[MacSpirit] If Microsoft owned OS X, they woulda shipped it looong ago (updated)

by Rodney O. Lain

9/26/00

In spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man[kind]!

Satan (Al Pacino), "Devil's Advocate"

I've paid Apple $29.95. Call it my contribution to The Cause.

I was going to resist installing it, but I saw the thing in action at a friend's house, which caused a change of heart.

"That's a beta?" I shouted, jumping out of my seat after seeing it run on a 300 MHz G3 with 64 MBs of RAM. "Hell, Microsoft would have shipped that thing long ago!" And I muttered under my breath, "and they woulda started working on Service Pack 1 right away."

Ignore what the naysayers are telling you on those other web sites. You can read all of the bitching and moaning, but I'm here to tell you that, not counting the "minor" issues of nonexistent drivers and compatible software, OS X is a damned good piece of work.

You see, I did more than run it on a machine: I gave it a public viewing.

But, first I did something I've never done before -- honest to God -- I read the "Apple Software License."

"This License does not allow the Apple Software to exist on more than one computer at a time," the Agreement says. So, I didn't install the OS on my G4 Cube. I, instead, went straight to my boss at Micro Center. He said that if it was a legal copy, I could install it. It was legal. I installed it.

(I must state publicly that this will be the last public comments I'll be making about Micro Center. If I understand corporate America, an employee can't discuss his employer without approval of the PR department. I haven't asked permission to discuss Micro Center, even if it's a glowing report. I'd rather quit on my own volition, instead of being "asked" to do so. But I wanted to at least mention where the following took place. And now that I've said it, I'll probably get a cease and desist, with which I will gladly comply. Anyway...)

I've talked at length elsewhere about Micro Center employees' unmatched professionalism, product knowledge, and willingness to cater to Mac users -- and the unprecedented ability to have an infinitely better stocked Macintosh section that any store I've ever seen. I'm still consistently impressed with the shopping experience Micro Center provides. Today, I was allowed to enhance that experience by providing a special treat for Mac customers, and a few PC customers. I was allowed to run OS X Beta on a machine accessible to customers. Before the day was over, the customers had spoken, PC user and Mac user alike, and they had spoken favorably of Apple and OS X.

The first thing I did was select a machine: an iMac DV SE. I made two partitions, 5 Gigs for OS X and the first 25 for OS 9.0.4. I installed OS X in about 20-25 minutes.

I rebooted, and the coolness began. I won't go through the pros and cons. Others have flogged that horse. What I want to tell you is the customer reaction.

Mac users were estatic. But repeating Mac users' commentary won't do it justice. What really impressed me -- and should impress you -- was the reaction of PC users, especially Unix users. One came in (like most of the customers) to look at the G4 Cube. I asked if he knew about OS X. If they were PC users, I asked them coyly if they'd ever heard of Unix. Then I did the dog-and-pony show: I showed them the Dock, the "Go" menu and its contents, the ability to reboot into OS 9 from OS X and vice versa. Then, if they were Unix-heads, I'd spring the the coup de grace: I opened the "Terminal" application and showed them the command line.

"That can't be Unix," one guy said. I asked him to give me a Unix command. He dictated to me a command to list the contents of the "root" directory. He saw the "Bin" folder and other stuff.

"That can't be Unix," he repeated. He dictated a few more commands.

"That can't be Unix," he said, walking away, smiling.

Another Unix user came in. I showed him a tour of Aqua, also. We went through the command-line thing. I saw him getting fidgety, so I let him sit down and "drive." He hacked away at the keyboard for a while. I came back, after leaving him for a while. He was smiling. This guy knew little to nothing about Macs. So, I recapped Apple's newfound good fortune and consistently strong product line. He said that in light of the Unix capabilities of OS X, he is definitely considering a Mac as a future computer.

And so it went.

I didn't meet a single customer -- or store employee, for that matter -- who wasn't impressed with what they saw (update for 9/27/00 -- I just finished reading a column by ZDNet's Matthew Rothenberg, in which his sampling of OS-X-related e-mail from Unix- and PC users echoes my findings).

This is what I think about when I read the letters from the geeks complaining about this or that bit of OS X minutiae. Then I remember that there are far more "commoners" out there than geeks in the pool of potential OS X converts.

Sure, Apple is working hard and heavy to make a good impression among the installed base of Mac users. But keep in mind that the final version of OS X is also geared towards the Unix and Linux people who are eyeing OS-X-enabled Macs as possible PC replacements. Most importantly, it's the consumer sphere where OS X will "do or die."

If my very small sampling of customers can be considered a bellwether, Apple is on the verge of some very good things next year.

OS X is a fine piece of code. Contrast this with the reports, apocryphal or not, that Microsoft knowingly shipped Windows 2000 with 64,000 known bugs. I doubt if OS X Beta has a fraction of such bugs, "showstoppers" or not.

Nevertheless, in the saga of OS X, it's we die-hard Mac users who may be left behind by the march of progress, wallowing in our complaints about the fundamental changes Apple is currently proposing. Think Different, indeed. It's similar to conditions and attitudes that existed when the first iMac appeared. I don't think there's any difference between then and now. Hence, the naysayers among us true believers will be proven wrong once again.

This column is © 2000 Rodney O. Lain. All rights reserved.

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About Rodney O. Lain

A former journalist and college prof, Rodney lives in Minnesota, where he freelance writes on the side and works during the day as a junior manager for a Fortune 500 company (daily he bemoans the fact that he was assigned a Gateway laptop by the IT guys). He has a soft spot for H. L. Mencken, Steve Jobs, Prince, Richard Wright and other well-known status-quo breakers.

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