> One of the biggest differences I found between Windows and Mac is the
> concept of installing programs. Essentially your program is one big
> file. You drag this file over to your "Applications" folder on your hard
> drive. Then drag the icon into the dock if you want. Bam - installed.
> There is no concept of a registry, no .ini files, no .dll files
> scattered all over. If you want to delete your program, just drag it to
> the trash. It's THAT easy.
>
> The drawback to that is speed. I have noticed that both Firefox and
> Thunderbird run at about 75% of the speed that they would normally run
> under Windows. This more than likely has to do with the OS dealing with
> one big "file" versus smaller files and the registry.
There are MANY other drawbacks, and even if some people might initially think
that somethink like that is better I am afraid that is only true for rather
simple situations ...
Also the speed is probably related more to the very limited hardware
configuration - the Mini is a notebook-class device rather than a desktop-class
machine, and on top of that the Apple notebook class is currently quite "dated"
from the hardware point of view when compared with "modern" x86 notebook PCs
...
> The other thing that is hard to get over is the concept that there are
> no full screen windows. I prefer to run my apps in full screen mode.
I am very tempted to create a small utility for Macs to do just that :) :) :)
There are some other things missing - for instance the -related menu
navigation from Windows - and I am tempted to take a look at that too in my
small utility :)
What else is missing in the Mac world - please let me know ! :)
> I read somewhere that Windows users are more apt
> to use their apps in full screen mode versus windowing, whereas in Linux
> and Mac they're sort of forced to use windowing.
I am not convinced (at all!) that full screen is such a bad thing...
> With the deluge of spyware and viruses, and the draconian tactics of
> Microsoft in Windows, I would not be surprised to see more and more
> people switch away. I am pretty much a die-hard Windows/Linux sysadmin
> and I personally want to ditch all of my Windows machines and go Mac.
Well, my feeling is that Apple is a far worse "monopolist" than Microsoft, and
on top of that the lack of spyware/viruses can only be short-lived ...
But anyway if you want to buy a Mac notebook I would suggest to wait at least
one month more, or ideally until the next OS X is released!
Best regards,
Catalin Caranfil, MCP, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSE
Author of XDESK, the most addictive virtual desktop manager :)
http://www.xdesksoftware.com/
