Are you a long time Windows user curious about the Apple Switch campaign? Are you wondering if you should try it? Read below for my experience with the whole thing… twice. Just over a week ago I purchased a new 12″ Apple PowerBook G4…
Editorial Notice: All opinions are those of the author and not necessarily those of osnews.com
This decision was made after a 12 month agonizing debate over whether or not to try the switch… again. Interwoven into the decision was the fact that almost two years ago to the day I had already tried the switch . I reflect on why I bought my first Mac, why it ended up on eBay, and why I struggled over the decision to buy my second Mac. Did I make the same mistake twice? You can read how I feel about my decision, and what the outlook looks like.
Let me start off by giving you a little background about me. I am a thirty-two year old self proclaimed (and proclaimed by many others as well) geek. I have been using computers to write code since I was thirteen years old. Hammering out Basic and Machine Language on my Commodore Vic-20. Today I am a Software Engineer who enjoys writing Java and can wrangle Vi with the best of them. After my Vic-20 and Commodore-64, I graduated to an IBM PC clone to head off the college with. My only Apple experience had been when I was exposed to them in the 6th grade. We ran the Logo program (the little turtle guy) and a GUI word processor which was amazing to me. Besides this short lived experience with Apple computers, I never used them again. They were always a bit out of financial reach of my family, but I envied the kids that owned such beautiful computers. I stayed within the PC line for my personal computers and have worked on Sun and HP for work. I also started working with Linux pretty early on because I was running a 4 line BBS and was trying to write an application on Linux that could route Internet mail to my BBS.
I am thinking back to when Apple computers recently caught my eye. I recall being a real PC power user (always having the latest and fastest of everything in my PC) and laughing at those crazy Apple users. I remember thinking to myself, “What a boring experience, those people can’t even get to a command line and tweak their setting.” I was wondering when Apple would just go out of business and die. Those thoughts were pretty consistent in my mind for many years. Until… one day I was watching television with my wife and I saw it… an ad for the Apple Titanium PowerBook G4. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow! That is a beautiful machine.” I immediately navigated my web browser to www.apple.com and was in for another huge surprise. Apple had recently released a new operating system called Mac OS X based on one of my favorite OSs, FreeBSD. I couldn’t believe it. I have always loved and admired FreeBSD. I love the elegance and beauty of it. I love the philosophy of it. Unfortunately, I have only been able to be a FreeBSD supporter by way of user and cheerleader, but I admire and respect all of the individuals who put long hours into it.
I poured over all of the specs for the PowerBook and OS X. I was impressed. My wife could tell that I had that fixation about me that could only be cured by one thing… owning one. But alas things would have to be put on hold for just a bit while my wife and I tended to our newly born son. The time off from work tending to baby and mom made me a little stir crazy. I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the amazing things I would be able to do with my new PowerBook. My wife finally said to me, very lovingly, “Honey, go get your computer.” I think she was just tired of me asking her if I should buy it or not. So I trucked on over to the new Apple computer store and introduced myself to my new laptop. The purchase was not quite the fan-fare I thought it would be. I made sure to tell all of the employees that I came in contact with that this was my first Apple computer out of about twenty Wintel PCs. In the end, I think they thought I was more goofy than anything else. While waiting for the final checkout, I started chatting with a woman who had owned Macs her entire life and had that “Think Different… Apple or die attitude.” I couldn’t wait. I just couldn’t wait to be part of a culture that loved their computers so much that they were willing to charge into verbal battles on their behalves and emblaze their environmentally friendly vehicles with Apple logos. I was ready.
I journeyed home and opened it up. I was so excited. I planned to learn all about my new computer, get it all set up, and have my Windows based laptop on eBay within weeks. Then I slowly started to realize something. My new PowerBook that was supposed to be faster than my PC despite the Mhz gap was terribly slow. Then other things started to chip away at my excitement. All of the software that I currently owned and used on my PC was not available in a Mac version or even worse, if a Mac version was available, I was not eligible for upgrade pricing. Purchasing software for a new OS is considered a new purchase in the eyes of software manufacturers. I had heard about a product by Connectix called VirtualPC which would allow me to run all of my PC software on my new Apple. So once again, I returned to the Apple store and purchased a copy. If the computer didn’t run slow enough with native applications, it ran my PC applications even slower, unacceptably slow. So I antied up some more bucks and increased the RAM on my 400Mhz PowerBook to 1 Gigabyte. Surely that old Windows trick would work on the Apple side too. I started to become sad. I had passionately wanted this machine. I was planning on replacing my Wintel laptop with it. I was ready to start my basic training to become a Mac fanatic. Instead, I sat in sadness as the launcher icons bounced mockingly as I waited to get some work done. It became obvious I would not be able to replace my Wintel laptop with my new PowerBook and at almost $3,500 spent so far, this toy was far to expensive to keep around. Sadly, I took the “buy me” snap shots, packed her up and posted her on eBay. I took a bath on the sale because the new, faster and improved PowerBooks had been announced. I made my final “6 month same as cash” payment to MBNA months after my PowerBook was gone.
The humiliation from my Wintel loyalist friends was as painful as the financial and emotional setbacks. End of story? Do Apple and I part ways for good over my disappointment? Thankfully, no. I still kept a more watchful eye on Apple as rumors were circulating that new versions of OS X would dramatically increase performance and that thousands of new software titles would soon be ported or written for this wonderful new OS. Despite my disappointed with my first experience, deep down, I really wanted to believe. I wanted to be part of the “Think Different” culture. I wanted to own a beautiful yet functional computer. Then, Jobs and Co. did it to me again. I do have to this say of Steve Jobs. He is the perfect leader to the group of Apple disciples. I get energized and excited every time I hear him talking about Apples latest products. As I tried to rationalize my disappointment in my first switch, I came to realize that despite my love for the design of the Titanium PowerBook my brain couldn’t get over a false sense of fragility in the laptop. It’s width to thickness ration was weird for me to get over. The Titanium feel of the PowerBook made it feel very brittle to me. So from my dark depths of subconscious grey matter, the combination of wide, thin, and brittle, always made me feel like I had to baby the machine or be overly gentle with it. So I decided what I really wanted was something about the form factor of the iBook, but it had to have a G4 processor in it. Well, I think that you see where this is going, about a year after I sold my PowerBook, Jobs sprang the 12″ PowerBook on me. G4 in an iBook form factor and beautiful aluminum to boot.
In addition to the new line up of laptops, Jobs spoke of the amazing new WIndows interoperability in the latest version of OS X. He demonstrated a much snappier OS X and introduced the evolving .Mac and iLife products. Once again, I start to get the twinkle in my eye. Slowly, I start to prepare my wife for the fact that we might try the Apple thing again. It was actually to warn her of my forthcoming obsession. She reminded me that this was quite fitting as our second child was due in just a couple weeks (my first Apple experience coinciding with my first child). I started to ease my friends into the whole Apple experience and explained to them why it would be great to own an Apple. I had to slowly sell them without them realizing what I was doing. I had to somehow disarm them of all of the arsenal of ammo I had provided them on my first switch. I told them how great it was that an Apple could integrate seemlesly into their beloved Windows networks and that Microsoft had even release a Windows Terminal Services client for Mac OS X. I impressed them with peripheral Apple technologies like the new Apple iPod (many fell in love with my original 5 Gigabyte iPod, a thing of wonder) and the Apple music store. I even got one friend excited enough that he popped down a work bonus check on the top of the line iPod. I felt I was ready to spring it on them. “I am going to get another Apple.” Most suspected it from the way I had been talking. Others chuckled. Some plain out called me dumb to do it again.
I had my friends sold (or informed at least) and I had my wife sold too. There was just one person left, myself. I journeyed to my local Apple store and loitered around. I did not want any help from the employees. I did not want to chat with recent converts. I did not want to talk to die hard Apple soldiers. I just wanted some time alone with this new PowerBook to try to see if I was setting myself up for disappointment once again. I looked at it, it looked at me and I felt that feeling of excitement and wonder all wrapped up in the 12″ wide by 1″ thick metallic machine with its glowing apple emblem on the back. From the standpoint of art, innovation, and childhood wonder, I wanted to walk out of the store with it. In the end, the rational side of my brain waived a red flag, momentarily distracting me from the passionate side of my brain. While it had me distracted, it reminded me that I and my wallet had been down this road before. With my passionate side protesting, we walked away and drove home. I tortured myself and my wife with this trip a few more time over the next couple weeks.
Finally my passionate side and my practical side called a truce. We all decided to sit down and really think about this. We would decide to either purchase a new PowerBook or give up on the idea and stop torturing myself, my wife, and my friends. I am sure I was sounding like a broken record as I continued selling my friends and family in preparation of my impending purchase.
This is what my brain and I talked about. I knew I was infatuated with the Apple machines but I wanted to make sure I didn’t own a $2,000.00 piece of art to sit on my desk. The first thing I decided was, I was not buying this machine to replace any of my current machines. Its purpose would strictly be another learning toy to introduce me to the world of Macs and OS X. Second, I absolutely love music. I have a collection of over 700 CDs. Using iTunes and the Apple music store, this would become my machine on which I would rip, organize, and maintain my music collection, as well as keep my iPod in sync with my mobile music life. I also consider myself a very amateur film maker with dreams of becoming a film director later in life. I would use this new machine to interface with my firewire digital Sony camcorder and fool around with iMovie and iDVD. Next, when my wife and I found out she was pregnant the first time, we made the decision to go 100% digital with all of our photographs, so we bought the Canon S110 (I highly recommend any Cannon digital camera). Our digital photo collection kicked off with over 300 pictures of our first son within his first week of birth. With our second child’s arrival 20 months later the collection has grown very large an almost unmanageable. I decided I would use iPhoto to catalogue and manage all of our digital photos.
As an added bonus, I would be able to make bound books from my photos as well as publish slide shows of my photos and music to DVD. Finally, being a lover and adopter of cutting edge technology the PowerBook would offer me a conduit for tying together products I already owned. These include my Sony-Ericsson T68i cell phone and my Tungsten T palm pilot. What better way to keep these in sync but with iSync. How cool would it be the my laptop could act as a caller ID display when my cellular phone rings (connected via bluetooth) and provide me the option of answering the call or sending it to voice mail with a simple click of the mouse.
One last thing happened in my life that helped tip the scales in the purchase direction. My new project at work required me to do a lot of work formulating and maintaining shell and perl scripts. I figured it would be great to be able to drop to a Unix shell and code and trouble shoot my scripts on my local machine. Yes, these are all things that I could do with Windows or by loading FreeBSD or Linux on my computer. If you asked that question, you are missing the point of the article. I want to do it from a shiny new PowerBook. After all of this thought processing was completed, I had finally sold myself.
During my lunch break on a very stormy Friday, I drove to the Apple store in Clarendon, VA. I walked into the store and walked up to it. A pleasant sales person walked up to me and asked me if I needed any help. In a reserved, calm voice, I responded, “I would like to purchase a 12″ PowerBook, 512M of RAM, Airport Extreme card, and a subscription to .Mac.” Whew… I had done it. It was out in the open. The words had been spoken. An hour later I was back at work with my shiny new toy sitting lonely in the trunk of my car in the parking garage 11 floors below me. Two hours later, I called my wife to let her know the decision had been made. I started my hour and fifteen minute crawl home in traffic with my new purchase sitting in its box next to me. Even the packaging was sexy and made me anxious to get home.
My wife was nice enough to watch our two boys for a couple hours while I played with my new purchase. I played for an hour or so and then spent some time with my family. After the boys went to sleep, I picked my new PowerBook up again and began exploring. There were pleasant surprises around every corner. I set up my .Mac account and started exploring. I tweaked out the look and feel of OS X to reflect my personality and continued exploring. Everything was polished and beautiful. Life doesn’t get any easier (and dangerous) than the Apple Music store’s seamless integration with iTunes. The latest version of iTunes continues to impress me. It was one of my favorite applications during my time with my first PowerBook. It is elegant and innovative, yet it epitomizes simplicity. The Apple Mail application (used in conjunction with my .Mac account) was a pleasant surprise. Sherlock too was a welcome surprise, as I use it to track my eBay auctions and find local movie listings. While a little short on features, iMovie and iDVD are still fun to play with and author simple drag and drop projects.
In a snap, I was connected to a shared drive on my Windows 2000 server and importing all of my pictures into iPhoto. Normally, I am not one to get into bubbles and fluff (for example, I can’t stand the bubbly look and feel of Windows XP), however I have really taken a liking to the cartoon like bubbles in iChat. Safari has grown on me and has become my favorite web browser. Again described by beauty, functionality, and sheer simplicity. I love the new brushed metal look and feel Apple is using in some of their applications and hope they continue in this direction. Finally, the icing on the cake. During this years Apple WWDC, I was no longer an Apple bystander or a wanna-be Apple owner sitting on the sidelines longing for one of those sexy machines. This time, I was a sexy machine owner, and when Steve Jobs announced that Safari 1.0 was being released today and would be available as a free download on the web in about an hour, I knew hew was talking to me.
One week later, I am still happy with my purchase. I confided in my wife that I was fearful that I would by my new Mac and be disappointed in myself for doing so. I have reassured her however that quite the opposite is true. One week later, and still excited about my purchase, I sit back and ponder, “What is different this time around?” I think I have a few answers. First, with my first switch, I had built the machine up so much in my mind that it was destined to fail no matter how it performed. I was lusting after it’s beauty more than anything. Second, I had myself convinced that I would be able to replace every PC in my life with my new Apple computer. I convinced myself that if I could not do it natively, I would do it by sheer brute force and throw VirtualPC at it. This solution was destined for failure because I began to ask myself why I was abandoning a perfectly good and productive PC for a slower running machine that emulates my previous one. Finally, I think I had bought my first PowerBook for what the future of the OS and Apple held. In other words, the promise of the innovative roadmap they sold me rather than the current capabilities of the machine. By supressing my lust and passion the second go around, I have found myself pleasantly surprised.
As I sit typing this article on my PowerBook, I realize that this time around things are different. I find myself using it more each day for my daily computer tasks. Maybe it is a sign of me aging, but anymore, I just want things to work. I don’t have the time I once had for the joys of trouble shooting and configuring. I am at a point where I want something to work as described. I want functional tools that help make my everyday life easier and more enjoyable. I think that Apple is leading the pack with this philosophy. Apple has definitely sold me on the concept of the digital hub, and my PowerBook reflects that. I don’t think of my PowerBook as much as a computer as it is a tool that helps make my daily life integrated and simpler. I am looking forward to a long relationship with my new PowerBook and Apple. Lets hope there are no more children in my future anytime soon.
About the author
Stuart MacKenzie is a software engineer who enjoys Java, J2EE, and other related web technologies. He loves exploring new and bleeding edge technologies, and sometimes sits still long enough to hammer out a few articles.
Either u want power and useability like windows.. or u want lame apple useability or lame linux power. (I used unix for over 10 years and the command line just blows).
Yes, of course, the command line blows. I sure wish I didn’t ever have to use a command line because I love the awesome POWER of point and click. Watch me wield my power and OPEN OUTLOOK EXPRESS. Ph34r me – I’m going to PLAY EVERQUEST! Really, mice should be registered with the ATF when purchased since they are obviously so POWERFUL!!! HE-Man would have faired much better against Skeletor, but Skeltor kept him at bay with the AWESOME POWER of his terrible swift mouse.
If any of what you wrote is true I’m guessing that you must have started using UNIX at age 6 because with your barely readable post if you are over 17 years old, my ass is a banjo.
Am I seriously the only person here who uses multiple platforms? I must be some kind freak to have the audacity to run Linux, Windows and Macintosh on one network. I must be an even bigger freak to admit that each OS has strengths and weaknesses…
this article is useless in a news site. I would have liked to see stuff on the upcoming G5 or Panther OS rather than a sobb story. Submit your switcher stories on the apple website, they actually ask for them there.
“I can recall several instances where I had to go to drop to the command line for him, just to delete some files off his desktop. The GUI wouldn’t let him.
>>I think you’re lying. I’ve never heard of such an error.
Yupp, I’m lying, because I have nothing better to do than bash Macs all day.
Just because you’ve never heard of it, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.
I most certainly did have to delete some files off of his desktop through the terminal window. I believe those files were failed/corrupted downloads off of the internet that he couldn’t delete because Mac OS X thought the files were still in use.
That was not just a single fluke either. I had to do that on at least three occasions for him.”
I believe you were making a serious point here. I can reproduce this behaviour myself, but this only happens with files that the system list as being ‘in use’. This happens to me with files and folders on my external FireWire drive. You may have to close files and/or applications to be able to remove them. I don’t open the terminal to remove these icons, just reboot (ever since I’ve started JagWyre this has become a rare event in my daily use of the system) and you can remove everything (insofar as the reboot doesn’t take care of that) you want.
I’m driving JagWyre since last year and I’m absolutely in love with it. I’ll save everybody but mostly myself any lament of my use of Windows machines, it’s painful enough as it is without making an opera out of it (not dissin’ the browser here).
I’ll agree with the author of the piece when he says that he just wants to do stuff on his machine and not spend his life configuring things. Amen to that. More easy to configure than iPod ? iChat A/V (zero configuration, it’s true, I’ve (not) done it).
And Apple, like it or lump it, does have the cohones to try some new stuff in their machines. Remember no more disk drives, remember FireWire, now think of optical audio in/out on the G5.
No rants about “My Mac is better”. Pointless, doesn’t convince anyone. I just want to see you smile when Microsoft introduces DRM tied to an Intel chip on the motherboard. Won’t be good news for Apple either, but all you happy haxxors (?!) out there will go wild trying to circumvent that thing and still work with whatever Windows is called by that time.
Glenn, sorry but it sounds like you are just a big idiot when it comes to Mac OS X. I’ve seen seniors in retirement homes have better experiences with it than what you’ve described.
Get a free developper licence to test developing Cocoa applications. And buy yourself a copy of WebObjects !!!
<quote>
So I antied up some more bucks and increased the RAM on my 400Mhz PowerBook to 1 Gigabyte
</quote>
The 12″ Titanium PowerBook G4 is 867Mhz…
Sounds like FUD to me.
Mmm, if Apple had gone the other route and went for a slick, responsive OS instead of duplicating Windows resource hungry bloatware I believe they’d have a lot more converts by now.
1- First look at machine processor (G3, G4, (G5 : )=) ))
if you have a G3 (> 400 Mhz should be Ok) go to
http://www.macosxhints.com
and search for G3 optimisations
it consists in:
– Removing shadows
– Change the theme
– Removing genie effect
– ….
After that you will have a faster Mac.
2- If you have a G4 (or more for the lucky guys)
You should not have so many speed problems.
Beside these points you have to admit that the Finder is slow (unless you have a bi 1 Ghz (may be they have coded it under such machines)).
So consider to use another tool (RBrowser, NetFinder, PathFinder). Personnally I use rox-filer under X11 which is faster than any thing I’ve seen (even on my 600 Mhz IBook or my 9600 G3 350 Mhz at home ( just hope gtk-osx will be realeased one day)).
Then you can add something very usefull like YoupiKey in your menu (to keyboard switch beetween apps and keyboard launch some apps, launch Apple Scripts ….)
Finally you can add Menu Master to remap keyboards shortcuts as you like.
Then, may-be the slowly impression will be less present.
So now why I use a Mac:
– Stability (Jaguar is rock solid. Don’t believe lies)
– Easy to administrate ( Backuping the system, removing applications easily (no registery
=)…. )
– Ability to use Unix apps and Mac Apps (this rocks)
– Hardware compatibility (A world much compatible than linux)
– Ergonomy
– The look (subjective)
For XP addicts (I have a Duron 600 at home…) try to use a slow device on serial port or firewire port and tell me about speed to make me laugh.
I really enjoyed the article, thanks very much. I also find myself drawn towards Apple’s products all the time, and am setting aside the money for a desktop with Panther when it finally emerges later this year. The more I read about Apple’s products and the more I play with them at PC World the more I realise they are (by far) the best I can afford. Although WinXP adddressed a lot of Windows’ main problems (stability, frequent trouble-shooting), after much playing about I cannot prefer it to my Linux box. What I want is an intel Linux box and an Apple OSX box, they will both serve their purposes with me.
As an aside, I personally wouldn’t have published the article here; there’s so many people who moan, whine and attack by instinct. It’s so depressing. I enjoy the articles but always feel for the authors when reading the comments.
And before I get told not to read the comments, I rarely do anymore, apart from when I want to write something like “Thanks, that was good”. Also, I know not everyone bitches, but there’s enough of it to make me want to comment about it.
Wow! What a back-lashing, but all appreciated. I must say I have eagerly awaited the comments explaining to me how dumb I am or how I made stuff up in the article. In all honesty, this was a personal article. I wrote it in an attempt to try to entertain the readers of OSNews and share my story with them. As a reader of OSNews, I often enjoy reading about other people’s experiences with things, as I consider them my peers and contemporaries. I do appreciate and have respect for every comment that was geared towards me. If you take the time to read then you are entitled to any opinion you want to give. I just wasn’t aware the world was such an angry place… hahaha. Until the next topic I can think of to stir up the bees, Cheers!
Let’s see… not “up” on computer news, huge piles of disposable income, artistic sensibilities, desire to stand out in a crowd…
Jobs ownz j00!
My Mac (a rare UMAX SuperMac dual-processor clone) will soon be on eBay, unfortunately.
– chrish
Actually, this is a good time to try a Mac. XP is pretty static (right now) and Longhorn is still pretty far off. Both the eMac and iMac are now responsive enough to run OS X decently. The iApps are great fun. OS X is fun, Safari is a great new browser, Mail comes with the package. The package is pretty complete to get anyone started. Like Michael always says, there is no reason to glorify the Mac, but it is a lot of fun and you can get work done on it too.
“Am I seriously the only person here who uses multiple platforms? I must be some kind freak to have the audacity to run Linux, Windows and Macintosh on one network. I must be an even bigger freak to admit that each OS has strengths and weaknesses…”
I sense a kindred spirit. I’m running FreeBSD, Windows, and Macintosh all right next to each other (o! the humanity!), and will be the first to admit the strengths and weaknesses of each (*gasp*!). For the record, that was an excellent post, as well.
“Am I seriously the only person here who uses multiple platforms? I must be some kind freak to have the audacity to run Linux, Windows and Macintosh on one network. I must be an even bigger freak to admit that each OS has strengths and weaknesses…”
I sense a kindred spirit. I’m running FreeBSD, Windows, and Macintosh all right next to each other (o! the humanity!), and will be the first to admit the strengths and weaknesses of each (*gasp*!). For the record, that was an excellent post, as well.
We’re passing into new frontiers here… OS envy! I’ve got an OpenBSD firewall, Red Hat Linux 8.0 server, Red Hat Linux 9.0 laptop, Windows XP workstation (for the wife), and a NetBSD 1.? running on Sparc. Yummy!
-FP
Nintendo had me with its ’64-bit its worth the wait’ crap. How disappointed I was when I finally got a N64 (IMHO of course, other people liked theirs)… had to buy a Playstation 12 months later.
Since then I’ll never make a mistake like that again, I’ll
always evaluate a purchase. Sad to see this guy didn’t learn his lesson during his childhood.
“Mmm, if Apple had gone the other route and went for a slick, responsive OS instead of duplicating Windows resource hungry bloatware I believe they’d have a lot more converts by now.”
The only hungry resources that OS X has are those that are now ofset by the graphics processor anyways… IE they’re not resources eating away at processing power any more.
Sorry, better luck with your next troll…
“you have to admit that the Finder is slow (unless you have a bi 1 Ghz (may be they have coded it under such machines”
In earlier versions of OS X perhaps, but not anymore.
Look, competition is a good thing. Apple is staying alive by working harder and being better.
Why not just acknowledge how much Apple has done these past couple of years and is doing now. Why not? Why fight it? So you have a PC. Why does send you into spasms of denial and disbelief.
Look at the apple product. It really is something.
MS will not stand by idly. They are going to match apple, maybe best it, then apple comes back and does the same. Right now Apple is ahead. It just is. Stop the denial. It doesn’t serve any purpose.
(That’s not to say PCs aren’t better for some applications, they are).
I am running a dual867/512M system (10.2.6) and the Finder is terribly slow at handling large directories and multiple file operations. Moving 500 files from one directory to another should not take the Finder 2-3 minutes (when the command line can get it done in a few seconds). The Finder is slow.
“I am running a dual867/512M system (10.2.6) and the Finder is terribly slow at handling large directories and multiple file operations.”
The idential system is sitting here in front of me, and I have not experienced any of the problems you mentioned. The finder is definately not slow with the system you (we) are using.
“Moving 500 files from one directory to another should not take the Finder 2-3 minutes (when the command line can get it done in a few seconds). The Finder is slow.”
I just did this task and it took…. drum roll…. a few seconds.
Sorry bud, better luck next time.
So please tell me how my factory installed OS is improperly configured? Which setting is wrong?
I am not the only one with this problem. I have seen similar complaints from other users. It is also noteworthy that one of the goals stated by Apple for Panther was to speed up the Finder.
Sorry bud, get a brain and come back
“No, I think he’s talking about the G5’s that beat the PC chips fair and square. Nobody knows what you’re talking about… ”
No, *YOUY* don’t know what I’m talking about. If you’d read Slashdot too, you’d known.
http://www.haxial.com/spls-soapbox/apple-powermac-G5/
All those numbers are cheated. How pathetic from Apple. Totally unable to be on par with PC market.
Wow, he certenly put me in my place.
“No, *YOUY* don’t know what I’m talking about. If you’d read Slashdot too, you’d known.”
No, *YOUY* don’t know what I’m talking about. If you’d read Slashdot too, YOU would have known:
http://apple.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/06/24/2154256&mode=thre…
How wait, Apple is in denial of their cheatings now they got cought. How surprising.
Gimme real numbers, then we can talk. All I know now is that numbers Apple gave have been cheated. Too bad for them. Now they aren’t just lesser than PCs, they are cheaters too.
“How wait, Apple is in denial of their cheatings now they got cought. How surprising.”
But Apple didn’t cheat. You keep forgetting that in your comments.
“Gimme real numbers, then we can talk.”
http://a352.g.akamai.net/7/352/51/e93ca6b90038b4/www.apple.com/powe…
http://a192.g.akamai.net/7/192/51/ebb34a6c95daa5/www.apple.com/powe…
http://a1264.g.akamai.net/7/1264/51/d297fb89c825b9/www.apple.com/g5…
“All I know now is that numbers Apple gave have been cheated.”
Except for the fact that they weren’t.
“Too bad for them. Now they aren’t just lesser than PCs, they are cheaters too.”
Stop trolling.
No Troll. There’s a resonable doubt, like it or not. I still wait for REAL NUMBERS, using Intel compiler for Intel plateforme, and say Metrowerk for OSX (or whatever the best compiler for OSX), and not a vanilla gnu compiler.
There’s a doubt. You choose to believe them. I choose to not. Big deal.
Not everybody is in your religion. Deal with it.
It’s just unbelievable how riled up some people can get
Step back, get out of the trenches. A new day has risen over this thread, and people are still going at it. Does this fulfill anyone, knowing that they’re bantering mindlessly in a public forum where other people would like to converse?
Thanks for the advice, though, about the G3’s!
“No Troll. There’s a resonable doubt, like it or not.”
If there is, nobody has made a worthy case for it.
“I still wait for REAL NUMBERS, using Intel compiler for Intel plateforme”
OHHHHH… is THAT what you’re talking about. THAT’S why you’re assuming that the benchmarks were skewed. now i understand where you’re coming from.
Hopefully, this clarifies things a bit for you. Veritest used gcc for both platforms, instead of Intel’s compiler, simply because the benchmarks measure two things at the same time: compiler, and hardware. To test the hardware alone, you must normalize the compiler out of the equation — using the same version and similar settings.
Keep in mind that gcc has been available on the Intel platform for a lot longer and is more optimized for Intel than for PowerPC. However, you are correct, the Dell numbers would be higher with the Intel compiler, but that the Apple numbers could be higher with a different compiler too.
The point is, if you’re going to test SPEC benchmarks, you need to use similar compilers. Otherwise, all your testing is which hardware is best optomized to pump out numbers for that particular compiler.
The reason why Intel has help SPEC benchmarks so high is because their compiler was written SOLELY for the purpose of increasing SPEC numbers.
This is why its important to compare real world benchmarks alongside SPEC numbers… Because SPEC numbers kindof give you a false sense of speed. When SPEC benchmarks were tested, the G5 did better but only margionally so in most tests. In real world tests, the G5 BLASTED past the P4. However, it only did slightly better than they XEON.
“There’s a doubt. You choose to believe them. I choose to not. Big deal.”
I didn’t believe “him” as if it was Steve jobs making the benchmarks. Rather, I believe the independent research study, the SPEC benchmarks and the real world benchmarks. Why you cling to some notion that the P4 did better despite these fact I don’t know.
“Not everybody is in your religion. Deal with it.”
What does Christianity have to do with my passion for computers?
I’m running XP Pro, Windows 2000 Server, OS X Jaguar, A/UX, OpenSTEP 4.2, IRIX 6.5, BeOS (Dano), and Debian. Bring it on!
I’m interested in setting up a linux or freebsd file server
for a win98/macOS8.1/MacOSX home network and I would appreciate any suggestions or comments you may may have.
I must say this: I liked your reply, but:
– You must be working for Apple since you are so convinced that they are fair and square. Everyone cheats on marketting, benchmarks, and so on, there is nothing wrong about that because everyone is trying to sell a product.
– If you don’t work for Apple, than your passion goes beyond passion. I understand the passion for a science, codind, a computer, an OS, a machine, but yours goes beyond wat’s called normal, it is there on a par with fanatism. Trying to convince others how good an apple machine is, and with semi-agressive tactics is sick.
– I like their product, its nice, elegant, good, but I don’t buy it because I don’t need it. There is nothing I can’t do at this time with my Toshiba Slacktop or my Athlon desktop, both running Slackware Linux 9.0. Digital camera works, coding works, my 2 HP printers work (both OfficeJet models, so big ones), so I don’t need an apple.
– You never hear me comment that they are slower/or/faster than x86 based systems. That doesn’t mean I don’t know what the real-world performance of the G3 and G4 is. I’ve worked with both.
– You try to convince people about prices: Apple is more expensive when it comes to buy the whole system, including an Apple Display, wich are as expensive as Sony Displays, wich are tooo expensive, and I mean the TFT’s
– Either you like to get attention for yourself (no, I gues not since you use a very common nick: Anonymous), or you like to convince others to buy more apples.
– Apples distorsion field is pretty obvious, the whole web-site screams: AMAZING!!!!, but when you look closer, there is nothing amazing, except preety screenshots and nice pictures whit their products. I admit, they have a cool design, I love the apple design…
Conclusion: Apple is a good (healty also), I mean a great company, but because of people like you who react to every comment about apple others bash apple, and maybe these people do it having no clue about MACs.
– I’m not sure if you get my point, but for Apples sake stop it. It doesn’t bother me at all, its just a friendly advice.
“- You must be working for Apple since you are so convinced that they are fair and square.”
Nope. I don’t work for Apple. I’m simply a rational human being who sees every test pointing in Apple’s favor and am adopting the obvious outcome from that rational.
“Everyone cheats on marketting”
No, I don’t believe that. However, I would say that every company does use marketing to make their product look as best as it can even if that marketing is deceptive. Thankfully, Apple’s information is both science and marketing.
“Everyone cheats on benchmarks”
The very notion that SPEC benchmarks have been held as the ultimate authority to determine speed when Intel used a compiler that was made to do nothing more than pump out the highest SPEC benchmark may not have been “cheating” but it did weigh heavily on the minds of the ignorant computer-using public. It finally took a HUGE increase in speed (delievered by the G5) to outpace even Intel’s pumped up numbers.
On that token, Apple has done similar things regarding benchmarks which weren’t “cheating” but did weigh heavily on the ignorance of the computing public.
However, the G5 is not cheating or over-inflating its numbers. It is genuinly THAT fast.
“- If you don’t work for Apple, than your passion goes beyond passion.”
You are right. I have both a passion for my preferred computing environment, AND an extreme hatred for anyone that tries to muddy the waters for my preferred platform’s strengths. This is because I’ve seen my preferred platform experience uncomfortable lows in its earlier history for reasons which trace back specifically to individuals that muddied the waters with regard to Apple’s strengths.
“I understand the passion for a science, codind, a computer, an OS, a machine, but yours goes beyond wat’s called normal, it is there on a par with fanatism.”
If it were only my passion for my computer that was compelling me to write so many comments then you might have a point. But as mentioned 9above) there are two factors at work here. The great of the two is the hatred for anyone that tries to muddy the waters.
“Trying to convince others how good an apple machine is, and with semi-agressive tactics is sick.”
Make no mistake, I’m not trying to evangelize my preferred platform. I simply am working towards reversing the FUD engine that is occurring on this site for my preferred platform.
“- I like their product, its nice, elegant, good, but I don’t buy it because I don’t need it.”
No problem with that at all.
“There is nothing I can’t do at this time with my Toshiba Slacktop or my Athlon desktop, both running Slackware Linux 9.0. Digital camera works, coding works, my 2 HP printers work (both OfficeJet models, so big ones), so I don’t need an apple.”
Sounds like you have a nice configurations there. however, Apple’s software does provide some unique advantages that you cant get on those systems. Is that reason enough to change platforms? Maybe not by itself, but Apple also offers other key advantages. Without knowing everything you do I can’t communicate those to you. No, I’m not asking you to, I’m simply suggesting that to say that Apple doesn’t offer you anything that you can’t already get from your current systems is a pretty broad statement.
“- You try to convince people about prices”
Im simply correcting false statements. I’m not trying to convince anybody of anything.
“Apple is more expensive when it comes to buy the whole system, including an Apple Display, wich are as expensive as Sony Displays, wich are tooo expensive, and I mean the TFT’s”
You don’t have to buy an Apple display for a Mac you know, just like you don;t have to buy an Apple display for a PC. if you were to do so however, and also spec’d out both systems with the exact same (or as close as possible) hardware and software configurations, the mac will either be slightly more, the same price, slightly less, or significantly less.
“- Either you like to get attention for yourself (no, I gues not since you use a very common nick: Anonymous), or you like to convince others to buy more apples.”
No and no. I’m simply trying to correct the misinformation being spread by a small number of individuals on this site.
– Apples distorsion field is pretty obvious
If by distortion field you mean that they are good marketers… then yes, they are. If by saying distortion field you’re trying to imply that Apple is somehow distorting something, I think you’re wrong.
“the whole web-site screams: AMAZING!!!!”
That’s simply overindulgent marketing… not a distortion. The products are indeed amazing. Are they “AMAZING!!!!” probably not, but thats not a distortion.
“when you look closer, there is nothing amazing”
Many would disagree. The software that Apple sells is pretty amazing. Much of it is best of breed quality for both consumers and professionals. Software that couldn;t be had anywhere else until more companies copied Apple. Similarly, their hardware designs are amazing. Apple has received more industrial design awards than i care to count. i would say that is amazing. Another example can be found with the G5. I would say that the technology that was incorporated into it is amazing indeed .
“Conclusion: Apple is a good (healty also), I mean a great company, but because of people like you who react to every comment about apple others bash apple, and maybe these people do it having no clue about MACs.”
If I’m causing some sort of disservice to Apple or the Mac by correcting all the misstatements about my platform, its unfortunate. I certainly don’t believe I am, But if I am thats unfortunate. However, considering that the alternative would be that these incorrect statements would go left uncorrected thus potentially leaving many readers with an ill-conceived notion about a computer that they are already both unfamiliar if not already skeptical about, i think I’ll take the lesser of the two evils and continue doing what I’m doing.
I am fascinated by the effortless wisdom displayed by TARAS, whose neat, orderly paragraph structure is undone by her inability to reign in her jabber. Her response reveals itself a sanctimonious torrent about little of relevance, self-championship aside. I am confident the YAY-sandwich felt like pure genius at the time . . . but the writing and spirit convey only pettiness, nothing of value, and demonstrate nothing more than a transparent plea for praise.
So where is it, eh?
I’m interested in setting up a linux or freebsd file server for a win98/macOS8.1/MacOSX home network and I would appreciate any suggestions or comments you may may have.
Well, I don’t know much about the *BSDs. I never really got into them, but I have seen them in action, and they seem solid – some would say more solid than Linux. Any Linux distribution will work well in that environment. If you have never used Linux before, I’d suggest purchasing one of the much maligned RPM based packages. They come with manuals, which is extremely nice, and they are reasonably priced. Yes, you can get them *free*, but I think the refusal to pay for Linux software is what is really screwing up the Linux scene. So live a little, pull out your wallet, and plunk town $80 for server class software. You won’t be as 1337 as the folks who install by binary, but you will be done faster, and have everything you need on 5 to 10 CDs or a DVD. You will still be more 1337 than 98% of the population, if that matters to you.
Unfortunately, I have no idea how to integrate pre X macs into a network – it can be done, and I’m sure there’s lots of online documentation, but I cannot offer advice on the subject. For the mac OSX you won’t need to do much for file sharing, just export whichever directories you want shared. For win98 you will need to setup SAMBA on your Linux box. This is usually really easily done — it requires editing some .conf files, and running some command line commands, but over all it isn’t too hard with the correct documentation. The bottom line is that if you have a spare box, and some time to kill, I’d really just recommend playing around with it until you get a good feeling for what you are doing. It won’t be as easy and installing and clicking a few buttons, but it won’t be as hard as many people imagine it will be either.
I’ve been running Mac OS X for about 2 years now and in that whole time nothing has crashed (other aside than IE which i haven’t used that much and have replaced in favor of Mozilla, Camino & Safari.) All these things i’ve heard about Mac OS X constantly crashing and the GUI wouldn’t let people delete things i’ve never experienced nor have i heard from anyone I’ve ever meet having any significant difficulty with Mac OS X.
From a PC users point of view Steve Jobs has gotten Apple set up to regain what it had by introducing Mac OS X and new hardware. The only people i can see having difficulty are the ones who complain that the one specific app i ran doesn’t run on Mac OS X or they don’t like the way it runs in Windows on Virutal PC. I’ve run lots of things from MS Office, Visual Studio 6 & .NET, Personal COBOL (which is unfortunitly required for some classes i take), Some nice custom apps people have written. The only thing that you could complain about is running games which says something about you if you are stupid enough to run games (other than onces like solitare or chess) on Virtual PC. The only thing i don’t like about VPC is sometimes it starts up slow, but you have to take into account it doesn’t matter what hardware you run an emulated OS on, you are runnning your native OS and another OS on top of that so the emulated OS will always be somewhat slow.
Loved the article, could really relate to the love of wonderful looking technology. One thing that did stick out is the constant reference to asking the wife for permission to buy some new hardware as if she were an ogre or something. Just a thought…
“One thing that did stick out is the constant reference to asking the wife for permission to buy some new hardware as if she were an ogre or something. Just a thought…”
Heh, you must not be married.
Try spending a couple grand on the credit card without asking permission first then watch that lovely, beautiful little women that you dedicated your life to, turn into a mean slathering wilderbeast once she sees the unmentioned bill.
I’ve done it once before, and I’ve learned my lesson.
*ALWAYS ASK PERMISSION FIRST*
Thanks
[quote]next time I buy something home, it’s either Mac or something that runs BeOS/OBOS…[/quote]
Yeah, you should get a BeBox. Zeta running on dual 166 PPCs would probably be about as fast as OS X running on dual 1.2Ghz G4s
Here’s a painfully obvious truth: some percentage of the population can find happiness with Macs, just as others do with Windows or Linux or FreeBSD or even BeOS.
This is hardly a difficult concept to understand. Different strokes for different folks, as the old saying goes. So why do some of us have to bitch, moan, argue, and fight over this constantly? Just because someone else doesn’t share your tastes does not mean they are stupid, evil, or misguided. Just because you don’t share their tastes, that doesn’t make you stupid, evil, or misguided either.
Macolytes, calm down. PC fanboys, take a couple of calming breaths. OS zealots, close your eyes and chant “Ommmm” for a few minutes. All better? Okay, come back and join the rest of us folks on this site, and let’s discuss something with a little more substance than Mac vs PC preferences!
-Or Villewright
One thing that did stick out is the constant reference to asking the wife for permission to buy some new hardware as if she were an ogre or something. Just a thought…
——————————————
I didn’t see a single reference to asking for permission. The writer refers to discussing an expensive purchase with his wife before making the decision to spend their joint money, which is an absolutely essential component of any well balanced marriage. Your spouse is your financial partner as well as your life partner, and as such should be part of all major spending decisions. All major spending decisions should be joint ones.
If you really believe you can be in a relationship with someone without sharing power and responsibilities with them, you’re in for either a succession of unhappy relationships, or some painful emotional growing up which is evidently overdue.
I suggest a major attitude adjustment; grow up a little, you’re not ready for an adult relationship yet.
R Colcord
No, I don’t believe that. However, I would say that every company does use marketing to make their product look as best as it can even if that marketing is deceptive. Thankfully, Apple’s information is both science and marketing.
Err. You sound like a fanboy, so I already know that it’s pointless to argue with you, but what the hell…
The very notion that SPEC benchmarks have been held as the ultimate authority to determine speed when Intel used a compiler that was made to do nothing more than pump out the highest SPEC benchmark may not have been “cheating” but it did weigh heavily on the minds of the ignorant computer-using public. It finally took a HUGE increase in speed (delievered by the G5) to outpace even Intel’s pumped up numbers.
AFAIK, the SPEC numbers for the P4/XEON that Apple used didn’t came from ICC, but from GCC, so how can you say that they outpaced their pumped up numbers? Btw, real applications are using ICC, so it’s hardly a compiler *only* for SPEC benchmarketing.
On that token, Apple has done similar things regarding benchmarks which weren’t “cheating” but did weigh heavily on the ignorance of the computing public.
Right… Like what?
However, the G5 is not cheating or over-inflating its numbers. It is genuinly THAT fast.
Let’s see… Did you tried the machine? No? Then you believe claims that comes straight from Jobs’ mouth. Maybe it’s as fast as they claim, but we can’t test it, so we can only believe their numbers. Keyword: believe. Perhaps they are right, but you and I don’t really know how good they are because we didn’t tested them. I’ll only believe reports from independent reviewers, and I don’t consider the report they got from Veritest (is that the name? I don’t remember) and that they have paid for as “independant”.
Im simply correcting false statements. I’m not trying to convince anybody of anything.
[…]
You don’t have to buy an Apple display for a Mac you know, just like you don;t have to buy an Apple display for a PC. if you were to do so however, and also spec’d out both systems with the exact same (or as close as possible) hardware and software configurations, the mac will either be slightly more, the same price, slightly less, or significantly less.
I like this argument. In the end, it depends where you live. Macs tend to be really expensive here, especially the low-end ones. The only exception is the Dual G5 2GHz (the price/performance ratio seems great), but it’s not in my price range, anyway.
I will be the first to admit us Mac owners can be a bit fanatical, but we really get tired of having our Windows owning friends coming to us with problems that either don’t exist on a Mac or would be so easily fixable. Like today I was showing someone on a PC a website and like so many times before I see their nice big 19 inch monitor set to 800X600 resolution. When I explain that maybe they would like to set it at something higher that would allow them see more on their screen, especially since they are using that stupid MSN explorer that takes up half the space all I get is a blank stare like I was suggesting the impossible. They not only don’t know what screen resolution is they have no idea how to change it. Not surprising since it involves so many steps in Windows. Almost as bad as when I come across a PC user who still has their monitor set to 256 colors and can’t understand why photos look like crap. And how many times have I heard how they are afraid to add more software because the last time they tried it screwed up their computer and they couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it. Now of course by default any PC user reading OSnews knows the ins and outs of Windows and doesn’t have these problems, but unfortunately none of my friends fall into this class of people so it is up to me to deal with this kind of petty issues. The few I have been able to switch to Macs can’t believe how much easier they are to use. I would say that the real difference is that Windows makes them feel like an idiot and the Mac makes them feel like a genius because they can just do things. Those things were doable on their old PCs, just in more complicated and confusing ways that they never could master. They originally bought a PC because they used one at work, not appreciating the fact that they had an IT guy there who kept things running smoothly who wouldn’t be around at home. These things are just frustrating to us Mac dudes and make us a bit defensive at times when we hear people spout the same old, outdated arguments against Macs.
As for the Spec thing I don’t give a hoot about obscure numbers, it is the real world tests that count and those looked pretty impressive…and it wasn’t Steve Jobs doing these demos, it was the companies who write the software. I can’t believe how easily people take that haxial guy as knowing what he is talking about…take a look here for a more reasonable article: http://www.digitmag.co.uk/news/display_news.cfm?NewsID=3010
“Moving 500 files from one directory to another should not take the Finder 2-3 minutes”
Huh? I just tried a similar test on a G4/400 AGP–a 4 year old mid-range Mac running OS X 10.2.6. I used the Finder to copy the contents of a folder containing 693 top-level items including 21 enclosed folders–a total of well over 1,000 files–to a folder on another disk.
Total time: 60 seconds flat.
It seems to me that your dual 867 is seriously fsck’d up, dude…
please people……..
I really enjoyed reading the article, the guy has a talent for writing IMHO.
But reading all the name calling and flames and swearing and what have ya…..
PLEASE , it’s only computers………..
please people……..
I really enjoyed reading the article, the guy has a talent for writing IMHO.
But reading all the name calling and flames and swearing and what have ya…..
PLEASE , it’s only computers………..
I cannot for the life of me figure this out.
I also cannot figure out why if I tell someone that is patiently explaining a problem to me on a Win32 machine, and the myriad steps they take to attempt resolution, before we dive in and work it out I say:
“Oh. Ok, well on my Powerbook I just do this: (1-2 steps)”
I’m greeted with anger.
Look, you guys with Windows have “won” OK? We get it…there are more of you.
HOWEVER, there is another side to all of thie pissing and moaning that needs to be considered and I wish to GOD someone would point this out:
Not everyone likes Windows
It has use issues that cannot be objectively ignored…*at any price*.
I mean honestly. Why does it always come down to “I can part one together for $XXX” or “I can go to walmart and grab a box for $YYY”…
If the epitome of computing is to be “how inexpensively” it can be done isntead of “how well” then what is hell is all the rikita-rakita about?
I also want to come out and state that I find this whole “rich people” thing offensive as well, because I know I for one am not by any stretch of the imagination some “rich person” with the “mentality of a 12 year old” that is “easily duped” by Steve Jobs.
The fact of the matter is, Windows PC’s are “good enough” plain and simple. If you can pop a CD in it, move a mouse, see the screen, type, etc, then for most peoples and most uses they are JUST FINE.
As a Mac user, I came to this conclusion long ago, and Mr. “Correcting MudSlinging” is in fact a RELIC people of the days of Joe Ragosta and The Stomping Usenet Mac Mafia.
No one gives a RAT’s ASS about FUD correction; all it does is fan the flames.
Its not “FUD” to Windows users with a vested interest in the Win32 Platform; its the truth, as they see it.
Same on the Mac side. There are folks that have NO END of problems using MacOS X, and most of them are former MacOS *9* users that think (no surprise here) that they know more than the combined Engineering, Marketing and Research arms of Apple combined about how the thing “ought” to work.
To state that Macs are “painless” in virtually all instances is as ridiculous as the “MACs suck because they are too expensive and have no software. They are slow and MAC users are all elitist snobs” nonsense.
If you can’t be *honest* about the shortcomings of your platform of choice *as seen thru the eyes of others* than you are indeed a fanactic.
Regardless of platform.
-K
I Run a setup Much like that, but with a twist, I use all of them on the same machine! Multiple Platforms Same Machine. I can do it all on my Mighty powerful 400 MHZ Powerbook G3 with lots of ram. I run Linux (used to before Jaguar, still have it on my drive though, using it when I want to use the Gimp 1.3 (unstable) at full speed) I also have Windoze 98 installed with Virtual PC, I have Mac OS X jaguar Installed and I also have OS 9 installed. So I think that 4 OS’s on the same network, let alone same machine, is entirely possible. On my network at home I also have two macs, One running Mac OS 8.6 the other running OS 9.1 and one PC running Windoze XP.
But to comment on other comments (I guess), My mac takes everything in stride, running every program that I throw at it and every peripheral (I don’t Throw printers at my macs though 🙂 ) While My Win XP machine Sucks, I have reinstalled Windoze 36 times in the past 6 months. Everytime before the 36 it kept booting into a blue screen GRR :-< .
No More Windows For Me, I learned My lesson. The only reason I run it in VPC is because I have 3 or 4 programs that I Don’t want to pay the upgrade price for :-<
I’m sure someone has already responded with these solutions, but JSYK:
Gripe:
< – Keyboard handling. I’m a code monkey. In Windows EVERYTHING is keyboard navigatable. Ok not everything, there are exceptions. The Mac isn’t consistent here. Newbees may like mousing around, I don’t. There is not way to get to the menu via the keyboard…. SNIP>
I’m not sure which OS you are using but as of (I think) 10.2 there is a “Full Keyboard Access” tab in the Keyboard control panel that should solve (most of) the problem(s) for you. I am not positive when it was first introduced, but I know it is in 10.2.4 which is what I use.
Gripe:
< – The dock gets in the way. The iBook has limited screen real estate and anything that takes away from it is a pain. I could make it really small but then it becomes hard to use.>
I use the “Automatically hide and show the Dock” option in the Dock control panel. Since I have my Dock at the bottom of my screen it is a pretty easy matter to move the mouse (cursor) to the bottom and the Dock automatically pops up, after making my choice the Dock automatically disappears as soon as the cursor is moved away.
I really like this option but YMMV and I am also more used to it because I used a similar 3rd party app in OS9. You can also enable the Magnification feature so that even small icons grow enough to be easily recognizable as the cursor rolls over them..some find this annoying though.
There are a number of 3rd party apps/hacks available, of course some work better than others, but a few I really like are Fruit Menu from Unsanity (I think it was $19), Clear Dock also from Unsanity (Free), Dragstrip from Aladdin( I think it was $25), and Coctail (Free)