[geeks] Why is everyone so OSX happy?

[Andrew Weiss]

On Thursday, April 10, 2003, at 10:58  PM, 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.
>
Not really... it's quite polished esp after 10.1.  Basically we like it 
because it offers the best of all worlds... You can get X11 and compile 
most Unix/Linux apps with only a small amount of difficulty, you can 
run Virtual PC for your x86 only stuff if you should feel so inclined, 
and you have support for Classic MacOS, and common commercial apps via 
Carbon and Cocoa... and it's NEXTy (i.e. offers a way to port OPENSTEP 
apps relatively easily compared to other environments)

> For instance:
>
> 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.
>
So.

> 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.
>
Run Yellowdog Linux.

> 3. OSX has several issues with USB devices on boot, especially
> if you are booting from SCSI devices and not IDE.  That circle
> with a slash through it, "prohibited" sign gets annoying when
> it comes up once out of every four or five reboots (yes the
> SCSI chain is properly terminated.)
>
What?  I have two HBA's in my machine... a 2940 for the LVD drives, and 
a 2930 for anything else (currently a Jaz and a CD-R (2X btw)... works 
fine... never had any problems.

> 4. There are several places where the code is just simply not
> finished.  The file manager for instance.
>
Finished... just not great... needs to be re-done... never bothers me 
for 99% of things... yes NFS perms are funky... the best bet if you 
want to host iTunes stuff is doing default permissions and then mapping 
identical uid/guid's between machines... since OS X ignores mapall when 
manipulating files (only pays attention when creating stuff... but then 
the moment you edit something the perms are changed)
>
> Of course i prefer it over anything Win32 based and if it ever
> matures, and they clean up the inconsistencies, then i can see
> it being something i might want to work with.  But until then
> i only deal with the dual G4 when absolutely necessary.
>
> So please someone, let me know what is so @%$&*@#! great about
> it?  Then perhaps i will see the light too....
>
I use a dual G4 at work... I have the old PC sitting under the desk and 
I run RDP to it for any PC apps... everything else is local.  My HP 
9000 D220 is also under the desk sitting next to the PC... both happily 
trucking away.  This is a dual G4 Mirror drive system and it is fast... 
needs more RAM though.  Your last line indicates a general lack of 
appreciation for an elegantly designed and engineered system... maybe 
you would be happier with a sheet metal box containing an x86

Andrew