Red Hat Diaries/0030

The Need For Speed

Some people want to wait for OS X 10.2 (right now it's at 10.1.2), and they point out that it's not often Apple upgrades a decimal that far.

Some people think that OS X is too slow on a G3, and only minimally bearable on a G4 - they might wait for the introduction of G5 machines to take the plunge. But even though they're right, they're missing the point.

Already a G3 is awesome processing power. And the graphics engine should more than compensate for the fancy things the interface wants to do onscreen.

What's missing is a serious code tweak: If this OS is to truly be the most advanced OS ever, then it must run and run well. It must have the same no-nonsense innards as Be. It must be extremely streamlined.

And what alternative is there? Wintel doesn't offer one. Linux is great - if you want to spend all your free time tinkering with your box and reinstalling everything.

But people who use Macs use them - they don't tinker with them, they don't pull out their hair, they don't swear up and down the walls at Steve Jobs, they don't have headaches and nightmares and a weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Their life is neither an overly eventful one nor a glamorous one. It's just there: They use their boxes, and do so with a smile on their faces, and that's that. It's 'get the job done' and the job really does get done. And painlessly too.

That's why the Mac is out in front. The hardware holds up; support and service more than hold up; the systemware and software hold up. What else is there?

Well, to answer my own question, there's getting root!

Click here »