Questions
I was wondering if anyone out there can answer a few burning questions of mine.
1) I don't have a boxed version of Panther, I have whatever came with my iMac G5. Is there a way I can install a pure OS X 10.3? I performed a reinstall and it comes with extra stuff I don't want, some apps are even outdated like Quicken 2004, and can't be upgraded unless I purchase it. I just want a regular version of Panther, but don't know what really comes with Panther and what doesn't. And I don't know what to safely delete when using Software Update, the Bluetooth Firmware Updater stays in utilities even though it's not necessary and won't be redownloaded on an OS reinstall.
2) What's your opinion on Apple's defaults for OS X? Shouldn't many things, like the firewall, popup blocking, tabbed browsing, screensaver, fast user switching, trackpad tapping, be on by default? If I were making an OS I'd put a lot of thought into the defaults, for the most part it's excellent but I do question some of those things.
3) Will I get the same powerful video capabilities in iChat when using it through AIM instead of .Mac? I really hope so. The whole .Mac, QuickTime Pro, and iLife, in addition to a $129 OS every 1.5 years, is quite capitalist of them, it's going to be a bit taxing to keep up on the best Mac experience. I want to slim down on anything I don't need.
I thought I had more questions, but I think that's it. Thanks for any help.
1) I don't have a boxed version of Panther, I have whatever came with my iMac G5. Is there a way I can install a pure OS X 10.3? I performed a reinstall and it comes with extra stuff I don't want, some apps are even outdated like Quicken 2004, and can't be upgraded unless I purchase it. I just want a regular version of Panther, but don't know what really comes with Panther and what doesn't. And I don't know what to safely delete when using Software Update, the Bluetooth Firmware Updater stays in utilities even though it's not necessary and won't be redownloaded on an OS reinstall.
2) What's your opinion on Apple's defaults for OS X? Shouldn't many things, like the firewall, popup blocking, tabbed browsing, screensaver, fast user switching, trackpad tapping, be on by default? If I were making an OS I'd put a lot of thought into the defaults, for the most part it's excellent but I do question some of those things.
3) Will I get the same powerful video capabilities in iChat when using it through AIM instead of .Mac? I really hope so. The whole .Mac, QuickTime Pro, and iLife, in addition to a $129 OS every 1.5 years, is quite capitalist of them, it's going to be a bit taxing to keep up on the best Mac experience. I want to slim down on anything I don't need.
I thought I had more questions, but I think that's it. Thanks for any help.
Comments
Apple's approach to users options has always been KISS. they leave off more advanced features like these deliberately with the idea that they don't want to do anything to complicate the user experience off the bat. The Firewall might seem to be the only important feature that's off by default since it pertains to security, but since all ports are closed by default, it would be superfluous.
Don't know about the AIM vs. .Mac thing. I believe the video features are tied to the app and to the iSight, not the member service.
I wouldn't be concerned with buying the latest and greatest of these Apple apps and upgrades every 18 months. While us fanboys find the latest-and-greatest a real temptation, it shouldn't be necessary if you're plugging along just fine now. Besides, of course charging is capitalist, they're a for-profit corporation at the end of the financial quarter.
Originally posted by JonE
2) What's your opinion on Apple's defaults for OS X? Shouldn't many things, like the firewall, popup blocking, tabbed browsing, screensaver, fast user switching, trackpad tapping, be on by default? If I were making an OS I'd put a lot of thought into the defaults, for the most part it's excellent but I do question some of those things.
Having a Firewall On might block a service that a user is trying to run. Instead, OS X just ships with all it's default services off. Besides, with increasing amounts of broadband users and their accompanying routers, firewalls become unnecessary.
Popup blocking will block wanted popups sometimes. It's easy to turn on and off (just select it from the Safari menu, you don't have dig around preference windows for it), so it's better to just leave it off.
Tabbed browsing is a new and advanced feature that most Safari users probably don't know about or use.
Screensavers really are only for æsthetic reasons these days, as screens no longer "burn" images into them after long periods of time.
Fast User Switching is almost useless if you are the only user of the computer. It's better not to enable a feature that most new Mac buyers probably aren't going to use.
I personally hate trackpad tapping, I'm sure it messes up a lot of new users trying to figure the thing out for the first time.
Defaults have to accommodate for the lowest common denominator. In this case it's new Mac users which need to learn about a feature before they enable it.