OS X: My experience so far

[Chris H.]

Well, Apple sales reps and analysts care. Stockholders care too... but either way, I'm loving how Apple and Google are teaming up to own MS. Our shared directors left and went with Google, but that's okay. Google chipping away at MS means less people on Windows, means more choice. Maybe eventually even 25-33% market share. Wouldn't THAT be nice.

Less people on Windows= more viruses for other OS's, like um, Mac OS X for example. I heard that Google is coming out with Google Chrome OS (monolithic Linux kernel- UNIX like) next year. Meant for use on netbooks, but whatever, I'd rather use it on my netbook than Windows XP.

 

[DarkestRitual]

Acer has a netbook coming out in the first half of 2010 that will be running Android 2.0. Cost is 180 bucks reportedly. Chrome i think is meant more as a cloud computing OS. More viruses? Good luck hackers. Get into my unix shell of shexy protection. I'll take my chances with an OS that actually knows how to protect its end users.

 

[cjcoops]

Only being able to resize a window from the bottom right corner is, of course, ridiculous. And a reply of 'deal with it' is just laughable.

Most (all?) windows or ex-Windows or Bi Windows/Mac users are properly agnostic about these things and don't view their computer operating system as some religious matter.

So... if it's stupid - they're not afraid to say so. Like the windows resizing thing.... come on, Mac fanatics, just admit it's silly.

As far as the Office toolbars and the change to a formatting 'palette'.... well - i've got rid of the 'standard' toolbar (as it's almost un-editable) and made my own toolbar with the icons I want.... may of the 'standard' with extra formatting commands that i know i use frequently. Not too much effort - and worth it.

As far as viewing the desktop ro switching apps etc - i'm using a macbook pro, so the large touchpad and gestures work a treat....

I did decide fairly early to buy a copy of Pathfinder also though.... and Dragthing, which i use instead of the dock.

As a recent ex-Windows owner (of many many years) it does take a while to 'find your way around' - after all, i had many years of finding all the quirks and shortcuts in Windows ( trying to explain to a computer user virgin how/why/when you need to double or single or right click is a surprising education for yourself.... it's just something you've picked up and become second nature - like the 2 finger Mac touchpad scroll has already become!)

ps I even was wondering where to find the Mac equivalent of CutePDF to print documents to PDF.... then noticed it's built in to the Print..... options.... and that Preview can display pdf without any need of an extra bloaty Adobe POS application.....

I'm very glad to have switched, essentially. Every time I gte back on a Windows PC i'm even more convinced i made the right move.....


Coops

 

[MadGamer]

That, we can help with

and really do understand.

Oh cept for that mighty mouse thing.. I hate that thing with a passion, so I can't help you. Got a problem with a logitech mouse on a mac, I can help!

I echo that. I wanted to merge a partition on my external drive, this was formatted, and I only found out that I was being the stupid one by clicking on the main partition of the drive when I had to click above the main partition to get the option to appear. I felt such a dope, but there are people here who will help you.

 

[DarkestRitual]

Also, I think more OSes with split market share in the end means less overall viruses, because hackers would have to port a virus for many different OSes, and honestly, who has the time or patience except for criminals who are making money. Most viruses don't do anything other than annoy and screw the end user. Cyber crime against banks will always be an issue, but I doubt you'll find viruses written for tons of different platforms trying to target the majority of computer users when do achieve that goal the average virus writer would have to script across multiple platforms. More even split for market share would benefit windows in this way by alleviating the strain of security for them, but I think overall it would result in a sum total of less viruses created period.

 

[MadGamer]

I am a Windows convert. I have been using a MacBook Pro since late September this year, and am very pleased with it. Before i bought the MacBook Pro I was in the Apple store everyday for a week, "Test Driving" one before I made the final decision. Was it worth the £1300? It was worth every penny. Im never going back to Windows, however as other OS X users have said there are still things that some of us don't know (see my previous post for example). The learning curve isnt steep but OS X does take some getting used to.

 

[vank66]

If you're so frustrated with your Mac, by all means go back to Windows where you'll be more comfortable.

 

[ox4dboy]

On Windows, if I want to resize a window, I drag from any edge (top, bottom, either side, any corner) and get it done.

There are a few utilities you can check out - so far my favorite is Zooom 2.

On Windows, if I hit the X on a window, it's closed. Shut down. Gone. On a Mac, if I hit the orange minus button, it gets minimized.

It's OK to leave applications running on a Mac. The red (X) simply closes the window, while the yellow (-) minimize. Holding Option while clicking one of those applies that same function to all open windows. I have 8 - 10 applications running at all times. You don't have to exit all you apps all the time, let 'em be and keep using them. Otherwise, just hit Apple + Q, or go to File > Quite.

If I want to get straight to my desktop on Windows, I hit the desktop button in the taskbar.

Read up on Expose - configurable via system preferences. By default, press F11. Also, try F9, F10. From the Finder or Open and Save dialogs, press SHIFT + APPLE + D to get to the desk top.

This is just personal taste, but on Windows everything looks different…, I personally think it's bland and terribly dull. Windows seems to have a lot more flavor to it.

ironically subjective

With Windows, I feel like I have more viewing space of a page or window if I maximize it. With the Mac's Dock, I feel like I'm losing some window real estate. Maximized windows have the doc below it, and a bunch of extra space around the sides of the dock shownig the desktop. Nit picky, but it annoys me.

I hear that one a lot; totally understand. Try pressing OPTION + APPLE + D to show/hide the dock for more space. Also, try right-clicking on the dock for more options - I keep mine on the right side of the screen.

If I want to scroll around a page, I can middle click the mouse scroll wheel on Windows and move the mouse up or down. On a Mac, doing this brings some sort of app picking program. I can hold down Command then middle click, but that seems annoying to me, like one more tiny extra step.

Customize this in the System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse : Mouse

On a Windows based PC, if you want to open the CD trey, hit the little button on the tower. The Mac Pros we've been using don't have this. You have to hit a key on the keyboard. That's annoying to me, for this reason: plenty of times I've wanted to open the CD tray without a keyboard…If the button on the Mac keyboard breaks, or some software glitch breaks it or something, how can I get to that CD tray? It just kind of makes me uncomfortable, which brings me to another point:

I agree with you here, I like the button too. Don't worry about it breaking though, it'll just work, but if it ever does, here are some pointers:
Mac OS X 10.4 Help: Ejecting a CD or DVD when all else fails
There are a number of ways to eject the CD tray, I think that holding down the mouse button while starting up will open the tray.

CDs/DVDs are going the way of the DoDo now a days…Apple will be the first to eliminate them all together. The MacBook Air doesn't even need a CD/DVD drive, it uses a Remote disc, see here:
MacBook Air: How to use Remote Disc to share DVDs or CDs on a Mac- or Windows-based computer
That's the future; but I am not 100% sold.

Office for Mac is HORRIBLE. It feels very "light weight" compared to the PC version…

Agreed, a necessary evil…or use Parallels if you want to run the Windows native version. I hope Office 2010 gets i right - looks promising.

In my opinion, OS X just feels REALLY annoying, and absolutely NOT intuitive. Things that make sense to me in Windows…when you look at Windows 7, IMO, it blows away OS X. The aero peek function, the window shake thing, the dragging of the windows off to the side to make them fill half the screen for side by side viewing, all these things work together to make W7 so much better than OS X, or any other previous version of Windows…What are everyone else's personal expereinces with this OS (OS X)? Any other thoughts, irritations, etc?

Most or all of these features have been in OSX fr a few years now. Windows 7 does it a bit differently b/c MS couldn't copy OS X exactly. Research Exposé, Spaces, and Spotlight - OSX's got w7 beat still, IMO.


EDIT: A couple of other annoyances:

When alt-tabbing, individual windows aren't shown. If I have 3 firefox windows, it won't show them, or the contents, and alt-tabbing to a minimized window doesn't bring it up! ***?

I'd like this too - there are free utilities that do this.

WHY or why is the menu bar seperated at the top of the screen, away from the window? This wastes screen real estate, and just annoys the mess out of me.

So windows don't go off of the screen, and so it's consistent.

Can anyone help me out here? Is there some secret to enjoying a Mac? Are there any fixes for my problems? Anything you can tell me to help me along, or bring me some peace and zen when working with OS X?

One of my favorite OS X utility apps is QuickSilver - go check that out if ou want more power - it's amazingly free.

 

[dan1]

Hi, i've actually only had my iMac from a week, and i LOVE it! So to be honest, if you think there that bad, why don't you just go back to a PC? Everything that Apple has done to their macs, thousands of people have liked, just look around this forum and you will see people loving their Macs. Man, you should really just get your windows crap back.