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pros and cons of mac os ten

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just for fairness since there is the winders discussion.

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It’s just the computer geeks versus the other six billion humans

In reply to pros and cons of mac os ten

Most of the people here are IT professionals. The demographic group that tends to have high IQs and prefer technology to people. The people who can figure out how software works by intuition and when it doesn’t work they get a lot of satisfaction out of fixing it or finding their lost data. These are the people who designed the Windows architecture, assuming that everybody else is like them.

These people don’t understand that the rest of the earth’s population is qualitatively different from them. We don’t find software to be fun. We just expect it to work. The same way we don’t enjoy learning the specs on our auto engines or rebuilding carburetors, we just want our cars to work.

Even though I’m an IT professional, I’ve lost my enthusiasm for the nuts and bolts of software over the decades. The same way I’ve lost interest in how the fuel injectors and electronic ignition on my car work.

I was handed PCs at my job like most unfortunate Americans, and I just got used to the idea that the so-called “information infrastructure” is really THAT WRETCHED. I laugh when people worry about computers taking over the world when it seems like they can’t go two days without destroying one of their own important files. I swore at my PC, I hit it or kicked it a few times. I stormed out of my office in a fit and vowed never to boot the blasted thing again. Then I got one at home because at least word processing and spreadsheets should be easy, right? WRONG. Lost and corrupted files, counterintuitive architecture, user-hostile menus, important features hidden from the eyes of all but the gurus who know by instinct where to look for them, help screens that are a big joke when they’re not busy pointing in a loop.

Then a year ago I got a Macintosh running OS/X. It was like the scene in the Wizard of Oz where the world turns from black and white into technicolor. I really don’t have to think about my computer anymore! It just works! I can find stuff! Commands do pretty much what I expect them to do! If I make a mistake I can figure out what it was and undo it!

My blood pressure is lower, I have more time to play with my dogs.

Of course, now when I get into the office and this worthless piece of drenn — a PC with Windows XP — is staring at me, I realize how bad off I am and I feel like kicking it again. But at least I can look forward to happy hours at home not having to be a software mechanic just to survive in the world.

We IT geeks need to wake up and realize that most people are NOT LIKE US. As computing power gets more affordable and more people get into it who don’t have the aptitude, interest, or time to train themselves to be software mechanics, they will be totally underwhelmed by the PC architecture. I expect PC sales to level off while Apple sells six billion more units.

If there is any justice in the world. I’d sure hate for some of those people in the developing countries who are already on the verge of exploding to suddenly have a PC in their life! There is already enough anger in the world.

Number one Pro for MAC OS Ten

In reply to pros and cons of mac os ten

It isn’t Windows.

Number two Pro for MAC OS Ten

In reply to pros and cons of mac os ten

It isn’t linux! :]

Are you STARTING

In reply to Number two Pro for MAC OS Ten

to develope a sence of humor? B-)

Join the club and stop taking everything so seriously!

To be sure!

In reply to Are you STARTING

I am hereby turning in my thread police badge – let the drinking begin.

In that case

In reply to To be sure!

let me get you the first round!

I don’t carry grudges, how about you?

By all means!

In reply to In that case

I’ll get the second round, maybe the third and fourth, too. See you at ITIM in Orlando in October??

Aren’t grudges a little hard to carry?

In reply to In that case

I mean they aren’t like luggage with handles on them…it alwasy seemed to me you held a grudge, you didn’t carry it 😉

Worst thing about carrying grudges

In reply to Aren’t grudges a little hard to carry?

Ties up a hand that could otherwise be used to carry beer or ice or sandwiches. Nyuck Nyuck.

Ok, we have a hack here

In reply to Worst thing about carrying grudges

first of all, who are you and what have you done with wordworker?

Did you just hack his account, steal his computer or is he tied up in the next room? :^O

You carry ice? ?:|

actually

In reply to Number two Pro for MAC OS Ten

number 2 is not accurate, as os ten is based on linux, uses the linux kernel.

so mac osx is linux. ~L~

doh!

In reply to actually

I have learned something new today.

But say weren’t you the guy who said email is case sensitive?
\ \
O

Well that’s one of its advantages

In reply to actually

Mac OS’s biggest plus is also its biggest drawback: The fact that they choose to rebuild it from scratch with every major release.

The plus is that OS/X is recently engineered software, developed under contemporary project management and QA principles. It’s NOT something called, for example, OS98 which has been patched and re-patched for seven years and then remarketed as OSXP, with almost all of the original defects still undetected and unrepaired. Plus all the new defects that inevitably accrue to software after it’s been “maintained” too long.

(Software is the only engineered artifact that degrades with maintenance. Good thing elevators don’t work that way. ^_^ )

The down side is that there’s no downward compatibility. Your applications have to be re-engineered (or re-purchased) to be compatible with the new OS. That takes time and costs money.

Of course that’s a mixed blessing. Replacing your own software means it’s better than the original, rather than being the original held together by chewing gum.

And there’s the old adage that we Macintosh and Mercedes Benz owners have always believed in: You get what you pay for. In the long run you come out way ahead.

Java Issues on O

In reply to Well that’s one of its advantages

The issue of downward compatibility came to the forefront in our organization when we started using a Java 1.5 application. A number of our systems are running Mac v.10.3 which does not support and likely will never support Java 1.5. Option, find a new application or start the process of upgrading the OS on all of the systems, which opens us up to a whole host of other issues.

“Host of other issues”

In reply to Java Issues on O

Even with its much-ballyhooed downward compatibility, every Windows upgrade I’ve ever been forced to endure was an endless nightmare. I just about make peace with one and along comes an even worse one. My office workstation was upgraded from 2000 to XP several weeks ago, and I’m still stumbling into missing directories and trying to find ways around other problems.

As I said earlier, I’m really fed up with having to be a software mechanic just to get my job done. I would not tolerate this state of affairs on my home computer for one second.

How would you feel about the analogous dilemma with your company motor pool? Would you standardize on a marque that forced you to replace the whole fleet at one time? Or one that allows you to replace them at will but all of your employees have to be competent shade-tree mechanics in order to get to their destinations most of the time?

[Author]

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