Leopards and Tigers and Sloths, Oh My! Jack Hylton

Are operating systems getting slower, or is it just me? Seems to me, not long ago, it was exciting to see how fast a new operating system made your computer feel. Now it seems that everyone is reluctant to upgrade because where is the real value, other than fixing the shortcomings of their last release? I have been doing network administration and systems administration work, for close to 20 years now, and it seems like the industry is in an operating system funk. I am mostly disappointed in what I have seen the last 5 to 7 years, and Leopard is the worst offender yet! Now I might be jaded, because anyone that knows me, knows I am not what you would call a Mac enthusiast. In fact, I would rank OS X 5th on my list of current operating systems. I would rank OS’s in the following order. XP, Linux (any flavor running KDE), Vista, Solaris 9, then OS X.

Vista: What’s good…

• Fast booting, as long as I am not hibernated!
• Fast file system access, but I know you can do better!
• Sweet new GUI, you stole 1 of the few good things about Mac OS.
• Still the best option out there for my daily tasks, my blackberry and office collaboration with co-workers.
• Shadow copy just rocks!

Vista: What’s bad…

• New GUI is a memory hog!
• Every few hours, it just goes into some weird state of limbo, and nothing responds for 5 minutes.
• Took away the easy backup and restore utility.
• I can now only print to 2 Printers in the office, it wont let me load drivers for any older printers.
• $$$ Seriously, they need to reconsider what they charge. My first car didn’t cost $400.00.

Linux: What’s good…

• Stable, reliable and it’s an old friend.
• Still the best choice for what I think I should have to spend my money on!
• My first OS choice for a Web, Application or DB server.

Linux: What’s bad…

• Drivers, Drivers, Drivers! Especially if you want consideration to be on my desktop!
• Show me something new, besides making KDE prettier each release. I challenge you to boot faster!
• Grow up and realize not everyone wants to vi a .conf file to tell it I have a widescreen monitor.
• Give me a plug-in that logs me into Active Directory when I log into the machine.
• In this day and age, I should not have to compile source, to make it work.

Solaris: What’s good…

• Open source! Sun, welcome to the new world, it’s about time you see the light! Let’s face it, the only reason you still exist as a company is Java.
• Your an old friend, and I miss you and the days of Open Windows, bar, and snap administration.
• Drivers rock… As long as you stay with Sun hardware.

Solaris: What’s bad…

• Can anyone explain to me the purpose of a vfstab? What was wrong with fstab?
• Why do you charge me 300 plus dollars for the same hard drive I can buy anywhere else for 50?
• You may be too late to the open source game. I say this because I remember when your stock was 170 dollars, not 17 dollars. Maybe it’s because other people like me know how you over price your hardware.

OS X:

Warning! Stop reading here if you are one of those militant Mac users that offends easily!

Oh my, where do I start? Slow! So slow, it’s like you are going backwards! Now before I go too far, I have nothing but praise for Mac hardware, and that’s what made it obvious to me how much of a sloth OS X is. Take ANY of the new Intel based Macs, and load Linux, or Windows XP on it and you will see what I mean. Why is it so darn fast? It actually puts Dell, HP/Compaq, and yes even Sun hardware to shame. I have never seen XP run as fast as I have seen it run on a MacBook Pro. The reason for this MUST be because you know OS X is a sloth. Shame on YOU!

OS X: What’s good…

• Um, I dont know….. You come in a pretty box.
• Ok, ok, your GUI is decent…maybe even cool.

OS X: What’s bad…

• Why is it, the only questions you ask during an install is, will sign up for a .Mac account? More than once I might add!
• Why are you so slow?
• Why did you not ask if I wanted to talk to Active Directory or NIS?
• Why is everything hidden from me?
• Again, why are you so slow?
• Why do you load IPv6, iMovie, iTunes, and iDVD without asking me? Maybe I dont want that stuff eating my valuable hard drive space.
• Why do you assume I know nothing about technology, and dont even report problems like a bad network cable?
• I never heard an answer, why are you so slow?
• You still fail to show me how I can uninstall an application, and have confidence it’s all gone!
• Why dont you let me make a decision? It’s frustrating!
• Why do you make it feel like you are another entire layer running on top of another operating system? Couldn’t you have just written a nice X based GUI, that runs on Linux? Don’t try to tell me that is what you did!
• Lastly, why are you so slow? I know it’s not hardware, because I had XP running on the hardware the day before, and it was the fastest, and most amazing laptop performance I have ever seen!

I could go on, but I fear I am starting to repeat myself!

Someone wake me up when an OS upgrade means a performance increase. Stop teasing me with cute tools, and show me something that will impress me!

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