Your Low-key Response
From John Lee
Dear Mr Moore,
Enjoyed your low-key response to Russell Beattie. A couple of
points about your and his first couple of points.
I, like Beattie, switched to a Mac (mini) about 6 months ago.
Tiger, at first, was hopeless. Complete hangs. Felt like every day,
every other day for about a month. 3 complete reinstalls, and then
some stability, but lots of strange behaviour.
Appallingly slow, too. 13 seconds to open the options command in
Microsoft Word
(I cite this as I remember timing it). Apple Support
said this was to be expected....
Then, about 2 months ago, everything got good. No complete
hangs. No freezes. Stability. Speed - OS X booting in about
6-7 seconds (haven't timed that, but fast). Word options command
more or less instant. Lovely computer, faster in use than my office
PC.
What changed? Possibly updating the release did it. Possibly
doing some of the directory housekeeping recommended in Low End
Mac. But my memory suggests that one day it just suddenly got a
lot, lot faster, which suggests that it (working server like?)
tidied up something that had been causing a real problem. And it
sounds to me like Beattie is having the exact same problem that I
was having....
Oh, and about Spotlight. As a Windows user, Beattie will find he
has to open each and every file he imports from Windows, make a
change, and then save it, before Spotlight will search the files.
Unless it has that 'second' Mac data file, Spotlight won't search.
Doing that took me ages. Come to think of it, I may have finished
resaving all the documents around the time the computer got faster.
(Mind you, I still have some documents beginning with numbers - and
thus unsearchable.)
OS X was a pretty buggy initial release, it seems to me.
(Japanese language support was also problematic.) Like Beattie, I
was driven to fury with what I thought was misleading Mac
advertisements, and I questioned the sanity of my Mac-loving
colleagues. OS X behaved, for me, like Windows 3.1 before
Windows for Workgroups came along.
Now, though, I'm really enjoying the Mac experience....
Best wishes,
John Lee
Hi John,
Thanks for the comments. I'm glad you enjoyed the
article.
I've found Tiger very stable from the original
version on. I'm still running 10.4.1 on my PowerBook because of a
printer driver issue with 10.4.2.
There are maintenance scripts in OS X that are
programmed to run in the middle of the night and thus usually don't
run unless you leave your computer on overnight. There are a large
variety of system maintenance utilities that can run the scripts at
your convenience. You should also run Repair Permissions
periodically with Disk Utility or one of the aforementioned system
utilities.
Glad to hear that you are finally enjoying the
more typical Mac experience.
Charles
Sadly Mistaken Criticisms of Mac OS X
From Christopher Laspa
Hello Charles,
I remember reading that long drawn out babble from Mr. Beattie
and thinking to myself, "Gee, 7 months isn't a very long time to
evaluate an operating system. He sure sounds like an ill-informed
'mouth-breather'".
He comes up with 33 near-lame reasons to switch back, many of
them caused by his previous experience with the Windows world and
it's necessity to overcomplicate matters. I've seen several like
him in the OS 8/9 days, not realizing that you can 'just drag that
darn folder or file over to where you want it.' Too often, ex-PC
people are looking for that long kludgy Windows-way and are in awe
when the straightforward is presented to them.
He is also sadly mistaken about software being released on the
Wintel platform first. Often it is the other way around -
specifically for professional apps. Maybe Mr. Beattie should step
up to the plate and give his hand with the real Photoshop if
he is looking for a 'bleeding-edge' experience instead of playing
around with consumer fluff.
Having to work both sides of the fence myself, I had to recently
buy a new PC laptop, so I got an IBM T42 - a reasonable,
lightweight, business class laptop. About three months later my
G3 Wallstreet gives out
after 7+ years of daily use, so I'm in the Apple Store here in
Toronto buying a new 12" G4 PowerBook. Trust me, there is no
comparison. Win XP Pro is like Win 98 dipped in saccharin. Period.
The speed difference that everyone speaks of is largely the
twitchiness in the way Windows handles mouse movement. Other than
that, programs, windows, etc. don't open any faster. At least in my
world, anyhow, where everything is set to max speed.
It is a well-known fact in the upper echelons that computers has
gotten too fast for most of us regular folks, so the only place the
raw horsepower is best used is in the game world. Of course, one
could just buy a Playstation and get the same results.
My big gripe is with file mapping. I have Photoshop on my
PowerBook, so why do JPEGs, for example, that come in from the
'outside' appear generic? Yes, I know how to attempt to reset the
preferences that keep defaulting to Preview, or Safari, or
dmimageimporter or something other than Photoshop! This
shouldn't have to be computer science - a straightforward
preference control panel could solve all this. The only failure of
Mac OS X in my eyes is the additional steps now needed. And we
threw out a perfectly good OS for this? I will only agree with Mr.
Beattie on a point he didn't make . . . set Photoshop to open JPEGs
in Windows and it does it. Period.
I don't know what Mr. Beattie is using today, but boy, will he
get a wake up call when Longho . . . I mean Vista is
released!!! Ten to one we will see him back on the Mac and being
thankful of it!!
Regards,
Christopher M. Laspa
Thanks for the comments, Christopher. I agree with
you that raw processing speed is a vastly overrated priority for
most of us. That said, I wouldn't mind a little more power then
this 700 MHz G3 iBook has,
although it acquits itself astonishingly well in OS 10.4.2.
By the way, have you tried Photoshop Elements 3?
It's a pretty impressive package considering the radical price
difference between it and CS. The Windows folks did get an Elements
version 4 last month, while Mac users are still left with version
3, But more than half of the changes and enhancements with 4 were
with Windows only anyway.
Charles
Re: Sadly Mistaken Criticisms of Mac OS X
From Christopher Laspa
Hello Charles
Thanks for the response. Always a pleasure to swap email with my
favourite authority on PowerBooks, as I read your columns
routinely.
Yes, I have tried Photoshop Elements 3 on the Mac, as a supplier
was trying to drum up some business. I installed it on my wife's
PowerBook as she has discovered digital photography. Indeed it is
an impressive little consumer package that certainly has it's
place, as given enough RAM and horsepower, it is capable of a
number of tasks/effects, etc. That said, though, I wouldn't trade
it for Photoshop, nor would I consider it something anywhere near
'the bleeding edge' - the realm Mr. Beattie professes to live in.
; )
Personally, I wish Apple would sort out this file mapping thing
and issue an update for that alone! All the little
shareware/freeware solutions seem to fail or marginally make
matters better. I have to keep a folder with one sample file per
application and check 'Get Info' every now and again. (Tedious)
When things get mucked up, the only solution is to run OnyX
(Titanium Software) and "Reset Files to Applications" and head back
to my folder to start the process of reassigning again. All this to
double click with confidence . . . something I used to do since OS
7.01!!!!
Thanks again.
Regards,
Christopher M. Laspa
Russell's 33 Reasons - C'mon!
From Mike
Hi Charles,
You certainly were diplomatic in response to Russell's article.
My take on it is that Russell's article wasn't worth the hype in
the first place. It's not as provocative as something well-written
and coherent would have been. He gives whole list items to
complaints about applications he doesn't even use. Other complaints
are incredibly petty or silly, like not knowing what to do with
compressed files after downloading and installing something.
Just... "C'mon."
There's one thing I will disagree on rather than dismiss, and
that's the widescreen format. Virtually every application I use has
a ton of palettes wanting another piece of screen real estate; with
a widescreen, you can have those palettes open, and still have a
normally proportioned workspace in the middle of the screen. It's
the next best thing to having a spanned monitor setup.
Take it easy,
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the comment.
As for screen orientation, I suppose that it
depends a lot on one's tastes, needs, and work habits. I appreciate
your point about palettes, although I personally seldom have more
than two or three on the go, but as I mentioned in my comments I do
find myself running out of vertical room more often than horizontal
room. Because of the different strokes aspect of this issue, my
suggestion was for a rotatable screen (easier said than engineered
on a notebook computer).
Charles
Beattie Ignores Software Options
From Pete Ottman
Charles,
While I too hope the fanatics didn't go to crazy on Russell
Beattie, I have many problems with what is a pretty much an
underhanded attack on Mac OS X. A fair [number] of his
complaints seem to come down to his own preferences, which is in
conflict with how OS X is designed. The issue of preference is
a nonstarter, because if he isn't willing to adapt he never will
adjust to the differences.
On the issue of programs he sounds not only foolish but mostly
ignorant. One might say the exact same things about programs
included by Microsoft in Windows XP or any other version of
Windows. Essentially those programs are included to give users a
head start on the computing game. Mail, Safari, etc. are nice and
useful, but hardly selling features of the OS. I doubt many people
buy Windows XP to use Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, or that
terrible little built in fax manager, but having those makes
Windows XP useful from day one. Other companies build better
solutions so users can use those if they want.
If Beattie doesn't like a program, he should go download a free
version of the same type of program or spend some cash to get one
he does like. To say there aren't programs for Mac OS X is
untrue and disingenuous, and to bash OS X for the weakness of
its accompanying programs is the same thing. On my nearly
two-year-old iBook (10.3.9 thank you), I use Thunderbird, Firefox,
and Safari for the Internet. I've installed a number of shareware
and freeware tools and programs to handle other things - Gimp for
graphics, Skype
for VOIP, MacJanitor for chron jobs, etc. My point
is, Beattie has options, and he acts like there really are none,
and that's just wrong.
Pete Ottman
Hi Pete,
Yes, he certainly hasn't been very adventurous in
the software department. One of the greatest things about the Mac
platform is all the superb quality inexpensive shareware and
production - useful freeware that is available.
Charles
iPhoto Fine on Low-end Power Mac
From Scott Selby
Mr. Moore,
While I will not describe myself in any way as a power-user, I
was interested in the comments:
5. I really dislike iPhoto. I much prefer the
Windows thumbnails.
I have to say that I'm not a real big fan of
iPhoto either.
I have started a company on Yahoo where I am running on a
450 MHz B&W. I have system
10.4 installed and only a half gig of memory. iPhoto, which is not
my wife's favorite app, is working splendidly for my operation. I
can easily crop and enhance photos, export them, and use them on
the site as needed. So far I don't need Photoshop and only use
Virtual PC to check if the site works under that OS.
Besides, I would rather spend $200 on a G4 than $300 on a Dell
that might be four times faster.
Scott Selby
President
FBKnife.com
Hi Mr. Selby,
Thanks for the report. I'm delighted to hear that
iPhoto is proving to be a helpful and satisfactory solution for
your needs.
I agree with you until the G4 vs. the Dell
Charles
Oh Russ, You're Such a Weenie
From Ted Bragg
Gee, if Russ hates his Macs so much, tell him to send those two
babies my way! I love my perfect-running,
no-crash-or-forced-reboot Macs, quirks and all.
I don't understand him going back to Windows, tho. I thought a
person used a computer to get work done, not to work
on the computer?
Hi Ted,
One of the abiding conundrums for me is the relatively rare
phenomenon of someone who has actually logged some serious hours on
the Mac and still professes to prefer Windows.
I can understand certain practical reasons why someone would
switch to Windows from the Mac, but they wouldn't include overall
work efficiency.
Charles
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