The new Mac operating system is gorgeous (and it works pretty well, too). Mac-heads will want it; Windows users will yawn.
Apple will release its first top-to-bottom reworking of the Macintosh operating system in the product's 17-year history. Steve Jobs describes the new OS X (say "ten," not "x") variously as "stunning" and "amazing."
His followers say OS X has "great production values" just like Jobs himself. But is this, as Apple claims, "the world's most advanced operating system"?
Probably.
Will Bill Gates and hundreds of millions of Windows users lose any sleep over this?
No.
OS X IS, WITHOUT DOUBT, the most gorgeous thing I have ever seen running on a computer. The characters I see on the screen as I type this - in the text editor, since there isn't an OS X word processor as yet - look almost like a printed page.
There are drop shadows on the edges of windows; the menus are vaguely transparent, revealing the application sitting under them. You can have a big animation running on-screen and drag a minimised movie - still running - right over it.
For most people, these might be gratuitous graphics tricks. But for the core Mac audience-art and design professionals - this becomes great functionality that translates into keeping the Mac platform of choice in their space. Apple has done, without doubt, an amazing job. Not as amazing as they would have you believe, but amazing nonetheless.
OS X, which has been available for AU$229 since Friday 23rd of March, is based on UNIX. It supports old Mac apps, doesn't crash, and offers a great platform for future development. It's a huge win for the Mac community and Apple has done itself proud.
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