[judyross]

I need some convincing, and for my love for all things Mac to be re-ignited.
I'm a graphic designer and have been working on a Mac since '91 with my LC running System 7. I keep my apps reasonably well updated, but wait for when their upgrades have enough compelling new features that are useful and practical to make it worth my money.
I've played around a bit with OSX, and I'm having a hard time getting enthusiastic. I'd need to spend the huge amount of money to upgrade Photoshop, Illustrator and Dreamweaver, and buy a new OSX compatible font management system. Add to that the headaches of working out driver bugs, the fact that QuarkXPress is going to need to run in Classic (with duplicates of all my fonts available to it there). And I'm quite good at troubleshooting OS 9 problems--do I really feel like learning troubleshooting for a new OS?
There's an insistant voice in my head that keeps saying that if I'm going to have to go through all this turmoil to change OSs why not just capitulate to the Microsoft juggernaught? Considering I was once someone who "bled six colors" this is a disturbing train of thought. (I even have an Evangelista shirt from back in the days of Guy Kawasaki's EvangeList)
So tell me--is there something wonderful that I'm missing? Is it really worth the expense in time and money? Give me your opinion.

[snail22]

three words: it never crashes.

[Ronaldinho]

OSX is better. It's a lot better.
Since you've got years of experience with OS9, you should expect there to be some teething issues. OSX is differnet, and that requires some getting used to. You shouldn't imagine otherwise.
But OSX is the best operating system out there. It's better than XP. It's better than 9. And at some point, you'll see the advantages of that. (With photoshop alone, just imagine never having to allocate memory to an application again!).
The thing is, at some point, you're going to want to upgrade your hardware, and upgrade all your programs. If you're happy with 9, wait until then. But if you're happy running an older verious of Photoshop and Illustrator, then go ahead and wait.
But OSX is the best operating system out there. It runs circles around XP. You will experience some frustrations as you get used to a new way of doing things--but that doesn't mean the new ways are worse. It just means that means that you're relearning habits that you've been reinforcing for ten years.

[mystery_stain]

In reply to:

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the fact that QuarkXPress is going to need to run in Classic

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Well, the fact is that Quark 6 is going to require OS X and apparently won't work in 9 at all. The decision is whether you want to get a head start on understanding X now, or have to learn OS X and Quark 6 all at once. Seems easier to get your head start. But I feel your pain, the X transition was very expensive with all of the software that had to be upgraded to stay out of Classic.
Take "OS X never crashes" with a grain of salt. A lot of people never have problems but kernel panics and apps unexpectedly quitting are discussed all over and if you have one you will feel like you were lied to about it never crashing. I can run OS X for days but before it hits 2 weeks uptime it will freeze at some random moment and I have to restart. I think that's just my machine. So OS X can crash. But it's not like OS 9. If OS X crashes, it's something basic like bad RAM, bad font, bad motherboard, or USB driver, and once you figure out what it is, then OS X never crashes. It can sometimes feel slower than OS 9. If it runs well right away on your system with no crashes, you can have that wonderful feeling that you can actually trust that the OS will keep going no matter what you pile onto it. Just some people get there sooner than others.

[rockinphotog]

Judy, what machine do you have? That's an inportant factor in a productive switch to OSX. I would say that someone with mission critical work (other than processor irrelevant apps such as word processing and email) shouldn't switch unless they are running a G3 600 or a G4 400.
Quark. If you use it every day, that is one very good reason not to make a permanent switch yet. Quark sucks for not being OSX native by now, but that is for another thread.
Upgrading your current apps is a fact of life, and something that you should look foward to, especially with such great features as the healing brush being added to Photoshop 7. Your expenses are minimal, since you only need to get the $150 or less upgrades. Of course I can't speak of all your upgrade costs, but in this time when you are waiting for Quark to be released, you could be slowly accumulating the upgrades for each app. It is a much less painful way to get current, and it's what most of us did. At least (aside from Quark) You don't have the torture of sitting around wanting to use OSX but having to switch back to use half of your apps that only run in OS9.
Stability is a huge factor, IMO. Recently I had to go into the studio and use digital camera capture software that was only available in OS9, and it amazed me how much the system would need to be restarted on a Dual 867. One app would unexpectedly quit, simply because you would detach a firewire cable, and of course we would have to restart, since the system wasn't stable any more. In OSX, if one app quits, crashes(very rare) or doesn't respond, you can just force quit it and re-launch the app without anything else being affected. Total stability. Amazing. I have never had Photoshop quit or crash in OX,and I regularly work on 200+MB files, with my mail running every minute in the BG, burning cd's, printing. I've never been more productive.
System crashes, freezes, kernel panics? I haven't had one yet with my dual 1.42. I've had it for about 9 weeks maybe? Since the day Jag was released, the only time I ever had one was when I installed everything for the first time (OS, all my apps,etc). After a fresh restart, everything was smooth sailing.
The idea of moving to a windows machine is just not an option.
You will really learn to love the GUI. It's smooth and if you like, can very closely resemble the way you were used to having your OS9 desktop arranged. I think the dock is so convenient and smart. It did take some time to get used to, but now it's another part of me.
The (my) suggested method of switching is to have OSX (jaguar) installed on your HD or another partition or disk on your computer. Start the gradual updating of all your apps. Look for coupons for online stores like amazon or staples ($30 off $150 is quite common, join Staples business rewards and they will email and mail these coupons regularly) and get the upgrades there. Install all the drivers for printers and scanners in OSX and test
you hardware. Work out any configuration issues you may have with those things. All the answers are already in this forum (multiple times /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ). In the meantime, you are still booting in OS9 as your main system and staying productive. By the time Quark is released, your OSX system will be completely ready to go, with no headaches or reasons to switch abck to OS9 anymore. That is how I was waiting for Photoshop 7 to be released. It made my life. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Maybe at this point you may even want to wait for 10.3 to be announced, in case it is a full priced update, unless you already have Jaguar.

[Philbert]

I echo everything rockinphotog said.
OSX is not an operating system to "play around" with briefly and then make a firm decision on whether or not you like it. Invariably, you won't like it because it doesn't work like OS9.
The suggestion to install OSX on a separate partition is a great one. I always suggest this to an OS9 veteran in order to gradually get used to it. Get your work done in OS9 and then learn and more importantly USE OSX when you have time. It's not hard. (This is exactly what I did, although I started with the public beta.) Give it some time, keep an open mind, and eventually you'll join the vast majority who would rather poke a sharp stick in their eye than boot into OS9. Put it this way, I LOVED OS9 - I also don't miss it a bit.
Trouble shooting OSX is bit different than OS9 but in most ways - it's actually easier. No extension conflicts to hunt down. No Chooser issues to worry about. No need to remember how much RAM to set. No need to reboot when an application crashes.
Benefits: Trivial to a production environment but important to some (me), the new music service and iTunes4 are reasons enough to run OSX! However, other benefits include: the ability to run 20 -30 apps at once, seamless and SIMPLE networking (even to PCs), crashed apps don't bring down the entire system, Safari, and it just plain looks cool!
I gotta ask though - you say you only update software when you feel the price warrants the additional features ... well, why in the world haven't you updated to Photoshop 7? In my opinion, it's a must have! I'd say it's almost as important an update as PS 3 was to PS 2! (and this update intro'd layers!) As far as Illustrator goes, if you're running version 9, good grief girl - update to Illustrator 10 pronto!! Illy 9 was horrible. Hopefully, you using version 8 in OS9.
As far as going to Windows - buying "crossgraded" software will be MUCH more expensive than buying updates.
Phil

[mystery_stain]

I should have mentioned in my post that, like the other two posts, I, too, made a gradual transition to X by partitioning my hard disk and installing X on one and 9 on the other partition. It was a great way to transition because I could get to know X but bail out to 9 whenever I needed to get a job out in a tried and true way.

[SueG]

Ease into it, as all suggest. The OS 9 partition is such a blessing at first. The differences in OS can be annoying at first and while you could just find your way around, a little training will get a you up to speed faster. Windows annoyances are of another order of mangnitude entirely.
Jaguar is great; problems we encountered in earlier versions of X just haven't come up, so you may not experience some of the problems you've heard about.

[judyross]

Thanks to all for your thoughts! Your encouragement is much appreciated, and I like the idea of easing into it suggested by many of you. I may hold off until QuarkXPress 6 comes out to start transitioning in earnest, but I'll start saving toward upgrading my apps now.

[Tlak]

As to the "it never crashes," this is, for the most part, very true. Just don't try to run the WarCraft III beta.. but that's completely unrelated.
It takes a while to get comfortable, but then you can't stand to go back. Just know, though, that you won't really appreciate OS X until everything you own runs natively, not in Classic. I finally got my Adobe set updated, and all of a sudden am much more impressed. It's nice to open Photoshop, get something else done, and tell Illustrator to open at the same time. That always bothered me with 9...only one thing can be done at once. If you switch, and you upgrade your software, you won't look back more than once or twice. But then it'll be to reminisce about good times gone. /forums/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[gdsegel]

In reply to:

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There's an insistant voice in my head that keeps saying that if I'm going to have to go through all this turmoil to change OSs why not just capitulate to the Microsoft juggernaught?

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If you had to move over to Windows, would'nt the cost be more prohibitive than upgrading your existing apps? a. Cost of new PC b. Cost of new applications (assuming there is no cross platform upgrade available to you).

Gregg

[italiano]

"it never crashes"... BULL. I use it Everyday (also running XP Pro on my PC) and OS X although stable does crash. The spinning Beachball is a sight to behold.
I've ditched QUARK entirely (used it for years) - am learning InDesign and love it - QUARK has waited too long to get on the OS X bandwagon - after that crummy 5 upgrade (all it offered was web stuff) I said farewell to quark - tried a beta of Quark 6 - looked promising but I'm sticking with InDesign 2

[Craig_McD]

I too use my computers for designing everyday. I ditto all that has been said (except networking to the other Mac computers wit older systems has not been particularly easy).
I made the transition by purchasing a much needed hardware upgrade which came with Jaquar. All my previous Adobe software upgrades were all ready OS X versions so I did not view that as an extra expense (more like an ongoing expence). I have NEVER found the need to work in Classic or boot to OS 9, ever.
You will appreciate the extra stability, but mostly you will like the productivity of the real multitasking (or what ever it is called). You can send something to print, go over and download a big image in your email, start InDesign, make an entry in your Palm Desktop and be listening to internet radio with iTunes. Point is, you can have all this going all at once. The only real drawback is not having downtime enough to pour more coffee.
Now, when I turn around to the other computers running OS 9, I have to literally remind myself not to attempt that because I know it will all crash.
You will never know Unix exists, unless you want to dig under the hood for the fun of it. Go for it. CM

[Ronaldinho]

It's true. You can't claim OSX never crashed. Nevertheless, I think it does crash less than any other operating system out there. Significantly less than XP, to say the least.
Application crashes happen--they have almost nothing to do with the OS. The great thing about X and application crashes is that they don't affect other applications. But every so often you can get the spinning beach ball of death--it just won't go away. But it's really damn rare.