Why prepare for it? - MacOS X (Ten) will soon, Apple is aiming for January, come pre-installed on all new Macintosh computers. In most cases I don't think you will have much of a problem moving to the new operating system (if you do), but there are some things you may want to experiment with or get used to before you actually use it. Of course you won't be able to run MacOS X on a Classic Mac, but you will be able to get ready for it on your Classic Mac. I've heard Finder is going to be radically different - Well, not radically different, but somewhat different. Mostly there are going to be some new ways with browsing your Mac's hard drives, CD-ROM drives, etc., not just today's desktop method. Although the desktop method was not included at all in MacOS X DP2 (Developer Preview) & DP3, it has returned in DP4 and will be available in the public beta and the final version, so don't worry about that. One of the things you may have to get used to is the new browser-like view which lets you view three levels of the current volume at once. Take a look at what this view looks like under MacOS X:
MacOS X's Finder (screenshot from www.apple.com) If you would like to play with the way this new (to MacOS) method of browsing a drive's contents then check out Greg's Browser which was developed before we had ever heard of MacOS X and provides the same feature (even on Classic Macs). Take a look at the following screenshot of Greg's Browser:
Greg's Browser How can I try out the power behind MacOS X? - The real power behind MacOS X is Darwin, an open source BSD (UNIX-like) operating system for PowerPC Macs. If you want to experience the power of MacOS X then try out a UN*X OS on your Mac and compare its speed to that of your regular MacOS system software (remember that performance gained will not be as great as that on a newer PowerPC Mac if you try it on a 68k Mac). Part of the reason that MacOS X will be a great advancement for the MacOS is not it's Aqua appearance or it's fancy dock, but the fact that it will provide preemtive multitasking (all applications will truly run simultaneously) and protected memory spaces (when an application crashes your computer won't crash, thar particular application will merely quit). Where can I learn more about MacOS X? - Well, if you haven't already, check out all of Apple's MacOS X info at http://www.apple.com/macosx/. You might also want to check out the latest look at MacOS DP4 by Ars Technica, it is much more technical than most people would like, but they have a lot of screenshots too. |
