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Review : Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther

For the past month or so I have been using Mac OSX 10.3 Panther on my iBook G4 and it has been the best computing experience of my entire time using these damn computer machines.

I have been using Macintosh computers since the first Finder 1.0 on the old black and white 128K Mac in 1984. I don't think that Macs are a computer for N00bs because they mostly allow you to focus on your task that you want to use the computer for instead of all the hoops you have to go through in order to get to your task.

I have also used lots of PCs but the Mac has been a wonderful extension of myself into the digital realm and I have to consider how I might have turned out if my parents got a DOS box on that faithful day. I mean I had a Mac with a GUI, mouse, word processing, graphics capable WYSIWYG printer and Mac Paint in my formative years and I might have been a very different person if I had to mess with DOS shell commands at an early age. A persons language, location and nationality helps shape the person that a kid becomes so why not the choice in a computer. That is a lot to think about when you are going to buy a computer for your kids to use.

So far the experience of going back to a Mac was pretty good. I was able to get all my old files over and either use the Mac version of my favorite apps or use equivalent apps both commercial and Open Source. The only stuff that I have not been able to run is windows only 3d apps and PC games but I still have my PC laptop. There is the option of getting a copy of Virtual PC and running Windows in a emulated hardware layer sort of like VM ware but since there is sub $500 PCs out there I would just use a real hardware PC for running Windows but for 99.9 % of my personal computing tasks I was able to do on my Mac. In the Internet heavy user experience of the modern day the Macs can be a perfectly good client for most users.

I love how Mac OSX is almost totally secure. There is no adware, spyware and I don't have to worry about viruses or some MS Outlook hole wiping out my hard drive. Running Mac OS X with Mozilla Firefox gives you the Internet you want without almost all the crap. The OS has only locked up twice in a month of heavy daily use. I can launch a plethora of apps and have them running with out worrying of the system crapping out on me.

Just because the Mac OS has a wonderful user friendly interface does not mean that it is stupid computer for stupid users. It is based on an industrial strength Unix architecture and if you want to open up a terminal window and manually and run your own scripts via a Unix prompt. You can compile your own apps from source tarballs if you are into that sort of thing. There is a version of X11 built in Mac OS X and it can run most Unix applications through it. I have Mac GIMP 2.2 and it is the same GIMP program that you would find on any Linux distro. Mac OS X is a wonderful place for both Open Source and commercial applications. You can use both GIMP and Photoshop on the same machine without having to boot one up in an emulator or WINE. Mac OS X is not just like a Linux system but with a slick interface. My experiences with a Linux desktop was that no program was really ever done. The corners are really well rounded out in OSX. It feels really good.

I love the fact that I can boot up the old Mac OS 9.2 in a virtual machine and run old applications that are decades old. I also love the fact that there is perfect integration of the hardware and the software.

All new Macs now come with the iLife suite of applications, iPhoto, iMovie HD, Garage Band, iDVD and iTunes. However Apple Works does suck but you can get a free download of NeoOffice for all your TPS reports. There are really good utilities on Mac OSX and there is more software out there than most windows users would expect. While it is true that there are way more games for windows there are enough good games to keep your typical nerd happy. If you really need more games just get an Xbox of Gamecube. I do have my video game emulators on my iBook as well as Unreal Tournament 2004, Warcraft 3 and Halo. Yes you read that right I have Halo on my mac. It just makes my iBook more dope. The days of being stuck with Marathon and Myst are long gone.

I have grown to love Expose and iSync. Expose is a tool for navigating between lots of windows and iSync keeps your data on mobile devices like an iPod or PDA up to sync with your mac. I have grown to love Apple Mail but I prefer Firefox to Safari. I mean I could live with Safari but I am still a big Firefox freak.

MS Longhorn Smoghorn. I can't wait for OSX Tiger!

If your only experience with Macs was with the old Mac OS Classic than you don't really have a good picture of what being a Mac user in 2005 is like. I feel that the Mac OS is closer to how my mind works and the Mac platform is getting better every day. If you are more comfortable with Windows that is cool, if you are more comfortable with Linux that is cool too, If you are still running an Amiga well that is pretty cool too. But I am going to be quite happy drinking Steve Jobs' wonderful Mac OS X Koolaid.

Jake at April 22, 2005 Reviews

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Comments

Posted by: flyermoney at April 22, 2005 9:24 AM

Posted by: Scott at April 22, 2005 9:44 AM

Posted by: Shawn at April 22, 2005 1:22 PM

Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 22, 2005 7:18 PM

Posted by: richard Dalziel-Sharpe at April 23, 2005 3:13 AM

Posted by: richard Dalziel-Sharpe at April 23, 2005 3:13 AM

Posted by: Richard Dalziel-Sharpe at April 23, 2005 3:14 AM

Posted by: Jim at April 23, 2005 7:43 PM

Posted by: Matt at April 23, 2005 8:26 PM

Posted by: Jake of 8bitjoystick.com at April 24, 2005 12:51 AM

Posted by: Shawn at April 25, 2005 6:44 PM

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