Paul Thurrott starts out his so-called “Apple Mac OS X 10.4 ‘Tiger’ Review” for his eponymous “SuperSite for Windows” with a confession that rings hollow. Thurrott writes, “Allow me to make a confession that may surprise you. I’ve been a Mac fan my entire life.”
MacDailyNews Take: Does being a “Mac fan” actually require a “confession” as if it were some sort of sin? We guess that if you happen to run a site called “SuperSite for Windows,” it must.
Thurrott’s confession reveals that in 1987, he purchased an Apple IIGS for “an exorbitant amount even by today’s standards.” Thurrott writes that his Apple IIGS “was a work of beauty, allowing the Apple II line to go out on a high note, even as the company basically abandoned the product.” Thurrott writes, “I eventually moved to various Amiga systems and then, faced with Commodore biting the Big One in the early 1990’s, I moved, unhappily, to the PC. I did everything I could to avoid Microsoft for two years, opting for IBM’s doomed OS/2 for a while. But with Windows 95, Microsoft finally got its act together, and the rest, as they say, is history.” Thurrott explains that he purchased his “first-ever Macintosh in August 2001… specifically to test Mac OS X.” Thurrott also writes, “I often wondered what might have been had I adopted the Mac 20 years ago. Would I have stuck with it?”
MacDailyNews Take: Well now, that explains a lot. Thurrott admits dropping an “exorbitant amount even by today’s standards” on an Apple IIGS that Apple “basically abandoned.” Apple did abandon the Apple IIGS — the ultimate Apple II machine which was introduced in 1986 and ran the advanced-for-its-time GS/OS — in favor of the Macintosh. The Apple IIGS was finally discontinued in December 1992. We’ve met a few Apple II users who hung on way longer than they should have and many of them probably felt abandoned by Apple. You really can’t blame them as Apple IIGS owners spent around US$999 (US$1711.28 adjusted for inflation) for the base machine and Thurrott must have spent around $400-$500 (guestimate, adjusted for inflation) for the extra 512KB RAM plus the additional costs of the peripherals. Some of them sucked it up and moved to the Mac platform while others could never really get over it and swore they’d never purchase another Apple product as long as they lived. We don’t know how Paul feels personally, but, while not impossible, it’s hard to imagine anyone being much of a “Mac fan” after being abandoned by Apple and subsequently avoiding the Mac platform for the next fourteen or so years with Amiga, OS/2, and Windows 95 until finally purchasing their first Mac in August 2001. Thurrott explains that he had narrowed his choices in 1987 to the Apple IIGS or a Mac Plus. We, too, wonder what might have been if Paul had chosen the latter instead of the former. And, was Paul really just three years old when he bought that exorbitantly priced Apple IIGS? If not, there’s no way for him to have been a “Mac fan” for his entire life.
Thurrott “reviews” Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger with often comical results, such as his description of “the reviled Dock, which is used to switch between running applications and, confusingly, non-running applications.” Thurrott claims that “Tiger (version 10.4) was then delayed from late 2004 to the first half of 2005,” although Apple first previewed Tiger on June 28, 2004 and stated that day that they would ship Tiger “in the first half of 2005.” Tiger ships on April 29, 2005.
Thurrott spends a copious amount of space on detailing the cost of each previous Mac OS X version as if mentally adding the costs on top of his unfortunate Apple IIGS outlay and writes, “Tiger is a minor revision, like all previous OS X updates.”
Thurrott writes, “Contrary to Apple’s hyperbolic claims of ‘200 new features,’ Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger includes, in my opinion, only two major new features, Spotlight and Dashboard, and both were clearly influenced by other existing products and services.” Of Spotlight, Thurrott concludes, “Not coincidentally, Microsoft is working on similar, if further-reaching, technology for Longhorn. Apple’s solution, however, is here right now and it appears to work quite well. Score one for Apple.”
MacDailyNews Take: We’re not sure what Thurrott means by “further-reaching,” nor are we sure if Thurrott knows what he means either, as he never explains the statement. Perhaps, due to the vaporous nature of Windows Longhorn, Microsoft must have to reach much further into the ether to figure out how to implement system-wide search capabilities into an OS that’s so rigidly shackled to the concept of backwards compatibility with previous and current Windows versions. Score one for Apple, indeed.
Thurrott continues, calling Tiger’s Dashboard feature “hard to classify” and writing that Apple has gotten into “in a bit of trouble because it so closely mimics a third party solution called Konfabulator.” We’re unaware of any “trouble” Apple has gotten into over this, especially since Dashboard doesn’t “mimic” Konfabulator. Oh, heck, this is boring. Just read this: Dashboard vs. Konfabulator, it explains it all.
Thurrott then covers what he terms “minor updates,” including Safari RSS, iChat AV, Mail 2 and complains, as usual, that he has to “pay to upgrade to the Pro version” of QuickTime 7. Damn that Apple IIGS decision!
Thurrott winds down by writing such gems as, “Mac OS X 10.4 ‘Tiger’ is, in fact, a minor upgrade to an already well-designed and rock-solid operating system. It will not change the way you use your computer at all, and instead uses the exact same mouse and windows interface we’ve had since the first Mac debuted in 1984. That isn’t a complaint about Tiger, per se: It’s a high-quality release. But Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) was arguably a bigger advance over the initial release of XP than Tiger is over Mac OS X 10.3.”
Tiger “isn’t a big enough upgrade over previous OS X releases to warrant much excitement. Once you get past the few major new features–primarily Spotlight and Dashboard, neither one of which exactly changes the competitive landscape very much–there’s very little real meat in Tiger,” Thurrott writes. “This is particularly problematic for Apple’s goal of getting Windows users to switch to the Mac. In my opinion, the coolness factor of Apple’s iPod and Mac hardware is far more compelling than Mac OS X itself. The Mac mini and iMac, therefore, will likely cause more people to switch (or at least use both Windows XP and the Mac) than any improvements in Tiger. Don’t get me wrong, please: Again, Tiger is a solid release. It’s just not a major upgrade. And it’s certainly not worth $129.”
Thurrott wraps up by writing that Tiger is “a worthy competitor to Windows XP. Though it is marketed by Apple as a major release, Tiger is in fact a minor upgrade with few major new features, more akin to what we’d call a service pack in the Windows world. However, that won’t stop Apple fans from flocking to Apple Stores on April 29 and standing in line to buy it, even at its inflated $129 price.” Thurrott does zing Microsoft with the closing line, “And unlike Longhorn, it’s shipping now. What a concept.”
Full review here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple still pays the price for abandoning certain segments of customers in the past (ask any Newton user) and would do well to print out this “review” and post it in the boardroom in order to keep the ramifications of such momentous decisions in mind. We can’t help wondering, if Apple would reimburse Paul for his Apple IIGS costs plus interest, would we be able to get a real review of Tiger out of Paul or would he just blow the cash on some box assembler’s PC to run Windows XP?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Microsoft’s Windows Longhorn will bear more than just a passing resemblance to Apple’s Mac OS X – April 15, 2005
Analyst: ‘Microsoft’s Longhorn is going to have hard time upstaging Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger’ – April 13, 2005
Analyst: Apple in ‘position to exploit Microsoft missteps, claim leadership’ with Mac OS X Tiger – April 13, 2005
Apple’s Schiller: Mac OS X Tiger ‘has created even more distance between us and Microsoft’ – April 13, 2005
Will Mac OS X Tiger add fuel to Apple’s recent momentum in the computer business? – April 13, 2005
Why doesn’t Apple advertise Mac OS X on TV? – April 12, 2005
Analyst: Tiger proves ‘Apple is light years ahead of Microsoft in developing PC operating systems’ – April 12, 2005
Apple to ship Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ on Friday, April 29; pre-orders start today – April 12, 2005
Apple Announces Mac OS X Server ‘Tiger’ to ship Friday, April 29 with 64-bit application support – April 12, 2005
Analysts: Apple’s new Tiger operating system could really impact Mac sales – April 12, 2005
Piper Jaffray raises Apple estimates on Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ release news – April 12, 2005
Apple’s Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ vs. Microsoft’s Windows ‘Longhorn’ – March 31, 2005
New Microsoft Longhorn chief was former Pepto-Bismol brand manager – March 18, 2005
Microsoft’s Longhorn fantasy vs. Apple’s Mac OS X reality – September 14, 2004
Is Microsoft’s stripped-down ‘Longhorn’ worth waiting for? – September 10, 2004
Silicon Valley: Apple CEO Steve Jobs previews ‘Longhorn’ – June 29, 2004
PC Magazine: Microsoft ‘Longhorn’ preview shows ‘an Apple look’ – May 06, 2004
Microsoft concerned that Longhorn’s look and feel will be copied if revealed too soon – August 25, 2003
Windows ‘Longhorn’ to add translucent windows that ripple and shrink by 2005 – May 19, 2003
I wonder if Syndrome in The Incredibles is based on Paul Thurrott?
He’s such a clown.
I can’t stand that bit*h!
I can accept people preferring windows, I don’t understand it but I can accept it.
This guy is just a prat though.
This is like listening to some guy who bought and has driven a Dodge Dart comparing it to a new Lamborghini and trying to justify his purchase by downplaying all the good features of the Lamborghini and finding as many little flaws as he can so he can feel good about said purchase. This is amazing. It’s like he’s holding back. C’mon paul, you can do it. Be honest with yourself. You love Mac OS X Tiger. Admit it, and your journey to recovery will begin…
What the f@#$ is Paul writing about the Mac on that site for?! Windows’ apologists must be scratching their heads at his schizophrenic behaviour.
I’d much prefer it if MDN ceased linking to Paul Thurrott.
Having initially checked Paul’s opinions, over the years I have come to realize that he has very few valid points and is often a mindless shill for his masters at Microsoft.
Linking to PT only ascribes him a validity and importance he should not be receiving.
What a douche…
He’s the #1 ass-clown of the computer world…
Although I can only go by what I’ve read on the web, the majority of the changes in Tiger happen under the hood. The way the I/O kit works, for example, or the way the pipelines to the processors are handled. Panther, as with all previous OSX versions, is limited to two processors due to architectural problems in OSX’s BSD layers. Tiger is supposed to be far more scalable. Add in the improved 64-bit application handling, and the list of 200 features actually specified by Apple, and the differences between Tiger and Panther are enormous.
Of course, if like Paul you have a G4 iMac, these architectural differences may not be at first obvious. But anyone with a dual machine, especially if it’s a G5, will see them easily. And the hardware that is coming over the next couple of years is going to use these changes big time.
macdaily could sell some ad space to the makers of advil right here. everytime i read the insanity and propaganda that comes out of thurrott’s mouth my head throbs to the point of wanting to tear my face off!!
H.264 is missing. Mentioning the clear superiority of that would piss off MS to no end since media formats are the new OS wars. He played it safe.
The dude is a shill. A backhanded complement.
what apple puppets. you guys have no brains. get a pc which has more expansion. we even have sli. what have you got?
by the way, A64 is far superior to g5
What sort of ‘Mac fan’ slags off Apple 24/7?
If he is a fan, then I am a mass murderer!!
WHAT A TWAT! (as we say in the UK)
Thurrott is actually the American spelling for “Pillock”.
I she actually saying Spotlight is based on Longhorn’s search features? I always thought it was cause then effect, not effect then cause. Back to my physics books.
Dave H: of course, you are correct and your observation gives a clue as to Thurrott’s obsessions.
Quite simply, Paul is obsessed with the shallow and the superficial in common with all people whose interests are a 1000 miles wide but 1 inch deep. He only wishes to see what he wants to see – Spotlight and Dashboard – as major improvements, ignoring the VoiceOver (?) technology, tighter .Mac integration, Automator or anything under-the-hood because it just doesn’t interest him or he doesn’t understand it.
Anyone who compares Tiger to a Microsoft service pack is quite frankly not worth taking seriously.
Effwerd: but what you fail to understand is that Apple has a secret time machine in Cupertino (iTime) that enables it to go forward to 2010 and see WinFS in action prior to travelling back to 2003 to start specifying Spotlight.
The time machine is also quite helpful, as Apple uses it to deny that any of its staff haver to work overtime.
Solar Flare: the problem is that Thurrott can only ever aspire to being a twat.
Yawwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnn!
I don’t care who it is: Mac friend or foe. I’m already tired of hearing that all Tiger is, is Spotlight and Dashboard.
Anyone who spends any time browsing the OS X pages on Apple, will indeed find that many of those 200 features are quite significant in their own right.
Here’s a few of my favorites:
– The upgraded apps for instance. Address Book 4, DVD Player 4.5, Font Book 2, iCal 2, iChat 3, Mail 2, Preview 3, Safari 2,Xcode 2.
Most of these are real apps, not just utilities.
– Whitelist security for children’s browsing, chatting and emailing. This is huge for anyone with kids.
– Laptop battery management with AI.
– VPN on demand: VPN that stays connected when you logout or switch user! Plus automatically connected VPNing
– Network and Airport diagnostic tools
– Scalable cursor: I reckon that’s gonna be popular with more than those with accessibility problems.
– Built in Thesaurus (as well as the dictionary)
So there’s a few to get you started.
Service Pack?! Pfft!
I would have paid at least half the cost of Tiger for the Parental Controls features alone.
Yes Spotlight is the eyecatcher. (And so it’s not new. No Google didn’t invent it. There’s a product called ISYS that has been doing the same thing as Google Desktop since 1987. Yes EIGHTY seven. 17 years. And I bet they weren’t even the first.)
Apple, I think, I the first to fully integrate it onto the OS. Something that MS was desperate to do with WinFS but have had to drop it.
So anyway, any reviewer reading this – please talk about more than the eye candy when you review Tiger.
It’s not a one stripe animal
Fight fire with fire. I think MDN should write a review of Longhorn.
I’ll even send in the Longhorn floppy.
Ok, if this tool actually believes that XP2 was a greater advance from XP than Tiger is from Panther, then he truly is beyond hope. Nobody with even the slightest bit of objectivity could make such an asinine statement. I’ve had it with reading these Thurrott troll articles, I simply don’t have the time to waste on this tool any longer…
Isn’t he supposed to be a “Tech” writer? Why was there no mention of any of the technical advancements in Tiger? No technical comparisons between the search features of Tiger & Longwait? A bunch of superficial, visual observations is all he had to offer.
I don’t remember my aunt’s computer getting new features and functions when I installed SP2 on it!! It does crash a little less frequently now and there hasn’t been quite as much ad/spyware, but still no expose/dashboard or even a respectably functional search feature.
I think Apple should get a restraining order on Mrs. Thurrott so he can’t get within 100′ of an Apple product… Or at least they should sue him for libel!!
Hey,mac sucks,G5s have SLI,and the only reason windows is expandable is because its needs thrird parties to make it look good.
Thurridiott The tech writer you love to hate. This guy is so ridiculous taking apart his blather is like shooting fish in a barrel. I wonder if anyone really takes what he says seriously. If so I pity them.
He confused “features” with “applications”.
The Dashboard Widgets were not taken from Konfabulator, and Apple did not take any “heat” for doing so. Apple was the originator of widgets in the original Mac when they added a 6 kilobyte calculator at the last minute. YOU make a calculator within a 6 kilobyte file size.
He called Exposé “Expos”. This is probably due to the fact that making something as simple as an accented e, “é”, is actually quite difficult on MS Windows if you don’t have the ASCII codes memorized. Even then, it may not show up on a MS generated web page.
Thurrott’s IQ is definitely in question. He opted to do a clean install of Tiger, rather than an easy one, and then complained that it took him 45 minutes to install it and reconfigure his settings. He also didn’t like the fact that Apple’s configuration options were so limited and almost hidden. He fully misunderstood that if you DID blow past those options, that it would be a quick and easy install that saved all of your settings; the correct and safest choice for 99% of all users. Should Apple have made the install default the more complex and confusing one that will waste time and possibly destroy data and settings? And he’s an “expert” in computers?
Every compliment he gave was quickly followed by a sarcastic comment. This was hardly a balanced and fair review, definitely not a technical one, and is precisely how falsehoods and myths are generated through the Wintel community.
It is obvious that he wrote this “article” to feign professionalism, and give the appearance of being versatile and balanced. If you knew absolutely nothing of Mac and only of MS Windows, he probably succeeded.
If Service Pack 2 was such a monumental advance, why then have so many people avoided it, Paul? Outside of some half-hearted attempts at security, it brought very little to the table in way of features; it still works as badly as ever. Oh, you say all the improvement was under the hood, huh? So, that under the hood stuff is more important that the flashy new features; kinda like all the unseen new technology that’s under the hood of Tiger? So Tiger really is a major new release after all, huh? Oh, what’s that? Tiger comes from Apple, so it’s really not all that important? So, what you are basically saying is what you’ve been saying all along—you think Apple sucks, Windows is always better, and that Apple should just go away.
Bad news buddy, this nightmare of yours is gonna last a while, better find a more comfortable seat.
Do you ever wonder about what you would do if Windows REALLY started to lose market share? Gives you chills doesn’t it?
So, Apple left the bride Thurrott at the altar long ago and Thurrott “the Mac fan” has been trying to get his revenge on Apple ever since.
Case closed. Thanks, MDN for laying it out so clearly and expertly.
Abandonment issues are a bitch. Good luck, Paulie.
I don’t understand how he can call Tiger a minor update. Apple has made big improvements to nearly every application that comes with OS X.
I don’t understand how Paul can say that Tiger won’t change the way you use a computer after saying how wonderful Spotlight is, how Spotlight almost eliminates the need to keep files organized in folders. He goes on to say how the computer shouldn’t make the user do all the work of finding files.
He contradicts nearly every statement he makes as if he really likes OS X, but doesn’t want to go to the “other side”. So OS X has most of the features of Longhorn, but is here now. Point one for Apple. Just one point? What if MS made OS X? Would MS get one point?
Paul, you make no sense.
Why does Paul have so many Macs? Does he have that many Windows computers?
I’ve got a life, so I really can’t be bothered to read his full article and refuse to click on it anyway.
But did Thurrott really forget to include the mandatory phrase ‘closed system’ in his review of an Apple product ?
He’ll be in serious trouble when his paymaster finds out.
He is a shill, but he realy seems to believe what he says. That’s more sociopath than shill. He blatantly misrepresents the obvious to an audience that has no reason not to believe him. Dumb, but dangerous, this guy.
chrish, you hit it on the head. My list is bit different. Funny I could care less about Spotlight (I use a utility called LaunchBar which I am hoping will work on Tiger.) I am more interested easier navigation than indexing content.
For me, the following are worth the price of admission to Tiger:
-envelope printing from Address Book
-Improvements to AppleScript (Including, but not exclusively, Automitor)
-A native RPN calculator (have always been a HP calc fan)
–real Smooth Scrolling
-Phone Book widget (Sherlock is ok too)
-Improvements to faxing, especially logs and a menu item
–Smart Folders (this is a biggie)
-Burnable Folders (I know this is probably just eliminating a few steps, but that is what Apple is all about.)
-Improvements to Mail (although, nor sure if it will be enough to bring it into primetime)
–ALL THE POWER MANAGEMENT features for laptops, way cool on these.
–Networking diagnostics.
-Native Firewall logs, Stealth Mode (wonder how that will effect Rendezvous), Safe Downloads
-I am a parent, and the Parental controls, while nice, are no replacement for supervision.
–iTunes Album art screen saver (no really, always wanted the screen saver to be the album art of the song that was currently playing)
While none of the above, alone, pehaps with the exception of the security features, would compel me to upgrade, taken together, they will.
Zac
I think MDN and a lot of the comments here are way too hard on Thurrott. He’s entitled to his opinion, and he has some valid criticisms of Apple. He’s been wrong in the past, but this article has some good points.
It’s also interesting to see Thurrott’s evolution. He’s gone from a dogmatic Apple-hater to a reasonable (in many cases) critical voice. Give him a few more years to evolve and he might actually become a switcher.
MDN should lighten up on him a bit. Report what he says with less commentary.
It is difficult to confess not to belong to the Wintel mainstream, the Wind is changing direct to this new Apple harvest..
Read between the lines…Paul loves Tiger and is blown away.
Would any of you tell the wife that you are so committed and loyal
to that her best friend was hot and sexy and had the goods…not a chance. Instead, you would downplay every aspect if asked about it.
Paul is doing the same exact thing. At the beginning, he is appearing optimistic and open minded as a tech writer should be, He points out a few good things and downplays all the others, while at the same time he is drooling, cringing, and biting his hand. He will also be grumpy and ill natured over the next week because he is secretly playing with Tiger late at night.
Panther has about 75 features that XP doesn’t have, now Tiger has 200 more…how can anyone compare XP to Tiger when Calfhorn can’t compare feature for feature in a year or later from now.
Paul is talking about Tiger from the standpoint of a user, which consisted of looking for new feature and how much easily they blend in daily work functions. This method however is highly inaccurate and misleading due to the fact many of the overhaul of Tiger is kernel and service source based. which makes the os operates faster and more efficient than before as well as more stable and secure. His review is just like saying “Why would I update the kernel? there are no updates for my windowing managers yet!” It’s no wonder he doesn’t work for the IT department… and if he does, god help his company.
Good call on people avoiding SP2. I didn’t install SP2 on any of the computers at any of the companies I work for untill just this month (I’m a computer consultant). The only reason that I did install it now is that MS is going to stop letting you use windows update for security patches unless you are running SP2. It’s crap. SP2 instantly broke 2 programs for one of my clients, and had to instantly uninstall it.
Tiger is not SP2. This guy is the definition of a tool.
These are “Features” for SP2 from Microshafts webpages – http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/features.mspx
Safer Browsing and Communication
1) Internet Explorer Pop-up Blocker
Makes browsing the Internet more enjoyable by enabling you to reduce unwanted ads and content.
2) Internet Explorer download monitoring
Warns you about potentially harmful downloads and gives you the option to block files that could be malicious.
3 )Internet Explorer Information Bar
Provides better information about events that are happening as you browse the Web, so it’s easier to know what’s going on and address potential security issues.
4) Internet Explorer Add-on Manager
Enhances security and reduces the potential for crashes by allowing you to easily manage Internet Explorer add-ons (programs which have been added to the Web browser).
5) Outlook Express privacy update
Helps reduce unwanted e-mail by limiting the possibility of your e-mail address being validated by potential spammers.
6) Attachment Manager
Monitors and disables potentially unsafe attachments, which could contain viruses that might spread through Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, and Windows Messenger.
Powerful Security Tools
6) Windows Security Center
Allows you to easily view your security status and manage key security settings in one convenient place.
7) Windows Firewall update
Automatically turned on by default, this improved firewall helps protect Windows XP from viruses, worms, and other security threats that can spread over the Internet.
8) Windows Firewall simple compatibility setup
Lets you set up Windows Firewall to co-exist with your favorite Internet applications and home network.
9) Windows Firewall startup and shutdown support
Extends Windows Firewall protection to Windows startup and shutdown time, ensuring enhanced protection from the moment you turn your PC on to the moment you turn it off.
10) Automatic Updates enhancements
Helps you automatically stay up-to-date with the latest updates for Windows XP. Also includes new technology to help dial-up customers download updates more efficiently.
Improved Experiences
11) Improved wireless support
Dramatically improves and simplifies the process of discovering and connecting to wireless networks.
12) Bluetooth technologies
Enables you to easily connect to the latest Bluetooth-enabled hardware devices such as keyboards, cell phones, and PDAs.
13) Windows Media Player 9 Series
Makes it easy to enjoy music, video, and broadband content with enhanced security.
14) DirectX update
Helps you enjoy advanced graphics and gaming with the latest DirectX technology from Microsoft.
they sound like fixes to me.
AppleGuy
MY FATHER IN-LAW INSTALLED M$ SERVICE PACK 2 AND HE HAD TO WIPE HIS HARD DRIVE AND RE-INSTALL WINDOWS.
Regardless to say – When this happened I did my mac sales talk and now he is a proud owner of a 17″ G5 Imac!
He also runs the local business group and is goning to install all macs there too!
He is so impressed with the ease of use and the fact that he can now sleep easily because his data is now safe on his new mac – unfortunately he lost 5 years work because of service pack 2 and is seriusly looking at ways of sueing Microsoft.
The Windws readers know that Paul is telling it like it is. No “Mac fan” would downplay any Apple product, so his comments MUST be credible.
That guy is a jerk.
solarflare: “… unfortunately he lost 5 years work because of service pack 2 and is seriusly looking at ways of sueing Microsoft.”
5 years of work and no back up copies????
Tip to dad:
Back up your data Dad, burn copies of important stuff on CDs/DVDs. You mac could get stolen, dropped, etc, etc, etc. or there could be a thunderstorm or hardware failure or whatever.
It does not matter what computer you have, back up your important data.
Blaming loss of 5 years (!!!!) of work on a computer and no backup is kind of dumb.
Hang on. HE bought this Apple in 1987, and they stopped supporting it in 1992 ?
5 years.
They stopped supporting a machine 5 years after he bought it and he’s complaining about that or thinks that it is unreasonable ?
While I think OS-X is still going to be around in 5 years time, I don’t expect any of the new and cool features of it to work on my by then underpowered 2003 model dual G5. I don’t even expect that OS-X version to even run on it if there are better directionsd that Apple can take.
You don’t buy a machine for what it can do in 5 years time. You buy a machine to do what you need it to do now, and hope that it remains reasonably current for a a couple of years, accepting that it won’t run the latest and greatest.
MDN, please look up ‘eponymous’ in the dictionary, or keep to the small words next time.
Okay, I take my comment back. It’s actually called “Paul Thurrot’s Supersite for Windows.”
Tiger is a minor revision? Come on!
If Tiger is a minor revision to the Mac OS then XP was a Microscopic reversal. Apple doesn’t spend more than a year making minor revisions you moron!
Just how the hell did he review Tiger? He certainly didn’t get an invite to Cupertino For a look see. He wasn’t shipped an advance copy. The bastard went to Apple’s website and looked at the teasers posted there. He’s never been within a 1000 miles of the finished product. It’s like reviewing a movie by looking at a 1 minute trailer. What a tool.
@SOLAR FLARE
If you didn’t make a single backup during five years, you shouldn’t blame anyone else for the data loss. Everyone tells you to make backups.
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PS. I didn’t say Windows was stable or something.
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I don’t even know why I read that dribble. Oh, and his confession for his love of Macs somehow qualifies him to his PC readers that he is some kind of Mac expert. Notice how he uses that phrase every three months or so.
Minor upgrade? This guy is such a tool.
“In the previous version of Mac OS X, version 10.3, Apple introduced a feature for power users called Exposé that seeks to help manage the multiple applications and windows one typically opens in the course of using a Mac. But Exposé is a weird solution, requiring you to hit various “hot keys” (read: A function keys) in order to trigger its display, kind of a throwback of sorts to the early days of DOS-based applications.”
A weird solution? WTF? I use this every day and now wonder how I ever got along without it. I don’t understand how it can be called weird. Even my Windows using co-workers and friends love Exposé. Idiot.
Someone needs to send this to Thurott:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/newfeatures/newfeatures.html
When he says this is a “minor update” equivalent to Windows SP2, he really makes an even bigger ass of himself
Well, actually, he’s right. SP2 had a much bigger impact on the way that people work than Tiger ever will. SP2 wiped out many people’s hard drives and turned their computers into very expensive paper weights causing them to have to go back and do their work all over again. Tiger doesn’t have any of those features! ; )
Thu rott started quite a while ago and is continuing. Soon it will rott away completely, while we wile away the weeks on our Macs, Wonderful!
I have such a sad life!!!!! Please, everyone, stop paying attention to me or the crap I write!!
Sorry everyone. I had a corn cob up my butt the whole time I wrote that article.
This Thurrott is absolutely unbelievable.
I used to make a living writing commercial software for the Apple IIgs. I guess that it took me a lot more work to migrate to a different platform than him since I had to learn new APIs, languages and so on. Did I complain? No, because I did understand that the Mac was simply much better. Many of us went through the same process once more when adopting Mac OS X but we did it because it was way superior to Mac OS 9.
The fact is that I only complain when someone makes me migrate to a new platform that offers no clear improvements (Windows 2000 to XP is a clear example that comes to mind).
MDN needs to do a little more to differentiate it’s takes from the articles. When they go off on a total tangent, like here, it’s often difficult to tell where the pissing and moaning ends and the next paragraph of the article picks up.
I’d prefer that I be able to read over a posted article without having to waste time filtering out then MDN rant.
“We can’t help wondering, if Apple would reimburse Paul for his Apple IIGS costs plus interest, would we be able to get a real review of Tiger out of Paul or would he just blow the cash on some box assembler’s PC to run Windows XP?”
And why do you care? Why do you (meaning “we” at MDN) constantly feed Thurotts wallet by linking to his WINDOWS site.
Who is “we” anyway? It has the fake ring of Dan Rather trying sound important in a has-been kind of way.
“further-reaching” = more-reaching
At first, I thought he was just being his idiotic self and he had made a mistake: it should be “farther-reaching” like the comparative version of “far-reaching.”
Now, I’m not so sure. Maybe he does realize that the MS team is “more-reaching,” as in reaching for more than they can handle, over-reaching, reaching for more straws,…
What Mr. T is referring to in Microsoft’s “further-reaching” search technology is simply that he’s working on old news and not what has changed about Spotlight since January.
In January, we were not planning on letting Spotlight index server volumes. It was only going to work on local volumes (internal and external Firewire/USB drives). Not on network volumes.
But since then we have changed our minds. (Okay, I changed my mind!) It will not index network volumes by default. You have to turn on that capability, but it’s now there.
As for the Windows NFS (Network File System) that Microsoft has been working on for 10 years (we’ve been working on Spotlight for a few years) is not even going to be in Longhorn’s initial release! It’s been delayed at least until 2008.
The rest of his article is pure nonsense. It’s amazing how a person can CHOOSE to be so blind.
Wait, I misspoke. He’s a pathalogial liar.
Additionally, let’s not act like apple doesn’t exaggerate their feature list a little bit. They actually list each individual dashboard widget as a new feature, which seems a little lame to me. Especially when they already list Dashboard and the Dashboard Keyboard Activation preference.
Apple is stretching a little to name 200+ “features”
Spotlight is a feature. The Spotlight hotkey really isn’t.
Comedian Thurrott is at it again, I can’t wait till the Longhorn is out which should be a major major upgrade in is opinion.
I think the Longhorn should be called Microsoft COW. It continues the MS logic nicely or what do you think: DOS, 3.1, 95, NT,98, 2000, XP, COW.
Should’nt the heading on his site be as follows:
Apple Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger “Review”
?
Tiger has been the #1 selling item in software AND electronics on Amazon.com for the past few weeks, outpacing even the tax software packages.
Seems that a lot of people believe that the upgrade is worth it. I certainly do.
ahh corect me “Though Tiger is a 32-bit operating system,” i thought it was 64bit OS.?
Coop,
Don’t let Amazon’s ranking fool you. You can buy all of the other titles elsewhere now. Tiger is a pre-order and until Apple starting selling, Amazon was the only place to order it.
But yes, this “minor” upgrade is worth it!
Ok, I’ve read the “review” and offer this short “review” on his comments.
Paul’s review is tilted towards slagging Tiger, which considering it’s a “Windows supersite”, one can hardly be surprised. It remains to be seen whether the masses reading it will notice this significant bias. It’s more akin to political propaganda than a “review”.
Contrary to some comments above, he does make mention of other new techs and features such as H.264, 64 bit-ness, QT7, but conveniently or otherwise leaves out Core Data and Core Image. I’m not sure why. These are major enhancements, although it will take new apps to feature them before people go “wow” more.
He was doing sort-of-ok (taking into account the significant bias and Windows pov) and was describing the changes to various apps, and then I read his comments (aka lies) about it containing less changes than an MS service pack – this is very wrong and he should be flamed for that. Or at least taken outside and beaten with a big stick.
He mentions there being 1400 bug and security fixes to Panther too… not sure where he pulled that number from, but he’s obviously trying to shit deflect by implying that OS X is as bad as Windows (He doesn’t provide us with a number of fixes for Windows but Panther’s 1400 sounds high and scary doesn’t it?)
Another interesting comment was his saying that in 1996 he would not have chosen NeXT/Jobs but rather BeOS/Gassée… an interesting admission (and he does say that he was wrong.) From my pov, NeXT was far superior to BeOS at the time (duh, they even had printer drivers) and Jobs is clearly a better salesman. Given a choice, I’d have taken NeXT as well. The pity is that BeOS was very fast, like OS 9 to early OS X speeds. Not sure if that’s b/c it wasn’t complete tho.
He’s right about the 200 features being hyperbole tho … and I often wonder where the 200 are myself – but it’s more difficult to say 20 great new features, with 100 moderately great features, oh and 80 so-so improvements to existing apps.
As a saving grace, he does slag Microsoft by saying that unlike Longhorn, Tiger is shipping now.
Overall his comments aren’t really a proper review (and certainly aren’t done without bias plus he has past issues with Apple) – it remains to be seen whether his views will affect the general populace.
How will his views affect the general populace? Again, who besides MDN readers have ever heard of Thurrott? No Joe Blow or IT guy I’ve ever talked to has heard of this guy. He might influence his grandma as she spongebathes him, but that’s it.
Thurrott is a MicroSoft whore!!!!
Jack A wrote:
> …taking apart [Thurott’s arguments] is like
> shooting fish in a barrel.
Heck, it’s even easier than shooting *water* in a barrel!
Spotlight is nothing revolutionary. This technology has been available for some time via google, msn destop search. As for the dashboard it is very similar to konfabulator which is ALSO available to windows. Mac users always have the tendency to compare a 2500 $ g5 to a 1000 $ p4. This is a highly unfair comparison. What macs DO exell in is in multimedia.
True. Also many people get confused with winFS with quick searching. winFS is FILE SYTEM. winFS is meant to replace win32. Windows XP has free destop searching already. Though it is not as rich as spotlight, rest assured when Longhorn comes out, it will be on par if not better than spotlight. You should google msn destop search
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Windows user,
Tell us more about this Microsoft Vaporware.
Will they call it XP SP3?
OHHH That dumb Paul! Such a liar!
Jobs is not irreplaceable or successful!
iTunes isn’t highly successful nor is it “the coolest”
iTunes is not “so well-done”
Spotlight doesn’t “complement finder”
Spotlight funcionality isn’t “exceeding cool” as you say.
We should too have to do all the work not stupid Spotlight
Tiger is not “chock full of a wide range of new…”
Safari is not “an excellent application” (how dumb are you)and it certainl isn’t “gorgeous and well-designed” as you put it. (I hate you freak)
What you been drinkin? “high-quality video chats”…”stunning”?… “only gotten better in Tiger”? {whew are you a moron or what}
I just can’t stand to point out any more of your glowing complementary praise of Tiger you Liar!
Seriously have any of you dopes actually read Thurrotts review? No you only read the propoganda here.
it is something you download. For example google destop search. Or search msn destop search. Msn desktop search, imo, is better because it has a better interface. It like spotlight gives results as you type. You should look it up. WinFS is the next generation windows file system. This further enhances search technology as it allows fast sorting. However indexing (the technique that msn/google destopsearch and spotlight use) will be the initial search tool of Longhorn.
Talk about being abandoned… I have a SmartDisplay.
Hey doogypoo,
Macs excel in a lot more than multimedia. I run a large construction company with over 100 OS X Macs running. Never any problems, I repeat never. We are using the Macs for accounting, scheduling, CAD, database, estimating, job costing, etc., etc., etc.
The two POS windows machines we need for our GPS vehicle tracking system are always having problems. The GPS software is browser based and these idiots break it so it will only work on explorer. They all do it for some unexplained reason. As soon as they stop doing that we’re getting rid of the Windows machines. So Paul Through Up and all you other business Mac bashers are completely wrong and intentional spreading lies to scare people away from Macs. You definitely spend more money to run a business on Windows that networked Macs running Mac OS X or even OS 9. We used to use that very successfully too. OS X is obviously much better though.
I didn’t bother to read this tools article, just MDNs highlights (too busy having a blast in London). It’s so predictable that this ahole never mentions the Macs major strengths over windblows. Truly pathetic. The other truly pathetic fact is that most people travel in heard mentality and believe all this crap coming form MS’s propaganda team. A lot more companies can make money off MS’s crap than can if Apple Macs dominate. Therefore Apple is attacked from every angle constantly. The consumer gets royally screwed in the end because they are totally misinformed and most don’t bother to educate themselves on the real facts. What a shame.
OK, so Thurrott has admitted to buying every wrong computer since 1987 and he calls himself an adviser?
And he complains about buying an Apple II three years AFTER the Mac was released? That cements it!
Hey Paul, the 80’s are dead. Get over it!
Um Macs cheaper than PCs? What are you smoking. To get a decent mac you have to spend at least 1500 + where as you can get a decent PC at 800 dollars
What does that PC cost you over the span of it’s life? You can include pain if you like.
Besides a Mac Mini is a sweet deal.
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