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General discussion

Mac OS Technicalities

Sep 17, 2007 10:45AM PDT

Hey Everyone, I am just trying to boost my knowledge of the Mac OS with some of the advanced built technoogies. My goal is eventually be able to be as proficent with the Mac OS as I am with Windows, so I could potentially support both platforms if I needed to.

So my primary question is what is the Mac equivalent of the Registry. I know Mac doesn't have anything close to the registry, so what I am trying to ask is how does the OS handle things done in the Registry in Windows. And also how does self contained files work, such as Applications that don't have a set directory such as Program Files in Windows. Thanks a lot and more questions to follow.

Discussion is locked

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Hp grew 29% last quarter, not last year
Sep 23, 2007 2:52AM PDT

Microsoft sold 60 million copies of Windows Vista since late January 2007. The vast majority of these went on new computers because of the higher hardware requirements for Vista. If Mac grew it's more likely because of the increased availability of DSL, thanks to AT&T. Sorry you loss. I don't appear to be the one in denial here. (Boy, have I made a mistake with this post and I'm even digging myself in deeper. Help, Mr. Wizard).

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if Mac grew is becuase of DSL ??
Sep 23, 2007 3:52AM PDT

Dude you sound lost, what DSL has anything to do with Mac's growing. What does it have to do with AT&T ?? I know I'm dealing with somebody that won't go for the facts and in defense talk gibbrish. You did mess with the wrong forum.

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Well dude.
Sep 23, 2007 4:49AM PDT

Beginning around the first part of the year AT&T began offering DSL service for about $15.00 dollars a month. This DSL service is appreciable faster then the 56k that was available before or cable that was available but much more expensive. This coupled with the release of Vista and other changes has brought many new people to the net. I'm not messing with you. As I said I made my post here by mistake. When I wrote it I did not realize I was on the Mac forum but now that I am, I'll stand my ground. It was not my intention to tick you off or anyone else. I was just stating my opinion.

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Again
Sep 23, 2007 5:06AM PDT

What AT&T and Vista release has to do with growth of Mac sales, unless you are saying that Vista is a copy of OS X as it have been proving by the New York Times David Pogue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaIUkwPybtM

Just explain me what AT&T has to do with the growth of Apple computers.

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again
Sep 23, 2007 5:55AM PDT

56k is slow. The new service provided by AT&T is much faster. So getting on the net is much faster and more enjoyable. Because 56k was so slow many didn't want to fool with it. Too much waiting around for pages to load, getting connected, etc.. If you bought cable it cost much more, many would not pay there price, so they stayed off the net. That has changed with AT&Ts DSL service. The $14.99 service is only the entry level service at about 758k. The nineteen dollar level matches cable speed at 1.5 MB and they have levels above this as well. For a lot less then the forty to seventy dollars the cable companies want each month. So it's a lot cheaper and you can enjoy the net with much less waiting. So more people are using it. Some of these new AT&T customers are buying Macs. Is this the only factor effecting Mac sales? No. Is it a big factor? yes. Now is this clear enough?

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I hope nobody else is paying attention to this
Sep 23, 2007 2:31PM PDT

Dude, what are you talking about? How small of a town that you live in ? Broad band is been in every house for good past couple years, at least where I live. AT&T has nothing and I will repeat nothing to do with Mac sales. In the area where people are now getting more internet and all the credit you are giving to AT&T, in those areas nobody buy mac, i'm sure there is not even single mac store in those areas. Its ok I understand where are you coming from.

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Although...
Sep 23, 2007 11:50AM PDT

I too believe that the type of bandwidth offered does not greatly effect the Market Share of PC's (sorry Dango517 thats just my opinion). I do have something to say about your David Pogue comment. Personally I find him irritating especially this video in question which I have viewed prior to your posting. The man makes minute obeservations of similarites in an attempt to copy the presentation made by Bertrand Serlet. All I see from Pogue's video is proof that two operating systems are on the same course. Let's talk about the search for example, and unfortuantely I will have to get into a war about dates, something I frown upon.

Search in Mac is of course on the Finder Bar in the top right, and the Search utility in Vista is on the Start Menu. Now the supposely funny part of this is that the search utility is opposite in both OSesl, let's look at this logically. In Windows the Start Bar is the main way we navigate in the OS, that at the Explorer. Naturally we are going to put the search either on the Start Bar itself or in the Start Menu, it's logical. If MS had put it on the Start Bar it would take away space from the bar which could be used holding Minimized windows and task items.

Secondly the Triangle icons used to collapse trees in The Explorer. Please, come on, yes Mac does this however in Windows we just use + or - icons to tree, because we change to triangles is the reason the OS is a copy, hardly.

Thirdly the Widgets in dashboard, this is where the war of dates comes in. Widgets and dashboard were offered in Mac OS 10.4 or Tiger, Tiger was released on April 29, 2005 (resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_v10.4). However Microsft had shown off this technology in a promotional Video for Longhorn in 2002, in anticipation for the 2003 release of Longhorn (resource: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9ifQvQCO7Y). As you can see if you view the Video is the widget technology or gadgets in Windows, being used on the Sidebar, like in the current Vista.

Does this mean Apple stole the technology, possibly? Or could it mean that both companies are on the same course heading for the same technology?

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Even Despite the Bad News...
Sep 23, 2007 9:12AM PDT

Supposely about Vista, (on a side note I have been running Vista since beta 2 on a test machine, and final Ultimate x64 on my main machines once it was released. I haven't had any problems with the OS) what I mean by that is everyone puts down Vista and constantly complains, however MS Market Share has increased from the Vista release. And rumor has it that SP1 makes Vista a force to be reckon with, so it could only get better. The thing with me is not the Mac OS because whether I like the Mac OS or not I am always going to be a Windows fan, and right off the bat if I do buy the Mac, Windows will probably be the majority OS if not the default. It is the hardware, OEM hardware just sucks and that is the overall compelling reason for me. The secondary reason is my curiosity about the new technology Apple is developing for the Mac OS, I wish Microsoft would be rolling out new technology like Apple, instead of always copying then intergrating. That is my biggest peeve with MS.

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Unfortunately
Sep 23, 2007 10:01AM PDT

I've had some problems with Vista but this is in part because it is a new OS. Currently I'm having software compatibility problems but this is a third party software problem and not the OSs. In time I think these problems will melt away as this introductory period passes. Vista will be fine if not at the release of SP1 then soon after, possibly not. I'm too practical to side with any one company over the other. Again, I'd like to give Mac a whirl but will probable do this after Linux. Linux will work with my current hardware and is of course free. I would not buy a Mac, just not a good judgement call as I see it, whatever it's benefits might be. (Perhaps, I'll rent it for a few months) I can get a lot more for my buck elsewhere. Perhaps over time I might change my mind. I give myself the right to change my mind whenever I choose and make as many mistakes as I might. Good luck, on your Mac adventure.

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Naturally
Sep 23, 2007 11:35AM PDT

Windows is never complete right from the get go it takes a Service Pck, XP is not an exception, if you remember XP was critised almost as much as Vista. This is why industries are switching over to Vista it is good practice not to, until at least SP1. After SP1 Vista will take off, it just have several things working against it, the first being the early release, it wasn't ready at release, SP1 will fix that. Another factor is XP has been the standard for so long, we need to start weening people off of XP onto Vista. And the last is lack of hardware technologies, DirectX 10 is a great example, we need DirectX 10 capabatible cards.

From what I heard about SP1 beta is this, first off the current beta is only 1/3 complete. The one part that is complete optimizes the Vista source code, to incredible legnths Vista does seems clunky and bulky, it is responsive and pretty darn fast. The second third is a new redesigned kernel written from scratch, which will introduce new technologies and again regenerate the OS. And the third part is unknown, some techies like myself believe it is special things like some more code optimization and new technologies. The SP1 is only in beta form and people are raving about it. I think and hope that by the end of SP1 Vista will be an OS to reckon with, I hope it will be one powerful future OS. Less clunkly, less huge, low on new cool tech, and more streamlined, rapid, responsive, and a feast of under the hood features.

As for Linux I have been using Linux for a while and I feel I need to warn you about the FUD. The Linux zealots who rave about the OS and their experiance may have a good one. But in my experiance I have had problem after problem with linux, and it is not a user problem. I am pretty efficent with the OS and the Unix underpinnings. The stability of my distro can me questioned. And overall I still prefer Windows as do many people I know.

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Vista is and will continue to change the net.
Sep 23, 2007 12:38PM PDT

It is very powerful and has many new features within it that once discovered are very impressive. Most over look them at first because of the new look and some rearrangements in the way the files are laid out. It will certainly take the net to a much higher level then XP. I think video maybe the next to see a dramatic improvements from Vista.

I've seen the proposal for SP1. A draft of it is on the Vista forum it looks on course to me.

What it really needs is for the third party software providers to get busy and make there programs Vista compatible.

The net is as we speak/write going through an upgrade. It's a little painful but it's underway.

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RE: Vista is and will continue to change the net
Sep 23, 2007 1:36PM PDT

I need to ask what is your preoccupation with the internet, you seem to relate everything to the internet usage share. And please don't take that the wrong way it is not a critiscm only an observation. The net is continually going through changes currently we are seeing a move away from the old internet, that is just text and picture based. To now including HD video content, interactive social sites, intuitive web pages, PC based software with internet resourcing for collaboration and other features, and hub for digital enterntainment (I am a big supporter in IPTV and VoIP).

By the way, this may interest you if you haven't already seen it, Microsoft Silverlight. It is Microsoft's answer to Flash and right from the get go it is getting really great reviews as a product raising the bar for the web. Flash supports video, and vide extensions but Silverlight takes it to the next level by making all web video HD. The picture is amazing and startup/early adopter copanines love it, stating it makes their content look amazing. I think Microsof thas a hit with silverlight.

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Just making topical responses.
Sep 23, 2007 1:57PM PDT

Didn't know Mac had a reference called usage share. Don't you think that's a bit strange. Microsoft doesn't have anything like that to my knowledge. Also strange someone who is "just" interested in Mac might know about it. Ummm. Well I'm logging off for now. Send a reply, I'll respond tomorrow.

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Usage Share ?
Oct 6, 2007 7:36PM PDT

That's not a "Mac" reference. The previous poster was probably making a general reference to internet statistics.

Recent business statistics show that while the overall computer market is growing, the Mac segment is growing faster than the PC segment, particularly Apple's Laptop sales.


As to the theory that faster internet leads to more Mac sales, while it's interesting I don't see any correlation there.

Macs and PC's get online the exact same way, so there's no reason to suppose there would be a difference in computer purchases of one or the other given an increase in DSL adoption.

Here's a funny story: I recall, from a few years back, talking to a middle-aged couple who had just gotten their first PC and wanted to know how to go online.

So I explained you need to set up your computer with some form of modem to connect to an Internet Service Provider, and gave them some details.

I explained that you could get a very basic email account with NetZero for a few dollars per month, and they both were shocked !

They declared there was NO WAY they would pay any money to go online.

The lady insisted they'd spent a lot of money already on their Windows PC and they weren't going to spend any more !

I walked away, wondering. You buy a car, and you must know there will be costs for oil, windshield wipers, gasoline, and eventually you'll need new tires.

They bought a PC and thought everything would be free from that point on.

Well, I've seen that attitude a lot from PC users since then, I've seen people I thought were perfectly honest swapping software illegally like trading recipes.

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I use Gimpshop and HDR photo software.
Sep 24, 2007 9:54AM PDT

I was a bit preoccupied with this and other posts to get back with you before now.

Mac was once highly praised for it graphic abilities If memory server me, it was graphics where the Apple computer became MacIntosh then Mac. This was the "stylish" software/computer for the graphic community during the late eighties and through the nineties but it has lost it's luster since then. PhotoShop and others have taken the lead.

I have some minor problems with the Gimpshop on Vista but it works OK. I haven't had it installed for long, I'm still learning about it. Right now, with the camera that I have this software is certainly precise enough. And of course all artist programs are only as good as the people that use them.

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Mac is just Macintosh in short. They are still
Sep 25, 2007 11:12PM PDT

"Macintosh" computers, and I still call them that.