A few days with Mac OS X
I recently bought a MacBook (hurray for the black tax!), which has served as my introduction to Mac OS X (or at least, to using it on a regular basis). I figure that since Macs just became PCs with a nice OS in a pretty case, there's not much to say about the hardware -- except for the fact that a few days after I bought my MacBook, the line was decreased in price and increased in power.
I'm thinking of calling Apple to see if I can get it replaced but I've fallen in love with it, and I don't want to be away from it for too long. <3 All I'd really gain is the extra 40GB of hard disk space. 2.0Ghz to 2.13Ghz isn't much of an upgrade, since often I underclock my CPU to keep it cool (it seems to run pretty hot, which I guess will only get worse during the summer months).
In one line:
OS X is awesome.
There are a couple of problems with it though. I'll try to go through a couple of them here.
Command keys
I think the Command (Apple) key is pretty cool and shortcuts like Cmd+X/C/V work a lot better than using the equivalent Ctrl shortcut. The problem is, a significant proportion that is platform-unaware (ie. Google Docs) or cross-platform (ie. AbiWord) doesn't support Cmd shortcuts and you have to revert back to Ctrl shortcuts. It gets pretty confusing. This problem also exists with the difference between Cmd+Left/Right and Home/End (= Fn+Left/Right on a MacBook). As far as I can tell, Apple's way of doing it is with Cmd+Left/Right, but other software requires you to use Home/End.
Aqua vs. Brushed Metal, et al
Originally I found this confusing. I am aware that the UNO package essentially converts everything to the new, "unified" Aqua-like UI. Personally, I prefer Aqua, but I'm starting to get used to Brushed Metal and now I'm appreciating the contrast, even if Apple don't always stick to their recommendations regarding choice of UI.
No backlit keyboard!
Had I known that this was only on the MacBook Pro, maybe I would have got that instead, even though I don't need the extra power and I've fallen totally in love with the compactness of the MacBook. Sometimes, though, I crave a backlit keyboard.
Smooth scrolling in cross-platform apps
There seems to be a lot of trouble with this. I simply love the smooth scrolling with two fingers on the touchpad that is available in most native OS X apps. It's a pain in the ass when it doesn't work properly in third-party cross-platform apps like OpenOffice and Opera, however. Opera is one that really blows my mind -- smooth scrolling is an option in Windows and Linux, but the option has been specifically removed from the Mac version. Could anyone shed some light on why it's so hard to support smooth scrolling on a Mac?
No keyboard access to menu bar
I like the idea of the consistent placement of the menu bar along the top of the screen, but there should be a way to access this without using the mouse. According to Zanchey, this used to be possible under OS 7, but was taken out of a more recent version.
No passive mode for AirPort Extreme
This sucks. Apple doesn't support passive mode for Airport Extreme; you have to use a third-party driver for this. Presumably this is to stop people from cracking WEP networks and basically using their Mac as a wardriving machine. I honestly think that this is shortsighted -- this Slashdot comment sums it up pretty well. Having a easy-to-use point-and-click tool for cracking WEP will increase the number of script kiddies "hacking j00r network", but this will just spread the word that WEP is an outdated and insecure protocol -- and hopefully encourage people to move to something more secure.
All in all, however, I really like OS X. I love the .app model for programs -- it's as if every program was written as cleanly and concisely as µTorrent for Windows. I like Spotlight, even if Quicksilver, which every Mac user seems to be completely in love with, does its job better, quicker, and does a whole lot more, too. Hopefully Apple will implement some of the cool stuff from Quicksilver in a newer release of Spotlight.
Possibly my favourite thing about OS X so far? iTunes runs like a real application, not a horrible, painfully slow hack. I no longer hate it with every fibre of my being -- but I do think that Apple should just quit trying to implement the OS X iTunes UI under Windows. Just make it a Windowsy-looking app, and make it run faster. It's painful to use at the moment.
I'm thinking of calling Apple to see if I can get it replaced but I've fallen in love with it, and I don't want to be away from it for too long. <3 All I'd really gain is the extra 40GB of hard disk space. 2.0Ghz to 2.13Ghz isn't much of an upgrade, since often I underclock my CPU to keep it cool (it seems to run pretty hot, which I guess will only get worse during the summer months).
In one line:
OS X is awesome.
There are a couple of problems with it though. I'll try to go through a couple of them here.
Command keys
I think the Command (Apple) key is pretty cool and shortcuts like Cmd+X/C/V work a lot better than using the equivalent Ctrl shortcut. The problem is, a significant proportion that is platform-unaware (ie. Google Docs) or cross-platform (ie. AbiWord) doesn't support Cmd shortcuts and you have to revert back to Ctrl shortcuts. It gets pretty confusing. This problem also exists with the difference between Cmd+Left/Right and Home/End (= Fn+Left/Right on a MacBook). As far as I can tell, Apple's way of doing it is with Cmd+Left/Right, but other software requires you to use Home/End.
Aqua vs. Brushed Metal, et al
Originally I found this confusing. I am aware that the UNO package essentially converts everything to the new, "unified" Aqua-like UI. Personally, I prefer Aqua, but I'm starting to get used to Brushed Metal and now I'm appreciating the contrast, even if Apple don't always stick to their recommendations regarding choice of UI.
No backlit keyboard!
Had I known that this was only on the MacBook Pro, maybe I would have got that instead, even though I don't need the extra power and I've fallen totally in love with the compactness of the MacBook. Sometimes, though, I crave a backlit keyboard.
Smooth scrolling in cross-platform apps
There seems to be a lot of trouble with this. I simply love the smooth scrolling with two fingers on the touchpad that is available in most native OS X apps. It's a pain in the ass when it doesn't work properly in third-party cross-platform apps like OpenOffice and Opera, however. Opera is one that really blows my mind -- smooth scrolling is an option in Windows and Linux, but the option has been specifically removed from the Mac version. Could anyone shed some light on why it's so hard to support smooth scrolling on a Mac?
No keyboard access to menu bar
I like the idea of the consistent placement of the menu bar along the top of the screen, but there should be a way to access this without using the mouse. According to Zanchey, this used to be possible under OS 7, but was taken out of a more recent version.
No passive mode for AirPort Extreme
This sucks. Apple doesn't support passive mode for Airport Extreme; you have to use a third-party driver for this. Presumably this is to stop people from cracking WEP networks and basically using their Mac as a wardriving machine. I honestly think that this is shortsighted -- this Slashdot comment sums it up pretty well. Having a easy-to-use point-and-click tool for cracking WEP will increase the number of script kiddies "hacking j00r network", but this will just spread the word that WEP is an outdated and insecure protocol -- and hopefully encourage people to move to something more secure.
All in all, however, I really like OS X. I love the .app model for programs -- it's as if every program was written as cleanly and concisely as µTorrent for Windows. I like Spotlight, even if Quicksilver, which every Mac user seems to be completely in love with, does its job better, quicker, and does a whole lot more, too. Hopefully Apple will implement some of the cool stuff from Quicksilver in a newer release of Spotlight.
Possibly my favourite thing about OS X so far? iTunes runs like a real application, not a horrible, painfully slow hack. I no longer hate it with every fibre of my being -- but I do think that Apple should just quit trying to implement the OS X iTunes UI under Windows. Just make it a Windowsy-looking app, and make it run faster. It's painful to use at the moment.