Before I get a new Mac...

[Rhisiart]

I use Classic Menu, but in order to access the preset Apple Menu in X you have to hold down the Control key. OK, no big deal I suppose.

I had a bad experience with haxies last year so I am a bit put off by FruitMenu.

[rohit_shrestha]

Sorry for a EXTREMELY late reply. I had gone on a trekking trip. I'm not yet fit-enough to climb Mount Everest, so just went to the lower base camps.

Anyway, some reply to the previous points, pluse some more questions (Again, please give me detailed answers to the questions asked below, you can also provide me links for further reading - I'm looking for a detailed answer - please take your time):
1. I don't want customisation in looks. Why anyone would want to change the looks of the Mac is beyond me...

What I meant by customisation was in the way things work. Didn't Mr Jobs say that design is how it works and not how it looks like or feels like?

My Windoze friend said this in e-mail:
"you start up the computer ...and you get tired of that same old look!!?? download a nice theme which is found in a numerous amount in internet you search for you love and just apply it..wanna start PS and apply cool effects?? again just search plugin from the net and apply it..wanna play games?? just burn the image file in the virtual drive and start playing...again tired of the games same feeling..why not download MOD and experience whole new game...know you system well?? why not edit the registry and create you own little tweak?? need a upgrade in graphics card?? just open up the CPU casing and slot it on..same goes for CPU harddisk..or any other parts..
got the customization part??..I kno Mac has got some customisation too..but it's no match for Windows!!"


What reply would you give to above?

2. Why is OS X limited on Macs? Some of my anti-Mac friends say this is a "monopolistic behaviour of Apple".

3. What is the average boot time of a Mac? How much time would a iBook G3 with 900 MHz proccy, 512 MB RAM take time to load Leopard? What would be the average time on the current Mac models?

4. How fast is OS X? How does it compare with other OSes?

5. How is multi-tasking in OS X? The Mac users I've seen generally have more apps open than the users of other platform. Is this just a coincidence or is the multi-tasking really better than on other platforms.

6. What are other things that sets the Mac apart from others?

(Thanks for the replies, btw)

[Curiosity]

12. I had read somewhere that if you rename a TIFF image, say "aapl.tiff" and rename it to "aapl.jpg", the size automatically shoots. How do I rename in OS X? Do I have to use the command line?

Why would you want to rename the extension of a file to another file format? You cannot convert a file to another format by simply renaming it. To convert a graphics image from .tiff to .jpg you need to load it into an application that can convert it and save it for you.

[Qion]

Originally Posted by rohit_shrestha

Sorry for a EXTREMELY late reply. I had gone on a trekking trip. I'm not yet fit-enough to climb Mount Everest, so just went to the lower base camps.

Anyway, some reply to the previous points, pluse some more questions (Again, please give me detailed answers to the questions asked below, you can also provide me links for further reading - I'm looking for a detailed answer - please take your time):
1. I don't want customisation in looks. Why anyone would want to change the looks of the Mac is beyond me...

What I meant by customisation was in the way things work. Didn't Mr Jobs say that design is how it works and not how it looks like or feels like?

My Windoze friend said this in e-mail:
"you start up the computer ...and you get tired of that same old look!!?? download a nice theme which is found in a numerous amount in internet you search for you love and just apply it..wanna start PS and apply cool effects?? again just search plugin from the net and apply it..wanna play games?? just burn the image file in the virtual drive and start playing...again tired of the games same feeling..why not download MOD and experience whole new game...know you system well?? why not edit the registry and create you own little tweak?? need a upgrade in graphics card?? just open up the CPU casing and slot it on..same goes for CPU harddisk..or any other parts..
got the customization part??..I kno Mac has got some customisation too..but it's no match for Windows!!"


What reply would you give to above?

2. Why is OS X limited on Macs? Some of my anti-Mac friends say this is a "monopolistic behaviour of Apple".

3. What is the average boot time of a Mac? How much time would a iBook G3 with 900 MHz proccy, 512 MB RAM take time to load Leopard? What would be the average time on the current Mac models?

4. How fast is OS X? How does it compare with other OSes?

5. How is multi-tasking in OS X? The Mac users I've seen generally have more apps open than the users of other platform. Is this just a coincidence or is the multi-tasking really better than on other platforms.

6. What are other things that sets the Mac apart from others?

(Thanks for the replies, btw)

1. There are quite a few haxies and other softwares you could install to customize the way you use your computer. There are too many to list, but personally I use MenuMeters, CandyBar and TinkerTool.

2. Mac OS X is limited to Macs because Apple make computers that "just work". They make the hardware and the software, and as such they can maintain incredibly tight bonds between the two paradigms. This gives end users a much less troubled experience.

3. I thought G3s were phased out with Leopard. You could look on the net for boot times of specific machines; my MacBook Pro and Mac Pro boot in about 30 seconds, and my iMac boots in about 45 seconds.

4. Tiger and Leopard are extremely fast. I doubt it could get much "snappier" without being loaded into RAM.

5. Multi-tasking is incredibly efficient on the Mac. I'm not an authority on the subject, but I'm sure somebody on this forum could explain it.

6. Honestly, you'll have to use one to understand the difference. Try to boil it down to what you need to do with a computer, and learn how efficiently a Mac would do those things for you.

In response to your friend's email, I have to say I can't really relate to the points he makes. I do a relatively complex job, and have relatively complex computing needs, and customizing my registry still just doesn't become necessary on a day to day basis. I can upgrade my graphics card, RAM, etc. as I please. I can customize my interface as I please. And at that, I can do my job more efficiently and enjoyably because I'm using a computer that doesn't crash every week.

[Satcomer]

Originally Posted by rohit_shrestha

1. I don't want customisation in looks. Why anyone would want to change the looks of the Mac is beyond me...

What I meant by customisation was in the way things work. Didn't Mr Jobs say that design is how it works and not how it looks like or feels like?

My Windoze friend said this in e-mail:
"you start up the computer ...and you get tired of that same old look!!?? download a nice theme which is found in a numerous amount in internet you search for you love and just apply it..wanna start PS and apply cool effects?? again just search plugin from the net and apply it..wanna play games?? just burn the image file in the virtual drive and start playing...again tired of the games same feeling..why not download MOD and experience whole new game...know you system well?? why not edit the registry and create you own little tweak?? need a upgrade in graphics card?? just open up the CPU casing and slot it on..same goes for CPU harddisk..or any other parts..
got the customization part??..I kno Mac has got some customisation too..but it's no match for Windows!!"


What reply would you give to above?

2. Why is OS X limited on Macs? Some of my anti-Mac friends say this is a "monopolistic behaviour of Apple". /

That sounds like the baited question from a TROLL!

3. What is the average boot time of a Mac? How much time would a iBook G3 with 900 MHz proccy, 512 MB RAM take time to load Leopard? What would be the average time on the current Mac models?

I would not put Leopard on such and older G3. Anyone foolish enough to do this is doing this just to say they are doing this. Go with Panther as the highest on such and ancient G3.

4. How fast is OS X? How does it compare with other OSes?

Depends. On a Mac Pro it is super fast! But don't take my word so take a look at the people who do Mac speed testing Bare Feats.

5. How is multi-tasking in OS X? The Mac users I've seen generally have more apps open than the users of other platform. Is this just a coincidence or is the multi-tasking really better than on other platforms.

Have you really used Linux? OS X is based on BSD Unix. If you know ANY computer history then you wouldn't have asked if a Unix based system can do multitasking!!!

6. What are other things that sets the Mac apart from others?

Ease of use. The ability to run most ANY operating system simultaneously. Really the Mac vs. PC argument is REALLY old now, let it go.

(Thanks for the replies, btw)

[Satcomer]

By the way, stick a fact into your friends face and point out OS X & Linux can use way more than 3G of RAM.

[nixgeek]

Originally Posted by Satcomer

By the way, stick a fact into your friends face and point out OS X & Linux can use way more than 3G of RAM.

Or practically anything other than 32-bit Windows for that matter.

[Viro]

This "friend" of yours sounds like a retard. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but that's what it looks like from way over here.

1) The Windows registry is not something programmers are proud off. Just run a registry diagnostic tool on your computer. See how many invalid/wrong/missing entries there are? Hundreds? Thousands? Can't really be bothered to answer a Windows fanatic who doesn't know a good thing when he sees it. And I'm a Win32 programmer by profession, so I'm not just an anti-Windows nut.

2) Why do Xbox games work only on the Xbox? Why do PS games work only on the PS? Why do Nintendo games work only on Nintendo? ZOMG monopoly? No my dear, it's just a different business model.

3) Dunno that one, I'll leave it to others.

4) The performance is fine. Nobody really complains about OS X performance. Sure, the microbenchmarks like kernel calls may appear slower, but that has a negligible impact on user performance. Consider that while there are few complaints about OS X performance, there are numerous such complaints leveled at Windows Vista.

5) Multi tasking, multi processing and clustering are all fine on OS X. What specifically are you worried about?