My new Distraction

[chiark]

I have found OSX annoying and getting in my way once and only once: Finder.  When dragging a folder to copy to another location which already has a folder of the same name...  Rather than the sensible approach of combining the folders in the destination, it removes the contents on the destination then writes the source.

Who thought of that should be taken out and shot.

Other than that, the flexibility really reminds me of AmigaOS in some ways.  You can have your GUI, but you also can have your all powerful CLI .  The amount of ways of customising the behaviour are astounding as well: the default write stuff is quite mindblowing...

(Use Win7 Ultimate for my HTPC, use Linux daily, and am responsible for microsoft related products at my place of work...)

[kolla]

I don't care much about other people not having problems with OSX, I really only care about myself when it comes to systems I use. And for me OSX is indeed restrictive, not to mention insanely huge, messy and complex. And the documentation that comes with it is really crap (man pages not in sync with the binaries it ships with) and lots of stuff is not documented at all.

I really do not see how OSX resembles AmigaOS in any way, the two systems are about as different as you can come.

[4pLaY]

I really do not see how OSX resembles AmigaOS in any way, the two systems are about as different as you can come.

Totaly agreeing with you there :-).

[Hattig]

For me Mac OS X is a pretty decent OS - and certainly far nicer than any version of Windows.

Having a proper CLI underneath, of the Unix variety, is really nice. The desktop software feels really polished as well. In addition the eye candy is far more muted than the earlier Mac OS X editions - smooth greys, etc - so it isn't distracting, unlike the eye candy on Windows Vista  and Windows 7. In addition the 'effects' - Expose, etc, are genuinely useful and usable, unlike the effects in Windows 7.

I also use Ubuntu, and the latest version is quite nice, and finally has a decent OS font. However the last automatic upgrade hosed my wireless networking configuration, broke the keyboard and trackpad (requiring me to plug in USB variants) and set the keyboard back to USA from UK, and when things break in Linux, it's a PITA. However it's far better than OpenSUSE which I have on another computer.

Mac OS X gets out of my way and the UI doesn't halt the system when it is thinking, and that's what an OS should do. In addition, when I need to probe or tweak the preferences, it's easy to do and logical. Mac OS X Lion has a couple of new features, one of which is very much like Amiga screens too.

The Finder isn't the greatest thing ever though.

Also the hardware is rather nice.

[chiark]

I don't care much about other people not having problems with OSX, I really only care about myself when it comes to systems I use.

Completely agree with you on that.  We agree to differ in our tastes then

It'd be a boring world if everyone were the same

[AmigaNG]

Not owning a Mac but only used one in passing or at a friends house, I never really saw anything amazing about the OS, dont get me wrong its feels like a very fast, stable OS, but like a few echo it is a little to restricted in what you want to do, I'd image if i own a Mac I would tweak a lot of the setting and feature to suit me more and its good thing to see that their is a lot more you can do to customise OSX than in the past.

I recommend a MAC to any Computer newbie as it is a simple OS to get to grips with than the competition. But it just not for me.

The thing that I find more fun and interesting on the macs is not the OS but the iLife sweep of application I wish there was something that worked as well and as together on amigaos, linux or windows. That makes me want to own a mac more than anything.  
 

 Plus also although their aluminium designs are pretty cool, specially on there laptops I do wish they still did the imac g4, I really did like the look of that computer and keep thinking I should get one, there only like £100 on ebay now a days, but just don't have the room for it.

[AltRN8]

As a long time NeXTSTEP user I hate even calling it Mac OS X. I like to think of it more as Openstep 5.0 or maybe 6.0 since that bad Rhapsody port was in there for a bit. I really didn't switch to using primarily Apple machines until the switch to OS X but it was mainly because I had loved NeXTSTEP so much.

I bet you all can guess what other "retro" hardware I horde. Dismal market failure but I really enjoyed using them. The Web was first imagined on one so that's got to count for something.

I am really interested in the details of what makes people feel restricted when they use Mac OS X. I have never felt that way but I can imagine others do just interested.

[spihunter]

If your ever in the market for a X86 laptop again I would recommend a Lenovo. They are the only ones that can survive being dropped and aren't made out of flimsy plastic. That's about the only thing that seperates them from any other X86 though!

All my MacBook Pro laptops run Mac OS X and I haven't found them any way restricting or limiting. Also I hate flimsy plastic x86 laptop HW, too: Knock the laptop a bit and the plastic breaks. Automagically adjusting keyboard backlight, magnetic power connector and cooling system that doesn't melt the laptop when used on soft surface are the small things that make the difference to me.

Before anyone jumps to any conclusions: I run Debian/GNU Linux on my servers and desktops.

[tone007]

If your ever in the market for a X86 laptop again I would recommend a Lenovo. They are the only ones that can survive being dropped and aren't made out of flimsy plastic. That's about the only thing that seperates them from any other X86 though!

I always thought they were pretty generic and boring.

The 12" Dell I got from you was a sturdy thing, I drunkenly stepped square on it while it was closed and sitting on the floor, figured "woops, that's crushed" but not so much as a crack.  Maybe I just don't weigh enough!

[spihunter]

That one was from the era of when they still built them a bit sturdy. Once they went to the black plastic is was all over. We bought 23 Dell E4300's at work and all 23 came back from our users with broken screens and plastic. We bought 50 Lenovo's and not one has broken yet. I'm not exaggerating that at all!

I always thought they were pretty generic and boring.

The 12" Dell I got from you was a sturdy thing, I drunkenly stepped square on it while it was closed and sitting on the floor, figured "woops, that's crushed" but not so much as a crack.  Maybe I just don't weigh enough!

[djrikki]

I don't really agree with the restrictiveness of Mac OS X at all, it seems they have thought of everything to make my life easier.  Take today for instance, I use a Mac at work all day, in fact its mine, I use Macs everywhere, when I do have to use Windows, I use it through Remote Desktop Connection... see its Windows.. but its not Windows its virtual Windows.

So I digress, take today, I needed to upload a pdf from an email attachment straight to an ftp server.

Now if I was trying this on Windows I would no doubt have to save the attachment firstly locally, open an Explorer window, navigate to that file and then drag and drop it across into the ftp client.  Wait for it to finish, and delete the local file of my HD.

Whereas in Mac OS X... hmm how do I get that from there to there.. oh I know I'll just drag it from there (Apple Mail) to there (Cyberduck - ftp client) and what'd ya know it just did it.

[persia]

AmigaOS is the Elvis of operating systems, it had the good sense to die about the time it started going to seed, so we can all morn what might have been unencumbered with the vision of an overweight 70 year old trying to swing those hips.

I think Eric Schwartz' latest video captures that, the Amiga as a once famous singer now singing karaoke and pretending that she really still matters.  AmigaOS would not have aged well, it would have put on weight like all the other operating systems.  It would have to support all those things that we expect a modern operating system to support.  It would have to have gone intel.  Tripos swapped out for a unix variant, etc, etc Everything the Mac haters moan about would have happened to the Amiga.

[klx300r]

Hi,
 
  ...Let the trolling begin :laughing:

Macs, iTunes, Trolls:rant::uzi:

[kolla]

Everything the Mac haters moan about would have happened to the Amiga.

Worse - rumours have it that people at Commodore were looking at Windows NT on PA-RISC for the post m68k Amiga. Now that would have been fun, huh? :lol:

[ElPolloDiabl]

Is Mac backwards compatible with any PPC or 68k software?

[Hattig]

Is Mac backwards compatible with any PPC or 68k software?

Yes, it has a PowerPC emulator - Rosetta - and the PowerPC Mac environment includes a Classic environment, which includes a 68k emulator.

They're installed if you require them, not by default.