# OS X turning into XP



## spitty27 (Aug 24, 2002)

OS X is starting to remind me a little of XP now how in 10.2 it fades in and out for logging in and out and when you change the resolution/colors also fades in and out...and whats this talk ive heard about a mouse shadow in 10.2? i dont have that...or is that gonna be in a future update..even MORE like xp. i dunno just felt like sharing that.


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## Inline_guy (Aug 24, 2002)

All those things you mentioned are very cosmetic.  None of them define XP to me, nor remind me of XP.  No if OX went to a ugly green and blue interface, that hurt my eyes then I would agree and be distraught.  But the changes you mentioned don't remind me of XP, and I think they help to make my user interface smoother.

Matthew


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## Javintosh (Aug 24, 2002)

I use XP at work (along with 98/ME/NT/2K). This to me reflects classic XP:

I like to keep all my desktops as clean as possible. When I installed Acrobat on my XP box it put a shortcut on the desktop. It is the only shortcut on my desktop. I never use it, but I've been meaning to delete it...

One fine day, XP warns me that my desktop could use a little cleaning up. I was going to cancel the warning, but I thought, maybe this is the sort of thing that people who like XP think about when they talk about XP. SO I click on the icon and I get this wizard....

The wizard takes me throught 6 screen doing assorted things like putting up a looong explanation of what it is going to do, giving me a list of desktop icons and the last time I used them, etc., etc....

so I go through the wizard and click on all the screens and what do I end up with? A folder on my desktop with a name like "Cleaned up items from the desktop." This folder contains the acrobat shortcut I've been meaning to delete. *arrrgh!*

That really reflects what XP will be like... You kind of think why do I bother, but you do it any way and at the end just want to kick yourself for wasting time doing something that is supposed to help you but doesn't get you any further ahead than you were...

MacOSX is nothing like XP and it is certainly not heading in that stupid, you-are-too-mentally-deficient-to-even-know-when-you-should-delete-your-desktop-icons way.


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## xaqintosh (Aug 24, 2002)

also, the drop shadow for the cursor shows up in my 800 iMac, but not my 350, so it must be a Quartz Extreme thing.


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## Krevinek (Aug 24, 2002)

The shadow did show up on earlier Macs with early builds (WWDC), but they changed it a little. Having a QE capable card is now probably a requirement, since the compositing of the shadow can then be done in hardware. Do you honestly know how ugly the cursor would get if you used hardware to draw it and then software to draw the shadow? The cursor and shadow wouldn't keep up... Apple toyed with drawing the whole cursor in software for the WWDC build, but apparently decided against it.


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## xaqintosh (Aug 24, 2002)

it should automatically detect if the computer has qe, and if it doesn't it should use the software, just to be consistent.


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## Mac Write (Aug 24, 2002)

The drop shadow shows up for me. and I am on a Beige G3 266 Radeon  Mac:Edition 32MBDDR.


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## kommakazi (Aug 24, 2002)

I was just at the Apple Store at the Mall of America today, playing around with the new towers and I noticed it as well. It's a very subtle effect, doesn't stick out so far as the one in Win2k/XP. I like it better, the one in win2k/xp annoyed me, this is just a nice small touch for os x.


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## vanguard (Aug 24, 2002)

I like the XP shadow.  When I first saw it I thought, "That's the kind of cool detail that Apple usually thinks of first."

Can somebody post a screeshot?  Does the shadow move to match the pointer when you click?  Does anybody know how I can enable it?

Vanguard


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## jotto4 (Aug 25, 2002)

drop shadow only shows when you have QuartzExtreme capable video card. no drop shadow, your card will not use QE. (shadow best seen with a white background)

this link was offered up earlier this morning by...shoot I forgot, but it was very helpful. I've been in these forums and MacAddict forums for the past 2 hours, so I can't remember who originally found this.  

http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=15911&db=mac

this little app will tell you for sure if your machine is using QE.

I'll remember who originally posted this link and give them credit


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## jotto4 (Aug 25, 2002)

here it is: the thread is Quartz Extreme Check.  thanks to devonferns 

devonferns
Bill Gates babo

Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Ontario, Canada
	Quartz Extreme Check 

I just came across this application called Quartz Extreme Check. It's supposed to check if your hardware supports QE. 

http://www.versiontracker.com/morei...15911&db=macosx 

It most likely only works in Jaguar because it unexpectedly quits on me in 10.1.5


__________________
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PPC 9500 604e 200MHz email server running Postfix 1.1.11 and QPopper 4.0.4 on OS X.1.5 320MB RAM 
Athlon 1.4GHz Windoze 2000 for school work (programming) 768MB RAM 

¥?£? ª´´?¢«ÿ


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## uoba (Aug 25, 2002)

Anyone noticed that there is an extra pixel on the end of the pointer which makes it sharper as well!? (Nice)


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## Urbansory (Aug 25, 2002)

Does the Rage128 pro support QE? I have not seen a flat out yes or no on this. I won't have  Jag until i get back to school and i really would like to know if my G4 will support it.


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## spitty27 (Aug 25, 2002)

theres also an extra pixel when you select items (when you click and drag accross the screen to make a grey box...) the bottom right pixel didnt exist before. also sharper.


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## Kazrog (Aug 25, 2002)

Been using Jaguar for a couple of days on both my machines. Neither support Quartz Extreme, but I knew that going into it. Perhaps I should break down and stick a GeForce 4 card in my upgraded Sawtooth G4/450 (now a dual 500.)

Or maybe I'll just wait until they start using IBM CPUs...

As for that XP thing... I have noticed some UI changes, but for the most part they just make it LESS like XP. I like how they've toned down the ultra-puffy buttons and made things generally look less obtrusive but still look like OS X. I love all the new system sounds too, the old-school "purr" was really starting to bug me...


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## Urbansory (Aug 25, 2002)

I guess it doesn't 

Well I don't plan on replacing my system just yet, sometime next year she will have a new sibling, till then, she sits alone.


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## kcmac (Aug 25, 2002)

Hasn't the log in graphics always faded in and out? At least it did before 10.2. Don't know for sure when it started.


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## BBenve (Aug 28, 2002)

Well to all people that claim that the shadow appears ONLY if you have a QER enabled card...well... you need to go mere in deep thatn that...cause it is ABSOLUTELY FAKE
QE is not eye candy... QE is only a graphic engine....so it does NOT add ANY feature or eyecandy to the gui...it is NOT made for that and it will NEVER do that...it is only a rendering engine for PDF based graphic and the AQUA GUI.
The little shadows appears on my iBook 600 G3 ..with a NON supported QE card.... so as explained before...  no problem there... i see the shadow...
Quartz Extreme DOES NOT add ANY feature to the Aqua qui...it only speed it up by sending the info to the VC for rendering instead of sending the info to the CPU... that is it... it does not add any feature no way....especially cause otherwise people would start firing up against Apple for giving some stuff to some people and not to others....and Apple does not want that!!!especially for a small thing like that shadow...
Do you really think a small tiny shadow like a pointer's shadow requires more than 8 mb of VRAM? oh c'mon..


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## uoba (Aug 28, 2002)

All I can say is that on my LCD iMac with QE supported I have a pointier (yes, for some reason pointer) and shadowed arrow, and on my G4 466 with dual monitors both unsupported by QE, I don't have a pointy or shadowed arrow!


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## nichrome (Aug 28, 2002)

For the record, the mouse shadow has absolutely nothing to do with Quartz Extreme. Seems like it has more to do with what kind of mouse cursors the video card supports.

I am not seeing the shadow on either of my QE-enabled monitors.

Quartz Extreme Checker tells me both displays are accelerated -- though I don't need it to tell me that, since I can see and feel it myself. And no shadow.

The whole "mouse shadow equals QE" thing is an urban legend made up by bulletin-board spamming teens talking out of their rear sections.


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## designer (Aug 28, 2002)

What?

OS X became XP. Ha ha ha.


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## Daniel9 (Aug 29, 2002)

So, Why do some machines have the drop shadow on the pointer and others do not?


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## xaqintosh (Aug 29, 2002)

because some of the older machines don't support it. you CAN have them without having QE, but older computers lack both.


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## nichrome (Aug 29, 2002)

Yes, you can have a mouse shadow without QE, but it's a lot more likely that one has QE without a mouse shadow. New computers can easily have QE without having the mouse shadow. The shadow is completely unrelated to graphics card age, amount of VRAM or even Quartz Extreme.

The mouse shadow issue discussed here only applies to the standard mouse cursor. The spinning wheel and You Can't Copy That Here cursors use similar shadowing techniques, yet these shadows work correctly on all setups. Thus the issue with the basic arrow cursor is probably a bug.


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## Gregita (Aug 30, 2002)

Hmm...that's odd...

I can't delete Internet Explorer from Jaguar.

I guess it really is becoming like XP 


 


just kidding...


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## plastic (Aug 30, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Gregita _
> *Hmm...that's odd...
> 
> I can't delete Internet Explorer from Jaguar.
> ...



Found the version of DOS in Jaguar yet?


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## Inline_guy (Aug 30, 2002)

Not to add fuel to the "drop shadow" fire, but I think the problem might be this..... I have a flat screen Super Drive iMac.  When I first installed Jag and was playing around I thought "hum... I don't see a drop shadow over my mouse!"  But in truth there was one.  But it was not what I expected so I over looked it.  I can only see it when it is over something white and even then it is ever so slight.....

So I think more people  have it and either have monitor that are old and not great with whites anymore, or they are just missing it.  

That is what I think

And to be a little on subject.  Other than the similarities between what all OS do.... I do not think OS X is anything like XP....

Later

Matthew


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## plastic (Aug 30, 2002)

Disclaimer : Don't shoot me...

As I was reading the posts here on my gaming PC running Win2k, I just realised that my cursor has got a shadow too...


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## Gregita (Aug 30, 2002)

that's funny, Plastic.

I haven't found it yet..


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## plastic (Aug 31, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Gregita _
> *that's funny, Plastic.
> 
> I haven't found it yet..  *



Set your WIN2k System Cursor to "3D Bronze"... you should see it.. you should, you should... 


Begging now : Don't shoot me, don't shoot me...


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## nichrome (Sep 6, 2002)

> _Originally posted by Inline_guy _
> *So I think more people  have it and either have monitor that are old and not great with whites anymore, or they are just missing it.*


Think again. My reports are based on experiences with a pair of brand-spanking-new Diamondtron flat CRTs. The shadow just isn't there.

The shadowed cursor and the traditional cursor are two completely different entities. The shadowed one has a sharper appearance thanks to two added white pixels (top left and bottom right) and the antialiasing effect provided by the shadow.

So, again, the shadow most definitely isn't rendered in afterwards, and definitely not through QE.


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