Because that is so relevant for a portable personal machine.... which doesn't have hundreds of nodes linked via high speed network.
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Sure do, actually I doubt there is more applications for OS X than linux. Especially if you are an IT guy.
Basically anything any good that you can run on linux you can compile on OS X if required. Certainly anything suited for a LAPTOP. If you're running server software, then why run it on a macbook (or notebook) of any kind?
The reverse is not true.
Also, the QUANTITY of the applications is one thing. The QUALITY of the applications is another. Finding a decent application on Linux in some categories (especially multimedia) is like wading waste deep through a sewer at times. There's so much half finished and unmaintained garbage out there, finding something actually good can be a drag.
And I say that as a network guy who's been administering Linux and BSD machines in the workplace since 1995. Don't get me wrong, you can do a lot with it, but you need to put so much more research into it.
And for the record, linux is NOT the os the internet runs on. That would be either IOS (as in CISCO) or Juniper OS (which is essentially a customised variant of FreeBSD). Between those two, I suspect you'd cover 90% of the core routing and switching infrastructure (without which, you have no internet to run application servers on), and a large chunk of the storage (Netapp - again, customised FreeBSD).
The applications on top run on a mix of Linux and whatever else, but the actual network does not.
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You get Kernel level access with Windows or OS X?
https://developer.apple.com/library...Conceptual/KernelProgramming/build/build.html
Darwin is out there, and yes you can program in kernel space.
Ditto for Windows if you get the development kit.
Now, as to the OP: I'd suggest you will likely have issues with driver support for the display, possibly the bluetooth. At least until they've been out for a few months.
If you're looking to run Linux though, you'll certainly be able to run it in a VM in Fusion, Virtualbox or equivalent. That way you also get the benefit of snapshots, etc (going to do something dodgy? snapshot the VM and you can go back - can't do that with physical hardware install)
All my development and testing I do in VMs for that purpose (whatever host platform I happen to be running on - OS X at home, Windows at work - testing for FreeBSD and Windows in VMs), regardless of compatibility with physical hardware.
My production environment is all VMware as well (vSphere) so moving a development machine off my desktop and into production is a case of being happy with it then simply moving the VMDK file(s) to our SAN.
Performance in a VM on an RMBP will be way more than adequate. I'd suggest steering clear of Ubuntu for now however if you run Fusion, as the Unity environment has a few glitches with the VMware video driver. I'm not sure how well it works in Virtualbox or Parallels.
Also: Linux and networking goes hand in hand. If you're using VMware or Virtualbox, you can also link your virtual machines (as in plural - you could simulate 4 or more Linux machines in VMs) up to simulated routers running GNS3. You can build an entire virtual network lab on your mac in virtual hardware. You can't do that running Linux natively. This is simply AWESOME for learning. And something you could not do a few years ago without scouring ebay for cheap cisco routers and switches, and salvaging a bunch of old computers to run everything on.
So.... in short. Just run it in a VM. You get so many more options, and there is so much more you can do that way.
Be sure to get the 16GB model though so you have plenty of RAM for it all. Otherwise running more than a few virtual machines (and a simulated network in GNS 3) will start slowing down due to lack of memory. 16gb will give you so much more headroom.