Mac OS X 10.1 [OLD VERSION]
by Apple

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Software Reviews of Mac OS X 10.1 [OLD VERSION]

Customer Review: X Rocks!
Summary: 5 Stars

Customer Review: Apple OS X
Summary: 3 Stars

I find the system stable, workable, and user friendly, although quite a bit different in feel from OS9. You have a stricter file hierarchy, that rewards putting the right folder in the right place, and retrieving your folders and applications in the same manner.

I also find the system a bit slow. I have seen it at work on new Imacs and I don't find the right speed-to-system ratio until you get up to the 800 mhz, 100 mhz bus level (that means the newer G4 equipped Macs.) It is usable on G3 machines, but I have used a lot of options to turn off various graphic bells and whisltes that slow system X down.

That said, hardware will become faster and cheaper (it's Moore's law), and the underlying flexibility and stability of System X make it a good bet for the long haul. It's especially impressive when hooking up third party peripherals like digital cameras. iPhoto and iTunes live up to the hype. Overall, I will keep using it and look forward to future Macs.

Customer Review: Yes, its time to upgrade, it will be worth it.
Summary: 5 Stars

I was not planning to upgrade to OSX till late this year when I planned to get a new Titanium powerbook, but my partner bought me OSX for Christmas knowing that I was interested. I was at first reluctant to install it on my G3 powerbook, but when ahead and did it. I'm sold.

If you are thinking of upgrading to OSX from 9, here are some of the reasons I think it is worth doing so (with some caveats).
1. I've been using it on my G3 powerbook now for 4 months and the system has yet to crash, freeze or hiccup. The stability is amazing and has made my computer use so much more pleasant! Even the fact that I don't have to restart my computer after a application unexpectedly quits (rare, but it happens still) is a major blessing.
2. I find the interface beautiful and though it is different in several major ways from the old OS (1-9), it is still very user friendly and relatively intuitive (always a step ahead). I love the Dock.
3. Most of the major applications have now come out with OSX versions, MS Office, Explorer, Netscape, Palm Desktop, Photoshop, Adobe applications, etc. So there won't be much missing. There are still a few applications I am waiting for the upgrades to OSX, but for now I can use the 'classic' versions (see caveat below). There seem to be dozens of OSX applications both large and small coming out daily ....
4. Though most users will never need or want to use the Unix core of the system or ever open the terminal application, it has been a godsend for me. About 4 years ago I starting using unix/Linux to do programming, web site management and database interfaces in my new research job. I would switch from my Linux box to my Powerbook all the time (depending if I was writing a perl script or surfing the net/writing email, etc). Now I have the power of Unix with the ease of use of a Mac. It's heaven for me.

Caveats:
1. If you have a G3 (especially a powerbook), the interface will be slow. The graphics capabilities of these machines is not meant to handle the graphics intensive OSX. Mine runs slow (window resizing, etc), but I've lived with it since so much is good about it and I'll be upgrading to new hardware later in the year.
2. Realize that there will be upgrade costs. The upgrade from Office 2001 to Office X ...(I LOVE entourage though :), and of course there are a lot of other applications that you'll need to upgrade to get the full use of OSX.
3. There are still some applications that are not OSX compatible. I find using the classic environment (to run old programs) somewhat annoying and time consuming (to start it up), but doable. ...(you'll be surprised though how many applications you probably already have bought in the last couple years that can run in both systems :)

I now don't understand why anyone really would use wintel. If they are a poweruser, MacOSX or Linux/Unix are for them, if they want ease of use, MacOSX. But that is coming from a user of Macs for 17 years :).

Customer Review: New 10.1.3 version works like a champ on my G3
Summary: 5 Stars

Fortunately, this all changed with the release of 10.1.2 and now the current 10.1.3 upgrade. The OS is now ready for primetime.

I have installed it on a PowerBook 500MHz G3 with no problems and use it as my everyday workhorse.

The beauty of this OS is this: it is as powerful as you want it to be and as simple as you would want an OS to be. As GUIs go, Mac OS X is gorgeous. It's rich Quartz image engine renders a beautiful palette and surprising crisp desktop. I've even been able to bring back the often missed Apple menu with a great shareware program called FruitMenu.

And that is just the beginning. With its UNIX underpinnings, this OS is stable, stable, stable. Unlike OS 9, which I had to reboot every morning to insure the system's stability, I don't reboot the computer for days or weeks at a time. Using the terminal window gets you instant access to your system and allows eggheads like me the full accessibility we've become used to with Linux, Solaris and other UNIX flavors.

Now with PhotoShop 7 on the horizon and the release of MicroSoft Office and Macromedia Freehand, the idea of booting back into OS 9 is absurd.

This OS is a keeper.

Customer Review: Not for your beige G3.
Summary: 3 Stars

The onboard beige G3 SCSI system has a fairly shoestring termination system which worked under classic, but which fails miserably under OS X in some cases. OS X 10.1 wouldn't boot until I replaced my Apple 12X SCSI CD-ROM with an IDE CD-ROM at Apple's suggestion. Then, it wouldn't finish an install without crashing until I replaced my Apple 2GB SCSI hard drive with a Maxtor IDE hard drive, again at Apple's suggestion. My SCSI Zip is hit-and-miss and sometimes works, but often requires a reboot; my Microtek SCSI scanner isn't supported at all.

Once everything is installed, Beige G3 users will find that OS X is SLOW to resize, draw, and scroll windows and that many games don't work. This is because the OS X 10.1 drivers for the onboard ATI video in Beige G3 systems do not use any of the acceleration features of the video chip. Thus, all operations involving graphics, games, etc. are truly time-consuming and annoying -- just resizing a window takes 10 seconds or so and the movement is not smooth, but is jumpy and difficult to manage.

Apple say they have no plans to develop proper drivers for the video chips on Beige G3 systems, nor to fix the onboard SCSI support for Beige G3 systems. Fairly frustrating for those who bought G3 systems with the expectation that they would be usable for some time to come.

Conclusion: If you own a Beige G3 and have upgraded your system with a PCI SCSI card, a PCI video card and a PCI USB card (to which your Zip and scanner are attached), then go for 10.1! If on the other hand you have a Beige G3 and are trying to use built-in SCSI, built-in video and no USB, you will probably be somewhat disappointed by the performance of 10.1 and the lack of support for external devices.