Why I can (and can't) appreciate Macs
... because I don't know anything about Macs.
OS X is based on BSD, which means that the internal workings of the system are very similar to the Linux system that I know. That, and it includes the userland applications that I'm used to having around. When I couldn't figure out why DW's laptop wasn't seeing my desktop's samba server, I could drop into a terminal (I still don't know why the GUI can't see it) and use the samba commands (smbclient, mount -t smbfs) to verify that the server was accessible and mount the disk. Ditto for killing a crashed MS Word application (ps, kill).
I don't know if that makes up for the Generally Annoying &trade things about Macs. Like the one button mice. A secondary mouse button *is* a useful feature. And, I know that Macs are generally known for their lovely user interface, but it strikes me as somewhat stupid. I can't figure out how the "dock" is more intuitive than a taskbar, because it combines two unrelated features into one -- an icon set for selecting frequently used(?) applications and a list of currently running applications. The Windoze taskbar and the taskbars in all the X Window managers I can think of separate the functionality of the two for good reason. And, there are no virtual desktops. Another thing I find it hard to get used to is the menubar showing for only the application that has the focus, but all windows for all applications showing in the background. It would make sense as a UI element in a single-tasking, multiwindowing environment (like Mac OS Eyecandy from back in the day), but make very little sense in a multitasking, multiwindowing environment.
OS X is based on BSD, which means that the internal workings of the system are very similar to the Linux system that I know. That, and it includes the userland applications that I'm used to having around. When I couldn't figure out why DW's laptop wasn't seeing my desktop's samba server, I could drop into a terminal (I still don't know why the GUI can't see it) and use the samba commands (smbclient, mount -t smbfs) to verify that the server was accessible and mount the disk. Ditto for killing a crashed MS Word application (ps, kill).
I don't know if that makes up for the Generally Annoying &trade things about Macs. Like the one button mice. A secondary mouse button *is* a useful feature. And, I know that Macs are generally known for their lovely user interface, but it strikes me as somewhat stupid. I can't figure out how the "dock" is more intuitive than a taskbar, because it combines two unrelated features into one -- an icon set for selecting frequently used(?) applications and a list of currently running applications. The Windoze taskbar and the taskbars in all the X Window managers I can think of separate the functionality of the two for good reason. And, there are no virtual desktops. Another thing I find it hard to get used to is the menubar showing for only the application that has the focus, but all windows for all applications showing in the background. It would make sense as a UI element in a single-tasking, multiwindowing environment (like Mac OS Eyecandy from back in the day), but make very little sense in a multitasking, multiwindowing environment.