thing about the situation is that steve jobs didn't speak 5 words of a CLI, or a Unix core (aside from a brief mention of darwin) during his keynote yesterday. It's almost like they're denying the fact that they're masking unix with a UI more user-friendly to new users than any UI on the planet--and the users won't even have a clue.

People can rant about Apple making a bad product... but I think delivering unix to the mainstream consumer is brilliant. I mean, when's the last time you could buy a completely-configured unix box at compusa? sign me up.