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Top 10 Things All Switchers Should Know

plasticbugs.com — Those Intel-based MacBook Pros and iMacs will soon be in your hands. But before you open those boxes and fire them up, there’s a few things I think you should know.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 13, 2006

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  • pgiessel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5"but Safari is still the most standards compliant browser available. Plus, there’s always those pretty buttons…"

    No. Its not. Being able to define the look of buttons *IS* part of the standard that Safari REMOVES. This makes the way the buttons are drawn in Safari *NOT STANDARDS COMPLIANT* and very annoying for anyone working with CSS.
  • ucg1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Programs crash in OS X. In fact, they’re nearly as crash-prone as Windows applications."

    Hate to say it, but OS X apps are even more crash prone than Windows and Linux apps. That may be just my luck and the apps I use, but I dunno, Finder, Safari and GarageBand crash regularly.
  • Johnbinarystar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Please made an JOBS FANBOY category and filter it out
    for those of us who are sane.
  • thejadedmonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2>>Virus scanner - If you have critical data you should use an anti-virus application,
    >>no matter what the platform (and backup, etc).

    NO NO NO!! If you deal with critical data, don't install norton. Norton has been proven to MESS UP OS X and do more HARM than GOOD!
  • ccheath, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Being a switcher myself (as of a year ago)... I've got to say that this list is better than all the other's I've seen in the last year.
  • robojames, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4i like my mac, but really, it's no better than a PC. both have strengths and weaknesses. a computer's a computer.
  • Sal42, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2no viruses for OS X? maybe. technicality at best. there have been examples of malicious code that affects OS X.

    some examples:

    Widget of Mass Destruction ( http://stephan.com/widgets/zaptastic/ ) - example of possible malicious code affecting only OS X 10.4.0

    Opener ( http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39125245,00.htm ) ( http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/shrenepoa.html ) - code that can disable firewall and can steal/destroy data

    there was also a virus that affected Macs if you tried to manually upgrade your version of samba from some linux distro awhile back, but that was so rare i could not find a link for it. anybody remember that one?
  • CaptSnuffy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"not one pop-up or ActiveX control can touch your machine… yet. Also, what’s a pop-up?"

    *****. My sister's powerbook get's an incredible amount of pop-ups while my computer (running windows!) never gets ANY.
  • vonskippy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Forgot #11: Take up knitting, or art restoration, or novel writing. Something to fill in those long long pauses while your shiny new soporific OS does it's normal operations.

    //I own a 12" powerbook, but put/run Linux on it because I couldn't stand the snail pace of OSX.//
  • macgoog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1While Pathfinder may be superior to this product this may make switchers more comfortable.
    Explorer
    http://www.ragesw.com/products/explorer.html
  • piratearggghhh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I really don't know why people have to "switch." I go back and forth between the 2 platforms and it's really no big deal. I don't really feel the need to abandon either platform. My XP machines require a little more maintenance but it's nothing major if you're smart about what sites you visit but some things I like better on it and some things I don't.
  • nealibob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3This has nothing to do with Intel Macs in particular. Please do not use misleading descriptions.
  • KaosX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The article says that changing the interface is not easy...the shapeshifter community would beg to differ. All in all it seems to be well thought out, personally if you are looking for a better mouse accelerator or want to change the way the buttons are mapped USBoverdrive is a tad better IMO, but of course, that's just my opinion.
  • Windsinger, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I agree with John, there needs to be an apple catagory here so this ***** can be avoided.
  • Sal42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"What else is your trashed application leaving behind? In most cases, it will leave behind a harmless preference file or two."

    and in the case of some Apple apps about 2-5 gigs of Application Support files... Mac users need to know to use Spotlight to search for every file associated with an application and remove it. Deleting Garage Band's app will not free up gigs of support files placed in a separate directory. sure, nothing bad will happen... but you are wasting tons of disk space.
  • Rice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1He forgot to say to download Camino and Adium.
  • FelixdaaHack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Just watch to see a bunch of Apple people spend an hour and a half ripping on their own products...also great info on why NOT to switch
  • AdamWeeden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@jdam
    "Forms should always *always* ALWAYS use the default styles anyway; I have yet to see an excuse to make them work otherwise."

    How about, because it's my site and I want a certain "look" You may disagree, but the standards say that you should be able to change that stuff, so to be standards compliant, you HAVE TO let them change. If your user base (read: mac elitists who think OSX design is superior to EVERYTHING) don't like it, include an option saying "Disable CSS for form elements" or some such for them to decide.
  • cusoman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For the love of God, stop with the dupes!! There was an article like this very very recently on the front page of Digg.
  • ThugEsquire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Maybe some people can get over the annoying mouse acceleration of OS X, at whatever tracking speed, but for the rest of us, it's absolutely obnoxious. There should be an option to turn it off completely, independently of the tracking speed, right there in the mouse control panel.

    It's a big deal, and USBoverdrive doesn't help, especially because it's shareware at best.
  • kalisphoenix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0//I own a 12" powerbook, but put/run Linux on it because I couldn't stand the snail pace of OSX.

    That's interesting. I've had Macs ranging from an LC III to an iBook G4 1GHz and I've never had Linux perform better than OS X. My distro of choice is Gentoo and my favorite WM is Windowmaker (obviously, Gentoo won't install on m68k so the LC III has Debian). Linux was very fast when I was running on the framebuffer, but then I didn't have any of the applications I required, and writing in emacs is not my idea of fun :-)

    OS X is kinda lurchy on low-end hardware (like the seven-year-old box I'm writing this on), but Gentoo was purely awful. Xfree/Xorg always runs like crap for me, on everything but the very newest and best machinery. I'll spare you the details on how Yellowdog went :-)

    I'm not saying this because I'm a Mac zealot -- of course I'm a frigging Mac zealot -- but I was a Linux zealot first and installed Gentoo on my iBook G4 without ever even booting up OS X. Discovered that doing without wireless wasn't as easy as I hoped it'd be, so I decided to install OS X. Haven't looked back since.
  • grayBot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+02 things:


    1) the best thing i ever did to OSX was set up expose to work w/ hot corners .....


    Its a completely different experience ...highly recommend it


    2) I think Firefox is usually faster than safari.... but i prefer safari because its so damn easy and quick to manage bookmarks ( yea its nearly identical,but slight differences make it much faster )
  • jicon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have a Mac mini, and really enjoy the multi-tasking abilities compared to my P4, but absolutely hate the slowness of the thing.

    It has a gig of RAM, an external 7200 RPM firewire HDD, and its not good for much more than listening to music, checking email or browsing some websites.

    Why the Mac has to be different with no Explorer Tree, a slow mouse movement out of the box (NEVER got used to it until four months later, I got a Logitech mouse/driver), and a black mouse cursor...- I always lose the damn thing when I'm trying to click my profile on the startup window... I'll never know.

    /Downright crippling.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"It has a gig of RAM, an external 7200 RPM firewire HDD, and its not good for much more than listening to music, checking email or browsing some websites."
    Thats either just a straight out lie or you have a very Ill machine

    "and a black mouse cursor...- I always lose the damn thing"
    How? Its MUCH clearer than the PCs white with black keyline.

    "And more importantly, vote to get ***** Jobs ***** sucking stories OFF the front page."
    I sense some hostility .. maybe inadequacy issues?
  • SomeMonkey, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If you catch spyware/adware/have pop-ups on a windows PC you'll probably do something stupid on a Mac too.

    Get a Logitech MX1000 and quit your crying...
  • shazeubaa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I have to agree that the term "Switcher" is unnecessary. Most people have more than one computer, especially diggers I am sure; and are happy going from one to another."

    Can't really know unless you take a poll. Too bad digg doesn't have a poll-taking feature like spymac does.
  • phantomfiles, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A good article, I agree the O'Reily books are better. Apple's support site is quite a good read for the basics too.
  • shazeubaa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0deadbaby,

    I just installed Little Snitch. Pretty cool. Though it ain't free. The demo only lasts 3 hours then you have to pay $24.95 http://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
  • jbiz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0dugg

    was just looking at the new macbook's today. thinking of getting a mac to compliment my Dell laptop (for work) and my custom built gaming rig.
  • leobaby, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I have to agree that the term "Switcher" is unnecessary. Most people have more than one computer, especially diggers I am sure; and are happy going from one to another.
  • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"I agree with John, there needs to be an apple catagory here so this ***** can be avoided."

    if you take the time to read the headline and then avoid clicking on it... doh!
  • ThugEsquire, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Mouse movement - 3rd party software is available to adjust mouse movement even when using the OEM mouse."
    --4answer2

    You shouldn't need third-party software. I've been there before, and third-party software is not a good enough solution to the problem. It's one of the most frustrating parts of using a Mac, and it's about damn time somebody talked about this annoyance. The author hit the nail on the head. Third-party software (Overdrive, for example, which is shareware at best) sucks the big one, and pretty much all of it (first- and second-party software included) requires administrator privileges to install. If you're a non-admin, even access to the built-in system config panel won't help.

    Just to defend the author, who is ***** hilarious.
  • shazeubaa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"Hmm. I should just get a frigging blog."

    heh ;)
  • Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1"How can an entire application be removed by just trashing the executable? OS X applications seem clean because the ugly is hidden deep within the application. OS X apps are actually a special kind of folder. To actually see what’s inside an application, right click it and select Show Package Contents."

    This is a feature of the NEXT sub-system, and it's implemented in OpenStep for Linux/BSD. If you're interested in this type of framework, but work in Linux or don't have a Mac handy, check out OpenStep.
  • bash, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@jkfan87: i have issues with macs ("why dont you lose my file again you stupid piece of *****"), but the article is well written, the guy put effort into it, so i digg. period.
  • ThinkBox, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Very well writen, nice layout, nice pictures,Digg 30X6 to the max
  • Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Until i can play 100% of games and at the same release date as Windows there's no chance of a switch for me.
    And on the virus thing, i use XP and dont use and anti-virus or spyware programs, i use Firefox and simply dont open emails from sources i dont know. Just coos u use Windows doesnt mean you'll get viruses. In my eyes dumb users get viruses, not Windows.
  • jonathanex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"its just down to not opening every stupid david hasselhoff calendar ppt file you get sent."
    But I like hasselhoff.... :
  • Boscolio, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Wow, I always HATED the way the mouse felt in OS X. I never knew why, I thought it was the physical mouse or just me. Wow, that feels good to know that OS X is just effed up. I hate that mouse feel soo much.
  • Frankenteddy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"I tried for a month to get used to my Apple Pro Mouse. No dice. The solution: eBay. I sold my Pro Mouse on eBay and bought an optical Microsoft - gasp! - mouse to replace it. However, a new mouse alone did not solve the problem."

    Someone forgot to play around with system prefs! rofl!
  • Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Interesting read. I haven't touched a mac since highschool (about 11 years ago), but I'm curious. Being in the art field I may be forced to use one some day.
  • mojofrojo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0OS X the missing manual by O'Reily books is by far the best book o get when buying an apple. That book is been thumbed thru more than the first porno mag I ever got ahold of.
  • RedZeppelin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Hallelujah! A solution to the muddy mouse syndrome! I switched to Mac a few months ago and the mouse tracking has been driving me bonkers.
  • rock711, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@Baddox:

    No problem. These "OS War" posts tend to boil the blood. I think I'll stay away from any diggs that contain "Microsoft", or "Apple" for a while.
  • TheGalacticFork, on 10/12/2007, -1/+111. Your mouse does not have a 'right' click.
  • frem001, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0"ucq1, dude that's just your bad luck. I've definitely had applications crash before, including the Finder. However, I can't say that crashes occur as often as my Windows-XP Pro SP2 box at work.

    gamabunta, check out Virex:
    http://www.mcafee.com/us/products/mcafee/antivirus/desktop/virex.htm"

    oh and if you are getting an intel mac make sure it's dual binary software
  • AttroPheed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4He needs a tip on how _not_ to channel buyers remorse thru an unfettered drive to proselytize to other unwitting neophytes in what can only be described as a disgusting show of corporation idolatry.


    Now rate me down, pussies!
  • Sal42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0don't office macro viruses affect mac users? just curious.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3"11 Your MAC DOESN'T outperform PCs in benchmarks. It'll be slow and limited, but it'll look pretty doing it."

    Stupid Apple fanboys said it was offtopic. I don't think so.
  • Sal42, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0pop-unders seem a problem with me in Safari.

    example: go to http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/dilbert/ and click on Comic Archive.

    no thank you Dilbert, i do not need a registry cleaner for my mac.
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