“The release Friday of Mac OS 10.4, the operating system also known as Tiger, by Apple Computer Inc. should be noted ruefully by the Windows majority,” James Coates writes for The Chicago Tribune. “It is impossible not to look longingly at the Macintosh minority because they confront far fewer pop-up ads, viruses, worms, browser hijackers and other such Windows ills. Based on rock solid Unix instead of Microsoft’s vulnerable Windows, Tiger extends the Mac platform to talk to Windows networks and deflect hacker attacks.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Tiger extends the Mac platform to talk to Windows networks and deflect hacker attacks?” Mac OS X has been “talking” to Windows networks for years before Tiger, and Mac OS X, since it’s beta version in 2000, has always “deflected hacker attacks.”
Coates continues, “Another temptation for Windows users is the Mac’s overstated but basically warranted reputation for being immune to crashes and easier to use than Windows. Immune? Hardly. I have had my share of lockups with OS 10’s iMovie software, GarageBand and even iPhoto. Macs, too, have glitches, but Windows has had far more.”
MacDailyNews Take: Coates doesn’t mention how much RAM his Mac has that has “lockups” with iLife apps, but it sounds like he probably doesn’t have enough. Note the curious use of the word “immune,” which is normally associated with viruses, not whatever Coates means by “lockups.” Does he mean “crashes,” “slow response,’ or something else? We’re not saying his use of “immune” means anything, it’s just a somewhat strange use of what some might consider a loaded word. Followed by “hardly” and read quickly, the casual reader might come away from the article incorrectly thinking Macs have been and are affected by viruses. We would have used “susceptible” instead of “immune” in Coates’ sentence for clarity’s sake. We would, however, use the word “immune” to describe the fact that Mac OS X has never been affected by a single virus.
Coates continues, “And I remain irritated that the Mac operating system and software use print that is quite small and thus evermore difficult to read for American’s aging masses.”
MacDailyNews Take: Aging masses: in Finder choose View>Show View Options and adjust the text size for your comfort. Or use Zoom or adjust your screen resolution as “username” notes in the Reader Feedback below. [Added this last sentence at 11:36pm ET]
Coates continues, “Macs continue to generally cost more than comparable PCs, but Apple has made huge improvements in price, with things like the barebones $500 Mac Mini desktop and the truly elegant iMac (starting at $1,299), where the computer is built into a vertical screen only 3-inches thick.”
“Yet these rants don’t hold a proverbial candle to Microsoft Windows for the miseries, miscalculations and mayhem inflicted on your humble correspondent and, more to the point, on this column’s readers,” Coates writes. “Mac OS is just a whole lot better in key areas that growing numbers of people are sure to love. And so far, at least, the mischiefmakers have been kept at bay.”
MacDailyNews Take: Yup, “so far, at least.” That’s quite faint praise for such a major point.
Coates covers the rest of Tiger’s main feature without major incident in the full article here.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Jupiter Research VP: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘runs rings around Microsoft Windows’ – May 04, 2005
Mac OS X Tiger review for a Windows PC audience finds Tiger’s ‘far, far better than Windows XP’ – May 03, 2005
Longhorn mentioned in nearly every Apple Mac OS X Tiger review to assuage Windows masses – May 02, 2005
Boston Herald: Mac OS X Tiger should compel Windows PC users to think about switching to Apple Mac – May 02, 2005
Mac OS X Tiger will likely improve performance of your Macintosh – April 30, 2005
PC World review gives Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger 4.5 stars out of 5 – April 30, 2005
Mac fans line up for new operating system as passberby asks ‘what is a tiger?’ – April 29, 2005
Forrester analysts: Apple should advertise Mac OS X Tiger on television and in movie theaters – April 29, 2005
Ars Technica: Mac OS X Tiger ‘at least twice as significant as any single past update’ – April 28, 2005
BusinessWeek: ‘Tiger bolsters Mac OS X’s edge as the best personal-computer operating system around’ – April 28, 2005
Associated Press: Mac OS X Tiger ‘provides another excellent incentive to switch from Windows’ – April 28, 2005
Mossberg: Apple’s Tiger ‘the best, most advanced personal computer operating system on the market’ – April 28, 2005
InformationWeek columnist: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘a compelling upgrade’ – April 28, 2005
NY Times: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger is the most secure, stable and satisfying OS on earth – April 28, 2005
Wired News: Apple’s Mac OS X Tiger ‘full of welcome surprises’ – April 27, 2005
Apple posts QuickTime movies of Mac OS X Tiger features in action – April 13, 2005
