response 1 of 37:

Oct 18 11:53 UTC 2010

General discussion?  Okay...  In general, I think OS X is a *great*
operating system.

(Is this item is intended to supersede the existing OS X items?)

Apple is having some kind of high-profile media event this Wednesday,
October 20.  They're expected to announce OS X 10.7 ("Lion"?) and a
new smaller, less pricy Macbook Air.

response 3 of 37:

Oct 19 19:34 UTC 2010

Item 256: Mac OS X  -- in MICROS

response 5 of 37:

Oct 21 18:06 UTC 2010

I watched the live stream of yesterday's Apple media event.  Theme
was "Back to the Mac" and focused on new Macintosh stuff.  Yes,
the next version of OS X will be named "Lion" and is expected to
be out next summer.  The demo focused on the new "Mission Control"
interface, which looks kind of like Spaces and Expose blended
together.

Much time was spent demo-ing the new iLife 11.  Uninteresting, from
my standpoint, since I don't use it much.

Another announcement:  Facetime (the iPhone 4 video calling feature)
is now available in beta for the Mac.  We downloaded it, checked it
out, and it actually works.  Might be a suitable way of handling
remote members at Grex Board meetings...

Jobs used his patented "One More Thing" slot to announce a redone
Macbook Air.  Just as the rumor mill forecast, it comes in two
sizes - 11 inch and 13 inch - is incredibly light (under three
pounds) and thin, and uses flash memory for storage instead of a
hard drive.  Seems like the ideal laptop to take along on trips,
so maybe I'll get one someday.

response 7 of 37:

Nov 5 03:18 UTC 2010

I like that it addresses the three main problems I see every day when
people bring me laptops to work on: DC jacks breaking, hard disks
failing or software infections.  I dislike that I could buy three PC
netbooks for the same price.

response 9 of 37:

Nov 10 18:57 UTC 2010

I just acquired a new Macbook Air, 13" version.  Light (under 3 lbs),
sturdy, fast, gorgeous display, boots really fast (under 30 seconds),
runs very cool (in contrast to my 17" Mac Pro, which feels like I have
a stove in my lap).  A bit pricey compared with PC netbooks, but then,
PC netbooks are crap. ;-)

So far I'm not missing the absent CD/DVD drive or ethernet port.  (I
do have a USB-to-ethernet cable in case of need.)

I'm really liking this machine.

response 11 of 37:

Nov 11 22:29 UTC 2010

The 13" Air has two USB ports, a port for an external monitor, and
an SD card slot.  (The 11" lacks the SD slot.)

(Getting slightly off topic here, as this is an OS X item, not a
hardware item.)

response 13 of 37:

Dec 28 19:58 UTC 2010

Hmmm...  Not exactly an OS X question, but let's see.  

When I type that URL directly into Firefox's address box and hit
'return', the '?charityid=927258' query gets stripped off and the page
www.goodsearch.com is displayed.  This happens with the Safari and
Google Chrome browsers too.  On the other hand, if I just make up some
random querty, like http://www.goodsearch.com/?foo=bar, the query part
is *not* stripped off.  This suggests to me that the stripping is
something that's being done by the server.  Dunno exactly what's
happening, but the problem seems to be broader than just a Firefox
bookmarking issue.

response 15 of 37:

Jan 7 14:01 UTC 2011

Apple released an OS X update yesterday, bringing it to version 10.6.6.
 The most noticeable change was the addition of the Mac App Store, which
is now open for business.  It's modeled after the app stores for the
iPhone and iPad, and Apple is really pushing it as the place to get 3rd
party Mac software.  After the OS upgrade, you're got a new "App Store"
application with a dock icon and apple menu entry.

I tried it out.  Once you get past the hassle of logging in and
authenticating yourself the first time (so that they can charge you for
any for-pay apps you install), the process of installing apps is really
seamless.  Just click on the "install" button for the app and the app's
icon floats from the store window to the dock (nice animation effect), a
little progress bar appears in the icon while the app takes a few
seconds to download, and then you've got it.  No messing with dmg or zip
files, no dragging of icons to your application folder.

At this point, the store has around 1000 items.  Some are free, some
cost money.  Lots of games, with $19.99 being a popular price.  Seems
steep to me.  I suspect prices will fall over time as the competition
heats up.

The store has generated quite a bit of buzz in its first day.  A number
of "this changes everything" blog posts.  On the flip side, various
complaints about the user interface, suggestions for improvement. 
People are already finding and publishing ways that the store can be hacked.

I've got mixed feelings about the "company store" phenomenon that Apple
pioneered with the iPhone.  The convenience and ease of use are
impressive, but everything in the store has to meet criteria for
approval that Apple decides.  It's true that you can still install
software the old way from other sites or from disk, but I worry that if
the store becomes popular enough, developers will feel that to be
successful they have to get their app into the store, and this means
conforming to Apple's criteria for admissability.  I wonder if it's
technically feasible for a third party "store" app to be developed that
has the same level of user-friendliness.

Hm, the store doesn't have "Dropbox" yet, one of the most useful
applications of all time.  Hopefully that's a temporary omission.

response 17 of 37:

Jan 9 03:01 UTC 2011

Bah, I have the Ubuntu Software Center. ;)

One positive you didn't mention is that the app store could become a
sort of quality benchmark for applications like the ipod/iphone app
store is. I definitely see value in that. Also, a lot of the software
titles are cheaper from the app store than they are at the app[le] store. :)

response 19 of 37:

Jan 10 16:56 UTC 2011

eeK. Even the iPhone app store requires you to click twice and maybe put
in a password for everything you buy.

response 21 of 37:

Jan 13 21:38 UTC 2011

This is a specific rather than a general OS X question, for which I hope 
you will forgive me.

A folder called Developer appeared on my Desktop. I did not put it 
there, so I think I accidentally dragged it from elsewhere on the HD. It 
contains a folder called Extras, which contains a folder called 
Palettes, which contains a folder called QTKit.palette....and so forth. 
Where does it belong?

response 23 of 37:

Jan 14 05:49 UTC 2011

In directory usr there are directories bin and local, but local does not
contain a bin. /usr/bin does contain a gazillion files. But even given that,
I don't see how I could have pulled Developer out of /usr.., since I don't
play around at that depth. What do the files in Developer do, anyway?