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Originally Posted by phinsman Safari is a really nice browser and I'm trying to choose it over Firefox (but Firefox is tough to beat). |
After using Mac OS X for a while, you'll come to appreciate Cocoa programs much more then any other type (i.e. Carbon, X11, etc). Safari is so much nicer because it gets all the free system enhancements for free - like spelling.
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Originally Posted by phinsman I think my number one frustration right now is that it seems like every piece of software I've been interested in downloading is shareware. Freeware seems to be non-existent, scarce at best. Coming from using GNU/Linux (where everything is Open Source and free), this is a major shock to me. |
Mac developers have a lot more requirements put on them then any other OS in the world. Why? Because Mac users expect good looking applications with slick UI's. Not all developers can do that and have skills in that. Plus, it requires icons, which 99% of programmers can't make, so they have to hire someone. But if they're going to be making a freeware app, they don't want to spend any more money then necessary on it. Mac users are picky. They don't take just any program that does the job. They want it to look good! I think it's sort of hard to grasp when users come from others OSs, especially Linux, in which the entire OS is open source! Mac OS X is not 100% open source, so why should each individual program be? Open source doesn't make full sense unless the OS is open source. Get my drift?
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Originally Posted by phinsman OS X does run most all of the X apps I'm used to, but they're not really integrated into the operating system; i.e. to start them up, I'll go through the "X" dock icon, and of course they just don't look like Mac apps. They also don't look nearly as good as they did on my Red Hat systems. |
Again, it's the same thing with GUIs. Most Mac OS X users don't care about X11, because there are (usually) far better native alternatives.
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Originally Posted by phinsman I'm a programmer for a living, and I've started looking into Cocoa development. So at some point (when I have time!) I can hopefully create some of the apps I'm looking for. But for right now I'm completely annoyed at all of this, to the point where I'm not sure I'd spend the $1500 on this machine if I had it to do over...no matter how nice it is. |
Next time I'd suggest you research the topic first, before spending $1500! Don't just assume the Mac is for you, because lots of other people are switching, especially if you're a techy
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Originally Posted by phinsman The iCal dock icon -- it stinks that you have to restart it every day to keep the date correct (well, maybe I'm doing something wrong here). I actually removed it from my dock so it wouldn't confuse me. |
Maybe iCal is meant to stay open? That's how Mac OS X works best. Give it good enough RAM, and leave all your programs open. That's what I do - I have anywhere from 15-25 open at once.
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Originally Posted by phinsman The Mail app looks good, but it doesn't have the power of Thunderbird or Evolution. No Entourage for me, either. |
What kind of "power" are you referring to? You know, Thunderbird is available for Mac OS X..