Posts by magnetik

Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard — The poison taste test

@David Webb

"its a case of linking lots of folders into one location"

Yeah it's a good feature. OS X could do the same if Apple just added a means of choosing a specific folder when you create a smart folder. I hope they add that to 10.7

"pull out their motherboard and stick in a new one, with the fastest CPU and a ton of RAM to have the latest bleeding edge system"

True enough, mobos can't be upgraded. Doesn't bother most Mac users though, since most people just want to get stuff done, not play around with system internals, just as most car owners won't ever bother changing their shocks or installing a freeflow exhaust.

"The best bit about this, every Mac user going "omg, SL is so fast now!" which really means "omg, Leopard is so frikken slow"

Somehow I doubt you'll apply the same logic to those that praise Windows 7's better boot and shutdown times.

re: Loving all the Apple fanbois comments

Actually it's a doddle to burn a folder or files to a disk in Finder. Just right click on a folder and choose "burn to disk". Alternatively click File -> Burn to Disk, or add the burn button to the toolbar.

As already pointed out, you can also change OS X's default behaviour when you insert a blank disk in the "CDs and DVDs" control panel. You even have the choice for different behaviours for CDs and DVDs.

Yes it does "just work". I'm amazed your "long time Mac user" didn't know these basics! Next time try typing "burn dvd" into OS X's help ..

Windows multiple desktops

Yes Windows has had multiple desktops for ages with the installation of PowerToys. It's not very well done though. I've used many different implementations of virtual desktops on Windows, Linux (in different window managers), various BSDs, Solaris and commercial apps for OS X pre-Leopard. None of them were as slick as the way Apple have done it.

I would never have recommended virtual desktops to the average Joe but have have no trouble recommending the use of Spaces to a Mac user.

@Charles King

Try Quicksilver. It's a brilliant app launcher and more. I couldn't live without it on a Mac.

http://blacktree.com

Hmm

Just wondering ..

Jump Lists - er, you mean like the contextual menu that pops up when you right click something on the Dock? (e.g. on Mail you can choose things like "compose new message") AFAIK jump lists are also static, ie they don't change according to the state of the application.

Libraries - you mean like OS X's "Smart Folders" which have been around for many years? And can I mount a partition into a directory, say something equivalent to:

mount /dev/disk0s1 /music/samples

mount /dev/disk1s1 /music/recordings

Seems like these Win 7 "advantages" are really just MS playing catch up.

Snow Leopard forces silent Flash downgrade

release dates

10.0.32.18 was released at the end of July. At what point would Apple start having the install disks manufactured? Surely it'd take at least a few weeks to have several million dvds made and distributed to retail stores?

Hackers serve up pre-release malware to Mac fanboys

@Mick F

Why did someone bother writing a virus for Linux powered iPods, of which there are only a few thousand worldwide?

You get a big fat fail for buying into the "market share = malware" myth.

How to run Mac OS X on a generic PC

@viet 1

" the much vaunted Mac hardware is (to put it mildly) a filthy pile of standard PC compon"

What a load of bollocks! I've been messing with the internals of PCs for 20 years and never come across any machine as neatly done as a Mac. Show me too, who else makes a laptop with a unibody, or glass multitouch trackpad.

"Why shell out such an ungodly amount of money on something that won't last more than a couple of years (and be considered underpowered in 6 months)"

Ahem, Macs have a long shelf life. My missus is using a seven year old iMac. Snow Leopard just made every Intel Mac out there run faster than ever. Jeez dude, as someone who's supposedly been using Linux since '98 you should know that Linux and OS X run far better on older hardware than Windows.

"MacOS isn't windows, neither is it Linux nor BSD."

And this is bad because? You may as well slate Fedora because it's not Debian. ("It's not a proper distro unless it uses apt") Grow up and get over the fact that Apple have done something different.

@J Thompson

Since you're so into human interface guidelines I suggest you read up Apples HIG before you make another ignorant comment.

http://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/AppleHIGuidelines/

@Goat Jam

It can equally be argued that if I have three apps open on the screen I don't want both of them taking up screen space by showing their menus. This is especially important to me on a small screen (like a 13" laptop)

Keyboard shortcuts are the best way to control your OS X apps. Thankfully there's a lot of consistency in keyboard shortcuts so that you don't have to remember different key combinations for different apps. Want your preferences? That's cmd+, in *any* app.

BTW you don't need to press cmd+tab several times to tab though multiple apps, just hit it once and click on the icon of the one you want, or use expose to pick the app. Alternatively you could install the MondoMouse control panel and make the focus follow the mouse, either after a time delay or when you press a modifier key (like alt), in which case no app-switching is required.

@Goat Jam

"Maybe there is a better way to navigate between windows and menus but that is not the point."

Jeez, you seem just like my mother, who refuses to learn how to press alt+tab to switch windows and would rather dig around in the task bar to find the app she wants to switch to.

OS X isn't like Windows or KDE. If you can't be bothered to learn the best way to navigate around it then you shouldn't comment on it.

AppleT&T's MMS legal woes double

money

$5m compensation for not being able to send picture messages? C'mon, that should be thrown out straight away by any sane judge. It's obviously someone trying to get rich quick.

Windows 7: Microsoft's three missed opportunities

@phoenix

"The My Documents path can be altered to point to folder on the second partition too"

Yeah but it's not a tidy solution. On OS X / Linux I'd either mount my users directory on a separate partition or create a symbolic link. Simple, and tidy.

negatives

Underneath the pretty GUI it's still the same old rubbish, where disks are organized into drive letters, the registry is still there and no doubt will slow your machine down over time, and it runs on crappy old NTFS. I'd rather go for an upgrade where the core was improved. Now, isn't there an OS where exactly that has just been done? Hmm ..

Snow Leopard security - The good, the bad and the missing

Market share malware myth

When will idiots stop making this bullshit claim that Apple's smaller market share is the reason there's so little malware for OS X?

Take note cretins, OS 9 and BeOS both had a much smaller market share than OS X, but many, many times more malware written for them. Linux powered iPods number in the thousands globally yet they had a virus in the wild. Crackers will attack any platform, even those with a tiny market share.

Linux guru: interface innovation is the challenge

@northern monkey

Er, TBH that screenshot is pretty crap, like something taken from Mac OS 8 or earlier. I ran Enlightenment about 8 years ago and the version was 0.16 back then, just as it is now. Seems that its development pace is as slow as ever. Anyway Enlightenment has always been big on effects and small on practicality.

I've been running KDE desktops from version 0.8. Just installed 4.3 and am utterly underwhelmed. I'd much rather use my Mac. I gotta agree with the article. Linux desktops should be pushing new boundaries instead of aping the likes of Windows and OS X.

Snow Leopard - what doesn't work

Adobe

Not surpised about Photoshop Elements. AFAIK there's still a lot of carbon code in Adobe's apps. Apple warned Adobe years ago to port their code over to cocoa but have they listened? No.

Mac OS X Snow Leopard First Look

@Steve 116

The article you linked to tested 32 vs 64 bit on OS X 10.4. Apple hadn't even converted the kernel to 64 bit at that time so it's not exactly appropriate. Try this instead:

http://gizmodo.com/5345354/snow-leopard-benchmarks

@Shakje

Either you're very new to music production or haven't really used Logic. Ubuntu Studio is an absolute joke compared to the likes of Logic, Cubase, ProTools or Sonar.

Ableton is a great program, especially for live work, but in terms of a sequencer it's still many, many years behind the big apps.

If you're into music production nothing is as good as a Mac.

@Steve 116

I'm amused that you're making such a big deal about a £25 upgrade. Bet you've spend hundreds of quid in the past on stuff like faster disks or more ram to make your machine faster, yet you go on as though a £25 software upgrade which improves performance is not worth it.

Oh, and BTW, your comments about Photoshop are equally laughable. Tell me again, what you're using to edit photos on your Ubuntu box?

Finger crossing won't lure iPhone coders to Windows Mobile

@deadbeef

Even if 99% of all iPhone apps are crap you'd still be left with 500 useful ones to fill up your phone.

Dunno why people get so hung up about the crap apps. There are crap apps on every platform, and they outnumber the good ones by a vast amount. Face it, life is about finding gems amongst the pile of rubbish; be it songs, movies, internet sites, gadgets or apps.

@ThomH Re: be fair to Ballmer

"He was commenting on a $600 handset when the rest were free"

Nah, loads of phones have come out at similar prices. The Motorola RAZR cost $500 at launch and it wasn't even a smartphone.

Do a Google shopping search for "smartphone" and sort by price from high to low ..

Hackintosher denies Apple's documents allegation

@AC Re: OSX

"I'd like to see how many people buy Apple products for the OS, and how many buy it for the actual hardware and/or the "street cred" (Street cred that some of them 'think' it gives them)"

For me it's a bit of both. I have toyed with the idea of running OS X on non-Apple hardware using something like EFI-X but I do like Apple's hardware, especially their laptops, and don't have time to waste on dealing with any issues that could crop up from running on non-Apple kit.

Microsoft whips out Office 2008 patch for Mac lovers

Office? No thanks.

I'm happy with iWork '09

Microsoft under threat from Linux - it's official

@Andus McCoatover

"IDEA! Let's use an autogyro as a kitchen aid. About as relevant an argument."

I think AC was just pointing out that Linux doesn't do everything, contrary to what some fanbois would like to believe. As deegee said in the post above yours, Linux is very short of quality applications. Of course there are plenty of great internet-centric apps like mail daemons and web servers but audio, video, CAD, photo, DTP and so forth are not well catered for.

Of course you can run a lot of these things (Windows ones anyway) on Linux in a VM but since they're very processor intensive there's not much point.

@Eric Dennis

"I still haven't spent a single cent doing anything to make Ubuntu give me everything I need for free"

So how many *hours* have you spent? There's no such thing as free, unless your time is worth nothing.

"It just works."

Hmm, you must be fairly new to Linux if you think that.

"DOES WINE WORK ON OSX?"

Sure it does. (http://wiki.winehq.org/MacOSX) CrossOver, who do a commercial implementation of Wine, also have a Mac version (http://www.codeweavers.com/products/cxmac/)

@AC 08:33

"If you have to use the command line even once, for anything, that is FAIL"

What's so terrible about the command line? In the days of DOS everyone from geeks to secretaries had to use the command line. Tools like Ubiquity for Firefox and QuickSilver for OS X are modern command line interfaces. Sometimes it's just quicker and more convenient to type something than do loads of clicking.

@Don Mitchell

I suggest you read up a bit more about the technology behind Linux and Vista kernels before you make any more dumb comments about UNIX.

http://widefox.pbworks.com

"Too bad there is not a real advance in OS design, something new and creative, not just a political movement wrapped around an obsolete and ersatz software like UNIX."

Obsolete !? Tell that to companies like Google who run most of their infrastructure on Linux. Why do you think a company with as much money to throw around as they do are building ChromeOS out of Linux instead of creating something new?

Don't hold your breath for Microsoft to come up with something unique. Remember how they wrote the NT kernel in the first place? Oh, that's right, they didn't, they got someone else (DEC) to write it for them. That's how innovative they are.

Twitter goes titsup

Shouldn't that be ..

"Twitter goes twitsup" ?

8GB iPhone 3GS inbound?

@Jimmy Floyd

"No, but I am forced to listen to incessant - almost evangelical - rantings by people who think their iPhone is the greatest thing ever, not to mention hype-inducing coverage in the media"

What bollocks! Nobody's forcing you to read any iPhone stories on El Reg and you can ignore the choose to ignore the ravings of iPhone owners. See how you not only read this story, but then read the comments and added your own. You just made three choices to get involved with this iPhone story.

"This would be fine if the product in question was technically any good and didn't just look pretty. If I put a Ferrari body on a Mondeo chassis it'll look awesome ... but it's still a Ford! "

Oh sure, before the iPhone every phone manufacturer was building phones with multi-touch, capacitive screens, a completely new phone OS, visual voicemail, built in accelerometers etc. etc. etc. Apple just took one of those multitudes of phones and put a pretty cover on the top, right?

You know, for someone who has all this iPhone information supposedly "forced" upon them you really are quite clueless! Like it or hate it the iPhone has changed the mobile phone industry forever. Next time you use your Palm Pre / HTC Touch / Whatever remember you have Apple to thank for raising the game in the industry.

PS. I'm not an iPhone owner

trolls

Man this site is troll infested. Any story about an Apple product is guaranteed to get a troll posting by some coward within the first three posts.

Grow up kids. Nobody's forcing you to buy Apple gear.

Apple fixes critical Mac holes triggered by image files

@Lockwood

Any Mac user with half a brain would never make such a claim. You sure you're not confusing the common "no viruses for OS X in the wild" statement with security issues?

Microsoft craves iPhone developers for Windows Mobile

@alistair millington

There are plenty of shockingly bad apps for Android phones. Any development platform will have bad apps written for it. You have to be pretty naive not to realise that.

Apple tablet spooks world of PCs

@Eric Daniels

Ubuntu lets you do everything for free huh? I guess you don't value your time then. I've been running Linux desktops since FVWM was the window manager of choice. I started using Macs because I got sick of having to mess about with the machines to get them to work. My time is far too valuable to waste on such things. The fact that they look good is a bonus but not as important to me as having something that requires very little maintenance.

Clearly you can't understand that user experience reaches far beyond looks and "warm and fuzzy feelings". So, you see, you still don't get it.

@Eric Dennis

People like you just don't get it. People buy Apple products for the user experience, not the feature list. If features were the most important thing about a product then we'd all be eating our dinner with Swiss army knives. I'd rather have something that does a few things well than something that does a lot of things badly.

iTablet suppliers named

@Hombre sin nombre

"I'm absolutely certain he was referring to software and Apple's bad record with third-party compatibility."

Huh? There's a huge wealth of software available for Macs and only a small portion of that is written by Apple.

@Dustin 1

"And, remember, in your analogy, the Ferraris in question would still be Honda Civics under the hood. Apple products use the same componants as PCs you idjut, just in shiny wrappers"

So? Audis have Skoda parts in them, Jaguars have Ford parts in them. Are they all priced the same?

Starbucks muffins have the same ingredients in them as Tesco muffins yet they cost twice the price.

Nobody's forcing you to buy anything from Apple. Grow up and get over the fact that people are willing to pay more for what they perceive as a better product.

IE icon too familiar for Microsoft EU settlement?

@JoeMamma

How about M$ is forced to compensate every developer who has had to waste countless hours on nasty website hacks just to make it play nice in IE?

@Tom 106

"MS should devise an Active X that will bug the hell out of Opera when used on the Windows OS. At least then the Opera knobheads will have something of substance to whinge about."

Well, that's exactly what MS did in the past - break MS websites for Opera by serving different content when the Opera user agent was detected. You could try learning about the history of Opera's complaints before you make another retarded comment !

@vincent himpe

"Microsoft does not have a monopoly since there are plenty of other os's out there that run on the same hardware."

Wow, that demonstrates such a level of idiocy it's hard to know how to sufficiently dumb-down a reply to get through to you. Perhaps you should start here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly

You may also want to look up the words "abuse" and "convicted".

Apple profits up 15 per cent (again)

Cowardly Apple haters

Funny how so many of the critical comments are done as AC. Don't you have the conviction to stand behind your bullshit?

Microsoft airbrushes anti-Apple ad

@geejayoh

"My friend has a Mac Book pro and the case has already cracked at the front and the DVD was faulty out of the box"

- That's *extremely* rare. I bet someone dropped the machine from a height before packing it. Unibodies are incredibly strong compared to typical PC laptops.

"the mac book laptop keys are shocking bad and the mac's keyboard doesn't have any tactile feedback at all"

- Absolute bollocks. I've never found any laptop keyboard as good as the Apple ones.

"so you pay extra for a mouse pad where you have to learn a whole bunch of gestures that don't always respond correctly when you could just as so easily right click"

- gestures? You call tapping with two fingers (which is a right click FYI) a "gesture that doesn't always respond correctly"? Total rubbish!

Funny how someone "who has a mate who owns a macbook" thinks he knows so much about what it's like to own one.

Apple nabs 90% of all 'premium PC' dollars

@Chris Parsons

Bollocks again I say. Upgrading the internal disk means backing up data to an external drive before installing, in which case you may as well save the bother and just plug in an external disk. Sure, they're slower but perfectly fine for the average person who wants to store their music, photos and home videos.

Besides, replacing the internal disk isn't the nightmare you make out. With the right tools you should easily be able to do it in ten minutes. People tend to replace their iMacs every four to five years, and I can't imagine the average user would want to upgrade their disks more than once in that time. Is ten minutes of effort once in the lifetime of a machine such a big deal?

That you can label a whole machine as "designed for form over function" for such a trivial issue is quite pathetic.

@Chris Parsons

"Nice screen on the iMac, but as someone said, you have to replace the whole item when you upgrade, and any small upgrades such as a larger disk are a nightmare. Definitely form over function."

Form over function? What a load of bollocks. How often does the average user upgrade their disks? It's a trivial thing to plug in an external USB / Firewire drive should you ever need more disk space and, let's face it, storage for the typical home user is becoming more and more network bound anyway (NAS anyone?)

@Nick G

"And Puma, Cheetah, Leopard etc is clearer because...?"

.. because they're *consistent* code names for 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4, 10.5 etc, not to mention the fact that you'll never see a stupid number of editions of each such as "OS X Home Premium x64"

Windows 7 still baking in oven, insists Microsoft

@Lozzyho

"I've yet to hear any negative comments from ANYONE who has *actually tried it*."

Count me as someone who's tried it (still installed on a VM right now FYI) and can think of plenty of negative things to say. :-P

@Nik Peltekakis

"Ive got Windows 7 on my PC and I have to say its pretty good too. Very stable and also does not slow down after being on for a few hours."

LMAO, talk about low expectations! Every machine I've run OS X and Linux on over the last 10 years has been stable and doesn't slow down, even after months of uptime. I wonder, how will Win7 performance hold up after several months of the registry ballooning as users install and uninstall crap?

Pssst... Apple tablet on way, whisper Chinese moles

@Matthew LaShure

Er, I think you'll find plenty of people using the likes of EFI-X and building their own machines perfectly legitimately. As pointed out by others, Apple would have a hard time enforcing their EULA for a home-built machine.

Anyway you completely missed the point, and the pie analogy clearly went way over your head. Why should any manufacturer sell their product at a price *you* think they should based on what you know about the price of their components?

There's a lot more to a product than it's specifications. No wonder you don't understand why people buy Apple products.

@Matthew LaShur

"that's what Apple is all about, setting price marks that are severly higher than what the spec's say they should be"

Since when do the components of a product "say" what the price should be? What a stupid statement !

How DARE M&S charge more for pies with the same "specs" as Tescos pies !?? It makes me even angrier to think they could *buy the ingredients and make the pie themselves* for much cheaper !!! :-D

Steve Jobs snubs LSD daddy

giving away

So Bill Gates apparently gives away 5% of his wealth to good causes. Forgive the financial naivety but surely that's far less than the interest he earns on investments and high interest accounts anyway? Just his dividends from Microsoft shares alone earn him over $100m a year, how would giving away $1m be even slightly noticeable to him?

All very well praising Gates for his philanthropy but it's easy to be generous when you're disgustingly rich.