OS X Rocks My World

[lo0ol]

So I'm going to take some time out and just say how much I love OS X. Yes, I got my new iMac G5.



Let's just start out by saying that I've been a PC user for about 15 years. I literally grew up on the stuff. I had heard OS X was fairly good, but after playing around with it for a weekend I finally understand that everyone meant that it was really good. It's kind of one of those things that you have to play around with for a good day or two before you really start seeing the gigantic benefits of it (yeah, you see the eye candy right away, but functionally OS X really shines a bit later). I mean... ease of application installs... consistant UI (even third party apps)... innovative hardware (Front Row is an utterly fine idea... I'm so glad my iMac has that)... and software that's just amazing. For example, iPhoto blew me away with ease of use. I had all my 2,000 photos and videos indexed in what seemed like minutes. iTunes let me move my playlist (and ever-important playcounts) easy. And, even more surprisingly, I might be dropping Firefox and Thunderbird, stout supporter of Mozilla I am: I really like Safari and Mail. And Adium has blown past even my lofty satisfaction with Trillian.

So yeah. If you're thinking about a Mac... think harder, head to an Apple Store, play around for awhile. They really are amazing.

Okay. Don't really know if I had any insightful things to say with this thread except to voice my support for Apple now. I don't want to start a flamefest- Windows is a good OS, you can do a lot of things in Windows and I know some people will like XP and some will like X, so let's just leave it at that (and that I like X better!)

Oh, and in an effort to pump some longevity out of this: any supertastic suggestions for a new Mac convert in regards to Dashboard recommendations, other applications, uber good reading material? I'll take what I can get... this stuff is cool.

Oh, and another thing (which possibly could be branched off in another thread, but I'll throw it in here while I'm on the topic)... any good resources or starts to programming for OS X? I think I'd be interested in doing so (if only for my personal satisfaction).

God, I'm such an Apple fanboy now.

[vgarcia]

Get Adium for your multi-protocol IM needs.

As for OSX programming: http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/ct/37
Cocoa also works with Java so you can carry some knowledge (and already-created objects) over to new apps.

[ethanp]

I love OS X, and I'm a recent conver too. I have a PC still (using it now), but I really like my iBook. I'm looking to one day purchase an iMac, as I'd like to have a desktop Mac.

If you haven't tried Delicious Library, give it a go - I like it a lot. I also use TacoHTML for the bit of HTML I do on it (most is on my PC). I love the iLife Suite, so useful, and I'm a huge fan of iCal. I still use Opera, but I use Mail for my email.

Overall I don't know how you can't like OS X. I know a lot of people who say they hate it, but I honestly don't think they've used it lately, and they haven't because they're not willing to fork up the money for a real machine.

[lo0ol]

Get Adium for your multi-protocol IM needs.

Gee, Vinnie, you gotta start reading threads. I already stated that I thought Adium was the coolest thing since sliced bread.

As for OSX programming: http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/ct/37
Cocoa also works with Java so you can carry some knowledge (and already-created objects) over to new apps.

I think I stumbled upon that before, but I just gave it a cursory glance. I'll bookmark it and look at it harder later.

Actually, I thought I read something that Cocoa wasn't supporting Java anymore? Know if that's true at all?

I love OS X, and I'm a recent conver too. I have a PC still (using it now), but I really like my iBook. I'm looking to one day purchase an iMac, as I'd like to have a desktop Mac.

If you haven't tried Delicious Library, give it a go - I like it a lot. I also use TacoHTML for the bit of HTML I do on it (most is on my PC). I love the iLife Suite, so useful, and I'm a huge fan of iCal. I still use Opera, but I use Mail for my email.

Definately would suggest the iMac. I love it so far. Power Mac would be fun, but everything I really need is in the iMac (and it's cheaper). And Front Row is just great.

Overall I don't know how you can't like OS X. I know a lot of people who say they hate it, but I honestly don't think they've used it lately, and they haven't because they're not willing to fork up the money for a real machine.

I think part of it is just the old Mac hatred. I know a few years back I would have never thought I'd actually own a Mac. Last year I really got exposed to OS X though (and before that with the iPod), which helped change my mind. I think this will be a trend many will go through in the next few years.

[ethanp]

I'm sure in about one year I'll give up and buy an iMac. Now I'm saving up for it, but it doesn't mean I've yet decided to buy it. I'm just great inclined.

[lo0ol]

I'm sure in about one year I'll give up and buy an iMac. Now I'm saving up for it, but it doesn't mean I've yet decided to buy it. I'm just great inclined.

Yeah- I'd suggest anyone either buy a Mac now or wait until the new Intels come out.

[MG315]

you should check out quicksilver. i recently got into it because i saw a video of using quicksilver along with backpack. it just brought the functionality to a whole new level (kinda like when you first get your mac). its hard to explain, its kinda like spotlight but instead of searching for content you search for actions. like to open up photoshop i type "Cmd + spacebar" (my hotkey, you can set it to whatever you want), then "pho" and it goes to photoshop and then the default action is "launch" but you can press tab and then go through a list of different actions.

its great for sending quick emails. i'll use backpack bc thats what i use it for most of the time. press "Cmd + spacebar" then "." which lets you start typing, type whatever you want (i put "go by apple store and see if Aperture is in yet"), then tab, type "e" and it goes to the action "Email to...", then tab again and start typing backpack and around "bac" it's at the email address. hit enter and its sent.

its faster for me to use quicksilver to launch an app then go down into the dock and click on the icon - its that fast.


so ya, you might wanna check it out

[lo0ol]

Terribly sorry; my mistake. It turns out that Apple sucks and their hardware is complete crap. What a complete mess.

[MaxS]

Terribly sorry; my mistake. It turns out that Apple sucks and their hardware is complete crap. What a complete mess.

Sarcasm?

[lo0ol]

Sarcasm?

More like getting a brand new iMac and having it crash right after you spend the entire weekend moving stuff over and creating custom scripts just for the sole purpose of moving other things over.

[ethanp]

What? Obviously this can happen with any machine, and I've experienced it. Faulty parts, etc. It happens, and from what I've read they're pretty good about it.

I've had nothing but good service from Apple. I've had no faults with their stuff.

It isn't like Windows has never crashed before.....

[lo0ol]

It isn't like Windows has never crashed before.....

Yeah, but I've never had a hard drive die in Windows before. I've actually never had any problems with hardware before. I know these things happen, but it doesn't make me any less angry. I mean, 4-5 days later I would have been fine; I had finished moving things over, I was where I wanted things to be at, so I would assume by the end of this week I would have started making regular backups to my external hard drive. Sigh.

[Ben]

Yeah, but I've never had a hard drive die in Windows before. I've actually never had any problems with hardware before. I know these things happen, but it doesn't make me any less angry. I mean, 4-5 days later I would have been fine; I had finished moving things over, I was where I wanted things to be at, so I would assume by the end of this week I would have started making regular backups to my external hard drive. Sigh.

Believe it or not, a hard drive is the same no matter which OS is on it. I highly doubt that it Apple that caused the failure. How old was the hard drive? It was probably past its time.

[lo0ol]

Believe it or not, a hard drive is the same no matter which OS is on it. I highly doubt that it Apple that caused the failure. How old was the hard drive? It was probably past its time.

Yeah, I realize that. I don't want to blame Apple on this; it's just frustrating to put four days of work into this, getting things transferred over and customizing it to perfection and then this crap happens.

The hard drive was four days old.

[ethanp]

I doubt that. I'm sure that it was sitting in a warehouse of them somewhere in China.

[lo0ol]

Well, regardless, hard drives should not die a few days after you first start them up. I brought my Mac in today... should hear back by Thursday as to what's going on (I'm assuming it's a total loss and I'll get a new hard drive).

[ethanp]

Well I'm sure that every harddrive company experiences a few just faulty drives, only because we're man and not perfect. I'm sure that you're not the first one that this has happened too.

[Wythrol]

I had to send back 2 eMacs before I was satisfied. Granted, I ordered from an Apple certified retailer and not Apple directly.

I bought an eMac purely as a toy (at the time it was the cheapest option, the Mac mini handnt be released) just to try out the system. I had worked with System 8 and 9 and hated it, but had read good things about OS X, so took the plunge.

The first 2 eMacs were delivered with blaringly obvious CRT problems that should have been picked up on QA testing, I was actually on the phone to the supplier trying to cancel my order when the 3rd was delivered. They stayed on the line while I unpacked the box and tested the system fully to my satisfaction. I'm glad I stayed with it, I've now had that machine for 18 months and it has become my day-to-day machine.

Apple does seem to have quality assurance problems that they desperately need to address, but after the hardware problems were sorted out for me I've never looked back.

[lo0ol]

I ran into even more troubles once I brought it home with the new hard drive. It ended up not being formatted correctly. After about 10 minutes typing online to Apple, the conversation ended as such:

Agent:
clik on that and erase it
Agent:
then you would be able erase and install it
Zach:
so basically do what i suggested a few minutes ago. got ya.
Zach:
that seemed to have worked.
Zach:
thanks, me.
Agent:
great
Agent:
this happened because or your co-operation with us
Agent:
is there anything else you would like to know about.
Zach:
If I do, I'll let you know so you can suggest it to me and I'll then say it officially.

I love the "co-operation" line.

I'm still seething.

[MaxS]

I ran into even more troubles once I brought it home with the new hard drive. It ended up not being formatted correctly. After about 10 minutes typing online to Apple, the conversation ended as such:


I love the "co-operation" line.

I'm still seething.

ROFL!

That's almost as funny as my technical support experience with Dell.

[ethanp]

Most technical support is rubbish now a days. I haven't ever had to call any company, yet, though. I got my iBook, no problems since.

[Sam Mason]

LOL. I'll never buy Apple.

[Ben]

LOL. I'll never buy Apple.

We'll good lord, at least we have Microsoft! Thank God for Bill Gates so we can stay away from that terrible Apple company.

Thats a pretty bad statement based on one persons experience with his system. I'm sure if you asked Windows users if they had any issues you may find one or two, right?

[Sam Mason]

LOL, like there's only two OS's and companies in the universe.

[ethanp]

I have to agree that Apple is a great company. Sure there are faults, but they don't usually happen and when they do Apple does fix it the best they can. You cannot avoid all error, it's just impossible.