# OSX has killed my inner child



## habilis (Apr 25, 2004)

Ever since installation of 10.3. Wait. No. Ever since OSX my Mac experience is totally sucking. both my 867MHz g4 iBook and G4 dual 1GHz are now sluggish and highly irritating, like wearing a wool sweater in the sauna. They have a great tendency to lock up, often beachballing me for minutes straight 1 to 3 times a day requiring a complete restart. I'm a powr user working on both Windows XP and Mac OSX every day for hours so I know what I'm talking about - XP HAS NO BEACHBALL PROBLEMS.

I'm a graphic designer, and in the design world, as it were, we are locked in to a Mac. Being creative, much less productive, is now impossible with Apple. Safari is no match to explorer, sorry. I've been using Safari for a year now and the claims that it is faster then explorer is pure hype and urban legend. Safari is just another version on Chimera with a (OH-MY-GOD-NOT-MORE-BRUSHED-METAL) brushed metal interface.

Let there be no confusion. Apple LOOKS way way way better then Microsoft in every way and every place - they have more contemporary and expensive marketing techniques(which you pay for with every purchase). But Apple has finally fallen off the wagon with the poor performance of the OSX generation. It's sad to have to say that since Mac OS7 to 9.2 was absolutely killing Microsoft in performance - but times have changed. Maybe some day Apple will see the light. I appreiciate the cool looking shell design and high priced merchandise but Apple can kiss my lilly white ass and go straight to hell.

OSX has killed my inner child.


----------



## Satcomer (Apr 25, 2004)

I can't agree more about the brushed metal part. Please Apple, let us skin OS X with out your updates screwing with the our appearance of OS X.


----------



## chevy (Apr 25, 2004)

I like the brushed metal look, but I agree with Satcomer that we should be able to chose our preferred skin.

I use XP and X daily... and frankly X is not slower for anything I do. Windows open slower, scroll is slower... but it is at the right pace for my movements. I don't need a scroll that is so fast that I cannot stop on the right cell in Excel !

Off course I hate the "beach ball", but I never had it on at the system level with stable X versions (that is all X versions but 10.0, 10.1.0, 10.2.0 and 10.3.0). Some applications have it more than necessary. And Safari is not stable enough when accessing https pages. On the Finder, there is one weakness: the preview is not reliable: it often shows .jpg file badly if the file is large, sometimes it even doesn't show it at all. And when you preview a movie, depending on the format of the movie, you may lock the preview (unlock it by killing the process).


----------



## andychrist (Apr 25, 2004)

Fortunately ShapeShifter now has the ability to skin all applications, including iTunes.   

Chevy, when you say that some jpg. files don't show the preview in Finder, are  these images that were saved with a custom icon?  Because while Finder should always be able to Show icon previews when you select View as Icons, it can only do so in List or Column view if the files were saved that way.  In the thumbnail below Pic2Icon converts a generic file to picturized format.  Notice how much bigger the converted file size is!

I'm sorry that habilis is having such a bad time with OS X.


----------



## Browni (Apr 25, 2004)

it can skin itunes Were do i get it ???


----------



## andychrist (Apr 25, 2004)

Sorry Browni I should have included the link, I just figured by now everyone knew about Unsanity's ShapeShifter.

http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter 


One caveat though, because the latest update is still fairly recent, there aren't a whole lot of skins out yet, the only ones I can think of off hand are Neos and BBX Mercury.    

Check out SafarIcon too.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10611


----------



## Browni (Apr 25, 2004)

thanks andy  although i thought that you couldn't skin itunes b'coz of its carbon?


----------



## cellfish (Apr 25, 2004)

I have to admit that I somewhat understand habilis. Very often, Mac OS X has an unbelievable reputation not necessarily because of a proven track record but really because Mac zealots praise it more than Jesus. If I was a true PC enthusiast and was stuck in an elevator with 5 Mac addicts, I would end up thinking that the operating system is astounding. Of course, I wouldn't have any proof of it, I would just have their word. I find that in most cases, when people go into using Mac OS X with such amazing expectations, they can't help but be sorely disappointed with the system. When it turns out to be very beautiful but slow and lacking in the stability it promises, the user ends up being more disappointed than he would be if he HADN'T been promised the world by the Mac zealots.

Anyways, my personal reason for wanting to leave Windows is simply because I'm trying to stay away from buying anything from a faceless corporation. However, I have already used OS X in the past and I know it's not heaven. It's excellent, but it's not heaven.


----------



## andychrist (Apr 25, 2004)

You're welcome Browni.  I dunno what the problem is in skinning iTunes, other than that Apple doesn't want you to.  But yeah, Carbon apps don't really take to ShapeShifter.  Which I guess is why theme authors have to include separate bundles to go with iTunes.

Now you have to download ThemePark and design your own themes.   

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/7419


----------



## Arden (Apr 26, 2004)

The onlyonly!beef I have with OS X is that it is slow interface-wise.  Of course, this is from my experiences using OS X on my 400 Mhz iMac with 640 MB of RAM and, delivering the fatal blow, a palsly 8 MB of VRAM.  I love the stability and functionality of Apple and other programs in OS X, despite occasional quirks (what OS doesn't have quirks?  No, not Quark, quirks), and the very, very occasional system lockup (happened last week, I think from Lime****).  OS X is still much more stable than OS 9, and definitely Windows.

I'm sorry you've got such a bad experience, Hab; maybe you need more RAM?


----------



## gribuz (Apr 27, 2004)

I Switched from Windows to 10.3 in November 2003 and i must say that it has been a real joy.

I also work with graphic design and some webprogramming

been using Windows since the release of Win 3.11

I must say though macs are also buggish sometimes, but far from the probs on wintendo

Just my experiences ;-)


----------



## markceltic (May 2, 2004)

Just a thought habilis since you've been down on OSX all these years why are you still here? I know this a forum on Opinions,Reviews&OpenLetters but it sounds more like whining when it's gone on this long.If I hadn't got any of the issues fixed that are causing you such grief then it's time to move on.Sad you've had a bad experience.


----------



## benp (May 3, 2004)

I'm a web designer and I just bought an iBook G4 and I am very upset that I cannot boot into 9. I agree that OS X has taken Apple in a direction that I do not want to go. I was so content with Mac OS 9.x


----------



## cellfish (May 3, 2004)

benp said:
			
		

> I'm a web designer and I just bought an iBook G4 and I am very upset that I cannot boot into 9. I agree that OS X has taken Apple in a direction that I do not want to go. I was so content with Mac OS 9.x



I can very much understand this scenario. The company should not have the right to say what you can and cannot use. If they don't want you to use OS 9, they should just not support it anymore and not make softwaer for it any longer. Have you switch when YOU want to switch. However, let's face it, Mac OS 9 is garbage.


----------



## dlloyd (May 3, 2004)

Well, it depends on whether Apple dropped it because they want to force you up, or whether (as they say), it really was a lot more work for their engineers to develop for both.


----------



## mdnky (May 3, 2004)

habilis said:
			
		

> Ever since installation of 10.3. Wait. No. Ever since OSX my Mac experience is totally sucking. both my 867MHz g4 iBook and G4 dual 1GHz are now sluggish and highly irritating, like wearing a wool sweater in the sauna. They have a great tendency to lock up, often beachballing me for minutes straight 1 to 3 times a day requiring a complete restart.
> 
> I'm a graphic designer, and in the design world, as it were, we are locked in to a Mac.



I use a g3 based laptop everyday for design work with no problems.  I've run X since the public beta, and it's been my primary platform for work since 10.1 was released.   That was on an outdated g3 beige machine (*2mb vram*) and it worked just fine.  Maybe you have a lemon for a machine, or you got some major problems there.  Running any third party modifier programs?  Maybe a skin/theme app?  You by chance shut your machine down every night?

Quite a few of us here actually.  No, you're not locked into the Mac...you could use a Windows based PC if you wanted to...but you'd have to not place a value on you sanity then <G>.




			
				habilis said:
			
		

> I'm a powr user working on both Windows XP and Mac OSX every day for hours so I know what I'm talking about - XP HAS NO BEACHBALL PROBLEMS.



From my experience, the people who claim to be power users aren't.  I have to use & maintain a variety of platforms/OSs myself.  Be it Windows (2KPro, XP Home, XP Pro), Linux (Redhat, Mandrake, SuSe, Debian, Gentoo), Unix (Solaris, NetBSD, HP/UX), or Mac (X, 9, 8).  XP has enough serious problems of it's own.  Speed?  Like a turtle disguised as a hare maybe.




			
				habilis said:
			
		

> Safari is no match to explorer, sorry.  I've been using Safari for a year now and the claims that it is faster then explorer is pure hype and urban legend. Safari is just another version on Chimera with a (OH-MY-GOD-NOT-MORE-BRUSHED-METAL) brushed metal interface.



Safari is much faster than IE, on the Mac platform that is.  Take a better look at the claim next time, it's plain as day what they're talking about there.

------

If you're so unhappy, then actually do something about it.  _markceltic_'s post hit the nail on the head.  All you've done is rag on X because you're unhappy, well you have a choice to make.  If you're that unhappy, then do something about it.


----------



## MacMuppet (May 4, 2004)

If I hear another person complain about brushed metal, I think I'm going to cry.
Enough! Get a GUI editor, get Shapeshifter, get some themes, hell, get a PC with '95 for all I care but please, PLEASE be quiet! There are countless ways to spare yourself the brushed metal interface if it really has that much of a derogatory effect on the quality of your life, so can you spare us the winge-ing?
Personally I would prefer it if things such as ARD, System Prefs and in fact almost everything was brushed metal, not this cutesy-pastel my-little-pony Aqua, but it isnt, so I've gotten over it, and moved on.


----------



## RacerX (May 4, 2004)

habilis said:
			
		

> Ever since installation of 10.3. Wait. No. Ever since OSX my Mac experience is totally sucking. both my 867MHz g4 iBook and G4 dual 1GHz are now sluggish and highly irritating, like wearing a wool sweater in the sauna. They have a great tendency to lock up, often beachballing me for minutes straight 1 to 3 times a day requiring a complete restart. I'm a powr user working on both Windows XP and Mac OSX every day for hours so I know what I'm talking about - XP HAS NO BEACHBALL PROBLEMS.



You might save your self some trouble by hiring someone who knows Mac OS X inside and out to help you set up your systems. No matter how much of a power user you think you are, people who are professionals at Mac service are most likely going to be able to help you in ways you can't seem to do for yourself.

I would never put up with the type of performance that you are describing. And frankly, with Mac OS X I haven't had to. But then again, I've been using this OS (in one form or another) for more than ten years (not counting my 15 years of classic Mac OS experience).

Power user or not, you need to ask for help... real help from someone who can help you in person. This forum is nice, but you haven't gotten what you need from here so far.


----------



## dlloyd (May 4, 2004)

Wow Racer, way too many new emails! I get excited when I have four unread messages! 
Of course, if I didn't have the spam filter on... I only get about 75 a day though, not like some people who get thousands.


----------



## RacerX (May 4, 2004)

dlloyd said:
			
		

> Wow Racer, way too many new emails!



Oh... most of them are from Apple. I always mean to go back and read them (someday), but haven't.


----------



## flacochala (May 4, 2004)

I´ve bought an iBook with OSX 4 months ago.. i work in web programming, application programming and in network security and telecommunications... Before i get my mac, i used to work with macos and windows becouse of my work.. since i get OSX, is the only os i work in, i love.. is simple, is frendly, is fast and is full of features... and has unix(i really need unix on my work).. i dont really see how you wont like osx... since system 7, is the best OS in the market..


----------



## dlloyd (May 4, 2004)

Amen flacochala!
People: OS X is good; if something is wrong, come and ask about it, but no trolling


----------



## markceltic (May 4, 2004)

I can't claim to have the tech knowledge a lot of the guys have here,but my transition to X from 8 was a smooth as a still pond in the morning.Granted I'm only a "user"but if my little experience is any indication of the reliability of the overall system well what's the point of looking back now?If I'm not mistaken I thought I heard Steve say this will be the OS for at least the next 15 years.So habilis you might as well stock up on sedatives or join the XP forums!I mean right now cause there isn't any sense in giving yourself an ulcer!


----------

