Monthly Archives: September 2002

Special Update Regarding Mac OS X.2:

Mac OS 10.2 “Jaguar”

Disillusioned and Disappointed.

With all the hype and rush to try out the latest Mac operating system, we were caught up and tried the new OS. It looked great, much snappier than OS 10.1. We were on the bleeding edge, we were jubilant with the new OS, until we wanted to print something. Then the rushed/buggy nature of the OS reared its ugly head. We tried everything, calling Hewlett Packard, but to no avail. No drivers yet. We could partially get it to print using the GIMP print system, but it was a very poor substitute. You could print from OS 9, but what is the point of that. We purchaced a new printer in desparation. The HP Photosmart 1115 was a little disappointing anyways, so we picked up a Canon S900. {An AWESOME printer, by the way.} It worked…for a day in OS 10.2. Then it refused to work. I can understand figuring out a Linux system to make it print, but not with a Mac. It is supposed to be true plug and play. At least with Linux, the printer keeps working, and the driver does not mysteriously die.

This, by far, was not the worst offense. Web browsing in Mac is slow compared to other platforms. Internet Explorer for OS X is just a dog online. It got to the point it was faster to use the OS 9.2 version. This, again, is intolerable. For a system that prides itself with being the pre-emminent multimedia platform, it is slow at games, and nothing to write home about in the photo editing department in terms of speed. The hardware is beautiful, but the OS is creaky. I think Linus Torvalds is right in respect to the kernel for OS X. It is ugly and patched together. Micro-Kernel design may work for some systems, but it is seriously lacking in OS X.

The most recent computer we have had, an iMac 800 with the 17″ screen, seemed like a good deal, until you really do compare what you can get if you build a PC system yourself. Here is a comparison of two systems that were virtually identical in cost ($2,000):

You can see for yourself, you can get almost twice as much system for the same money. It may not have the cool arm like the iMac, but the case is beautiful and the monitor is gigantic. Before you say ‘but Mac still kicks PC ass despite the clock speed’ give me a break. I have seen and tested the two side by side running the same applications, and there is no question in my mind that the PC is MUCH MUCH faster running Windows XP or Linux. Hell, my 1.2GHz Athlon is a lot faster than the 800MHz G4. Even the dual 1GHz Power Mac could only just keep up with the Athlon 2200+ and that machine cost 3 times more. When the latest feature you can advertise for your desktop line up is the fact that you can have two internal optical drives, you are in trouble.

If it sounds like I am disappointed in Apple, I am. I never tried it before, and was open to it. I have been using Linux for over two years now, and I enjoy the quirks. But, it always works for me if I put my mind to it. With Mac, it is different. If it does not work, it won’t work until the company that made it does something about it. If they don’t, it is a pain in the ass to get it to work. But, this defeats the purpose of Macs. They are supposed to be simple, not complex. They are supposed to be tools, not get in your way. Apple failed with respect to us. I am sure many people are happy with their Macs but I give up. They are too expensive.

I am now refocusing the site for Linux users and the Sharp Zaurus 5500 handheld computer. I will detail my adventures in the coming weeks learning my new toy. I, hopefully, will be closing on my first home soon, so I will have more time to work on Cyberphreak.com. A special thank you to Tiffany, my love, who purchased the Zaurus for me. It is the best gift a Linux geek could ever receive.

-David Nelson