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Fri, May 13, 2005
Mac OS X "Tiger"
Many people know that I'm an avid user of Apple computers. I've been using Apple computers since around 1989 when I purchased my first Apple computer, the IIci. Actually, it wasn't my first Apple computer. The first Apple computer I ever owned was a IIe purchased, used and sold back in 1983 before the first Macintosh was ever released.
These days, I'm using a 'desklamp' iMac with a 17" screen, running Mac OS X 10.3 "Panther". It's very solid. Applications almost never crash and when they do, they have no affect on other applications running at the same time. At this very moment, I have only seven applications running, but there are usually in excess of 15 applications running at any time including email, web browser, text editors and photograph processing applications.
For two years, I worked with the SilverFast scanning application from Lasersoft Imaging so I know my way around scanners pretty well. I recently switched to digital photography when I purchased the Canon 350D. One of the reasons for this was that it simply takes too long to scan film. Scanning one roll of 35mm film can take hours, even with the latest Nikon Coolscan 5000ED film scanner (I own the Coolscan 4000ED). Of course, I'm extremely finicky about my photos so I take time to make sure that every scanned photo looks as good as possible.
Last month, just one day prior to my birthday, Apple released the next version of Mac OS X named "Tiger". I would usually update my computer almost as soon as the upgrades are released but I'm taking my time this time. Tiger is a big upgrade and I'm definitely going to upgrade. With the new version of iSync, I'll finally be able to synchronise my computer's calendar and address book with my Nokia 7610 phone (although I wonder how many of my customised phone entries will get synchronised). And the ability to search for and find anything anywhere will be a big efficiency boost with the use of Spotlight.
For now though, I'm going to wait. The first version of Tiger was rushed out the door, possibly to increase company earnings for the current quarter, and possibly to get broad public beta testing done before the upcoming developers conference. Whatever the reason, I don't think people should upgrade to Tiger just yet.
I've read that update 10.4.1 is coming soon, possibly next week. I've also read that it only fixes three dozen or so known bugs. To me, that's not enough knowing the number of bugs reported on the Macintouch and Macfixit sites. I'll probably wait until 10.4.2 is released before I take the leap and upgrade my computers; including an aging but still totally usable green 'clam shell' iBook.
Since I'm talking about Apple computers, it might be prudent of me to mention that there is a Macintosh User Group here in Hong Kong. I was a member for many years and still attend their meetings from time to time. I have quite a few friends in the group, and quite vivid to me at this very moment is the memory of being at a HKMUG meeting when news of the 911 attack was broadcast on television. The meeting was stopped and all attention was cast to the television as we watched the second plane hit the towers. I'm very cynical when it comes to 911. I believe Bush shares much of the responsibility for the attack but that's a sensitive issue and one which I'll not discuss at this time.
In any case, hold off until 10.4.2 before upgrading to Tiger; if you can stand the wait.
Copyright 2005 Gregory Charles Rivers 河國榮. All rights reserved.
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on Fri, May 13, 2005, 10:34
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我不是一個tech freak，可能因為無錢，事事我都慢n拍，故此我永遠不追科技。（雖然我已經是部門最高科技的那個人）
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Tracked on Thu, May 26, 2005, 16:40
Comments
Well I have bought Tiger immediately on 29.4 , in their "press conference" at HK jockey club..:O..
PS I have a mac mini, an ipod mini and my bf has a powermac.
PPS I thought you were there on that day as I knew (few years ago) you are involved in HKMUG. :)
PPPS Do you know the use of the software coupon attached in every Mac machine package? My bf said "it's useless"...
Posted by: Sharon | Fri, May 13, 2005, 11:15 | Respond to this comment
I saw you brought your Canon last evening. What a pity that we did not take a photo together! Aiya!
Posted by: Duke of Aberdeen | Fri, May 13, 2005, 12:35 | Respond to this comment
Your bf is correct. The software coupon is pretty much useless. Apple has included it with almost every software they've sold for the last four years or more, but the coupons have never to date been of any benefit to the owner.
Don't throw them away though. Although highly unlikely, you never know if Apple will actually involve those coupons in some future promotion.
Posted by: 河國榮 | Fri, May 13, 2005, 12:54 | Respond to this comment
Hey Kwok Wing,
I'm a CG artist working in NYC, downtown Manhattan (3 blocks from WTC) to be exact. 9/11 has made a great impact on everyone's life here. It's one thing you saw it on TV but another thing in real life. That's something you can take it out from memory, the only way is to live with it.
As for Mac, I use them day in day out. The dashboard in Tiger is pretty cool. The new search engine is by far the fastest and most powerful desktop search engine I've used. Far better than both MSN desktop search and Google desktop search on the PCs.
Tiger's been pretty soild to me, although I did heard alot of complaints from friends. Maybe it's because I installed Tiger on a brand new partition. You should give it a try if you have a spare drive lying around.
Stanley
Posted by: Stanley | Fri, May 13, 2005, 23:24 | Respond to this comment
Got to agree with you on 911, Bush is indefinitely (if not solely) responsible for what happened to the innocent.
Anyway, time will tell...
Posted by: dermk4 | Sat, May 14, 2005, 12:41 | Respond to this comment
Hey, why don't you "self-recommended" to Apple computer to be their spokeperson in HK? Many HKer knows that you use Mac!
Posted by: m | Wed, May 18, 2005, 21:23 | Respond to this comment
Dear ∞Í∫a~
Very happy that you are the mac user too~ It's really a small group in HK, i hope you can join this Mac user's group meeting too:
http://www.macitizen.com/
They have the regular meeting every month, will introduce new product/software. Or any problem when using Mac platform ;)
p.s. if you think too harsh to typing Chinese, i recomment you use Q9 Chinese Input (§E§ËøȧJ™k) , more easy to handle!!!
http://www.q9tech.com/eng/demos/demos.php3
Posted by: candice | Thu, May 26, 2005, 18:23 | Respond to this comment
Hi Mr Rivers, I'm curious, what kind of software did you spent 5 months of development and tried to sell b4? Is there some kind of screenshot or whateva I can take a look at?
I tried Tiger b4, and it looks absolutely fantastic, but I dont think I'll be using it, I'm more used to traditional taskbars... instead of that F10 menu... (yeah I'm old fashioned =P)
The interface looks like the hybrid of Linux Windows Manager XFCE + KDE, with lotsa animations.
But there're some flaws IMO, like those buttons on the bottom. They enlarge on mouse over, which will cause some problem when you're trying to click... say, the play button on a maximized Quicktime Player. The first time I used it I accidentally clicked on the shortcut to Garage Band, which takes quite a while to load even in iBook, kinda frustrating... but I guess the interface can be customized, hopefully.
Posted by: Arthur Heng | Fri, May 27, 2005, 02:30 | Respond to this comment
Arthur, it was a software designed to help people build FileMaker Pro databases. it's history now ;-)
OS X has a few interface flaws because Apple tried to make it a little similar to Windows (with all its really bad UI) to make it easier for Windows people to migrate to OS X.
the bar you talk about can be configured to turn off the magnification feature. I have it turned off too. you're right. it's difficult to use. I think it might be useful if you have a lot of icons in the dock. when there are many icons, they shrink to make room. magnification might be the only way for some people; particularly older people; to see the icons.
by the way, you can force-quit any application in OS X without any affect on any other application. it's great. I almost never have to restart my iMac. so the next time you launch an application like GarageBand by mistake, option-click (hold down, don't let go of the mouse) on its icon in the Dock and choose force-quit from the contextual menu.
Posted by: 河國榮 | Fri, May 27, 2005, 06:33 | Respond to this comment
Mr. Ho,
I was shocked after reading an article from the following site. It could be something related to my new Sony PC. Since Sony is a middle-of-the-road choice for many Asian people, we have a lot of Sony products (including desktop PC) before. They’re all trouble-free.
I purchased a Sony media center computer (for I want to have a PC with a build-in TV tuner) 2 weeks ago. The PC came with some softwares by Sony and his buddy partners, such as Microsoft Office and Norton Anti-virus (trial version only). All the drives (both CD/DVD and 4 Media drives) were missing frequently after I removed their trial version and replaced with my own stuff for permanent purpose. In addition, tons of error messages and crash reports popped up, and even worse some exe. files were missing automatically. I tried to delete the upper and lower filters from the registry keys, but the problems kept coming back again everyday especially after loading some new softwares. Re-edit the registry keys was not a remedy sometimes it didn’t work, so it left me with no choice but to re-do a system recovery. (Their 24/7/365 telephone technical support was piece of crap!) One week after the purchase, I requested Sony store to exchange for a 2nd PC, unfortunately exactly the same problems happened repeatedly. From now on I have zero tolerance for their PCs, due to the drives were missing 7-8 times within 2 weeks and system recovery for 3 times plus a lot of other problems as well.So I returned the PC to Sony store yesterday for FULL REFUND due to unacceptable performance of their product.
Was it a coincidence of machine malfunction? Or kind of “territory right protection” by the manufacturer? After this unpleasant experience, I really need someone’s second opinion on my new PC.
You as a avid user of Apple's products, could this happen to Mac PC as well? (I'd like to switch to Mac.)
FYI:http://www.sysinternals.com/blog/2005/10/sony-rootkits-and-digital-rights.html
http://www.sysinternals.com/Blog
sapphire
Posted by: sapphire | Fri, November 18, 2005, 06:52 | Respond to this comment