Due to length, I've divided this into two articles.
Part II will be posted soon. I just don't want to get you too bored or
hurt your eyes. I can't stand reading long articles on the internet, so
I won't force you to.
Wow. That's really all I can say. It is amazing.
I've never been so amazed since I first used a Mac. It's beautiful,
easy to use, and, most of all, very powerful - and I'm just talking
about the beta version. There's just so much that I don't know
where to start. How about from the beginning?
I picked up the package at FedEx, because I had missed the delivery
and wasn't going to wait another day. It came relatively fast: I
ordered on the 18th and got it on the 23rd, so Apple made their two day
expected shipment promise.
I hurried home, popped the CD in my iMac DV+, and restarted holding
down C. I'd say it took about three minutes to start up from the CD and
bring up the Installation window. It seemed like forever!
I decided to install OS X over OS 9 instead of on a separate
partition, mainly because I don't feel like burning 5 GB of data to CDs
so I can erase the disk and repartition it. OS X uses OS 9 for the
Classic environment, and I can start up directly into OS 9 anytime I
want - in case I want to print or use AirPort. The setup assistant took
some information, and then I restarted.
Wow. Mac OS X is everything I thought it would be and more. Let's
look at some differences.
Menus
Before using X, I was very curious about how the Apple and Program
menus would be replaced. Well, they weren't really replaced; their
functions were divided and put where most appropriate. I believe the
new Application menu does an excellent job, holding everything that
deals with the application. It contains the "About" command, which was
in the Apple Menu; the Hide commands, which were in the Program menu;
and the Quit command, moved from the File menu. That last one really
makes sense - the command quits the application, not the file. You
would be surprised how many people are confused by that. Anyway, if the
user finds that the application's name seems awkward in place of the
old Apple logo, it can be replaced by the app's icon instead, making it
look just like the Program menu.
Another excellent menu addition is the "Go" menu. This also helps
replace the Apple menu. I contains the same things as the button bar in
the Finder and also recent folders. However, it does not support any
further submenus as the Apple Menu did, which is the only complaint I
have.
The menus also seem more fluid. After all, this is Aqua. They are
semitransparent, they cast shadows, and they fad away as they close.
Anyway, once you get used to the new menu arrangement, you won't want
to go back.
Finder
The new Finder takes disk navigation to a new level. I just wish it
had spring-up folders like OS 8 and 9. The icons look beautiful. You
will really be able to tell classic icons from OS X icons. It's like
comparing a compressed mpeg movie to a DVD movie.
The Finder is also very operational. Opening folders in the same
window really speeds things up, but if you want it the old way, just
change it in System Preferences. You can also have folders spawn new
windows by holding down the option key and double clicking them, in
case you just get a hankering to once in a while but don't want to all
the time. You might find, however, that the new way is better in just
about every case - unless you need to move files from one folder to
another. Well, actually, the column view might do that even better than
the old way.
The column view starts out looking like the list view. When you
click on an item (say the hard disk), a column appears to the right
showing it's contents. If you click on a folder in the second column,
another one appears to the right showing that item's contents. If you
select a folder in the third column, everything slides to the left and
another one appears, keeping three columns visible. A scroll bar
appears at the bottom so you can scroll back to see and move things to
the other columns. All this is in the same window.
The button bar is fantastic, taking care of things that might
clutter your desktop or Apple menu. Click on docs, and it goes to your
documents folder. Click on apps and it goes to your application folder.
Click on Favorites and the contents of your Favorites folder is
displayed. You can get to exactly where you want to be by clicking a
single button.
The Dock
This one is the most loved and most despised. You either love it or
you hate it.
As you might guess, I love it. It is fully customizable. You can put
everything in it - or just the Finder and the Trash. You can move
anything around in it (except the Finder and Trash), so you can order
your apps from most important to least important, something the Apple
Menu didn't provide.
Many people don't like it, because they think it can become easily
cluttered and the name don't popup until you put the mouse over the
icon. Let me address both of these.
First of all, I would like to see these peoples' Apple Menus and see
how organized they are. I don't know about other users, but mine
contains everything from AppleScripts to old files, from programs I
never use to Key Caps. I have never used Key Caps in my life! I don't
even know what it does, but there it is. Why? Because I'm too lazy to
navigate down to the Apple Menu Items folder, find it among the dozens
of other icons, and drag it somewhere else. Where would I even put
it?
I believe there are at least a few out there that share my
situation. Something goes in the Apple Menu and it never comes out,
resulting in having to scroll down a screen and a half to get to
Sherlock 2. Either that or you keep selecting a program out of the
recent programs folder because you are too lazy to put an alias of it
in the Apple Menu. Then you don't use it for a while, and it's gone!
You have to dig through your hard disk to find it, but you can't. So
you have to use Sherlock! Ahhh!
The Dock more than solves this problem. First of all, it's much
easier to get things into. Just drag programs or applications to the
bottom of the screen, and poof! You can even put it where you want. To
take something out, just drag it out of the dock, and poof! (It really
does go poof!)
While I was a heavy user of popup windows, they can be replaced.
Simply drag a folder to the dock, and poof! Of course, then
there's just a picture of a folder, and no name until you point the
arrow to it. I have a solution! You can change icons in Mac OS X the
same way as in OS 9. Just change the icon to a picture that will remind
you what it is or copy a text box out of AppleWorks and paste it in,
there's your words right there!
One small problem I do have with the Dock isn't the Dock at all,
it's what's behind it. If the dock is visible, you can't get to
anything behind it (even though you can see right through it). So if a
scroll bar gets behind there, you can't get to it unless you resize the
Dock (by just dragging it up or down) or resize the window with the
inaccessible scroll bar. Either way, it isn't that big of a problem.
However, being able to hide the dock temporarily, such as by
control-clicking it, would be desirable. And yes, I have responded to
the Mac OS X Public Beta feedback, so if that is available in OS X 1.0,
you know who to thank.
There are many more things that the Dock has over the OS 9
counterparts. You just have to use it to find them all.
Classic Environment
This is slightly different than I had expected. There are currently
some limitations with the Classic Environment, but this is a beta
version. Right now, no classic apps can access the Mac OS X PPP
connection. This means that if you want to use any classic apps online,
you will have to startup in OS 9 (that includes AIM!), and if you use
AOL, you will have to wait for a Carbonized version. Don't worry,
though, I'm sure it will be fixed before the final release.
Besides that, I can find no hampering in their operation, although
some report much slower speeds. I haven't tried any processor-heavy
classic apps from OS X yet, so I probably just haven't experienced
them. You will notice that the windows and the menu bar in the classic
environment are platinum in appearance. And, if you have a classic app
active (on top), you will have your good-old Apple and Program menus
right where you left them.
The first time you use a Classic app, you will have to wait for OS 9
to load, which could take some time depending on your configuration.
Once loaded, however, you can start classic apps as usual. You can even
close the Classic Environment application and leave OS 9 running, so
you can startup other classic apps without restarting the Classic
Environment.
Solid
Four days in OS X operation and no crashes, freezes, or other
problems. This is the Beta version of the OS and the Beta version of
some of the software running on it. Seems solid enough for me!
To be continued.
