Category: Geeks r Us
I know, I know. I'm again defying my own odds and I suppose the odds of others. Just a week ago I was enthused about System access, and now, what's this? The mac?
It turns out that my attempts at installing iPhone OS 4.0 really made me start to enjoy the mac operating system. This is because I could only restore from within a mac, and, I also got wireless Internet up and running on it.
Before I begin my conquest at talking in length about the Mac, I wish to discuss with you… Apple licensing. Licensing has always been, and will always be, one of those " controversy subject areas of discussion anywhere.
The apple license agreement states that you can run the software on Apple-branded hardware. It does not specifically state that this has to be a Macintosh computer, which for me, is the upside of the mac.
I have never been at one with Apple's pricing schemes. The $1100 macbook which customers can purchase could cost $900-800 in another laptop computer hardware. I suppose quality will also be one of those key differing areas among users, but any laptop with the hardware Apple gives in it's laptops and desktops is bound to have a more quality feel to it.
With that said, Apple Macs are probably one of the best designed laptops, but also one of the most breakable ones. They are glossy which makes them shiny at times. Generally, of course, this is to attract consumer's attention. Somehow the smooth feel of my mother's macbook, though, has always lead me to feel a bit more careful about the delicacy of those machines.
So at the moment, I have Mac OSX 10.6.3 running on two out of the three machines I own-one of which, a 2006 IBM Thinkpad, was purchased by my family. It works well on that computer and also my Intel Atom Toshiba netvook.
I won't go into detail as to how you can get it up and running on your own computer, but will say that having a retail copy of Snow leopard will always be a handy help. I used something called iPortable Snow OSX as well as the retail DVD to restore the MBR onto my machines. So regardless, you will have to buy Snow Leopard for $30 from your nearest Apple Store. The cost offset of running Snow Leopard on your PC, however, is a lot less than if you were to go out and buy an actual mac.
The closer the hardware, the better you'll be able to run the Operating System. For example, my AMD machine, at this moment, cannot run the Mac at all, and will probably only be able to do so within a Virtual Machine because of the non-Intel hardware.
I did also, use three Apple stickers to brand my computers as Apple branded. I suppose this helps, though again licensing will always be up in the air and be questionable in any of these situations.
I also wish to note that I won't provide support or answer questions for any of those who wish to venture out and do this themselves. I don't think you need a lot of technical knowledge, but rather will have to be able to follow directions well and enter commands or procedures in order. The only two resources I give you are insanelyMac and Hackint0sh. And that is it-no more.
Mac OS: Why do this?
I often ask myself this question. I mean, I just got System Access, and really in this case what's the point of using a Mac now?
I have three thoughts to say on the matter.
First, is that while using my iPod touch, I've actually come to love the simplistic designs Apple puts in their product. I guess I'm no average Joe, but I do like when my work is able to be done in an efficient manner-without issues or problems or hard to find keyboard shortcuts. As most of you probably already know, my switch to Linux didn't go to well but was nearly there. (I'll revisit that OS in about a month's time).
Mac OSX is based off Linux. While it's not open source, it's half open, half closed. The underpinnings of the system, called Darwin, is actually released by Apple as an open kernel. Darwin is based off of free BSD and the Mach kernel, and this is why the terminal application uses Linux commands.
What isn't open source, however, deals mainly with the user interface of the Mac, commonly called Coco. Coco and Carbon are also frameworks Apple created and encourages developers to use them in their applications in order to provide a more streamlined interface across applications.
While I certainly don't know if any personal information is submitted to Steve and his company, I could, with some effort, at least examine the base of the Mac-Darwin. I have faith, though, that perhaps some of the Linux geeks out there have done this already and would of alerted the community if any code was found that compromises privacy.
I certainly think it's a lot better than Windows-at least I'm not running an OS which is totally in closed code!
But let us go back to the system Access issue.
While I might use the mac as often as I can, the sad truth is that I will still need Windows, especially at first during this time. You have to admit, most computer hardware to date is built around Windows, which means that 99.9% of computers will be Windows compatible. Not that there's a chance of me buying a new computer any time soon, it's nice to know that unlike with the Mac, Windows updates don't have a chance of completely breaking the operability of my computer.
System Access will also be useful in situations where I have to use the computer lab. With a $100 upgrade price I could easily take it on the go on my flash disk. Even now, having Satogo there to use in any lab situation is comforting enough. I'm thrilled that I've finally moved away from JAWS and am no longer in hold by their SMA requirements. I have faith in Serotek and that their products will improve over time, and maybe in a year might even match JAWS as far as those features which I lacked are concerned. So no, at this point in time, I do not regret my purchase.
What it takes to Switch: A quick rundown
When I tried switching from Windows to Linux
, I immediately
bumped into the issue of lack of supported apps. Those programs-such as AIM or Yahoo Messenger- had to managed by an entirely different application, requiring a new learning curve. Most Windows applications are also available for the Mac. Yahoo! messenger, for example, looks and behaves almost identically to it's Windows counterpart. About the same goes for AIM. I'm not sure if Net Transport, the download manager I use, has a Mac-equal, but I'll find this out probably tomorrow.
Voiceover support for applications also generally are good, mainly because of Apple's encouragements to use Coco, as well as the interaction which the screen reader allows within various applications. While Orca does have a flat review cursor, I have often found that screen items weren't able to be interacted with too often. The lack of a unified interface also meant that programs like the Ubuntu Software Center were completely inaccessible.
The mac faces it's own challenges too. I find that I miss the keyboard navigation I used within Windows. I can see the advantage of the rotter, but you have to cycle between the choices in order to find the right one and this can sometimes make web browsing take more time. I can't just jump to the next form, I have to cycle through tables, headers, links, visited links… To get to it.
At this point, I'm also looking for an accessible Twitter client. I've tried Syrinx, and wasn't too impressed, though it's certainly a nice improvement over some of the other clients I've used on Macs. And broadcasting on a Mac? That's out of the question, for now-not only because of the software costs, but also because I'm not sure if my microphone output s supported.
Conclusions:
The mac isn't perfect. In some aspects, it's more efficient-such as the ability to use the dock not just to access frequently used programs but to also find options on the bottom of application screens.
(While the dock doesn't hold application options, most apps do have a dock-like interface, where options are located in rows of buttons at the screen's bottom or top.)
I've also found, during testing, that the Mac does load websites faster on my Netbook than Windows. This is nice, because in Windows Internet Explorer does take a drain on the processor when rendering. I suppose that because it's Linux based, the OS does not utilize as many resources as would Windows.
I've always loved Apple's software. It's their hardware and policies that I don't meet eye to eye with. They restrict their developers, in particular on the iPhone, and dictate a closed-source platform which is not only prevalent in that device but also the lockdown which Mac OSX is placed into. While this certainly makes the corporation more efficient and prevents fragmenting, it also attracts them less customers. Apple made one of the biggest mistakes when, in 1997, they shut down the Macintosh cloning project. And had Jobs taken IBM and Microsoft upon their offers, we would have seen a completely different market situation among computer manufacturers and consumer choices.
-Tamas Geczy
April 13, 2010
ßß
(While the dock doesn't hold application options, most apps do have a dock-like interface, where options are located in rows of buttons at the screen's bottom or top.)
I've also found, during testing, that the Mac does load websites faster on my Netbook than Windows. This is nice, because in Windows Internet Explorer does take a drain on the processor when rendering. I suppose that because it's Linux based, the OS does not utilize as many resources as would Windows.
I've always loved Apple's software. It's their hardware and policies that I don't meet eye to eye with. They restrict their developers, in particular on the iPhone, and dictate a closed-source platform which is not only prevalent in that device but also the lockdown which Mac OSX is placed into. While this certainly makes the corporation more efficient and prevents fragmenting, it also attracts them less customers. Apple made one of the biggest mistakes when, in 1997, they shut down the Macintosh cloning project. And had Jobs taken IBM and Microsoft upon their offers, we would have seen a completely different market situation among computer manufacturers and consumer choices.
-Tamas Geczy
April 13, 2010
Written on Mac OSX 10.6.3
p.s: I know... The topic title is not right. It's switching from Windows to Mac! oops - sorry for the confusion...
I completely agree with you. If my powerbook hadn't died, I'd be using it right now instead of my windows7 laptop. I'll say what my friend said to me when we were talking about the different OS's. He's really not a mac person, he does prefer windows but he did say this:
Windows is good for word processing and that sort of thing, though the mac is catching up. If you want to do audio-related things, you'll want to go with a mac. If you want to get really down and dirty with your computer Linux is the way to go.
While I agree with most, windows does have some good audio-related tools, but the mac's internal? way way way better then any laptop that I've had before. Things just seem to just work under the mac more then windows in my opinion, and, best of all, you pay that $1300 for the macbook pro with the upgraded 4 gigs of ram, power it on, command+F5? and their is mr. Alex talking right at ya.
Hey.
I've just got a quick corection, you can jump from form to form and heading to heading and such by using the navigation commands.
VO+cmd+f for forms for instance.
Use the VO+Shift+F menu to get a list.
Malthe.
Original poster, you wrote:
Agreed with Robo. Since you are reviewing these on the Zone I do not think we care much how you got the software, so please skip your admitions of cracking and getting pirated software and doubly skip the justifications. We don't care if FS has issues with you or you do not own computer X of where you got your System Access from. If you were writing for any professional publication, of course, you would have to have your sh*t together, so to speak, and use legit copies of things, and if you explicitly admit in the review to using a pirate or illegal copy that just makes the review pretty lame, no offense meant. But you re branding yourself as a journalist so you'lto be judged as one.
Do the software switch or hardware reviews, don't get into why you got it or how you got it or troubles with your girl friend or any of that. Keep those for a separate topic, if you want to talk about those things (which is fine with me, but has nothing to do with the review you are writing).
Also, finish reviews, you seem to do a lot of first posts, claiming you will wrap things up later, but then you start on something completely different, so it's frustrating to read the reviews. There's a lot of good thoughts and these might be very useful if completed, as they stand they are not.
So, you got potential, clean these things up and get more professional and you may do very well.
Perhaps the manner in which I delivered could use improvement, but I responded in this and your other post only because you really seem like you've a lot of potential. Start reading CNet and other commercially available reviews. Michael Arrington and kind at TechCrunch might be a good place for you to start, as you tend to write in a similar style. I hope your school has sense enough to offer technology journalism or some such like as a course, because it's not the feely type journalism you see elsewhere, and there is quite a difference.
Also there's a huge difference between what is written on supposed accessibility news sites like Accessworld and the mainstream of what you get from TechCrunch, even Engadget so if you're serious about this you may wish to start reading those.
I'm no writer's critic: I rather suck at it and tend to ramble. However I will tell you watching my wife just go through writing a book, editing is pretty gruelling. And in your case, technology articles are really about the technology, how it works, and first impressions / use cases. Give the above-mentioned sites a lookover, maybe subscribe to their RSS and you'll probably learn more there than any of the 'access' sites. There's such a stark contrast between them.
thanks for the input/critiques everyone.
Lol, the zone is for sure a more community driven website. With that said, I'm not sure how many read my reviews outside the zone, but you are right-if working for a professional company using illegal software is out of the question. Granted, I know a lot of technology reviewers get to testdrive and even keep products which companies send to them on behalf of their company. (ex. Paul thurrott, Engadget).
Speaking of Engadget, I like their style of writing because it's more informal. My goal has always been to somehow make a connection with my readers, so that they know that I'm not just someone who does writing but rather am also a consumer just like them. I know several technology journalists who fail to do this. They often times tend to come across as very formal and personally don't have that ability to connect with me where I can say, "oh yeah, s(he) is just another human being, a consumer who writes technology articles but also goes beyond that.).
Being formal is good, but there is a way to be formal and connect with your audiance at the same time. Because we're talking writing here, this can be harder to do than in a speech or video. Especially if 90% of your readers will probably use a screen reader, which has less inflection and sentense expression style.
I still have to find that boundary between connecting with readers and revealing too much personal information. I'm hoping that this will come more over time, and that somehow I'll be able to go beyond other reviewers and develop my own unique style to connecting.
My plan is to write part II of this review tomorrow. It will be posted in this thread to save board clutter.
Thanks to those who pointed out Voiceover features. That's good to know, though I wish I'd of found it in the voiceover manual/help... I did look through that before writing this. I try to give as factual information as possible.
It's interesting how accessworld write their articles too. They focus of course on the blindness viewpoint, but I don't think they often try to look at all consumer degrees. (e.g. There's the average consumer, the one with more technical skills, and the total technical geek. Oh, and before all this there are the seniors, like your grandmother who probably doesn't use technology too much and needs lots of help.)
I try to again do this and it is a way for me to show that connection of "yes, I'm a consumer too.". Granted, no person could ever cover the wide range and diversity which exist among consumers, but we can certainly try!
Thanks again for all the feedback, will try to keep them in mind as I continue writing! :)
With all due respect,
-Tomi
One thing I was particularly impressed with regarding Apple was that their customer service/access group was very responsive to emails. If you find features that are missing from their manual I suggest you email comments to them for manual update and I believe they just might actually do it for the next release.
You hit a good point in that it is hard to write blog style articles vs actual articlaes. I have just struggled with this myself as I wanted to use a tech blog I wrote for work directly for their published annual report but realized, upon reading over the text, that the style was entirely inappropriate for the degree of formality required, so I had to rewrite the rtcle from scratch.
Being a bit personal, a bit funny and personable is fine, but I still think you should not discuss how you obtained the piece of software or why, not above comments like (I have issues with Jaws and find it too expensive and have been forced to seek alternatives) or something to that extent. Readers can assume you obtained the software you are reviewing legally and have no reason to question it and, for the purpose of your reviews, that's how it should be and what copy you hve is irrelevant to the review unless a jailbroken copy of the software works differently from a fully licensed version.
Good luck and keep them coming.
-B
Is there a way to submit bugs to them about certain applications, for instance, iTunes?