> One of the biggest differences I found between Windows and Mac is the > concept of installing programs. Essentially your program is one big > file. You drag this file over to your "Applications" folder on your hard > drive. Then drag the icon into the dock if you want. Bam - installed. > There is no concept of a registry, no .ini files, no .dll files > scattered all over. If you want to delete your program, just drag it to > the trash. It's THAT easy. > > The drawback to that is speed. I have noticed that both Firefox and > Thunderbird run at about 75% of the speed that they would normally run > under Windows. This more than likely has to do with the OS dealing with > one big "file" versus smaller files and the registry.
There are MANY other drawbacks, and even if some people might initially think that somethink like that is better I am afraid that is only true for rather simple situations ... Also the speed is probably related more to the very limited hardware configuration - the Mini is a notebook-class device rather than a desktop-class machine, and on top of that the Apple notebook class is currently quite "dated" from the hardware point of view when compared with "modern" x86 notebook PCs ... > The other thing that is hard to get over is the concept that there are > no full screen windows. I prefer to run my apps in full screen mode. I am very tempted to create a small utility for Macs to do just that :) :) :) There are some other things missing - for instance the <Alt>-related menu navigation from Windows - and I am tempted to take a look at that too in my small utility :) What else is missing in the Mac world - please let me know ! :) > I read somewhere that Windows users are more apt > to use their apps in full screen mode versus windowing, whereas in Linux > and Mac they're sort of forced to use windowing. I am not convinced (at all!) that full screen is such a bad thing... > With the deluge of spyware and viruses, and the draconian tactics of > Microsoft in Windows, I would not be surprised to see more and more > people switch away. I am pretty much a die-hard Windows/Linux sysadmin > and I personally want to ditch all of my Windows machines and go Mac. Well, my feeling is that Apple is a far worse "monopolist" than Microsoft, and on top of that the lack of spyware/viruses can only be short-lived ... But anyway if you want to buy a Mac notebook I would suggest to wait at least one month more, or ideally until the next OS X is released! Best regards, Catalin Caranfil, MCP, MCSD, MCDBA, MCSE Author of XDESK, the most addictive virtual desktop manager :) http://www.xdesksoftware.com/
