Les Mikesell wrote:
Given that Apple has absolute and total control over the source and hardware, of course Macs don't have the hardware problems inherent in the PC platforms.The issue is why an end user should encounter any such problem. The fact that you _can_ build a windows or linux box out of an experimental, never-tried-before combination of parts and software doesn't mean it is a good idea if you aren't a design engineer looking for a new problem to solve.
Because there's such thing as consumer freedom. As a consumer, I'm free to buy a nice new widescreen flat panel monitor. I'm also free to plug it into my old (circa 2000) computer because I don't require any more processing power than that. I did that 2 months ago - and guess what? Apparently, windows does not have a driver to support the old integrated videocard (some integrated ATI model, btw) in widescreen mode! Windows happily tells me that the card goes all the way up to 1600x1200 but can't do 1440x900. I install Fedora and it supports everything perfectly with its hacked driver! Not convincing enough? How about my old HP laptop that came with winXP and HP's mockery of an ATI driver? The drivers by HP were always half a year behind ATI's - and ATI flat out refused to support laptop chipsets! I had to run some insane hacks to get vanilla ATI drivers to install JUST SO THAT I COULD USE AN EXTERNAL MONITOR!!!
It's been said before, but I'll say it again: the closed source model only works so long as you keep buying new hardware.
