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Is this guy serious?
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase...rd_preview.asp
Yes, he does give credit to Apple, but thats about it. He says that the past 5 updates to Mac OS X weren't major at all. Thought? |
He has a windows super site, how serious can he be?
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Things like system roll back, legacy application support, fast user switching, application compatability mode (for really old apps), safe mode (and the ton other different safe mode boot options for diagnostics), etc have been in the windows enviroment for a long while now. XP was released in 2001 or 2002... and actually that guy is wrong, system roll back actually was release with MS Millenium edition. A real POS OS IMHO, but that feature did come out in 1999 with MS Millenium Ed. and was bascially a GUI version of the command regedit /restore and has grown into what it is now in windows XP. I am not bashing apple in anyway. I like OS X, I just agree with this dude, it could be a lot better, IMHO. Please notice how I also stated, its my opinion, a lot of these new features may be nice to the users that use them. The problem is, users of other OSes don't care for some of that stuff because there is already a plethora of free apps that do the same or similiar things on other platforms. In the end they all emulate each other anyways, so its not like being a pioneer matters for that type of stuff. |
I think it would be foolish to believe OSX is perfect. But the point of OSX isn't really to simply bringing out new techs. Heck, most of the end user stuff that Steve announced can be done with other applications. But, the thing about OSX is that it does it better and then integrates it with the rest of the system, making it more accessible, and thus more usable.
One thing I will agree with though, I don't like how Apple will sometimes skip on improving current features in order to be more 'innovative'. I like spotlight, but honestly, it needs some work. The same goes for dashboard. In the end I like OSX more simply because all the features are more redably useable, and I happen to like Apple's pizzaz... |
The entire OS wasn't talked about or demoed. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that I thought it would be finished by now and maybe released in the fall.
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I think Apple's constant bashing of MS has been over the top lately. It just seems childish. Yeah, you can throw in maybe one or two zingers, but come on...enough is enough.
The fact is, Apple toted about having been copied by MS for a while now (Which i do believe is true) however, Apple has done the same to MS, and even its own 3rd party developers. -Dashboard --> Konfabulator (yeah they had desktop ornaments back in System 7, but, if Konfabulator never existed i doubt Dashboard would have) -Time Machine --> MS System Restore (although, i do think Time Machine is much more advanced than System Restore) and it looks like they will be taking QuickSilver's idea of launching apps "simply by typing in the first couple letters and hitting enter" was how Scott put it when he talked of Spotlight being an App launcher in Leopard on Monday. Now, it would be fine if Apple got together with these developers and worked with them, even gave them money for their ideas...but they don't. There's no mention of them or their work. It's kind of upsetting to see this happen, and yes i know it is an industry-wide characteristic, but i thought Apple was better than that. |
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Taking the authors POV into consideration, I think that was a very fair and accurate evalution of the Leopard presentation.
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In reference to the DX9 comments above.
That's not the point. OSX has games too (though I'd be lying if I said they were as nice as Windows games). But Apple uses that same functionality for everyday programs. Honestly I think it's kind of neat, even if it doesn't add to the functionality. For comparison, most cars don't need leather trim, xeon headlamps, nice lines or a nice silhoutte. But people like them anyway, and they pay over the top for 'stupid' things that don't add to a cars functionality. Why shouldn't apple make you pay out the nose for a computer that happens to look nice? Heck, MS likes the idea so much that they are starting to implement it in their new OS. They have a way of shuffling through windows that uses DX in order to do it in 3D. It doesn't add an ounce of functionality, but it looks cool, and people like it when things look cool. Style does matter. Maybe not to a bunch of techies, but to the millions of lay users it means a heck of a lot. |
DX is a microsoft product
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True. Apple uses OpenGL instead, along with core video. Same idea though.
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Steve goes for 'glitz'. All of us here have probably upgraded through the entire chain, and each of us found the the basic operating system was better, more stable, a bit faster than the previous version. We grumbled about paying $100+ each time, but we were happy enough with the fundamental improvements. Like many of you, the glitz isn't why I upgrade - it's the fundamentals.
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Didn't you watch the keynote or look at the demo elsewhere? System Restore is for when you want to go back to a previously saved state of the whole machine - at some known point in time. Time Machine is for getting back some file or other info (e.g. an Address book entry) that you had at some time in the past. If you know when it was that you last had it, good - but you don't need to know that. Time Machine will find it whenever it was. I.e. Time Machine seems to go far beyond what existing backup solutions do today. The importance of Time Machine is all in the user interface that will enable ordinary users (not professional admins) to do automatic backup and datum-by-datum restore. |
duely noted, however system restore on windows does not touch any data, so running it does not technically run the risk of data loss. system restore also has a function of driver roll back, which only rolls back a botched driver install and touches nothing else.
back ups are still the best way to go. time machine may be more than what has scratched the surface during the keynote, since apple does seem to be secretive. There are ample third party back up utilities on both platforms that are probably more robust, and better than time machine. However, I digress, we will have to wait and see. |
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I wonder how much space this will use up over time. For example, I often do backups of my DVDs and then convert them to other formats for use on my laptop as .AVIs or on my iPod as .MP4. These are often saved on my HDD for a time and then burned to disc. This would quickly fill up the external HDD that Time Machine uses. Is there a purge feature? Can be used to purge certain folders/file types/dates? |
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Like I said, we will just have to wait and see. I wonder if it is similiar to how MS office autosaves back ups of current files in use, and makes like a temp cache of them. The major innovation of time machine is that the OS is doing it instead of the application. Applications have been doing this for some time, in a similiar manner. So, I imagine that you could clear the temp files to get rid of certain things to make space for time machine. I also would hope its incremental only adding things as they come and not having many duplicates of files. As for third party utilities, and working in the field with OS X, I have found this utility to be of great value, and the interface is very intuitive. http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php So, like I said in the begining, we will have to wait and see. The coolest thing about Time machine is that apple is releasing the API for time machine so third party applications can use its features. So, if developers take to it, it really could be a really cool feature for the end user, but not anything close to an enterprise solution. Backing up to a different device or different location (ie network) is still the best method of back up. Also, what happens if your external HD dies? Then is all your time machine back ups gone forever? When you add another working external HD will it still back up the data that was once backed up on the previous drive? It sounds cool, but its a feature I probably won't use, unless lots of devs take advantage of the APIs. Say like retrospect or something of that nature takes advantage and implements it into its own application then I can see it being more powerful of a tool. Like I said, we will just have to wait and see. I personally hope it is not limited to just running on external HDs, that would be a pain for users who have a laptop and do not always have an external HD plugged in, or don't lug it around. |
TM should allow you to specify which folders to include or exclude, and for how long you files get saved. Temp files like caches are automatically excluded.
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Personally, I'm planning on disabling/not using Time Machine. Just like Dashboard...to me...it's a waste of resources which can be put to better use. I backup what I need, and don't really need that Family Guy widget.
Spotlight is a good area for improvement IMO. Lately I've been looking at the OS from a productivity point of view. All these bells and whistles are not really my cup of tea. I'm building Macs for Photoshop users with 3 GB files. They only check their email once or twice per day, and stay in Photoshop all day long. When they ask me how this new software will benefit them I just shrug. We've trained them to use the servers to backup their data...since most data loss is due to a crashed hard drive. TimeMachine wont do diddly for that. TM only covers your arse from user error. I hate to say it...but I wish OS X had an option to run like NT 4.0 Workstation. A bare bones, solid OS with out the lipstick. |
except NT 4.0 was a pain to configure and you had to always type in full pathing for everything you wanted to do.
I agree though, too bad there aren't a lot of UI tweaks you can do in OS X. |
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Perhaps this is just a lofty assumption, but I assume Time Machine will allow for network backups and have an option to do a full restore should you main HDD die. |
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it actually says it can back up to a server but be sure to read the fine print... Quote:
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I use ChronoSync for backups. It has an archive feature so when I backup something that has changed it moves the old version to an archive folder. So if I need to roll back I can easily. There is also a time set to purge archived files.
I'm not clear if Time Machine is taking that approach, or is it more like the old Salvage utility from NetWare? Salvage would scour the hard drive for old versions of files, but they would not be visible otherwise, so they really didn't take up HD space, the blocks were marked as free but Salvage would read them anyway and display old versions of files. |
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And how much (in $ terms) are those 3 GB Photoshop files worth to the company? How long do they work on each of those files? How much does a terabyte drive cost ? (I.e. a drive big enough to hold 300 of those 3 GB files) Maybe buying more disk space would be a cost-saving move for the company? Isn't it conceivable that it might be valuable to be able to revert to a previous version of one of those files? E.g. the one from yesterday morning at 10 am, or the one from just before quitting time last Christmas. And if Adobe were to incorporate Time Machine features into PhotoShop, it's quite likely that the disk space required to store multiple versions of an image file could be decreased dramatically. |
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I do think it would be cool if they would save the changes to a multilayered project in Photoshop though. It would be nice to be able to undo changes from the last session (do they already do this? Maybe I've been beaten to the punch :). ) |
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Zalister, it was my impression that it won't keep track of every save, but rather there will be a scheduled daily automatic backup (at midnight by default) so it shouldn't eat up that much disk space, however, it seems you will also not be able to recover something that you overwrite in between the times that it backs up.
That was my impression at least. |
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I think that was a good point in the MS OS lineup. You could choose between basically two options...a workstation, or a multimedia system. Now, much like the state of web design, they try to cram everything into one package and just pile on more stuff when that doesn't work. ehem....time to voice my angst in prose...... O Apple! my Apple! our fearful trip is done; The mothership has weather'd every bug, the prize we sought is neigh; The port is near, the bells and whistles I hear, the bells, too many bells, While follow eyes the fancy features, the vessel grim and sinking: But O Stevsie! Stevsie! Stevsie! O the bleeding drops of rainbow apple juice, Where on the dock my productive OS lies, Fallen cold and dead. |
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"If you can't innovate; then immitate." |
did Bertrand have a stroke?
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What exactly was the Winterfest debacle? Something to do with Microsoft or Vista or what? |
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Ah yes, thanks for the info. I had no idea what he was talking about. After reading the wiki article it all makes sense now. |
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I know hes French.
To me, it looked like his face was uneven. One of his eyes looked alot lower than the other. |
ThreeBKK- Yeah, and I've seen those upgrades. Honestly, I think I'll just have to postpone judgement until I know if they fixed the one thing I really don't like about my spotlight window. The complete inability of the stupid thing to act like a finder window. Sometimes I search for files just so that I can move them, and I wish I could just right click the stupid...thing...hold on a second...
Oh, I see. I just decided to try hitting the command key to reveal the location of files you find in Spotlight, and it works. Don't I feel stupid. The moral of the story, don't be stupid. Okay, I still stand by my original assertion. I think Apple needs to spend a little more time on refinement. But, I have to admit, they have done more of it than I give them credit for. |
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Nope, the moral of the story is, there needs to be better documentation of these types of features, and there should be an option for every keyboard command via gui like there is in other OSes. I have been supporting macs professionally since 1999 and I still get to learn new keyboard short cuts every now and then with the apple platform. OTOH, the mac platform does have a couple of nice online resources like this forum, but other OSes have great web resources too, and they have more of them out there. Its just how apple is I suppose, think different and all. |
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