Just installed Leopard tonight

space_invader64 · December 03, 2007, 07:26:41 PM

I had some doubts about leopard but It is really slick.

I didn't think I would use spaces. I've used the comperable thing in linux and didn't really see the point but they have really made it work well. I like to keep Opera, my browser, up in full screen mode at all times. This lets me do it and not have to exit full screen mode to jump to another app.

I'll let you know how the other features work as I start using them.

Jen · December 03, 2007, 07:28:18 PM

Welcome to the party...I installed it a month ago. I rocks! :)

wraith1701 · December 04, 2007, 03:58:19 AM

This is a mac OS, right?

I haven't used a mac since my first few years of college, but there seems to be an ever-growing contingent of mac fans on the internet. What's the cause for all of the mac-love?

Jen · December 04, 2007, 07:05:57 AM

Oh boy... are you trying to stir the bee's nest? This debate can get heated. :D

While I am bilingual (I can use both Mac and PC), I personally like the Mac better. I have nothing against PC, I sometimes use my husband's to play games. But I have used Macs since elementary school... We used them in college and I use them exclusively for work. They allocate memory better than the PCs I've used with the same software installed on them (Adobe products). I can open more than one program and work in both. I drag information from one very large file in one ap to another very large file in another ap and nothing locks up or crashes on me. In fact, my Mac rarely ever crashes. If it does, it usually has something to do with our company network which handles a lot of traffic.

Mac's offer several features and programs I don't have available to me otherwise. Aesthetically speaking the OS interface is designed well and it's user friendly. I use the expose feature and short cuts ALOT. When most of my colleagues call IT to help them with their PCs, I can do what I need to do on my Mac G5 myself. Contrary to belief Macs can do everything a PC can (they can send Word docs to a PCs that are readable and can program and do various other non-design/art things). But the draw back is that they CAN'T play most PC games without a little extra help. I do know you can play WOW on a Mac if that's your game of choice...it doesn't happen to be mine. If you have a new Mac with an Intel chip instead of Pentium, you can duel boot in either Windows or OSX. So, now you can play PC games or use exclusive PC software on Macs too.

I won't use the virus card... though I've never had one on my Pentium Mac, now that Intel Mac's can duel boot they leave themselves open to attack via the windows OS. Viruses can be made for Mac, but the goal of someone making viruses is to spread it to as many computers as possible—right now that means PCs. The more popular Macs get, the more likely some idiot will start attacking them as well.

Quote from: wraith1701 on December 04, 2007, 03:58:19 AM
This is a mac OS, right?

I haven't used a mac since my first few years of college, but there seems to be an ever-growing contingent of mac fans on the internet. What's the cause for all of the mac-love?

space_invader64 · December 04, 2007, 08:49:04 AM

It's just a flavor thing. Some people prefer it and some don't. The ones who do are crazy about it. (myself included!) I would rather have a computer I make things on than one I play games on.

I prefer the GUI over the other setups out there. It has lots of eye candy and brain ticklers. It's also the perfect setup for video photo and audio editing because it sometimes gets crashy on windows. Especially video! But at the end of the day what makes or breaks an operating system is the third party apps. And there are plenty of them with really clean interfaces that work really solid.

I also prefer fedora core 8 over windows xp. Everyone I've talked to says they prefer XP to Vista.

wraith1701 · December 04, 2007, 08:20:52 PM

Thanks for the info, guys. You've certainly peaked my interest in Macs.

When it comes tome to retire my PC, I'll have to give one of them a "test-drive". :)

space_invader64 · December 04, 2007, 09:51:53 PM

A mac virus would involve writing one that the user would have to take steps to infect his system before an update came out. Including giving his password for no reason. So it's not a very good target. For that reason most mac users don't even bother with antivirus software.

There is nasty stuff out there for that infects windows users if they open the wrong website. Or worse, don't do anything at all! The windows problem is that they are trying to stay afloat with the setup they have used for the last 13 years of platforms. Windows could be secure if the next edition killed all the current apps out there for it. Would the average PC user mind throwing away every app he or she has bought since the windows 95 era? You better believe it! People would riot!

OS X was the platform that saved Apple's skin. This was shortly after Steve Jobs came back. Their market share was next to nothing. When the mac OS X was created, they threw away all of OS9 and started from scratch, a version of BSD UNIX. Then put a very pretty GUI desktop on top of it. They wrote apps to install in a snap. The security feature that blocks most viruses is that OS X often asks for your password if you make a significant change to the computer like Linux does. Vista made some head way in this direction but not enough for windows to still be a very leaky boat.

Steve Jobs is very talented in deciding what the human interface should be like. Hardwarewise, the ipod isn't any better than the other mp3 players out there. It's the software that has sold so many of them. And specifically the user interface. His other talent is design. He is very artistic and talented at leading his group to create the some of the slickest looking designs out there.

Another advantage is the closed box. Microsoft only makes code and has little control over what that code will run on. Then things get clunky when you have to support so much hardware!!! On the mac side, the know how to make the software work so well with the hardware because they control the hardware! They pick out the video card, CPU, and everything else. So they make the most efficient drivers. I've always thought it would be a good move for microsoft to stop letting third party PCs run their platform and just sell a closed box like apple does. The x-box and the x-box 360 prove that Microsoft can do neat things with a closed box. Then Dell, HP, Sony, and the others would have to run some veration of Linux. I think that would be a very intresting computing world if that happened.

Rico · December 05, 2007, 05:36:41 AM

I want to get a Mac at some point, but I will never give up my PC. I like to tinker too much and have fun building them. Can't really do that on a Mac. And there are applications I like on each OS, so for me I would just have both.

It's always funny to me why people seem to have to be on one side or the other of these things. It's like the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray thing. As long as prices come down and you can manage it why not just have both? So I'm with Jen, I can see uses for having both around. And yes I know a Mac can run Windows now, but you won't find a high end video card in a Mac, at least not yet. And since I do a fair amount of gaming that's an important point for me at least.

Jen · December 05, 2007, 06:18:18 AM

I don't know much about video cards but here's a list of cards that are compatible with Power Macs (not iMacs):

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html;jsessionid=E61A27C09DE11FECFBC78FC55F9D3C35?topicId=10271028&sid=1

Blackride · December 05, 2007, 10:08:22 AM

Quote from: space_invader64 on December 04, 2007, 09:51:53 PM

Another advantage is the closed box. Microsoft only makes code and has little control over what that code will run on. Then things get clunky when you have to support so much hardware!!! On the mac side, the know how to make the software work so well with the hardware because they control the hardware! They pick out the video card, CPU, and everything else. So they make the most efficient drivers. I've always thought it would be a good move for microsoft to stop letting third party PCs run their platform and just sell a closed box like apple does. The x-box and the x-box 360 prove that Microsoft can do neat things with a closed box. Then Dell, HP, Sony, and the others would have to run some veration of Linux. I think that would be a very intresting computing world if that happened.

This is the best point. If Microsoft had their own pc line like Apple it would be a whole different story. Apple is good for the niche market to me and I have no problem with it but they are going to have problems competing with Microsoft due to the cost of their products.

Jen · December 05, 2007, 10:18:21 AM

I hear that a lot but to use a car example, Lexus and BMW don't lower their prices because GM and Ford have low cost vehicles that are more affordable. It's pricey and a lot of people buy them despite that because they prefer them. I can't afford a new Mac, but I just upgraded my old one and it's like a new computer.

space_invader64 · December 05, 2007, 10:41:56 AM

The microsoft windows platform is always running into trouble trying to be all things to all people. It is very buisness focused. Apple is more home and content creater focused.

The X-Box 360 is a huge hit. Unlike that company's other attempts to be all things to all people, they decided to own the hardcore gaming market. Halo 3 made the biggest splash of the year.

Many vista users are very unhappy and switched back to XP. One of the main causes is the driver and compatiblity problems that come with the trying to work on everything out there. But I don't think they would ever change the buisness model because it is so darn profitable. They sell code. Code doesn't exactily exist. After they pay the programmers, it costs them 3 dollars at the most to sell something to you for over 100 dollars!!! If they made a PC, their profits wouldn't be near as high because they have to buy the materials. They way they are doing it with X-box is by selling the consoles at a loss and recovering and profiting though the software. Computer users probably wouldn't go for that. The main reason, the computer is every day becoming more and more a box for your browser because most things are going on on the internet. Far different from 1994 where we all bought a lot of local apps to do offline.

And linux, though it's often still ugly, is getting really user friendly and is a growing trend with people who don't want to upgrade. I know a lot of people who were still running windows 98 and me who installed fedora core and ubuntu because they wanted to keep the computer they had and microsoft no longer supports them. To a lot of people, if they can chat, surf, email, wordprocess, and watch video and hear audio, that's good enough. And that is what linux can give them.

wraith1701 · December 05, 2007, 12:24:23 PM

Quote from: space_invader64 on December 04, 2007, 09:51:53 PM
Steve Jobs is very talented in deciding what the human interface should be like.

That reminds me; does anyone remember the old Voyager episode involving time travel and a computer software developer? If I remember correctly, A guy roughly modeled after Jobs (or perhaps Bill Gates?) steals Voyager technology to create the computer boom of the 80's. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

space_invader64 · December 05, 2007, 12:25:36 PM

Oh yeah, that is a good one! Future's End in the third season.