Dan Gillmor talks about Apple’s „Trade Secrets“ and he’s right: Apple is not doing itself a favour going against bloggers and as they are also going against fundamental rights, it’s more than just a disgrace: it’s another step in a fatal direction. Freedom is not about the freedom of companies.

Being a Mac head for a long time, I’m regularly annoyed by Apple not having enough balls to show respectable behaviour. Well, I know in the end it’s all about money, but that doesn’t mean I can take it as an excuse. Apple is also a force behind the battle for introducing software patents in Europe. Dan says:

I’m writing this on a Mac. If I were buying a replacement today, I’m not at all sure I’d make the same choice again.

So do I consider getting away from the Mac for these reasons? I am not in love with Apple, I am in love with the community that’s using these products. With exceptions, this community is usually ahead of the time, progressive, experimental, collaborative and – most important – appreciating beauty. I have been missing a lot of this in the open source scene, but things have changed slightly as good user interfaces, quality in presentation and style and usability find more on more followers in the open source scene as well. KDE and GNOME show a lot of promise recently and there might be a day where there is a real choice on the market. We’re just not there yet.