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Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8402 Location: MN

well after 5 days of macishnes here are my conclusions.

1) when in windows you say to a windows guru, I don't like the way x. they will usually find some hack or work around to change x. when on mac os you say you don't like x people say "get used to it." (granted not asking the same level guru but still...)

2) on windows when trying to get software suggests other then the windows defaults (i.e. media player) people will give you lots of them, (mplayer via cygwin media player classic ect.) on mac when looking for suggestions on alternate software most people will say "I like Itunes" (suprisingly no matter what kinda software your asking about...) occasionally suggestions will come up but never the multitude given with windows.

3) on windows I know how to break everything, on macs I don't Sad

4) on windows my screen looks horrible out of focus yet on my mini mac it looks like it was just focused...

5) on windows if I want to play video's off my pvr, I need to install a specail codec, and change the resolution that the pvr records to, on a mac I just install the myth front end and connect to it, and everything works out prefectly...

looks like the best parts of mac right now for my is the "creamy unix
center" (as my brother in-law put it) but of course like everything with a creamy center you need to chew your way through the mess...

here is hoping that I eventually do get used to it.

Big Dog Joined: 17 Mar 2003 Posts: 3448 Location: KERNOW

What would you rate it out of 10?

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 3:15 am Post subject:

Quote:

1) when in windows you say to a windows guru, I don't like the way x. they will usually find some hack or work around to change x. when on mac os you say you don't like x people say "get used to it." (granted not asking the same level guru but still...)

There are generally more than one way to do things on macs. I think mac users are generally more happy with their interface than windows users, but then again I use all sorts of UIs and I just get used to them all. That being said, the mac help and knowledgebase are really good for finding ways to do things.

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2) on windows when trying to get software suggests other then the windows defaults (i.e. media player) people will give you lots of them, (mplayer via cygwin media player classic ect.) on mac when looking for suggestions on alternate software most people will say "I like Itunes" (suprisingly no matter what kinda software your asking about...) occasionally suggestions will come up but never the multitude given with windows.

dunno where you're looking. I have tons of third party software on my macs. Just because I like iTunes and Quicktime doesn't mean I use it exclusively.

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3) on windows I know how to break everything, on macs I don't

Awwww. You just need to practice a bit. That said, my Macs are far more stable than my Windows machines, and have always been.

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4) on windows my screen looks horrible out of focus yet on my mini mac it looks like it was just focused...

check the refresh rate under Windows vs the setting on your Mac. Probably a different refresh rate, the Mac must have used a better one.

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5) on windows if I want to play video's off my pvr, I need to install a specail codec, and change the resolution that the pvr records to, on a mac I just install the myth front end and connect to it, and everything works out prefectly...

I think the only thing I don't like about doing video on macs is trying to find a codec that works on Windows machines. This is actually more Microsoft's problem than Apple's though.

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here is hoping that I eventually do get used to it.

I tend to take the mac for granted. But then again I've been using a mac for about 10 years. Having things work does take some getting used to, doesnt it.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8402 Location: MN

tom wrote:
What would you rate it out of 10?

Well, If it weren't for all the mac zealots it would be a solid 8, but do to all the "I told you so." and "It just works." remarks (which I'm sorry to say are infact cleverly disuged lies, Windows just works, but windows is also easy to play with and make work for you (and break in the process.)) but do to a number of snide remarks from mac users (my sisterbeing the biggest one...) (also note users, not power users not gurus... the gurus and power users usually put in one quick comment indirectly about M$ and then go back to what they were doing, the users just rub it in) 7.5

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8402 Location: MN

EdisonRex wrote:
I tend to take the mac for granted. But then again I've been using a mac for about 10 years. Having things work does take some getting used to, doesnt it.

See tom that right there is a guru comment... a user would never have let me get off so easy...

Which I think is part of the reason I have such a hard time with this... there are so few mac guru's... mac people are just happy to be using their one mouse button computers with the default setups, that the thought of tweaking it never occured to them... And I think that mac plays into this as well... I mean just look at the windows control panel then look at the mac system preferances...

then again this is just what I'm seeing after 5 days....

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 7:58 am Post subject:

anglachel wrote:
EdisonRex wrote:
I tend to take the mac for granted. But then again I've been using a mac for about 10 years. Having things work does take some getting used to, doesnt it.

See tom that right there is a guru comment... a user would never have let me get off so easy...

Which I think is part of the reason I have such a hard time with this... there are so few mac guru's... mac people are just happy to be using their one mouse button computers with the default setups, that the thought of tweaking it never occured to them... And I think that mac plays into this as well... I mean just look at the windows control panel then look at the mac system preferances...

then again this is just what I'm seeing after 5 days....

Are you saying I never tweaked my mac in 10 years? That's silly. If you want to use generalisations then so can I. Ask a specific question how to do something, and I'll try to help you. What if I said my Linux machine just works, too? It does, and stays running for months. I'm lucky to get 3 weeks out of one of the Windows boxes, if it doesn't reboot itself on auto update, it collapses under it's own memory leaks.

But I use Windows too, and I use Unix too, and as I said elsewhere which you didn't bother repeating, I use many UIs. I happen to like the Mac OS, and if that's a "guru statement" whatever that means, well, whatever.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 8:14 am Post subject:

My XP Pro at work:

Back on topic: there is quite a lot you can do via kernel extensions in OSX. Just takes the right kind of programmer. Generally speaking, yeah things are tucked away nice in OSX. But if you're persistent you can get at quite a lot. Thus far in my OSX experience I've:

- Completely changed the Aqua theme to something else

- Use unconventional means to stop un-needed system services. There's a host file where you edit values to stop them from starting at bootup, *nix style.

- There's a kernel extension to accelerate your USB mouse to move faster.

Variety of other things. I just don't play with it much anymore.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 10:57 am Post subject:

I suppose it would depend upon what I am doing as to whether I would volley mac or "the other"

If I were a secretary and was dallying with M$ office stuff - certainly a windows machine.

Everything else = mac.

I've used both - I use both -
Even as much as I complain about my softwares shutdowns and such -

I can call up a blue screen of death in record time...
or simply FREEZE everything up~
# of kernel panics in the last year on my mac? = 0

macs... they just work. I don't know how.
Wink

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:28 am Post subject:

OhioArt2 wrote:
macs... they just work. I don't know how.

Upon powering up, OpenFirmware goes through it's bootup hardware tests and detects attached devices, then unless told otherwise it loads the bootloader located in the first sector of the first HD. From there, the kernel takes over setting up the environment, then the window server is launched to give us something pretty to look at while the rest of the OS loads.

^^ not entirely accurate but I thought I'd just humor you.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 12:13 pm Post subject:

My one gripe with OSX is in the case of VPN's. I could never get the traffic to route correctly when using the wireless protocols. Lan conenctions and dialup work as they should.

Symptom is

Once a VPN is created and connected wireless, OSX will route all IP traffic thru that VPN tunnel.

Another issue is the level of tech support Apple care reps actually have. Get them into routings and multi- configs and you might as well set fire to 275 dollars rather than waste it on a tech call.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8402 Location: MN

EdisonRex wrote:
anglachel wrote:
EdisonRex wrote:
I tend to take the mac for granted. But then again I've been using a mac for about 10 years. Having things work does take some getting used to, doesnt it.

See tom that right there is a guru comment... a user would never have let me get off so easy...

Which I think is part of the reason I have such a hard time with this... there are so few mac guru's... mac people are just happy to be using their one mouse button computers with the default setups, that the thought of tweaking it never occured to them... And I think that mac plays into this as well... I mean just look at the windows control panel then look at the mac system preferances...

then again this is just what I'm seeing after 5 days....

Are you saying I never tweaked my mac in 10 years? That's silly. If you want to use generalisations then so can I. Ask a specific question how to do something, and I'll try to help you. What if I said my Linux machine just works, too? It does, and stays running for months. I'm lucky to get 3 weeks out of one of the Windows boxes, if it doesn't reboot itself on auto update, it collapses under it's own memory leaks.

But I use Windows too, and I use Unix too, and as I said elsewhere which you didn't bother repeating, I use many UIs. I happen to like the Mac OS, and if that's a "guru statement" whatever that means, well, whatever.

Ed don't take it personally... This is just where I'm sitting...

maybe there are just more windows users so windows tweaks are easier to find, maybe I've just been breaking windows (and fixing it some times) for 13+ years... and only fiddling with a mac for the past 6 days...

eh... we'll see how this works out... my PC hasn't been turned on for over two days now... and I'm only missing it when I'm at work trying to RDP into it...

Edit: and BTW ed, I consider you a GURU in MANY things, mostly cause your smarter then me when it comes to a great number of things.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 4:56 pm Post subject:

Mac gaming still sucks.

Leg Humper Joined: 01 Jun 2004 Posts: 4702 Location: Utah

Never tried MacOS X personally, but I don't see any reason it would be bad. Other than the user-friendly-ness of it, I do not like an OS being too touchy-feely. Screw using a GUI config tool, I'll edit those config file with VI manually.

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 8:27 am Post subject:

JustAnEngineer wrote:
Mac gaming still sucks.

I'm not all excited about surfing the net on a mac either.

Guide Dog Joined: 08 Nov 2003 Posts: 8402 Location: MN

OhioArt2 wrote:
JustAnEngineer wrote:
Mac gaming still sucks.

I'm not all excited about surfing the net on a mac either.

Surfing the net is the same as ever where else... just load up firefox...

Only differance is that you need to have some clever bookmark managment (and book mark tool bar positioning) inorder to get the book marks in the right place... (I just added a "bookmark" folder under the "bookmark toolbar folder" so that I could have my bookmarks in the window rather then uptop...

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tom wrote:

EdisonRex wrote:

anglachel wrote:

EdisonRex wrote:

OhioArt2 wrote:

EdisonRex wrote:

anglachel wrote:

EdisonRex wrote:

Lycander wrote:

JustAnEngineer wrote:

OhioArt2 wrote:

JustAnEngineer wrote: