It’s Mac OS X on a New MacBook

This is just an old story.

So I waited so long that I disappointed virtually all of my Mac friends who had once respected my mild-mannered Mac wisdom. But enough was enough. It had nothing to do with what other people thought. It had to more to with “planned obsolescence” and lack of a prioritizing sense to upgrade. Yes, I ran Mac OS 8.5-9.0.5 from 1999-2007 and I knew it very well. I had two Macs and they really worked very well. A 1999 Power Macintosh G3 (Blue & White) and a 2000 PowerBook G3 (Firewire) (Go to Apple History to see) both at 400 mHz, 128 RAM, an Ethernet crossover cable for networking, Zip drive, all the required software from Dreamweaver 2,3,4 to Firewire to Photoshop, Office 2001, Netscape 7.02 — the system worked pretty good really. And I was so determined to make the set-up last 10 years, lots of money spent, I was so convinced that I could eke out the last of the great ol’ OSes, so I thought, without dabbling with OS X until I absolutely had to. Well, I have to now. I got a black MacBook.

Something else happened. I got accepted to Boston University’s Metropolitan College. And I’m not going for an MBA but a master of science in Computer Information Systems. The computer requirements excluded my old Mac set-up and, much to my sadness, I had to let it go. Like an old typewriter that’s just worn out, it’s a sentimental thing. I imagine some sort of worn out typewriter from the ’40s partially covered in damp paper outside with droplets of rain in a tin garbage can. But short of “pimping out” my old system beyond recognition I decided to let it go with Firewire hard drive for posterity and leave it at that. Yes, I did’t have to go through all that transition “stuff” — at least not much — and I can still get to all my old files. And the image of the trusty “typewriter” will fade with time.

Besides, creating Java code using Eclipse on Mac OS X uses (or will use) enough of my mind. I understand the Mac platform is being preferred by many high-level Java programmers.

But woe, I lag behind the Mac OS X world. Thank God for The Missing Manual series, David Pogue’s Mac OS X — Tiger edition specifically. It’s getting me up to speed. The book may be two years old, but it works.

OK, so what’s good about Mac OS X 10.4.10? Everything so far. It has a lot of what I consider the greatest all-platform OS hits accumulated over the years, and most Mac stuff is back although sometimes it’s under a different look. The Finder takes some of what was sort of good about Windows and just makes it much more elegant. I’m not so worried anymore. Mac OS X is a complete success. Yes, there’re some things I can’t do as I did in OS 9, but just about everything has a different way of doing it. I’ve thought I might lose functionality, but I’ve clearly gained it.

So I’m letting go of my old computer and giving it to my Mom for E-mail purposes, but not until all the back-up stuff happens. I must keep these little machine beasties around until I get them properly transferred to Firewire boxes. When I get my old Classic files properly placed in a Firewire box, then I’ll gladly let ’em go. I’m so satisfied with Mac OS X, and the “extras” …

the not-free ones include the Microsoft Office 2004 programs, Adobe Creative Suite 3, maybe iWork (?). They all work good so far. For starters, along with Eclipse, it’s all I need. I don’t see the benefits for me of the .mac thing right now, but perhaps someone might argue different.

And I’m even looking forward to the iPhone. Who isn’t? I’m quite content with my little ol’ Motorola cell (it’s getting older but it really looks like a Star Trek unit, still quite cool and well made) so this won’t happen for some time. It’s what I’ve wanted only I’m waiting for a sort of iChat feature. The iPhone is being hyped as I write all over mainstream morning news. I just heard the word “overdrive” on NBC. Good, the more feedback the better, so I hope for great initial sales.

The iPhone is what I’ve been looking for, but I just don’t need it right now. OK I want it, but isn’t it much better to experience the digital world from your own work station, your own “cockpit.” (Sorry, I had to pick IKEA for reasonably priced workstations.) I just think that right now I’d get worse headaches looking at all that digital stuff on that little iPhone screen (I know, it’s bigger screen than most!) The iPhone’s time has come, no doubt, and I might just spend the milk money on one of those gadgets a couple “revs” from now. Afterall, this quasi-Luddite is still blown away by the iPod.

I’m not sure if Apple has actually won yet, but it’s a pretty good run.