OS X Leopard vs Windows Vista: Fight!! (Part 2)

Hopefully you had a chance to see the first half of this piece which I showed off some of the visual differences of Apple’s newly released operating system and Microsoft’s recent OS release, Windows Vista. I now want to take a look at some of the features both operating systems have and the different ways they are implemented.

Disclaimer: I have been unable to find a screen grab tool for Windows that allows me to set a timed exposure so I have been unable to grab screens of Flip 3D or the Alt+Tab program selector. If you know of one, please let me know and I will edit this post ASAP.

FLIP 3D and Expose:

Flip 3D, found in Windows Vista, is a really interesting concept but I just don’t think it feels right. It’s more of an offset rolodex than a 3D representation of the windows you have open. It runs fairly smoothly and mapping it to the Ctrl+Tab function was a smart idea on Microsoft’s part. Including the desktop in Flip 3D was also a really smart idea to let you easily get back to it without having to minimize windows or click the “show desktop” icon in quicklaunch if you have it enabled.

Above is Apple’s expose, which actually isn’t new at all to OS X and can be found in previous generations and it has remained relatively unchanged in Leopard. Expose can be activated by a keystroke, a mapped button on the mouse, or through the use of “hot corners.” There are two expose activations: one is for ALL windows and another is for only the windows within a particular program like you have multiple Firefox windows open. Once activated you simply hover your mouse over the window you like and click it. Expose then sweeps aside and the window you clicked becomes the main window. Really smooth and you can have as many windows as you want on the screen, they will just be smaller which is something you don’t have to worry about in Flip 3D.

I also want to talk about Apple’s Cmd+tab feature which is the same function as Windows Alt+Tab.

People who love this feature in Windows, you have to tip your hat to Apple on this one since it is an Apple invention. However, I do like the windows version better because Apple only lets you select programs whereas the Windows version cycles through ALL available windows. Apple uses expose to cover this feature. If you’re anything like me, however, you’ve become good at counting how mane “tabs” until the next window and can do it without looking.

FILE MANAGEMENT

I already talked about the look of file icons between the two operating systems and felt the folder look in Leopard was a step backwards. Granted the icons are all uniform, but they don’t pop like the ones on Vista. Let’s take a look at how each OS enables you to browse the files.

Windows Vista

Even though I don’t have pictures of all the settings, nothing has really changed from XP to Vista except for live thumbnails which is a VERY welcome change instead of the standard .doc icon or picture icon. But you still have list, details, icons, thumbnails etc. The browser on the left hand side is also much more welcome than the one in XP. Cleaner and easier to get where you want.

OS X Leopard

With Leopard, Apple took a page from the iTunes book and added Coverflow. Some have even said Leopard should have been called OS X iTunes since most of the visual changes are from iTunes.

Just like Coverflow in iTunes allows you to see album art for music, in the Finder it allows you to see live details of the file or folder you are on. Just browse left and right and the icons rotate in that direction. If you want to take a close look at the file you are on without having to open the program just hit spacebar to activate Quicklook.

Quicklook brings the file to the foreground of your desktop and allows you to browse it without even having to open the program it was created in. The address book is a poor example but if this were a .pdf or a word document, I could browse and read the file without having to open Preview or a text editor. Thanks to this feature. I have found papers I wrote in college with an entire 2 sentences on them that were just wasting space.

WIRELESS AND NETWORKING

Both OS X and Windows support wireless Internet and Bluetooth. It would be crazy not to in this day and age. It’s just a matter of how easy it is to manually set up these devices. Both operating systems picked up my wireless router fairly easily, but what if I need to manually get into the device properties.

Windows Vista

Even though a lot of the settings are easier to configure than before, there is still the feel and look of “you’re connected and you really shouldn’t be messing with this.” The diagram at the top is a nice touch as a way to explain the flow of information, but if it weren’t for Leopard, I wouldn’t complain about this, but all you get is wireless options in this window.

Bluetooth preferences in Vista still have that “device manager” look to them. If you’ve never messed around with device manager, I doubt you’re going to know you’re way around this window either.

OS X Leopard

Previously, with OS X 10.4 Tiger, you only had access to Internet options through Ethernet and Ariport. With Leopard, everything is right where you need it. Open up Network preferences and you’re there and it even includes FireWire with the option to add other devices and I assume USB would be one of them.

While there is still a little to be desired with the Bluetooth setup in Leopard, it’s light years beyond what Tiger did. For Leopard all you have to do is make sure your Bluetooth is turned on for your device and your computer and just click “Set Up New Device,” and you’re set.

Note: Even though it will recognize the iPhone, there is still no ability to use the iPhone to control the computer for front row, iTunes or anything. I haven’t tried it in Windows, but I doubt there is much use in Vista either.

A SOLO FEATURE OF VISTA

I cannot stand desktop clutter. I want as few things as possible on my desktop which is one of the reasons I switched to Apple. Even though the clutter sucked, it was much easier to use as program navigation than the Start menu. As I stated, I primarily installed Vista so I could game and I thoroughly like the way games are enabled in the start menu. Everything gets its only little neat window.

And thanks to the system rating, I now want a faster HD because it’s the only thing keeping me from a 5.9. Otherwise, all my games are within a click away. (If you have any game suggestions by the way let me know). I suppose with Leopard, I could create a stack for my games, but there aren’t a slew of games for Mac yet so as long as Aspyr keeps screwing up.

That just about covered everything I wanted to show you between the two operating systems. I firmly believe it would be a hands down win for Leopard if it weren’t for the lack of gaming. However, in the OS shootout, OS X Leopard does come out on top. Both operating systems have a lot in store for them in the future but the future is sooner for Leopard then Vista.

A Final Note: Leopard 10.5.1 has been released for update and Vista SP1 beta has been previewed.

iTunes 7.5 Next Week?

AppleInsider is reporting both Windows and OS X will see simultaneous releases of iTunes 7.5 in hopes of correcting a number of bugs such as freezing when upgrading iTunes store songs to DRM free versions. We’re also supposed to see better management of duplicate songs and videos along with better stability.

There is no mention of other possible upgrades we might see to device support. I’m a little leery about the upgrade coming soon after the new iPhone Jailbreak. I won’t be upgrading to iTunes 7.5 anytime soon and I urge you to hold off as well even people without iPhones. Wait for the reviews to trickle out and I will try to keep you posted as to what I hear and decide to do in the near future. For now, keep whatever version you have unless you’re having issues to the point of using RealPlayer (do they still make that?)

So just wait a few days, listen to some music, hang out and be cool. Everything will be sorted out for you. If you want song duplication management, I recommend Dupin which is an AppleScript that works in conjunction with iTunes to find duplicate songs. Dupin is shareware, but the only feature lacking is the inability to see more than 20 results at a time. For Windows there is DoubleKiller. I’ve never used it but it looks like it works with more than iTunes so have at it.

iPhoto’s Phatal Phlaw

I recently upgraded from iPhoto ‘06 to iPhoto ‘08. While I have had my gripes with iPhoto in the past including poor file management or the crazy duplication of photos. Whenever you made an edit to a photo, iPhoto would save one copy of the picture in an “originals” folder and then put another copy in a modified “folder” therefore doubling the size of your photo library…unnecessary! Why not just save the metadata changes instead of a whole other picture? I wish I could tell you iPhoto ‘08 remedied these problems, but I honestly can’t tell you if it has or not because of its new flaw.

What you are looking at now is the events screen, new to iPhoto ‘08, mildly obscured by the “Welcome” screen (can’t have you seeing ALL my stuff). In my opinion, the best feature of the update. Each icon is an event, or roll of photographs if you will. All you have to do to quickly browse photos is just drag your mouse from side to side over a thumbnail, and it will sequentially show all the pictures in that event as you slide across. Easy and quick.

However, let’s say I want to take some pictures from an event or roll and upload them to Facebook through my browser. Previously, when browsing photos in your OS X finder you were able to access the iPhoto folder, see the redundant originals and modified folder and select the folder you want and upload away. With iPhoto ‘08, when you access the iPhoto folder you are presented with:

the iPhoto Library (in Coverflow (an amazing Leopard addition by the way)). Notice how it’s not like the other browseable folders on the left and right. So what happens when you try to browse the folder?

That’s right, it opens iPhoto making it impossible to just browse your photos to upload to a site or to upload a single photo for an event like a Facebook event which is what I was trying to do. You have to export photos individually through the File>Export function or add a plugin like the one brought to you be Facebook developers or a flickr plugin, though this still doesn’t allow you to browse your photo library from a web browser.

Is Apple trying to hold my photos hostage? Or is Apple trying to make iPhoto so easy that it’s complicated? Perhaps they’re trying to prevent people like me from accidentally deleting a photo from the iPhoto Library folder and then wonder why it’s missing in my library when I have iPhoto open. I think that’s what Time Machine is for, right? Here’s hoping Apple will remedy this or someone will develop a plugin to allow you to browse your photos in the finder or in preview. This is also a heads up for anyone looking to upgrade. I feel all the new features are worth it, but this one really take a small piece of my soul away from me.

UPDATE: So I’m allowed to miss something sometimes. According to the comment below, I should be able to circumvent this complaint. When I get home I’ll give it a shot. Thanks for the tip. However, I don’t think this will resolve the issue of trying to search the album in a browser finder.

UPDATE 2: It turns out that you can in fact through the finder look at your photos in OS X if you have iPhoto ‘08, but you are still unable to do this through a web browser finder like trying to upload photos to a site through that site’s finder. Well I guess that takes care of one problem.

Leopard vs Tiger: Bringing You the Pretty

I have had a good 72 hours with Leopard now and I want to bring to you some of the visual changes I have noticed between Leopard and Tiger. I only have one negative concern in the Finder, but I’ll get to that. Unfortunately, I don’t have images of Quicklook or Coverflow at the moment but will get those soon.

Note: Tiger pictures were taken from my Powerbook. Leopard is from my Mac Pro. The version from Tiger will be first followed by Leopard.

Desktop

As you can see from the desktop, there is relatively no difference except my wallpaper, but that’s a matter of choice. Upon closer look at the top, you can see the differences of the MenuBar.

MenuBar

An obvious note is the difference in color between Tiger and Leopard. Tiger has a white Menubar while the Leopard is actually translucent. It looks a little gray because of the wallpaper behind it. Also, the Apple logo has been taken from blue to a dark gray and so has the icon for Spotlight.

The Dock

The dock in Leopard (bottom) now has a 3D reflective look to it. There has been a lot of complaints about the dock’s new look, but I’m a fan. The black triangle that notifies you which applications are running has been swapped out for a blue light. You can also see the new preferences icon from the switch/apple logo to the gears found on the iPhone. You can also see the icon for the new application Time Machine. The vertical line next to the trash can in Tiger has been replaced with a line of dashes. The 3 icons to the right of the dashed line in Leopard are stacks: applications, downloads, and documents.

Stacks

Above are the two views of stacks found in Leopard. The top is “Fan” and the bottom is “Grid.” The fan looks a little weird with the leaning, but I guess stacks tend to tip a little when items are stacked on top of each other; I’ve played Jenga.

The Finder

Note: I changed many of my Tiger icons in the finder on my laptop.

The stock icons are Leopard, Music, Sites, and Public. All with the glossy, slanted icons with a picture. The new icons are a matte blue with an embedded icon. You’ll also notice the Icons for coverflow and quicklook at the top. On the bottom of the main window is the “path” to let you know how you got to where you’re at. And what’s that massive gray box around it? That’s the much larger drop shadow to differentiate windows from each other. You can see a much smaller drop shadow behind the Tiger finder. Of course it’s not that black on the desktop but the alpha layer didn’t pick up in the screen capture

The left pane in the Finders are completely different. If you’ve ever used iTunes, you’ll recognize the pane in Leopard. It looks just like the iTunes finder pane. Leopard has a flat gray background, smaller icons, and links to searches done in Finder. However, unlike Tiger, I had to manually add music, movies, and pictures. They didn’t come standard. What is more weird, is (I’ll add a picture later) when you import in iTunes a finder window opens and it shows music, movies, and pictures under a Media heading. I’m not sure why this happened but I’m hoping there will be a fix or hack for this. Even under the Finder preferences, “Media” is not an option to view.

Preferences

Drop shadow change of course and if you look REAL close, you can see Tiger has lines all through the pane whereas in Leopard, the lines are gone for a much cleaner and sleek look. You’ll also see new icons for Expose, Time Machine, and Parental Controls along with a few “others” which I added.

Bluetooth preferences went through a major overhaul, but still no device uses for iPhone, hmmmm. Bluetooth is a LOT more friendly than it was before which is nice.

The network pane is also completely different and more user friendly than before. Forgive the Pixelmator stamps. I’m using the demo.

The Adium preference pane is a great example of how Apple manhandled the design of all apps to look the same. There hasn’t been an Adium update for Leopard, but you can see the sleeker gray in Leopard along with the larger drop shadow. Also note the beveled select of the “appearance” in Leopard as opposed to a full button push of the button in Tiger. It’s little tweaks like that, that make Leopard pop. It’s a really professional but fun looking appearance.

All in all, Leopard makes the OS X interface more visually enhanced but other differences like preferences really make picking up the OS a lot easier. Stacks is a welcome addition that makes getting to programs and documents a lot easier and definitely reduces desktop clutter. The idea is so extreme that you shouldn’t even need your HD’s to appear on the desktop.

Stay tuned for more Leopard.

It has Sharp Claws!

Well not so far at least. Leopard arrived around noon today. Unfortunately for my co-worker, he was “not available” to sign for his package. Turns out they tried to deliver it to his billing address instead of his shipping address. Leopard arrived in a nice, sleek package with a pretty neat hologram on the cover along with some of the major additional features on the back. Apple has adopted a minimalist approach to packaging over the past year due to pressure from a number of outside sources.

I should begin the install process around 7:30 or so tonight and it could take a couple hours to get everything installed and running perfectly again. So there has to be a few things I’m not excited about, right? I can’t be a total slave to the machine. In Windows, I hide the taskbar; in OS X I hide the dock, but I would really love to hide the menu bar as well. For Leopard, Apple has made the menu bar translucent. If they’re going to make it see-thru, why not make it come with the preference to hide it. I rarely ever use the menu bar anyway. I know most of the keyboard shortcuts for preferences and hiding. There are 3rd party applications that will hide it, but cost $5. Mmmmm that’s ok.

I also don’t like the look of the new icons in the finder. There’s kind bland and two dimensional. I wish I had a screen shot for you but I don’t at the moment. I’ll post one soon. One of the first things I will do is hit up InterfaceLIFT once I have everything else installed. Changing icons in OS X is the easiest thing ever and I will show you how to do that once I get things up and running.

I have a feeling there will be a number of things added in 10.5.X updates such as the ability to change the style preferences on the menu bar and the ability to sync notes from Mail to the iPhone. Apple did eventually give us the ability to use QuickTime in full screen mode without paying for a professional version, so they will on occasion listen to their consumers. Tiger also didn’t sync well via Bluetooth to the iPhone in my experience so I’m hoping the Bluetooth will be revamped enough in Leopard to be more user-friendly. Apple was the first company to adopt Bluetooth after all.

I know this isn’t every exciting now but stayed tuned as the day goes on.

People are a Talkin’

I’m basing this on one post, but it’s looking like people who pre-ordered Leopard WILL receive it on October 26th (please spare me the hate mail if I’m wrong because since I pre-ordered it, I will be equally as pissed). It looks as if that order is going to Hong Kong which explains why it shipped 3 days in advance and mine has “yet to be shipped” as its status. I’m keeping my fingers crossed. UPDATE: My status has been updated to “Prepared for Shipment.”

UPDATE 2: My shipping method has been updated to “Priority Overnite.” Glad I didn’t pay for next day shipping.

Early reviews are beginning to trickle in from developers and from an apparent Internet copy making its way around. The build being 9a581, although we’ll see what the version we get is. So what are we hearing? FAST!! Insanely fast in all areas. Programs are opening up in no time including mail. Time machine works instantly auto-detecting hard drives. Although what leads me to believe that this isn’t the final build is a comment about Finder hanging at first load. Although this could be related to hardware or fixed with a simple 10.5.1 update, I think it could be part of a bad setup file or it not being the final build of Leopard.

Tom Yager is calling this an “engineering achievement that dwarfs iPhone, iPod, Windows and Linux.” (I have an iPhone and it is definitely an engineering marvel, although the software needs to be hammered out). It also sounds like Mr. Yager is unable to fully disclose as much information as he would like until the official release, so he’s holding back. Yager has a great point when he compares the release and adoption of Vista as largely “incidental,” to being bundled with new computers whereas Leopard will see it’s primary adoption from OS X users going to the store or an online retailers seeking the upgrade, a level twice that of the release of Tiger and growing.

As I listen to MacBreak Weekly, the chaps are discussing what they are looking forward to the most. For me personally, there are things I look forward to to use all the time and a few things I am looking to try out. I will probably still never use iChat. I think AdiumX is the best out there even though it doesn’t have video chat which I don’t really need. Come my installation, I will finally begin using Apple Mail as my email client. (For anything I mention, check out the Apple site for more info, ot stayed tuned for my review in the coming days). Time Machine, oh lordy, Time Machine. I used system restore in Windows XP once and if it’s anywhere near the same in Vista, Apple has trounced the competitor. There is one thing I am eager to try, the new Automator.

Apple introduced Automator in Tiger. It is an application to make the system do chains of tasks automatically for you. I opened it a couple times, shrugged my shoulders and closed it. It’s difficult for me to tell a computer to do something the way a computer does it. With this new feature, you can turn Automator on, tell it to record, and it will follow what you’re doing until you tell it to stop such as opening a series of apps or working within an application like Photoshop or Pixelmator. I’ll be sure to let you know what I think of it. Of course, the worst part in all this would be if the install totally craps out, but I don’t expect that to happen.

Windows Releases vs Mac OS X Releases

I was perusing Apple news on a PC website. I can’t remember which one but it was a PC site writing an article about Leopard being released on October 26th. The article was the same as you’d expect from anyone making an OS announcement but what really got me was a lot of the comments slamming the OS X release. This will be the 6th installment of the OS X line, but many Windows users are seeing it more a service pack release than as a whole new operating system, where as 95, 98, ME, 2000, NT, XP, and Vista are all separate releases, so what qualifies as a new OS or a simple update?

In reality there really is no difference between a new Windows OS release and an OS X release. Each new release for both is an addition of applications or app tweaks, new visual enhancements and what the developers hope to be easier to use and serve the growing technology and hopefully influence future technology. The only time an entirely new OS available is where there is a total paradigm shift in how the operating system behaves like an entirely new experience.

With Apple, I can only go as far back as the switch from OS9 to OSX. Completely different operating system, with a whole new way of interacting with the OS, new design, an overall incompatibility with sporadic exceptions with the previous system. Microsoft too has done relatively the same thing: DOS to 3.1 to 95. Not a whole lot has changed since Windows 95 with the introduction of the task bar and easier access to your computer through the desktop and program files menu. Windows has changed, for better or worse (I’m looking at you Windows ME), visually and stability-wise since 95 but the core idea has remained the same. That goes for OS X as well with additions such as Expose, Widgets, Automator, Spotlight, Time Machine, Spaces, etc. But the paradigm hasn’t shifted since the release of the original OS X.

Both OS’s are offering the same type of “improvements” with each operating system. It’s just a matter of whether you like them or not and which OS you prefer. So if you think OS X Cat+1 with each round is merely a small upgrade, then you must accept Windows 95 and on is in only an upgrade, or you can think each new one is a new OS. It doesn’t really matter. I’m inclined to stick with the paradigm shift idea and that we’re merely seeing upgrades to both operating systems.

Upgrade or Fresh Install?

FRESH INSTALL!! With Leopard due out this Friday, a lot people are asking “Should I just upgrade or do a fresh install?” And no help to us all is the debate amongst bloggers and podcasters. Well, here I am to throw my opinion into the equation. (My answers goes for Windows users as well). I highly recommend and practice the art of doing a fresh install complete with hard drive reformat. Why? Well for a number of reasons.

When doing an upgrade, you have to make sure you computer is in perfect working order to be able to accept the update without it being clouded with all the crap that finds its way onto the hard drive. Over time, your hard drive will become fragmented and you will accumulate bloatware (especially you Windows users) over time through program additions. This is especially problematic for anyone that downloads torrents. Sure you will probably lose your visual settings and other preferences (unless you save the preference file) but those are extremely easy to revert to, and who knows, in the process you may find a different look you like more. Also, in my opinion it is MUCH easier to just save the files you want on an external drive of some sort and then just erase everything. For both Windows and Mac users, please make sure to save a copy of your documents folder. Most likely all of your most precious stuff is in that folder. Back up your music too. Even though you paid for it, Apple is very unlikely to give you another download of the music you bought from the iTunes store unless you have a pretty damn good reason, negligence not being one of then.

It is recommended with an upgrade to disable and additions you may have added to programs such as Firefox in case they don’t work right away with the new OS. Screw ‘em, and install them one at a time once you put Firefox back on. Everything works so much better once you’re at square one again for both Apple OS and Windows. In the end, your computer will thank you and serve you better if you reformat and do a fresh install of the OS.

With the new OS X, I was wondering if I would lose iLife that shipped with my computer. Apple doesn’t send you an install disc but only the restore DVD’s that have iLife on them. This can be done in 2 ways. One is do a fresh install of Tiger through the restore DVD’s and before anything is touched or changed by the user, do a fresh upgrade of Leopard. Even though this sounds like it goes against my teaching, it’s safe and works the same way. Everything will be in order. The other route is to begin with a fresh install of Leopard and then pull the iLife files from the restore discs. I’ve done this one before when I went from Panther to Tiger and it works just with a little digging around. For this install, I will be doing a fresh install of Leopard and then rooting around in my restore discs for iLife. I might even say “screw it” and buy iLife ‘08.

I’m eager to hear how everyone else’s installs of OS X go and anyone that might be going from XP to Vista or from Vista back to XP which seems to be happening quite often. I would also love to hear from people who upgraded to the latest Ubuntu Gutsy Ribbon from Feisty Fawn. Oh to be a computer lover, these are fun times.

The Purr is Coming

This Friday at 6:00pm 10/26/07, Apple will release OS x 10.5 Leopard.  That’s kinda redundant actually, but soon a lot of people will have to make an important decision and not just those in the Apple camp already wondering if/when they should upgrade, but also PC users contemplating the Apple switch or to buy a new PC with Vista and the eventual release of service pack 1.

Fear not, for I hope to answer questions you may be having with this issue. I am currently working on a piece for the hot-topic of the price of a mac. I have also been inspired by my fellow blogger Tim at anotherguy.wordpress.com who is a Windows expert to do a piece on Vista vs Leopard, and I also hope to do a piece on “Leopard vs Tiger: Should I Have Waited?” Stay tuned!

Until then, please be content with my ramblings of newses of the day!