[Kosmo]

Well, ok..it's time to write the definitve answer to everyone's questions about OS X...

Let's start with these basic premises:

There are (for all intents and purposes here) only 2 operating systems..Mac and Windows.. 5% of the people use Macs, 94% use Windows and 1% use the rest (Linux, Be, et al)

For the most part Windows uses are the 'silent majority'. That is, 94% of the computers users are using their computers and going about their lives without saying very much. When something goes terribly wrong on a windows machine it's expected, part of the 'deal' if you will.

The 5% of people use their Macs because they LOVE the company, the hardware and the software...it's been said that mac uses are 'cult-minded' and for the most part that's true. This very fact has kept Apple alive.

Using a Mac is productive, efficient, easy and FUN. People use Macs for many reasons but mostly because it's fun to do so.

There is currenlty a ratio of 25 to 1 for Platform specific Web sites, ie, Macnn, MacFever, Macobserver, macintouch, etc etc...there are only a handful of pc specfic sites...Mac and the Internet go hand in hand..the internet experience is better on a Mac...

When a Mac person uses Windows they are most often heard saying things like "Why do they do this THAT way??" "Why do you have to do ____" (fill in the blank)... Same goes for a windows user when confronted with Macs.

Very few people can change platforms...If you were introduced into computers using a Mac chances are you'll use a Mac always and forever. Same goes for windows users.

The truth before last Saturday is that Macs crash less, require less a learning curve, are easier to fix, and less likely to make someone pull their hair out.

The reason these boards have been going 'down' so much lately is because what has happened is that Apple is asking people to RETHINK their relationship with their Mac. Period. And the posts are flooding in.."Why this, why that?" type of thing..

Using OS X is like using Windows, in that it SEEMS as though everything has changed. Suddenly, the same questions a Mac user would ask when using a Windows machine are now being asked when they use OS X.

This is to be expected. But non-the-less it is terrifying. We are being asked to re-learn how to use a Mac. Soon, in a year or 2 we will not be asked, it will simply be the Mac..OS X will be the Mac interface and there is nothing we can do about it except to re-learn how to use a Mac.

This is what I propose for every user of Macnn. I will begin this process later today for myself.

If you own a G3/G4 computer chances are you hard drive is at least 6GIGs... If you don't own a G3 then you can't use OS X anyway and this excerise if irrelevant.

1. Back up all your data. Use Copy Agent. This software is simply the best. You can get it from connectix. It's far better than anything else I have used.

2. Erase you hard drive. Partition it with 2 partitions.

3. Install 9.1 on partition 1.

4. Install 9.1 and OS X on partition 2.

5. Install all your software that you need to work with on a daily basis into partiton 1. Include your favorites here, all the 3rd party stuff you've come to know and love...

6. On partition 2 install some of your OS 9 software as well, if you use Photoshop then install photoshop on both partitions. But do not install 3rd party system enhancements on 9.1 on your 2nd partition. And install ALL OSX apps you can find.

7. On a daily basis begin using OS X for an hour or so. Make OS X your OS for email, web surfing, ICQ, etc..these are things all of us do each day, at the beginning of our day. We check our email and we visit our mac related sites...then we go to work.

8. When it's time to get working boot into OS 9 partition. Get your work done...be productive, work fast, be happy... When you boot into 9 just excuse yourself and go to the bathroom, get a drink, whatever. when you get back you'll be in 9.

9. When you want to play around with a new web design or a new Photoshop image, just for yourself, not your boss, then boot into OS X and classic and work..It will take a little more time but it's your own time and you afford it..I hope

10. At the end of your day if you've been 'working' in 9.1 to earn your paycheck, boot back into OSX and dink around for a while. Force yourself to print something, force yourself to save a document as a PDF...seriously, it's so cool that you can save anything as a PDF. Do something that is OSX specific. Try some OS X software.


We need to provide a 'safe' haven for ourselves when we get frusutrated with our new OS. This is why I would partition the drive as I have indicated above. If you need to get away from OS X you can boot into the 9 partition and OS X will not affect you in any way.

We have to re-learn this, we don't have a choice. I believe that all of us, if we do as i suggest, will come to think OS X is a truly superior OS and before long, as updates come and more native software is released, you'll find yourself staying longer in OS X enviroment until the day comes when you'll find that you've spent the entire day in OSX...it will be THAT moment when you'll leave OS 9 and never look back.

In the beginning it will be rough, I know. and if any of you say you're already using OSX everyday without booting into 9 then you don't have the same work load as me or the others. For the time being 9 will be our most effective OS.

I urge you to try this. I think it will work. And before you know it things will be just fine...

After all my bitching, after all my pain of trying to treat this OS as is it were a Mac in the old sense, I've come to realize that all it is is a re-learning thing...No one can be expected to flip into OSX without a period of transition....

What do you think?

Kosmo

[dbogdan]

Kudos on an insightful and coherent post. Yeah, I've read some of your less than enthusiastic posts about OSX. I've also posted a few of 'em myself! I'm doing exactly what you are proposing and have been since the initial Public Beta preview. I'm getting less and less "uncomfortable" about OSX and in fact, now that I've gotten the commercial release, I'm actually pretty impressed and liking it more and more. Obviously there are some shortcomings, but there always are in an initial release. That doesn't mean I'm going to "abandon ship" like others have suggested. It just means I'm going to make a point of letting my opinions known to Apple. That's one thing most Mac users don't have a problem with - letting their opinions be known! In doing so, we can expect - nay demand - that Apple be responsive to us and improve upon an already excellent OS. We stand a much better chance of having an impact by providing feedback than the throngs of Windoze users do with Microslop, I can assure you of that!
The only apprehension I feel is regarding Quark XPress and Adobe products. I work with them on a nightly basis and they are my bread and butter. Without both of them porting their products to OSX, the OS will remain the "orphan stepchild" of OSs, and certain to be a marginalized operating system because of it. I understand that both Quark and Adobe are working on updated OSX compliant software, but it can't happen soon enough for me. Until then, I'm certain that my office, sporting 50+ Macs using everything from OS7.x to 9.1 will not make the leap to OSX. So, I'll have to be content with using my trusty iMac DVSE+ at home and continue to climb the learning curve in OSX.
Keep up the positive attitude Kosmo! Together, all of us relative "newbies" to OSX can bring our collective knowledge and expertise to the table and help one another through this transitional time...

[iloveOSX]

good post kosmo.

where does speed come into play though?

a) july update will fix this?
b) live with it (imac and ibook are hosed unless they have 288megs)
c) it will take a while (6 months to a year) but it will get there.
d) other

its just like many people said. i can earn a living in 9 but currently not in X. And its not becuase of relearning its because (for me.) if i have half the programs open that I usually do for work in X as i do in 9 all i get are spinning cursors (VM chug chug) when I switch programs or do something intensive.

original ibook 160 megs....

[Kosmo]

expertly put...I'm totally with you...it's time to accept it and move on to making sure Apple keeps delivering proper updates to continue the cause...

Kosmo

[bitfly]

Kosmo, you seem to be changing your opinion allot.

First it is " The build in the box is K78, but that build is not the SHIPPING version."

Then it is "the 4K78 that shipped has all the debugging code removed and is soooo fast, System Prefs opens instantly"

After that you complain how you got caught up in the hype and it is not as fast as you thought despite the fact that you actually posted bounce benchmarks that looked fast.

As far as I am concerned you are just as contradictory as the Bible and you will change your opinion of OSX again tomorrow.

Rattle on though....

[Gametes]

The truth before last Saturday is that Macs crash less, require less a learning curve, are easier to fix, and less likely to make someone pull their hair out.

I'd just like to point out that this is still true. In fact, I submit that it is now more true than ever before, else, all has been in vain.
[The UI designers of other OSes say "How can we help them not want to throw their computer across the room when doing this task?"
The UI designers of OS X (and the Mac, before that) say "How can we make doing the task pleasant, or even fun?"
And this is why it is.]

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you are not your signature

[Kosmo]

To iloveOSX:

Speed with come 2 ways I'm afraid...thru updates to further optimize and through migration to faster hardware. I really feel for those folks running 18 month old speed chips but the GUI is so graphics intensive the speed problem can only be handled by this 2 prong approach.... software and hardware...

Truth be known, people that make a living on the Macs should always try to put aside a 'hardware/software' slush fund in order to update with the times...

Kosmo

[Kosmo]

bifly,

you couldn't be more right...I have been all over the board on this, my mind has changed more often than I change my underwear...but I haven't done an about-face here, I'm merely trying to discover a way to live with OS X as it is now while awaiting improvements.

I still believe K78 is beta, they shiped beta, and it's full of bugs and it's slow...however, if i am going to continue to advance my work than I am going to have to try to find a way to work with OS X. I don't think my post in this thread in any way endorsed OS X as a great OS, as it sits now, it's not...

Hope this clears it up for you...like I said many times here, if I'm wrong I'll be more than happy to fall on my sword, and I have...

Kosmo

[iCartman]

There is currenlty a ratio of 25 to 1 for Platform specific Web sites, ie, Macnn, MacFever, Macobserver, macintouch, etc etc...there are only a handful of pc specfic sites...Mac and the Internet go hand in hand..the internet experience is better on a Mac...

I suggest you start exploring the Internet more. There are more sites that don't work with a Mac than there are Mac fan sites (dunno of any internet sites that don't work on a PC). God knows how many specific PC sites there are (probably in the 1000's). Plus lately I've been noticing more mac sites closing down for good (some by Apple's legal fist).

Your statement should read "the Internet is more limited on a Mac" (especially with OSX!).

As for the rest of your statement, you imply that users should start training themselves to learn OSX. I believe a great interface is one that doesn't require a learning curve. This is what made the Macintosh such a great computer.

I also believe that we as users do have the power to change the direction of a company. I don't think it's right to sit back and take bloatware shoved at us. Users have forced a change in Apple in the past and we can do it again. I see OSX as the personification of a company choosing profits over customer satisfaction (probably to offset the sinking ship known as Earthlink).

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respect mah athoritah!

Kinda OT, but you have to calm down K

There is currenlty a ratio of 25 to 1 for Platform specific Web sites, ie, Macnn, MacFever, Macobserver, macintouch, etc etc...there are only a handful of pc specfic sites...Mac and the Internet go hand in hand..the internet experience is better on a Mac...

Not true. The internet is Windows World. There are many sites that are IE5+ Windows only. Despite the fact that IE is the most W3C standards compliant browser around, MS keeps releasing Windows browsers with proprietary tags. Any person on these forums can point you to at least one site that is Windows only. Look at any random weblog. Macs make up at most 5% of weblog hits, just like 'real' life OS stats.

Apple doesn't really get the internet -- that is not until OSX, and this is by default. Finally we get a decent java2 implementation, and an OS that is built on open standards. OSX will force Apple to 'get' the internet as it will become a first rate web development platform, and the open standards [Darwin] will allow interop protocols to be added.

There's a lot of crazy software sh*t going on, and much of it doesn't have to do with the OS. We'll see how Apple deals. We already know MS's response.

[Kosmo]

(from my new TiBook )

What I meant is Mac-Fan Sites, the fact that Mac fan sites are far more numerous than PC-fan sites...

I am in no way saying Apple has leg up on the net, they don't, except that OS X makes it much easier, and iTools is a great free service from Apple and the best way to get updates and apps from them..

If I wasn't clear then I apologize.

Kosmo