Well, it's been nine months since my first look at MacOS X, and it still feels like a beta. I can print now, but only to my old LaserWriter IIg over AppleTalk. My networked Epson 800 is still not visible on the network, either in the MacOS 9.1 Classic environment or in MacOS X directly, but if I boot up into MacOS 9.1 directly, it is. Similarly, DVD's still don't work, but CD-RW disks do. My SoundSticks work just fine now, as does my USB Keyspan serial adapter, so I can control my X-10 lighting again, but none of my USB game controllers (Fusion Thrustmaster, Saitek Cyborg 3D) do.

So, in a word, it's a little better, but still very much a mixed bag.

Games that work well with a keyboard and don't require a lot of horsepower work, too. I've had no serious problems with Escape from Monkey Island, The Sims, or Quake3, for that matter. However, I cannot get Myst III to do more than crawl in the Classic environment.

Responsiveness in the Finder doesn't seem to have improved much either in MacOS X v. 10.0.4. There's still a delay resizing windows, and screen refresh anomalies in the Classic environment remain common. Another annoying trait in the new Finder is that I can't get the Dock bar to retain all the custom folder icons I select (or their custom names) through a reboot, so I have to keep a copy on the Desktop. (Strangely enough, when I saved an application icon for a folder, it did hold through a reboot, although I haven't been able to figure out what's different about it.) Then, immediately after reboot (and usually while the Classic environment is still starting up) I drag the generic icons that replaced my custom ones off the dock, and drag copies of the custom ones off the Desktop back into the Dock.

These little gotchas are vexing and a real turn-off, and with each minor update are the first things I check out.

I'm not sure how Apple plans to encourage current users to migrate until some of these issues are resolved. The old axiom that the Mac was better because it just worked intuitively is certainly not true again, yet. I know that I've placed ALL new hardware purchases on-hold until I can get a confirmation that they work with MacOS X first. My most annoying gripes have to be the lack of DVD support and access to my AppleTalk Epson 800 printer. And yes, I'd really like to play Myst III without rebooting into MacOS 9.0.4.

On the positive side, as you may have noticed, I continue to trudge along using MacOS X anyway just because it's so reliable and mostly crash-free. And yes, it's still beautiful. And no, I'm not going back to MacOS 9 (except to get use of my DVD and color printer back!). The stability is awesome! Classic applications do still crash, but I can restart them in seconds if the crash didn't also crash MacOS 9. If Classic did crash, I can switch over to check my mail or browse the web briefly while I wait a minute or so for it to restart. That's enormously cool...

You see, I hardly EVER turn-off my Mac anymore. I simply select the Sleep option under the Apple menu. When I return to my Mac, I press the space bar to wake it up, wiggle the mouse to interrupt the reactivated screen saver, and I'm back to work...literally within 10 seconds. And that's a priceless convenience. Sleep/hibernate on a Windows PC is very much a problematic thing. I have heard of some Mac users having chronic problems with the Sleep feature, but I've only had two random issues. The first problem I've had with Sleep in the current build is that the Mac sometimes loses its Internet functionality when I wake it up. That means no mail, no Internet, and that means a reboot to reload it. But even if that does happen, I can still save my work gracefully before I restart. The second issue, and this IS more serious, is that I've occasionally been unable to wake the Mac from Sleep, and that requires a press of the restart button. :-(

To be fair, I never had this latter issue until I updated to version 10.0.4. The same with the lost TCP/IP stack (Internet access). So, it might be wise to read the boards for a few days before jumping on Apple's latest recommended updates.

So, to wrap up... If you want to play around with a super cool, extremely stable new OS, with a beautiful new interface, AND you can get away with using your old legacy applications with a direct-connected (not networked) printer in the Classic environment, then MacOS X may be just for you. If you use your Mac for major work, pounding out PhotoShop/Illustrator stuff, and the like, you're probably better off waiting some more.

MacOS X is definitely a work-in-progress...better than last fall, by a large measure, but still not quite ready for prime time.

- Dave Marsh

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