[geeks] Why is everyone so OSX happy?

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Thu, 10 Apr 2003, Kevin wrote:

> I don't mean to offend anyone here (with the possible
> exception of Steve Jobs) but i am curious as to why so many
> people here seem to love OSX, especially people who understand
> and are familiar with other unices?  In my eyes, OSX is an
> unpolished, tacky, eye candy bloated mess.

OSX isn't Unix.  It's OpenStep.  Yes, they call it Unix, but it's no
more Unix than OpenStep is.  There's a -reason- uname reports version
6.x.

> 1. There are seriously, a TON of UI inconsistencies, something
> that doesn't make sense because Apple has always been very
> good in this regard.

Care to point some out?

> 2. I don't have any problems with them offering the eye candy
> stuff for those who want it or even with it being the default
> operation.  I do have major issues with them not giving users
> a way to turn most of it off.

And how would you turn it off?  What is your plan for presenting a
consistent set of GUI widgets that can be configured?  Themes?  BZZT!
Wrong answer--themes cost you a significant amount of
hardware-acceleration.  Mac OSX runs -significantly- faster on my Pismo
than Windows XP does on an equivalent PC laptop, and XP has the option
for turning all the candy off.

> 3. OSX has several issues with USB devices on boot, especially
> if you are booting from SCSI devices and not IDE.

USB and SCSI and IDE are completely different buses.  What are you
talking about?

> 4. There are several places where the code is just simply not
> finished.  The file manager for instance.

What's not finished about it?  My main complaint about the finder is
that it tries to do -too- much and is too slow.

> But until then i only deal with the dual G4 when absolutely necessary.

I can trade you an Ultra 10 running your OS of choice for it.  You were
the guy who thought the U10s get too much negative press here, rigth?
That way, we can both be happy! :)

> So please someone, let me know what is so @%$&*@#! great about
> it?  Then perhaps i will see the light too....

1) It runs Unix apps, Macintosh apps, and (with VirtualPC) PC apps.  I
   don't have to reboot to switch between doing real work and editing
   an Excel spreadsheet (as I would if I were using a dual-boot
   BSD/Windows system).
2) It has a -terrific- API for writing software; Cocoa is one of the
   neatest frameworks I've ever seen for developing applications and
   reusable components quickly, and, as GNUstep matures, Cocoa becomes
   more portable.

-- 
Jonathan Patschke  *)  Q:  What do you call the hum of a rack of Apple
Thorndale, TX      (*      XServes?
                   *)  A:  The Al Gore Rhythm.