Apple's Windows Focus Wrong Comparison for its Latest, Greatest OS
| by Joe Leo, Columnist |
continued... from: previous page
To add insult to injury, some people, in Windows-like fashion, who were quick to adopt their new pet from the Apple Store found that their upgrade choked their systems. To get rid of the hairball, they flushed the system of Leopard and went back to Tiger.
Those who today have weathered the storm and lived with the bugs of Leopard as an early release, have found some comfort in two updates released since then, 10.5.1, and 10.5.2.
I told myself that I wouldn't be getting Leopard anytime soon, because for one thing, it doesn't have Classic--which I really need for my work since I still use Mac OS 9 apps that are critical, believe it or not--two, because it's still buggy and I'd wait until a "10.5.11" or something, and three? Because I hated that whole notion (my own notion) that it was designed for PC users.
Which brings us to today's story-- since then, I've acquired a new "pet" in the form of a brand new (really, used, but in absolute MINT condition) 15-inch PowerBook G4 1.67GHz Double-Layer SD model, and under its hood is the real animal... Mac OS X Leopard!!
Didn't you just upgrade from a 12-inch PowerBook to a "new" 15-inch one back in October, you say? If you've been following that story, yes, you're right. And that story is for another day.
Prior to acquiring this new high-resolution (there's one reason!) PowerBook which has only been in my possession for a week and a half, my only experience with Leopard was test driving it out at the Apple Store on its release day, and on subsequent visits to other Apple Stores while there to buy other things. Plus, Best Buy and CompUSA (in its final months).
Also, my strong opinions on Leopard's features and looks--since I didn't have time to play around with the, uh, cat very much--were based on the previews and tours on Apple's website. I mean, short of the whole "designed-for-Windows converts" idea in my head which clouded my mind (iTunes interface! / Cover Flow! / stupid iPod "halo effect"!), it had its strengths.
But, after having Leopard in my lap, literally, and really getting to know it? I really LOVE it! (So you can put your rifles away and put the tranquilizers--surely not bullets--back in its case).
One of the first things that caught my attention is just how true to the Mac mantra the new operating system is. "It Just Works." I didn't have to do a thing. I mean, not because the previous owner set it up for me before he shipped it to me, but it automatically recognized my wireless networks, it knew that my other Macs in the room (at work) were set up to share... shall I go on?
Yes, I will! Tiger did these things already, but it took some work. Heck, prior to that, with Jaguar and Panther, it took "a lot" of work to train your Mac to know certain things like recognizing wireless networks for example. And the whole shared Macs thing. In Tiger, in order to connect to my shared Macs, I'd have to physically connect each time. Not here!
Like for instance, I typed up this story today on my 1.67GHz PowerBook, but uploaded it and turned it into HTML on the 1.5GHz one. Didn't need to do anything. Just turned on the 1.5GHz and boom! I love how it automatically showed up in the Leopard Sidebar on my 1.67GHz.
From there, just dropped my article from the 1.67GHz into the 1.5GHz's folder and it beamed down right away. If I did that the other way around, well, it would have taken a number of steps first before I'd be able to see the 1.67GHz on my 1.5GHz's desktop or Tiger Sidebar.
Then, there's the interface. The GUI, the "gooey" part of the candy that you want to get to right away. Like the old Tootsie Pop commercials of yesteryear (does that mean I'm old?) where the kid asks the owl how many licks, and the owl licks it twice and immediately bites into the center to get to the chocolate center. Okay, you get the picture there. Too many visuals.
And no, I didn't lick my new mint PowerBook (and that's not why it's bright and shiny either).