To upgrade...or not to upgrade...
Apple's new Tiger operating system is out and causing me to seriously contemplate upgrading my operating system. All my computing devices, printers, email and internet appear to be functioning well (at least for the last past week) and now I have to go and mess around with my system again and potentially bring new frustration and havic into my computing world. I must be nuts! I invite my own pain I believe. But, the prospect of new and better is soooo appealing. The new operating system even has a built in language translator. How cool is that! I am so tempted. To upgrade or not to upgrade. What will she do????
posted by Melissa Muldoon @ 12:02 PM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Hi Melissa,
We upgraded my daughter's Mac mini with Tiger last Friday and I'll say that it's a pretty nice upgrade.
If you work with a lot of files, I think you'll find Spotlight invaluable. After it indexes all the files on your computer (get a cup of coffee and wait) you will get instant access to any file you want by simply starting to type in what you're looking for. The more you type, the more it narrows down the list. Spotlight will index files not only by name but by CONTENT as well. Very cool. (If you've used the excellent Firefox browser, then you've experienced something similar with the History side-bar - except now it's system wide. )
Dashboard is nice and is where you'll find the Translator (yes, it's cool!) but I was sorely disappointed to find out it didn't do the "ripple effect" upon dropping a widget on the desktop because the mini doesn't support Core Image graphics... If you've paid for the more feature rich Konfabulator in the past, then you don't really need Dashboard.
There are lots of other updates (Safari 2 for instance) but you'll have to decide if the $129 ($99 at most online retailers) is worth it to you.
If you find yourself searching for that one file you just KNOW is on the system somewhere but can't find it ... then I'd say Spotlight would pay for itself the first time you use it.
Having said all that, there ARE people out there experiencing trouble with Tiger: http://applematters.com/index.php/section/comments/looking_forward_to_1041/
I have TWO rules I share with people who ask me about computers:
1) If it ain't broke don't fix it (Ask me again about this rule after I install the new Adobe Creative Suite on my computer later today...)
2) Buy as much computer as you can afford (or your spouse will let you get away with.)
So following Rule #1, I'd say wait it out at least a month or so and let others do the testing for you....
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