Many of you may not know this, but on Friday, Apple will release its new operating system, OS X 10.5, a.k.a. Leopard, into the wild. This is the sixth major operating system that Apple’s delivered in six years (compare to Microsoft, who has said there will only be one major upgrade to Windows during the ’00s, and that was Vista).
With more people buying Macs than ever before (from PCWorld: “the company sold 2.2 million Macs during July, August, and September–a new high watermark for Apple. That’s a 34 percent growth over the year-ago quarter, and up by 400,000 over the previous quarterly record on file”), the release of Leopard becomes not only a major event for Mac users like me, but a major event for anyone planning to upgrade their computer in the next eighteen months (From CNet: of the 473,000 Macs sold in Apple’s retail stores, “something like 200,000 people last quarter…were new to the Mac”).
For a man who spends ten to fourteen hours a day on his computer, upgrading my operating system is akin to moving to a new home. With a new home, you’ve got to worry about the strength of the foundation, the quality of the plumbing and wiring, the age of the roof, the energy-efficiency of the windows, etc. With a new operating system, you worry about the strength of the core, the quality of the process and memory management, the age of the networking protocols supported, the efficiency of the backup system, etc.
Many of these things are relatively standard, however, in both houses and operating systems, and so the biggest concern is usually more prosaic: How comfortable is the layout and design? Is this the kind of kitchen you see yourself cooking in? Are the stairs in the right place? Is the yard big enough? — or — Do you like using the file browser? Are all your applications within reach? Will it make your future boundless?
It’s a big decision. But sometimes, you’re so damn frustrated with your current situation that you simply have no choice: you just have to move. And that’s what happening to me.
I bought my Mac mini in February of 2005 for three reasons: I was moving to Alaska and my iMac was too big to ship; my student loan refund came in, giving me a wad of cash; and the Mac mini was just too darn affordable. The mini came installed with Mac OS X 10.3, a.k.a. Panther, and both it and the operating system served me well throughout my Alaskan days.
In April 2005, Apple released Mac OS X 10.4, a.k.a. Tiger. When I got back to Vermont that summer, I upgraded. The system ran well at first, but as the months and years rolled on, and the OS got upgraded with system enhancements and security fixes (I’m currently running OS X 10.4.10), Tiger got too fat, and somewhere along the line, it broke my mini.
Normally, this is no big deal. Apple gives all its users a little application called “Disk Utility” that will usually fix whatever issue has cropped up. Unfortunately, to use it, you need the operating system’s install disk, and mine got lost in all the moving I’ve done, so for the last several months, I’ve been living in a virtual home where the roof leaks, the wires flare up, the doors stick, the floor is slanted, and there’s a giant spinning beach-ball blocking my view of the outside world.
Moving to a new operating system is a big step, but sometimes, we don’t have the luxury of being able to remain in the same place.
Leopard should arrive at my home in less than week. I can’t tell you how excited I am.
11 Comments
my imac runs on housecat…
Kyle in 100 words or less persuade me to buy a mac instead of a regular computer.
1) A Macintosh not only runs Mac OS X, but with the new BootCamp feature (included with Leopard), it also runs Windows natively, so you’re not just getting a Mac, but you’re also getting a “regular computer” too. This is not a crippled or emulated version of Windows, but Windows itself, running on the Mac’s Intel processor.
2) No viruses, trojans, spyware, etc. And I mean, none. Seriously. I’ve been running a Mac since 1992, and I download crap off the Internet dozens of times a day, and I’ve never had one virus issue. Theoretically, they exist, but I’ve never run into ‘em. On the Windows machine I used to run at the office, we got hit by a major virus at least twice a year.
3) The ease-of-use is simply incomparable. I worked on a Windows machine every weekday for three years before I became a telecommuter. The level of efficiency I have on my Mac compared to Windows is ridiculous. It’s not just getting done what I need to get done, because you can pretty much do anything on Windows. The difference is that doing it on a Mac is fun. So, because working with my computer is fun, rather than frustrating, I’m inspired to do more.
That’s more than a hundred words, obviously, but without knowing how or why you use your computer, I thought it best to scatter shoot a little bit.
The reasons there is no Trojans viruses ect has more to do with the amount of Macs vs. the amount of pc there are in the world. As Mac gets more popular I am willing to bet there will be more of that crap floating around. Never under estimate the power of evil.
That would not sway me one way or the other.
Now because I am mostly past my gaming phase of life I am not to concerned about not being able to play the latest games, I guess my main concern would be if I needed to do work that had to be done on MS word or PowerPoint is there a conversion from Iwork that can be used or would I be shit out of luck. I suppose from what you are telling me I could just install MS office.
I am 70/30 regualr/mac but I am warming up to your commie computer and their growth, in 2001 you could of bought Apple stock for 6 bucks its trading for 185 today. Then again Google is trading for 670+ and if their gamble in black fiber works out then watch out.
That explanation for the reason no viruses exist has been around for a long time, and I keep hearing that the number is sure to increase, but people have been telling me that for almost six or seven years now, and it hasn’t happened yet. According to the Macintosh Virus FAQ, there are 40 viruses that effect the Mac, but they seem to be limited to pre-Mac OS X systems.
As far as I am aware — I pay semi-close attention — there hasn’t been a single real virus to infect Mac OS X, thanks mostly to the way UNIX protects the system from the user. As of last October, Will Shipley (who runs a relatively popular blog) had found three possible viruses for the Mac, but he had some reservations about even calling them viruses, so…
Put simply: Theoretically, there can viruses. But as Kevin Costner once said, “Theoretical physics can also prove that an elephant can hang off a cliff with its tail tied to a daisy.”
As for using Word and Powerpoint…not only does iWork ‘08 convert those files, but Microsoft Office exists for the Mac. I use Microsoft Word every day on my Mac. And I’ll tell you what else: Mac Office is about a hundreds time better than the PC version (though it’s not as robust). Microsoft has a Mac-specific division, the Macintosh Business Unit, and its developers all work on Macs, keep close ties to Apple, and seem to do everything they can to make the best Mac applications possible.
Word for Mac is not the same as Word for Windows. The MacBU folks don’t just recompile the code to run on a Mac. They design from the ground up.
As far as the stock goes…when they do their next stock split, be sure you buy a few shares, ’cause from what Steve Jobs said the other day, the future of Apple looks bright.
Oh, and as far as security goes, this article just came across my wire:
How Leopard Will Improve Your Security.
I use a mac at home; XP at work. 1)The Mac OS is very well organized if something goes wrong and you want to quickly fix it yourself. Poke through /library some time vs “My Computer” on the PC. 2) Both OS’s are stable enough for the average Joe, but in my hands APPLICATIONS are way more troublesome on XP: they crash more. Simple things like cut-and-paste are less reliable. 3) Keynote. Mac only. 4) The security really IS better on the Mac. 5) connecting to a newtork is easier on a Mac– whether wifi or bonjour.
blah blah blah Macs Macs Macs.
J.K. I’ve been using a MacBook Pro for the past few months and it’s been a decent experience. It’s still just a computer though.
RE: Bootcamp it’s a great option to be able to run MS Windows if needed but just so Justin and others are clear, you’ll still need to buy a copy of Vista or XP to install as well.
I have been using a regualr computer with XP for 3 or 4 years and have not had any problems at all. I needed to install a new video card because of half life 2, and the power source shit the bed(still under warrenty) but those things are not pc vs mac problems. I am looking to upgrade so that is why I mulling my options. I have used vista and the new MS office and have been impressed I guess I will wait until jaguar comes out to take a look at it. two reasons I am leaning towards a PC a) price and b) the ability to run my xbox 360 through the new windows media without much of a hassle. I am sure you can do it with a mac but it seems that I would have to do more things then I want.
And kyle Mac still does not have enough of the market for evil hackers to waste their time creating evil things to screw them up.
There is the matter of price, as well, Justin. There’s no denying that Mac’s cost more than PC’s. While Mac’s are a better long-term investment, there’s more upfront cost.
But, if money isn’t too much of a concern, then a Mac seems the way to go simply for the fact that it’s two operating systems in one. Especially if you’re out of your video game phase.
If you’ve still got your XP install disks, then you wouldn’t have to buy a new version of the Windows OS.
Oh, and the networking thing too. I don’t know if there are two computers in your house, but Dawn’s got an old iBook and I often use that to access files on my mini. She also prints through a network printer. Setting it all up is incredibly painless on the Mac, and from all accounts, it’s even easier on Leopard.
My biggest concern about Leopard is that Dawn’s iBook processor is the extreme low end of the system requirements, and my mini’s RAM is too. The iBook’s got more RAM than my mini, but the mini has a faster processor. Anyway, I’m kind of nervous about how the comps will handle Leopard’s new skills.
But as I mentioned in the post, I don’t really have a choice. Because of my disk errors, I have to upgrade.