A Step Towards Free Software
I am a devoted user of NeXTStep, ahem, which I started using in 1994 and still use to this day. Except now, NeXTStep is called Apple Mac OS X. I am also a vocal advocate for Free Software. This may be a contradiction, many have pointed out. While I wish I had the programming skills to code everything I need in GNUStep and Étoilé and then ditch Mac OS X, I do not. So I have chosen the slower, incremental route towards full freedom. Using this very familiar environment keeps me productive while I am writing code for free software like Pure Data and Arduino. The key part here is being vigilant that I do not slip back towards proprietary software.
Even though there are many good, proprietary tools included in Mac OS X, I found even better free tools. So I already install lots of free software as my main tools instead of the proprietary ones from Apple; things like Aquamacs (XCode), Camino (Safari), Adium (iChat), VLC and mplayer (Quicktime Player), SSHKeychain (Leopard SSH Agent), Meteorologist (Dashboard Weather Widget), etc. Plus it turns out that
I started using iTunes in 2001 when I got my first Apple computer, an old iMac that someone threw away, and have used it as my main media player since then. Now I have happily replaced iTunes with Songbird. I don’t have an iPod or an iPhone, and I don’t buy from the iTunes store, and Apple is tightening down the ratchets on iTunes more and more. While Songbird suffers a bit with basic usability, like key commands and things like that, its much quicker. The open architecture means I can do things that Apple prevented me from doing before, like connecting to a shared music collection by IP address, or automatically downloading album art cover without using the iTunes Store. There are already an amazing array of plugins for Songbird, and its getting better quite rapidly. There are even numerous stores in Songbird to buy from, you don’t have to be locked into Apple.
Now I am eagerly following the Étoilé project because they sound like they are truly building upon and improving the ideas of NeXTStep, unlike Apple which seems more interested in adding ever more eye candy effects and tie-ins to the iTunes Store.
