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Top Apple Rumors, Bricks, Low Price, NVIDIA
Vigile writes "With the news that Apple will be releasing new MacBook products on October 14th, speculation has begun on what exactly those new products will be. Tips of a manufacturing process involving lasers and a single 'brick' of aluminum are catching on, as is the idea of a sub-$1000 netbook-type device. More interesting might be the persistent rumors of an NVIDIA chipset adoption that would drastically increase gaming ability, allow MacBooks to improve their support for OpenCL and take advantage of the new Adobe CS4 software with GPU acceleration. Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"
God knows that gaming graphics is the only reason left why I'm still hanging on to the PC platform...
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Apple will announce that due to the financial crisis, they've been able to purcase Iceland. However, it will be rebranded as iCeland. Steve Jobs was apparently very fond of their homogeneous population.
Perhaps you mean carved or machined from a single piece of aluminum? As opposed to bent, or molded...
Apple will soon be selling pre-bricked laptops.
If they sell a laptop for $800, as rumored, then who's going to buy a Mac mini for $600+?
Of course, they could probably sell the mini for $400 and still make 40% profit. It's basically a laptop with the most expensive part of a laptop (the screen) left out.
God knows that gaming graphics is the only reason left why I'm still hanging on to the PC platform...
Are first-person shooters and indie games the only reason left why you haven't already moved to the Xbox 360 or PS3 platform?
OpenCL is NOT a typo.
See HERE:
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a language for programming heterogeneous data and task parallel computing across GPUs and CPUs. It was created by Apple in cooperation with others, and is based on C99.
The purpose is to recall OpenGL and OpenAL, which are open industry standards for 3D graphics and computer audio respectively, to extend the power of the GPU beyond graphics (GPGPU).
Apple has proposed OpenCL for Khronos Group where on June 16th 2008 Compute Working Group was formed for the standardization work.
OpenCL is scheduled to be introduced in Mac OS 10.6 ('Snow Leopard').According to the press release:
Snow Leopard further extends support for modern hardware with Open Computing Language (OpenCL), which lets any application tap into the vast gigaflops of GPU computing power previously available only to graphics applications. OpenCL is based on the C programming language and has been proposed as an open standard.
There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
Open Cute Library? Open Cuddly Library? Open Cutting-our-prices-below-retail Library?
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
Nvidia? That'd be just awesome. I can't think of any other way to make Apple hardware (already more prone to need warranty service than any other manufacturer's product that I can name) any less reliable. Go go gadget failure!
SNOW Leopard comes out next year. Start saving your pennies. :-)
http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/
too busy doing wget on apple.com and going though the dl with a fine-toothed comb looking for clues
--Apple fanboy
People want a desktop mac mini / mid tower with DESKTOP PARTS.
Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?
I got my tetanus booster shot yesterday, with my usual side-effects (kind of like having the flu.) I can tell you, a "shot in the arm" for NVIDIA doesn't sound too good right now. :-)
No more prone to warranty service than every Dell I've ever had the displeasure of being asked to look at.
But people like to look closely at Apple for failure so they can bash them. More so than even Microsoft it seems.
The "Brick" is probably just a FUD campaign to scare off customers trying to unlock their phones >_>
Power corrupts the few, while weakness corrupts the many.
They were forced to install those as some employees were threatening to move to Redmond where they have been providing such benefits for years. Unfortunately, when making this demand they didn't realize they would be required to be on the rotation schedule to "man" said glory holes.
Apple will either release a cheap macbook ($799) with discrete nvidia graphics, aluminum casing made with water-jets and lasers, netbook-sized, featuring an LED backlit screen -with good panel- OR thousands of people on the internet will start writing about how disappointed they are.
" Will NVIDIA's ailing chipset business get a shot in the arm next week?"
They'll need it since they just got a swift kick in the a@@
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
While they do make for fun fanboy wank material, does anybody actually take the OMG PWERBOOKS WILL be carved by LASER ROBOTS!!! thing seriously? Material fabrication and shaping is an area that is steadily improving; but nothing points to Apple as having made any revolutionary advances in the area recently. And, barring such revolutionary advances, machining big chunks of material isn't exactly cheap. Cheaper than it used to be, sure, and definitely cheap enough to be cost effective for some applications; but hardly cost competitive with present techniques.
The other rumors seem markedly more plausible. 800 would be about the expected pricepoint for Apple's answer to the netbook(whether it will actually use atom and SSD or just be a low end macbook, I have no idea).
If you really want an OS that randomly freezes over on you, you should've stuck with Windows ME.
Perhaps it's a new iPhone update designed to turn all unlocked phones into "bricks".
Only Moo??? No Moo Moo or Moooooo?
You lazy cow!!!
Leopard... Hell...
Tomayto tomahto.
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Moo-moo, mooooooooooo!
The best thing the computer gaming industry can do is not actually "give" people a reason to buy a console...they've already got their computer. Theres no doubt there are problems in the computer gaming world, but this move can only be a good thing for computer gamers. If PC's, laptop or desktop (and I mean "personal computers" in general) come standard with decent graphics solutions it will only increase the platforms attractiveness to average joe who cant install a graphics card himself or does not know they even exist. Many people I know were not even aware you can get control pads for computers. They like they fact that with a console you plug it in, turn it on and play. They know they will never be able to tinker around with the inside of a computer. And when I tell them about things like Spore DRM, they know they dont want to "rent" a game. IMHO, The big PC builders, Dell, HP etc..should give away a control pad with the purchase of a new PC and perhaps companies like EA could also give away some controllers with games that really need it. It doesn't have to be a fancy wifi one...just a cheap usb PS2 clone controller...if average joe knows the controllers exists, he knows he can upgrade...
Wait for ture2way before getting a apple drv as the cable co have mess cable card v1 up real bad.
If you're defending Apple's hardware reliability by comparing it to Dell's...
"We're in bad shape, fellas."
DRM: Terminator crops for your mind!
Do you have any stats to back up your claim that Apple is more prone to failure than any other manufacturer?
For some of us who dual boot linux on Apple hardware, switching to NVidia isn't a positive development!
They like they fact that with a console you plug it in, turn it on and play.
It will be a while before the PC gaming industry can offer that.
A 500 buck cheap laptop today IS a cheap "all in one" from just a couple of years ago or so, which means it is perfectly fine except for most uses except extreme high end new games (mostly). You can still run a full size monitor and keyboard and a real mouse from them. Bonus extra screen and built in UPS that lasts for hours, not minutes!
Since when does Microsoft make laptops?
I'll buy apple... ...when leopard freezes over!
SNOW Leopard comes out next year. Start saving your pennies. :-)
http://www.apple.com/macosx/snowleopard/
Are you trying to explain the joke? Or announcing you didn't get it? ;)
A story with lasers and no-one makes the requisite joke about sea bass? Did I stumble upon some other tech news site by mistake?
I wonder if they are going to work on the heat issues mac book pro's have. Mine gets hella hot
Oh puh-leeze, if there is any company that has been given a free pass on quality issues, it's Apple. Apple's hardware is no better than any other manufacturer and the OS is crap, but they made it pretty which is all that matters in the shallow minds of their consumers.
Similes are like metaphors
I love nVidia, but having a lock on Apple still won't save them. Unless they can make a shockingly large profit margin, of course. But given how aggressively spiteful Apple is of anyone making money on stuff bearing an Apple logo, that's highly unlikely.
Somehow, I can't see how moving from a huge amount of the computer market to most of a 4% share of it will help. Sure, it might keep them afloat, but it's a huge step down.
IMO, AMD was stupid for purchasing ATI... they should have purchased nVidia. Trying to improve ATI is like polishing a turd.
Neither. Just holding people to their word.
Right. Nobody makes mass-produced items by machining them out of solid metal. It's too slow, and you waste too much metal. That's what die-casting, drawing, and stamping are for. Laptop cases are thin enough that die-casting is probably overkill. Drawing or stamping is more likely, followed by a punching step. There might be a role for a laser if very small holes have to be made or some surface engraving is desired.
The NextCube case was a magnesium casting, which was sort of silly for a desktop device.
A cute idea for the case modding crowd would be industrial origami. This little-known technology works much better than you'd expect. It's a fun experience to take a flat, prepunched plate and hand-fold it into an electrical outlet box.
Thats how we got goatse.
A netbook with a dual core Atom for only $399. Software available through Itunes and will have the option to use the iPhone as a modem via bluetooth or WiFi.
The mini will be gone. Apple will introduce the Apple Brick. It is a bit bigger than a mini but will have a PCI-E slot to allow you to upgrade your video.
Of course I am totally making this up so if you don't agree who cares.
But if I am right, all bow before the all knowing LWATCDR.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Yeah, but some of us actually happen to like Unix-like OSes.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
How about an iPhone that's remounted inside a 9x12" notebook case, only a few millimeters thin with a bigger battery and a 1600x1200 pixel multitouch screen? Not a "Mac", but an actual iPhone (including phone), with iPhone UI and OS, but configured to feature the apps and data network, and the same iPhone telephony SW just left "off to the sides".
Price it at $500, and it won't compete with either iPhones (or iPods) or the low-end Mac notebooks. But it will give a desktop audience for the iPhone platform, with all the existing iPhone apps. Without much extra investment in engineering a new product line. Innovations in the "iPhoneBook" product could also drive features in either notebook or iPhone lines.
--
make install -not war
There's a big difference between what ought to be and what is.
I'm familiar with the is-ought problem. So how do I work to change "ought" to "is"?
Most people aren't going to have a computer set up in such a way that it's a good fit for party gaming. In general, the screen is small and the location is set up for 1 person to sit at it comfortably.
One of my co-workers uses an HP Pavilion Slimline at work. It isn't much bigger or much more expensive than an Xbox 360. (Mac mini is even smaller, roughly the size of a Wii console.) And like an Xbox 360 or a PS3, a PC can be hooked up to an HDTV through the VGA port or (using a $40 scan converter) even an SDTV. So why don't more HDTVs have a Windows PC or a Mac mini by them?
but with things as they (largely still) are, "indie party gaming" isn't a big genre.
So if I develop and sell copies of a party game for Windows and Mac OS X, will I find a large market of HTPC (home theater personal computing) enthusiasts and few competitors? Or how can I encourage HDTV owners to connect a PC?
What is that you say? Steve Jobs is going to speak?
In Other News
Popular technology news website slashdot.org was shut down today. A slashdot spokesman is quoted as saying: "We just couldn't handle a million Mac douche bags all jizzing at once. We hope to have the mess cleaned up and to be back on our feet shortly . We never anticipate this much jizz. In reaction to this, we are going to take the unprecedented step of doubling our mop farm. October 14th is anticipated to be a messy day and we want to be prepared." The spokesman confidently ended by stating: "Believe me, next time we will be prepared!"
Historically, when ever Apple has been prepping a product release, they push out all the used gear of the same model from the clearance pages of the Apple Store into the distribution channel, that way the channel is holding the bag of old stock. That's my barometer of what is coming down the pike.
The only thing missing from the Apple Store Refurb pages at this time is the mac mini - air, pro and plain old mac books are there, as are iMacs and 8-way Mac Pros.
PS. i can't see what use a solid chunk of aluminium carved out would be unless you're selling an encryption box to the feds or perhaps as the foundation for a compter that doesn't have a hinge and needs to be sturdier as it lives topless.
Offtopic? Someone posts moo and I reply with a piece of Apple history. Just because you don't know who Clarus is and were too lazy to click the link doesn't make me offtopic.
The Brick rumors are all bs. Why pundits feel the need to connect brick to anything is beyond silly.
Rebrickulous: Cutting Through The MacBook Rumors
Are you serious? Apple is near or at the top of every reliability chart I've never seen. I'd happily review any sources you might have.
What makes the OS crap?
Wooosh (n) Sound made when something flies over your head.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Keyboard AND Mouse? Duke Nukem 3D? That's not old-school! Why you young pups, I remember when mouselook was just a crazy gleam in a programmer's eye. You think aiming sucks with an analog stick? Try using the freaking number pad.
And I remember REAL old-school first person shooters, the ones where we ran around the backyard pointing sticks at each other going "pew pew" and arguing over who got hit first.
I guess I should add "get off my lawn."
Here's what I think the Brick is:
It's a new incarnation of the laptop power brick, that has a 2nd backup battery built into it (so when you are plugged in you are recharging 2 batteries not just one), as well as some additional ports that there's no room for on the new category of thinner, lighter sub-notebooks like the Air.
An externalized battery also allows for all sorts of new creative designs and meets the power hungry needs of mobile multi-media users.
Small businesses often have sporadic file sharing and database needs throughout the day, it isn't unusual to find a company with a need for a 10-client semi-custom db.
The mini is a perfect machine for this. Enough power for small networks. Silent, cool, sips power, reliable, and can be screwed to a wall or under a desk, so it is invisible too. Easy to run headless, set it and forget it, with built-in tools for automation and no licensing grief and hardly any set-up time... and in a pinch, the local in-house semi-geek can perform maintenance (say, when the sftp backup fails) with gui tools.
I've set up a number of these, running multiple services. Usually, I don't hear from the company again until they need upgrades; everything just works, and their TCO winds up being really low.
Damn those pesky terrorists
Geez! Would it really be so hard to build a macbook pro to support a docking station? I mean really. If there is one thing keeping it off of executive desktops, it's that. Actually, I support several executives on MacBook pros but if the next version was capable of supporting a docking station, I'd be buying more... (and wondering what to do with the old ones... I know where one or two would be going... hehehe)
Yeah, but some of us actually happen to like Unix-like OSes.
Which was my main motivation for buying a Mac. It didn't take long to realize that the pretty front-end desktop and the powerful Unix back-end were mutually exclusive.
So if I want to view hidden files I need to use the freaking terminal? Would it really be so hard to add an option into finder? I need to resort to a command-line hack to do that? Just one example of many major annoyances.
Oh, and the constant "it just works" mantra annoyed the shit out of me whenever I'd try to import pictures from my digicam and the shit would freeze, and I'd have to do it on a Windows box.
Similes are like metaphors
I'm overwhelmed by the sheer number of data sources you cited when making your claims! Help, I'm suffocating under the weight!
I didn't think any computer company had more powerful fans than Apple.
They like they fact that with a console you plug it in, turn it on and play.
It will be a while before the PC gaming industry can offer that.
YM it has been a long while since the PC gaming industry could offer that, sonny.
Perhaps they should return to selling games on bootable disks.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
I want to get into HD Video, Play w/ Virtualization, run multiple OS's, etc. so yes, I need something that powerful. Here's a hint, if its not only 4 cores, its not as powerful. Don't care if you've overclocked and peltier cooled that single CPU to 5 Ghz.
Anyway, that's my dream. I'm starting to save now :)
You are in a maze of twisted little posts, all alike.
NVidia's chipsets are just an alternative to Intel, VIA, SIS etc. They're no longer "superior", unless you're hooked on SLI, in which case they're the only option.
The only chipset that was markedly superior to the competition was the NForce2, when it was released. It was an affordable chipset that offered top-tier features at half the cost of feature-equivalent alternatives. Soundstorm was absolutely fantastic with its realtime AC3 encoding, unique at the time. That was six years ago, and they've been sucking miserably ever since.
If NVidia weren't clutching to their SLI patents so tightly, they probably would have exited the market entirely. Their reputation got mangled by shoddy drivers, it took them four years to stop their ATA drivers from randomly scrambling data, making them the laughing stock of the industry.
It's quite simple: if you want gaming performance, don't look at the chipset, look at a decent PCI-Express graphics card. There's no shortage of them, but what the Mac needs is driver support. The day people can trot down to any computer shop, pick up a GeForce BFG9000 or a Radeon EleventyOneHD, and drop it in their Mac - that's the day you'll start seeing real games on the Mac.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
Does this mean apple has moved from marijuana to cocaine?
"'I can't afford a laptop' market, and this is growing steadily smaller."
I think you may need to reevaluate that, in view of the, hum, notable news of the last few days...
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Sounds like you got a lemon, or you broke it somehow.
There are a lot of things wrong with OS X (the Finder being a bit of an old dog that really needs some love) but the fancy UI and the Terminal being two faces of the same OS is by design.
It's something of a sensationalist term to call using the terminal to view hidden files as a "command line hack" - I think you're just trying to justify hating the OS. There are other ways to view hidden files, like replacing Finder with a third party file management app, for example.
When designing a UI that is intuitive, easy to use and provides the majority of users with everything that they need, you sometimes have to make compromises. Maybe they go too far in the simplistic direction sometimes, but they do offer all the control of the OS you need if you want to dig a little deeper and be hands on - hence the Terminal and the ability to edit the plain-text/human readable preference files. A so called power user isn't going to mind that turning off the iTunes store links requires either editing the pref file directly or using a terminal command to do the job instead of the UI-method.
I'll be the first to say that it's not all sweetness and roses with apple, but your original post, and the followup are just sour trolling. Apples go wrong, and when they do, in the vast, vast majority of cases they are fixed without hassle with one of the best warranty/service programs in the industry. In a few high-profile cases, someone with an axe to grind will moan about how they bought a Powerbook and it broke and Steve Jobs personally came round to his house and fucked his wife then said "sorry, can't fix your powerbook".
Feel free to email Apple with suggestions about how to improve the OS - they do take feedback. Hidden files in the Finder is a big request, and I'm assuming that at some point we'll see an all-new revamped Finder, since it is the current dog of an otherwise very nice OS.
Unless, i don't know, if you have a very limited number of hardware combinations. But what hardware/OS vendor might be perfectly positioned for that...
I've got a mini connected to my HD LCD TV via DVi->HDMI cable, and I love it - it offers far more flexibility than an AppleTV, although you sacrifice usability. I tend to VNC into it from my laptop, whereas the AppleTV UI is designed to be operated via the simple remote. Unfortunately iTunes won't let you download HD content to a desktop machine, only AppleTV units are allowed that privilege. There also appears to be an issue with the integrated graphics card/processor which means it doesn't output the correct resolution, so you get black borders (the output doesn't fill the entire screen) http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-gb&q=mac+mini+tv+borders&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 If anyone knows how to solve this I'd be glad to hear about it.
Actually, I think he was trying to tell the joke but a little late to the game!
And just why is it crap?
I mean, it's not like the bastard-child-product-of-a-million-amateurs linux, now is it?
And Windows.. well... we won't go there.
Nvidia? That'd be just awesome. I can't think of any other way to make Apple hardware (already more prone to need warranty service than any other manufacturer's product that I can name) any less reliable.
Apple consistently has high high customer satisfaction year after year. I'm typing this on a MacBook Pro I've had for almost 14 months and the only tyme I've taken it down to an Apple store, there are 4 within half hour's drive, was when I got it. Some software I ordered with it was old. I have not had a single hardware problem whereas with 3 new PCs, a Gateway and an HP with Windows and a no name brand PC with Linux preinstalled, the hdd and mobos failed within the first year.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The one that isn't interesting in making a gaming platform?
I'm sorry, it's like you're trying to communicate but failing somehow.
Ati and nvidia have superior on board video next to intel looks good on paper video but the there drivers suck.
also the ATI boards have SIDE PORT ram.
It's something of a sensationalist term to call using the terminal to view hidden files as a "command line hack" - I think you're just trying to justify hating the OS
When you spend $3000 on a laptop you try very hard to justify not hating it, trust me. I gave it two years of fair use, and that was enough. Bottom line, Windows does everything OS X does and does it better.
Similes are like metaphors
When you spend $3000 on a laptop you try very hard to justify not hating it, trust me. I gave it two years of fair use, and that was enough. Bottom line, Windows does everything OS X does and does it better.
So Windows has better security/keyloggers/malware, better integration of video and audio with the OS, better browsing, better track record on viruses, better links with open source, better development environment, better Office apps, better networking, better cross platform integration with non-windows systems, better built in tools for managing your photos and for making your own home movies and DVDs, better support for games.... oh wait, it does have better games support.
So, you think it does all those things better because it has an option in Explorer to show hidden files in the GUI and Finder does not (which is a point I have already conceded about some of the shortcomings of the Finder)?
Since you say it was 2 years old and $3000 I'll assume you had a BTO 17" Powerbook. With a machine like that, there must have been something deeper if you're trying to justify not hating it, or perhaps even selling it, given the high (but obviously not 100% return) resale value.
Or given how much you seemed to detest it and try to justify the cost, you didn't spend 5 seconds googling or looking through the *vast* number of open source/shareware/third party apps for the Mac for a Finder replacement like Pathfinder.
I think maybe you tripped over an Apple II as a kid and have been carrying a grudge ever since.
installing software is easy under windows, even for idiots...i dont think thats the main problem. its the fact there is little knowledge of gfx cards and controllers on PC amongst the masses. If the PC came standard with a gfx card that had minimum capabilities the software industry agreed on, fairly comparable to the current gen consoles and the PC came with a control pad I believe that would have a significant positive impact on the computer gaming platform. also, things like spore DRM only make people angry. Completely negative to the industry. I will never pay for an EA game EVER again until they change their DRM policy. Most of their games suck anyway. You wonder where all the money went when you play one of their games...
woops - i meant installing software under windows/mac, see 1st sentence.
or the industry could just agree on shit which is more likely than apple doing anything cool with computers.
So Windows has better security/keyloggers/malware, better integration of video and audio with the OS, better browsing, better track record on viruses, better links with open source, better development environment, better Office apps, better networking, better cross platform integration with non-windows systems, better built in tools for managing your photos and for making your own home movies and DVDs, better support for games.... oh wait, it does have better games support.
Yes. Apple has had two root escalation vulnerabilities come to light in the last couple of months, and were way behind everyone else in patching that widespread DNS vulnerability. Apple is perfectly happy with their tiny market share because it gives the perception of security since it isn't targeted by virus makers. Better development? Yes. How marketable and approachable is objective-c? That's Apple's first strike with development. I'll take Visual Studio over XCode any day of the week. And Office apps? Are you serious? What Office apps are you implying are better on Mac? Microsoft Office?!?
So, you think it does all those things better because it has an option in Explorer to show hidden files in the GUI and Finder does not (which is a point I have already conceded about some of the shortcomings of the Finder)?
Argument fail, dude. That's just one example of something I find ridiculously wrong with OS X. The little things matter.
Since you say it was 2 years old and $3000 I'll assume you had a BTO 17" Powerbook. With a machine like that, there must have been something deeper if you're trying to justify not hating it, or perhaps even selling it, given the high (but obviously not 100% return) resale valu
Wrong, 2.13 ghz 15" macbook pro with 2gig ram. Oh by the way? Widespread manufacturing error caused an entire generation of these to be shipped with gobs of thermal paste on the processor, video chip, and northbridge, effectively insulating them from heatsink. Apple would not aknowledge this as a problem and people were left with laptops that would burn the shit out of their legs and run hot.
Or given how much you seemed to detest it and try to justify the cost, you didn't spend 5 seconds googling or looking through the *vast* number of open source/shareware/third party apps for the Mac for a Finder replacement like Pathfinder.
Way to defend OS X. "OS X isn't that bad when you replace system components with third party solutions!"
I think really the last straw were people like you. The kind of people I didn't want to be associated with by owning an Apple (a contributing factor in moving away from Linux, among it's many other downfalls). People who use Windows don't care if someone else uses OS X or Linux. They don't care, because they're normal people who don't feel the need become attached to an operating system and become evangelistic and defend it and take critisisms of it personally. Bash Windows, my operating system of choice. I don't give a fuck, I know it has it's own downfalls. Now realize the same with your OS of choice and you won't sound like a smarmy douche bag.
Similes are like metaphors
Not all of us want computer games, you know. The only reason I'd have for buying non-Apple stuff was if I wanted to set-up a good gaming machine. For most other things, I prefer Apple.
I think really the last straw were people like you. The kind of people I didn't want to be associated with by owning an Apple (a contributing factor in moving away from Linux, among it's many other downfalls). People who use Windows don't care if someone else uses OS X or Linux. They don't care, because they're normal people who don't feel the need become attached to an operating system and become evangelistic and defend it and take critisisms of it personally. Bash Windows, my operating system of choice. I don't give a fuck, I know it has it's own downfalls. Now realize the same with your OS of choice and you won't sound like a smarmy douche bag.
I find it amusing that you end with this when a large portion of my post has been highly critical of OS X, including specific criticisms of the Finder, which badly needs replacement, not just because it has no option to show hidden files but for myriad reasons that make it a bit of a dog.
I just took issue with your sensationalism to justify your argument. I don;t care that you don;t like OS X. I know many people that do, but the Fox News rhetoric does you no favours.
I really, really don;t see how you can come to the conclusion that I'm evangelistically defending OS X based on this discussion thread.
I offered Pathfinder as an alternative if you really couldn't live with Finder's shortfalls and didn't want to break open a shell. The third party tools are there if you need them.
I like OS X, it does what I need it to do. Use any OS you want, but judge the ones you hate on genuine criticism. I absolutely hate how, in the new Mail.app, you cannot have the mailbox draw on the right hand side of the screen any more. I petitioned Apple to allow it, and taled about it extensively on discussion forums that it was just fine before, and now its fixed forever on the left.
I'm not going to respond to a "what's wrong with OS X" question with "nothing! it's the most perfect OS ever and I want Steve Jobs' babies!" so chill out.
Oh, and as an addendum, yes, Microsoft Office for Mac is much better than the Windows version. The two suites are written by totally different teams within Microsoft and the Mac version, which it has its quirks and frustrations like any large software project, is a much nicer set of apps than the windows version.
And yes, I do use both on a fairly regular basis.
I don;t think I'm alone in this assessment of MS Office Mac compared to MS Office Windows. They really can write some excellent software in Redmond when they put their minds to it.
That's the remedy ...