Intel Mac upgrades - has anyone made the jump?

[kanker.]

The other issue is that a very large percentage of apps were not developed in XCode, and so ALL the code had to be ported over to XCode, which frequently involved massive rewrites of code. It has not been the easiest process for the devs.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by dp2:

By the way, both Linux and OSX are Unix-like OSs. Technically, the key difference between Unix-like OSs and Unix OSs (like Solaris, HP-UX, etc) is that the company behind the OS paid lots of $$$ to the Open Group (http://www.opengroup.org/certification/unix-home.html) to certify its Unix-like environment. Stated another way, both OSX and Linux are--for all intents and purposes--Unix, but they're not UNIX branded. Certified Unix-like OSs also carry the UNIX brand. Make sense?

You could really get a headache answering if you start asking "what's a UNIX?" Meeting POSIX specs? Open Group certification? (I think OS X isn't actually quite compliant for the certification, although for practical purposes I'm guessing it doesn't matter.) Having a "UNIX-y" environment that the user expects? Following the "UNIX philosophy"?

 

Anyway, OS X is fine for having a nice desktop environment to work in, X11 support if you need it, and you can learn all the command line stuff if you want too. But for just using the native OS X desktop stuff it doesn't really matter whether it's a UNIX or not, other than it's a nice modern and stable OS, you can easily go weeks without a reboot.

[soundscape]

Originally posted by Darkon the Incandescent:

Let's not get into one of those Mac vrs. Mac things

 

Darkon the Incandescent

I think there are good and features of *all* systems. There are many features of OS X that I like very much, but I think that Apple's marketing and word-of-mouth has been more than effective at getting that information out there.

 

I'm also well past the 'Honeymoon' period of using OS X where stuff like the 'genie-effect' was a 'WOW!' feature.

[dp2]

Originally posted by soundscape:

. . . for just using the native OS X desktop stuff it doesn't really matter whether it's a UNIX or not, other than it's a nice modern and stable OS, you can easily go weeks without a reboot.

It really shouldn't matter, but the fact that most companies don't play nicely often forces the issue. If more consumers were to demand that companies create products using open standards, and if more consumers would boycott (or otherwise shun) the products of the companies that don't, then we'd all see companies come around quickly--or else they'd go out of business. In either case, the consumer would win.

 

For example, a few years ago (starting around 1999), MS decided to take on and exterminate Linux. First, they tried to change various file formats to break interoperability with application suites like OpenOffice. Second, they reimplemented the SMB/CIFS protocol to break file-sharing interoperability with Samba. Third, they deployed legions of lawyers all over the world to attack anyone brave enough to try to reverse-engineer the new changes in order to help foster interoperability, etc.

 

However, there was a backlash from a lot of MS customers outside the US--especially in Europe (especially in Germany and Poland), Korea, and Brazil. The City of Muenchen decided to standardize on Linux after years being gouged for various licensing fees and forced upgrades. MS tried to purchase Korea's flagship wordprocessor, abandon development on it, and force the more costly and inferior--at least for Korean text--MS Word on Koreans. Basically, the Korean Government intervined. On the other hand, the Brazilian government has taken on the challenge of making computing resources availabe as many people as possible--even poorer residents. So, they were looking for something cheap that could also run well on hardware that's neither the latest nor greatest.

 

http://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/49979

http://www.smartofficenews.com.au/Computing/Platforms_And_Applications?article=/Computing/Platforms%20And%20Applications/News/C3M2X3P3

http://www2.gol.com/users/coynerhm/how_korean_pride_rallied_to_save.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3445805.stm

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,2180,1784007,00.asp

 

Having read all of that, I suspect one might think I'm 100% Anti-MS (I'm not), and that I'm completely sold on Unix (again I'm not). I believe all of the current platforms have some highly desirable features and highly detestable flaws. I'd like to see things get to the point where choosing a Mac or PC, Windows or OSX, MS Word or Google Writely, etc are like selecting the make, model, and options for a car.