[tvfollower]

Yes, we all that OS X rocks...well, at least most of us...

But, you see, I'm a recent Mac convert (after OS X appeared and made me "fill my cup," as the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" gently puts it (nevermind if you have no idea what I'm talking about)), and I don't understand how anyone could have used Macs before OS X...

I mean, I understand now why people love Macs, but before...wtf? They were ugly pieces of ****! I'd use one to wipe my ass!

Don't take that offensively, I was just making a point.

So umm...can someone explain how anyone could have liked Macs before OS X? Thanks!

[Gul Banana]

It is ludicrous to offer a random insult and then say that you did not intend it offensively. Actually explain why you did not like Macs before OS X, and then others will explain why they did. Vulgarity will get you nowhere.

[Brazuca]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
Yes, we all that OS X rocks...well, at least most of us...

But, you see, I'm a recent Mac convert (after OS X appeared and made me "fill my cup," as the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" gently puts it (nevermind if you have no idea what I'm talking about)), and I don't understand how anyone could have used Macs before OS X...

I mean, I understand now why people love Macs, but before...wtf? They were ugly pieces of ****! I'd use one to wipe my ass!

Don't take that offensively, I was just making a point.

So umm...can someone explain how anyone could have liked Macs before OS X? Thanks!

It wasn't Windows...

[Link]

Windows had better memory management (or so it seems), when you killed an app it wouldn't lock the whole computer up in the process (seems to happen all the time in OS 9).

OS X and windows xp basically reversed places. XP is extremely proprietary (even though windows 98 was too but not so much so to the point it sticks out badly).

OS X is a part of the growing standard. You can get just about everything on linux/unix distribution and it'll run on OS X with little or no modification.

Windows XP requires nearly total rewrites or heavy porting where OS X is a simple recompile. Before OS 9 was more like windows and might as well stick with the standard in that case..

now OS X is the standard.. windows is the "me too" os.

[kman42]

Originally posted by Link:
Windows had better memory management (or so it seems), when you killed an app it wouldn't lock the whole computer up in the process (seems to happen all the time in OS 9).

OS X and windows xp basically reversed places. XP is extremely proprietary (even though windows 98 was too but not so much so to the point it sticks out badly).

OS X is a part of the growing standard. You can get just about everything on linux/unix distribution and it'll run on OS X with little or no modification.

Windows XP requires nearly total rewrites or heavy porting where OS X is a simple recompile. Before OS 9 was more like windows and might as well stick with the standard in that case..

now OS X is the standard.. windows is the "me too" os.

Well, until Win2000, the stability and reliability of any consumer Windows was not any better than the MacOS. MacOS was much more pleasant to use, easier to configure, more consistent, and fun. Windows made my life difficult. That's why I have used a Mac since 1985. I considered switching to a PC around 1999, but the hope of OSX made me hold out and I'm very glad I did.

I have to administer six Win98-XP machines and about 15 Macs at work. I have to do maintenance on the PCs every day (especially the last month or so with all the worms), but I only do maintenance on the Macs when a new update comes out every couple of months or I have to install a new application for someone. It is forbidden to install apps on the PCs

I'm sure there are lots of Windows users have been happily using PCs since 1985, but I don't know any. I've long since converted all of my friends to Macs and they are constantly thanking me. My father-in-law is the last hold out and I'm beginning to think he will never switch just because he doesn't want to admit he was wrong. He now has two computers. One just for checking email and browsing the web and one for everything else that isn't connected to the internet because he got so fed up with the viruses, worms, and messaging pop-ups.

Anyway, you asked, so that is the short version of why I prefer Macs and always have.

kman

[juanpacolopez]

Originally posted by Brazuca:
It wasn't Windows...

best... answer... ever

(I'm not being sarcastic btw... I couldn't have said it better myself)

[ASIMO]

Originally posted by Brazuca:
It wasn't Windows...

I like Windows.

Without it, I would never have given the Mac a shot. The best thing Windows 95 gave me was my first Mac.

[tvfollower]

Originally posted by Gul Banana:
It is ludicrous to offer a random insult and then say that you did not intend it offensively. Actually explain why you did not like Macs before OS X, and then others will explain why they did. Vulgarity will get you nowhere.

Agh! You don't understand! I was just emphasizing how bad they seem to me, and I'm looking for a reason why people would have used them.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
Agh! You don't understand! I was just emphasizing how bad they seem to me, and I'm looking for a reason why people would have used them.

OS 9 seems bad to you because you're comparing it to OS X / Windows XP / whatever. Try comparing it to its actual competition at the time, Windows ME, and then you may understand.

[- - e r i k - -]

Agreed. You have lost your perspective.

I was using System 6 because it wasn't DOS.

I was using System 7 because it wasn't Windows 3

I was using Mac OS 8 because it wasn't Windows 95

I was using Mac OS 9 because it wasn't Windows ME

I was using Mac OS 9 / Mac OS X because Windows 2000 still couldn't compare

I am using Mac OS X because there is still no real alternative for keeping my sanity.

I am also using Panther because the future is damn fun.

Just like being a mac user has always been about.

[Zadian]

I used System 7, Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 for the same reason i use Mac OS X - ease of use.

The GUI of the Mac is simply the best out there (in my eyes). Before Mac OS X it was only beaten by NeXT Step - and now Mac OS X has the best of both.

I don't understand those who used the Mac because of "it is not windows" - i always used the Mac because it's a Mac.

Even Mac OS 9 is far better then Windows XP - if it comes to usage and the GUI.

[dopik]

Originally posted by ASIMO:
I like Windows.

Without it, I would never have given the Mac a shot. The best thing Windows 95 gave me was my first Mac.

I love this reply. For me, it was Windows 3.0

dopik

[msuper69]

Originally posted by - - e r i k - -:
...
I am also using Panther because the future is damn fun.

Just like being a mac user has always been about.

That my friends, is EXACTLY the difference between the Mac and that other platform.

FUN vs. WORK

[sushiism]

ahh i moved over from 2000/xp and its around 80 times better than those two wastes of space, although I have always liked macs because they just seemed so better designed (interface wise) you know it looked like a computer interface should look in this day and age while windows still really just looked like windows 3.1 with a bit of polish and some ideas nicked from apple (the whole files on your desktop with my computer and that crap)

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
Yes, we all that OS X rocks...well, at least most of us...

But, you see, I'm a recent Mac convert (after OS X appeared and made me "fill my cup," as the movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" gently puts it (nevermind if you have no idea what I'm talking about)), and I don't understand how anyone could have used Macs before OS X...

I mean, I understand now why people love Macs, but before...wtf? They were ugly pieces of ****! I'd use one to wipe my ass!

Don't take that offensively, I was just making a point.

So umm...can someone explain how anyone could have liked Macs before OS X? Thanks!

Because people like you were using Windows.

A small yet vital part in an effort to have as little in common with you as possible.

[sniffer]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
So umm...can someone explain how anyone could have liked Macs before OS X? Thanks!

I think it has something to do with it being simple and it just worked™. I switched just for OS X, but version 10.0 got delayed so I had to stick with OS 9 as a temporally OS longer than expected on my first Mac. But I tell you, the thing grows on you, it really does! I prefer OS X now when it has matured, but OS 9 is definitive not an OS to wipe your ass with IMO.

[DeathMan]

but OS 9 is definitive not an OS to wipe your ass with IMO.

Well said, sniffer.

[bergy]

Do we really need or want this kind of language on our forum? I encourage you all to report this as an abusive post.

[Horsepoo!!!]

Originally posted by bergy:
Do we really need or want this kind of language on our forum? I encourage you all to report this as an abusive post.

Who are you?

[fat mac moron]

I moved to the Mac sometime around January 2002... OS X was the compelling reason, but after using OS 9 a bit, I found it a pleasure. The memory management sucks and it does crash once in a while but it's still a great OS.

I love using a Mac because I don't have to think about my stupid computer. A computer is a tool, and OS X lets me get work done without any hassles.

[tvfollower]

Agreed. You have lost your perspective.

I was using System 6 because it wasn't DOS.

I was using System 7 because it wasn't Windows 3

I was using Mac OS 8 because it wasn't Windows 95

I was using Mac OS 9 because it wasn't Windows ME

I was using Mac OS 9 / Mac OS X because Windows 2000 still couldn't compare

I am using Mac OS X because there is still no real alternative for keeping my sanity.

I am also using Panther because the future is damn fun.

Just like being a mac user has always been about.

You have no idea how much sense that makes!

Even Mac OS 9 is far better then Windows XP - if it comes to usage and the GUI.

I certainly do not understand that. XP has a very modern GUI (even though the default blue is just a bit extreme, while OS 9's GUI is so...well...old. When I look at OS 9, I seriously become disturbed. It just looks so childish...and I wan't my computer to look nice, advanced, and modern. I mean...what's with the ugly lines on the window title bars? And the smiley faces everywhere? Yuck!

Because people like you were using Windows.

Watch it, dude.

I think it has something to do with it being simple and it just worked™. I switched just for OS X, but version 10.0 got delayed so I had to stick with OS 9 as a temporally OS longer than expected on my first Mac. But I tell you, the thing grows on you, it really does! I prefer OS X now when it has matured, but OS 9 is definitive not an OS to wipe your ass with IMO.

Maybe I'll try out OS 9.

Do we really need or want this kind of language on our forum? I encourage you all to report this as an abusive post.

While I may have said one foul phrase, there was no malicious intent, which is really what it boils down to.

[booboo]

Originally posted by Link:
Windows had better memory management (or so it seems), when you killed an app it wouldn't lock the whole computer up in the process (seems to happen all the time in OS 9).

....

Windows 95 did shake the desktop world and is often upheld as if modern desktop computing began with it.

In some ways it did leapfrog the Mac OS, and in many other ways, as far as most people were concerned, it was close enough. Bill had his wet dream.

However, in the Mac world, we'd had nearly 10 years already of modern desktop computing, the desktop metaphor, and all those other wonderful things that Windows 95 invented.

Our boxes were beige too, but always had immeasurably more style, and though our hardware was expensive, a lot of the time it was ahead of the curve in terms of speed and functionality. The Mac OS was the software that ran on these machines and the combination gave birth to many of the heavyweight applications of today, from Photoshop and FreeHand, through Quark XPress, Performer and Cubase VST, ProTools, FileMaker and QuickTime. We were there first, in some cases by a long time. And now they run on Windows too.

We stayed with the Mac because we loved it. And Windows 95 was just something that came along in the middle of it all, and ran on the office machines.

There were a few years in the wilderness, when the suits ruled Apple, and the Spirit Of The Mac seemed almost stifled by the platinum. But thanks to us loyal customers Apple mad it through and once again drives the industry in cool and innovation.

[MasonMcD]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
I certainly do not understand that. XP has a very modern GUI (even though the default blue is just a bit extreme, while OS 9's GUI is so...well...old. When I look at OS 9, I seriously become disturbed. It just looks so childish...and I wan't my computer to look nice, advanced, and modern. I mean...what's with the ugly lines on the window title bars? And the smiley faces everywhere? Yuck!

Ahh. Here you demonstrate Win vs. Mac. Windows folk think a GUI is colors and shapes. Mac folk know the GUI is about workflow.

If the mac was flaming pink with all green widgets, the GUI, or workflow would still be superior.

The GUI is all about how fast you can get your stuff done with as little frontal lobe action spent on navigation. Win anything provides so many convoluted paths to do almost anything (quick! How many clicks to see your IP address? If I'm straight ethernet, and System Prefs is open, it takes one. Two if I'm on AirPort) that it's maddening.

[Nonsuch]

Originally posted by MasonMcD:
Ahh. Here you demonstrate Win vs. Mac. Windows folk think a GUI is colors and shapes. Mac folk know the GUI is about workflow.

If the mac was flaming pink with all green widgets, the GUI, or workflow would still be superior.

You took the words out of my mouth. Apple conceives each task and function in its simplest possible terms. (What's the simplest way to install software? Drag it onto your hard drive. And so on.) Windows XP basically throws in the towel and says, "This task is complicated and we can't really make it simpler, so here's a wizard to hold your hand."

[intastella]

"(What's the simplest way to install software? Drag it onto your hard drive. And so on.) Windows XP basically throws in the towel and says, "This task is complicated and we can't really make it simpler, so here's a wizard to hold your hand.""

Exactly. I don't understand how no one has caught on to this. Not even Linux, that has a history of grabbing ideas from all over the place, has even tried this. It's so damn obvious that drag and drop and application bundles are the way to go.

[tvfollower]

Originally posted by MasonMcD:
Ahh. Here you demonstrate Win vs. Mac. Windows folk think a GUI is colors and shapes. Mac folk know the GUI is about workflow.

If the mac was flaming pink with all green widgets, the GUI, or workflow would still be superior.

The GUI is all about how fast you can get your stuff done with as little frontal lobe action spent on navigation. Win anything provides so many convoluted paths to do almost anything (quick! How many clicks to see your IP address? If I'm straight ethernet, and System Prefs is open, it takes one. Two if I'm on AirPort) that it's maddening.

But still...don't you care at all about its looks?

[Brass]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
But still...don't you care at all about its looks?

Of course the looks matter, but in comparison to usability, looks are always a much lower priority.

Who cares what colour the buttons are when on one system you only have to click one button, but on the other system, you have to click umpteen-dozen buttons to do the same thing?

[gorgonzola]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
But still...don't you care at all about its looks?

Yes, and neutral grey may not be sexy, but it's clean and unobtrusive. That's one reason graphics people liked it so much...it was completely color-neutral. People cared about the looks and they liked it.

It may not have been flashy, but it was a clean, well-designed workhorse that got the job done. The GUI was excellent; the main problem with OS 9 was really just a very aged architecture. One of the main reasons for updating the OS X GUI was to provide something tangible that communicated how much had changed.

Otherwise, people would look at the OS and say...but that looks the same as the junk I didn't like two years ago. When in reality it would have been completely different. Aqua is certainly a much flashier, sexier look, but there are definite practical benefits to OS 9's GUI, and that's really what it boiled down to: practicality.

To be quite frank, it has less to do with colors than with design and proportion. Classic Windows is all grey too, but it's just nasty and inelegant; there are certain things that are just intangibly bad about it. It's the same thing with the WinXP GUI...it's certainly more colorful and flashier than Platinum, but at the end of the day it's still less practical -and- less elegant. Obviously there are architectural advantages XP has over OS 9, but I'm just talking about the GUI here.

[iPond317]

tvfollower, why are you comparing old Macintosh systems to the current lineup of Apple hardware? Apple is always busy innovating new stylish hardware, even in the pre-Gx series. Can you really compare, say a PowerMac 7200 to a desktop PC at the time and say the Macintosh was not more stylish?! Apple has always had the upperhand in computer design and always will as fas as I see it. As for your comment about wiping your ass with a Mac, yes it is offensive and uncalled for. I don't go around saying I'd like to wipe my ass with your old PC.

As a side note: all versions of the Mac OS have been better than any version of Winblows put together. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

[rlmorel]

I use the MacOS because of it's attention to detail, the fit and finish. The example I like to use only works with OS9 (sadly), but it is an example of the way Apple thinks.

In OS9, save a file, and when the Save dialog box appears, insert a floppy or zip disk. The Save location automatically switches to the inserted media. You don't have to navigate. It knows you want to save it on the disk.

Besides. The Mac interface is just plain fun. Windows is...well...work. It feels like a machine, no life to it. The MacOS feels somewhat organic in a way.

The original poster should have worded his question differently...

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by tvfollower:
Watch it, dude.

Hahaha. Or what? You'll intimidate me over the Internet? Whoa. Scary.

[hunkhuang]

I can't wait for the Panther now... i plan to rob Steve's office... anyone wants to join?

[Cipher13]

Originally posted by hunkhuang:
I can't wait for the Panther now... i plan to rob Steve's office... anyone wants to join?

Well, you COULD just become an ADC member, but hey... who am I to give you advice?

[blackbird_1.0]

I just love Apple products.

I had an apple 2, loved it

a powerbook 165, loved it

an imac, loved it, still love it

an my ibook rocks

OS9 was good, but OSX is better....

nuff said...

[Sherwin]

*cough* Atari ST running NeoDesk and NeoDesk CLI. Still better than any desktop experience out of Redmond.