Zen question of the day: Will OSX ever "mature"?

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silver sonya
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Zen question of the day: Will OSX ever "mature"?

Post by silver sonya » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:06 am

I am wondering if there will ever be a plateau of operating system development. Or is it always going to be in flux?

Having "it works on this version of OSX but it doesn't work on that one" blues today. I am a Mac devotee and I get exasperated with Leopard/Lion/Panther/Tiger/Housecat compatibility issues. Frankly, I find the PC world aesthetically unpleasant, and aesthetics are important to me, so I can't imagine ever going there. But honestly, sometimes I'm tempted to say "OK, I'm never upgrading again. That's it for me. Housecat forever."

What think you, good people?

Oh, and hi, Joel!

- Chad

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Smitty
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Post by Smitty » Fri Oct 17, 2008 11:11 am

Seeing as the alternative is quickly becoming the monstrosity that is Vista, you're still in good shape.

We're in the infancy of operating system development, not at the end. Most people still use a mouse, for god's sake.

Just imagine when the operating system truly thinks for itself and you control it (hopefully) by thinking!
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Post by austin » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:18 pm

Chad! How are you?

It will always be in flux because it keeps making them money. Making customers buy slightly better versions of the same things over and over the is basic concept on which Apple has built its business model, I think.

When Pro Tools 7 came out, I was briefly tempted to upgrade, but I read that it didn't work on 10.3, which is what I have. But if I wanted to upgrade my OS, I would have had to buy the brand-new 10.5... which Pro Tools didn't work on yet. It only worked on a single version of the OS, which was no longer available.

I think they've worked that out now, but I'm sticking with PT6/OSX 10.3 for a while.

--Austin.

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Post by rwc » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:30 pm

I'm excited about vista because it means that microsoft is going to have to be extra nice in their next offering if they expect to continue being successful.
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Post by joel hamilton » Fri Oct 17, 2008 8:38 pm

I have been rocking 10.4.11 for a while now on our audio computer.
We finally got a "new" imac G5 for in the kitchen at the studio, with the interwebs on it. It even has the email. That came with 10.5.x.
I like the refinements in some cases, but there is nothing I can not live without on a duty specific audio computer running high7.x.x PTHD.
My audio computer works very well, and I dont mess with it. I also dont upgrade until the demand for sessions in the new format start to feel consistent enough to move up. Thankfully, that is usually past the ".2" revision of any given big number upgrade, so the kinks are worked out a bit better.
I NEVER upgrade right at the cusp.(anymore). No way. I am not beta testing for Apple.
I guess that is why the stock is (was) doing so incredibly well. Selling the same thing to the same people over and over and over again.... that seems profitable, no?
I would love to charge full rate for the same CDR of the same mixes, but in a shiny new case. every couple of years to all my clients I have ever worked with.

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Jay Reynolds
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Post by Jay Reynolds » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:21 am

joel hamilton wrote:I have been rocking 10.4.11 for a while now on our audio computer.
+1
Prog out with your cog out.

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Post by dgrieser » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:45 am

My MacBook Pro 2 ghz came with Leopard. I couldn't get a bunch of my other apps to run on Leopard, so I wiped it out and installed 10.4.11 and everything started working again including audio apps.

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Post by Wilkesin » Sat Oct 18, 2008 7:55 am

Welcome to planned obsolescence not so anonymous. There's donuts and coffee in the corner. :D
Slider wrote:"we figured you'd want to use your drum samples and reamp through your amps anyway, so we didn't bother taking much time to get sounds".

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Post by GooberNumber9 » Sat Oct 18, 2008 8:34 am

I belive operating system development pacing is linked to hardware development. Consumers still want more from their computers, although less so than ten years ago. Right now you can't buy a comptuer that's too slow for internet browsing and even watching videos, so I see the pace of technology slowing down for the typical consumer.

I have a BS theory that says at some point, processing power and capabilities will be so great that even games that look just like movies and full-motion real-time video editing are both handled with the greatest ease by a typical consumer computer. What then? What kind of technological improvement could drive consumers to buy new computers in such a situation?

Maybe miniturization will be the next frontier, or maybe home computers will become like refrigerators where they are all pretty much the same, with some high-end models doing a few things that not everyone wants. At that point we may (hopefully?) see the pace of operating system upgrades and patches slow.

For now, we have to deal as we have been, I guess.

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Post by Wilkesin » Sat Oct 18, 2008 12:50 pm

There are some paradigm shifts right around the corner, and yeah, miniaturization too. Touch screen iMac style computers (it all fits on the desktop built into the screen) I would think would be fairly commonplace by next Christmas.
Slider wrote:"we figured you'd want to use your drum samples and reamp through your amps anyway, so we didn't bother taking much time to get sounds".

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Post by ctmsound » Sat Oct 18, 2008 1:13 pm

I agree with Joel, I don't upgrade unless I have to. There really is no need to unless the software you're using demands it.

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Post by Scodiddly » Sat Oct 18, 2008 3:52 pm

It's pretty much like cars. The Windows 95 and earlier computers are like Ford Model-T cars, reasonably dependable but needing a fair bit of maintenance. These days we're somewhere in the late 1940's... things are better, but you still need to take the engine apart every few thousand miles to scrape out all the gunk.

Cars even this day are still being improved slightly every year.

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Post by Smitty » Sun Oct 19, 2008 5:42 am

which car is Vista? I haven't heard of a car that asks "do you really want to turn left?" every time and only goes 20mph no matter what you do.
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Jay Reynolds
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Post by Jay Reynolds » Sun Oct 19, 2008 8:41 am

Smitty wrote:which car is Vista? I haven't heard of a car that asks "do you really want to turn left?" every time and only goes 20mph no matter what you do.
Quite a few people should be driving that car. Of course, this same car is incompatible with tire and engine parts made by its own manufacturer.
Prog out with your cog out.

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Nick Sevilla
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Zen question of the day: Will OSX ever "mature"?

Post by Nick Sevilla » Thu Oct 23, 2008 10:18 am

Zen question of the day: Will OSX ever "mature"?

No.
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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