Darkelve Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 (edited) I'm always interested in what major OS-companies are doing with the OS and desktop. So I was very happy to see a video with a Leopard 'preview' in it on Apple's website: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/aug_...vent/index.html OS Part is right after they talk about the Mac Pro and then Xserve ( r ). Also here is a Leopard Sneak Peak: http://www.apple.com/macosx/leopard/ What do you think about it? Personally it looks really cool to me, but as with every technology, it has to prove its worth first. The seeming innovations in the OS and desktop, combined with Boot Camp, however, make me *very* seriously considering getting a Mac desktop or notebook. In your opinion: - How does Linux hold up to this? - What should Linux, as a desktop OS contender, be doing to catch up or surpass in certain areas? - What role do you think Vista will play in all of this? Pretty funny moments in the video as well... you might get a good laugh from it at some points. Darkelve P.S. Also discussed at SuSe forums dot net: http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?act=ST...t=0#entry127587 Edited August 25, 2006 by Darkelve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 - How does Linux hold up to this?it holds up well with XGL and Compiz in certain areas, but it's still lacking in others. Of course, admittedly, I have rarely booted into Linux since I got my macbook :unsure:- What should Linux, as a desktop OS contender, be doing to catch up or surpass in certain areas?Linux needs to be more polished. I mean, installing software in OS X is quite possibly the easiest I've ever seen: you get a .dmg file which mounts as a folder on your desktop, you open it, and you drag an icon from there to your Applications folder (or where ever you want it) - done. No installers screens, no figuring out where the executable went or what it's name was. All program information, configuration and files are contained within one folder that appears to the regular users as nothing more than an icon you double click on to start the program. If you're an advanced user, you right click, choose one option (I can't remember what it is) and you can see all the files and mess with the settings. That's just one example of how OS X improves the user experience.- What role do you think Vista will play in all of this?None. Vista is so far behind both Linux and OS X it's almost laughable. I've installed the public beta they had out, believe me, there's nothing new there for anyone who's used either OS X or Linux with the XGL/Compiz combination. Even the X composite extension does most of what Vista does, visually. All the underpinnings have been in other OS's for some time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 (edited) I'm thinking Vista will have a very hard time winning peoples hearts over... and their wallets. Plus, after it has been launched, it has to be supported as well. What I am wondering is, can Microsoft split up its programmers among those supporting Vista, and working on a new OS, and still keep up with the level of innovation going on in alternative operating systems? Especially since they've got a lot less room to 'experiment'. If Boot Camp will be able to run Vista reliably as well... it's an interesting time in the OS space now, with all of these big and smaller players on the stage, that's for sure. Speaking about Boot Camp again, if I were at Apple, I'd seriously invest some resources looking into things like fast booting, or virtualization if that's possible without any loss of functionality. So you are in OSX and you could, like, say, boot into Windows and 5 seconds later you are there. I'm wondering if no kind of trick could be used for this, like suspending a Windows session to disk as laptops like to do, then 'awakening' it when the user switches the OS and suspend the Apple OSX to disk. Something like that. The main thing I want my desktop to do, is save me time when doing my daily tasks. In that respect, Windows XP is really the worst of the bunch for me... never really realized before what a mess it often is... the only saving grace it has, is that there are so many time-saving programs for it, but the OS itself is actually not very productive, which IMO especially shows in file management and exploration. None. Vista is so far behind both Linux and OS X it's almost laughable. I've installed the public beta they had out, believe me, there's nothing new there for anyone who's used either OS X or Linux with the XGL/Compiz combination. Even the X composite extension does most of what Vista does, visually. All the underpinnings have been in other OS's for some time. Edited August 25, 2006 by Darkelve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 The main thing I want my desktop to do, is save me time when doing my daily tasks. OS X has a very nice tool for that sort of thing, called Automator - check it out ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 25, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 (edited) I know... I spent half of the week browsing the Apple.com website and store. I wish I was rich... then I'd get a MacBook Pro and iMac <sob> The main thing I want my desktop to do, is save me time when doing my daily tasks. OS X has a very nice tool for that sort of thing, called Automator - check it out ;) Edited August 25, 2006 by Darkelve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 I picked up just the macbook. the pro was more than i really needed in a laptop, plus it can get pretty hot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 (edited) None. Vista is so far behind both Linux and OS X it's almost laughable. Sort of a critical question (hope you forgive me for asking :P ): how can you claim that it's so far behind if Vista isn't even out yet? Edited August 26, 2006 by Darkelve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dexter11 Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 (edited) I'm thinking Vista will have a very hard time winning peoples hearts over... and their wallets. Plus, after it has been launched, it has to be supported as well. That's only true for those people who saw other OSes. Those who worked only with Windows will be amazed by the new look. Xp is already behind KDE IMHO and still there are more Windows users. Edited August 26, 2006 by dexter11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lavaeolus Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Personally I think all this hype about 3D-Desktops is not really of importance, at least not in the corporate market. The company I'm working for atm is doing 1st level support for a big chemical company with many thousands of users across the world, my experience with the average corporate user was that many of them don't care or some even don't know about the possibility of changing the desktop wallpaper Joe-Average-User will use what is installed on his machine, he will not bother about alternatives Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 26, 2006 Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 Sort of a critical question (hope you forgive me for asking :P ): how can you claim that it's so far behind if Vista isn't even out yet? Because I've run the beta and I know what the feature set for it is. There's no features (ok, maybe like...2, if that) that are going to be in it that weren't in the beta, they're just trying to fix bugs and make it stable right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sometimes I hate working with Windows ... especially file management, Windows Explorer... any improvements for that in Vista? It's even worse at work... they've locked down almost everything so that you can't set your own wallpaper (well, sort of :ph34r: ) or icons in the task bar... which makes me have to resort to silly hacks like putting my frequently-used applications (outside from those showing up in start menu) in my 'Favorites' in windows explorer... not very fun at all. Sort of a critical question (hope you forgive me for asking :P ): how can you claim that it's so far behind if Vista isn't even out yet? Because I've run the beta and I know what the feature set for it is. There's no features (ok, maybe like...2, if that) that are going to be in it that weren't in the beta, they're just trying to fix bugs and make it stable right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Sometimes I hate working with Windows ... especially file management, Windows Explorer... any improvements for that in Vista?It looks perty? I know there are differences, but really it's just the same functionality that was always there only presented in a new manner. They've locked down almost everything so that you can't set your own wallpaper (well, sort of :ph34r: ) They recently did the same thing at my work. I figured out how to change my background (has to be a bitmap image in My Pictures) but it resets itself once a day or so, so not much point. Funny thing is, the reasoning was they didn't want people setting pictures of family and things of that nature as their backgrounds, because then "the bad people" would know who to target... so now, we have this huge logo of the agency i work for plastered on our desktops... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 (edited) so now, we have this huge logo of the agency i work for plastered on our desktops... Let me guess... enlarged from a really small source file so that the 'big' version now is looking really crappy? That's how it is done at my job... Edited August 28, 2006 by Darkelve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyme Posted August 28, 2006 Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 actually...no, it's pretty well at the right size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkelve Posted August 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2006 Well, lucky you... :P actually...no, it's pretty well at the right size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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