Mac OS X - from Apple - Software Review - Product/Service Evaluation

Whole Earth, Winter, 2002 by Stewart Brand

The thrill is back. NOT just some new gaudiness, but the realization that a personal computer can once again be a gateway to new and expanding worlds.

Apple is claiming that its new operating system (pronounced "OS ten") makes any Mac computer into a "digital hub" for everything from cameras to music to the Web to office collaboration to making DVD films. All that's true, but it doesn't explain why.

In the last decade personal computers have richly earned our personal mistrust. Once we got a system halfway stable, and learned a requisite minimum of crafty workarounds for the inevitable spate of problems, we went conservative--dubious about adding new programs or even new versions of old programs because they could lead to disaster.

OS X, based on the highly evolved Unix operating system, soars because it is extremely stable. Individual applications can fail, and do, but they don't crash the whole system. You just start them up again and carry on. There's no worry about conflicting extensions; they don't exist in OS X. And memory management is done by the computer instead of the user--every application in the box can be open with no fighting over scarce memory because only working programs use memory, and do so adroitly Multi-tasking becomes the norm instead of an exercise in juggling.

A great investment along with OS X is Version Tracker Pro. For fifty bucks it compares all the versions of programs in your computer to what's available in the world, and leads you directly to where you can download the new version. Also you get daily email about new programs and versions for OS X, twenty or so a day, many of them shareware and freeware. When you go to the download site for each at Version Tracker, there you find elaborate discussion by nerds about how good or bad the program is and whether it's really worth $10.

Before OS X I would try maybe one new program every two or three months. Now I try one on my iBook every two or three days, because I trust the system to absorb them without strain or hazard. That's what led me to the shareware EarthBrowser--a vivid real time rendering of the whole Earth and its current weather, complete with hundreds of web-cam sites. And to GraphicConverter, an extremely able image handler that I use for all my photos now.

The Mac is in massive innovation mode these days, and is likely to remain so. That's why their "Switch from your PC" campaign is working. OS X is quite different from what came before. Really grasping its capabilities is important for keeping up with dazzling new stuff coming along every month. I recommend getting and studying MAC OS X: The Missing Manual, from O'Reilly, and then take the time to explore. You'll be rewarded.