TechTV’s Leo Laporte says Mac OS 9 ‘antiquated rattletrap’ but Mac OS X nearly ‘perfect OS’

“I haven’t always been a Mac zealot. My first computers were an Atari 400 and a Northstar Advantage running CP/M. I did conceive a burning lust for the first Lisa I saw, and quickly consummated that desire when the Mac shipped in 1984. I have owned a Mac of some kind or another ever since – just as I’ve always owned a DOS or Windows machine. Nevertheless, I was pretty unhappy with Apple during most of the 1990s. Under a succession of execrable CEOs from Scully to Spindler to Amelio, Apple let Microsoft catch up then surpass it. Mac OS 9 was an antiquated rattletrap that crashed for any reason and no reason at all. But then Steve came back and Apple shipped Mac OS X, the closest thing to the perfect operating system ever created, and I rejoined the choir,” blogs Leo Laporte. Leo calls his iBook, “my little plastic pal.” Read Leo’s blog here.

12 Comments

  1. My “antiquated rattletrap” is running just fine, thanks. I’ll move to OS X when I’m good and ready, but for now, Mac OS 9 works just fine for me. And, from what I hear, my OS 9 Finder is much faster than your OS X Finder!

  2. Regarding the above comment, I could say the same about an old DOS box.

    “It works just fine for me.”

    “It’s much faster than a GUI.”

    You’re missing the point for the sake of defensiveness.

  3. I find that os 9 is perfect for what I have to do and I have yet to have it crash on me. So I will save the $100 that os 10. whatever will cost and get some takeout.

  4. I was very reluctant to adopt OSX because of the numerous “bugs” in the first versions of OSX – however with 10.2 it has proven outstandingly successful. I no longer loose Internet or Ethernet conections, application failures do not take the OS down with it and the new applications available have great new features.
    Happily the ability to still use old apps in OS 9 has made this transition easier.
    What your getting is “Stability.”
    There is a “learning curve” so don’t expect things to be 100% seamless.
    Highly advocated

  5. I also am a switcher and love my iMac. That said, I am very anxiously awaiting the day when Macs catch up in speed to the latest PC’s. I just started a new job where I have a Dell running a P4 at 1.8 Ghz. (My iMac is an 800 MHz 17″.) While it’s running WinXP, it’s incredibly fast – makes my iMac seem like it’s broken by comparison. I’ll be happier when I have a Mac that runs just as incredibly fast as that Dell at work.

  6. I have mixed feelings. I can’t wait to move to OSX but I have watched people stuggle to sort out problems and I need to use Quark. Therefore my G3 will remain on OS9 and I will change when I replace it. OS9.2 is remarkedly stable now but making it so took me weeks of trial and error sorting out minor but seriously crash inducing problems. That in itself has persuaded me to wait a little longer.

  7. It took me a long time to upgrade to OS9 because everyone said how slow it was compared to 8.6. Now the same comparisons are made vs OSX & 9. I’m using X and even if it is slower, it is elegant, rock stable, infinitely more flexible and just plain fun. In my opinion the only reason to stay with 9 is the software availabily issue, usually Quark and PageMaker (for those who don’t like Indesign).

  8. I agree. OS9 was great and is still great but there is really no comparison to OSX. I have been using it for over a year now (currently as Jaguar) and I have only had one crash. It just works. For those afraid of Unix, don’t be. Just like you never had to learn what was behind OS9, you don’t need to learn what’s behind OSX. Unix and the terminal window are just a bonus for those who want to tinker with it. SWITCH TO OSX and leave the restarts forever!

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