Question about Macs

[ManBearPig]

I'm curious, i don't know how practical it is, but are macs really easy to use? the interface looks cool, stylish, cohesive, and really easy to use and accessible. Is it?

if so, anyway to apply themes or anything to make XP like a mac interface?

 

[n0cmonkey]

I think Mac OS X is pretty easy. I got the hang of it in under a week.

A theme won't make any other OS mac OS X-like. Not really.

 

[warcrow]

About 2 years ago I integrated (not switched since I use both Mac and PC still) a G5 for video editing purposes. I use both for general web browsing, email...it just depends which one I'm currently sitting on.

That being said, it took me a little while to disconnect my head from a windows environment and really get how OS X works. When I say that, I don't mean to impy that I was constantly stumbling around, general purpose use is intuitive and easy to consume. It's the behavior in which applications act.

One of the things that I still goof up, is that sometimes when you open an application -no window will open up. What happens, is tha tthe application does load up -there is just no GUI for it. If you look in the upper left-hand corner, you will see the application's name (file, insert, edit) and that kind of thing. It's kinda hard to explain, and really not that big of a deal. Just a (poor explained) example.

I say go for it -I love my mac. 🙂

 

[Nothinman]

One of the things that I still goof up, is that sometimes when you open an application -no window will open up. What happens, is tha tthe application does load up -there is just no GUI for it. If you look in the upper left-hand corner, you will see the application's name (file, insert, edit) and that kind of thing. It's kinda hard to explain, and really not that big of a deal. Just a (poor explained) example.

Equally frustrating is when you click on the X to close an application and all it does is close that window but the application is still running and you don't notice until you look up at the Apple menu and still see the application's menu.

 

[Atheus]

It's about as easy to use as Windows, just different.

The main advantage IMO the unix command line.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
Equally frustrating is when you click on the X to close an application and all it does is close that window but the application is still running and you don't notice until you look up at the Apple menu and still see the application's menu.

Clicking is for suckers. Command-q is way faster and it works.

That said, I think that os x is way more usable than, say, windows for the functionality that exists. I would understand people who claim windows is more usable because of things it can do that os x can't.

 

[Nothinman]

Clicking is for suckers. Command-q is way faster and it works.

But it's a change of habit that takes a while to get used to and the different meaning of the X button is confusing.

That said, I think that os x is way more usable than, say, windows for the functionality that exists. I would understand people who claim windows is more usable because of things it can do that os x can't.

The only thing Windows can do that OS X can't is play some games.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Clicking is for suckers. Command-q is way faster and it works.

But it's a change of habit that takes a while to get used to and the different meaning of the X button is confusing..

Yea, that took some time to get use to as well.

That said, I think that os x is way more usable than, say, windows for the functionality that exists. I would understand people who claim windows is more usable because of things it can do that os x can't.

The only thing Windows can do that OS X can't is play some games.

........some?

 

[Nothinman]

........some?

Well now that OS X runs on Intel, WINE also runs on OS X. And in either case 'some' is still accurate because it imply any numbers, high or low.

 

[kamper]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
The only thing Windows can do that OS X can't is play some games.

That's a bold claim. How about:
-There's no recent IE for os x. However silly, some people might rely on IE for certain things.
-Smb networking on windows is way smoother than on os x.
-Inevitably, there are the windows-only programs that people rely on, only some of which are games.
-I doubt os x supports as wide a range of hardware. (Where 'supports' includes getting drivers from 3rd parties).
-I bet there's a tonne of business oriented stuff relating to domains and security policies that windows does better.

I simply don't believe that a company Apple's size could best a company Microsoft's size in the feature department. Especially when Apple's usability strategy, which is quite good, revolves around boiling things down to the key features and making them simple. Microsoft's strategy seems to resolve more around stuffing more features in everywhere without particular regard for coherency. I think os x is a better platform for the ordinary user but obviously it's not everyone's ideal.

 

[Nothinman]

-There's no recent IE for os x. However silly, some people might rely on IE for certain things.

That's where Parallels comes in. If you really need IE for your job or something then you need to factor that in before you buy something.

-Smb networking on windows is way smoother than on os x.

SMB networking isn't smooth anywhere, but I must say that I've had less trouble with it on Linux than on Windows by quite a large margin.

-Inevitably, there are the windows-only programs that people rely on, only some of which are games.

This goes back to Parallels and buying the right machine to get done what you need. The opposite can be true too. Do you really think OS X users who have gotten used to having things like iDVD around are going to want to get all new replacements just to run Windows? And I really doubt you can make a good case for someone "relying" on games unless they work for a game manufacturer and in that cause their work machine would be provided for them.

-I doubt os x supports as wide a range of hardware. (Where 'supports' includes getting drivers from 3rd parties).

True, although 99% of that hardware is crap. Common peripherals like cameras, scanners, hard drives, etc should work fine AFAIK. There's a lot of hardware out there that Windows will never support either, so this is a wash IMO.

-I bet there's a tonne of business oriented stuff relating to domains and security policies that windows does better.

AFAIK OS X can join a domain just fine and the GPO stuff wouldn't be relevant since the software is different and wouldn't apply.

I simply don't believe that a company Apple's size could best a company Microsoft's size in the feature department.

Then what explains Vista being 10 years late even with half of it's big name features being dropped along the way? Apple's had things like Expose and Spotlight for a while now and MS is just releasing them in Vista.

Microsoft's strategy seems to resolve more around stuffing more features in everywhere without particular regard for coherency.

MS' main strategy seems to me to just involve lots of marketing people talking about features that may or may not ever happen. Their second strategy, the one that actually produces things, is to take something that's already doing half-decently, reimplement it and find a way to make it more appealing.

 

[warcrow]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

........some?

Well now that OS X runs on Intel, WINE also runs on OS X. And in either case 'some' is still accurate because it imply any numbers, high or low.

Hrm, I've not used WINE before. I wonder how much a performance hit one would incure from using it. I have a Mac Pro and I'm wondering if Oblivion would play respectively at decent graphical settings.

Is WINE free?

 

[Nothinman]

Hrm, I've not used WINE before. I wonder how much a performance hit one would incure from using it. I have a Mac Pro and I'm wondering if Oblivion would play respectively at decent graphical settings.

Is WINE free?

Yes, WINE and Cedega are both GPL'd. I believe Cedega has some closed source parts for dealing with copy protection and crap on some games, so if you don't pay you might need to get a no-cd patch to make it work. I've never run WINE on OS X though so I don't know what hoops you'll be required to jump through other than that it'll require the X server to be installed.

I don't know about Oblivion but I know a handful of people that play WoW in WINE and performance is about the same. Actually I've heard some people say it's worse and some say it's better in WINE, so there's other factors involved.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: warcrow
About 2 years ago I integrated (not switched since I use both Mac and PC still) a G5 for video editing purposes. I use both for general web browsing, email...it just depends which one I'm currently sitting on.

That being said, it took me a little while to disconnect my head from a windows environment and really get how OS X works. When I say that, I don't mean to impy that I was constantly stumbling around, general purpose use is intuitive and easy to consume. It's the behavior in which applications act.

One of the things that I still goof up, is that sometimes when you open an application -no window will open up. What happens, is tha tthe application does load up -there is just no GUI for it. If you look in the upper left-hand corner, you will see the application's name (file, insert, edit) and that kind of thing. It's kinda hard to explain, and really not that big of a deal. Just a (poor explained) example.

That is a pretty good description of my experience as well.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

........some?

Well now that OS X runs on Intel, WINE also runs on OS X. And in either case 'some' is still accurate because it imply any numbers, high or low.

Speaking of, do you guys know of any good walkthrus or resources Re: running OSX on a standard PC ? I haven't even looked into it yet, but it sounds like a good project for a rainy day.

 

[Nothinman]

Speaking of, do you guys know of any good walkthrus or resources Re: running OSX on a standard PC ? I haven't even looked into it yet, but it sounds like a good project for a rainy day.

Nothing legal.

 

[igowerf]

I think that the Finder is a bit easier to use than Windows Explorer. To me, the column layout is easier than the tree layout for navigating through directories.

 

[Yreka]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Speaking of, do you guys know of any good walkthrus or resources Re: running OSX on a standard PC ? I haven't even looked into it yet, but it sounds like a good project for a rainy day.

Nothing legal.

Gotcha, ty