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The Truth about Mac from a non Mac or Windows user's view.

bitrot.de — This a guy going from Linux to a Mac Mini and he make good points on what apple doesn’t want you to know about there hardware.

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  • 4answer2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Good review. I dislike the window focus issues in OS X also.

    AS far as the spinning ball goes, I worked at Apple in tech support for years (decent company to work for) and when a caller would ask me, "Say, what is that spinning beach ball thingie called anyway?"

    My answer was, "It depends on how frustrated you are".

    = )
  • antiTRACE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Nice review, but it is hard to believe the author has never used Windows.
  • antiTRACE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Well I guess he didn't say that, he said he never "owned" one, so my bad.
  • somas1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Double click or single click? To open an icon in the dock, you single-click it. To open it from from the desktop, you double-click it. To open it from the left side of a Finder window, you single-click it. To open it from the right side of a Finder window, you double-click it. Give me a break! Double-clicking is seriously on the way out, but even if Apple feels they must stick to it, be consistent!"

    You know he's right about this and I would never have even noticed if I had not just gotten my wife a mac. There is a lack of consistency here.
  • demha, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0I think this is kind of biased...
  • tobsterius, on 10/12/2007, -5/+11There: in or at that place; "they have lived there for years"; "it's not there"; "that man there"

    Their: a possessive pronoun; there, an adverb meaning "in the specified place"; they're, a contraction of "they are." "They're sitting over there in their seats."
  • liveinabin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's an interesting article, but it is really documenting someone getting used to an unfamiliar system in most respects. I felt the same when I switched from Windows to Mac (then at OS9) for about 2 days :)

    He's dead wrong about there being no desktop switching though. Actually I'm surprised he didn't find it. It's one of the things Apple always crows about in the quick start guides and it's right up in the top right hand corner. It not only switches desktops but does that cool 3D cube thing as it goes :) Guess that's a Linux user for you, examines every small detail of the kernel but misses the big button on the screen ;)
  • jav1231, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I went from a Linux DT to Mac OS X and I agree with some of what he's saying. I think he's right, however, in that OS X is the best GUI out there. The fact that Vista will immitate it (from reports) is a hat-tip to OS X (though some features are shared with KDE/Gnome like transparent windows). For me, OS X was the GUI I hoped Linux would have. There are little issues as he said. I find disk mounts to behave oddly in OS X. Moving around in the UNIX underpinnings of OS X is entirely like your favorite UNIX, but close. But Apple is trying to encourage people to stay in the GUI, so I suppose it's understandable. I hope that Linux will one day have as seamless a GUI as OS X (and as stable). I know, I know, someone will chime in about how they're running Fluxbox and have never had an X server crash blah blah blah. Look, OS X is the GUI to beat. Take note and start coding if you want to beat it. KDE and Gnome just aren't there. I think there needs to be a new paradym in GUI's in order to be comparable.
  • UGM2099, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Truth or Opinion?
  • phishyJon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Truth or Opinion"

    a little bit of both...

    great review. finally a truly unbiased view on a mac and OS X. as a recent mac converter, i find this review very useful and refreshing. finally someone complains about OS X's lack of built-in virtual desktops!
  • hyperpasta, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1All true except for one thing:

    He claims that icons open incosistently: one click in the sidebar opens them, but a double click is required in the content pane. That's because the sidebar is just a favorites bar - Windows does this too.
  • Lang, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I am not a wealthy person, however I put my pennies together a bought a PowerMac G5 and hated it so much, I bought VirtuaPC and I basicly use that. The only thing I use the Mac OS is for video editing. I find Windows much better, and I started off with a Mac back in grade school. When I moved onto Windows I thought I was in heaven. The are a lot of bugs that Microsoft should fix and there are a lot of thigns one doesn't need. So go buy XP Home, if you like all the tidbits, like myself, I bought Pro. So all in all, I hate the Mac GUI, and I don't crave the Windows GUI but I find it loads better.
  • osuguy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Bad review of normal OSX operation. I use OSX everyday, with just very minor annoyances.
  • fideli, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0liveinabin: "He's dead wrong about there being no desktop switching though. Actually I'm surprised he didn't find it. It's one of the things Apple always crows about in the quick start guides and it's right up in the top right hand corner. It not only switches desktops but does that cool 3D cube thing as it goes :) Guess that's a Linux user for you, examines every small detail of the kernel but misses the big button on the screen ;)"

    I'm not sure I follow you're big button on the screen in relation to virtual desktops. You may be referring to "fast user switching", which can be enabled in the Accounts Preferences. This is not the same as desktop switching, or virtual desktops. I agree with the author that native virtual desktop support would be very well-received, especially from the Linux/UNIX switchers.
  • icematrix, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1who uses Linux and has never used Windows? This whole article smells like propaganda.
  • bullines, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0"The upshot is that Apple is now stuck with a defacto proprietary language, much like Microsoft is trying to foist C-hash (C#) on us."

    What's C-hash? C# is pronounced 'C sharp'. His credibility just took a hit, even if he has "never owned a Windows computer".
  • franksands, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This is just another flamewar...no dig
  • cmer, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Just another Linux worshipper.

    No dig.
  • frozendice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I've used linux and Windows all my life. When I switched to my first mac a few months back, I found everything was intuitive. It was obvious what needed a single and double click. It took me a while to get the hang of window focus, but there's always a reason for it's madness.
    Any button you hover over, such as the exit, minimize, or maxamize, that change when you hover over them will be effected by your click reguardless of it's state. Any other click simply moves your program to the foreground. I've actually grown to like the focusing scheme. It prevents a lot of my accidental clicks I used to get in windows or linux.

    Mac has desktop switching.

    Although it's not exactly what you're thinking of. Mac has a quick user switch feature, this allows you to select a name from the top right corner of the screen and it'll let you log into a different account whiel the other remains open. This is GREAT for doing multiple things. Uless you spend only 3 minutes a day on email, you can feel confident that your other apps are secure, because their running on entirely seperate accounts.

    Mac isn't too bad. You just have to look at what your doing, and maybe realise that it shouldn't take 14 keystrokes to do something when it's so simple in mac.
  • diggnationdevon, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0This dude is a very stupid dickless *****. I have never seen such ***** mac criticizm in my life. Sounds like a hard-core linux fan boy to me. This dude tries to convince me Gnome is more modern then aqua? WHAT THE *****? IS HE REALLY SERIOUS?
  • diggnationdevon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1AQUA GOT IT RIGHT, NOT GNOME. KDE ON LINUX GOT IT RIGHT, NOT GNOME
  • diggnationdevon, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This is opinion I'd like to add, not fact.
  • drn666, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0"This a guy going from Linux to a Mac Mini and he make good points on what apple doesn’t want you to know about there hardware."

    It's "their hardware".

    And this article is awful. I just LOVE when some fanboy writes a review and another fanboy posts it to digg.

    --digg.
  • dotuplink, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0I am a big mac user, but i agree with this, somebody show this to steve jobs! IMPROVE!
  • diggnationdevon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The only thing I can half agree on here is ***** hardware on a mac mini. Buts it made for a Windows to mac user switch, not a mainstream Apple product, therefore its entry level, and the damn thing is small too.
  • Slipdisc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0good read

    + digg
  • thetbad, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i was seriously considering buying a mac.. now this makes me think twice.
  • optimusfx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Window focus isnt that bad. In most Cocoa apps, I can drag icons or selected text from a back window to the front without it becoming active. Also, holding the command (apple) key will allow buttons and controls to be manipulated without bringing the window to front.
  • badnewsblair, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Good review. Looks honest enough. I'm a Mac user and will probably never buy another Windows computer again (but I AM jonesing for a Counter Strike fix). This articles has its faults, but I liked what I read. It needs to be a little more thorough however.
  • flump, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0the C-Hash thing's a joke really. As #=hash, sharp is something similar, but different. The way MS write it, it should be called C-Hash.
  • kidlinux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Am I the only one who thinks the menubar at the top of the screen is an absolute brilliant idea?

    I absolutely hate the fact that every window from the same application has a menubar - it takes up valuable realestate in the window. Why not just have one menubar for every window of the same application (ie: Apple's menubar at the top of the screen. Absolutely friggin brilliant.)

    It's the one feature I really wish I had on my linux box. And no, kde's POS menubar is not even close to the same thing.
  • patrickweber, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Poor file type identification. Unix including FreeBSD has powerful tools to identify the type of a file. The Mac trusts the filename extension instead. If your JPEG file is named "file.png", you cannot double-click it, the preview app will refuse to load it or crash. You cannot edit a file named "account statements" because there is no extension so MacOS is helpless. If your movie file is named file.mpeg instead of file.mpg, you cannot view it. Quaint."

    Hmm, on the mac's at school I can physically go and totally delete the file extention and it still knows exactly what program to open it with and what file type it is. Am I missing something here? I do this all the time when renaming files.
  • nmccreight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While this guy points out some serious flaws in the Mac OS, people need to remember one thing: _Every_ OS sucks, you are just looking for the one that sucks the _least_, and his list of problems is relatively short in comparison to every other OS. You'll never get an OS that has every single thing done well.
  • nmccreight, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Patrickwever: When you delete the filename extension on a file on a mac, it's not deleting the extension, it is just considering it hidden. It's still there if you press Cmd+i and uncheck "Hide Extension."
  • Mr.Ortiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0The article is actually very fair and has a lot of positive things to say about OSX, it's the Digg summary that's flamebait. I swear, Digg makes Slashdot look smart again.
  • ajamison, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1No Digg since you are unable to spell "their" correctly. Come on people! >.<

    Interesting article though.
  • piecewise, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6His critique of iTunes: "It tries to sell you an iPod and a iTunes shop membership more than I'd like - I don't want an iPod, and I don't want iTunes music."

    The only "selling" it does is give you the OPTION of clicking on the iTunes Music Store, if you choose to. Aside from that, iTunes never tries to sell you on anything. This is a totally bogus complaint.

    "They totally crippled MacOS X with proprietary additions." Yes, Aqua, QuickTime, Core Image, ... all technologies I just HATE about OS X. Is this guy a joke or what? Not everything is open source, and not everything that isn't open source is bad, buddy.

    "Apple is making it as difficult as possible to write MacOS software." Ah, yes. You know, I had a great idea for a piece of software, so I approached Apple about it. They immediately flipped out and said they would do everything in their power to keep me from realizing more great software for the Mac. Uh, the real truth is that developing for OS X is a pleasure and Apple provides some fantastic tools (XCode). Furthermore, the Cocoa APIs are just great to work with.

    "I also have serious problems with Apple's proprietary graphics engine. They should have used X11."
    I would choose Core Image/OpenGL/Aqua over X11 any day of the week. It integrates beautifully with Cocoa and the results are fantastic. I've never seen a Linux box that comes close to the elegance of the Mac UI - despite many attempts. Why does it matter? If you can't figure that out, then you're probably wondering why Linux hasn't made a dent in the consumer space yet... I know it's tough to move OS's - but don't base your critiques on cultural differences.

    ":KDE is not as pretty, not as consistent, probably not designed by HI professionals, but it is a lot more modern than the Mac GUI."
    What is "modern" about "not consistent" and "not as pretty"? I'm sorry, but KDE is great in the Linux space, but it's a joke compared to the design of the Mac UI.

    "Double click or single click?"
    Um... Left click or right click? Checkmate.
  • stark23x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2""Double click or single click?"
    Um... Left click or right click? Checkmate."

    To open an app? When do you right click an app to open it in any OS?
  • Niao, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Before you bash the complex parts of Mac OS, look at the basics of most of the Linux distributions out there.

    There's no concrete file browser and to get anything done, you need to resort to the Konsole.

    KDE's a bloody mess compared to the Mac interface, but I do agree when it comes to the mach kernel.

    Then again, Apple might have it's reasons for choosing mach over a standard version of Unix (other than the licencing fees).
  • Niao, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2"I am not a wealthy person, however I put my pennies together a bought a PowerMac G5 and hated it so much, I bought VirtuaPC and I basicly use that. The only thing I use the Mac OS is for video editing. I find Windows much better, and I started off with a Mac back in grade school. When I moved onto Windows I thought I was in heaven. The are a lot of bugs that Microsoft should fix and there are a lot of thigns one doesn't need. So go buy XP Home, if you like all the tidbits, like myself, I bought Pro. So all in all, I hate the Mac GUI, and I don't crave the Windows GUI but I find it loads better."


    You work for Microsoft, don't you.
  • teece, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0More than anything, this this strikes me as someone going off half cocked. He wrote this article too soon, as he has not yet spent the time to figure things out at get used to a system that is different.

    For instance, what he says about file types is just plain wrong: writer, educate thyself. Or at the very least, ctrl-click or right-click on a file, and investigate the "Open With" context menu option.

    I switched to an iMac G5 from Debian Linux a year ago. I'm never going back to Linux for my desktop. I like it and runs my server, but Mac is a vastly superior desktop.
  • penguinboy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1How in the hell would I move my files in Finder or on the desktop if they opened after a single click?
    Am I missing something here?

  • corrosive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0So pretty much he just wants aqua on linux? So WTF was the point of the article. So he could complain about how he thinks linux is better for him?
  • WeeklyGeek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This guy is very whiny and the article isn't that well written. Who uses "imho" outside of an IM conversation?

    Also it's "their".
  • SeanAhern, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2X11 is available for OS X. I've been developing in it since X11.app preview 1. Works almost identically to x.org or XFree86 on Linux.

    Copying vs. moving files. Your mouse icon changes to let you know whether you are copying or moving.

    There are not multiple "Finders," as he suggests. I believe he was looking for the phrase "finder windows".

    This guy needs to learn about Exposé. Though I was a heavy user of multiple desktops on Linux, I've found that Exposé lets me manage large groups of windows without having to have virtual desktops. Would they be a nice addition? Sure! But you can go a long way with Exposé. It even helps with many of his window focus issues.

    Another rant about the one-button mouse? Gimme a break. He does mention that multi-button mice Just Work when plugged into a Mac. Just delete the paragraph. This argument just means that he's looking for something to complain about.

    So the guy buys the cheapest, lowest-end machine Apple makes, then complains about hardware performance and multithreading? My favorite complaint is that of multiprocessing and multithreading on a uniprocessor machine. He says something like "I hear this gets better on a dual processor machine." No, really??
  • thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0too many comments to read so far, so i'm sure this was mentioned already, but anyway:

    there are several mistakes in the first few paragraphs of that article, so i stopped reading it.
  • Glidedon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0Jobs should have bought BeOS.
  • hwood, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I use Linux as my file server and a Mac as my main computer.
    Linux has a very long way to go before it's close to Apple, or Windows when it comes to the overall usability.
    The first time I installed a program for my Mac I was shocked at how easy it was, Linux on the other hand, is a major pain in the ass.

    I made the OSX click/dbl-click adjustment without even noticing it.
  • n0xie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Interesting article. For all the critics: did you actually read the article or just 3 lines? He actually says that the MacOS is the best out there, but points out some flaws he thinks could or should have been done better. All the fanboys in here either on Linux or MS side, I advice you to read it again. (or at all)

    And for anyone pointing out that it's 'their', just look at the dns. Not everyone in the world has english as their native language. Typical American globalism I suppose...
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