Freetards, let’s try to be friends


There’s lots of stuff flying around about how old El Jobso doesn’t like Linux. I want to clear that up. It’s absolutely not true. Linux is great for handling low-value, mindless tasks like serving up Web pages, which is frankly an area where Apple has no interest in competing anyway. And Linux is doing a great job powering the back-end systems at Google, mostly since those guys have added some incredible secret tweaks. Eric walked me through some of it and honestly it’s friggin amazing. I was like, Dude, doesn’t it suck that you guys did all this work and now anyone else can just take your code and use it? He’s like, Jobsmeister, we don’t share this stuff. We share some crappo stuff that we don’t care about and keep the good stuff for ourselves. I’m like, Aren’t you afraid of being sued by these guys, because you know how much they love to sue people? He says they’ve tried to shake him down and he just laughs. So far they haven’t dared to make a move.

As for Apple, sure we’d like to be the biggest player on the desktop. But even on the desktop we think there’s a place for Linux. For people who can’t afford a Mac, or who have been prevented by our sales staff from buying a Mac because they’re too old or too fat or too physically unattractive in some other way, we here at Apple think a Linux machine is a fine alternative. For one thing, you’re not using Windows, which is itself a step toward healing the planet. And although you’re not getting actual Unix, you’re at least getting a clone of Unix. Sort of like buying one of those kit cars that looks like a Ferrari but sits on an old VW Beetle chassis. Still loads of fun. Bokay? Can we be friends now?