Why is a
Mac so different compared to a Windows PC
Here are a few examples.
The
Package
When you buy a Mac, you get the hardware and software in
one buy.
Mac OS X offers software for most of the common things you
want to do on a computer. Think of browsing the internet
(or intranet), email, word processing, processing of
photo's, video and audio, etc., even blogging and
podcasting.
There is even more software installed and ready for use,
for instance Chat, an Apache web server, text-to-speech,
speech recognition, network & disc utilities and much
more. Mac OS X provides CD or DVD burning software too.
The Mac has Built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking
(802.11b/g), Bluetooth, Ethernet, USB & FireWire.
Configuration and management is simple and user friendly.
Security
A built-in personal firewall protects the system from
attacks via the network or the Internet. Installing new
software requires administrator privileges and user
authentication.
Mac OS X is multi-user (like Windows XP) and has its limits
on what the several user account types can do. A basic user
can not harm the whole system or other users, only itself.
The so called Keychain stores all your information that is
needed to use encrypted disk images and log in onto file
servers, FTP servers and Web servers. Other users on the
system cannot access your Keychain or its data.
Search
& find
Spotlight search is the
advanced fast desktop search engine for the Mac. It not
only recognizes file names but also knows the content
and meta information of each file that was indexed. (For
example, “date:yesterday” finds and serves a list of all
files that were opened yesterday.) File and document
contents are automatically indexed.
N.B. Watch
the Spotlight demo
on the Apple - Mac OS
X site.
Finder/Smart
Folders
With Finder
(more or less comparable with Windows Explorer) you can
search for all documents matching one or more criteria.
(For example, opened this week, with the keywords ‘project’
and ‘work’ and containing a specified string.)
Each 'search' can be saved as a Smart Folder. Opening a
Smart Folder shows documents grouped together based on the
search criteria defined by you. The contents of the Smart
Folder will be dynamically updated everytime you add new
files to your Mac.
Switching
windows
Exposé offers Instantly
access any open window with a single keystroke.
The same goes for creating an overview of the several
windows used by the active application (and switching
between them) can be done with a single keystroke.
Dashboard
Widgets provide you with information about your system or
from the web. Home to these widgets is Dashboard. Whatever
you are doing on the Mac, with one keystroke the Dashboard
appears complete with the widgets of your chioce. With the
same keystroke it disappears again.
N.B. Watch
the Dashboard demo
on the Apple - Mac OS
X site.
Install/uninstall
applications
Most applications arrive in a disk image with a .dmg (i.e.
'disk image') extension. When you double click a disk image
file, it will ‘mount’ onto your Mac’s desktop. You can open
it like a normal folder. Inside it shows the application.
To install it, drag the application into your Applications
folder. Other applications arrive as an installer. In this
case just double-click the installer and your 'app' will be
installed after OS X double-check with you by requesting
your password. Uninstall by dragging the 'app' into the
Trash.
