[mise]

I'm not an Apple user, I just look in from the outside.

I don't understand this seeming tension where Apple restrict choices in their systems for usability, homogeneity, etc, while also being the system of choice for many hackers.

How come Apple machines are still geek-friendly?

[sbmassey]

It's a Unix with most of the bells & whistles (albeit a different flavor to Linux), plus you get to use a decent selection of commercial software.