Before I get a new Mac...

[rohit_shrestha]

I am a Windows/Linux user but am willing to 'go Mac' mainly because of its interface and ease-of-use. Seriously, I'm dead-tired of waiting for one or two minutes just to show the desktop, then wait for another five minutes for other applications to start up. And after that, if I start some application, I have to wait for another thirty-forty seconds for just SOME of the parts of the window to show up, followed by the whole thing in bits/peices over the course of the next minute. I have simply lost my patience. (If the Mac sports this kind of trouble as well, please inform me, I'd prefer NOT using the computer at all).

But I have some queries before I do so (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 have heard OS X lacks customisation and I have to stick to the choices that Apple makes for me. Can one setting fit all? How much customisation is possible? Does this affect severely?

2. How buggy is OS X? I heard that a 25 year old BSD bug (which affects OS X as well) was fixed just some time ago. There may be many other bugs like this. And, since Windoze is used by more people, I think it will get more attention, and Windoze bugs will be found out and fixed sooner. How much of a problem is this?

3. What is the condition of applications on OS X? Are there quality applications, especially quality freewares? Some Linux users were telling me that OS X has very less good freeware than even Linux has. And Windoze probably has more.

4. "Only posers use Mac OS X. The only reason its popular is because of its cool looks and good UI". "Mac is just a showpiece. Real users use Windows/Linux". How much are these statements true?

5. What about the value of money(VFM) for mac? If I do a spec-to-spec comparision, Mac has a low VFM. But some Mac users told me that that there are other things that make up for that, that actually make Mac's VFM greater than others. What are those?

6. How secure is Mac OS X? Last time, it was hacked in just 2 minutes. What is the actual scenario? (I know OS X is more secure than Windoze, but how much more secure is it?)

7. Any chances of VB development on Mac? And any chances of doing cross-platform development (not just on VB, on others as well)?

8. Can I get OS X to look a little less prettier, Just looking at is screenshots, I predict that I may be just staring that the beautiful desktop instead of doing any work. Any chances?

9. Can you provide me a list of good, quality Mac-exclusive softwares, especially freewares?

10. Is Mac the best tool for graphics designing/web-page designing/movie making? If yes, why?

11. I saw on a screenshot Apple uses the term "Continue" instead of "Next" on installers. And "Get Info" instead of "Properties". They're more appropriate and intuitive terms. That's not the query, it's as follows:

My Mac friend told me that to install an app in OS X, you just need to get the app, mount the dmg image, then drag the .app file to the Applications folder. Does this mean no EULA on Mac as well? I really liked this feature of Linux.

(Installing apps on Debian-based Linux distribution are easier than this - just get the .deb file, double click it, and its installed.)

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?

Finally, what are the main reasons why I switch to a Mac? I did see the Apple page and its quite good but are there some more really good features of OS X? Please highlight some things what makes OS X superior than others.

Thanking in advanced for your kind response, time, and effort,
Rohit Shrestha

 

[Viro]

1. I have heard OS X lacks customisation and I have to stick to the choices that Apple makes for me. Can one setting fit all? How much customisation is possible? Does this affect severely?

Yes, one setting does fit all. If you're really interested in customizing the hell out of your desktop, you should be running KDE and not OS X. The OS X approach works for the majority of people who see the computer as a tool and not as some lifestyle statement.

2. How buggy is OS X? I heard that a 25 year old BSD bug (which affects OS X as well) was fixed just some time ago. There may be many other bugs like this. And, since Windoze is used by more people, I think it will get more attention, and Windoze bugs will be found out and fixed sooner. How much of a problem is this?

That was an interesting bug. Did you read the details of said the directory handling bug? Essentially, this bug was already known for years by Samba developers. Instead of reporting it, they coded a "fix" around it and left the bug alone.

If you work in software development, you will know that this is exactly how many bugs are "fixed" on Windows. We code a fix for our application, as we can't know for certain when Windows will get a fix. It happens _all_ the time, and this BSD bug just shows that the commercial attitude to software development (i.e. we fix our code, can't be bothered about yours) is prevalent in the open source world.

In short, this bug makes headlines but is irrelevant to all users.

3. What is the condition of applications on OS X? Are there quality applications, especially quality freewares? Some Linux users were telling me that OS X has very less good freeware than even Linux has. And Windoze probably has more.

If you want half done pieces of code, you can always install the open sourced *nix stuff via a package manager like Fink or Macports.

Otherwise, there is a lot of good shareware and stuff developed by small companies on the Mac. There's a lot of freeware too and like I've said, there is the open source stuff you can fall back on if you're really cheap and desperate.

No such ecology exists on Linux.

4. "Only posers use Mac OS X. The only reason its popular is because of its cool looks and good UI". "Mac is just a showpiece. Real users use Windows/Linux". How much are these statements true?

You make it sound as if having a good UI is a bad thing? A good UI makes you far more productive and it's definitely an important selling point. Why do you think Windows and Gnome in particular keep lifting ideas from the Mac?

At the end of the day, does it matter what other people think? Everyone knows that real users use the command line and eschew all GUIs.

5. What about the value of money(VFM) for mac? If I do a spec-to-spec comparision, Mac has a low VFM. But some Mac users told me that that there are other things that make up for that, that actually make Mac's VFM greater than others. What are those?

The gains in productivity more than make up for the initial price difference.

Spaces > Anything on Windows. Similar to virtual desktops on Linux
Expose > anything you find on Windows/Linux.
Spotlight > Tracker/Beagle in indexing and query speed. Not sure how it compares with the windows alternatives.

Cmd + Tab, Cmd + ` > Alt-tab for navigating windows in Linux/Windows.

Those are the things that are off the top of my head. If you're a developer, Xcode is better than anything you get on Linux. I personally like Visual Studio on Windows better, but that's mainly because I spend 10 hours a day in Visual Studio so I'm more familiar with it.

6. How secure is Mac OS X? Last time, it was hacked in just 2 minutes. What is the actual scenario? (I know OS X is more secure than Windoze, but how much more secure is it?)

How long is a piece of string?

No OS is completely secure. OS X is rather good, but it is impossible to provide any sort of meaningful number. Consider that there are 0 viruses out in the wild for OS X as opposed to the hundreds of thousands for Windows. Even then, that comparison is flawed.

Just remember that the OS X being hacked in under 2 minutes scenario was due to the hacker spending months before researching his attack vector. He didn't come up with the exploit in 2 minutes. He took months of research before attempting to hack the Mac in front of a crowd.

7. Any chances of VB development on Mac? And any chances of doing cross-platform development (not just on VB, on others as well)?

REALBasic comes the closest to VB 6. If you're after VB.Net, you might have good luck with Mono. However, do not expect too much compatibility between MS products and the rest of the world.

As for cross platform development, native OS X applications can be ported over to other platforms via Cocotron or GNUStep, Java runs fine on the Mac, Qt and wxWidgets mean that loads of applications can be ported, and the presence of X11 means that practically any Unix/Linux application runs on OS X.

If that fails, you could always dual boot with Windows or run it in Parallels/VMWare/Virtualbox.

8. Can I get OS X to look a little less prettier, Just looking at is screenshots, I predict that I may be just staring that the beautiful desktop instead of doing any work. Any chances?

The UI gets old after a while.

9. Can you provide me a list of good, quality Mac-exclusive softwares, especially freewares?

Probably not relevant to you but:
XCode
Texshop
Bibdesk

10. Is Mac the best tool for graphics designing/web-page designing/movie making? If yes, why?

It is impossible to describe. Use the applications like Aperture for yourself and see.

My Mac friend told me that to install an app in OS X, you just need to get the app, mount the dmg image, then drag the .app file to the Applications folder. Does this mean no EULA on Mac as well? I really liked this feature of Linux.

Most applications that need a EULA will display that EULA as the disk image is mounting. All software has an EULA. Its just that on Linux, most of the software is GPL and so they assume you accept it.

(Installing apps on Debian-based Linux distribution are easier than this - just get the .deb file, double click it, and its installed.)

And then you want some pro grade software, you find yourself screwed.

How do I rename in OS X? Do I have to use the command line?

You click on the name of the app in Finder ...

 

[andychrist]

The desktop is actually very customizable through third party apps such as CandyBar and a bunch of Haxies by Unsanity, such as Shape Shifter, though the latter has not yet been updated for Leopard.

You can also easily make the desktop "less pretty" by hiding the dock and, of course, changing the background.

For third party apps for Mac (many of them free), see MacUpdate.

 

[VirtualTracy]

1) You can customise OS X without too much trouble at all. It's up to you, whether it's the Desktop, the Boot Panel image, the login Panel image, icon sets ... there are apps like CandyBar , Visage or websites like interfacelift.com to visit.

2) How buggy is OS X? Well, a lot of new Leopard users complained of bugginess but IMHO a fair chunk could be put down to user error. As for trojans or viruses ... the only trouble I've seen lately originated from Porn sites where users were duped into accepting an update for their media player which resulted in their web browser being highjacked. The Mac Web Browser has a "Private Browsing" feature and the Firewall has "Stealth Mode". Being informed is probably your best bet and forums are great for that!

3) I personally like to draw the line with freeware and run only the basic minimum. There are some fantastic freeware apps and IMHO OS X has a range of quality apps at its disposal from either Apple's arsenal of entry level or Pro apps or from 3rd Party Delvelopers. My favourite freeware app by far is SizzlingKeys by Yellow Mug Software. Basically it's a System Preference Pane and allows controls of iTunes through keyboard shortcuts. Control + Spacebar will launch iTunes and a song will play. There are other keyboard combos to give you full control.

4) Windows Rocks - Mac Sux ... Beta or VHS, Automatic or Manual .... which is better? Who cares is my reply ... Mac OS gets the job done for me and I enjoy it along the way. The first computer I happened to buy was a Mac .... I've used PC's and I love both .... both are slightly different in their own way but both get a job done. Sometimes I might need to hop on my PC to get something done and to me it's like having a contingency plan. Nothing more. Forget the eye candy and focus on how well it does a particular job and the rest will just fall into place.

5) VFM ... In Apple's latest range I couldn't believe the price of the entry level iMac ... "Starting at $US1199" ... for that you get a 20" 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac with 1GB or memory and a 250GB HD. That's roughly half price to what I paid when I purchased my iMac C2D 20" 2 yrs ago and for me it's all about watching the market as even I got a good deal on my iMac. As with everything it's just a matter of waiting and watching ... never rush in for the latest and greatest, that's when you won't get VFM IMHO. Ultimately, no-one can determine what's VFM for you except yourself, given your particular circumstances at the time of purchase.

6) I feel I covered this in answer 2. Didn't that Hacker win a MacBook Air ?? Now that's some incentive!

7) DK

8) You are looking at OS X too superficially ... it can be as dull as you want. Forget the eye candy desktop backgrounds or fancy magnified Dock .... you can have as rotten a look as you want. I don't think productivity will be affected by such things.

9) Google Mac apps OS X and you can spend hours just browsing the selection. Just about every Mac forum has a sticky about this.

10) If you are into Pro design/movie making etc you should check out the Pro range of Macs with their seemingly never ending RAM/Hard Drive capacity. At the other end of the range ... I couldn't be sure but I think you'd have to consider a desktop over a portable with the 24" 3.06GHz C2D iMac coming to mind. Whatever you choose, maxing out the RAM is necessary in this case.

11) As annoying or necessary as the EULA may be .... installing apps in OS X is only mystifying when you are used to another way of doing it ... once you know the ropes it's very easy to do and takes next to no time. I don't have any experience with Linux so I can't compare.

12) I tried that renaming of a .tiff file to .jpg and the size stayed the same so I don't know if I missed something there .... If you want to batch rename in OS X there is a reasonably easy way to achieve this through Automator or by using 3rd Party Software. Batch renaming is something that everyone wants to do from time to time and IMHO OS X surely makes it just as easy as any other OS once you know how. Once again I only have experience with Windows XP and Mac OS in this regards.

In finishing, the best answer for your final question is to go to an AppleStore and see for yourself OR if you have a friend with a Mac, ask him/her to let you have a test run of sorts ....

 

[Mikuro]

2. How buggy is OS X? I heard that a 25 year old BSD bug (which affects OS X as well) was fixed just some time ago. There may be many other bugs like this. And, since Windoze is used by more people, I think it will get more attention, and Windoze bugs will be found out and fixed sooner. How much of a problem is this?

OS X is remarkably stable. Since 10.0, I've had an average of about one crash every 5-6 months. And most of those were due to buggy programs I wrote myself.

3. What is the condition of applications on OS X? Are there quality applications, especially quality freewares? Some Linux users were telling me that OS X has very less good freeware than even Linux has. And Windoze probably has more.

There is plenty of great freeware for the Mac OS. There always has been. However, if you want professional-level free software, like OpenOffice, the GIMP, Inkscape, and others, Linux is better. While you can run these things on OS X, they are clearly not built for OS X, and the experience is sub-par. This is changing, though — many of these projects, like OpenOffice and Inkscape, are developing more Mac-integrated versions now.

4. "Only posers use Mac OS X. The only reason its popular is because of its cool looks and good UI". "Mac is just a showpiece. Real users use Windows/Linux". How much are these statements true?

They are not true at all, and clearly show closed-mindedness and a lack of experience. If you ask me, the WORST thing about OS X is the looks. Sadly, that's what is most copied by Microsoft.

5. What about the value of money(VFM) for mac? If I do a spec-to-spec comparision, Mac has a low VFM. But some Mac users told me that that there are other things that make up for that, that actually make Mac's VFM greater than others. What are those?

A couple things that spring to mind are support costs and software costs. Compared to Windows, you will need to spend much less time and money on support and things like antivirus software. In fact, the only antivirus software you should ever even bother with (ClamXAV) is free, and even that is highly optional, since there is not a virus problem in the Mac world.

Obviously the cost of software is higher compared to Linux. Like I said before, big open-source apps are better suited for Linux. The big problem with Linux is configuration and support. If you're not an expert, you really shouldn't consider it, IMHO.

7. Any chances of VB development on Mac? And any chances of doing cross-platform development (not just on VB, on others as well)?

Someone already mentioned REALbasic, which is a lot like VB and can compile cross-platform apps (Mac, Windows, and x86 Linux).

Mac OS X also comes with cross-platform languages like Python, perl and Ruby preinstalled. There are cross-platform APIs you can use such as wxWidgets (built into Tiger and Leopard, I believe) and Qt, but Apple does not include development tools for these.

9. Can you provide me a list of good, quality Mac-exclusive softwares, especially freewares?

Check out http://www.macupdate.com

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?

I've heard this a few times, too, but it's not a feature of OS X. There is some third-party utility that lets you do this, so some people must be confused. I don't remember what it is. StuffIt, perhaps? Anyway, renaming a file just renames a file. It doesn't convert it.

 

[Viro]

I've heard this a few times, too, but it's not a feature of OS X. There is some third-party utility that lets you do this, so some people must be confused. I don't remember what it is. StuffIt, perhaps? Anyway, renaming a file just renames a file. It doesn't convert it.

So that's what he was asking. I got the rename bit, but I've never heard of the file size changing as the result of a simple rename.

edit: You can start developing with wxWidgets the moment you install Xcode (which is quite neat!). Leopard comes with wxWidgets 2.8.4 installed by default. Imagine my annoyance as I wondered why my wxWidgets code was compiling against the wrong library.

 

[Rhisiart]

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, so for me eye candy sucks, as does the whole Windows veneer. MacOS 10.4 seemed to have got it just right. I still haven't made up my mind about Leopard.

Freeware is plentiful. Security is robust. I'm not sure Macs still dominate the graphics market; much of its following relies on loyalty. However, this loyalty is well deserved. As a PC user at work, the difference between a Mac and a PC for me is akin to comparing an Audi with a Pinto (although the latter still gets you to work I guess).

The only fly in the ointment is Apple's decision to ditch the Apple Menu post MacOS9. I can barely forgive them for that.

So that's what he was asking

'he'? You mean Rohit?

 

[andychrist]

Rhisiart, have you taken a look at Unsanity's FruitMenu? It has a lot of great features in addition to bringing back the original functionality of the Apple Menu. I'm also addicted to their Xounds haxie, which brings back OS 9 style sound effects to mouse and keyboard actions, and to WindowShade X, which provides custom window shortcuts.

 

[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]

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]

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]

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?

 

[VirtualTracy]

What specifically are you worried about?

Or, be specific about how you plan to use a Mac, if you were to purchase one ... what are your typical needs? Are you what is referred to as a "Power user"?

 

[rohit_shrestha]

No, I am not a troll. Don't think it makes any sense to troll to me. I'm almost sure of switching to a Mac and want to give a reply to my anti-Mac friend. So I was thinking if you guys would help.

Now some reply, in my regular point-wise style:
1. I mentioned the G3 because its the oldest thing that can run Leopard and wanted to know about the slowest thing Leopard can run on. I am definitely buying one of the current models.
2. I am asking how does Mac OS X compare to other OSes in terms of performance. Someone was mentioning about OS X being much more better on doing multi-tasking and how he had around 20 applications open all the time and he could manage them easily. Of course, it runs super-fast on a Mac Pro. How can it not?
3. I also want to know some of the unique selling propositions of Mac OS X, so that I can fell a little superior over others when I 'go Mac'.

One off-topic:
What is "El-Jobso"? Is it Steve Jobs? If yes, how?

 

[VirtualTracy]

No, I am not a troll. Don't think it makes any sense to troll to me. I'm almost sure of switching to a Mac and want to give a reply to my anti-Mac friend. So I was thinking if you guys would help.

You have misunderstood the point, remember you stated in an earlier post that it was your friend that was asking the (to quote: "baited question of a Troll"), but you should realise that by asking that question here, or at least expecting an answer to such a question like that could make you appear trollish to some.

The www is chockablock with the Mac VS Windows or Windows VS Mac crap and you should realise we are not here to tell you which is the better choice. You need to make that choice yourself, by going into an Apple Store and doing your research both there and on the net. Google is your friend and forget any plans to lord over your Microsoft Window using friends or that you will soon to be part of some elite Mac Users fraternity.

IMHO, when it comes to deciding on which Computer to buy, all you need to consider are your needs, the market, your budget, the timing of your purchase, and that you consider yourself informed enough and ready to spend.

Also I'd use google to search for and gather as much "Switcher" info as you can to make the transition as smooth and enjoyable as possible.

Now some reply, in my regular point-wise style:
1. I mentioned the G3 because its the oldest thing that can run Leopard and wanted to know about the slowest thing Leopard can run on. I am definitely buying one of the current models.

If you plan to purchase a current model then it will come pre-installed with Leopard and that's all that matters. Forget the G3 model Macs and the fact that they can or cannot run Leopard efficiently ... unless you plan to buy one of these models and install Leopard that is.

It's a fact of life that with any new Mac release, there will be a range of OS's (current and subsequent future releases) that will run on it. Of course you can install Leopard on the G3 but don't expect it to run the same as it would on a Core 2 Duo Intel Mac. The same is true for Windows PCs ... it's all down to computer hardware and the speed that technology advances from a consumer point of view.

2. I am asking how does Mac OS X compare to other OSes in terms of performance. Someone was mentioning about OS X being much more better on doing multi-tasking and how he had around 20 applications open all the time and he could manage them easily. Of course, it runs super-fast on a Mac Pro. How can it not?

AFAIK, this person is getting pretty close to what is termed as a "Power User" and would not only require sufficient RAM to be installed and as you pointed out would also require a Mac from Apple's Pro range. Do you plan to be this type of user and have that many apps running at once? With Mac OS, you can have an app which is open but running in the background, that is why when you click on the red button in the upper left of the apps window, you don't quit the app, just close any active windows. This allows fast access if you want to use that app later in the session and is quite efficient.

In your case I would concentrate on the type of user you are and look for answers to how your needs will be met as a particular Mac Model user.

3. I also want to know some of the unique selling propositions of Mac OS X, so that I can fell a little superior over others when I 'go Mac'.

Be quietly confident about your choice of purchase and enjoy your new Mac and don't waste energy trying to prove to others that your choice is better than theirs .... use whichever tool at your disposal that best does the required job. You might want to do a certain task on a Window's PC or on your new Mac ... does it really matter?

One off-topic:
What is "El-Jobso"? Is it Steve Jobs? If yes, how?

What's with the "If yes, how?" stuff?? Google it and see for yourself, I say.

 

[Qion]

One off-topic:
What is "El-Jobso"? Is it Steve Jobs? If yes, how?

Thanks for the laugh. It's a nickname, have you heard of it?