Mac OS X 10.3 Panther

Rating:
Summary: Best OS of any kind
Review: I've had my iMac for about 10 months now, after switching from PC land. Panther didn't take any geting used to at all to be honest. The reason is that it's so well laid out in the first place. Unlike Windows, you never seem to have to be burrowing down into the depths of the system to change some little thing. Everything's right there, and once you set it, stays set! Microsoft please note.

The system has crashed just once so far, when I tried a game CD frm a magazine cover. Apart from that, it's remarkably stable, and I've grown used to having lots of apps open at the same time and not worrying, even if I'm burning a CD or something.

At first my thought was that there isn't much to play with, not much to set, and that's pretty much the way it seems. There isn't. You just get on with it.

I love the way the finder works (especially in column view), with the left hand column for often used apps or folders that makes it so easy to move things around or burn disks.

I like the delayable voice reminders that shout me in from the kitchen when the next stage of a download needs attending to or something.

I love the razor sharp graphics, the way everything slides so smoothly around the screen. Expose, for instance, is amazing, especially if you have loads of windows open, which you get into the habit of doing.

Rating:
Summary: the romance is gone
Review: There was a time long, long ago when I enjoy using my Macintosh. Pleased with so fine a product, I bought many over the years. Certainly OS X (Panther) has thrown a couple gigabytes of ice water on that romance. But Panther has made one thing clear that never was before. Previously I never could quite express what I enjoyed about the older Mac operating systems. I can now. Before, I could find things. And I always knew where I was in the hierarchy of folders. If I had a document in a folder, stored in a second folder that ordering was always transparent. I could see the folders open, one inside the other. And when I closed up, they slipped inside one another quite intuitively. No more. In OS X, I haven't a clue. I do have a 750-page manual that I keep in my lap when working in Panther. With a trembling finger on the step-by-step instructions and my other hand on the mouse, I can empty the trash successfully. I know the red buttons close something-sometimes something I wanted closed, but more often my home window. (Which I've learned to find after a brief but infuriating search.) There are candy colored yellow and green buttons too though I can't say what they do just now. It's all there somewhere in the manual, but before reaching for help try a little reason. If the red pill closes a window, what would logic suggest about the functions of the yellow and green? Don't bother; logic is no guide in Panther. And that encapsulates the problem. In OS X nothing makes much sense, intuition is of no value, everything must be memorized. The claim is that OS X is bedrock stable. Try to console yourself with that tradeoff the next time you face the spinning beach ball of death. Hint: Erase your hard-drive and re-install everything. A rock after all is a rock.
And don't get me started on the Dock. I've read (several times) the twenty-page introduction that explains just how easy the Dock is to use. I condensed all that to a half page of notes, which I've misplaced. But the little icons do look nifty. And they do bounce happily-like little corpses on deliberators. In fact OS X has all the chrome gleam and high-tech awe of a modern hospital. Yes it is wonderful how technology can keep a body alive on antibiotics, feeding tubes, and assisted breathing. But remember how wonderful it once was to run free? Effortlessly if memory serves, and without much pain.


Rating:
Summary: Mac is the best, but there's room for improvement.
Review: I couldn't wait to try Expose, and now that I have it, I hate it. If I had it to do over again, I'd stick with Jaguar. It was a lot more stable than this version of the OS. Of course, I'll have to have Tiger the minute it's released. Panther is still light years ahead of Windows.

Rating:
Summary: Zero Stars!!!!!!!!
Review: Worthless trash is what my experience has been with this new operating system. I've got a PowerBook G4 and recently installed 10.3 Panther and have had nothing but trouble ever since. The first and main problem is that upon launch of an application, any application, like Word, Photoshop, Illustrator, Excel, Powerpoint, or Entourage, the application freezes during startup about 10 to 20% of the time and even force quit cannot close it, necessitating rebooting the system. I've called the Apple and Microsoft help desks, but to no avail. I didn't have any of these problems with OSX 10.2.2 and now regret changing. The enhancements are trivial for my needs. Buyer beware!

Rating:
Summary: Amazing!
Review: Mac OS X is the easiest to use greatest operating system ever. everything is simple but you can still do amazing things on it. A perfect 10.

Rating:
Summary: The Best OS I have ever experienced!!!
Review: Solid update, has a lot of nice little changes. However I don't like that you have to pay for it when you've already bought the other.