Chad Dickerson, CTO at InfoWorld, takes a ride with a forgotten 450 Mhz G4 Mac on his workplace and moves it home. Soon, he would be so impressed that the Mac would replace his Linux home server and one of his two Windows PCs. Last week, Chad gave us his opinion regarding Linux too.
InfoWorld: Moving to a Mac
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
Follow me on Twitter @EugeniaLoli
In still seems sad that the elegance and simplicity that Apple designed into thier expensive and proprietary systems still have not been ported to the PC market. OSX abstracts the power of unix to a simple interface without sacrifice. The fit and polish of the GUI is something that OSS should aspire to. If it succeeds, there may then truly be a real alternative to the MS monopoly.
It seems like alot of new reviews of the Mac OS X has come oute recently. As of about 3 months ago, I too switched to the Mac. I am so happy that I just sold all of my x86 hardware to friends — I simply just dont need it any longer. Apple has alot going for it these days. Everyone I talk to try and tell me stuf like ‘eww, that thing is ugly’ Eh, look whos talking =) then the next step if that doesnt work is ‘There is NO applications on the mac!’ Wrong again. Microsoft Office for the Mac seems to me a bit better than its partner for Windows based machines. (and CHEAPER) Also, if I absolutly see something I cant do for the mac, I pop open the trusty Virtual PC and start Windows and then the application. Virtual PC will let me surf the internet with any application, no matter what it is. Sure — Virtual PC has its share of problems (VERY few) BUT SO DOES THE OPERATING SYSTEM THAT ITS RUNNING!
Thanks Apple, never thought I would have ever owned one of your computers — I was wrong. I spend most of my time trying to find out what the heck the reason why anyone would want to buy a Windows computer, when it simply just cant do everything my MAC CAN! =)
I always had a PC around too. I built my own and ran WinXp and Red Hat (mostly Red Hat). Gave it away to my parents for a Mac, and I couldn’t have been happier. Mac does all the things that Win or Linux could do, but easier. Love my Macs. Ibook 600Mhz and Quicksilver dual 1Ghz.
The simplicity and elegance of the Macintosh, combined with the power and stability of UNIX. Apple wasn’t joking — they are taking this marriage between seemingly opposing platform mindsets and making it one of the most exciting computer platforms in recent history. As a former BeOS user and fan, I had wondered why Apple didn’t buy Be rather than NeXT. Well, they made the right decision — transitioning to a UNIX-based Macintosh platform was the best thing Apple has ever done. I wouldn’t be using a Mac without it.
Jared
After futzing around with Linux for a few years on my x86 boxes, I finally threw my hands up in the air and bought a cheap iBook on Ebay. I couldn’t be happier. I’m slowly selling all of my PC stuff and breaking my “distro download” habit has been easier than I thought. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m married with a young son, but spending so much time with Linux just wasn’t fun anymore.
Now, I have a sweet computer with an even sweeter OS. Best decision I ever made!
Well, I am nearing my goal of buying a mac!
I have done loads of research and it would seem the computer for me.
Apple have done mac owners proud with a decent machine, the prices may be more than pc’s, but you are of course getting a quality item here.
Good review, for a great machine.
I think Steve Jobs should read this page… Excellent fodder for new apple ads! Now, ‘I’ am not trolling.
This article also applies quite well to us. We design ASICs and FPGAs. During many years we have been using expensive Solaris machines for computational power and Windows for Word, Excel and Notes. That meant that I had to machines (two big CRT screens, two keyboard…) at my office, as I was never very keen of the X terminals for windows.
Recently, however, we have installed a Linux cluster and I conviced my boss to buy 12″ Powerbooks as our main desktop computer. We get thus cheap computational power from the linux boxes, sleek user interfaces, and only ONE and QUIET machine at the office, which is even a portable, and which runs all our applications we need (with Virtual PC) and has a FREE X terminal.
Really, this makes bussiness sense.
After 1 hour of wow and cute , the animations are quite
useless , I still don’t see what is so great with
this pc . A powerbook laptop will be nice with linux on it
As mentioned by Tomas, “installed a Linux cluster” … “buy 12″ powerbooks”, is a good plan.
This guy says, “… the Mac would replace his Linux home server and one of his two Windows PCs…”, replacing a SERVER with Mac is something I would NEVER do, I wouldn’t even put Windows on a server, it just doesn’t make sense.
Laptops are more difficult to change hardware anyways, so I would get a Mac laptop (if I had ANY cash, heh), but for a desktop machine, I would have to go x86. I like having that much more control over my hardware.
Mind you, I have not used a Mac in over 10 years, but like I said, since not much control over hardware with laptops, I’d get a Powerbook, for the right price.
Yah right the column is unrelated to the g5 appearance …
Maybe infoworld got some “cheap” g5 replacements for the
g4 that went home .
>Completely coincidentally, I happened to dig into Mac OS X at >precisely the same time InfoWorld is running its online >special report and print cover story on Apple in the >enterprise
http://weblog.infoworld.com/dickerson/
I recently just switch from x86 to Mac. I am happy I did. Even though there is some slow downs in Mac hopefully Panther will get rid of that. I am thinking about selling my x86s computers or giving them to my parents because I think I do not need windows to do work anymore. But working for the government I have to work with Windows which I hate because the GUI is okay but not as easy as Mac OS X. And in reply to Jared White about Apple purchasing BeOS they tried to but Be said No, but correct me if I am wrong.
Be didn’t really say “no” to Apple per se, but they didn’t really want to be bought so they named a really high figure, and Apple declined. The ironic thing is that the final purchase price for NeXT was much higher than Be’s figure. But it all worked out in the end — except for Be.
Jared
Yeah I it did work out in the end –except for Be. But hopefully Yellowtab can possibly bring it back
I have replaced my server with a mac. I share files, music though itunes, Ftp, Apache, SSH. Its also my regular desktop because it has enough power to do all of this. Now if my cable modem from adelphia could keep up. If I was to own a business, I would really think about using a mac server, they are powerful with less heat and less power consumption. A mac server can do anything a Linux or Windows server can do too.
Maybe the price paid for NeXT was higher than the price asked by Be, but the former included Steve Jobs in the package.
When Jobs was pulled out of Apple (Sculley era), he put Mach (unix) inside NeXT and then developed NextStep that was a very sucessfull product (althogh not for common conumers).
Then, when back to Apple, he put Apple on race again. To buy NeXT was not only to buy an Operating System, was to carry back the man who invented, with Steve Wozniak, Apple and reinvent Apple again.
You said:
> replacing a SERVER with Mac is something I would NEVER do, I wouldn’t even put Windows on a server, it just doesn’t make sense.
Can you explain why?
Thanks in advance
I was a Apple user from 1990 to 2003. My first computer was a MacIIci, then a Performa 570, then a PowerBase (Mac clone) 200, a G3/233, and then a dual 800 mhz G4. I recently replaced my last Mac with a x86 machine. Why? Cost and applications (especially games). In the real world, these two apply a LOT.
tried ever samba under OS X?
It is unreliable. OSX samba is loosing connection after a while. Try co configure NFS, under FBSD/linux this is snap. Besides under OS X NFS does not suppor client/server locking. Problems with apsfilter. I really dont think that OS X offers anything particular as a server. How many times are you configure it? Once usually is enough, then reliability is important.
If you are seting up virtual servers (assuming that you want to start ISP) then OS X cant take more than 150-180 virtual servers.
OS X is good desktop but there is not enough for server.
If Dickerson thinks that 3 pc LAN gives any real info about OS X in the enterprise then there is not much to talk about.
At home he can setup win98 as a print/file server if he wants
” Can you explain why?
Thanks in advance”
I’m not the one who made the statement you are asking about, but I do have an OS X Server. Really there is nothing bad I can think of about Linux servers, and the only advantages OS X Server has over Linux is the very small amount of configuration, a ready to use QuickTime Streaming Server, and the ability, if you need it, to run your regular OS X apps.
As for Be, if you look into it you will find that a few of the head guys from Be are now working for Apple. I think they are the ones who designed Panthers new file system.
MP, are you looking into OS X or OS X Server?
but didn’t Jobs come with NeXT? That was the real bargin.
OS X server
We have one for testing. It is still there, and it is working, but it is far from FBSD capabilities.
QuickTime Streaming Server it is small margin of what one would expect from server. At lest for now I would use it only in Mac shops because this would be safe
My mother said something to me the other day about her Macintosh that I thought sounded like a commercial for Apple, but it rings true. We were talking about Windows and how Blaster had blasted some of the departments where she works, and she said, “I don’t mind using Windows at work because we have tech guys walking around patching and fixing it all the time, but at home I can’t afford to have a technician come out and fix it.”
She’s got an eMac 700MHz with 384MB RAM, which replaced a Win95 machine that was completely devastated by an Outlook Express virus. Now she doesn’t have to worry about the latest Microsoft worm being spammed to her and then auto-executed from the preview pane, because Apple Mail can’t execute scripts. I highly recommend an Apple Macintosh to anyone who needs to get a replacement PC for their parents. She’s been running it for about 8 months now and I haven’t been contacted once to do troubleshooting or tech support…which was pretty much a monthly occurance when she was using Windows.
“Went from Mac to PC”
“By Anonymous (IP: —.lwc.gatech.edu)”
A college student, I see. Perhaps a graduate student.
“I was a Apple user from 1990 to 2003.”
I don’t necessarily doubt what you’re saying, but how old were you in 1990? 17? 10? 5?
“I recently replaced my last Mac with a x86 machine. Why? Cost and applications (especially games). In the real world, these two apply a LOT.”
The juxtoposition of ‘games’ and ‘real world’ strikes me as odd. But if you’re a gamer, the Mac is not your best platform, and may never be so.
Regards,
Mark Wilson
I was a Apple user from 1990 to 2003. My first computer was a MacIIci, then a Performa 570, then a PowerBase (Mac clone) 200, a G3/233, and then a dual 800 mhz G4. I recently replaced my last Mac with a x86 machine. Why? Cost and applications (especially games). In the real world, these two apply a LOT.
Wow. I did the same but in reverse. I have had at least 7 or 8 PCs in my life and I got my first Mac 3 years ago. The reason to move to Macs: Better applications and more practical in the long run. Everything is better on the Mac side.
After you’ve got a taste of Mac OS X, it’s hard to settle for lesser(Windows XP). It’s like going back to dial-up or black/white TVs.
BTW iSight ROCKS!!!
“Why? Cost and applications (especially games). In the real world, these two apply a LOT.”
I can see your point regarding games. A fast G4 doesn’t cut it. My game is MOH which I have tried on my dual G4 and it just can’t keep up to my Athlon. For things beyond games I use my Mac.
I have given up Windows for good. I have an iMac and a Dell box running RedHat. A lot of my Windows habits are still dying hard. Otherwise, it was a good move.
I have used x86 class machines since my 8088 PCjr (10 y/o). I changed my wife/childrens’ computer from WinXP Home to Mac over one year ago. I went from a Windows re-install every month, to running a stable OS that only reboots when Apple issues a critical security fix. (Security fixes are necessary for every platform…) My wife is now preaching about the Mac to our friends. How we went from computer repairs on a weekly basis, to a system that I never even need to log into anymore. Well, I bought a PB12 back in February for myself. The ONLY thing I could do on WinXP and not on the Mac is do quick-switches for who is logged in, but that will change with Panther.
Having said all that, I still have three PCs around the house that rarely get booted. One is running NetBSD, and I plan to wipe the other two. I just never need Windows, except at work. I plan to keep one system running -stable NetBSD, and one running -current. There is a purpose for those old PCs: BSD!
The UNIX slogan: Live free or die!
I am a *not so proud owner* of a g3 600 mhz ibook. I see performance issues with os X. I have 640mb of ram and I can sense how slow it is. I am comparing it to a 1.8ghz 1gb of ram computer and a duron 1ghz ( which is like a celeron from AMD). I run os X and gentoo linux because the os X speed is relatively slow. I would think that it would run fast.. but a few days ago i was blessed with a powerbook g4 867mhz 640mb and 60gb hd with an airport extreme card. I see no lag and i think OS x is fine for the person who wishes not to hassle with anything. Server wise, we deployed it to test it out and it isn’t that great. It is more server worthy running linux. You don’t need a freaking gui to administer a server. Apple hardware is good, but if i can serve more clients on a PII 400mhz with 128mb of ram, i’ll stick to linux. I’d save money… Of course, apple hardware is worth what you pay for and if it were up to me i’d slap linux on every box. I am a neutral guy when it comes to which plaform i work with, in my environment i am working with apples, pcs, running os x, windows and linux. So as long as my box works its all good for me.
Speaking of home use, how good are Macs at playing different video files? This is important for people who purchase (for example) DiVX files and .avi’s.
For normal uses, I generally find Macs to be superior… of course there are a lot of caveats there. But I have a hard time telling people to check out the Macs since I haven’t yet tested my library of videos on them, and this is rather important for many.
BTW, in many stores they generally have worse mouse setting than on Windows machines; you have to push the mouse like 10 times to get to the other edge of the screen. What’s up with that?
The G3s are slow. Apple needs to move on from that platform. I have a G4 and its nice and fast.
The thing I have noticed about OS X is that is get faster with each release. 10.2 is faster than 10.1 was (on the same machine). I think all software is initally built poorly and gets faster as it matures.
But – I wish there were some additional applications available on it. I use Quicken on Windows and I know it’s available on the Mac, but I’ve read it’s not as good. I also use QuickBooks and pcAnywhere. If I got a Mac, I would still have to keep a PC to run these.
I also support a great number of PCs running Windows. I’m afraid I would lose my edge in day-to-day knowledge of Windows.
Also, can anyone tell me how the sound hardware compares to the better sound hardware in a PC (such as the Creative Audigy2)? Quality of sound? Surround?
Thanks,
S.
I don’t see myself buying a pc anytime soon after having a Mac for 3.5 years. I started with OS 9 and moved to 10.1 a few years ago. Windows feels so lame after using a mac os. Mac OS is much nicer and more powerful then XP.
Mac should be able to play DivX files. But I suggest using the Video Lan Client which is a great Media Player for Mutiple OS.
😛
yea, video lan client is great… so is mplayer for os x… supposedly microsoft is coming out with its windows media player 9 for os x…
details here…
http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/09/05/wmp9/
this surely will helps compatibility on my macs… without downloading mplayer or video lan…
Mac can play divx, latest games,emulators, dowload with edonkey…
And the interface doesnt freeze like in windows xp or get crushed with viruses …
VLC (Video Lan Client) is great, but don’t forget MPlayer for OS X, it also can play all kinds of video formats:
http://mplayerosx.sourceforge.net/
And of course there are codec-plugins for QuickTime to play DivX movies natively in QuickTime Player, with the ogg-plugin for QuickTime you can even have ogg vorbis soundtracks in movies.
People who read OSNews on the weekend must be a lot more polite in general, because this has been a great discussion without the Max vs Win vs Linux rancor that sometimes springs up.
I’m speaking as a dyed-in-the-wool Mac fan here, but there are some good reasons to stick with the PC. Normally I would agree that a Mac is great for your parents because it has less likelihood of self-destructing or gradually sucumbing to entropy and becoming bogged down. However, I recently replaced my dad’s Mac with an XP PC. He’s a realtor and to access the listing service from home he needed to use a proprietary Windows app.
That’s the harsh reality for some. Some people will just need to use software that’s Windows-only. However, in response to the reader above, Quickbooks is now back on the Mac, and ti’s pretty good. PCAnywhere is not on the Mac, but you can use Microsoft’s own Remote Desktop Connection client to control your PC with your Mac. I use it all the time. If you’re a gamer, forget the Mac. Most computer users, though, will find that they can get everything they need on the Mac platform. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a particular fringe peripheral, but I haven’t had many problems, though I do keep a Windows XP PC at home.
The most galling reason I need a Windows machine (or VPC) is that I work with advertisers who have IE/Win only web sites to check stats. Now that’s just the epitome of laziness, but it’s reality.
In conclusion, some people need to use software that’s Windows-only, but most don’t.
yea, its sad that its sometimes a windows-only world…
u mentioned remote desktop connection, as have some others posts i’ve read somewhere… i’ve heard that people sometimes just by a cruddy, headless pc for like $299 or something and just use the remote desktop connection to use their windows only apps… my question is that, are there any noticeable lags and such that u can get by using remote desktop connection… if its a pretty good option, i might have to buy a cheap a$$ pc and just use remote desktop connection to do all of my windows-specific programming and such (im a student, u see)…
so post more about the remote desktop connection client, please…
that is one of the most interesting things i’ve seen… and its dirt cheap too…. (maybe even cheaper than vpc, and faster too)
I’m a PC/FreeBSD -> Mac/MacOS X convert and here are a couple of things I would like to say:
1) What are your requirements? for me, speed and games were not the number one priority. What I wanted was an easy to use operating system, a UNIX core and the ability to run mainstream applications such as Office X, Studio MX, Painter 8 etc etc. MacOS provided me with that ability.
Sure, I *COULD* use Windows with Services For UNIX (SFU), however, I would then have to shell out more money for something I consider a fundamental part of an operating system.
2) I have no loyalty to the Mac or Apple. If in two years time, I can purchase a second hand SGI Fuel Workstation for a reasonable price, I would. Sames goes for a PC running FreeBSD or any other thing that maybe on offer.
I “switched” to the Mac early on 1999 with the original iMac, replacing an 3-years old P100 PC. The iMac was my only machine at home, and I didn’t miss the PC at all. On early 2002, I decided to “replace” my iMac, because I was bumping on some of its limitations (no CD-R/RW drive, external ones are expensive, 3D hardware not powerfull enough for the latest games).
Out of money, I built a PC that took the title of “main machine” for nine months, until Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar) came out. Since then, the iMac has slowly been regaining its original status, relegating the PC to the tasks of burner and hi-tech videogame. The system runs fine with 160 MB of RAM and a 40 GB HD (albeit the slow 233 MHZ processor), and using Safari, Mail, iTunes, Proteus (IM client) and Office v. X is a joy (sorry, but it’s a known fact that I can’t stand OpenOffice’s unreliability). I’m a tech writer and spend most part of my day in front of a word processor, and I can say that Office v. X is more reliable and stable than Office on Windows.
The current plan is to get rid of the PC, sell the iMac and replace both with a more powerful Mac as soon as money allows it (here in Brazil, Macs cost at least 3x the price on the US). I just can’t wait.
Reading the “I use Mac” stories gives me the sense of a little group of people huddling together for warmth, none of them willing to talk about the storm raging outside.
They are content to pass a bottle of absolut around the campfire circle, each person taking a swig and passing it on. They tell each other stories of how Mac works for them, how much they love their Mac, and how their life has meaning now that Mac is part of it.
Meanwhile, outside the campfire circle, the world moves on. OS X has 0.5% market share and is shrinking every day. Linux gets every closer to “good enough” and one day soon will have 20% of the desktop market share.
No matter, though. Even if Mac shrinks ever smaller, the faithful will still gather around the campfire, still drink the absolut, still sing their love song of Mac. And one day, Kevin Costner will make a movie about them, “Dances with Macs”.
I use RDC on my Powerbook over an 11 megabit/sec wireless connection connected to a PC in my office. It’s fast enough that I just barely notice the lag. Only the UI lags. Unlike VirtualPC, the PC itself is of course running at its full speed. Very usable.
I have been reading osnews for a quite a long time now. I have never posted though as I just like to read. The reason for my first post is to simply applaud the overall tone of this discussion. After trudging thorough many mac vs. windows vs. linux vs. BSD discussions (all of which are basically the same), this one is very refreshing. God Bless.
There are a lot of shortcut to Mac != GNU/Linux != Windows
a Mac server doesn’t mean anything…
a Mac OS X Server is correct .
Don’t forget that GNU/Linux exist on Mac…
http://www.gnu.org
Hey, I’m a switcher too (in June).
I think OS X brings together the best of Apple and Open Source/Linux (eg Fink), plus I can run my video production business on it with 100% reliability (so far).
I’ve been a PC user since DOS 5.0, but then the last couple of years I ‘discovered’ Linux. The progression from Windows to Linux to OS X seems a natural one.
My 12″ PowerBook may have seemed expensive, but when compared to the competition (eg Dell) it compared favourably with their 12″ offerings and with iMovie/iDVD I can produce professional looking DVDs for clients while I save up for Final Cut and DVD Studio …
Dickerson has replaced two computers with one G4. It seems to me this is a bad move when it comes to availability and security. It would have been wiser to keep the linux box and just dump Windows in favor of MacOS. The day his G4 dies, he will lose both his server and his workstation.
I’m using a loaner Powerbook for a project I am developing so I have a sort of switch story.
It isn’t all rosy, but it is honest.
I love the networking. Both the GUI and commandline tools rock. By far, the best GUI tools available and the few gnu tools not included are a short download away. (group and user tools are obvious ones)
I like the eye candy and even on a slower notebook it is plenty fast. I’d love to see a G5 with a real video card.
It BSD based so I am at home (once I run bash) and feel confident in it’s stability.
A scrollmouse is a HUGE improvement, however the tracking is still slow even with the speed turned up all the way.
Now for the bad…
I don’t see the polished GUI I hear so much about. It really is quirky.
The widgets are too small to hit really easily and many have no real visual clues as to what they do. Not too bad, but a few pixels larger would be nice. Leaving the X + and – symbols visible in the toolbars would help too but I’m not sure what + implies. New window? it sure doesn’t say fullscreen at first glance and indeed, it isn’t fullscreen.
There is no reall fullscreen zoom button on the windows unless I have missed something. They seem to stay in place and go 75% full. Possibly this works on a 23″ hires display, but not for the average guy who needs easy access to his full desktop area.
I can’t drag the side or bottom of a window. I have to go to the little corner widget and pull, changing both sizes in most cases. Picky, but It is just plain obvious to drag the bottom or top to make something taller or shorter. With the zoom problem, this drives me nuts.
When I have multiple apps open, I want the menus too. Half the time I get the wrong menus. I don’t want to guess which app had focus or go out of my way to click on the app to give it focus and then go BACK to the menu.
When I close the only window opened by an app, I want the app closed. I don’t want it covering up my other apps or the finder menu. This also leads to forgetting you have an app open.
When programs are minimized it is too hard to tell where they are or how to restore them. Separation of running apps from available apps in the dock would be nice. I’ve been a computer user for many moons and I get lost apps all the time, I’d hate to see a new user tell when several were running in the background.
Finder is a pathetic file manager. Even explorer is more usable. I am spoiled by using Directory Opus on my Windows machines so I am a little jaded. I’d take the KDE or GNOME file managers over Finder for moving and copying files around anyday. Finder is just frustrating in how it presents the information and the keyboard “shortcuts” needed to compensate for the lack of mouse buttons. I have heard Mac OS9 was better, but I do not know.
How obvious is the DVD eject function to a new user? I want a mechanical button, please.
Mac OSX is a wonderful OS and probably the best available to the consumer. However there is still much room for improvement.
With a few UI fixes I could definately switch.
Thanks for your impressions. I have the feeling that some of the gripes you have might come from certain habits you bring from using other OSes and one could discuss which way is the better way of doing things.
For example the “maximise” button, which isn’t maximise actually but always has been a “fit window size to content, if possible” button. What that means is, if you have e.g. a Finder window with a few items in it, but not all of them displayed, and you hit the “maximise” button, the window will try to resize just enough so that all the items in the folder would display without you needing to scroll. If there are too many items in the folder it would only maximise the window vertically. This has worked very well under OS 7/8/9, but is sadly quite inconsistent in OS X, where some Windows Developers even have their applications behave in an Un-Mac way and use that button for maximising the window…
>Finder is just frustrating in how it presents the information and the keyboard “shortcuts” needed to compensate for the lack of mouse buttons.
I actuall don’t use the mouse that much anymore for moving around the Finder. When I want to close a window I rarely move my pointer to the close button. I always have my left hand on the keyboard, so I just hit COMMAND+W to close, no need for targeting, just activate the window you want to close and hit the shortcut. Those shortcuts become second nature and definitely aren’t a compensation for the “lack” of mouse buttons. Using them actually makes much faster than most “mousers” for navigating through the Finder.
I’m so used to using shortcuts whenever possible that I really have to search around the menus of an application to find out what meny entry some of those options are under. But hey, that’s just me 🙂
I also think that the black triangles that indicate an app is running are visible enough, so you can see what’s running on your machine…
>I don’t want to guess which app had focus or go out of my way to click on the app to give it focus and then go BACK to the menu.
Huh? You don’t need to guess, just look at the top left next to the Apple Menu. Bingo! That’s the name of the application in the front, that’s the one having focus.
yea, that’s a pretty good summary, Kilian…
lemme just add one more thing onto that…
the original poster mentioned that when he closes a window, he wants the app to close too… well, mac os has always worked that if u close a window, u don’t close an app unless u specifically quit the app itself… thats one of the reason, actually, why keyboard navigation is so much faster… just command-q to quit and or command-n to open a new window… its a MacOSism that is different from the rest of the os world (i think)…
i think that when u first use the mac, its very important to realize that things will be different then other oses… things arent always done the same way… the same applies if u use windows or kde or gnome for the first time… it just isnt the same system (no matter how closely they try to resemble one another)…
Vargasan,
It’s called Mac OS X SERVER. Ever heard of it??
I agree that some elements of the interface were quite bewildering at first. I had been using Macs since OS 7.5.1 and the OS X way of doing things essentially made it a different kind of Mac.
Once you find your sea legs though, it’s pretty easy sailing. My Mac is running 24/7 and it’s incredibly stable.
I haven’t been happy with the lack of some apps in the past, but unless you’re in a specialised environment where you have custom-built apps, the Mac essentially wants for nothing. Steve Jobs promised more games a few years back and although they’re not the focus of my use of the Mac, I can understand that people want to play. A Mac should be exquisitely equipped to do that. There is no denying the force of numbers when you consider the number of potential customers.
More than that though there seems to be a shift in attitude towards the Mac. Not so long ago a lot of business users, IT people more specifically, would not even have entertained the thought of ever using a Mac. Although they still demand hard data and reliable performance, and justly so, they are now willing to consider the idea. I think that is a good sign. I don’t want to sit around a camp fire [do I hear an echo here ?] telling tall tales of how good my OS is when nobody else would even look at it.
The Mac is becoming a serious candidate for enterprise environments. This could translate into a steady increase in market share. Good news for Macintosh users who will have more clout in demanding that popular apps be ported to the Mac.
Good news also for Windows users. Having a monoculture in any environment is never a good thing. Innovation stimulates growth, invites exploring into new markets, exciting ideas. If you consider what Apple has done in recent years to develop new machines and products, think of what Microsoft could do (also for the Mac) if challenged to innovate.
For its size Apple has done a great job in the past. They could be great in the future if they could convince more people to use their products. I wouldn’t say the Macintosh can’t be improved upon but if they continue to improve their products and draw the attention of the right people, Apple could be going places.
“When I close the only window opened by an app, I want the app closed.”
Once you get used to this behavior, you’ll find the alternative annoying. Given the speed of most computers these days, the absolute slowest thing you’ll ever do with almost any application is launch it. By keeping an application open when there are no active documents, you eliminate the lag here (barring low memory page-ins).
This really significantly speeds up work in most cases (especially if your work involves an Adobe app, which take about a year to launch).
JT
I second JT’s opinion, it’s great to have all your apps open without any window clutter, and here’s a couple of hints, as well:
Widgets at top left side of window: the more the widget is at the left, the more destructive its action will be. Left=close (x) Middle=minimise (minus) Right=Maximise (plus). A good technique for remembering.
You don’t need to resize a window to get to items behind it, simply click on the green Maximise widget a couple of times to cycle between maximum, medium and minimal size of window. For most windows, option-clicking on the green Maximise window will cycle though different sized as well, bringing it to fill the screen, for instance.
From any application, you can option-command-click to bring the desktop forward and hide all apps/windows in the same gesture.
One of the docks great features: ctrl-click (right click) on an opened application icon will bring forth a list of all related active windows, a great way to navigate!
Navigate between open applications by command-tab, the application cycling will be mirrored in the dock. If you want to quit all applications, for instance, command-tab once, keep command key pressed and press the Q key as many times as you have running applications, a great time saver, instead of activating application in the dock and hunting the “quit” command in the application’s main menu.
Migrating from OS 9 has forced me to think differently, and for every feature I’ve been missing from OS 9, there three great new ones in OS X! Panther is going to whup bottom, GUI-wise, I’ll be first in line to pony up the 129 smackeroos for a faster OS with new features and better interface… Exposé alone is worth the money, IMHO.
” From any application, you can option-command-click to bring the desktop forward and hide all apps/windows in the same gesture.”
should read: ” From any application, you can option-command-click ON THE DESKTOP to bring it forward and hide all apps/windows in the same gesture.”
>Meanwhile, outside the campfire circle, the world moves on. OS X has 0.5% market share and is shrinking every day. Linux gets every closer to “good enough” and one day soon will have 20% of the desktop market share.
Does the 0.5% equal 7million OS X users?
http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2003/09/20030904111142.shtml
And can 0.5% buy ten million song files from the iTunes Music Store and remeber that service is US only.
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/st…
And I think they should be on every desktop by default. At least until Linux is really ready. And even then, I like Macs, cuz they’re easy and Steve Jobs is cool and titanium is pritty. *drool*
I was always a Mac user, but I had to leave my Centris 660AV in Greece, and live and work in Germany.
I lived in my aunts’ house. They had a PC and I had to use it in order to be able to contact my friends, get my emails and so on.
Three Years……THREE YEARS of crashes, formats, headache, nervous breakdowns, formats, crashes, formats, formats….and formats. And all that including endless Windows istallations.
I finally managed to save enough money to buy a new Mac and get rid of that “other” thing.
Thanks Apple…and sorry that I abandoned you for 3 years. :* :* :*
Stefanos Bourtzios
I don’t know how you did it. I stayed at my sisters in Denver for a month using her Windows machine, and when I got back to NYC I had to go on Zoloft.
Now, have you ever read a more STUPID comment than that?
Must be a Micros**t rep.
I bought a poerbook because its the best Linux laptop, but had to go on the road before I could wipe the disk, so I used OS X for two weeks.
There’s something to be said for OS X on the desktop. I’m not only not going to install Linux, but have found a new excitement about computers, after 15 years. What a pleasure to have an os that actually works, all the things I’d have to configure, like wireless, just goes; run microsoft office, toss in any flavor of unix and it runs like a champ. Damn. Good stuff.
Use a mac with osx and go back to windows or linux…and see the hell
Like many readers here, I have the need to run Windows specific apps as well. And like many others have found, Microsoft’s own Remote Desktop Connection Client is a great solution for accessing Windows apps from the Mac. I’d recommend anyone having the requisite Windows OS give it a try.
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/otherproducts/otherproducts.aspx?pid=r…