So I buy a Mac because it makes life easier. That is why anyone has a computer. That is why we teach with technology.

For instance, if I want to install a program on my Mac, these are pretty much the SUM TOTAL of the instructions:

Drag to Applications folder.

Get that? Drag. Drop. Run.

For example, here is the installation screen for a program called Cross Over:

Do you see that? Drag...drop. The program runs. Almost ANY Mac program has this as the total number of steps for installing a program.

Okay, so I am looking at an Open Source program..you know, one that the collective intelligence of the world has created?

It sounded like a pretty cool program, called Wikipad and it makes the basic copy and paste functionality of the Mac look pretty sad. So, I says to myself “Self, maybe you could use this here program.”

So I go to find it, with the link..http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/

I read the features...I think, I could use this.

How do I install this program that is an example of the collective nerd resources of the entire planet?  The open source-collaboration-best example of 21st-century-world-is-flat learning that we have is:

(remember, the first way was “drag and drop”)

cd ~/bin

What this means is you should type the above text into the Terminal, one line at a time, hitting the ENTER/RETURN key after each line (which instructs the Terminal to execute the command on that line). In OSX's Terminal (and in many equivalents), copy (Apple-C) and paste (Apple-V) can be used to save on typing time and transcription errors.

PROCEDURE (feel free to update/improve it - after all, this is a wiki):

    * Open Mac OS X's Terminal, which can be found in /Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app. Alternatively, you could use a third party terminal emulator such as iTerm.

    * Download Python for OSX (at time of writing, it was version 2.5.1), by issuing these commands in the terminal:

cd ~/Desktop

curl -C - -O http://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.5.1/python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg

    * For the newbies: The first command ('cd') changed the current (or 'active') folder/directory (in the Terminal session only) to your Desktop. The second command used the 'curl' unix tool to download the Python 2.5.1 mac universal disk image to the current folder (the Desktop). If you open Finder and use it to browse your Desktop, you should see the file python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg there. Also, note that '~' means "my home folder" in 'bash' shell script language.

    * Mount the python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg disk image. This can be done by either:

          o Opening Finder and double-clicking on the python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg to mount the disk image, OR

          o Issue the this command in the terminal:

hdiutil attach python-2.5.1-macosx.dmg

    * Run the MacPython installer in the disk image. You can achieve this by either:

          o Double-clicking on the MacPython.mpkg file in Finder, OR

          o Issuing this command in the terminal:

open -a Installer.app "/Volumes/Universal MacPython 2.5.1/MacPython.mpkg"

          o Follow through the normal installer procedure. If you were a stickler for proper procedure, you would also have viewed the ReadMe.txt file in the disk image, and noted (among other things) that you must specify your boot disk as the install location for Python otherwise it won't work.

    * Unmount (eject) the disk image. This can be done by either:

          o Clicking on the "eject" icon next to the disk image in Finder, OR

          o Issue the this command in the terminal:

hdiutil detach "/Volumes/Universal MacPython 2.5.1"

    * Quit the Terminal. This is required because the Python installation may change some PATH settings etc.

    * Restart the Terminal.

    * Confirm that the 'python' command is running the copy of python we just installed (and not the copy built-in to OSX). This can be achieved by issuing the following command in the terminal:

which python

          o The correct response should be /Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/Current/bin/python or /usr/local/bin/python.

          o HOWEVER, if the response is /usr/bin/python then the incorrect (built in) version of python is being used and you should not proceed any further with these instructions (unless you want to risk changing OSX's built-in python system). TRY closing the terminal application, and reopening to refresh the terminal--then repeat the above step to see if the correct response is given.

    * Download wxPython to the Desktop (version 2.8.7.1 unicode variant at time of writing), by issuing the following commands:

cd ~/Desktop

curl -C - -O http://internap.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/wxpython/wxPython2.8-osx-unicode-2.8.7.1-universal-py2.5.dmg

    * Mount the wxPython disk image that was just downloaded, by issuing the command:

hdiutil attach wxPython2.8-osx-unicode-2.8.7.1-universal-py2.5.dmg

It goes on and on from there...you get the idea. Here is the link.

If you printed it, that would make 13 PAGES of installation instructions!

So, no matter how good the program is, there is no friggin’ way I am going to even try to install it on my computer.

So, this really has me wondering, because if you think about it, the Open Source Community is as close to true 21st Century skills as we are supposed to have: Collaborative, sharing, cooperative...using technology to problem solve..it is all there. Yet, this very living experiment of 21st century often produces crap like this.

This is instruction manual by committee. No one wants to read this crap and if anyone in the OS community thinks that this is superior to the first example I showed, you are crazy.

I would put this against ANYTHING that Microsoft has produced in terms of ease of use.

Yes, there are better examples of Open Source installation, some like Firefox even have drag and drop. But the point is, this type of installation instruction would be totally unacceptable from to a teacher.

So, when you hear every one of the OS fanboys telling you that there is nothing wrong with this or that OS program, ask them the following questions:

Can a third grader install it?

Can I call a number and get help if it crashes?

Can I get automatic updates without having to do anything except turn on my computer?

Can I understand the instructions?

Are there instructions, or are there just a bunch of wiki sits where a bunch of disjointed people are adding their own instructions?

Do you have to install one program to make another program run?

Get the idea?

There is free, and there is free.