Well, it appears that waiting to upgrade to Mac OS X Leopard was a smart move. I’ve read quite a few horror stories from users who opted to upgrade immediately, and were rewarded with the OS X blue screen of death.
Although I’m excited to upgrade and check out the improvements Apple has made to OS X in this latest release, I’m going to be patient… 
Well, coming from the Windows camp I’ve always had a nightmare experience when upgrading to a new OS version… so forgive me if I’m a little hesitant to upgrade to Leopard so soon.
As I approach my one year anniversary as a “switcher”, I will admit that this has been the most enjoyable computing year of my life. My MacBook Pro has been a trooper and has never failed me yet. Software programs install and uninstall exactly how they should and anytime I have to use a PC, it actually frightens me.
So having said that, I would expect the Leopard upgrade to go as smoothly as everything else has for me. But I want to get some opinions first… what do you think. Wait, or upgrade right away?
Amazing.
I had a chance to check out Microsoft’s new Windows Vista and I’m floored at how bad they ripped off OS X. It’s so bad that I’m actually embarrassed for Microsoft.
What about a little innovation here guys? Instead of copying and pasting stuff, why not make a feature better? If you’re going to release borrowed features, at least incorporate a little creativity and add some of your own ideas to improve upon things. Sheesh… no shame.
Here are a few videos that are good for a laugh…
=> David Pogue’s Review of Windows Vista
tags: os x, osx, windows vista, windows, mac
Well, I finally found something that I don’t like about my new MacBook Pro and Mac OS X…
Working with .htaccess files is a pain. Not only does Mac OS X hide all dot files, they also never make it to the server when FTP’ing.
The first FTP client I downloaded for my Mac was CyberDuck. It’s free and does a decent job, however .htaccess files never make it to the server when uploading. After some advice from a veteran Mac user, I picked up a copy of Transmit and it solved my problem. FTP’ing dot files with Transmit isn’t a problem and works great.
There is another solution… but it sucks. You can enable hidden file viewing by downloading a program called TinkerTool, however it really clutters the clean Mac experience with a bunch of extra files.
There has to be a way to show .htaccess files by default while hiding other dot files.
After running numerous hardware tests, Apple was unable to locate the cause of the kernel panic that happened the other night. Since it was probably a software issue, we reinstalled Mac OS X and so far there haven’t been any further issues. I’ll keep you posted.
Sidenote: Reinstalling Mac OS X was amazingly easy coming from a PC background. I was able to reinstall the operating system and keep all of my files, folders, and settings in tact. I’m getting spoiled.
tags: mac osx, osx, mac, macbook pro, kernel panic
I just had a problem with my Mac and will be getting it checked out tomorrow…
I was working when a transparent gray layer covered the screen on my MacBook Pro and a message popped up saying “You Need to Restart Your Computer Now”. After restarting, I did a little searching around and found out it was a kernel panic.
Going to have my notebook checked out tomorrow, hopefully it isn’t anything serious.
tags: macbook pro, mac, osx, os+x
I’ve been checking out bar code scanners for Mac OSX and came across something really cool today.
Delicious Library (http://www.delicious-monster.com) allows you to use iSight to scan bar codes for:
Delicious Library then builds a digital library of your collections. You can browse and search through your cataloged collection and also sync it with your iPod. Very cool.
tags: OS X, osx, barcode scanners, barcode scanner, mac osx
So, is the Mac OS user friendly? In one word, yes.
I’ll admit it. As a longtime PC user and despite Mac OS X’s reputation for being a very user friendly operating system, I was still nervous. Plucking down several thousand dollars on a new MacBook Pro without every owning a Mac before took a little courage, but after week one of living with Mac OS X… I’m thrilled.
I haven’t had a single crash or hiccup yet, aside from a problem with Firefox hanging (this had nothing to do with OS X, it’s a bug in Firefox 2.0 that I resolved by disabling the Google toolbar). Getting around in Mac OS X is a piece of cake and although the organizational style is different than Windows, it’s very easy to get familiar with.
The Dock took a little getting used to at first, but I really like it now. I’ve moved the placement of the Dock from the bottom middle to the right side of my screen. On the MacBook Pro widescreens, there is more space to burn on the sides of the screen vs. the bottom so I switched the Dock placement to take advantage of this.
There are 2 things however that I still am not used to:
Overall, Mac OS is very user friendly and making the transition from Windows to a brand new operating system has been no big deal so far.
I just downloaded a zip file onto my Mac for the first time and I wasn’t quite sure how to unzip the file. To my surprise (I guess it shouldn’t really be), everything you need to zip and unzip files on a Mac is already on the system…
It’s little things like this that make you go “hmmm”. Why in the world wouldn’t Microsoft include this ability in Windows by default?
Being new to the Mac world, I’ve had to spend a lot of time over the last several days searching out and getting used to the Mac shortcuts keys. If you’re in the same boat, here’s a list of some good ones to save you some time.
tags: mac osx, mac os x, mac shortcuts
Getting used to the Apple OSX Tiger icons is another thing that is taking a little getting used to. After years of using PC’s and being familiar with the icons, it’s odd to be working now on an operating system where I don’t really know what the icons stand for…
Yes, there are minor things (no backspace key, the Apple OSX Tiger icons, no right click) that make me feel like I’m a righty working with my left, but overall I’m really enjoying the Mac so far!
tags: macbook pro, mac osx, osx, tiger osx, mac, macs, macintosh, mac operating system
Well, day 2 of my Mac OS X adventure went great. I’m really starting to get comfortable with the Mac way of doing things and it’s getting easier.
By the way, here are the specs the notebook came with…
The laptop’s performance is excellent. Much, much faster than my previous computer…
There are a few programs that I still need Windows for so I picked up a copy of Parallels today and will be doing an install of Windows very shortly. I’ve played around with Parallels on a few machines at the Apple store and Windows really seems to run well with it.
tags: macbook pro, macbook, parallels, apple, mac, macs, mac computer, laptop, notebook computer
Well, setting up my MacBook Pro was a breeze. No freezing, no crashing, and overall it was a very quick process. Also, it was a relief that I didn’t have to spend several hours removing bloatware from my brand new system.
I’ve spent the last few hours playing around with Mac OS X and while everything is well laid out and makes sense, there are a few things that are taking some getting used to…
For example, the ctrl key doesn’t function in the same manner as on a PC. To copy and paste with keyboard shortcuts on a Mac, you have to use the button which has the apple icon on it instead of the ctrl key. Also, where is the backspace key? Silly, I know… but different nonetheless.
I also had a few questions about how to best organize my files on my Mac, so I thought it would be a good time to try out AppleCare. I called the 800 number and after holding for a few minutes, was connected with someone who actually spoke English. It seems that every other tech support number I’ve called lately has connected me with call centers in another country, and understanding them has been a chore in and of itself.
The AppleCare rep was extremely helpful and gave me several pointers on Mac OS X. I’m feeling pretty good about my decision to purchase the AppleCare extended warranty after seeing how support was handled.
