The news from Expo begins another major transition for Mac users
© B Y ..S T E V E ..W E L S H
Oregon MacPioneers User Group (Omug)
MacWorld Expo earlier this month unveiled the reality of the Third Great Transition for Macintosh -- the conversion from the PowerPC chip to an Intel chip. It's here.
So let's summarize our State of the Mac at present and for the near future:
- Unix-based, BSD-flavored (Mac) operating system
- Intel (long the dominant PC industry processor) inside*
- More PC-standard cards and drivers
- *BIOS related boot, or Extended Firmware (replacing Open Firmware)
Is this still the computer "for the rest of us?"
Yes and no. With "yes" holding the majority, but the "no" growing a bit larger.
Steve Jobs said that what makes a Mac a Mac is the software, the operating system. And he's right, of course -- the processor brand or type won't, for the most part, change our out of the box Mac experience. But Apple's decision to go Intel should make that Mac experience better, short and long term, at least in the areas that Apple felt it hit a wall using the PowerPC G5 architecture (especially in the laptop arena). We'll discuss why in a moment.
There is, however, a broad difference between the Mac experience "for the rest of us" from that of 1984 (and pre-OS X) and these next generation Macintoshes.
Like body-building: "no pain, no gain"
The first 2 major Mac transitions? In the early '90s Apple moved from the Motorola 6800 series cpu to the co-op effort of Apple/IBM and the PowerPC chip. That forced software developers to rewrite their applications (apps) for the new chip, and Mac users to update or buy new software versions. This also brought about the decade-long, weird "math war" trying to compare the PowerPC chip advantage over the Intel chips on PCs, using very different numbers (i.e., a PowerPC 700-mhz Mac roughly matching or besting a 1.4-ghz PC). In real world performance, the Mac DID match or out-perform the PC, but a lot of non-computer science educated customers (the rest of us) had a hard time accepting the "700 > 1,400" math. Even Mr. Spock would not have found that logical.
In the late '90s, almost in sync with the millennium -- an appropriate metaphor of historic change for Mac users -- came the biggest transition of them all, OS X (Ten). As Jobs said, it's the software that makes a Mac a Mac. Changing the Mac OS under the hood was a big risk. We can look back now and confirm it was the right choice. But that transition grabbed a lot of Mac users by the hair and dragged them along, kicking and screaming (and Jobs did put OS 9 permanently "to sleep", if you will, a few years back).
To Apple's credit, personality and creed (computers "for the rest of us"), it did a very good job of easing the pain of the OS conversion. They gave us Classic to co-exist with OS X, so we could still run most of our OS 9 apps. They also gave us fairly rapid improvements to OS X (especially compared to the sloth-like evolution of Windows OS). By the time Panther went to version 10.3.9 (Panther's last build), Mac users were pretty happy campers using OS X. Now we have a Tiger in our Mac tanks, and with version 10.4.3 we seemed to be on stable ground once again with even more cool features.
This is not your father's Macintosh anymore
On Jan. 10, Apple introduced the first 2 Mac models with the Intel processor -- the iMac (Jobs: "2 times faster" than previous iMac) and the new MacBook Pro laptop (Jobs: "4 times faster" than the PowerBook G4). This was 6 months ahead of Job's proposed "mid-2006" timeline. Getting them out of the gate earlier will make for a smoother transition, for the rest of us and the software developer industry. The first buyers of this new generation will bang and clang the heck out of them, finding flaws and giving Apple feedback for other models to come. It will not be a crime if each model doesn't exactly come up to the proposed speed improvements (hey, in the case of the MacBook Pro, even 2 times the speed is a nice jump). What matters is they are here. Developers can buy their own and dive right into converting their software (many already have with Apple's seed planting transition machine months earlier). We, the rest of us, can start weighing the scales for our next purchase -- are the new features and speed increases too much to resist vs. a comparable G5 model?
I don't know about you, but having a built-in iSight camera on my Mac laptop is tempting by itself for the real on-the-go traveler. The processor speed jump was what every PowerBook G4 owner dreamed of. But what will once again be the deal-breaker on how fast Mac users will purchase the new generation is how fast software developers jump on the Universal Application bandwagon and then get their apps up to native code for the Intel processor. This is why this arrival of the Intel-based Macs (boy, I'm tempted to invent my own tag name for this generation ... how about "i-Macs"? Naw. I've heard InteliMacs, MacTels commonly sprayed about) is great -- the transition is underway and 6 months earlier.
Software déja vu
Thankfully, Apple's suite of software included with a Mac, and the iLife and iWork suites, have met most of my needs in the OS X world. There are only a couple of OS 9 apps that I have that I'm hanging on to, and I rarely use them. Here is one bright bit of news from new iMac users (I can already hear some big sighs of relief):
AppleWorks WILL run on the new machines (under Rosetta).
Other Mac users have specific OS 9 apps they depend on daily (education, vertical or specialty market solutions). Those users be forewarned:
Classic is dead and gone on the Intel-chip Macs, it won't run.
I'd hazard a guess that this will only keep about 20% of the existing Mac user base from buying the new generation Macs (we user group people know there are still sprinklings of OS 8 users among us!). It took a couple of years after OS X was introduced for Apple's user base to reach 50% (using OS X). It will probably take 2 years again before half of the existing, estimated 30 million Mac user base converts to the Intel-chip Macs. We may even see that number closer to 60% since there are more "switchers" joining our fold or buying new.
What about our Mac security blankets?
More than the software change-over, I worry about our Mac security as we enter this new Intel-inside age. Just as OS X's UNIX under-pinnings introduced a less-proprietary shield around our OS, we now have a chip inside that looks more and more familiar to "Evil Empire" crowd. Will this mean our Macs will be less secure? Only time will tell. I don't think we will see a flood of viruses and malware-ish junk come our way soon or even long-term, nowhere near the degree PC users suffer daily. There is much debate about this online. Some say as long as we remain "small fish" in the ocean (5% of the computer market), the hacker sharks will continue to swim past us. Others say the Apple experience does not provide the hate-filled motivation that drives evil-doers against Windows and the PC world. To Apple's credit, they are acutely aware of this, and realize that the Mac experience with almost no virus horror stories is a prime reason for switchers.
Once again, given a total re-creation of the OS with X, Apple did a very good job of retaining the Mac look and feel. And yet, ever since our OS went UNIX, we have had more Security Update releases than the pre-OS X days (back then there was no separation, it came out plain and simple as an OS update).
Change, evolution and progress will take ... faith
Forgive me the history lesson: 1984 wasn't like 1984 because Apple gave us a computer for the rest of us. The Macintosh could be taken out of the box, plugged in, turned on and used (and ENJOYED while using it), and we did NOT have to know a lick about command lines, error codes or text prompts. No more DOS. The Mac OS was completely different but built so well that even Mac "hackers" who wanted to mess around with Resource Editor or other System utilities couldn't mess up their Macs. This is still the essence of Macintosh.
But today's Mac user has to be a little smarter, has to know more than our fathers. You need now to have a basic understanding of multiple users, logging in, user-switching, Home and Library Folders, password protection, Keychain, plists, and (gulp!) maybe even Terminal. Now add the words "Universal Application" and "Rosetta" (the Classic-like motor running PowerPC code for older software). Some argue that it is not as bad as it sounds, that only the "old guard", the long-time Mac users who have actually grown through all the changes, feel any pain. New Mac users have no such comparison to "hamper" their fresh Mac experience. There is some truth to this.
For the rest of us, the relatively old guard, there will be some pain -- but we hope with the pain comes great gain, much like OS X brought. Omug has compiled a short list of resources below to ease the pain and help you start the 3rd Great Transition.
A final word of comfort: Mac users are famous for being the most loyal, proud and fanatical of computer users, so we will be there to help each other out, in our Mac user groups, at home, at work. Only Apple could have made the first 2 Great Transitions as pain-less as they were overall for the average Mac user. We will trust Apple to once again hold our hands and remove the stones from the new path of this 3rd Great Transition, bringing us once again an even better Mac experience.
Our faith in Apple has kept us Mac users, so continue to keep the faith.
And besides, there may be even more important issues to worry about even now. The real transition issue I see coming in the near future, with the recent news of Disney and Pixar merging, is this:
Will Mickey be replaced by Apple's Mighty Mouse?
END
BACK TO TOP
Bark Biscuits of the Month
If you read this far, you deserve a few goodies:
Startup key commands for Intel-based Macs:
Curious about any changes to critical keyboard shortcuts during startup on the new Macs? Here ya go.
Use correct Mac OS X discs with corresponding hardware:
Think any ol' set of OS X discs will boot up any generation of OS X Macs? Think again and read this Apple document.
Keep track of OS build versions per Mac model:
Learn and keep track of the version(s) of Mac OS included with Macs produced since Jan. 1, 1998.
Important read about 10.4.4 Combo installer:
10.4.4 may or may not be necessary for some of you with existing hardware; and it is probably necessary for ALL new generation Mac owners (Intel-inside).
Apple article about Intel Mac printer drivers:
This article contains a list of all printer drivers and PPD files included with Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel-based Macs. Some printer files included with Mac OS X 10.4.4 for Intel-based Macs might not be included with previous Mac OS X versions, and vice-versa.
Apple's page tracking new Universal Applications:
Got an PowerPC-based application that might be "iffy" on the new Macs? Read how Rosetta helps, and how you can give your app a swift little kick that might help even more.
Forcing Universal Applications to run under Rosetta:
Got an PowerPC-based application that might be "iffy" on the new Macs? Read how Rosetta helps, and how you can give your app a swift little kick that might help even more.
Under the hood, close-up look at the new iMac:
Ric Ford's Macintouch site offers this great, in-depth look at the new iMac, and the basic premise of the Intel dual-core impact.
Apple's Intel inside TV Commercial:
Let the truth be told, watch Apple's new TV ad about Intel chips inside Macs.
Steve Jobs keynote:
For the second year in a row, Jobs' "reality distortion field" and equally magnetizing keynote was NOT webcast live (probably as punishment for all the product leaks the past few years by online sites, we half-joke), but you can watch the whole keynote streamed.
Apple's iWeb in action:
Apple's new addition to iLife 06 is a web page, blogging, photo-sharing, podcast-sharing creation tool called iWeb. Here's Apple's simple sample of the blogging front end of iWeb in use.
Sample chapter of upcoming "iLife 06" book:
Author/photographer Jim Heid has produced some excellent books on Apple's iLife suite, and will be pouring in fresh content for his upcoming '06 version. Download a free sample 9-page PDF (4.2 mb).
Heid's new Digital Hub podcast:
Heid has a good voice, too. He's decided to create a podcast to highlight Apple's new iLife 06 suite. Download the 50-min. long, free podcast (24 mb).
and finally, a page you should already have bookmarked ...
Apple Support online:
Apple's online support keeps getting better and better, with fresh content, better teaching tools/lessons, and a no-holds-barred Discussion forum area.
No one has called the dog pound yet, so we'll keep on barking. See you next month.
Please remember that the above non-Omug links may or may not be active soon or long after this column was published; they are provided for your exploration and are not an endorsement by Omug or this author.
|
|