On Monday, July 23, 2001, at 09:34 PM, Terrible Tom wrote:
>> I am currently running 9.0.4 on my iMac DV SE 400 mhz. Seems to be
>> okay by me. Would there be a great benefit to upgrade to 9.1? I am
>> not ready for OS X.... ;o)
>
> As for OSX, well, I been playing with it most of today, and I can think
> of is BSD for dummies lol
>
> Serious, OSX is nice, stable, and easy to use.
If you're going to upgrade anyway, I STRONGLY recommend getting OS X
rather than 9.1.
Look at it this way. OS X INCLUDES 9.1 anyway, so if you find that X
isn't for you, you can easily go back to 9.1 until you feel more
comfortable with X.
OTOH, if you buy 9.1 alone, then when you DO finally go OS X, you'll
end up buying a SECOND copy of 9.1 anyway, since OS X comes with it.
You end up paying for 9.1 TWICE.
So why waste the money? Get BOTH operating systems for the price of
one. It'll cost less in the long run AND keep your options open. :)
Besides, as an OS X user myself, I can tell you now that it's well
worth the jump.
The interfaces of the two systems aren't as different as some have
been led to believe. The OS X interface does have some appreciable
differences from the Classic OS, yes, but the basic layout is still
there. Adapting to OS X's differences takes no more than an hour or
two of poking around and getting comfortable.
And stability? Let's put is this way:
OS 8.6: Average system crashes, two or three times a week.
OS X: NO system crashes AT ALL since installation three weeks ago. :)
(I made the jump directly from 8.6 to X. :))
Yes, some individual APPS have crashed, but so far, NOTHING has
brought the system down completely. If an app crashes, I just force
quit and relaunch it, and the system continues humming along without
a murmur. I haven't touched the reset switch or programmer's
interrupt switch ONCE since the day I instlled OS X.
Sure, you might have to search around for Carbonized apps to take
full advantage of X depending on your needs, but most of the
essential apps are already available in Carbonized form. Internet
Explorer, Netscape, AppleWorks, they're all carbonized now. And mail
clients? We don't need your steenkin' mail clients! Mac OS X has
its own built in. I'm using it right now, actually. :)
Anything that ISN'T Carbonized should run just fine on OS X as well
under Classic mode. They can't take full advantage of the protected
memory and other OS X-specific goodies, BUT they STILL won't bring
the whole system down. They'll bring down the entire Classic
environment, sure, but bringing that back up is as easy as
relaunching an app.
So far, though, there is only ONE app I use that I haven't been able
to get a Carbonized version of: Final Draft. This is a VERY
specialized app, though, designed specifically for formatting
screenplays. So unless you're a screenwriter, that's probably not an
issue for you. :) (Even if you ARE a screenwriter, Final Draft IS
planning a carbonized version to be out by the end of the year
anyway... ;)).
The ONLY serious drawback I've had with OS X thus far is lack of
support for my printer. Hewlett Packard has not yet come out with an
OS X driver for the DeskJet 648C. But then again, I didn't even HAVE
a printer until the beginning of this year, so I can get along
without it until HP gets their rear end in gear. :)
IF you decide you might want to take the OS X plunge, I'd check to
see if there's a X driver available for your printer first (assuming
you have a printer, of course... :)). That goes for any USB device
or other hardware you might have.
Aside from that, OS X is WELL worth it, especially since the OS 9.1
option is always there if need be. The system is dual-bootable, even
on a single partition. You don't HAVE to run 9.1 as PART of OS X.
You can actually have your machine boot on 9.1 INSTEAD of X if you
like. So even if some of your USB hardware ISN'T yet supported, it
will be eventually, and in the meantime you can always run it on 9.1.
It's up to you... but if you're going to go 9.1 anyway, I'd go for
broke and get the whole smash.
Consider living up to the Apple motto on this one: Think Different. :)
- John A. Ardelli
Owner/Moderator
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