So I was playing around with OSX... (Page 1 of 2)

OSX is actually built around a Unix/BSD kernel so under the hood, there's a lot in common with linux, which is inspired by unix.

The kernel of OSX is actually open-source...but they don't make it very easy to do anything with it without buying the rest of their proprietary OS.

a lot of the features that you're talking about that they have in common seem more like common sense than copied design, or similar kernels.  They probably have more to do with bad decisions on Windows part (which used to show file extensions by default, for example) than anything else.

True!

Since MacOS X as it's roots on UNIX-like FreeBSD kernel there a lot of UNIX-like similarities. And the UI and overall simple, user thought, friendly system mixed with great stability, security, performance and optimized software/hardware make a powerful combination.

In example, installing and removing applications to/from OS X is as simple as dragging the app icon to the apps folder or the garbage bin. From that point of view it is better than Linux. But it is a closed system, lacks the same customization and it's expensive.

Regarding Windows, the features you've mentioned are just the default behaviour for newbies, a matter of proper preferences setup. Easily resolved.

The latest Ubuntu themes have become more and more OS X like. That's one of the reasons that some people are ditching Ubuntu. To others it may be better.

I guess I'm surprised at the customization options. For example, windows has a few shortcut keys for applications.
on OSX you can add any custom ones you like, and modify any existing ones. Seems pretty advanced considering what I thought about the OS previously.

The only problem I have with OSX is that they seemed to have duct taped X on top of Cocoa.  That is, you can't ssh -X into OSX (from Linux) and run iTunes and send the display back to your Linux box.
-Hinto

I was just using a mac machine. did you know that gnu nano is included by default on them?

Not that it matters too much (imo) but osx is one of the few UNIX certified systems.

I  am using a macbook as my main machine, albeit with statler running maximised in a vm as the main "app".

Mac OS X is much better than windows, but I find it a bit limited if you don't want to work the mac way.
Themes and the like are non existent, and then there's the annoying top-of-the-screen menubar, which you can't turn off.  Eg in firefox, I like it maximized with just tab-bar and url-bar, but with mac-os you're stuck also having the menubar which wastes a chunk of the screen and looks ugly (you can set it as a popup menubar, but that has issues).

I find some things are broken conceptually, for example mac os focuses on applications rather than windows.  If you click an icon in the dock, it will switch to a window (which one?) if the app is already running, or launch a new window if not.  Very annoying when you accidentally keep opening 50 tabs of firefox, or try and launch a new terminal when you already have several open.   ie the roles of navigation and launching are confused.  I notice all the others including gnome3/unity seem to be moving in this direction, and I really can't understand it.

Then there is the famous "copy a folder over an existing one" bug.  Let's say you have a folder of photos, and you take a working copy.  You delete a load of the working photos, and edit some others.  Then you copy the working folder over the old one.  Should just replace the edited files, right?  Nope, it erases the entire original folder and contents, and replaces it with the new slimmed down working folder.  But the cardinal sin is, you can't undo it, the files aren't in the trash.  You just lost your photos.  Been bitten hard by that one.
Then there's the whole "one button mouse" thing, and double-click inconsistency (double-click to open items in the right-pane of the finder, singleclick to open items in the left pane, etc).
Also, with consistency, the new "3d UI" apps like iMovie seem to be in a world seperate from the rest of the UI, apparently grafted on.

If you've got used to free software on windows and linux, mac os X will come as a shock, as the default business model for most software is payware.  I've no objection to paying for quality software, except that there often aren't any free equivalents available.  A simple example would be NTFS driver - the most popular one is payware (about $40 I think), and although they provide a 'free' version of it (and despite the code base being based on the linux NTFS drivers I believe), it gradually degrades in performance as you put data through it, to the point of unusability after a couple of gigs.

The hardware is of course gorgeous, and some of the stuff that should just work, works beautifully - for example, close the lid, and the machine sleeps.  Open it, and it's operational before you can get your hands on the keyboard.  Actually my only complaint (though it's quite a big one) is the chicklet keyboard - I've been spoilt by superlative thinkpad and HP keyboards.  Oh and there's no "delete" key (though "backspace" is labelled "delete") - you have to do a two-handed "Fn-backspace" to get delete.  Oh and on my black macbook the sound volume is pathetic - actually I hear (or not!) this is a general problem with all macbooks - Jobs must have animal hearing.

Anyway, if you're moving from windows, especially the crock that is windows 7 (Fortunately I never had to venture into vista, I hear it's far worse), I think you'll find mac os a vast improvement, and of couse you can run linux on the hardware anyway.

Last edited by jackbang (2011-04-07 08:12:07)

I'm sure there's some memo somewhere saying, "if they want to hear something, they should buy an iPod."

I'm toooo bored to read all the staff written here, but I'll add my 2 cents for OSX anyway:

My girlfriend bought a macbook last year and I had/have the chance to play with it. At first I liked it. There are some really nice features on OSX that I would like to also see on Linux and Windows, like the one-file-program/delete-the-executable-delete-the-program way or the "mouse"-tapping system with the rotating and zooming by using 2 fingers. But that's it.

I can now say that I hate everything else. I really hate the dock. I hate it every time I'm searching for e.g. firefox-dowloads-window or any other pop-up window of a program that I, accidentally or not, had put it on the background or even if I had two or more documents opened at the same time. I really hate the way you "maximize/restore/minimize" windows and I hate (that I haven't found yet how to change) the window-control-buttons on(from) the left side. BUT THE MOST OF ALL I HATE WHEN THE ROTATING UMBRELLA COMES OUT. Yes! I hate OSX!

The only sure thing is that I wouldn't buy a mac and the funny thing is that a week ago my girlfriend asked my if I would like to give her my hp mini and take her mac book (13') and without a second thought I told her "no way". After a couple of minutes I thought "what if I put linux on it? I could have a nice looking laptop with a great OS", but the offer was off the table...she also like the looks of it to just give it to me. Beside that, she can use my hp mini anytime.

She has been converted actually... She used to use #! 9.04 for about a year and she continued to use it even after she bought the mac. However, the last 4 months she's using only the mac, mainly because of it's size I think...