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OSX Interface Whining
If you really want to do something useful then get on Apple's back over the fact that the top two corners of iTunes aren't anti-aliased.
There seems to be an ever increasing trend in people complaining about the OSX interface. Now some of these are valid and I have no problem with that. Most of these are in regards to the Finder, even though I personally don’t have a problem with it. I use it for one thing, accessing file. For me it does that job very well. A lot of people complain about it not being like the OS9 Finder, yet I used that Finder for years and I switched to OSX and didn’t really find a huge difference. I actually pefer the new Finder to the old one, mostly due to the sidebar but also due to the column view.
But then you get people complaining about inconstancies that aren’t there. Hadley Stern over at Apple Matters posted on Friday what could amount to nit picking, but with out any nits to pick. For example:
And one of those things [Microsoft does better] is how Windows handles, well, windows. In OS X some interface elements have curves, other do not. For example, the top toolbar in Photoshop is nice and straight-edged, but the document window itself has curved edges. This is and of itself is bothersome, but what drives me more bonkers is that windows don’t automatically line up perfectly with other elements of the Application GUI.
Now there is only one app that I can think of that has this problem and it isn’t Photoshop. It is in fact iChat. Rounded windows are…
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News of the Weird: G5 Mac mini (again)?
Some months ago I posted an article where a site claimed that a G5 Mac mini was on its way. Needless to say, I was a little surprised when just today I noticed that an analyst is claiming that G5 minis are in the works.
Investment banking concern Caris & Co. said Monday it believes Apple Computer will most likely release new G5 PowerMacs based on IBM’s dual-core 970 PowerPC processor, as well as a G5 Mac mini and faster G4 PowerBooks on September 20 at Apple Expo 2005 in Paris.
In a research note obtained by The Mac Observer, analyst Mark Stahlman wrote, “we believe that Apple is now preparing a broad array of new PowerPC-based Macs and that these new models are likely to support further expansion of the high value-added Mac franchise.
“We believe that Apple is preparing new G5 PowerMacs based on IBM’s dual-core 970 PPC, G5 Mac Minis based on a new IBM low-power processor, and new G4 PowerBooks based on next generation processors from Freescale Semiconductors.”
Why do I somehow doubt that the Mac mini would go G5 before the PowerBook? Um, yeah…
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| Nick | comments | views |
Microsoft + Mac + Free = Crapness
There is so little changed for a full 1.0 version increase that I'm surprised that they don't list the name change as a new feature
Every time a new version of MSN Messenger for Mac is released I downloading thinking “This version is gonna have cool new features”. And every time it takes me just 30 seconds to realise that this is an app made by Microsoft, for Macs, for free and that nothing has changed. I’ve just gone through the same with the new version 5. It has a new name, Microsoft Messenger, a brushed metal interface and well.... not much else new. I guess you can change your profile picture, but as with many things 3rd party MSN apps have been able to do this for years. And I suppose that it also shows you the icons in the chat window (very iChat-esque).
There’s also some corporate thing that let’s you talk on multiple protocols but that requires you to get something else from Microsoft which can just be worked around by getting a Jabber account on a server supporting multiple protocols and using iChat. The thing is that there is so little changed for a full 1.0 (well technically 0.9.9) version increase that I’m surprised that they don’t list the name change as a new feature. But this just shows what we’ve come to expect from Microsoft for the Mac platform.
If you look at Apple’s free offerings on the PC platform they consist of Quicktime and iTunes. Sure Quicktime isn’t yet the latest version on Windows but they do have a public preview of it out and iTunes is practically the same…
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What’s Being Said About Mac OS X on Intel on Regular PC’s
Official Macs with Intel processors don’t ship until mid-2006 but days ago a developer copy of Tiger was cracked to run on many ordinary PC’s. A HardMac.com video shows a recent Dell laptop booting OS X rather speedily and there is reported success using iTunes, digital cameras, and thirdy-party applications. Why has Apple made its OS a tempting target for bootleggers?
Although every software protection scheme has the potential to be broken, John Dvorak, the notorious PC Magazine columnist, views Apple’s choice of protection a particularly vulnerable one and explains why that is a good thing for them. “...I’m now convinced that [the weak protection of the developer release] is all a publicity stunt and the Apple community is being used—once again—by the company’s marketing department...I see the OS getting out in the wild as having the opposite effect. For one thing, it would increase interest amongst developers, which should boost overall sales.”
Mr. Dvorak adds that it should not hurt sales. “Besides, I’m completely convinced that Apple could still get the same premium for its machines that it does today. People simply like the design of Apple gear. Just look at the sales of the overpriced iPod in a market glutted with MP3 players. Why does anyone buy one? How is this ga-ga mentality different with computers?”
“This is ingenious. Allow bootlegged copies to circulate among PC geeks and die-hards. Allow them to see how much better OSX is, and then when Apple upgrades to Leopard, the PC horde will…
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Mac OS X Tiger for x86 leaked, cracked and running on standard PCs
It had to happen. There are a couple of videos around the web this morning clearly showing Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger for x86 running on non-Apple hardware. Both videos show a PC laptop booting from a power-off state into a working OS X Tiger desktop. One video goes on to show Tiger’s report on the CPU and hardware it is running on, clearly showing it to be running on a Pentium M which used exclusively on laptops.
Two months ago at its Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple formally announced it was working on a version of Mac OS X for Intel x86 Processors. At the same conference, it also announced it would be making special Intel-powered developer kits available for coders to get an early start with x86 development. Recently, rumors surfaced that those developer kits contained Trusted Computing chips, designed to prevent the OS from running on non-sanctioned hardware. Apple remained silent on those rumors, however.
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| UnnDunn | comment | views |
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