Customer Reviews

Mac OS X 10.1 [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I used to hate Macs especially because of their OS. It was old, unstable and Mac users had to wait ages for updates which they had to pay to get.

Well, MacOS X, is by far the most complete and beautifully engineered OS out there (at least on a commercial basis). It is based on NeXT (using the Mach ker.nel) and BSD -- a feature which offers a lot to someone coming from a UNIX platform -- and clearly the best GUI out there.

Some may argue that it is not as polished as it could, but, hey, what is? Windows or Linux? Besides, Apple is releasing free *until now* revisions for download every couple of months and it has improved a lot since 10.0. (the current version at the time of writing is 10.1.2). Release 10.2 is rumoured to have great new features old Mac users requested as well as more language packs and a speedier Quartz. (the graphics engine)

I recommend this to anyone open-minded enough to leave windows behind him/her.

I suspect the only thing better than the 10.1 revision to the long, long, long awaited next generation Mac OS, is what we'll see from Apple in the next 12 months. What they've done up until now has been remarkably bold: they have gambled their installed base for the sake of their future. OK, so they had no choice. After all, slowing market share hemorrage does little to guarantee the future of the company.

But truly, the creation of this operating system is beyond gutsy. After all, this isn't a company that initially dealt well with the open source culture, with troublesome software developers, with pissed off consumers.

I'd love for Apple to be free to innovate outside of the market, to be the XEROX PARC sort of techno-wizzes who so inspired Steve in the late 1970Õs. The creation of superior products does little to guarantee a profits, market share, or even the future of a corporation. With OS X Apple has struck a good balance: They released an amazingly stable, attractive, and powerful OS; they came in basically on schedule; they are developing a unified brand built around the possibilities of the Mac as the a part of our digital lifestyles. That sounds hokey. It sounds even more hokey when Steve stands there and talks about computers serving as tools that truly improve the way we live. With OS X they have married zealous techno-wizardry with the practical concerns of a profit driven company.

This is a fine product with a fantastically positive future. It's light years ahead of OS 9 (and I do like OS 9, despite my better judgment).

Yes, there are headaches here for some users. It's not an upgrade you can make without feeling it. But if youÕre comfortable with early adoption (and who are we kidding, this is still fairly early in the cycle for such a dramatically different operating system), the benefits far outweigh the pain.

Good luck.

Two computers are side by side in my desk. XP in Desktop (1Ghz with 256MB) and OS X in PowerBook G4 (400Mhz with 256). It is shame for intel architecture and Microsoft programmers that with so fast machine from intel and so promesing OS from Microsoft can't even come close to the 400Mhz G4 CPU running OS X. The result is simple. My Desktop intel computer is on sale on eBay while I fly with OS X. Not once (3 months) I needed to restart. I almost feel as if I am running faster then my desktop machine (1Ghz). This is imagine... Software? what kind of software do you need? I have installed Photoshop 7, Office X, Dreamweaver MX, Flash MX, MSN Messanger... all the stuffs I used to have in XP there is same version in Mac OS X. Guys, do some change, see the outside and future, try mac... I have done it...

As tacky as this sounds, I've always said that Mac is for people who don't care how their computer works; Windows is for people who like to think they know how their computer works; and Linux is for people who actually can make it work. And while I've always loved the simplicity of running a Mac, I've opted for Linux the past few years because, well, once you've run two ssh windows, three ftp windows, Gimp, and about twenty different web pages without a single glich, you just can't go back! The downside being you have to practically live with a sys-admin to keep it upgraded and happy.

Well, my sys-admin got tired of sharing and picked me up an iMac with OSX and it is soooo fabulous! A beautiful gui, easy to use, and the stability of Unix. Best yet, it plays well with my husband's herd of Linux computers upstairs, even letting me use my favorite programs and futz around with my beloved terminal windows when the whim strikes.

Itunes is an absolute dream -- just put in the cd and it does *everything* else. And now that I have an Ipod too, I feel truly spoiled.

Lack of software, drivers, and that sort of thing is a definite downside, and flipping back to 9 for my son's games can be a little slow, but hopefully that will be straightened out soon.

Stable, attractive, fun and easy to use, I would recommend this to almost anyone. But maybe that's just the iPod talking ;-)

When OS X initially debuted last year I could see how powerful and beautiful this OS was eventually going to be. However, I was dismayed at its lack of speed and responsiveness. Sure, I loved getting at the "guts" of the system with the Terminal Window and the open sourced nature of the UNIX environment, but it didn't outweigh the long waits and stutters as I moved though the GUI.

Fortunately, this all changed with the release of 10.1.2 and now the current 10.1.3 upgrade. The OS is now ready for primetime.

I have installed it on a PowerBook 500MHz G3 with no problems and use it as my everyday workhorse.

The beauty of this OS is this: it is as powerful as you want it to be and as simple as you would want an OS to be. As GUIs go, Mac OS X is gorgeous. It's rich Quartz image engine renders a beautiful palette and surprising crisp desktop. I've even been able to bring back the often missed Apple menu with a great shareware program called FruitMenu.

And that is just the beginning. With its UNIX underpinnings, this OS is stable, stable, stable. Unlike OS 9, which I had to reboot every morning to insure the system's stability, I don't reboot the computer for days or weeks at a time. Using the terminal window gets you instant access to your system and allows eggheads like me the full accessibility we've become used to with Linux, Solaris and other UNIX flavors.

Now with PhotoShop 7 on the horizon and the release of MicroSoft Office and Macromedia Freehand, the idea of booting back into OS 9 is absurd.

This OS is a keeper.

I was hesitant to take the plunge from OS 9 to OS X, but a series of crashes in December forced my hand. I've been running OS X nearly two months now and it hasn't crashed yet. Even the programs running on it, whether natively or in the classic environment, are more stable.

Yet this is not all. I have been able to free alternatives to most of the software I was running on OS 9. I found free updates for Appleworks, Scanwise, Netscape, AOL, BBeditLIte, and iCab on the web. And thanks to the Unix core of OS X, I was able to install an X11 GUI and run Opensource programs like Gimp, ImageMagick, & Dillo. There are several Unix experts working on making it easy for Mac users to install and use Opensource software on their computers. Some of these Unix programs (especially Gimp, the Unix alternative to Photoshop) are remarkable. And some of this Unix software is being "frontended" to run in the OS X Aqua GUI. This means the availability of a lot of free software for the Mac, including fax software (Cocoa eFax), language translation programs (WordLookup), and photo retouching software (PixelNhance). We can only imagine what things will be like a year from now, when many more programs have been written or compiled for OS X.

There are, to be sure, a few irritations that go along with upgrading to an operating system that is very much different to what had been run on the Mac before. You can't move files around as freely as they use to, and the OS tries to force users to conform to the Unix directory structure at the base of the computer. There's also no spring-loaded folders and it's a little slower than OS 9. The most serious flaw, however, has to do with support of 3rd party hardware. My printer, scanner, and even my floppy disk drive all worked fine, but OS X has not support (and may never have any support) for my Que USB CD-RW. I have to boot up in OS 9 if I want to use it. But, given all that I've gained from switching over to OS X, I can live with this particular shortcoming.

Mac OS X is a truly amazing piece of software. It's graphics are exceptional, it is much, much faster that Mac OS 9, even if it's running multiple programs. It comes with an arsenal of free software, and, once you get used to it, X is extremely easy to use. And that's only for starters; there's a lot more good things a. The only real downturns are that OS X can be hard to use at first, and you often need to download a "Carbon," or a OS X, version of a piece of software.

When I have to switch back to Mac OS 9 for some bizarre reason, I realize what an eyesore it is compared to X. Probably my favorite graphical change is the menu bars at the top of a window. It looks so much better than the menu bars on 9. There are some very good Desktop pictures to choose from. Mac OS X features a lot of redesigned graphics, like the ? symbol in the upper left hand corner or the hard drive. Because people are often making their desktop a lot bigger, the wonderful people at Apple made icons larger, so you can actually see them. Oh, and someone at Apple really likes blue, not that that's a bad thing, though.

It so nice that you don't have to wait for windows to open and applications to open. I don't know how much faster X is, but it's a lot. The nicest thing is that X has a new multitasking system- even if you have every application open, the computer's running as fast as ever (I've tried it). Right now I have AOL, TextEdit, Sherlock, System Preferences, and iTunes playing music,. along with several windows.

Mac OS X probably comes with about 50 free shareware programs. The ones that stand out to me are iTunes (You better know what this is), TextEdit (A much better version of Simpletext- it about matches Appleworks), Chess (A chess program designed to show off the abilities of X: The graphics are great and on the lowest setting is nearly impossible to beat), A DVD player (I pity you if you don't know what a DVD is), Mail (A nice program that lets you take your e-mail on you computer: sadly it doesn't work with AOL), iMovie (Lets you make you own movies), and I think they've started shipping it with iPhoto, but I'm not positive. It also comes with a much improved Stickies, with different colored backgrounds, different fonts and styles. Sadly, the calculator is horrible by X standards. It's basically the same thing as in 9.

At first X seems very foreign and different than 9, you get used to it pretty fast, especially with Mac OS X: The Missing Manual by David Pouge, which teaches you everything you need to know about OS X. X almost never crashes (the actual finder, not applications). Mac OS X gets rid of a lot of stuff you had to do manually in 9, like giving out RAM or dealing with extensions. Extensions and extension conflicts don't exist in X, instead programmers write startup application. (Don't ask me what those are- I got it from that wonderful book I mentioned above) Another nce program is Home, which replaces the folder each family member used to have in my family. Home holds things like your preferences, different folders (I have folders like writing, downloads, pictures, games, etc.), and your favorite applications. Also, the Dock is very useful. It holds applications, folders, your home, and trash- just about anything that is in you hard drive. System Preferences replaces Control Panels, and is much easier to use.

Like I said above, Mac OS X hay seem a little foreign at first, but you get used to it quick. When you buy Mac OS X, get Mac OS X: A Missing Manual along with it. That should solve all your problems. If it doesn't, then go to the Apple website (the little @ sign on a spring in the dock, or http://www.apple.com/macosx).

You often have to get Carbon versions of programs for Mac OS X. The are a lot of printer drives already on the computer, in the Printer folder that's in the Library folder. For everything else, try going to the downloads part of Apple.com, and if it's not their, go to the developer's site. It is very mportant to get internet up and running early, so you can do this.

Mac Os X is a very good program, and if you need a new Operating System and you have a compatible computer (actually there's a way to get X onto older computer; it's in the Missing Manual). However, it might be a good idea to ait a little while so there's more compatible programs, but that shouldn't stop you.

As a new Mac user, I already feel at home with OS X. The interface is very easy to use and straightforward, yet very powerful.

Those of you already familiar with setting up multiple operating systems in a Windows environment know how unpleasant it can be. That's not the case here, in fact, it couldn't get any easier than this. Using the discs that come in this package, you will install both OS 9 and OS X. You can boot to either of them. No more messing around with partitioning, editing a BOOT file, etc etc. You just install the two OSes and select which one you want to boot from, and you can change that as often as you want to.

In OS X, you can run OS 9 applications using classic-mode, which is automatic. If you run a non-OS X native application, classic starts up automatically and runs the app for you. Apple has made this very transparent and easy for people to use.

...

Overall, OSX is really a frankenstein of sorts w/o the ugly appearance. This fusion of BSD Unix, Next, and traditional Mac concepts is a solid base for Apple to build upon. It is, however, a young OS w/ all the pitfalls that come with it. Things like drivers, native programs, and the "perfect" user interface take time so I am omitting the few minor gripes I've had in my experience wih OSX. It is disconcerting for long time Mac users in that it is a mildly radical departure from the Mac tradition though classic mode pretty much will do everything you need once you sit through the long boot up. Also, things like a command prompt and file extensions are alien to the Mac camp. To its credit, Apple has done an admirable job in insulating the not interested user from these details.

In exchange for radical changes, Apple has created a truly remarkable OS. OSX is a solid network citizen. The ability to use open source components has turned MacOS into a powerful tool versus what it used to be. I've found OSX to be an asset on my home network. It is much more capable than classic MacOS could have ever dreamed about.

The main thing I've enjoyed about OSX is the beautiful crispness of the Quartz display technology. The first time you see it you will be amazed. WinXP cannot hold a candle to it and your Wintel friends will be jealous.

There are many things new about OSX. The memory management and program execution technology make total system crashes almost a thing of the past. In seven months, I've had as many system crashes as I'd typically get in three days of typical classic MacOS use for me. System stability is a major issue with me and OSX is as good as any NT or Linux machine I've ever used. This is the biggest improvement over classic.

If you are a long time Mac user, please approach OSX with an open mind as it has lots of future potential. You must realize that by using the old "classic does it this way argument" to bash OSX you are cheating yourself out of using your Mac on a much higher level. OSX makes MacOS a welcome alternative to the orwellian path the WinXP family seems to be following. Just make sure you have plenty of memory in your machine, a willingness to learn some new things and a dose of patience as developers and hardware manufacturers begin to fully support this gem.

I just bought a new iBook with OS X 10.1. At the same time my brother bought a new desktop with Windows XP. First I have to say that I've always had a Mac so I'm a little baised. I also haven't spent a lot of time on my brother's computer. I have spent enough time though to compare the two. The Mac operating system is an elegant work of art compared to the Windows system. Where the XP is busy and confusing the Mac is elegant and understated. I like the way the icons on the dock are magnified when the cursor is rolled over them. I also like the classic feature which allows you to continue using the old noncompatible programs. It seems to be pretty stable but I have had some crashes.

OS X retains the ease of use of the previous systems and improves on them. With the growing support for the Apple and more cross platform compatibility I can't see any appeal in a computer with menu bars and pull down menus everywhere. I don't play a lot of computer games and at this time that's the only thing I see that Windows has over Mac.