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How Mac OS X is Changing the Mac Community
rgraham writes "Derrick Story (O'Reilly Network editor) has written a follow-up article to The New Mac User, titled The Changing Mac Community. He makes some interesting observations about how Mac OS X's Unix underpinnings have greatly 'broadened the landscape' of the Mac community beyond that of typical artists to now include hardcore Unix users and the like." I personally believe this is the single most important component to Apple's continued success for the near future.
i for one know that i'm going to be making the pc to mac switch within the next couple years, first switching over my home and work machines, then my studio machines to mac. i've come to the realization that i don't really *need* an x86 for anything anymore. everything that i need to do on a daily basis can be done by a mac, and the new UI is just beautiful, and i like the hardware too.
-c
"I hope I don't make a mistake and manage to remain a virgin." - Britney Spears
We use macs at our business (medical / healthcare ) because we find the user experience is the easiest we can deliver. I am proud that some of our less computer savvy users have no problem operating their macs. However, the fact that at some point we will need to upgrade those users to OSX is a somewhat scary notion. Some of my experiences with system maintenance and overall operation of the OS, IMO, escalate the knowledge level required to be a successful computer operator. This is great for me, but kind of stinks with regard to the level of support I will be required to deliver.
In the dark, old days, I'd have to say I'd echo the comments of the designers quoted regarding adopting an OS, even if it has superior qualities. We'd wait until our service bureau or printer (when we did direct-to-plate) forced the upgrade issue on us. When that day comes for OS X, I'm sure the designers will find lots of creamy goodness in a more modern OS.
And, I can agree with the I-hate-Aqua camp, too. I don't personally hate Aqua, but Macs by and large are used for very specific tasks (even in the design community, you're heavily specialized in many cases). The traditional Mac users want some familiarity, particularly as one becomes used to having all the real estate of a 21-inch monitor for your QuarkXPress pages or detailed Illustrator vector image. I still recall that At Ease bullcrap from System 7 and the doofy rounded widgets in System 8 that took longer to render on older systems.
Amateurs discuss tactics. Professionals discuss logistics.
For the last 8-10 years, I was a wintel user. I used Windows 3.1 - 2000 for it's ease of use as well as the presence of my web development language of choice (ASP).
I'd tried Linux, but I found it too unwieldy for everyday use. Too many hassles with hardware support, etc. I love the idea, I just couldn't get used to the trouble of routine maintenance.
Over the past 3 or so years, I've been using *nix systems more and more for web development (PHP, PERL), and I've enjoyed them more thoroughly than Windows. The flexibility of the CLI, the wide availability of development tools as well as the stability has made it particularly attractive. The only problem? I also do design work.
GIMP is a wonderful program, but it's just not robust enough for full time graphics production. For that, Photoshop is where it's at. And until now, the only options were the stuffy, static, and generally untweakable MacOS, or the generally unstable, unpleasant, and ugly Win9x dynasty.
Enter Mac OS X. My first experience with OS X was at an Apple store near my home. I fell in love with the interface. But an interface does not a good OS make. While playing around, I noticed there was a lot more to tweak and configure, and lo there was a CLI. I popped "VI" into the prompt, and there it was. Pine, check. Apache, check. Everything I knew and loved about the *NIX's was there. Within a week, I had bought a spanking new dual g4 and I couldn't be happier.
I have to use a Wintel box at work and it's sheer hell. I couldn't be happier about switching to OS X.
*everything* is Orwellian to cats.
After much hand-wringing and stomach-churning, I just got my new Mac on Saturday. I say it that way because I've never had a Mac before. I sprung for a dual 1GHZ G4. I've always built my own PC's before this, so it's a humongus change for me just to buy a pre-built machine, much less something as alien as a Mac! Luckily, I found out how to fire up the terminal right away. A command line! Whew! I'm home baby! I downloaded XDarwin that same day. Aqua is an in credibly beautiful GUI, and I get to run Xwindows apps on it. Ya know, I really look forward to participating in the new, growing Mac community.
--- Think of it as evolution in action ---
I'm really curious about Macs, what with all the OS X hype and all... I'd love to try out OS X to see what the buzz is all about, but I'm afraid I'll keep trying to click my nonexistant right mouse button and run screaming into the night. I guess what I'm trying to ask here is: What kind of machine do I need to run OS X and have it be fairly responsive? After all, if I don't like it, I can always use another Linux box. =)
Oddly, a lot of the new blood is replacing the old die-hard Mac community. They made it through the Spindler and Amelio years, but just can't stomach the new operating system.
I'm one of the Mac support techs at a college, and I'm seeing lots of "give me OS 9 or give me death" sentiment lately.
--saint
The shame of it is, as slick as OS X is, it's still on expensive, proprietary, out of date hardware. Don't get me wrong, the hardware is nice, but imagine OS X on a platform that has general use benchmarks as high as the PC side of the house. IBM announced the 1 ghz G3 750FX power PC six months ago. But Apple has a stranglehold on their hardware. So the only place we will see that chip is in a game console. We will soon be able to guy a 1 ghz G3 game console for three hundred dollars.
That puts Apple's speed, price and marketing to shame. Marketing? Apple's marketing puts their inferior hardware in glossy wrappers and words. Apple used to have hardware features that put PCs to shame. Back when every computer was $2000, Apple was the obvious choice. But competition in the PC industry has pushed their speed up and price down. Apple can no longer hide their head in the sand about price. Apple is competing with PCs on four fronts: price, hardware, OS and software. Apple must not let marketing make their hardware decisions. If nothing else, if their hardware was better, their marketing would not have to lie so much. Jobs using the same Photoshop benchmark that shows apple hardware faster than PC hardware over and over is an industry joke. Apple users must know what SDRAM i845 Pentium 4 owners feel like. They pay insane prices for hardware that does a few things fast and does everyday tasks significantly slower. So the G3 does not have the altivec multimedia (SSE) instructions, so what?
Build a business machine based on the 1 Ghz G3. Make it mesh seamlessly with an NT environment (without Dave) and make it cheap. The iMac does not serve the roll well. Let the businesses use their legacy monitors. Give it some PCI slots. Resurrect the beige G3 tower for less than $600. Compete on all three fronts. OS X alone will rescue Apple. But competing on price and speed will bring Apple back to dominance.
Final word: Appleworks. This is the last competition to Office. But even Apple themselves is pushing Office on the mac. Sure, Microsoft injected 200 million into Apple. Microsoft bribed the only competition for 200 million, then spent 500 million marketing the X-box. Apple sold out for a song, and will soon be surpassed in performance by a console. Will soon be surpassed in performance by a console. A console for god sakes.
If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.
I purchased a completely loaded Titanium Powerbook on Feb 12. After going through a lot of hassle to get a big enough Apple Loan from MBNA bank, I watched my shipping get delayed by Apple. Now, I'm waiting for FedEx to deliver it, since they decided to tell me the wrong location to pick it up when I asked for it to be held. ARGH!
My first Mac, I'm sooo looking forward to using OS X, but CHRIST I've had to go through some shit to get it. Apple needs to get a better bank to handle Apple Loans and get a better shipper.
I hope I'm done jumping through hoops for this thing.
reech bee-yond ur clip-0n
Booting OS X...wow. Slick, solid, clean, clear. D*mn this is nice. After getting my bearings for an hour or so I looked around my room and began cleaning it up -- something my wife has always requested unsucessfully. Perhaps the clutter that is Windows and KDE/Gnome acclimated me to clutter? Whatever the reason, I'm affected by the slickness of the hardware, software and combination of the two of my PowerBook Ti running OS X.
Until now I've run my life and work off a Toshiba 2805 with RedHat 7.2 and Win4Lin for Win98SE client-side testing. Frequently I'd need to spend time directly in the Windows world (Win4Lin is great as a temporary testing environment but when I'm doing serious client-side development and need to depend on IE, native is the best). Switching between Windows and Linux (running KDE 2 as my desktop; hate Gnome) I couldn't help but notice how unpolished the GUI on Linux is compared to Windows. Windows, for all it's other problems (and they are legion) feels substantial as a desktop. Linux felt tenuous - I can't explain exactly why, that was just my sense. Perhaps it was switching between GTK+ and KDE based apps...and straight X apps... OS X is totally different. Awesome.
My next step (heehee) after getting online was to seek out the Mac Community. Right away I realized there are two camps: bewildered, disaffected Mac loyalists who are resisting the new Mac Way and eye-opened, gaga Unix/Linux geeks overwhelmed with the marvellous marriage of UNIX and GUI that is OS X. Of course, some are happier than others, but I just ignore the heretics (kidding). My I'm bookmarking the OS X-specific web sites and ignoring OS9-oriented sites. There's nothing for me in OS 9. OS X has everything I need:
- UNIX
- gnu tools (thanks to fink)
- clean interface
- iDVD for watching movies with the wife
- iMovie for EASILY creating movies of the kids for their grandparents.
- Virtual PC for testing client-side stuff with Windows IE
- coolness
I'll be participating in the Mac community - the Mac OS X community, that is. I think I'll start by getting that Learning Cocoa book...yeah, that's my NeXTSTEP...-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
For existing Mac users, OS X's *nix underpinnings have been a big leap forward -- not unambiguously so, but netting out on the positive side.
Jobs... er, God knows there's a much steeper learning curve than Apple has acknowledged, especially for users with a home network. Those of us who've never had to think twice about issues like permissions are suddenly paralyzed by folders that refuse to open and files that refuse to launch. There's an entirely different mindset needed, and it isn't exactly included with your CD-ROM and manual.
But that said, the geekier among us are now being exposed to the broader world of *nix. When we upload files to a web server, suddenly all those folder names make sense; we're navigating around in SSH like old pros; we're getting that endorphin rush from doing something especially clever from the command line.
And that's just the beginning. Now we're being introduced to the open source community, and a whole new model for software development... along with the development tools that come free with OS X.
It's not as if every mom 'n' pop Mac user out there is suddenly going to plunk a stuffed Tux on top of their monitor and start coding Perl scripts. But for every one of us who can't resist peeking under the hood, it just got a lot more rewarding.
While I agree with the general feelings, especially among the /. community that Apple is doing the right thing. This is not an all roses situation for my favorite fruit company.
... and Apple needs to make sure they don't loose the traditional faithful.
1. Apple is attracting a whole new set of users from the *nix ranks... This is great for many reasons.
2. Apple needs to work hard to keep the existing user base. A lot of MacOS users are still running OS 7/8/9 and a very happy. Moving to X is a learning curve. Totally different look/feel/operation. While I have gotten used to this, and in many cases I feel the changes are improvements, many people are happy with what they have because it works for them.
The traditional mac faithful feel left out of the change, so much is changing and X really only runs well on G4 hardware with lots of RAM. To the people who don't want a command line OS X does not offer much when you consider the changes that are being forced on them.
Don't get me wrong, Apple was right to make the move, but it is going to painful going for the next couple years getting people through the switch.
Unix for the masses, is a far cry from it is just easier damn it. Granted Apple is changing focus in recent PR, from the strengths of unix to "everything is [still] easier on a mac". While geeks will figure out that MacOS X rocks, the masses still need to be reassured.
I dumped the only family Windows box this weekend for a used iMac running OSX. Finally - a computer my wife and I can both like. She gets her few applications (Word, email, web) in an easy-to-use package, I get the same great interface with a tasty Unix center. What's not to like?
When I was a first grader in 1987, my computer had Apple II's. Then when I was in third grade, my dad got a Mac IICX. It sure was better than dos/windows 3.1 It worked beautifully. I didnt understand how people put up with that crap. Then windows 95 came out when I was in eighth grade. I realized that this was "good enough" for most people and a hell of a lot better than win 3.1. Apple wasnt run well in that period and it began to falter. I didnt want my parents changing systems in high school. I used my trusty copy of Word 5.1 from 1992 or 3 all the way until 1999.
My family had a IICX in use from 1990-1993, then a Centris 650 from 1993-1997, and then we decided to buy a clone..a PowerTower 220 from power computing. It was rough from 1995-1997. Copland was supposed to come out, then got hosed. I was ticked! Then I read that the company is about to fail. I didnt want to change to PCs just yet, and my parents who dont have the interest or time to relearn stuff didnt either.
Then something great happened. Apple bought NeXT, and Steve came home. Apple was cool again. It took a while, but Steve cleaned house, and made apple work better. The new OS's (8,9) really helped out.
I kept reading the mac sites now and then and wanted to know about NeXT and the software it made. Knowing that Rhapsody (later OSX - server, then OSX) was a hybrid of OpenStep and OS 9, I then found out that it was based on Unix.) I didnt know what unix was...A kid i knew in high school was the son of the CEO of Tenon, and he loaned me mkLinux, BeOS, and webTen to try out on the spare Jaz drive I had. I got beOS to work, but no MKLinux or webten. Oh well.
1999 comes and I go to college. Im forced to buy a PC for the school. Since im flexible enought to learn how to develop software and try new things, ok, why not use windows?
Windows 98se on the machine I bought had office and visual studio 6. I majored in computer science and did c++ devel for a class. Windows 98se, compared to OS 8.5 (what i used before i went to college) crashed just as much, except it had more apps and a bigger user base. I was non-plussed.
Early 2000 I get Windows 2000 on my computer. Damn! An os that almost never crashes! Still windows, still uninspiring. I still kept looking at the mac side of things. I see the new Aqua interface -- Ive used kaleidoscope, so why not try something new.
At home, my parent's power tower was starting to show it's age....I told my dad to hold off on a new mac until OSX in a usable form comes out.
As soon as I get a cd burner and another hard drive on my pc, I install linux (Red hat 7.0) on it. I broke red hat 7 so many times i gave up. The damn modem didnt work! No sound! I then spend a lot of time reading about it. And hacking on it. I can do ANYTHING on this OS(provided you spend massive amounts of time learning it)! 3 cds and tons of software for FREE!
I always got lectured about pirating software. I read about the BSA raids. GPL software convienently says up yours to the BSA. With GPL software, you have tons of choices, plus code, and you can use it for free!
I then get mandrake 8.0, then 8.1, and linux is much much better to use. I slowly learn more command line stuff. I could use it for my daily OS, but im not sure if everything completely works. I love the power associated in that system. Mandrake 8 just felt a little lacking of something.
In the mean time i was reading about the OSX betas. I found out that OSX was BSD Unix (pretty damn powerful) underneath, and that tons of open source software could be ported to it easily. I was intrigued, but i kept slogging away with mandrake, then windows.
Last XMas break, with OS X 10.1 out and Office v.X out, I decided to pull the plug and force my dad to switch at home. New G4, new firewire scanner, new monitor. I spend 2 days importing the old software over a network connection. The old stuff works well in classic. Then I install Office V.x. That is a wonderful piece of software, if not a little expensive.
Epson scanner does not work with OSX. Printing with Epson inkjet stinks.
Photoshop Elements has goofy printing issues with OSX in classic mode
I teach my dad extensively about OSX. It was a great idea to switch to the new system. A little rough at first, but seriously, you dont make an omlette without breaking a couple of eggs.
At college, I take a java programming course. I use forte for java and its kinda neat. Java is a nice diversion from c++.
Then I remember about the yellow box apps that apple was going to come out with. I download the Apple Developer Tools from their website and start to fool around with that.
Cocoa is the most advanced programming environment I've ever seen. Extremely simple, yet powerful. People are already programming loads of stuff to it. If you have access to OSX and know either Java/C++/RealBasic, download the developer tools and spend $50 to buy Aaron Hilleglass's cocoa book. You will not regret it and from my reaction im amazed at what I can do.
I dont think Im the only one. As more and more Linux users get fed up with linux, I think they will gravitate to OSX. It has BSD Unix power underneath, you can run java and unix apps and X-11 apps on it, and you get Unix programs on it for free!
Then once they hit the developer tools and start messing around with Cocoa, I dont think they'll go back.
The only obstacles to this are buying Mac Hardware (those iMacs are cheap, and the iBooks go from 1-2 grand), and in the case of learning Objective-C, if you let Aaron Hilleglass's book help you, you can do it in 1 day.
Whats 1 more language if you know several anyway?
You can code cocoa apps with Java but I recommend objective C. Try it and find out.
The Cocoa dev community is small now, but slowly, it will get huge. 1 cocoa developer can make an application with less code and more funcionality that will run rings around any other app.
WebObjects for database stuff.
For the end user, programmers getting exposed to this might stick with it, and make some really cool programs. Linux people might make them free!
More programs make end users more productive.
If you have OSX, download watson. Its made with cocoa. It's the best web program i've seen.
Go to osx.hyperjeff.net and download cocoa programs. They are great.
The old users (soccer moms, designers, creative people) might object at first to learning a new system. Yeah, some programs might have to be replaced. OSX is the future. It's either that or windows. I strongly encourage legacy creative Mac users to stay on as Unix/Linux developers learn Cocoa and make absolutely fantastic programs. I want to make programs for you guys that do what you want, and this is a way that I can do it fast, quickly, elegantly, and free!
My apolagies to the die hard Mac crowd, I hate to hear that any company is leaving their core customer group behind. But let's face it, every company sells out eventually. I have to admit they should have made it an entirely different OS product line.
But hey, I love this computing solution! And I haven't been excited about a computer since I got my first Apple //e as a teenager...
I've been a "die hard mac fan" since 1994, now i got my own stuffed penguin by my iMac :D
(though i'm only coding Objective-C, no Perl for me thanks)
Perhaps, but I for one can tolerate ridicule as long as my filters and resizes are up to speed.
omnia tua castra sunt nobis
Power is control. Its that simple. If you don't like your GNU/Linux system, you have the freedom to change it yourself. And then you can share these changes with others. Thats the spirit of cooperation. What you see right now (in the GNU/Linux system) is the result of this spirit.
Sure, you may not be a programmer. You don't write code. You want the software to be written for you--you want it already configured to your liking. Or maybe you don't know what exactly you want from your system. So you want someone else to make all the decisions for you and you want to like it. So you say you like Apple. They've done testing. UI science is little more than averaging out the preferences of many potential software users.
But what about the license? The end-user agreement? When you started up your OS, did you click "I agree" ? Did you read it? Do you agree with everything it said? None of the software on the system can be copied, shared, or modified. Okay...perhaps the BSD core.
Whats the big deal? you ask. Do you like Apple? Do you trust them? The users of BeOS did...look what happened to them. You don't own the operating system. They do. That nice interface of theirs is their property. Anything that looks like it is their property. All the software is theirs to. You just pay to use it.
If you wrote an operating system or designed the interface, what would you do? Would you choose to own it or choose to share it? Which promotes cooperation and which promotes your own interests? Whose interests do you think Apple is promoting?
The spirit of cooperation is a huge factor in software development. Its what made the GNU/Linux system what it is today. And all them command line programs that you like on your Apple system, where did they come from? Open cooperation. Open cooperationg is the spirit of free software. Thats why it exists. Hope you like your Apple.
Conclusion: Apple is not your friend.
Apple is famous for putting a load of stuff on the CDs that never make the main install. IIRC, AppleWorks is usually tucked onto one of the CDs that came with the computer. Sherlock the CDs and you'll eventually find it. My old iMac came with a sheet of paper that described all the software that came with it. There was all kinds of stuff that was included, most of it I never needed (the WorldBook Encyclopedia?! Sonoma Valley Guide to Whine [sic] -- bleah).
My father is a blogger.
I once was one of those jackasses that despised the mac without actually knowing much about it. too my shame. I've grown up though. I use linux now and can't say enough good things about it. I only boot into windows to play tony hawk2. I have to say that for the first time I'm drooling for a mac. there are multiple reasons but i suppose the top two are that i understand i can run linuxppc on it. and two macs just look so cool these days. the new os the new hardware makes me drool. I have mac envy. I've always built my own machines but I'm looking forward to putting my tax refund towars the purchase of one of those nifty 14.1 in iBooks. can't wait to get one. I just hope the mac community will welcome me the way that linux did and not with the blase who cares attitude that windows just ignored me.
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asa long time mac user (10 years) i am so excited about all the new blood coming to the platform. Wasnt sure what to expect given how slashot has treated mac in past. But that being said, this is one most exciting times in apples history. Every day i check out versiontracker and i am so happy to see all these new cooca apps. Im a science geek, and it thrills me to see all those unix science apps being ported, maya and the 3d rendering software apple has just bought make me glad i didnt ditch apple to use 3d studio max on a pc.
and the thing that is probably the most surprisng is realizing apple and linux rather then being polar opposites can now compliment each other quite nicely, with unix apps coming to the mac and hopefully better device drivers and new apps being made for linux simulatenously , that togther maybe these platforms can shake up the windows domination just a little.
Ok I'll probly get modded down for this but karma is made for spending, so here goes. Fuzzy Logic I know, bear with me.
Apple is not perfect. But right now as an "average" computer user (Started on MS-DOS/3.11, Now on a dual Ghz for design/ Art,) Apple is a hell of a lot more appealing than their most visible competitor. I think Bill Gates said it best (in "The Road Ahead") when he said that a corporation (group that wants something) is doomed when the CEO ignores the problems at hand (Think all of us here re: MS). I'm not accusing annyone of ignoring redmond.
Microsoft makes me mad, and I'm too young, too American (And too entwined with LotR style strategizing) and I don't want to wait 10 years for a guilt free/opensource vision of a usable, stable operating system.
My[(1$*(.02))]
Running 10.1.3 and have no complaints. Runs everything just fine -- Maya PLE, Illustrator 10, Office X -- all run at acceptable speed. The secret is gobs and gobs of RAM (896 MB). If I buy a new machine any time soon, I will definitely hang on to this one as it has run very nicely.
I recently bought a new iMac and switched over to OSX.
My experience includes primarily Solaris, FreeBSD and a smidgen of everything else.
I love OS X. It is by far the best UNIX OS I have ever used. I just wished they would get rid of Netinfo.
Daemon Inside +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ www.freebsd.org +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
All you folks that are in a reverie of joy in using Mac OS X would have been in a similar reverie if you had just given NeXTSTEP a chance. It was (almost) all there, back as far as '88 when the OS rolled out. OS X, for me, is (finally) validation that, YES, NeXTSTEP is better than sex!
blakespot
-- Heisenberg may have slept here.
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