OT: The new iMac!

Tue, 22 Jan 2002 11:08:37 -0700

Wow... I would never have thought that Jay would switch back to Mac!!!

However, your little article here was great.  I think I want one now too.  :)

Hi Jay.

On Monday 07 January 2002 10:58 pm, you wrote:
> A couple points...
>
> * I used Apple products exclusively from 1979 (Apple ][) through the late
> 80's. Then Apple got boring and fell behind the pack.
>
> * I have been a Linux zealot since 1995 and have used it exclusively for
> both servers and desktops since (although I do have VM Ware for a couple
> of Windows apps, but only run it once a month or so). I have mainly used
> Slackware, although relatively recently I've started using Mandrake.
>
> * About three or four months ago, I just couldn't resist the Mac OSX
> "urge" any longer and went to the Apple Store in Chandler and bought a
> Titanium PowerBook G4.
>
> * In a matter of HOURS, I was instantly re-converted to an Apple zealot
> for the desktop. I'll still use Linux and *BSD for servers, but ANY
> desktop/portable products I buy from now on will be 100% Apple and OSX.
>
> The early OSX releases were kinda' slow sometimes (OSX loves RAM, but hey,
> it's cheap these days). However, current OSX releases absolutely 100% KICK
> ASS - no question about it. I know of at least one other long-time Linux
> zealot, now OSX-on-the-desktop/portable zealot, on this list. In reading
> online forums, mailing lists, etc... it is quite clear that GEEKS LOVE OSX
> and I couldn't agree more.
>
> The system is just so perfectly seamless and beautiful. Everything always
> just works. No drivers, no hours of obscure configs, no library problems,
> no muss, no fuss. I can't stress this enough - everything just works -
> period.
>
> A couple of examples...
>
> * I bought a new 802.11b base station. Getting my TiPB online with it -
> easy - turn on the laptop. That's it. OSX auto-finds the basestation,
> reconfigures the OS's networking configs, all instantly and automagically.
>
> * I took a bunch of pictures with my Sony digital camera and I needed to
> get them onto my computer. How do I do that with OSX? It was pretty tough
> - not only did I have to turn on the laptop, but I also had to plug in the
> camera's USB cable (I know, horribly complicated, eh? :).  That's it - OSX
> recognized the camera, mounted it as an external drive, placed an icon on
> my desktop, launched the Image Capture app, and downloaded all my pics to
> my Pictures folder - all automagically (remember, all I did was turn on
> the laptop and plug in the camera).
>
> * I'm sitting at Coffee Plantation the other day and thought to myself,
> "Self, wouldn't it be neat-o if I could get online with my cell phone
> right now?" The obvious answer was "yes, that would be neat-o." What did I
> have to do to accomplish this mess (my cell phone came with a PC data
> cable). I plugged in my cell phone to my laptop. THAT'S IT! OSX recognized
> the device and automatically figured out that it could act as a modem. I
> clicked on the network connection icon, typed in my ISP's phone number,
> typed in my username and password (OSX can't quite guess those things
> automagically :), and clicked "Connect." A few seconds later, I'm
> connected. No muss, no fuss.
>
> * Uh oh, someone emailed me a MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint document... now
> what. Oh! I know! I double clicked it...that's it! Yes, like it or not, MS
> Office controls the business world. And yes, MS Office runs NATIVE in OSX!
>
> * Now I want to "get my hands dirty" and open a Bash shell, launch Vi
> (or Emacs, but I'm not into self-mutilation) and hack up a quick
> shell/perl/python/ruby/whatever script and make it a cron job. Hey, no
> problem! OSX is built on a FULL COMPLETE FreeBSD system. Not only that,
> but you have total access to it. Bash? Yup. Cron? Yup. Python? Yup.
> Sendmail? Yup. Apache? Yup. Vi? Yup. Pine? Yup. ls? Yup. grep? Yup. Bind?
> Yup. MySQL? Yup. SSH(d)? Yup. I could go on forever...you get the point -
> IT IS ALL THERE.
>
> * Although OSX has tons of commercial apps support (and more every day),
> let's say I prefer Gimp to Photoshop. No problem there either. I can run
> XFree86 at the same time (even interleaved with) the OSX GUI (Aqua /
> Quartz). That's right - I can run almost all the XFree86 apps right there
> NATIVE on OSX. Gnome? Yup. Abiword? Yup. StarOffice? Yup. Xeyes? Yup.
> XTerm? Yup. GNUCash? Yup. TuxRacer? Yup. You get the point - they're all
> there. Additionally, just like any other XFree86 implementation, I can run
> XFree86 apps from my Linux box over the network on my OSX XFree86 server.
>
> * Just a side note, if you have used Linux for a while, no doubt you've
> seen the "less than readable" fonts that some XFree86 apps like to
> produce. Personally, I absolutely LOVE a good looking screen with
> excellent fonts and readability. OSX borrowed an incredible point from
> NeXT here - the entire GUI and rendering engine is all PDF. Everything is
> antialiased, sharp, and super clean looking. Using OSX is great on my
> eyes and REALLY is FUN and ENJOYABLE (is that sadistic?) to look at. It
> really is a great experience to read documents/web
> sites/email/usenet/etc... on OSX. Everything just looks georgeous.
>
> Did I mention that IT IS ALL THERE (full UNIX and seamless GUI and killer
> apps) and that EVERYTHING just simply works?  :)   (Of course, the UNIX
> system gives you the ability to do everything manually and "break" it if
> you want to. All the power is there.)
>
> No question about it; OSX is geek paradise. Period.  :)
>
> ~Jay
>
> On Mon, 7 Jan 2002, Kevin Brown wrote:
> > Don't know much about Macs either since almost all my exp is with Intel
> > based hardware.  I guess you wouldn't, but then again, I like a box where
> > I can.
> >
> > > Maybe I just don't know anything about Macs, but, do you really upgrade
> > > them that much?
> > >
> > > > Very weird looking IMO.  Probably runs OSX.  Guess the nice thing is
> > > > the
> > >
> > > lack of
> > >
> > > > wires coming out of it, but would probably not much in the way of
> > > > internal upgrades do to the oddly shaped case.
> > > >
> > > > http://www.apple.com/imac/
> > > >
> > > > > If you haven't seen the new iMac check it out... very cool!
> > > > >
> > > > > http://www.apple.com
> > > > >
> > > > > You maybe asking why I posted this on a Linux list. I run Debian
> > > > > Linux on my powerbook along with Mac OS (Occasionally I do graphic
> > > > > design and I'm too attached to all my fonts, Photoshop filters, and
> > > > > other personal stuff that I'm not ready to deal with because I
> > > > > can't afford psychiatric help... he he) Linux on a mac is very cool
> > > > > cause of the speed and performance and I'm dying to run it on a
> > > > > G4...
> > > > >
> > > > > I also think OS X is not too bad either... but it's super slow and
> > > > > crashes... but fun to play with...
> > > > >
> > > > > Anyways check it out or don't...
> >
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