Bloodline: That's a good point! One thing I couldn't get to grips with when I first used Windows98 (The first version of Windows I owned) was the document centric approach... I've since become very accustomed to it, by using Windows for the last 5 years.
The hardest thing about going back to my 1200 is having to change Default Tools all the time when I download new software. It's especially painful if something is a Tool instead of a Document, as double-clicking doesn't allow me to type in an app to use. That annoyed the hell out of me even when I got my A1000. The old Macs had the same problem, and Macs also wouldn't even ask what app you wanted to use to open the file. Given that people insist on putting file extentions before the filenames (especially "mod"), this really shows how app-central the Amiga was in its day. What's more important: the fact that the file is music, or that it's made in SoundTracker? Many people still sort their music by filetype, than by genre. What happens if you get a few OGG files?
I also
hate tabbed browsing, for many of the same reasons. I have a multimedia keyboard with keys mapped to Back/Forward/Close/Undo/Redo, and these keys make it ten times easier to control my browser than using the mouse to click tabs. When a browser opens new tabs in the same window, I have a tendency to close the browser, and thus lose all my websites in one go, with no way to get them all back. Of course, this also brings up the issue of persistence, which is really getting off topic. :-)
It's a sticky situation, though, as power users tend to be app-centric, and normal people are document centric. Which system does an OS support? Finding a good balance is difficult. Most OSes, including Windows, Amiga, and MacOS, don't really get it right, despite the patriotism expressed by each platforms' fans.
Agafaster: actually, your statement is doubly incorrect: Amiga was invented before Commodore got their grubby paws on it.
Yeah, but OS2 was a hell of an improvement over OS1.x. I'm shocked looking back on how I used my A1000, and that I actually managed to get anything done at all. I was so mad when I found OS2 wouldn't run on my A1000, and I couldn't afford to get a 500 with a new ROM. The 1200 was a brilliant upgrade in terms of usability, even though AGA was a
huge disappointment.
Of course, to me, Workbench is the Amiga. From a high-level view, not being a serious coder at the time, the Amiga's hardware features didn't really seem to set it far apart from other machines in terms of games (yes, really). PC games were slower, less smooth, and sometimes uglier, but they played much the same way. The desktop, on the other hand, was simply amazing. MS-DOS and Win3.1 couldn't touch it. That's why I want Amiga on x86 so bad, and want it based on practically any modern UNIX-like OS. I just want a new Workbench. That's my fondest memory.
But then, I want to be an interface designer. So long as it handles vector graphics, hardware doesn't really involve me. I care little about what's under the hood.
Uncharted: Typing this on an old eMac 700MHz G4 with only 256MB, and it's running absolutely fine with 6 apps open. I'm not having any performance issues.
It's possible OSX scales back automatically for older Macs. My mini was a performance slug before I put in more memory, even for simple things like e-mail. I had to wait
minutes for the OS9 version of Graphing Calculator to start! I hear, though, that 10.4 is much, much more resource hungry than 10.3. My mini came with 10.4.
The mini is also the first real Mac I've used since my OS8/G3 days, so I can't comment on older versions of OSX. When I got it with the stock memory, though, the mini seemed a hell of a lot slower than OS8 on the old G3. OSX can be a real memory hog at times.
