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OSX does not have the interface sounds available anymore, and even if they were, those were not the sounds I heard. However, there is a haxie from Unsanity call Xounds that adds this capability to OSX.

Doesn't seem to break the third-party utils I use (FruitMenu and WindowShade X and LaunchBar). Also doesn't restore my iBook 500 to pre-10.1.5 performance levels, but I need an excuse to get an AlBook anyway...

As many people have pointed out, there are several ways to disable this. My personal choice has been demetallifizer, as it will globally fix all cocoa applications.

(Of course, it crosses my mind that brushed aluminum applications are incredibly ugly...as mac applications go. They still tend to look and behave better than any X11 applications.)

You can easily change the Safari theme from brushed metal Aqua to standard Aqua with a couple of clicks in Interface Builder. You could also use one of the Unsanity haxies.

Unsanity's Metallifizer clears this silliness right up -- no brushed metal in Safari.

this "haxie" (lame name, i know) might be able to get rid of the brushed aluminum, assuming it's a cocoa app. i haven't tried it yet as i'm at work and they won't let me hook up my iBook to the network, but it's worth a shot. it unmetallifized iChat just fine for me. plus it's free. their windowshade haxie is also a nice addition, although that one will cost you $7. and no, i don't work for them, i just happened to stumble across their site and really like their stuff.

For Apple menu-style launching in OSX, you should check out a little haxie called FruitMenu.

The only problem I have with the operating system UI is the lack of window shading.

You need.... WindowShade X

http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/wsx/

That's right... now you can get WindowShade functionality in OSX... only better.

please note, I don't work for unsanity... I just like their stuff ;)

Why can't you play your Ogg files with Audion?

Or Unsanity Mint Audio?

Or Macamp?

They all support Ogg. And I'm sure I forgot at least a dozen more. Claiming the Mac can't play Ogg because iTunes doesn't support it is about as ridiculous as saying Linux can't do your budget because there is no spreadsheet built into the kernel.

The article poster is trolling on that last sentence, plain and simple.

Never gotten an arcane error with Windows XP.

They probably just hide them now! ;)

The only thing that's missing in Windows that I want (need) is file/folder labling (colors), which I'm actually programming for myself in my spare time. THAT would be worth dropping $30 for. It's one missing functionality--OS X is missing too many. I'd go broke.

I use Labels on OS 9 once in a blue moon, but I know a lot of people miss it.

Labels X $7. (but of course MS is making you pay extra to play MP3s...)

The rumor is Labels and Popup Windows are coming back in the near future.

No points given back to you for commenting on my cuteness. =] All that matters to me is that you recongize my devastating brilliance. (And overlook my spelling and grammatical errors.)

Can't blame a man for trying ;)

And hey... Aren't we supposed to be having this argument in email? You're SUCH a guy- always arguing in public. =]

Damn, you never take me anywhere! :(

It's been said already before, but I'll chime in and say it again:

Apple is very, very protective (and rightfully so) of their GUI. Hell, they do the bulk of the high-level human interface research for the industry. They need to be.

Apple, as of MacOS 10.2, "broke" the way that some applications/hacks got their hooks into the interface, particuarly the menu bar. And they changed the human interface guidelines to match.

Guess what? Those applications (including the absolutely indispensable ASM) were again functioning a week or two later.

I agree with Apple's rationale. Hacks ~= an unstable system, and clutter via icons on the menu bar == bad.

I also know that here, in the real world, dammit, I want my application menu back. And ASM gives that to me.

Do you guys REALLY think that Apple is going to build a *nix/BSD based OS and then lock users out of the *nix layer? How clueless is that? They're working with Linux/BSD developers to bring MORE unix software our way, cleaner.

As far as customization, you want themes for OS X 10.2? Old-school windowshading? A more useful Apple Menu? Low-level control of CoreGraphics and Interface Plists? Interface sounds?

What was the issue again?

If you're still not happy install whatever window manager you prefer. It'll work under X11. Although at that point, why are you using a Mac in the first place?

It's been said already before, but I'll chime in and say it again:

Apple is very, very protective (and rightfully so) of their GUI. Hell, they do the bulk of the high-level human interface research for the industry. They need to be.

Apple, as of MacOS 10.2, "broke" the way that some applications/hacks got their hooks into the interface, particuarly the menu bar. And they changed the human interface guidelines to match.

Guess what? Those applications (including the absolutely indispensable ASM) were again functioning a week or two later.

I agree with Apple's rationale. Hacks ~= an unstable system, and clutter via icons on the menu bar == bad.

I also know that here, in the real world, dammit, I want my application menu back. And ASM gives that to me.

Do you guys REALLY think that Apple is going to build a *nix/BSD based OS and then lock users out of the *nix layer? How clueless is that? They're working with Linux/BSD developers to bring MORE unix software our way, cleaner.

As far as customization, you want themes for OS X 10.2? Old-school windowshading? A more useful Apple Menu? Low-level control of CoreGraphics and Interface Plists? Interface sounds?

What was the issue again?

If you're still not happy install whatever window manager you prefer. It'll work under X11. Although at that point, why are you using a Mac in the first place?

It's been said already before, but I'll chime in and say it again:

Apple is very, very protective (and rightfully so) of their GUI. Hell, they do the bulk of the high-level human interface research for the industry. They need to be.

Apple, as of MacOS 10.2, "broke" the way that some applications/hacks got their hooks into the interface, particuarly the menu bar. And they changed the human interface guidelines to match.

Guess what? Those applications (including the absolutely indispensable ASM) were again functioning a week or two later.

I agree with Apple's rationale. Hacks ~= an unstable system, and clutter via icons on the menu bar == bad.

I also know that here, in the real world, dammit, I want my application menu back. And ASM gives that to me.

Do you guys REALLY think that Apple is going to build a *nix/BSD based OS and then lock users out of the *nix layer? How clueless is that? They're working with Linux/BSD developers to bring MORE unix software our way, cleaner.

As far as customization, you want themes for OS X 10.2? Old-school windowshading? A more useful Apple Menu? Low-level control of CoreGraphics and Interface Plists? Interface sounds?

What was the issue again?

If you're still not happy install whatever window manager you prefer. It'll work under X11. Although at that point, why are you using a Mac in the first place?

There's a haxie over at unsanity that will enable menubar hacking regardless of WHAT apple does to their API's. Just in case. :)

Triv

I have lots of suggestions-- but the one thing I can use is a way to make the dock "double-clickable" -- I don't know how many times I've launched a document and/or application accidentally while reaching for the scroll bar next to or above the dock (depending on placement).

It's just too touchy. A double-click rather than click will solve this.

Anyone know of a 3rd party tweak to fix this? Some how I'm guessing it's hard to do because it deals with the dock's basic functionality.

(Oh and native windowshade would be nice. In the meanwhile, there's this "haxie".)

W

Steve said that "Apple is the number one supplier of Unix worldwide. Bigger than Sun, bigger than Linux..." If Steve said it, it must be true. Other than the fact that Linux is NOT Unix, but merely a clone. And since when was Linux a ,uhm, company supplying UNIX??

I own a Mac too, (G4, 640 Megs memory 2x 18G SCSI, Radeon 8500) but let's face it, Mac OS X is nothing more than FreeBSD 4.4 (pretty outdated by my standards) running Aqua as a window manager. Oh and by the way, it has a crap-load of Open Source goodies rebranded to sound like they came straight from Cupertino.

I'll give Apple one thing: If you think Apple hardware is fscking expensive, try buying a new Sun workstation! I could put a good down payment on a car for that much!

So, the question I have for Apple is: If you want the "average" Windows user to switch platforms, how are you going to convince them to pony up 3x more than a PC with less than a third of the available software? Keep in mind that the average computer user likes to swap out hardware quite a bit instead of buying a new machine every 9 months.

Steve said himself that there are "over 1500 Mac OS X apps". Most of these are haxies or simply Linux software such as GCC or Samba that have been ported over. Or maybe the iApps that are so amazing. Obviously Photoshop wasn't the "killer app" that makes everbody want OS X... So, how about something useful that doesn't cost a kidney to own (Office X, cough, cough)

With all this in mind, I'm not the least bit surprised that Linux is outdoing the Mac. I am surprised that the margin between the two is so close. For one, I can build a box that outperforms even the newest dual 1.2 Gig G4s (Uh, people use more than just Photoshop, Apple. You also haven't benchmarked the Athlons, which beat the shit out of all but the fastest P4s...) and has the latest and greatest hardware for well under $1K. Also keep in mind that the average PC user doesn't throw his entire box away after seeing new product announcements just to have the latest and greatest. If it's that hard to get Motorola to build faster G4s, then you should look elsewhere. Add to that the fact that your typical Linux distro (I also ripped into Macslash.org for calling Mac OS X a "distro")has many thousands of apps and goodies and no DRM, spyware, or product activation bullshit like Windows, and I just plain fail to see why anybody would want to bother with Mac or Windows.

Steve, it's time to break out of the Reality Distortion Field(TM) and offer cheaper hardware to get better penetration in the Windows camp.

Bill, you can take your "Trusted Computing", DRM, WMP9, .NET, buying the U.S. government, BSA, incompatibilities, daily security "patches", Big Brother EULAs and shove them up your fat, money grubbing ass.

In the words of Chandler Bing: "Could I BE more sick of corporate bullshit?"

Another very useful add-on is FruitMenu, which also has been updated for Jaguar. FruitMenu allows you to organize the Apple menu in the Classic manner.

I like ASM because sometimes it's faster to peruse a text list of apps than to decipher sometimes overly cluttered and/or not very distinctive icons. Apple intended to build much of the old Apple Menu functionality into the Finder, but hitting the Apple Menu is much faster for me and its contents are available from every app.

I'm sorry, what's that you say?

Couldn't hear you.

For those looking for Virtual Desktops in OS X, look no further than Space.app, a GPL'd application that provides multiple desktops (configurable) and hotkeys to switch between 'em (also configurable). The concept of a "sticky" space is also supported.

As for easing the clutter on the desktop, if virtual desktops alone don't do it for you, check out Windowshade X - this brings back the functionality of being able to double-click on the title bar of a window and collapse the window to just the title bar, as in OS 9 (and most Linux WMs).

If you don't like the dock, get rid of it! As for the widgets, you'll be happy to know that the various buttons in OS X have been on Weight Watchers during Jaguar's development .. check out any of the screen caps at Think Secret to see the new buttons before Aug. 24th - while they aren't quite like the Java buttons, they are quite a bit slimmer and make the interface look quite a bit less like candy and more like a professional workstation.

Cheers!

Mozilla is nice on MacOS X but it does not take advantage of the Quartz type smoothing like OmniWeb or Chimera. However, if you install Unsanity's haxie program called Silk, it will allow Mozilla (or IE) to use the Quartz text smoothing along with your other Carbon apps. Well worth the download and it doesn't appear to slow down the system -- which I expected. With Quartz text smoothing, MacOS X becomes the most visually appealing, web browsing platform -- which it should be.

Office X does this too. One of the install options is still a drag-n-drop from the CD, and it still does that "First Run" cycle if it discovers there are no prefs for any component.

The First Run cycle then installs any necessary system components and services.

And it installs REALLY important system services, like the routine that makes it impossible to get the Entourage icon to stop bouncing on your screen whilst eroding your sanity.

Dock Detox rulez. It lets you stop bouncing icons system-wide. And why isn't this a built-in system preference?

quick search led me to unsanity echo>/a>, MacAmp, and Audion.

No idea if they're any good though...

//rdj

http://www.unsanity.com/

They also make a nifty-looking MP3 player for Macs.. (actually, 2 of them.)

mrg

I'm using this hack. It seems to work well and appears to do no harm. I can see the difference on my slow PowerBook G3/300/192 just dragging windows around.

If you want to improve your Finder experience further, run the app ShadowKiller. It removes the window shadows which seem to take too much power to make on a slow, old Mac. Definite improvement. However, because OS X windows don't have a frame all the way around, you're gonna get weird white window on white window experiences; you'll get used to it.

Another good site with Mac OS X tips is Mac OS X Hints.

To me, running Linux on an iBook seems pretty silly when Mac OS X is available. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's Linux and it's free and it's the Right Thing to Do, because it Can Be Done... but c'mon, you can get pretty much any software you'd expect under Linux via Fink and the Darwin Ports collection. Run a nice window manager and rootless X, and you can get pretty much any app you like.

And then you can start looking at Cocoa and all the nifty things that are going to be coming from the NextStep/OpenStep legacy... IMHO, Apple's gotten the job done in creating a solid, usable UNIX desktop, as well as a mature, unified app framework.

Blah. Anyway, if you want Linux, don't waste your money on Apple hardware. Just stick with some cheap ol' Intel stuff. Go buy a used Sony Vaio, like my old one I'll be eBay'ing soon. :)

As for Ogg Vorbis, it's coming out of my iBook speakers right now. I use
Unsanity Echo, and sometimes Audion.