Die-hard Windows User? OSX is now a real option.

With the latest version of the Mac OS (Leopard) being released on October 26th, the barriers to switching for Windows users are being lowered yet another notch. If you’ve only ever lived in a Windows world, you might be thinking “Yeah…so what?” and wondering what all the fuss is about. Here’s a quick insight into what OSX has to offer and why it might be worth at least a cursory look…

If you’ve been keeping up with the Tech news recently, you will have noticed a number of developments in this space:

(1) Apple is doing pretty well and they are selling a lot more Macs.
(2) All new or recent Macs have Intel Processors - just likes PCs - which means there are now a number of ways you can run Windows Applications on a Mac.
(3) Leopard (OSX 10.5) is almost in the wild and brings with it a lot of potentially useful enhancements.
(4) Vista has been extremely disappointing to a lot of Windows users, causing many to move back to XP.

All of these things add up to some fairly good reasons to have a look at what Apple now has to offer in terms of the end-user experience.

So what’s the big deal? Actually, a number of things. Here are a few of my favourites…

Firstly, the underlying foundation of OSX is Unix (FreeBSD) which brings solid reliability and stability. I switched to the Mac just over a year ago now, and that is one of the first things I noticed: the whole laptop (I have a Macbook) feels solid. For example, when I close the lid, it sleeps. When I open it, it wakes up - dependably.

Secondly, there is no ‘registry’. All applications are essentially a bunch of files - usually in one directory. So, to delete an application, just delete those files. That’s it! No registry bloat or corruption, no DLL clashes. All you have to worry about is file permissions - and so far, OSX seems to keep those correct pretty well for me.

My next favourite feature is being able to make an exact copy of my internal hard drive onto a bootable USB or Firewire drive for backup. Yep, bootable. I am fanatical about backup and this feature has given me a great deal of peace-of-mind. To test out my backup, I just plugin the external drive, and hold down the ‘option’ key at reboot to choose to start from the external drive. Nice. The OS runs a tad slower of course from an external drive, but its all there - recovery in less than 5 minutes.

And then there’s the ability to run Windows Apps - via either VMware’s Fusion or Parallels (OS Virtualization), Crossover (Application Virtualization…sort of), and Bootcamp (natively rebooting to a real version of Windows). Currently I use Fusion and Crossover. After a year though, there is only 1 Windows Application that I still have to run (MYOB Business Basics - there is no NZ version of ‘FirstEdge’).

Lastly, for this article at least, are the fantastic graphics capabilities built into the very fibre of the Operating System. Some of the graphical gymnastics you see in everyday functions (like minimizing an open window) are fun just to watch. So smooth and frankly, beautifully done. This is largely due to the ‘Core Animation‘ features that combine 2D graphics, OpenGL rendering, and video processing.

And guess what? I haven’t actually mentioned any of the new features in Leopard yet! I will save that for a follow on article. Needless to say, there is plenty under the covers of a Mac that Windows users will appreciate. Trust me, I’m not saying its perfect, but I am saying it’s worth a look. You might be pleasantly surprised with your experience…

Originally from TechGripe! by Brett Ryland (24 October 2007).