My First Month on Mac
I’m currently typing this on my Linux-based netbook, but my home desktop experience is now mostly a Mac affair. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, so I thought I would talk about what programs have really made me happy with the whole experience.
First off, the entire setup process was super easy. With Windows and Linux, I’m used to at least two days of interface and program installation and tweaking. I simply plugged my mini in, turned it on, did my “mac dance” ritual during the opening video, went through the initial setup, and I was done in no more than ten minutes.
It also goes without saying how cool it is that they give you gobs of software for free with iLife. Even though the programs are not anything really special, they’re very useful and fun to use. I can’t wait to play with Garageband to eventually make a podcast.
With the money I saved by buying the mini on sale, I also purchased iWork. I haven’t really played with Numbers, but Keynote and Pages are great. It take a while to get used to the interface, but once you do it’s a pretty powerful office suite. Still no comparison to Microsoft Office, but still pretty darn good. It’s also nice that Helvetica is the default font is Pages. Now every paper I write looks like a Target ad.
I’ve also added some freeware I’ve always heard about to my Mac. Some good, and some not-so-great. First, I’ve always heard folks raving about Quicksilver, a application launcher that you use via the keyboard. This was almost my first freeware download on the Mac, and I found it fairly disappointing. I just find it quicker to get to my frequently used programs via the dock. I guess I just think more visually. I’ve never been really into keyboard shortcuts.
For NaNoWriMo, which I’m currently failing miseribly at, I tried several different programs. I finally settled on WriteRoom, since it has zero distractions from my writing. All it is is a black screen with green text. You simply type. Really cool. Only thing is that it’s a 30-day demo, with the full program costing $24.95. I understand paying for software that’s as good as this, but $24.95? For a black screen with green text? Give me a break. I probably won’t be purchasing this after the demo is over.
As for music players, it’s been kind of difficult. I’ve always hated iTunes, for either Windows or Mac, because of the almost communist nature of how it wants to control every aspect of your library and music player. So, I decided on trying Songbird. Songbird was pretty good for an open source program based off of Firefox, but it’s tragically lacking in podcasting support, and it also grabbed my entire music library and renamed every last file. Turns out automatic library management is turned on by default. Awesome idea, Songbird team! Good thing I had a backup! I have now switched back to iTunes for the moment, but I hope for something better to come along soon that allows for adding my music library that resides on my Linux server without fucking it up.
Other than those programs, I’ve also installed Celtx for future screenwriting, and the obligatory Firefox install.
Overall, my experience so far has been great. I feel that once I put more memory in this guy, it’ll be even better.
Movin’ Along
The television portion of my RTVF class ended this week. It had to have been the most fun I’ve had at college so far. I learned so much and met a lot of interesting people. Hopefully I’ll get my copy of the projects next week so I can post mine up on here.
Went to Frisco last night to pick up a copy of Snow Leopard. Sure, I could have bought it at Best Buy, but I also didn’t know that there wasn’t a student discount on OS X. Even without a discount, the new OS still only costs $29. I’m still hesitating on taking the plunge today, though, since I’ve seen some pretty obvious, even hilarious, bugs on some Macs at work that shouldn’t have even made the RTM release.
For example, we received two brand-new 13″ MacBook Pros to prepare for use at work. They came with Snow Leopard, of course, and they all had one strange bug in common. In Spotlight, whenever you searched for a particular program, in this case Terminal, the results would show up in Chinese. Chinese. The default language is English out of the box. However, when we changed the default language from English to Standard, the problem was solved. Weird…
There are also some very frustrating changes to the interface, as well. Most notably the Macintosh HD desktop icon, a mainstay of Mac OS systems since at least the early 90′s, is gone by default. They’ve added a shortcut to the applications folder onto the Dock, but it still doesn’t replace that friendly little icon that gave me quick access to Finder. I know that there is a way to turn it back on, but I wasn’t there when my co-workers figured it out, so it is still a mystery to me.
Another thing we do frequently at work is add Macs to our Windows domain. Before, this was a easy as going to Applications > Utilities > Directory Utility. Not anymore. They’ve hidden Directory Utility deep in the bowels of the User Accounts configuration menus in System Preferences. They took something that would normally be simple and proceeded to bungle it up. I don’t think they even changed the program at all; they just made it harder to get to.
Given all of the problems I have with Snow Leopard even before installing it on my own machine, I have to day that my Apple Store experience in Frisco was very pleasant. I had never actually bought anything at the Apple Store before hand; I just browsed and looked in awe at the shiny new machines sitting on their birch veneer tables. I’ve always been pleased at the no-pressure shopping environment. I can do anything I want to those machines because they know that it will eventually lead to a sale. For me, it did, just at a Campus Apple Store, instead. I was really happy that I could just pick up the software, go to the nearest dude wearing the pretentious and uncomfortable-looking nametag, and he could check me out on the spot with his handheld point-of-sale system. Pretty painless. The only negative thing about my visit was realizing that they still charge $60 for the mac version of Sim City 4. Fucking nuts for a game made in 2003.
I’m way behind in the NaNoWriMo this year. I’ve got just a bit over 4,000 words. I should be near 15K. Oh boy, wish me luck.
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