No love for Apple in HTF? (1 Viewer)

[Peter Kim]

Peter...Jaguar - Whoah!

 

[hwshi]

i've been running os/x for almost a year now and have not had a single hard crash.it's rock solid and we are starting to see the software that goes well with it.bring on os10.2(jaguar)!

 

[Steve Tannehill]

I've been using Macs since 1984, when we had a Mac lab at my university. I did not buy one for myself until 1994, and I have been using them ever since.

Yesterday, I picked up one of the new 700 Mhz iBooks at the Apple Store. It's nicely portable (I got the 12-incher), and I love surfing wireless.

My main desktop system is a Quicksilver G4/867, that I am using primarily for video apps, including DVD creation.

I have other Macs at home...most notably a 68K Performa that is in the closet providing X10 services.

I love these things!

- Steve

 

[Lance Nichols]

Another reason that Macs are so prevalent in TV and movies, is they are noticeable. That is, they are not plain Jane beige boxes. IE, the older Pismo and wallstreet Powerbooks, with the glowing apple logo really pop out.
Mean while, the IBM thinkpads, which had killer ergonomic and style when they first arrived on the scene, are now just another black notebook in the background. My absolutely all time favorite notebook is still the IBM 401 series Thinkpad. The "Butterfly" keyboard was, and is the best engineering I have ever seen. I wish I could find a way to update mine to something like a PIII or Duron
For some reason the lug-ability of the first gen iBooks has a place in my heart too. The clamshell looked way too big compared to the screen real estate, but the overall look was great, and I hear they are nearly indestructible.

 

[Michael*K]

Count me as another Mac evangelist. I've been using Macs since 1987 (and was using the Apple II computers in the early 80's.) I'm fortunate enough to be employed as a Mac technician at a large law firm...probably one of the few large firms that is entirely Mac clients with an installed user base of over 400 machines.
At home, I have a Pismo PowerBook and a G4 tower. At work, depending what the task at hand is, I use a blue and white G3 tower, a Ti PowerBook or one of the G4 iMacs. Some of our dated equipment that resides in our Mac "graveyard" at the office and is scheduled to be sold in the near future: SE's, SE30's, IIci's, IIsi's, 6100's, 7200's, 8500's, 8600's, PB520's, PB1400's, PB3400's and even two of the 20th Anniversary Macs (with G3 upgrade cards) We're on track for OS X implementation this summer and as a result, are replacing 200+ "outdated" G3 machines (beige desktops and Wallstreet PowerBooks) with flat panel iMacs and Ti PowerBooks. Anyone in the market for used equipment?
Just a few of the things I love about Macs:
•The hardware will last forever--in seven years in a support capacity, I've only encountered two unexplained hard drive failures. A friend's Gateway had two failures in three months.
•The OS is much more stable, even under OS 9 and prior systems. With OS X, system crashes are non-existent.
•Macs are faster--Say what you want about chip speed, I've seen Macs and Windoze machines working in real world apps and the "slower" chips on the Mac regularly outperform Wintel chips rated at 50% faster or higher.
•Much cleaner GUI--Windoze still is a laggard.
•Cutting edge design--This doesn't just apply to the way the machines look. It also makes them much easier to service and upgrade. The G3 and G4 towers are so easy to upgrade, it's ridiculous.
•Freedom from viruses--This isn't to say that viruses can't make their way to Macs (we still get macro viruses from Windows clients.) But viruses that reach the Mac cause far less havoc than their Windoze counterparts.
•Standard FireWire--Despite USB2 implementation, it's still THE fastest way to transfer files. And I love being able to use target FireWire mode with an external drive.
I'll leave OS X separate because it is such a leap forward from everything else that's out there. Truly a magnificent and exciting OS. Oh yeah...one more thing. I've been using Jaguar for the last week and for anyone that's drooling for it, the drools are well justified. I think anyone planning an upgrade will be

 

[Jeff Kleist]

I don't hate Apple, I think they do lovely hardware
I hate their OS witha passion. It makes me feel like I'm sucking out intelligence points. Everything is so hidden, and there's just something wrong with a computer that grins at me when I start it up. I have no love for MS, but at least their OS doesn't make me feel stupid, and it's very customizeable.
(Jack, does this bring the Universe back into balance? We've been agreeing too much as of late )

 

[Calvin Watts III]

I love my iMac.
Screw Microsoft!!!
Okay..back to playing with my XBox...

Calvin

 

[Michael*K]

Everything is so hidden

Not sure exactly what you mean by that statement, but the MS filesystem is an absolute disaster to navigate.

 

[Gui A]

Part-time Mac user here...

and while I love the OS, I, and a couple of friends, do occasionally miss playing in a C:> prompt. It's like an exploration game, and you have to know what you're looking for.

With a Mac, it's all way too simple. It's missing the "fun" of the DOS prompt.

But the only thing that's bugging me about my mac is the constant harddrive access it's been doing for the past few months. I think it goes back to when I installed a 128 Mb of PC Ram (actually, I kept swapping the 128 chip back and forth), and I played with the OS & program memory allowances. Someone told me it was bad to mix PC and Mac ram, so I removed the PC ram, but I haven't been able to get all the settings back to normal. Now, if I'm working on a large file in Photoshop or just browsing the HTF, very often, the HD will be accessed... 4 cycles repeating about 15-20 times... takes a good minute or 5 to get back to normal. and it happens almost randomly. I'll click on a link, and it will go nuts. I'll click on the same link later, and everything is fine...

If I ever find my OS 9 CD, I'll do a full reinstall... and maybe I'll buy some real Mac ram too.

 

[Pamela]

Are there larger issues with OS X that I should be aware of?

Go over to the OSX boards at Apple and see the disgruntled masses spewing their vitriol. They've branded Steve jobs a heretic. I happen to love X. I had problems at first because I didn't read up on the new OS before I installed it. The biggest mistake people are making, myself included, is to approach X as an extension of 9. I didn't look at it as a whole new interface. Once I understood that and read up on it, I got the kinks worked out, including a partitioning scheme that works for me. Now I I hate working in 9. True multitasking, no fooling with extensions, no need to manage memory and the ability to force quit a frozen application without bringing down the whole system—what's not to love?
As far as the quote thing, I have the same problem (I'm using Explorer). I click on the quote button and the dialog box comes up, but it won't let me paste in the quote. I get around this by simply typing a period for the quote and hitting ok. I then delete the period and paste in the quote.

 

[Joseph S]

Everything is so hidden

It's not hidden. Those are the only files needed. No excess crapola designed to send your info back to the mothership.
The UNIX stuff is hidden in OS X, but very easily accessible to those inclined and is fully configurable.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Jack, does this bring the Universe back into balance? We've been agreeing too much as of late...

The Universe is back in order, Jeff my man. Mac runs rings around the sorry PC platform. Pentium. : "Intel Inside." Heart sinks. Illogical command sequences. Get real!

 

[Rob Gillespie]

but the MS filesystem is an absolute disaster to navigate

Please explain.

 

[John Thomas]

Mac runs rings around the sorry PC platform.

Jack, you might want to amend that statement. Maybe add in "when in use for certain applications." which would make it a correct statement.
(No trolling, just letting the truth be known...it *is* out there, y'know. And the mothership can be infected with a virus from a Mac.)

 

[Iain Lambert]

I'd love one of those new iMacs. Its just that, well...

1) I already have a PC, and its cheaper to stick new bits in it than blow a fortune on a whole new machine.

2) As horrible as Windows is, I now know enough to deal with it.

3) OSX has its own quirks I'd need to learn.

but by far the most important...

4) Irrespective of the argument about what software is available (and I can guarantee that it won't include my Midtown Madness games any time soon), I'd face an absolute fortune in cost to re-purchase all my software in the Mac versions.

 

[Ken Chan]

prompt

OS X has a genuine Unix shell (tcsh), which is much more fun and capable than the DOS prompt! Maybe a good reason to upgrade?
//Ken

 

[Patrick Larkin]

MacOS X is completely stable. More than OS9 ever was or ever could be. Its built on Unix, the most stable OS in the world.

Command line? Please. MacOS X is UNIX. It has a command line and now has the capability of running servers and such only dreamed about before. See the new Apple XServer rack mount server for more proof. The BSD Unix core of X is more customizable than Windows will ever be and is open source too. Linux people are even making the switch because they can run real apps and stuill have a Unix environment in which to work.

I work in an organization with over 1000 Macs. We are able to run the whole thing, network and all with about 8 people.

 

[Peter Kim]

I avoid using IE; in OmniWeb, the buttons are also Aqua-fied and look much better

The aforementioned quote is brought to you by the help of Ken Chan and Omniweb 4.1.

Ken, your's is the unexpected post I thrive on seeing here in HTF. I've downloaded and installed Omniweb and I'm quite impressed. It's just a matter of cutting loose from the habitual ties that bind me (IE 5) and enjoying the built-for-OS X nature of the Omniweb browser.

If anyone else is interested, Omniweb, as stated on their website, is the only browser built exclusively for OS X. It's a relatively quick download (3.2 MB) and a breeze to install (1-Click).

I'm always skeptical of downloads, but I'm even less impressed with the back-of-the-bus status everyone seems to relegate Mac users. I've used Omniweb for about an hour now and it seems like the real deal.

Again, many thanks to Ken. And to all those that are interested, indeed HTF's buttons are aquafied in Omniweb.

 

[Michael*K]

I'd face an absolute fortune in cost to re-purchase all my software in the Mac versions.

Or you could shell out far less than a fortune for a copy of Virtual PC and run your PC software from your iMac.
Ken and Peter are right, OmniWeb is an excellent and very capable browser. I'd highly recommend a download for any OS X user. I also use Mozilla which has some bugs (but is constantly being updated...open source) but is a nice alternative to IE.

 

[Joseph S]

Omniweb is updated almost every day too.

Under the "Omniweb" menu on the far left you can choose to check for updates.

I'd face an absolute fortune in cost to re-purchase all my software in the Mac versions.

Not necessarily, most high cost commercial apps offer crossplatform upgrade options. There is also a great deal of UNIX freeware available as well, like GIMP.