Happy Birthday Mac OS X

phillyclaude writes "Thanks to Wikipedia's Anniversaries page, I just realized Mac OS X turns three today! How could I forget such an important birthday?" Mac OS X 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001.

Comments

Shouldn't that be .3 today

[BoomerSooner]

Since it is 10.3?

Re:Shouldn't that be .3 today

[Anonymous Coward]

10.0
10.1
10.2
10.3

that seems like 4 to me

Smiling Jack

Birthday Present

[k_killmore]

Now all Apple needs to do is deliver those 3 ghz G5s today and it will really be a day to remember. ;)

Re:Birthday Present

[System.out.println()]

Better yet: deliver them for free :D

I want one....

Re:Birthday Present

[Randy Wang]

With 3 gig of RAM?

Re:Birthday Present

[Tumbleweed]

You'll be seeing 2.5gHz G5s first (perhaps next week, according to the rumour sites). The 3gHz machines aren't expected until end of summer, or thereabouts.

I'd be _very_ interested in playing with a generic PPC970FX board (www.970eval.com) with Linux, though, if it became affordable.

I'm _really_ hoping the new machines at end of summer come with PCI-E, so we can all get on with the task of migration at the same time as major processor upgrades.

Re:Birthday Present

[Selecter]

I read the article on those 970eval boards: you can get 2 G5 Powermacs for the price of one board. Slap Yellow Dog on em and you are done. Why do you want the board? Why would you not be just as "tied in" to that board as you would a Mac? I'm not sure what your reasoning is about, but I love my G5 and OS X. I obviously dont get the Linux stuff.

I think the 3ghz models will have PCI Express support. Steve loves to be first with the wiz bang gizmos and he wont use AGP if he can avoid it. That unit will be my next purchase from Apple to go with my 1.8 Dual. :D

Re:Birthday Present

[BrookHarty]

I picked up a Dual 1.42ghz mac last year, and the thing is fast. I normally run a few shells in iterm, and mozilla/imap, and fink for my unix applications, and some media players. It's a great box to use as a desktop. I also like the look of the older G4 cases.

But if the 1.42ghz system is fast and smooth, a 3ghz must compile applications under fink in seconds. I bought a few games for mac to test it out, Ghost Recon, RTCW, plays smoothly. The system is stable, and I hardly ever get the little beachball busy cursor.

While I dont care for the mac way of user input and keyboard commands, I have found work arounds. I just wish I could use the more standard methods of GUI usage. I found some apps to make it more like other OS's. And I'm happy my Intellimouse and MS natural keyboard works on it, and drivers are downloadable from microsoft's site, if you want the extended features.

Also, while its mostly BSD underneath, and if you are a BSD user, you can figure most stuff out, HFS/HFS+ and the GUI takes a little getting used too. Getting proper termcap files are a little bit of a hassle, and a decent VGA fixed width type font (mac's are not fixed font oriented), but all in all, its a great OS.

I couldn't switch full time to OSX, because I play CS. But as a normal desktop, I use it all the time. Most of my applications run under screen on a linux box, so I just need a good term program.

Re:Birthday Present

[General Sherman]

I'm pretty sure that they already have this, named PCI-X.

It is PCI Express which I assume you're referring to, a quick google search confirms this.

Re:Birthday Present

[Anonymous Coward]

You know, there were some things in your comment that made me wonder if you have any idea what you're talking about. No offense.

I just wish I could use the more standard methods of GUI usage.

What? Seeing how the Mac has been around longer than any other presently extant user interface, I'd say the Mac way is the standard way!

a decent VGA fixed width type font (mac's are not fixed font oriented)

Courier, Monaco, and Andale Mono are all installed on your machine by default. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them. In fact, Courier 14 with antialiasing is far easier to read on-screen than any other font. (VGA? What?)

Re:Birthday Present

[BrookHarty]

You know, there were some things in your comment that made me wonder if you have any idea what you're talking about. No offense.

Seeing, I've used a GUI of some sort or basic text input/output on C64, Apple, Amiga, DOS, Win31-WinXP, Linux, BSD, Solaris and a old fitjistu mainframe The Mac is different on keystrokes combinations and cursor position movement. So, why would the Mac be the standard, if the rest of the world is the same?

Courier, Monaco, and Andale Mono are all installed on your machine by default. There's absolutely nothing wrong with them. In fact, Courier 14 with antialiasing is far easier to read on-screen than any other font. (VGA? What?)

Courier, Moaco, Andale are not true VGA fonts with extended graphics. This is why I have to use a true VGA font. Most linux distros have Console font, It's the default for KDE, its a true VGA font.

The point is, it doesnt come with one.

Re:Birthday Present

[Tumbleweed]

See, here's where it helps to read the entire post you're replying to before asking questions. Please to note:

> though, if it became affordable.

The eval board isn't, as you note, affordable. Neither are PowerMacs, though they are 'more' affordable.

Re:Birthday Present

[geoffspear]

So on your Linux, BSD, and Solaris boxen, you use the same key combination (CTRL-C) to copy something as you do on a windows box? How do you send a SIGINT through standard input on these boxes you hacked to do thing the way "the rest of the world" does?

Go away, troll.

Re:Birthday Present

[crackshoe]

yellowdog != fully support g5s. i think gentoo does a better job, but i haven't tried on mine. I like yellowdog on my ibook, i just wish they'd occasionally update. but their warranty service on the last versoin is approaching EOL.

Re:Birthday Present

[BrookHarty]

Go away, troll.

Wheres the clue jar for the newbies...

The mac is different in some ways, not saying that was bad, just saying when you expect something to work on OSX, its a different. That is not a troll statement, but newb, thats ok, you must be young and inexperienced. Hopefully you grow out of it.

The first obvious one is home/end vs command up/down. Do some programming and you might notice, newb.

The second is the way Mac's are more menu centric, when you cycle through a program, you cycle through the windows. On a other platforms, you cycle through the programs. Of course Windows311 started it the whole alt-tab, and most other OS's copied it. KDE/Gnome and are normally plugin startbars for Amiga and MAC. IceWM also has alt-tab, and a great lightweight WM with anti-aliased font support.

And for Fink, since Konsole is an X app, it is the same on all platforms, but Fink doest come standard on the OSX. Try using Apples X-server and Fink, and tell me what differences you see?

Re:Birthday Present

[geoffspear]

While your low slashdot user id# impresses me oh-so-much, Oh Great One, I'm neither young nor inexperienced, and if you'd been using X11 since before Linux, KDE, and Gnome existed, like me, you'd know that "the whole world" doesn't do things the same. The former Windows users creating GUIs for former Windows users for the Intel boxes they bought with Windows on them rip off Windows to make their new GUIs more familiar. Traditional X11 window managers had less in common with Windows than the Mac does.

Re:Birthday Present

[Anonymous Coward]

Still, if I read your post it looks like you want the Mac OS to comply to the standards of other environments like Windows and the more common Linux desktop environments like KDE, even though the Mac has been around longer!

It took 2 or 3 weeks for me to get used to all the other shortcuts after I switched to OS X, but now I'm used to them and I love it. For me the Mac way has become THE way and I know I'm not alone in this.

So just because you to stubborn to adjust to an OS you've chosen to use yourself doesn't mean the OS has to changed.

You shouldn't use such an arrogant attitude when you're bullshitting.

Re:Birthday Present

[BrookHarty]

Since I've used examples in all my posts, and you yet to counter one with logical posts, other than "The whole world", I shall try again to make a simple post that most people would understand, maybe even you.

Text input is little different on Windows than OSX. And since most OS's use a x86'ish type keyboard, the keys are different from a MAC. Logic here would show you, that it would be different.

So while you say the "Whole World" and try to go back before Windows and DOS, every modern OS uses basically the same key commands, except? Yes, OSX. The command key changes keys a little from other OS's.

Yes you can learn them easily, As I stated in many posts. But its enough for a PC convert to notice they are not the same. And all other modern OS's uses basically the same commands, OSX would be the most different.

I knew I shouldn't post about OSX, as the MAC zealots fly out of the wood work if you say anything critical about OSX. I was expecting a flame war about total nonsense, and you didn't fail to provide it.

Now go re-read my posts. Nothing is wrong with OSX, its just a little different.

Re:Birthday Present

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude you are marked offtopic, you should know better than talking bad about Mac's. Even if your post is more on topic than that other guy.

Re:Birthday Present

[MidnightBrewer]

The first obvious one is home/end vs command up/down. Do some programming and you might notice, newb.

I don't know about you, but I use home and end, as well as page up and page down, to navigate through screens on my keyboard. Especially when I'm coding. On OSX.

The second is the way Mac's are more menu centric, when you cycle through a program, you cycle through the windows. On a other platforms, you cycle through the programs.

When you command-tab on the Mac, you cycle through the programs. This also has absolutely nothing to do with being menu-centric or not. Also, OSX, just like any OS, allows for many different work styles; after all, it was the Mac that invented the keyboard shortcut for GUI menu commands.

thanks for helping with the math.

[dotgod]

Mac OS X 10.0 was released on March 24, 2001.

Thanks, Pudge...I wasn't sure if 2004 - 3 was the proper operation for determining the original year based on an anniversary.

Re:thanks for helping with the math.

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe it's actually MMIV-III=2001

Re:thanks for helping with the math.

[dwightk]

hey, you know how it's kinda hard to do the math in your head... you can get within one year (see Millennium... Millenium Milennium (they couldn't even agree on the spelling) in 2000 or 2001)

Re:thanks for helping with the math.

[MoneyT]

Well you know, it's hard to do subtraction with a one button calculator

>NOT A TROLL I OWN A MAC

Re:thanks for helping with the math.

[FredFnord]

Just remember, twos-complement, big-endian.

-fred

Expose

[tblease]

Ah, the birthday of OS X. Here's to wishing that Windows had something similar to OS X Panther's Expose!

Re:Expose

[thirteenVA]

Here's to hoping that when they do, apple has created something even better...

:)

Re:Expose

[prinko]

they do have something, while not quite as pretty (and nowhere near as smooth...) http://www.onlinetoolsteam.com/WindowsExposer/ yeah, its just so it looks like the mac...kinda like those dock clones out there...

Re:Expose

[Anonymous Coward]

Or Linux. Or IRIX. Solaris. Etc. I find myself yearning for the F11 key (I have that mapped to Expose's All windows function) on every non-OSX machine I use. Apple, you suck for inventing that! :)

Re:Expose

[redJag]

Hard to say that they "have" it when it's a third-party download you're referring to. I like the name, too; very original.

Re:Expose

[Anonymous Coward]

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one. . . (some are one)

Happy OS X user

[GreatDrok]

OS X is the first OS that came with a computer I bought in the last 20 years that has actually stayed on the machine rather than either with BSD or Linux. OK, I confess I have a Windows XP/Linux dual boot machine, but I use XP only for games and some casual web browsing with Firefox, no e-mail, no work. That machine defaults to Fedora 1 but my Mac defaults to OS X and that is fine by me. Terrific. Panther is a vast improvement over the previous versions, and they were hugely better than Windows XP.

It will be interesting to see where we stand with OS X 10.6 when Longhorn finally releases. Most interesting is the fact that MS makes a big song and dance about OSS destroying the software industry whereas Apple has built a very nice symbiotic relationship with OSS. Proves the lie. In reality what threatens MS is serious competition that can't just be bought out.

Re:Happy OS X user

[MBCook]

10.6? I seriously doubt that people will be running 10.6 when Longhorn comes out. It will be more like 10.2834 (*rimshot*).

Seriously though, by the time Longhorn is supposed to come out (2 or 3 years, assuming no more delays) OS X will be 5 ot 6 (or more) years old. I would think by then it would get bumped to XI.

Re:Happy OS X user

[mrgeometry]

I would think by then it would get bumped to XI.


There's been a lot of talk to the effect that Apple is not likely to abandon the catchy-sounding "OS X" name. ("O S X I" doesn't sound as cool as "O S X"....) So will they call it "OS X Eleven" or "OS X Two point Oh" or what? Who knows?! As much as the OS might deserve a full new version number, the marketing aspect of it definitely pulls in the direction of keeping "OS X" as long as possible.

zach

Re:Happy OS X user

[Anonymous Coward]

It's gonna be "Mac OS X 11.0."

The name of the operating system is "Mac OS X," and it's pronounced "Mac Oh Ess Ten." The version number is not part of the name. The version number, presently, is 10.3.3. In a few months it'll be 10.4, and in a few years it'll be 11.0. But they're not gonna change the name of the OS when that happens.

Re:Happy OS X user

[Amiga Lover]

I'd be interested to know how many MacOS users actually DON'T also use Windows as a second OS. How about a "slashdot challenge" to see how many user's can actually use their OS of choice (macos, linux, bsd etc) fulltime for a month without using windows.

It would be interesting to see who would put there time where there mouth is

Re:Happy OS X user

[MBCook]

I admit I like the idea of calling it "OS X" (not a number). I know that's not right, but from a marketing stand point I could see why they might like a nice name like that (with the great X logo, etc).

If I was in charge of the decision but told to try to keep it sort of the same, I would call it "Mac OS X2" or something like that. That X makes such a perfect logo. Maybe "OS X+" or some such. You know, keep the "Mac OS X" part as the platform (like saying "Windows" or "Linux") and then adding the version number (or something else). "Mac OS X 11" would work for me.

Re:Happy OS X user

[cbiagini]

Um..I don't use Windows as a second OS.

You seem to be implying that we'd have to use Windows for some reason or another. I use a Mac at home, a Mac in the computer lab at school. The Mac lab is great...it's never full, because it terrifies people.

Haha, amusing story if anyone cares. I'm in the Mac lab at school today, and there's this African-American guy clad in NYCE trying to eject a floppy disk. This white guy (read: dork) notices, and launches into a discussion about how intuitive Macs are, and how you can just will them to do as you please. Wouldn't let it go, either. Just imagine Professor Frink evangelizing the HIG to 50 Cent.

Crap, the white guy is probably reading this right now...

Re:Happy OS X user

[Angry Pixie]

It would probably make more sense to call it, OS X 2.0 instead of OS XI. I love the Windows XP name. It works on several levels and sounds cool. Windows 6.0 is just weak. Microsoft will have to stick with the XP name for at least a couple of iterations. I don't know about the Mac crowd. Hasn't it been the tradition to just refer to MacOS by its version number (ie, System 7, etc) and not by some catchy brand?

Re:Happy OS X user

[tantalus]

There's been a lot of talk to the effect that Apple is not likely to abandon the catchy-sounding "OS X" name. ("O S X I" doesn't sound as cool as "O S X"....)


On the contrary, "O S X I", obviously pronounced "Oh, Sexy" sounds very cool indeed.

Re:Happy OS X user

[GreatDrok]

Sorry you got modded as flamebait, I think that was uncalled for as you have posed an interesting question.

Certainly in my case I hardly ever actually use Windows. My job means I use UNIX all day long, the nice thing about OS X is that I have a copy of MS Office X on my Mac which means I have few problems dealing with the day to day issues. I didn't buy my Mac to play games on (although it isn't bad at them) but I do have a number of Windows games I like to play. I haven't booted Windows in a week or so though as I have been using Fedora all the time on that machine.

Essentially, if I didn't play my Windows games I would never boot into Windows. Ever. I have never needed to use Windows to do my job, all the apps I need are UNIX based so Linux or OS X are perfect. While they work on Cygwin it isn't as fast as running natively on Linux.

So, the order of my use is MacOS X primarily as this is essentially my office machine, Linux on my home desktop and server, with Windows XP when I have a Windows game I am playing, just finished Halo and Max Payne 2 and since then haven't booted into Windows although I am thinking about getting Call to Duty.

Re:Happy OS X user

[MoneyT]

I suppose you'd have to decide what you mean by using windows as a second OS. I know I know semantic wars but here's what I mean.

I personaly do use windows on another computer. I own two computers one of which is my mac, the other is my PC. The PC has both Linux and Windows. I have it for the odd compatability issue (like my uni courses require a hardware emulator that is windows only, though I'm helping write the mac version) and for the occasional LAN game. But for the most part I could leave the computer in Linux all day if I wanted. The computer is mostly used as a file server and to watch movies and such on, and the only reason I don't do that on my mac is usualy because I already have the mac doing something else. So I could easily go a month without touching windows (I did so a few weeks back when windows decided it couldn't boot anymore)

On the otherhand, there are people who are tied down to windows whether it's a game they can't give up or can't get or an odd ball program. Those would be interesting to see the numbers of.

Re:Happy OS X user

[Anonymous Coward]

I haven't used a windows machine since 1998. I owned a 486 once, but sold it a month later.

5 years since I used one, that's 60 months

Re:Happy OS X user

[System.out.println()]

I doubt Apple will drop the OS X name until they drop the BSD/Unix/whatever foundation, which given their current progress with it, is probably not going to be for a very long time.

They'll find a way to keep OS X, OS X even beyond 10.9, I'm sure.

Re:Happy OS X user

[zhenlin]

Who knows. Maybe they'll pull a Squaresoft and call it Mac OS X-2.

Re:Happy OS X user

[precogpunk]

I'd be interested to know how many MacOS users actually DON'T also use Windows as a second OS. How about a "slashdot challenge" to see how many user's can actually use their OS of choice (macos, linux, bsd etc) fulltime for a month without using windows.

It would be interesting to see who would put there time where there mouth is

I do contract work so I must adapt to whatever environment I'm in. I prefer Mac OS X and support Apple by buying stock and upgrading annually. I put my money where my mouth is. I also run Linux and Windows. I think there are bigger issues, like feeding your family, than trying to win your "slashdot challenge". Most of us are lucky to have jobs as it is -- limiting yourself is just stupid. In the end it's not the tool (OS) it's now well you use it. Being knowledgeable in a variety of systems makes you a stronger or more versatile programmer. So no, I'm not going to throw away my XBOX or switch banks because mine uses ATMs running windows or...

Re:Happy OS X user

[fyonn]

I'd be interested to know how many MacOS users actually DON'T also use Windows as a second OS.

well, I use windows at work due to lack of choice, but at home, I don't even have a windows computer. I used to use freebsd on the desktop (not even dual boot, it was the sole OS on the machine) and now I have a mac, I use that at home instead.

the last time I used windows at home for any real purpose was several years ago.

will that do?

incidentally, I noticed your nick is amiga_lover. as an ex amiga user (I still have a 1200 knocking about somewhere). I find OSX very reminiscent of amiga OS in several ways, what do you think?

dave

Re:Happy OS X user

[Spoing]

1. There's been a lot of talk to the effect that Apple is not likely to abandon the catchy-sounding "OS X" name. ("O S X I" doesn't sound as cool as "O S X"....) So will they call it "OS X Eleven" or "OS X Two point Oh" or what? Who knows?! As much as the OS might deserve a full new version number, the marketing aspect of it definitely pulls in the direction of keeping "OS X" as long as possible.

I'd think this would be an ideal branding opportunity;

1. OS X
2. i

...to promote the i-mac-product-of-the-month branding. It would sound 'cool' and sophisticated similar to made up car names; 'oh-ess ecks-eye'.

Re:Happy OS X user

[TheRaven64]

Perhaps they could just pull a Solaris, and drop the bit in front of the decimal point. Panther becomes OS X 3, and whatever the next one is called (Tabby?) would be OS X 4.

Re:Happy OS X user

[BeProf]

I don't use Windows as a second OS. I do have XP installed on VPC, but I only use that for testing my OS X servers Samba stuff.

Furthermore, I support about 300 users who use Macs at work, the lion's share of those don't use Windows at home.

We even have a handful of old-timers here who have *never* used Windows. Not once, ever.

Re:Happy OS X user

[davechen]

I don't use windows. In fact I've never really used windows, except occasionally surfing the web on someone else's machine.

I've always had Macs at home. At work I have used assorted Unix systems. This year I've gone completely Mac, replacing my Linux machine with a PowerMac G5.

Re:Happy OS X user

[javax]

Officially the pronunciation of MacOS-X ist 'MacOS 10', so it propably will be MacOS-XI or whatever.

Re:Happy OS X user

[jweatherley]

I use Windows at work too and I've never owned a Windows box. In fact I've never owned anything with an x86 for that matter - I started off with a Sinclair Spectrum so I've had plenty opportunity to get one too! My current home computer is an MDD dualie which I'm posting this from using links via ssh whilst at work...

Re:Happy OS X user

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't use Windows as a second OS either (though I have a copy of XP and 2K that the university gave me). At home I use my PB G4 and I have a Linux server. At work I use Red Hat Linux to develop data broadcasting software for dtv. How nice is that?

In fact, I haven't touched windows in 4 years now. For the past 3.5 years I was a Linux user (Red Hat -> Mandrake -> Red Hat -> Gentoo), but once I got my Mac the x86 was relagated to server-only status. There is a lot to be said about OS X.

Re:Happy OS X user

[BorgCopyeditor]

Well, in French, "L H O O Q" sounds like "elle a chaud au cul," which sounds just plain hot.

Re:Happy OS X user

[tenton]

There's plenty of letters in the alphabet, so it could go 10.A, 10.B, 10.C...10.Z. If they need to go beyone that, just start doubling up on letters (10.AA, etc.)

Re:Happy OS X user

[Anonymous Coward]

They should do what the Big Ten Conference did (Collegiate sports conference for our non-American friends.)

They started with ten (duh) shcools. Then they expanded to 11, kept the name, but changed their logo to the word "Ten" with the number "11" hidden in the "T."

Today, of course, they have twelve teams, and they just ignore the fact that neither the name or logo work anymore.

Re:Happy OS X user

[valmont]

heh heh. elle est bien bonne ta vanne ;] j'te foutrais bien un +5 poilant si je pouvais :D

Re:Happy OS X user

[elemental23]

I use OS X full time at home: My iBook is for general purpose stuff, and I've recently replaced my Debian file/misc household server with a G4 tower, which is running all the same stuff the Linux machine was (Apache, Samba, BIND, dhcpd, etc). I do a little web development, so I have Windows 2000 installed via Virtual PC so I can check my sites in Win/IE, but that's the only thing it's ever used for.

At work I use a Red Hat machine for about 80% of my work, and a Windows 2000 machine pretty much just for our Windows-only ticketing system (*sigh*).

Re:Happy OS X user

[valmont]

i'm a j2ee application developer among a few other things. I have a 1.25Ghz 15" AlBook, prior to that i was on one of the original 400mhz TiBooks. I do coding, networking, office stuff, email stuff, browsing, just about everything you can ever do on a computer. Granted i'm not much of a gamer. I've played UT2K3 and JediKnight II and Jedi Knight Academy just fine on this AlBook. I've networked and interoperated just fine with windoz machines, all seemless. Exchanged office documents back and forth from the windows world.

the online times i occasionally launch windows is to test web applications i'm building, and ensure various windoz browsers render pages correctly. Usually anything that works in win IE works in safari, and vice-versa.

to me, it all started with Mac OS X 10.1 . It was the corner stone OS that made me switch from my dell laptop that was running win2k and winnt prior to that.

check out my journal for switch and misc stories

Re:Happy OS X user

[good soldier svejk]

I am a unix sysadmin. My primary, machine is a TiBook, my secondary is a Fedora Dell GX270. At home my wife has an iBook. Until last week I had never really used Windows on the desktop for more than a few minutes at a time. I used to use DOS a lot, but I hated it. Last week I had to use Windows in a rather arcane class. It wasn't fun.

Another Mac birthday!

[rhpenguin]

One year ago today was the day I "switched" and picked up my brand spankin new iBook :) Wierd... Don't you think?

Re:Another Mac birthday!

[Anonymous Coward]

What a weird spelling!

Re:Another Mac birthday!

[Anonymous Coward]

Wierd... Don't you think?

Yeah. And it's also weird.

Fucking illiterate slob.

Re:Another Mac birthday!

[schuster]

I think he heard steve try to pronouce jaguar one too many times

In that case...

[Anonymous Coward]

Windows was 2003 last year?

Everybody complains about my Mass: the h4x0rs taxes; Gay-marriage YRO; and the BIG SIG.

Switching views

[OmniVector]

It's pretty amazing how polar opposite many slashdotter's views about Apple have changed since the release of OS X. The science and *nix community has really embraced this newcommer to the *nix world.

Who else here used to hate macs until OS X, and now uses it as their primary machine? I'm sure I'm not alone.

Re:Switching views

[Dstreelm]

yes, i never used a mac before osx, i bought my powerbook over a year ana a half ago, and i have absolutley no regrets. i was a hardcore windows user and now i just laugh at my friends whose computers crash, my roomate just virus checked his system and he found over 2000 viruses, i have none. that being said, i would rather that alot of windows xp users not 'switch' because i like being the outnumbered and decenting. i know my system is betterand i could care less about most windows users. however i would like to see apple continue to grow and gain more acceptance

Re:Switching views

[MBCook]

Well, I didn't LIKE Macs (in a way) untill OS X.

I basically used Macs (mostly my good old LC II) untill about the time the Pentium came out and that's about when I got my first PC (a 386 clone) and I've been a PC person every since.

Now I had USED Macs during that time, I just didn't own one. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for Macs (their design elegance, I though the interface was quite nice, etc) but I wouldn't have bought one (except as a second/spare/extra/toy comptuer) because of the OS. OS 8/9 wasn't BAD, but it wasn't as modern as Windows 9x or what I could do on Linux. I wouldn't have wanted to use it for a main computer. Add to that the speed difference that started to appear and that I played lots of games and that I liked to build computers and a Mac just wasn't an option.

But the OS (my biggest problem) because OS X which I have to admit I drool over. If I could buy it to put on my PCs (even if it cost $350 or so) I'd do it. It's got the Unix core (which thanks to Linux I've come to LOVE) but the great modern no fuss desktop. I don't play that many computer games any more (and those that I do then to be things that will get ported to the Mac anyways, even if I have to wait 6 months). I have moved to using a laptop almost exclusively (so building is out of the question, not to mention that I just don't have too much time to do that with my main computer, only "extra" computers). And now with computers getting so much faster than what I need most of the time (a G4 would be more than enough for me most of the time, but I drool over that G5). I've basically made up my mind that my next computer will be a Mac (probably laptop. I can't wait for iBook G5s. I'm not hurting so I can survive).

In summary I didn't "hate" Macs, but I wouldn't have bought one. They were outdated and dying for me compared to the "Wintel" side of things. But now Macs are back (with a VENGENCE). OS X fixed my biggest problem with Macs (the rest I could have survived). And not only did it FIX the problem, it added a Unix core that I envy. And while most things on Windows "Just Work" pretty well, these days when I don't have much free time to screw around with computer issues the "it nearly ALWAYS Just Works" of a Mac is majorly appealing too. Fixing my own computer problems (you know, the oddities of Windows and installing hardware/etc) is no longer challenging or entertaining in ANY way, it's just an annoyance. Years ago there was often something I would LEARN by going through all that stuff (even if I shouldn't have had to), but now it's just a pain.

Hold on little iBook G5... I'll be comming for you!

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

>It's pretty amazing how polar opposite many slashdotter's views about Apple have changed since the release of OS X.

perhaps thats because macs used to suck and now they rock?

Re:Switching views

[mws1981]

Before my first experiance with OS X, I was a winblows user. I heard all these rumors that macs suck and aren't compatable with anything, which made me shy away from them. When I went to college I was forced into getting an iBook for my Graphic Design major. I found that the rumors might have been true for OS 9, but with OS X I had no problems at all. Ever since, my iBook has been my primary system.

I never knew that one could fall in love with an OS till OS X came along.

Re:Switching views

[DavidLeblond]

I use to despise Macs (rightly so.) I didn't even give them much thought when OS X came out.

But after upgrading to XP I started looking more and more at apple.com, and when XP went belly up on me last November I bought an iBook.

Never looked back.

Re:Switching views

[daviddennis]

I was a Windows loather who used mainly SGI and Linux, but when I decided to get into video in a big way in 1998, I decided to get a Mac because I was told the experience would be seamless.

It was, by 1998 standards, anyway, and I really liked the overall design of the system. But I still used the Unix machine for emacs and programming.

When the public beta came out, I put it on my dual processor G4 and switched almost entirely to the Mac immediately. I've been really happy with it ever since, so now I have a G5 at home, a G4 tower at work and a G4 PowerBook for the road.

Great systems, all of them. I couldn't be happier.

D

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

i like being the outnumbered and decenting

you mean "dissenting"?

Re:Switching views

[kalidasa]

Always wanted a NeXT. Couldn't afford them, then they disappeared into Apple. I started shopping for a Mac on March 24, 2001 and ordered my iBook the day the white iBooks came out.

Re:Switching views

[onya]

>>It's pretty amazing how polar opposite many slashdotter's views about Apple have changed since the release of OS X.

>perhaps thats because macs used to suck and now they rock?

no, now they just suck less.

Re:Switching views

[Van Halen]

OS 8/9 wasn't BAD, but it wasn't as modern as Windows 9x or what I could do on Linux. I wouldn't have wanted to use it for a main computer.

I've always felt exactly the same way about System 7 through OS 9. I had used it a fair amount in college, and never really disliked it. Nice interface, but not nearly enough power to get at the internals for me to use it as my main machine. I was a Linux person (and later FreeBSD) and you could pry that from my cold, dead fingers.

Still, I bought a PowerMac 7600 running 7.5 back in 1996. It served one specific purpose (and still does today, running OS 8.6) as the centerpiece of my home recording studio, running Digital Performer. It was always my music machine and nothing else. Everything else was done on my Unix PC. Actually starting in 2000, I began dabbling in movie editing, using this little program from Apple called iMovie. So then the Mac had exactly two functions.

I had been lusting after OS X since I first starting reading about it, with the Developer Previews. Of course, my little Mac wasn't going to run it well enough to bother, but I wanted it. Finally in 2002, we decided that we wanted to make a video of our upcoming wedding, but we wanted to do it cheap. Of course this was the perfect opportunity to sneak in my desire to try OS X, especially since I'd already become proficient with iMovie. So we got a new Power Mac G4 and a DV camera (the wedding DVD turned out great).

Now the G4 is my primary machine. Terminal is still my most used app, but the rest of it is so much nicer than anything else. The FreeBSD PC sits headless in the corner as the household firewall/router/server. It's setup nicely and I don't want to tinker with it anymore for day to day stuff (that was fun in college, but not so much anymore). We bought an iBook for the wife about a year and a half ago, and we'll never go back. Interestingly, I still keep the 7600 around for music stuff. I had planned to upgrade my Digital Performer for OS X and move all the music stuff to the G4, but the 7600 works so well that I never bothered. It worked great for writing some music for the wedding, and I actually mixed the sound for the wedding video on it because iMovie doesn't give as much control. Perfect!

And then there's work. It's a Windows world. Everyone has a PC, and Mac/Apple are practically dirty words. We use Unix workstations in my group, mostly Sun and SGI. But those are getting to be pretty overpriced in the workstation market for the performance you get. We needed some Unix laptops that could still run Microsoft Office, so I managed to justify a couple of PowerBooks. Then we needed a file server with a couple terabytes that could serve our Unix machines and PCs. Hmm, Power Mac G5 + Xserve RAID. Management wanted to know why we weren't going with a Windows server. Aside from the lower cost vs. comparable Dell or IBM solutions, I think the lack of viruses was a big selling point. Serves NFS automounts, SMB, integrates with NIS, printers, web server, runs our scientific codes faster than any big iron workstation we have. I'd like to see a Windows machine do all of that as well!

So uh, happy birthday, Mac OS X. I know my computing life is much easier and enjoyable because of it. Though now it's kind of frustrating to use anything else. :) With OS X I get to have my cake (gui interface, expose) and eat it too (command line)!

Re:Switching views

[burns210]

g5 ibooks will be a ways off. g5 powerbooks might be demo in july(june?) maybe... likely it will be imac g5's first, and at the same time, or the next expo we will see the large powerbooks get g5s(15/17"). the 12" pbook will be last, then the ibooks and a long time from now the emacs.

that is my guess.

NOTE: i bought my 12" aluminum 1ghz powerbook in january, love it to death, would use it 24/7 if at all possible, and it is worth a few extra bucks over an ibook. Also, i have noticed i get a bit above 'average' laptop battery, i can listen to music and do light stuff for ~4 hours, maybe a bit longer if i do energy saving stuff(dim the screen). that is a stretch, i normally get a solid 3-3.5 hours out of it though, which is 30-45 minutes longer than pc laptop users i have talked to.

Re:Switching views

[MBCook]

My brother has one of the origional PowerBook Titainiums and it's VERY nice. I could see my self buying a PB, but the thing I lust over the iBook for is it's size. I might get a 12" PB. It's just than in my mind, iBook means small, PB means medium/large. I'm still not used to the 12" PB idea.

I said iBook mostly because of the size. I love my large Dell laptop (I knew it was large when I bought it, I liked it) but my needs are changing and a small/light laptop is starting to appeal to me, and that's probably what I'll buy next.

But no matter what, I know it will be a while. I'm not hurting, and I wouldn't even start to look into buying something new for probably a year or more (unless something happened to my laptop).

Re:Switching views

[burns210]

it is all about the right size. my sis's boyfriend(quite the freebsd guy, actually) has a 15" tibook that is nice, but for me just too big. He is the opposite(himself a pretty tall big guy), he thinks the 12" is too small... Go to a mac store and play around with them, the 12" ibook is pretty close but slightly larger than the 12" powerbook.

O, and upgrade your ram thirdparty. Apple charges too much for builtin ram upgrades, and Mac OS X very much takes advantage of all available ram(though runs just fine on 256m, from my experience).

Re:Switching views

[ce25254]

I have used Macs for a long time, but only for music-recording work. I never took the platform seriously for anything else since I became well-acquainted with the annoying bomb icon on the SE/30 machines in my university dorm's computer lab.
For other "real" work (web, email, some programming, etc), I loaded Linux/PPC on my beige PowerMac.
But since OS X (actually since a 10.2 for me) I am a 100% OS X convert. Having a real BSD system under the nice GUI is a huge plus, and I'm not looking back. If an app needs Classic, these days (especially now since SoundDiver OS X beta), I don't bother to run that app.

Re:Switching views

[WaKall]

Does your system have a spell checker?

Re:Switching views

[cbiagini]

If he's using Safari, or any Cocoa app for that matter, then yes. Maybe he's using IE 6 in VPC :)

Re:Switching views

[Squozen]

Yep, I used to love the titanium PowerBooks but hated OS 9. I changed my mind when I accidentally dropped and broke my GF's PowerBook and the replacement came with OS X 10.2. I bought my 15" AlBook in September and it's my main machine these days.

Re:Switching views

[idiotnot]

I've seen stories that IBM is actually working on an updated version of the 75x chip (IBM's G3) to include altivec, etc. etc....should appear in the 1.5Ghz range, clock up to about 2.5Ghz. Not 64-bit, but fast enough to keep up with most things, and most importantly of all, low power (and cool!).

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

my roomate just virus checked his system and he found over 2000 viruses

Boy you sure have a dumb roommate. How old are you guys anyway? 13? And your roommate seems to have an even dumber roommate.

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

If I could buy it to put on my PCs (even if it cost $350 or so) I'd do it.

Why? PC hardware is just as shitty as Windows, you blithering fool.

Re:Switching views

[zero_offset]

Ah yes, the "grammar is a straitjacket" argument.

Assuming you manage to graduate despite the onus of that half-literate gibberish you're spewing, you're going to make a fantastic impression on your clients some day. Poor spelling and grammar is simply a sign of laziness, particularly at the university level.

Correct spelling and grammar is an important part of "experessing" yourself well. Don't assume you're so brilliant that the rest of us have any interest in slogging through the steaming mess you've written just to glean the dubious benefits of your self-proclaimed eloquence.

Spelling and grammar are part and parcel of the content of a post. Consequently, it is reasonable to take someone to task for a failing which should have been corrected around age ten. It is also reasonable to suspect that an intellect lacking in the comparatively simple skills of spelling and grammar may prove equally lacking in the ability to produce useful or interesting insights -- let alone the ability to relate those insights to others saddled with the considerable disadvantage of such grossly incompetent communication skills.

Rather than fly into some sort of barely-comprehensible rage, consider what I've written, read and learn from it, and please do not return until you can spell at least as well as a young child.

It's a shame, too. I did find your original post interesting. I considered responding to it. But it was such a disgusting example of near-illiteracy, I decided I preferred to avoid engaging you in conversation. In a way, I was embarassed on your behalf.

Good luck with whatever you end up doing. You're going to need it.

Re:Switching views

[anothy]

back in school, me and a friend of mine used to go back and forth all the time. i was firmly on the PC side, even DOS/Windows (i've since gotten better), she was mac. this was about system 7 and 8 days. she loved the fact that things "just worked", i liked the fact that i could make the thing do anything i wanted by editing text files, poking at the registry, and mucking around with things in DOS.

then i got a job. :-)

i got hooked on Unix myself, then eventually Plan 9 and Inferno (still hooked). and i came to hate windows. when i got moved from my job supporting ~50 unix users at various sites and one server to supporting 5-10 windows users and no servers, and the later took far more time and energy, i was just plain done with it.
later on, at another job, i admin'd a group doing cross-platform development. we had maybe 10 combinations of unix OS and hardware platform. it was easy (except for AIX - stupid SMIT). we also had a few Mac guys doing marketing work - and after setting them up, i never touched them again. really. and that's when it hit me: they just worked. we were running system 8.

after that, i basically broke things down like this: BSD on PCs for tech workers, Solaris on Sparc or Irix for servers, Macs for everyone else. it just became obvious how dumb giving the various secretaries and business folks anything but a mac was. they didn't need or care about the Unix power, they wanted it to just do what they expected it to, and i didn't want to have to fiddle with it.

now, it's even better. i can solidly and confidently recommend Macs for almost everything (the "almost" being a few friends who want to run specific games, our finance people at work, and portions of our ops staff that has to run a custom Win32 app we're in the process of replacing with something cross-platform - so the need for Win32 is decreasing!).

so yeah. i kinda hated macs in school, then realized that they had their place for non-tech people. and now, "their place" is everywhere! the best unix workstations on the planet.

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

And you, kind anonymous sir, have an anger management problem . . . did that hit a nerve? Or maybe it's just jealousy.

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy quality parts for PCs, but it'll cost you as much as a Mac to do so. . .

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

This is fascinating. I had no idea Eddie Van Halen went to college and had an interest in Unix.

Re:Switching views

[tuxedobob]

back in school, me and a friend of mine used to... she...

If you'd just liked Macs then, maybe you could've been more than friends! ;)

Re:Switching views

[Yeechang Lee]

Since I bought my iBook G4 in February I've been using it a lot more than my Linux server. That said, I still run everything except Firebird/Firefox on the server and use the iBook as a SSH-based wireless remote terminal (GNU Screen is, like, the greatest tool ever), so I can't quite call it my "primary" machine per se.

Re:Switching views

[Dstreelm]

I appreciate you trying to respond with a level head. However, you fait to take into account just how little I care about people who have nothing better in their lives than to critique my grammar. I agree, bad spelling is a matter of laziness, but I don't care. Every thing I've ever written for school or for job interviews has been grammatically perfect, but I could care less about a bunch of pipmle-faced little kids who think they know everything. And your own ignorance is shown by the fact that you don't even know what my major is.

Re:Switching views

[MoneyT]

Yes you halfwit lusting. Perhaps you should educate yourself on the meanings of words before you rail on someone:

lust PPronunciation Key(lst)
n.
1) Intense or unrestrained sexual craving.

2) An overwhelming desire or craving: a lust for power.

3) Intense eagerness or enthusiasm: a lust for life.

4)Obsolete. Pleasure; relish.

Re:Switching views

[Pope]

You did well choosing the 7600. The 7500s had some rather flaky Ethernet chips on board, and the ones I used to work on always were a bit twitchy, whereas the 7600 in the office was dead solid. My machine was a 7100/80, also solid as a rock (limitations of MacOS 7.x aside :)

That's mainly why I'm holding out for a rev B G5, I figure all the hardware kinks will be ironed out. Either that, or I'll get a dual 1.8 cheaper than now !

Re:Switching views

[zero_offset]

Wow, punctuation and everything. With that level of effort and maybe a pass from a spell checker, we might have spent our time having a productive on-topic discussion. Funny how that literacy thing helps you make progress, isn't it?

As far as I can tell, your pursuit of industrial design is wholly irrelevant to this discussion.

Re:Switching views

[brasten]

I actually just recently switched to a PowerBook after posting a question about them on Ask Slashdot. The slashdotters responses helped convince me it was worth the investment, and it absolutely has been. While the pure performance of the machine hasn't been what I would hope for in a $3000 notebook, it has been far from bad, and everything ELSE about the machine (size, look and feel, and the best OS I've seen, ever...) had made it MORE than worth it.

While I try not to get caught up in all the "PowerBook G5 next week!" rumors, they certainly have to be released sometime this year, and I will definitely be first in line when they are announced.

Re:Switching views

[Dstreelm]

and you have done alot progress a productive on-topic discussion havent you?

Re:Switching views

[zero_offset]

Engrish?

Re:Switching views

[burns210]

the ibook's G4 chip may be what you are referring to. It is not the same chip as what runs the same clockspeed 12" powerbook, rather, a modified G3 chip with Altivec included. Adding Altivec gave it the base criteria to be a 'G4' chip and while the same clockspeed, i believe the powerbook chip equivalent is still a bit faster. I could be wrong though.

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

Flamebait?? No, that was +5, Informative, motherfuckers!!!

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually that was Billy Bob Van Halen, Eddie's long lost first/second cousin from Ar-Kansas. Word is that he's the new singer for their upcoming tour. I hear he plays a mean banjo duet with Eddie while compiling a kernel at the same time!

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

Jesus, mods are a little twitchy today?? I believe he meant it as the other AC responder put it. Kind of like that quote by the original author of mutt (email client): "All mail clients suck. This one just sucks less." Substitute for OS, and you've got it about right for Mac OS X.

Re:Switching views

[Bob Davis, Retired]

I doubt it. Poerbooks are the pro machines, and Apple will likely put the G5 in them ahead of iMacs.

Just to compare and contrast, the G4 came out as a Power Macintosh first, then a Powerbook, and then, finally, years later it appeared in an iMac. Just recently did the G4 come out in an iBook.

Re:Switching views

[TheDredd]

Never looked back
you just did

Re:Switching views

[Unregistered]

count me in. By OS 9 mac os was just so messy since it had so much crap tacked on to the original gui style. OSX is sweet and i use a G5 as my primary com now. I love it.

Re:Switching views

[Anonymous Coward]

Nobody cares, but I first used a Mac two years ago, a 25MHz Quadra 610. I had to buy a mouse because you can't navigate without it (ugh). So anyway, it was $10, I got over it. I ended up getting NetBSD to run on it and filled up the hard drive over and over building software to play with from pkgsrc. I used Netscape 3 under MacOS7 to do my browsing. At first I was just playing, but then my PC died so it was my only machine...

Now I have an iBook with OS9 and OpenBSD on it. After using OSX on the computers at school last quarter, it's probably only a matter of time before I buy it. The only thing is I would miss configuring OpenBSD, it's so easy! And I've used it almost exclusively for a couple years.

God I hate my job. I fix Windows problems all day. Sorry, I'm drinking scotch and my girlfriend hates me.

Happy birthday or whatever, I'll probably pay the Apple tax to do my part...

I can get it with my student discount for $70 :) I'm 32 and relishing student discounts LAME...

lsr

Mac OS X Release History

[Goo.cc]

I have a page that lists all revision of Mac OS X (client) since the public beta. I created it because I periodically save screenshots and I couldn't always remember which OS revision the screenshot was created with.

Anyway, you can access it at http://www.goo.cc/macosx.html

Re:Mac OS X Release History

[Rosyna]

It is slightly wrong.

Mac OS 10.2's official release date was August 24th. They had a special starting at 10:20PM the night before at some Apple stores.

Re:Mac OS X Release History

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyway, you can access it at http://www.goo.cc/macosx.html

Or even at http://www.goo.cc/macosx.html.

Re:Mac OS X Release History

[Goo.cc]

The Apple Press Release states the 23rd of August. You can see it at Apple's PR Page

Re:Mac OS X Release History

[Goo.cc]

BTW, it's too bad Unsanity no longer produces Mint Audio. It was a nice little audio player.

Re:Mac OS X Release History

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee what a great page.

(Blithering twit.)

Powerbook rumors?

[mildness]

Any guesses as to when the next PB will be out and what it might include?

Suffering severe OS X lust I am days, nay hours, away from my first Mac in 10 or so years.

Cheers,

Bill

Re:Powerbook rumors?

[ratlater]

MacRumors Buyers Guide is a good place to look for a general idea. They should be releasing a revision with faster processors and a few minor improvements in the next month or two.

-matt

Re:Powerbook rumors?

[Anonymous Coward]

"...I am days, nay hours, away from my first Mac in 10 or so years."

Deserter. Traitor. And now you're a Johnny-come-lately too.

Shame, I say! Shame on you!

Shame!

They do

[filmsmith]

WinExpose

I haven't tried it nor do I know anyone who as but... well... there it is.

fs

Re:They do

[undef24]

I bought it and its slow. The next week I bought a powerbook.

Re:They do

[cbirdsong64]

Slow is an understatement. More accurately, it makes smoothly scrolling a web site with the process running in the background impossible. More accurately, it sucks balls.

Re:They do

[Trillan]

It was spammed to me. In addition to my usual sending of spam complaints to hosts, I sent a copy off to Apple Legal.

Shortly thereafter, the product name was changed.

Shortly thereafter, the company web site was dead.

I believe they're out of business completely now. Thank God. Fucking spammers deserve all that, plus a few smacks to the head with a baseball bat.

Re:They do

[wfisher]

I also triede the Expose feature in Linux. It was expose built in to the app-changing command in a certain window manager, expocity actually. Anyways, that sucked too, I was very disappointed. It was a very stupid animation technique: all the windows would be cleared then each one would suck out of the bottom left corner. It was slow and ugly.

What's interesting though about Expose is the algorithm used, there's certainly a random factor in the algorithm because the windows never go in the same spot. Also, the windows don't aim on taking up all the space, that is, when you use expose, there are big holes of spaces there are purposely not used, but the gaps between each windows are not all the same so there is definitely something random about the algorithm.

Re:They do

[System.out.println()]

I can't tell whether you're talking about WinExpose or pPod (WinPlosion and pBop, respectively...)

I'm seeing a pattern....

Re:They do

[Trillan]

WinExpose -- their real site is www.winexpose.com.

Re:They do

[System.out.println()]

That was intended as sarcasm, but thanks anyway. :)

Re:They do

[Trillan]

Ah. See, I thought you were an idiot. :)

It isn't necessarily a bad assumption... they're about a dime a dozen on slashdot some days. :)

PCI-E != PCI-X

[Tumbleweed]

Nope. PCI-X is a much older technology, and very different from the new serial connector technology called PCI Express (abbreviated PCI-E). Macs _have_ had 64-bit 66mHz PCI for quite some time, though that's still nowhere near as sophisticated as PCI-E.

PCI-Express, however, will be replacing both AGP _and_ PCI slots, so all your peripherals will be using the same technology, albeit in different form factors (16x connector for AGP replacement, 1x or 4x connectors for most everything else). I believe it's 250MB/s (each direction?) per 'x' of connector length in PCI-E, so this will be a substantial improvement in bandwidth on PCI-E systems.

Re:PCI-E != PCI-X

[PygmySurfer]

PCI-X is NOT 66 MHz PCI.

"The PCI-X protocol supports high-performance PCI devices, increasing speeds from 33MHz to 133MHz and throughput from 266 Mbps to 2GBps."

It may not be PCI-E, but it's definitely not plain old 66 MHz PCI.

I've been with Apple for a while.

[alchemist68]

I've been with Apple for a while now. My first Apple computer was an Apple IIgs when I was in high school. My second Apple computer was a PowerBook 520c. My third and current Apple computer is a Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White), originally had a Motorola 400MHz G3, but upgraded to an IBM 500MHz G3 thanks to Other World Computing and the good folks at IBM. The one thing I've liked about Apple is that it consistently produces good products. Looking at the commercialization of the Windows Desktop (Icons, Icons EVERYWHERE), I admire Apple simplicity and elegance in design. Everything about Apple about coupling simplicity, elegance, and functionality. Their computers, in my experience, are also very reliable. All of my Apple computers still work. Mac OS X is quite impressive, and fast, and for my current web surfing, document writing, CD copying (for my car) and CD ripping (for my car), the 500MHz G3 is plenty fast for my needs, though I REALLY want a Dual 2.0 GHz PowerMac G5. My G3 is now 5 years old, still runs Apple's latest and greatest operating system, and it gets FASTER with every release. The Borg cannot make those claims.

Fast as fuck

[littleghoti]

I dunno what you do, but I have a SP 450 MHz G4 with a rage 128, and it runs RTCW smoothly enough. I almost bought a dual 1.25 G4, but held off to see the specs for Doom3. I admit to being a mac/id whore. This box was ought to play quake3, and my next upgrade will be for doom. I also have an irix box, a linux box, and at work I use windows. I guess what I am trying to point out is that clock sped is not that important. The overall performance of a mac is not just down to clock speed, the RISC architecture makes up for that. Also, the Altivec extensions help, and for the G5 the 64 bit-ness. Personally now, I can't see a reason not to by a mac, escpecially a desktop. But then I've had half a bottle of rum, and I'm asking for cancer by going to smoke. G'night all!

present

[witort]

I just wish I didn't have to buy it a $129 present every year...

Re:present

[oacis]

Surprisingly,

I don't mind upgrading the Mac OS X operating system every year, simply because they really do add features that are worthwhile to the new build, not just adding a new look and feel (a la windows). When was the last time that you actually upgraded to a new windows version and it was actually faster? (Generally to upgrade to a new windows system, you really needed to buy a new computer).

You are looking at $AU 455 for an upgrade to the Windows professional, and even then you don't get everything that you do on a Mac (webserver, database, development tools). So $US 129 is cheap.

The first Mac I bought had 10.2 (in my mind previous Mac OS's were fantastic looking, but behind the times in terms of functionality - think memory management for one) and I love it! It is the only time that I have even considered the Mac OS as a serious purchaser. Not a problem spending on the upgrade - I cannot live without expose!

I use windows at work, and there are some things which it does do better, but I am happier with the Mac at home.

Re:present

[Anonymous Coward]

When was the last time that you actually upgraded to a new windows version and it was actually faster?

Windows 98 to Windows 2000.

Too bad...

[PrintError]

Too bad, because I heard Apple's going out of business.

Again...

Another year, another upgrade!

[BobWeiner]

I, for one, really enjoy OS X. OS9 wasn't bad, but comparing it to OSX is like comparing brussel sprouts to masala dosa. So, happy birthday, kid -- here's to your 0.4th birthday!

Re:Another year, another upgrade!

[fyonn]

is like comparing brussel sprouts to masala dosa

err... so which are you saying is better then?

dave

Huzzah!

[agent dero]

I've been using MacOS X since I went from a Dell 133Mhz laptop to a G3 iBook (700) and my life changed.

I have used macs since middle school in the middle nineties, but I had to convert to Windows because my parents wouldn't buy me a new mac.

After I got my iBook though, I found this funny little "Terminal" application, I discovered Darwin, 6 months later I picked up a trashed PC box, and installed redhat, then FreeBSD, and fell in love.

Thanks Apple, not just for an awesome OS with my awesome computer; but for the introduction to the most powerful set of OS's on the planet.

(Since then i've picked up two Sun machines with ekkoBSD installed (like OpenBSD), a couple more PC's, and various other fun pieces of hardware)

Familial birthdays

[thejoelpatrol]

So how old is NeXTstep?

Re:Familial birthdays

[Senjaz]

NeXTSTEP 0.8 was released on 12th October 1988. Version 1.0 was released 18 September 1989.

The first version to be labeled Mac OS X was Mac OS X Server 1.0 which was release on 16th March 1999.

Aqua first appeared in DP3: 14th February 2000 and there it was first recognisable at a glance as the same OS that we use today.

So Mac OS X could also be 4, 5, 14 or 15 years old depending on how you want to look at it.

She's older than that

[rixstep]

She'll actually be sweet sixteen on 12 October.

A love that dare not speak it's name...

[zbrimhall]

She'll actually be sweet sixteen on 12 October.

Oh man, only two and a half more years and she'll be legal!

they suck less...

[Anonymous Coward]

...less than everything else...

Not late, just went AWOL

[mildness]

Humourous.

Even tho you are an AC my ego forces me to correct the record. I had a Mac LC before I joined forces with Satan.

Cheers!

Re:Not late, just went AWOL

[Anonymous Coward]

After all these years with the forces of evil, it's good to know your ego is still functioning.

Seriously though, it galls me (way more than it should) that it's only now that people are considering the Mac as a platform. People who years ago would have turned up their noses and snubbed Mac without a second thought are now hopping eager to join the club, thinking they're "cool" because of it. But they're not. They're latecomers. Trend-followers. Tired fashionistas.

So yeah, I think there's some bitterness amongst those of us who've been at Apple's side through thick and thin. Of course, it's really immature. And hey, it's all good in the end, right? But these gut reactions are hard to overcome...

Anyway, welcome back. :-)

Yay! :-P

Been on Mac a loooong time

[TomorrowPlusX]

I just want to put my 2c out and say I've been working on macs since... maybe 1989 -- that was when I was in high school and first learned pascal and c programming on an ancient ( at the time even ) Mac Classic, with about 492 (?) k of ram.

I remember writing a Tron game with friends in my highschool cs class where, since the mac didn't have the CPU to do collision detection via line-to-line intersections in real time and not enough memory to make a bitfield for testing, we ended up using the screen memory itself for collision detection. The game rocked, actually.

Since I'm a professional graphic designer by day, I've *always* been on mac, except for a short detour from 2001 to 2003 when my boss insisted I work on a PC... Thank god I got out of that one.

I have to say, nonetheless, that while the migration to OS X was painful, ultimately, it's been good.

Happy birthday! And many more beleaguered years!

yeah, real eloquent.

[PDubNYC]

in addition to your horrific spelling and grammar, your last few sentences completely contradict each other. In one sentence you say you "would rather that alot of windows xp users not 'switch' because i like being the outnumbered and decenting." Once I finished deciphering that sentence, I'm hit with "however i would like to see apple continue to grow and gain more acceptance" and this is given a 5, Insightful? wtf?

Re:yeah, real eloquent.

[Dstreelm]

The windows xp users I would rather not 'switch' are those like yourself, the anal retentive ones. And i would like to see Apple grow and prosper, from real people. Many people on slashdot do not understand that they are not the norm for computer users. Most computer users just want to turn the thing on and have it work. Those are the customers who i welcome to Apple with open arms. Windows zombies and linux/unix/BSD elitists can bite me

Re:yeah, real eloquent.

[PDubNYC]

first of all I have used several platforms for years, with Mac being my preferred platform going back to the mid to late 80's. And if asking that people post coherent sentences which actually make sense is anal retentive then I'm guilty as charged. I'm not talking about the odd typo, or slip in grammar. Your posts on this topic have been consistently nonsensical and rather pathetic for someone who supposedly attends a well respected school. So, it turn out that it is I that would welcome you into the Apple world, and not the other way around, and with your inability to understand the importance or proper writing and conveyance of thoughts, I certainly never want to be lumped into a group with you called "Apple users". The bottom line is your post made no sense, little boy.

Re:yeah, real eloquent.

[Bob Davis, Retired]

If I can't decipher a post by dint of the horrible grammar or spelling, then it gets a -1, Overrated from me.

If you want people to read your opinions, please present them legibly.

office depot customers bought 3 days early!

[gsfprez]

If you recall - office depot (or was it staples?) accidentally put Mac OS X 10.0 on the shelves the day it arrived in their stores - about 3 days before hand IIRC. This was the hot news on the Mac OS X websites the day this all happened.. i think smog levels went up around all the Office Depots the second the news hit.

Man...it HAS been a long time - i forget all the details - except for the one where my wife asked "Wait, did you just buy it twice? I thought you had ordered it from Apple thru your friend there?"

me: "But dude, i got it NOW!!!! Long before everyone else!!!"

Ah... i miss those days.... no sleep prior to a major OS release to be first in line at Frys....

man, i'm old now. i don't do fun things like that any more.

Um, question

[System.out.println()]

What's "masala dosa"?

3 years and still no:

[valkraider]

Three years, and still no major children's games. Well, there are a couple - Finding Nemo and The Learning Tree ones... But most of the "major" titles - (which means the ones that feature the characters the pre-schoolers are addicted to) - are all still OS9, even though they were released more than a year or two after OSX.

It is frustrating at the least - to keep Classic on a computer so my daughter can play "Blues Clues"... or "Dora the Explorer"...

But in every other aspect - OSX rocks - it got me to switch to a Mac. And then to buy three more of them. And then buy a couple iPods, an iSight, and a bit of software... I would say OSX has been successful, at least in *my* household. All my x86/Windows machines have since been given to Goodwill...

Keep the Faith

[NaughtyNimitz]

I am an Apple user since 1983, and even through the dark days (20 mac types in one year; corroded Copland, rushed Rapsody, ...) i kept the faith that one day Apple was going to make the a new statement telling the world it is again a player on the OS market.
And that day was when MacOS X was released.

Praise all people involved! From the iCEO to the employer that wraps the box.

-1, Condescending

[thatguywhoiam]

You could have made your point with one sentence.

I'll pick another one: In a way, I was embarassed on your behalf.

Re:-1, Condescending

[zero_offset]

*shrug* I had time to kill.

The same might be said for your post. Besides, some people need things spelled out for them. Get it? Spelled out? I should charge you people admission.

should be misspelled correctely

[philge]

engrish Ha! should be engrishu

I Made "The Switch"

[bigfinger]

I Switched when I walked into the Apple Store @ Valley Fair Mall Last Fall. The New AI Powerbooks had just came out. "WHOA!" is all I could say. So I walked out with my first laptop, my first Mac, and my new Love The Powerbook G4 15" Firewire 800 with a combo drive running OS X.2 at the time. The date was Nov. 2nd of 2003. Not long after I bought her an X.3 upgrade on launch night. Although we have had our differances (White Spots, and Fadding Back Light), I still love my Powerbook. I wouldnt traid her for any Wintel box ever. So let me take time to wish a very happy belated birthday to OS X, and say thank you for making my Powerbook ROCK!

More like 2 or 2.5 yrs, not three.

[Zathras26]

OS X 10.0 may have been released on that date, but I wouldn't call that the "real" OS X... most people, including myself, considered that version more of a beta than a final release, even though Apple had already released an official "beta" some months before that. IMO, OS X didn't become a "real" OS until version 10.1.

I'm such a geek...

[nettdata]

I'm such a geek that I remembered that it was OSX's birthday, but TOTALLY forgot that it was also my mother's.

*sigh*

I'll be in the doghouse for a while, I'm sure. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Solution

[AvantLegion]

There's this really cool new kid's game.

have u ever considered ...

[valmont]

... trying pussy?