Submitted by Longtime Windows expert Scot Finnie gave the Mac a three-month trial as his primary machine for work and home use. After 3 months, he concluded: “If you give the Mac three months, as I did, you won’t go back either. The hardest part is paying for it – everything after that gets easier and easier.”
Should’ve tried Ubuntu. He’d have spent $ 500 for a new computer, tops.
What about any serious applications?
Well I see I’m starting to get modded down by the same old guys.
See, I work in real state. What I need to do here can be done with Open Office, Thunderbird and Kopete for instant messenging. I’m talking with the people here to entirely move to FOSS. About the only thing that we can’t do yet on Linux involves AUTOCAD. 99% else can be done with free open source software.
EDIT: Please tell me HOW this post is offensive in any way and why it is getting modded down. TIA.
Edited 2007-02-09 19:57
Your post was quite openly anti-Apple. On this site you will be modded down seriously for this transgression.
You might want to spell your profession correctly: “real estate.” I’m sure it was probably a typo, or your english is bad, but it does look bad to spell your own profession incorrectly within the first two sentences
.
Your first post wasn’t offensive, but it was really off topic. There’s nothing more obnoxious than some one jumping into a Mac or Linux or Windows thread and posting about how they should have switched to the 3rd platform instead. It’s annoying, stupid, and just starts flame wars. Thanks to OSNews’ moderation system though, we can flag you down to -5 before the flame war begins (it’s really the only thing it’s proved very effective for).
So, your first post just showed that you didn’t read the article but reacted to the headline (and maybe skimmed the article). But this post was just more off-topicness. However, it’s not nearly a bad, at least it has content. Your first post wasn’t even up to Slashdot quality. If there were a troll button I’d have hit it.
I did read the article. And yes, that was a typo. Alas, I think it’s obvious I’m not a native english speaker.
It wasn’t my intention to start a flame war. But I consider my comment relevant because the article’s writer talks about how the only problem of a Mac is the cost, when there’s good Free Open Source alternatives.
Must be a cultural thing. It just gives me the shivers to spend more money than necessary (and available) to get work done.
Quoting his text about cost might have helped your case. As it was your one-two sentence reply looked hasty, as if you were just trying to get the first post…
It’s not, I don’t like to spend extra money either. But that’s because I’m broke
. Normally I’d much rather waste resources to get something done right than go cheap to get it done.
Please tell me HOW this post is offensive in any way and why it is getting modded down. TIA.
Becasue it’s off-topic and borderline evangelical.
“About the only thing that we can’t do yet on Linux involves AUTOCAD. 99% else can be done with free open source software.”
Give me a break. I have used Photoshop, Illustrator and PageMaker/InDesign 5 days a week for over ten years. I have tried GIMP and Scribus, they are comparitive toys. Don’t get me wrong, they are good programs, but they are not in the same league as the offering from Adobe. I would love to move my work machine over to linux. My personal machine runs PCLinuxOS and I am very happy with it. But please don’t try to suggest that 99% of all work can be done on Linux. It just isn’t so.
Edited 2007-02-12 00:36
There is no such thing as a ‘Serious’ application anymore. The only thing that makes an application ‘Serious’ is becoming accustomed to said application to the point of feeling lost without that exact look, feel and functionality.
The whole application argument has been done to death and it just doesn’t hold up. Now if you would have told me that Ubuntu stills shows a shit load of duct tape on the edges and in between I would have been more likely to agree with you.
You can’t really compare ubuntu to windows or osx. They aren’t even in the same league. If you believe they are you’re deluding yourself. I use ubuntu edgy 40hrs a week and I lost track of all the regressions from dapper.
Ubuntu easily has the most polish of any distro I’ve used (and I’ve used several over the last decade) but it still doesn’t compare to the 10s and 100s of millions of dollars spent by microsoft and apple perfecting the look, feel, and consistency of their platforms.
Yet with all that I still use Ubuntu everyday because we’re an all Linux server shop and it makes development/administration easier when you use common desktop and server environments.
I know this sounds really bad but the only way Ubuntu or linux on the desktop will ever really compete with windows or osx is if the users lower their standards (that isn’t a bad thing necessarily when you consider its free) or if the developers start listening to the users and raise theirs.
I’m a sysadmin for an international company running a Windows network, at home I use KDE on FreeBSD on my home network.
Lowering my standards is what I feel when using Windows, not the other way around. Sure, there are good and bad things on both sides, but I’m so much more happier using KDE.
I also are much happier when I use Linux than when I use Windows.
In all honesty, Windows last crashed on me this morning, in the middle of a game, when an IM came through, at the same time as I was speaking on Teamspeak…..
You might say this is poor drivers, however, the drivers are signed drivers, and Vista would not have accepted them if they were not signed…
Anyway, I digress.
When I am typing anything lengthy on Windows, I keep finding myself hitting <CTRL> – S combinations over and over, just in case it dies on me.
When I look at Windows, Vista or XP, I just don’t “get it”, it looks too plain and boring to me.
nah, I am much happier on my Linux machines.
BSOD??
No, the screen froze on the output of the game, and the sound was stuck in a loop.
Keyboard totally unresponsive.
the only way Ubuntu or linux on the desktop will ever really compete with windows or osx is if the users lower their standards
What if they just up their knowledge instead of treating everything in their lives as the typical couch potatoes that they are…
Sometimes it isn’t about knowledge, but about missing applications. From a usability perspective Gnome isn’t any worse than windows or MacOS, but if the application you need isn’t available or only have a substandard replacement your user experience on Linux will suffer.
The number of good apps available for the Linux desktop increases rapidly, but currently both Windows and Mac have more to offer.
E.g. there is nothing that comes close to Dreamweaver when it comes to editing web pages, nothing like Illustrator when it comes to vector graphics, and even if there was some god Linux replacement that would probably require some serious relearning that somebody would have to pay for.
Too funny, $500 for the equivalent, you must have no idea what an imac actually is and your time must be worth less than nothing.
Oh, sorry, a $500 e-machine without an os is more than the equivalent of a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro 17 you just plug in and start using. The hard part is having the lobotomy to believe it.
I’m not saying he’s not a well known expert, just that there are so many articles like this where subject A gives up X, takes up Y and concludes Y is much better. They’re certainly no more helpful to me than my own experience and I’m sure most peole who read them are already open to the idea of changing OS. But like the man said, I’m not about to fork out good cash when I have a prefectly good machine right in front of me.
The reason why I can’t stomach this – and neither can the people I advise when I explain it to them – is that he has perfectly valid and usable hardware, which he is obliged to stop using, for no other reason than that Apple chooses not to allow him to use it, but insists on his buying all new replacements.
I know ‘Apple is a hardware company’, and don’t care – this has nothing to do with me or my guys. What has to do with them is being forced to pay twice.
Its like, you have a perfectly good CD player. You’d like to listen to a particular band. They tell you no, you have to buy a new player for that.
Something in one revolts, and says no, I will not be made to do nonsensical things because some company wants to make its money that way.
And so I download Debian. Or Ubuntu. Or PCLinux. And feel better, really a whole lot better.
Must be a “status” thing. I have no other explanation for it.
“I know ‘Apple is a hardware company’, and don’t care – this has nothing to do with me or my guys. What has to do with them is being forced to pay twice. ”
You are not being force to buy anything by anyone. If you were “forced” in the past to buy a PC instead of a Mac, and now you think you are being forced to buy a Mac to stop using your PC, then shame on you. It’s all your fault.
EDIT: typo.
Edited 2007-02-09 20:33
You are not being forced again it’s a choice and aleats with the Mac you can run all three OSes. No one is twisting your arm, people always say forced OS X comes with Mace there is not a force. Force was when you use to by a PC from Del but you could not buy it without Windows. that is forced!
Just make sure to buy a mac and not another PC the next time you buy a new machine. Problem solved.
Just like me. I switched and never looked back and so did scores of my friends and family.
Yes, on the surface Macs “might” be more expensive, but the years of trouble free use is worth far more than a few hundred extra dollars you “might” pay.
“Might” seem more expensive, but if you closely examine the hardware/software, Macs are made with really good quality parts/case and well thought out software that does really just work.
Don’t look at computers just for it’s “face value”. Think about the long term cost and also the degree of trouble/difficulty in keeping your computer in good working condition.
“Might” seem more expensive, but if you closely examine the hardware/software, Macs are made with really good quality parts/case and well thought out software that does really just work.
Yeah…like the thermal grease. Lots of quality there…or was that quantity?
Can’t really speak for MacBook hardware reliability here. Lots of them failed not long after coming out.
Same can be said of crappy PC laptops too. The only really reliable ones seem to be corporate laptops from IBM/Dell/and others. (Dell consumer laptops suck).
Not sure why the guy switched. He seems to be using the “it just works” argument, however …
I am not a Windows expert by any stretch of the imagination. Given that I’m not an expert, I spend about 20-30 minutes a month maintaining my PC with Windows installed (mostly downloading updates) and I have 0 stablity or security issues. I’m assuming that an ‘expert’ would be even more proficient with it than I am. So while the “it just works” logic certainly applies to your grandmother, how exactly does it apply to a somebody claiming to be an expert? In other words, if we can assume that an expert has pretty close to 0 issues, then what exactly is the appeal of switching to another platform where he would also have 0 issues? I could understand why somebody would want to make the jump if they’re constantly being hammered with viruses and malware, and that’s definitely a good reason to do so. But if you’re not?
The truth is, Windows does not “just work”, but once you have been using it long enough to make it your bitch, what exactly does OSX have to offfer? From what I’ve seen of it, I don’t like anything about it .. from the fruity interface to the elitist attitude of its users. I want to know specifically how switching platforms is going to make me more productive than I am now? Ok, so I could run OSX and Windows at the same time. But if all the software I need is currently on Windows, what exactly do I need OSX for? So I can sit around and gawk at the pretty eye candy?
I am just SO f***ing tired of Windows users hating Mac OS X for its users and Mac users hating Windows users for not ‘realizing’ the Mac’s ‘superiority…
I use Mac OS X and Linux but have nothing at all against people using other OSs, I simply know what I want and like and I don’t want to be taken as some fanatic because of a humble choice that you don’t understand….
What makes some people feel sooo much worthier than others because of their choice of OS? -I just don’t get it…
He seems to be using the “it just works” argument, however …
No he isn’t… He’s using the “I had to painstakingly search for all sorts of software to do the stuff that I used to do, and I still haven’t figured out how to do everything that I did on Windows, and I don’t really like many of the Mac applications as much as I liked my Windows apps, but I’m sticking with it anyway” argument. I don’t get it any more than you do.
After reading this article, I’m convinced that no Windows poweruser in their right mind would switch to a Mac. They just require too many stupid little application, and they find too many ways to nitpick the functionality of the Mac alternatives.
No he isn’t… He’s using the “I had to painstakingly search for all sorts of software to do the stuff that I used to do, and I still haven’t figured out how to do everything that I did on Windows, and I don’t really like many of the Mac applications as much as I liked my Windows apps, but I’m sticking with it anyway” argument. I don’t get it any more than you do.
I don’t read this like you do.
Instead I read it like this:
“I am so found of the Mac OS X operating system that I am willing to put considerable work into finding the right replacement for my old Windows apps. This may take some time. I know that apps do come and go – but good operating systems do not, these are really RARE. I am not stupid enough to stick to a maybe-inferior operating system because of some app. Apps do come and go, I know that.”
.
Edited 2007-02-09 21:11
I know that apps do come and go – but good operating systems do not, these are really RARE. I am not stupid enough to stick to a maybe-inferior operating system because of some app. Apps do come and go, I know that.”
What kind of bass ackwards logic is this? An operating system is only as good as the applications it runs. Hell, I’d go back to using MS-DOS if I thought it had better apps than anything else. I’d rather have a CLI-based, 16-bit single-tasking OS that crashes 5 times a day with killer apps than a modern day GUI-based, multi-tasking, rock-solid OS that doesn’t have the applications I want/need.
If I haven’t made myself perfectly clear, IMHO, the apps are really the only thing that matters.
So what you’re trying to say is that it’s the apps..right?
What kind of bass ackwards logic is this? An operating system is only as good as the applications it runs. Hell, I’d go back to using MS-DOS if I thought it had better apps than anything else. I’d rather have a CLI-based, 16-bit single-tasking OS that crashes 5 times a day with killer apps than a modern day GUI-based, multi-tasking, rock-solid OS that doesn’t have the applications I want/need.
If I haven’t made myself perfectly clear, IMHO, the apps are really the only thing that matters.
I am afraid you must have misunderstood the importance of the operating system. Any computer will never be better than the operating system that controls it. It’s the brain and heart of everything:
I bet you would like to have Core Animation built into your MS-DOS – or – for any Core Animation aware app to take advantage of it – or web core, or Image Core. For instance, Microsoft Office for Mac does not take advantage of all the major Mac OS X operating system core technologies. This way it continues to be a “rather remaining stupid application”, sorry to say.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/coreanimation.html
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreaudio/
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/
http://developer.apple.com/opensource/internet/webkit.html
The operating system is the God. It provides everything, including -> security !!
.
I am afraid you must have misunderstood the importance of the operating system. Any computer will never be better than the operating system that controls it.
True, but no operating system will ever be better than the apps that run it either
Afterall, what good would a state-of-the-art OS with cutting-edge features be if you had no apps to take advantage of it?
I am afraid you must have misunderstood the importance of the operating system. Any computer will never be better than the operating system that controls it.
True, but no operating system will ever be better than the apps that run it either
Afterall, what good would a state-of-the-art OS with cutting-edge features be if you had no apps to take advantage of it?
True, and this is what killed BeOS. However, Mac OSX has many compelling, competitive and powerful applications. It comes down to a combination of both the apps, the OS, how the OS enhances the apps, and how the OS allows apps to integrate with each other(directly or indirectly through drag and drop of files/predictable copy&paste/import&export).
For example, in Leopard, you will have a system level database of contacts/to do’s/etc that will be accessible to any app via simple API. Is this an amazing feature? No, not at all. By itself its useless, but if developers take advantage of it, every app will become just that much more connected and better. And this is a reason why i like many apps on the Mac: The developer community is generally more passionate about integration, the UI, and utilizing features of the OS. Thats just my subjective opinion and a generalization, so don’t take that as an insult if you develop for another platform.
Oh BeOS, what a great OS. I don’t know if there will be anything like it ever again, but as long as Apple has a lot of their engineers, I know who my commercial operating systems will be coming from!
If Microsoft is every curious why I will never purchase another one of their operating systems, what they did to Be and BeOS is the answer. If you’re not sure why someone would dislike Microsoft, do some research on why Be had to close its doors, despite having an OS was 5-10 years ahead of anyone else at the time (OS X is getting closer, but still is not as responsive and searches take longer; yeah, that’s right, spotlight takes longer than BeFS’s searching did in 1999).
True, but no operating system will ever be better than the apps that run it either
Totally untrue. A lot of crappy apps (example: java apps) or any apps that reject the main features and core technologies in any OS can be a horror to work with in a truly great OS. These can be kicked out = removed – except maybe Internet Explorer in Windows (crappy app) – and replaced by modern or better apps .
For instance Macromedia (now Adobe) Studio applications on a Mac OS X are all shitty mix of old halmware and java shitware mixes. Why ? Because Macromedia did not rewrite their apps for at a true native Mac OS X experience. One can say the same for many apps that run on Windows but are half heartedly “ported” from previous versions or platforms. Apps can be truly shitty on a shining OS, like a parasite. Viruses and malware for example.
Sorry, but without applications, then you’re just looking at a pretty screen.
Instead I read it like this:
“I am so found of the Mac OS X operating system that I am willing to put considerable work into finding the right replacement for my old Windows apps. This may take some time. I know that apps do come and go – but good operating systems do not, these are really RARE. I am not stupid enough to stick to a maybe-inferior operating system because of some app. Apps do come and go, I know that.”
That is the most bizarre statement I have ever read here. The idea that someone would consider an OS above the work he had to do with it, is completely laughable. That’s just fanboy logic at its worst.
After reading this article, I’m convinced that no Windows poweruser in their right mind would switch to a Mac. They just require too many stupid little application, and they find too many ways to nitpick the functionality of the Mac alternatives.
Damn is that true. I guess I’m a “Windows power user” and what you said about so many little apps is true. There is so much software available for windows that over the years I’ve collected my favorites and have really grown on them.
When I got my macbook it was hard for a while, and still kind of is. There is so much less software available for it, and a lot of it seems to cost money, which I’m not willing to spend for *most* types of software. For windows, there is almost always multiple free choices for any type of software.
But I am starting to like my mac, I could just never use it as my main system. It’s working ok as my mobile machine though.
Wow. That’s the same experience I had. I’m just happy I can afford both.
But I have to say, there is lots and lots of good software for the Mac, but it rarely seems to match up to the Windows counterpart in terms of functionality, even though it often looks ten times better.
I wonder if the WPF will affect the landscape very much?
But I have to say, there is lots and lots of good software for the Mac, but it rarely seems to match up to the Windows counterpart in terms of functionality, even though it often looks ten times better.
I think the mac apps tend to be better from a usability standpoint and they tend to look nicer. However, they also tend to be more simple and less flexible for the power users (like me). In most cases that is fine though. I think it’s an issue with the mac platform as a whole though. In an effort to maintain quality, most of the software tends to keep things as simple as possible (which I can understand). But in the process, it kills flexibility.
I wonder if the WPF will affect the landscape very much?
It should, if Microsoft really pushes it.
I think the mac apps tend to be better from a usability standpoint and they tend to look nicer. However, they also tend to be more simple and less flexible for the power users (like me). In most cases that is fine though. I think it’s an issue with the mac platform as a whole though. In an effort to maintain quality, most of the software tends to keep things as simple as possible (which I can understand). But in the process, it kills flexibility.
I know that this is off-topic and may sound as flame-bait but this is exactly how I feel towards GNOME and its applications (not pure GTK applications though, as in most cases they are not held back by the mighty GNOME HIG).
I had a brief experience with Mac and I really liked what I saw but I think that I would need to change my habits considerably in order to use it whereas KDE can be changed upside down to fit my needs and usage patterns (and Windows to some extent, too).
owever, they also tend to be more simple and less flexible for the power users (like me).
Surely you’ve never used AppleScript… or opened a Terminal… or heck, Automator. To say Mac apps aren’t for power uses is to miss a whole slew of features that Windows has nothing equivalent to.
Nearly every program written for the platform has an AppleScript dictionary that you can call programmatically; that affords a huge amount of power.
Most of the Apple apps that ship with the OS also have command line equivalents. Not just stupid little command line apps where you can only do one or two things; diskutil, softwareupdate, mdfind (Spotlight), open, and quite a few others.
I moved to Mac because I’m a power user, and I’m constantly frustrated at my Windows desktop at work which is so inflexible and rigid. Its really all in how you use it.
I don’t think you got what I meant by simple and not flexible.
Some applications only provide X number of features. If I use appletalk, I can only access THOSE features. It doesn’t matter if the features aren’t there in the first place.
‘He seems to be using the “it just works” argument, however …’
— Did you even read what he said about “it just works”?
If not here is what he said: ‘When Mac users say, “It just works,” what they mean is that you spend more time on your work, and a lot less time working on your computer.’
I guess that’s why you don’t here Linux users using the “It just works” line much in relation to their OS of choice.
Never heard of this guy and couldn’t give a monkey’s nuts if he switches. I do however know of two people who switched and both say they love their macs… they do more… everything just works 😉 If I had the money, I’d get one too.
I’m in the same boat. I use XP/Vista at work. Have XP/Linux at home, and spend more time playing with Linux, and trying to make it work than anything.
I’d get a iMac/Macbook Pro, but can’t afford it at the moment…
once you have been using it long enough to make it your bitch
Just too close to see that the roles are reversed and it’s the opposite that is true, it only works once you have been using it long enough to become it’s bitch.
Nobody masters windows, it masters you.
Ok WorknMan,
I’m trying my very best not to troll here but you’ve hit the button.
I will say that if you’re a Windows user, and you’ve had 0 (read it, zero) issues, then you’re either a genius, or absolutely clueless.
You either have had issues, and have been daft enough to miss them, or have managed to achieve something the whole rest of the Windows user base hasn’t been able to achieve in the last 15 years.
Please, I do hope it’s the latter. You can then teach us *all* what we’re doing wrong and the world will be a *better place*.
Peace & Love,
M
Edited 2007-02-09 23:45
Yep, that’s the usual ‘if Windows is seen to work, then we cannot win’ rhetoric.
And is always accompanied by the ‘you DO hate Windows – you’re just to stupid to realise it!’
Desperate and just a little bit sad.
I tried the 2800 dollar MacBook Pro, and returned it. To make it clear up front, I will always chose BSD over Linux everytime, not a fan of Linux too much. I couldn’t use the FreeBSD ports, had some MacPorts thing I never figured out within the 2 weeks, I installed the 900MB development package, but still had errors, a few of the commands I use in BSD were not recognized on the Mac. I partitioned it and tried using Parallels and selected SuSE but my openSUSE 10.2 DVD did not work, it was ejected, FreeBSD or PC-BSD CD didn’t work. So I tried wiping out the whole Mac OS and install openSUSE or FreeBSD and that didn’t seem to do anything. My OpenBSD CD seemed to recognize the hardware, but I didn’t not go through the install for OpenBSD to verify if it would work. So at this point I had given up on the Mac design and it’s hardcore lock-in a lot worse then Windows ever has been. So I think the Mac is only for people who have no interest in digging into it, will never ask why, and will never ask if there’s something different available for software.
This is pure hearsay, but I heard there is also a growing number of people that are turning away from iPod because of it’s menu lock-in, absolutely no legal menu or software customization at all.
Darwin != BSD. Sounds like you would have been better served by buying a Dell laptop and installing your OS of choice. Macs are designed to run Mac OS, and that’s just the way it is. Apple doesn’t go out of its way to prevent people from running other OSs on their hardware, but none of their design decisions are made with an aim to make it any easier to do so. I don’t really look at this as vendor lock-in; rather, my decision to buy a MacBook was made by taking a hard look at what OS I wanted to run, and then looking for the most appropriate hardware based on that decision.
The short of it is that if you’re trying to use anything other than Mac OS X as your Mac’s primary operating system, then you bought the wrong computer.
Why did you try to wipe the OS? Why not just use BootCamp?
The article was about a dude who switched from Windows to Mac, and the opening starts with something about how “Macs just work”.
Then the rest of the article seems to be about the things he had trouble getting to work, or that almost worked, but he had to use Parallels instead.
Was I reading a different article?
Most of it was a guide to his favorite programs. It was an interesting read. The pickiness of some users never ceases to amaze me, especially when it’s contrasted to how easy going other users are.
I understand why he wants a schnazzy screenshot program though. I imagine that saves him a lot of time.
What I want is a nice video screen capture program. I believe there’s a couple out there, I just need to actually fork over the $$ for them.
After buying a Macbook, mostly due to its great price and ability to run Windows/Linux/OS X, I’m very impressed. I’ve actually stuck with OS X and have not bothered to install Windows or Linux like I was planning. It’s a wonderful system, but it takes a good week or two to get used to it. Once you do get used to it, it’s ultimately more pleasant.
BTW: I chose the Macbook without even looking at Apple originally. I was simply searching for core 2 duo laptops and it came up on CNET with the highest laptop rating for its category. Then, I checked the price (with educational discount) and realized that it was surprisingly cheaper than gateway, Lenovo, Dell, SONY, Toshiba and all the other brands when equipped with equivalent hardware. Seeing that I could save about $200, I got it. No regrets so far!
He did not say goodbye to Redmond at all
“Note that my Mac runs Windows in the Parallels virtual-machine software, which I use frequently for a handful of specific tasks”
Well, hello, why is OSX great, if it does not solve your problems? Now he has to pay for OSX _and_ Windows, plus he has locked hardware, difficult to upgrade. Way to go.
But there’s a problem. Dreamweaver costs $400. And while that’s OK in the corporate world, it’s a stretch for my budget. As a result, I’ve had to fall back on using HomeSite 5.5 under Windows running in Parallels on my Mac. That works just fine, for now. One day I’ll figure out a way to give Dreamweaver a real test.
Speaking of locked in.
It is truly great so see that the personal-computer-OS market is finally moving towards some more normalised distribution of market shares. The area of Microsoft-only is finally over, or at least on it’s way to a more normalised path.
In 2006 Microsoft lost 2% market share, compared with 1% market share loss in 2005. Not much, but it’s a beginning!
.
“microsoft and apple perfecting the look, feel, and consistency of their platforms. ”
Microsoft? Consistency? Surely they can’t be in the same sentence? Also, spending 100s of millions of dollars developing XP’s ToysRUs interface? Cool! Even Apple has consistency problems though their interface looks more professional and appealing IMO.
Tried Mac OSX when it was 10.0. Terribly slow almost unusable. Bought a powerbook with 10.3 on it then upgraded to 10.4. Used it for about 9 months ended switching back to Windows. There are some nice things but at the end of the day I am far more productive in Windows. Things that ultimately put me off OS X –
1. File management i.e. finder is terrible and I am not buying Path finder sorry.
2. The lack of a task bar slows me down – Gnome is the best in this regard. The dock is a half job, I want to be able to select the window I want with one click. Sorry Expose or Alt-tab is not optimal for me – too slow.
3. Litters my removable drive, which gets used on Windows and Linux, with ‘dot’ files I don’t want to see. Its ridiculous actually and annoying.
4. Setting up a FULLY configured and CURRENTLAMPP stack is not as easy as the options available on Windows.
5. Java and Firefox just run so much better on Windows.
6. Macromedia Studio is SUPERIOR on Windows. Its both faster and does not feel like a port which the Mac version does.
7. MS Access is only available on Windows.
8. The Windows version of Navicat is superior to the Mac version.
9. I can play games on my Windows machines.
10. I abhor spotlight. Its hard to imagine a more useless ‘search’. Google search is much better but I digress.
Yes most of the above are not direct features of Windows. Its about apps and the OS. When I look at both of these and the fact if you go with Apple you are locking yourself into their hardware I decided that Windows is the best bet.
Also don’t get me wrong OSX is an awesome operating system. Its just gets in the way sometimes for people who use their computers for more than email and browsing the web.
I am really looking forward to getting my hands on Vista. Some reasons.
1. File management / navigation looks to be far, far better than anything else available especially in OS X.
2. The look and feel, subtle but beautiful animation is better than anything out there.
3. DirectX 10 is going to be amazing when more cards support it and quality drivers become available.
4. Did I mention that the display technology is superior to anything available today. Leopard may bring OSX onto a level playing field.
Also this is as bad as it can get for Windows. After years of messing around being seemingly directionless Vista has come out and its actually quite good. The Windows team can only improve right now.
Things I hate about Vista.
1. Too many versions.
2. Its a rip off especially the ultimate version.
3. I am sure there will be others when I actually use it on a day to day basis.
Sorry, not that I disagree with your points but I found this quite humorous.
4. Setting up a FULLY configured and CURRENTLAMPP stack is not as easy as the options available on Windows.
I would think setting up a Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP stack on Windows would be slightly difficult.
7. MS Access is only available on Windows.
Let’s hope that it will continue to be the case – forever.
.
Edited 2007-02-09 21:06
A huge number of your problems are unwillingness to learn the new system and get out of the ‘Windows way’. It is very much like learning a new language, and making the step to thinking in that language. Some people are just to impatient to do it.
However, Macs are not for everyone there is. Apple are only one manufacturer out of many, and it seems that Mac OS doesn’t suit your needs. But I will add these comments:
1. Finder is bad. But it’s not /that/ bad. I’ve been using it for nearly two years now and I get by perfectly okay.
2. Again, unwilling to change paradigms. Cmd+` cycles apps, Alt+Tab is just as good as Alt+Tab on the other platforms. Exposé Screen corners are faster than using the keyboard, so that’s not really an excuse.
3. Agreed, but can be disabled using Onyx. I use Windows so little it hasn’t affected me at all. Linux hides dot-files the same as Mac OS, so that’s moot.
4. Google MAMP. Or follow instructions to build from source, it’s supprisingly easy and highly configurable. Unix *AMP is more complex than Windows for a reason, Unix machines are proper *AMP servers. PHP on Windows, when you delve into it, is sub-standard compared to on Unix/Others.
5. Can’t comment on Java, don’t use it, don’t develop for it. Firefox is not the most mac-like program. Safari or Camino are appropriate in that sense. If people rely on Firefox extensions, then you get yourself UNO and the UNO for Firefox skin and a few tweaks later Firefox will look much more native.
6. Can’t comment, don’t use it.
7. Cry me a river. An MS app only on Windows? There are plenty of alternatives. If you’re tied to Windows because of MSAccess, you need to re assess your toolchain.
8. Can’t comment, don’t use it.
9. If you buy a Mac to play games, you’re an idiot. Saying that PCs can play games as some kind of argument against OS X is possibly the lamest attack I’ve ever heard of. Mac OS is about productivity. The games argument is completly moot. I don’t buy a car to go flying; same difference.
10. Spotlight is great. You have some serious Window-isms ingrained in you from the 3.1 days or something.
People should use the system that’s best for them. Mac OS is a great operating system all about productivity. But it’s not a free ride to switch and takes some will and effort on your own part. It’s took me about a year to get onto all new apps, get into the Mac way of doing things and be happy with the system; which I am.
1. I recommend terminal, I know it’s an unpopular opinion but it’s a power users best friend. Finder isn’t what I’d call a great file manager, but it’s definitely in my top 5.
2. Actually task bars are a half job… It’s a lot more work to identify windows against processes and sort them together than to simply identify windows.
Now, you obviously prefer the task bar. That’s fine, and a lot of other people prefer it too. I prefer the Dock, and I’m accustomed to the task-bar. But I’ve found that I get way to many windows open to manage without any categorization. And application makes a nice categorization factor.
3. Explain. TMK you should only get dot files in certain places. Mainly your home directory (~) and probably in areas where cataloguing programs are using files.
4. LAMP only runs on Linux. Apache isn’t supported on Windows either, it just happens to be maintained for testing purposes.
5. Windows is the only platform where people complain about JVM load times. What are you talking about? The only thing that’s superb on Windows is Swing’s support for OLE drag and drop.
6. Probably true, great reason to run Windows. What does it do?
7. MS Access is an abomination. Have you read the SQL errors?!
8. ok.
9. Good for you, want a cookie?
10. I don’t like it either. But it has helped me find a couple of things now.
The only way I know that Vista has better display technology is that the whole desktop is vector based. TMK Apple has decided to avoid this route, so I don’t see how Leopard will be catching up.
1. Too many versions.
Amen.
Some guy switches to Mac.
Yea, I wasn’t that excited either.
I think the point of this article, and of articles like this, is to argue against the seemingly pervasive idea among smug windows/otherOS users that mac users are bred, and aren’t making their own rational decisions. *feeding from steve jooooobbbsss rdf*
The truth is, a majority of Mac users are on a Windows box (at work) more than their mac. So, they know both sides of the OS argument already. The same goes for Linux vs. Windows. On the other side of the coin the majority of people out there are Windows users that just don’t know any better. There’s exceptions to every rule, and if you’ve given an OS a FAIR shake and it doesn’t fit you, then i think we can respect that. But understand, we’re not evangelizing for you, we’re evangelizing for the much larger group of people who say “Macs and Mac users suck” without ever getting properly educated with *experience* in both platforms.
Personally, i use a Mac @ home and XP @ Work, in college (2 yrs ago) i only used XP, and I look forward to my triple booting OSX10.5/Vista/Ubuntu Dual Core2 quad MacPro when its introduced. (I have money to blow- go to college and get a job, or stop blowing your money on hookers:P )
Edited 2007-02-09 21:42
“The truth is, a majority of Mac users are on a Windows box (at work) more than their mac. So, they know both sides of the OS argument already. The same goes for Linux vs. Windows. On the other side of the coin the majority of people out their are Windows users that just don’t know any better.”
In those few sentences, you have just laid bare the very reasons that _most_ Mac users are considered bigots!
“The truth is, a majority of Mac users are on a Windows box (at work) more than their mac. So, they know both sides of the OS argument already. The same goes for Linux vs. Windows. On the other side of the coin the majority of people out their are Windows users that just don’t know any better.”
In those few sentences, you have just laid bare the very reasons that _most_ Mac users are considered bigots!
Agreed, although s/just don’t know any better/haven’t been exposed to anything else/ it’s less arrogant and probably more true.
In those few sentences, you have just laid bare the very reasons that _most_ Mac users are considered bigots!
I don’t really know any Mac bigots. I know many Windows users who do not have clue about any systems other than Windows, which is the point ashan made.In the ’80’s our business used a variety of machines. In those days files were easily transportable across platforms, and it was common to have a utility program that would allow users to read/write most any file system no matter what computer it originated from. Purchasing computers was a much more open and subjective process.
In 1984 I was tasked with buying some “luggables” for our management staff. The Macintosh was creating much excitement, so I considered the Mac. I ran into my first expierence with MS DOS FUD. The mantra in those days was “Macintosh is for school children”. All serious computing was done by typing at a prompt. As I looked at the Mac’s on display, but the sales staff’s in the stores I shopped were very quick to tell me what I could not do with a Macintosh (they recieved additional commissions from Manufacturers like Panasonic and Kapro). I bought into the argument then.
In 1989 I bought my first Mac to join the stable of numerous venerable machines, and have continued to work in a multi-platform environment ever since…. and I have heard every piece of crap spewed by Microsoft acolites ever since. I was once told, when a sales person asked me what computer I was going to install a SCSI HD I was purchasing, that they would not accept a return if the drive didn’t work because the drive was “better” than the Mac I was upgrading. I have numerous other anecdotes, most of which are common.
All I can say when I see the vitriolic BS posted by those who are obviously Windows only users, you are the ones who created the Mac zealots. When I see the rabid Mac “fanboys” as they are commonly refered to, I simply say “its OK, the Windows users just don’t know any better”.
BTW, I use Windows XP, Slackware 11, and OS X. I work on which ever system I choose at a given time for the appropriate task at hand, and I’ll leave the rest too your imagination.
Also, I do not know a single person who switched to Mac that even thinks of going back to Windows. They usually install Ubuntu on their PC.
“All I can say when I see the vitriolic BS posted by those who are obviously Windows only users…”
LOL! I dislike both Microsoft and all flavours of Windows since way, way back oooh! Windows 3 IIRC.
OS2/Warp versions 3 and then 4 was my first encounter with alternative OSs’, about the same time Apple was loading system 7. Prior to that I had used Atari 1024’s as a midi workstations but there is no need to go there ;o)
Lets see, Win95, Nt4, Windows 2000 and now XP. Add to the mix various Linux distro’s from RH5 through FC5, SuSe, Mandriva 10 etc, etc…BeOS (R3->), Zeta, Haiku, I think I am at least experienced enough to voice my own preferences. I would say that I’m fairly platform agnostic.
You may not know any Mac bigots, zealots, snobs…whatever. I do!
Most of the Mac users I know actually admit to being technology bigots (kudos to them for that). Having owned a Mac myself and used a variety of them in an educational environment since (circa) 1998, I’m fairly comfortable with my own opinions about them. In actual fact, I’m considering buying another as my next machine. It’s seldom the machine itself that deters me from buying another one.
‘Vitriolic’, ‘Windows Only user’….nah! Not me!
The truth is, a majority of Mac users are on a Windows box (at work) more than their mac. So, they know both sides of the OS argument already. The same goes for Linux vs. Windows. On the other side of the coin the majority of people out there are Windows users that just don’t know any better.
Not necessarily. Just because you use Windows doesn’t mean you know how to run it properly. It’s just like Linux in this regard. Somebody new to Linux could spend weeks trying to get their hardware working if they have some sort of weird configuraiton, where somebody else experienced with the OS could set everything up in 10 minutes. Do you think the second guy is going to spend a lot of time bitching about how hard it is to set everything up?
Likewise, somebody using Windows who doesn’t know what they’re doing is probably going to get infected with malware in short order, whereas someone like me will probably never get infected. So the person who got infected with malware will switch to the Mac, and then tell me that the reason I’m still using Windows is because I don’t know any better. Ummmm … no, dumb ass. The reason I’m still using Windows is because I knew better than you to begin with, which is why my system is clean
So I never had a need to jump ship in the first place.
Edited 2007-02-09 22:18
I just dont get why people dont like finder, I mean WTF people?, please tell me why it’s bad because I just cannot see why it is.
Beagle is real nice but a memory hog, and Vista search well it’s just only just half useful.
Finder has a lot of issues. These might be related to Finder itself or underlying APIs, but it hampers the productivity unnecessarily. Here are some of them:
– Try finding an easy and obvious way to refresh a Samba share. There is no refresh button.
– Try emptying the trash or delete a file during a long file operation.
– “The file can’t be deleted because it’s in use” By what? By what, dammit!
– No FTP write?
– SFTP access?
– Reconnecting to network shares can be a pain when waking your machine from sleep.
– Try drag’n’drop a file to an item in the sidebar that is scrolled out of view.
– Sometimes FTP mounts can’t be umounted without hanging Finder and sometimes the entire OS.
– Lots of redraw errors when dragging and dropping in column view.
– Drag a file to the parent directory in tree view can be a chore, particularly because you need to drop directly on the parent directory entry, rather than just somewhere in the parent directory.
– Search for a plain file name in the current directory. Spotlight goes to action and it might take minutes to complete because it’s doing everything, but the thing it should. If I want global search, I’ll use the spotlight menu in the upper righthand corner. This is so much faster in Panther. Alright, this is an issue with Spotlight, but the search field would be a lot more useful if it worked like it did in Panther, namely focused on the directory that you are in.
– .DS_store files littered everywhere. They can be turned off now, though after 10.4.3.
– No way to move files without drag’n’drop.
– Scrollwheel is useless during drag’n’drop.
– Lots of animations when copying files into an icon view Finder window take up CPU usage.
– History is stored in a submenu inside a menu. Why not in the forward/back buttons right in the toolbar? Safari does this just fine.
Meanwhile, I think Finder has some great things. I love column view and I think directory navigation is very fast. It’s also very fast to find a file in a directory using proxy icons, when you are working in an application and Finder integrates well. But I basically think it needs to be rethought and the next version shouldn’t be a Tiger Finder with more bolted on features.
Finder is a Carbon app, but I don’t know whether this is causing all the troubles. It seems to me that Finder is underpowered compared to the rest of the system, but would that be because it’s written in Carbon?
Edited 2007-02-10 08:42
I just dont get why people dont like finder, I mean WTF people?, please tell me why it’s bad because I just cannot see why it is.
Compare it to Konqueror. Or even to Windows Explorer. Nuff said…
If I had to use a Mac, I’d try to get ahold of Path Finder.
just so that other people can form an opinion as to what os they would like to use now that computers are getting so complicated.
for instance my mom bought a dell just because it is the most popular computer around here so now she is using a windows machine with all this adware because she is too scared to reinstall windows. so now I will have to reinstall it miyself when I get the time…
anyways my mac story is a little different – i had been eyeing the mac ever since they switched to intel and since I had a windows machine and a linux machine I thought I might as well get a cheap mac mini.
I like it so much that the windows machine is stricly for games. I like the cocoa frame work for developing and the fact it comes (fairly) clean of adware and demos was cool also the fact that it plays nicely with my linux machine is cool. With windows I had to install windows for unix where the mac just connects through NFS – oh well just my story
Well I see I’m starting to get modded down by the same old guys.
See, I work in real state. What I need to do here can be done with Open Office, Thunderbird and Kopete for instant messenging. I’m talking with the people here to entirely move to FOSS. About the only thing that we can’t do yet on Linux involves AUTOCAD. 99% else can be done with free open source software.
In the legal environment, it’s virtually impossible to run anything but Windows, OSX included. There are simply too many firms relying on Windows-only applications. Being a Network consultant and working with many, many different firms, there’s not one that can make the switch. At least not entirely.
I don’t think Ubuntu (or Linux in general) loses out on look, feel, and polish, or stability either. It just comes down to software availability.
It was like that in the last industry I was in as well (banking/ATM services).
I’m cheering for Linux, I really am. But it ain’t there yet.
“In the legal environment, it’s virtually impossible to run anything but Windows, OSX included. There are simply too many firms relying on Windows-only applications.”
Yes, I can confirm this according to software used in the medicinal sector. While you mostly have “Windows” solutions in smaller environments, big hospitals and labs for diagnostics and research rely on UNIX software (e. g. SGI image processing software for computer tomography or Sun datacenters with file servers). Here it’s not about flashy GUIs with squeaking buttons and fluffy puppies, here it’s about stability and reliability. I’m sure nobody wants to lie in bed at a stroke unit that locks up and has to be restarted twice a day. 🙂
“I don’t think Ubuntu (or Linux in general) loses out on look, feel, and polish, or stability either. It just comes down to software availability.”
I’m trying to change this right now. 🙂
As an example, for FreeBSD, there are more than 20,000 applications available via the Ports Collection. They include almost everything the home user, the software developer, the composer or the scientist may need. Special solutions can hardly be found, e. g. POS solutions… but I’m sure the availability of software will improve.
“It was like that in the last industry I was in as well (banking/ATM services).”
Banking… last time I checked my local bank used an IBM mainframe (AS/400 eSeries) for banking (see reliability); there were only “Windows” boxes set up with a 3270 terminal emulation program. What a waste… the “old” dumb terminals were cheaper, did not require maintenance and made no sound during operations…
“I’m cheering for Linux, I really am. But it ain’t there yet.”
It will, soon. I’m sure.
Here is a quote from the first article in the three-part series:
“About other aspects of the Mac: I’m having little trouble adapting to the differences between Windows and the Mac. I was a Mac user from 1987 to 1990 and a Windows and Mac user from 1994 to 1995. Mac OS X is a different operating system from the old Mac OS software. But my Linux experience, though not considerable, has helped me log in and out of root to change system settings on the Mac with relative ease (once I knew where to initiate the authentication). Exploring the way the Mac works is actually fun. I wouldn’t call the more esoteric settings intuitive, but they’re not difficult to find if you keep at it.
If learning Linux esoterica is comparable to doing The New York Times crossword puzzle, the Mac is tantamount to whipping through the crossword puzzle in your local-yokel newspaper. And Windows is somewhere in between.”
In other words, he USED to be a Mac user (and even a Linux user), then he worked on Windows because that’s where the money was, and now he’s switched BACK.
Not exactly what the headline implies, right?
Being a Linux user myself, I don’t have any problem with that, but the implication that a major Windows buff has just “converted” seems overstated.
This word “switch” is wrong IMO in the computing industry.
The word switch can be more useful in the car industry though, I will switch from Toyota to Mercedes, because I cannot use both at the same time; and the Mercedes is more secure for me and my family than a Toyota.
But in the computer world the word switch is more appropiate for those who don’t use the computer for more than Internet Browsing and Word Processing.
If you happen to get advanced in computing and your demands increase, you will simply proliferate rather than switch; eg
1. a CentOS linux box to handle intensive server P2p networking
2. a windows server 2003 to handle file Serving fuctions
3. a windows xp or vista or a mac (mini or imac) as a desktop
4. Mac Pro for graphics/ Video editing at work
5. Sun Solaris for the work enterprise to handle some serving needs (database)
6…..
and you can grow even more.
But always remember that when you grow, you will not ditch your previous computer but rather offload the burden on it to another system and so on.
So, in my opinion the word switch is not acceptable to mean trash your platform and start over from scratch, simply for the previous reason and for the money you will loose and the learning time you will need to master a new player.
Happy computing for all.
1)El-Al: I agree, but that doesn’t mean we ARE bigots. We are just misunderstood. I currently use XP and look forward to having Vista at home on my new machine. If thats Mac zealotry, then I give up.
2) WorknMan: I regularly do tech support for windows at work. One of my additional duties is SysAdmin. My XP machine is clean and always has been. The arguments for using a Mac are not only centered around malware on Windows. Not only do you obviously not already know more, but you also made a poor assumption by thinking i’ve *jumped ship*. I won’t go anymore into insults, because i want to keep this constructive.
3) Macs are not superior to any/everything, they’re just good tools that are often not given a fair shake. Honestly, I don’t think WorknMan has given it a fair shake; he can pick his own reasons. I think Vista hasn’t been given a fair shake either. Articles on the web say you shouldn’t even upgrade(true in limited situations), but for the most part thats just rubbish.
4) The author of this article is extremely nit-picky( in both his evaluation of mac/mac software and Vista), and hopefully many of us can agree on that.
There are so many posts saying, “Oh look, he has to find all these apps to replace things he did on the PC… yadda yadda”.
This of course completely ignores the fact that he is replacing apps that it probably took him years of use and experimentation on the Windows machine to find and settle on. So now he has his Mac for three months and is in the same process he was using Windows, but this is a fault/problem?
No, it is just this time around you get to witness it.
He used the Mac, he likes OSX better than Windows and now he is migrating to his new platform. If the switch were the other way he would be facing precisely the same issues.
I had a client with a core-duo Mac hire a Dell laptop because of work needed to be done.
Using Finder to manipulate images with corresponding sound files (for image indentification) was PITA. We were just trying to get the OS to list the files by file name and then play the audio in a unobtusive app so that then the client could go to his Word Processor, do a text search to find the page to place the image file and then drag and drop the image from Finder/Explorer to the WP page.
Considering he had hundreds of images and audio files to work with for his report, we couldn’t do it in an unobtrusive/easy way using OS-X. With Windows we were able to use Explorer in detailed view listing files by modification date, a simple version of WMP and Open Office. There he was able to Alt-Tab between the windows and easily drag and drop images once Id’d by the accoumpanying audio file.
I would have also found Linux (Gnome) to be as easy to utilise in this situation but OS-X was a real pain in the ass. Didn’t use Linux as it was not what the laptop came with (as it was hired).
Also, originally we tried to install Open Office on his Mac and gave up as the OO installer wanted X11 on the system but OS-X cept telling us that X11 was already installed and none of the web tips we looked at solved this dilemma. Makes me think that if you go outside the OS-X square then the OS is as hard, if not harder, to work with than Linux and definately Windows.
Still, Finder issues aside, if you use Mac’s within apps limits it seems fine but if you want to use the OS for cross platform data manipulation and organisation, it sucks. Mac’s seem to be designed to work in a purely Mac environment which is it’s downfall and also where most Mac Elitist accusations stem from. As if to say, “if you don’t use a Mac and you have problems with the files I give you cause they were generated on a Mac then it’s your fault” attitude of Mac users.
This is where Windows and Linux are easier to work with.
My 2 cents
I agree about the problem, because I face some like it with both Mac and GNOME/Linux but the story a little different with KDE/Linux because konqueror file browsing is even better than windows when it comes to work with multi folders open at once aka “tabs” and finally you can save your tabs design at the end as a “view profile” then you can contiue editing the next day without even having to go with opening multiple windows to return to where you were.
And konqueror has “details view” and other views too.
If you want to jump more in fuction though try windows vista which will filter files quickly for you in case you work with multithousand images.
So file browsers of descending order of features are:
1. vista explorer
2. KDE konqueror
3. XP explorer
4. OSX finder
5. GNOME
6. CDE file browser
7. Zeta Tracker
8. others
Happy computing
I switched to a Mac (macbook) from linux a few months back. And I faced the same issues you mentioned. But those are easily solvable. For you, I will write the steps. X11 comes bundled with the Tiger CD. Install it with rootless option, and OpenOffice works fine.Or you can use NeoOffice with native Aqua interface.
Detailed view is also available in Mac. Just play with Finder for some time and you will understand it. True, first time users from Windows world will have difficulty. It took me a couple of weeks to get all the things I wanted on Mac. Darwinports and fink are wonderful tools to install *nix apps. For command line, you have the terminal app.
At the end of the day, I love Mac. It has the power of command line, tonnes of apps for free, plus the simplicity.
Column view in OSX lists files by file name and selecting them allows you to play the file in the finder without opening an app… or am I missing something here?
I have two words for you “Attention whore”
I can’t speak for Macbooks, but PowerBooks/MBPs are pretty durable. My PowerBook is over 2yrs old, has been dropped several times, stepped on, cord-yanked, etc. Besides the scratchy left palmrest (my watch-band is the evil!), it looks brand-new. No part of the machine has failed in any way. Looks and acts new for over 2 years of abuse!
Switched to the MBP but not OSX.
Funny thing is i used to boot into osx to try out the “experience” but always found myself switching back to xp. The finder issues aside, i just couldn’t get used to the mac. (this is from a guy who built a tibook from scratch just to experience osx)
For me it’s like driving and having to choose between manual and auto, after a few days with the auto and loving the ease and peace i just can’t wait to jump back into a manual. Not fun in san fran traffic, but …
Get linux.
It all comes down to preference for many people (excluding those that must have windows for a specific application). Personally, I don’t mind windows xp (and probably would like vista). The thing that turns me off most about windows is the licensing stuff…
eq. I installed xp using bootcamp on my mac, decided I didn’t want to go that route, reinstalled OS X and picked up VMWare to run xp. When trying to install xp in VMWare it said I had already registered it and would not let me use the serial number it came with… had to call MS support and go through the relicensing stuff. What scares me is that VMWare warns that if you make major configuration changes you might have to go through that again. Oh well.
But as operating systems go, they all (Windows, Linuxes, BSDs and OS X) all have good points and bad points, quirks and inefficiencies. I use Redhat and Windows for servers at work, and I actually do a lot of my development on my Mac (BBEdit).
Also, someone complained about Java… 1.4.2 wasn’t the quickest, but have you tried 1.5? And I know people don’t want to spend more $$$ after paying for a mac, but I did go ahead and buy Path Finder and replaced Finder with it. Works pretty well (Finder plugins might be useless if you use any).
Also, someone mentioned not being able to pick the window in an app that is running? If you right-click (ctrl-click for one button mice) the icon in the dock it DOES list the open windows for the selected application?
…that most people who give other platforms a try make a huge mistake in that they expect the new platform to behave exactly like the platform they’re used to and when it doesn’t they get frustrated and go back to what they know. Sorry, but it’s going to take you more than 30 minutes to learn how to use a new OS. It’s going to take you more than a day. I think the author of this article, makes an astute statment when he says:
“I decided it was high time to do my homework on other systems in the only way I know that works: total immersion.
Beginning this week, for at least one month — maybe three — I’m making an Apple MacBook Pro my main work and personal computer.”
I don’t care if you’re going from a Mac to WIndows, from Windows to Linux from Linux to Mac–whatever–if you don’t actually try to learn the new platform, it’s going to leave you with a bad taste in your mouth. I’ve used all three platforms and hated them all upon first use, but as I became accustomed to them, they became tools that helped me get my work done.
Overall, I find Mac OS X to be less likely to get in my way when I work, but that’s just me. I guess that makes me an Apple fanboy zealot or whatever other demeaning term the vast Windows majority wants to fling at me.