[Mac OS X TeX] OS X a nightmare?

Hemant K. Bhargava hkb at mac.com
Thu Sep 6 22:43:04 CEST 2001



<x-flowed>Hi -

I apologize for sending a generic OS X message to this group, but rest 
assured I'm a devout TeX and Mac user and my motivation is at least in part
related to (my dilemma of whether to switch to) OSX-TeX. I'm presently very 
happy with my OS9-Alpha-OzTeX combination, and am
wondering if cMacTeX on OSX is far superior, so much better that it would 
overcome the negatives discussed below.

(Assumption here: cMacTeX is the only TeX available on OS X. correct?)

I installed OS X on my iMac yesterday -- my spare machine, and am I glad I 
started there! From what I can tell so far, it's a nightmare. I'm very 
concerned, based on this, about what will happen to Apple. Will Apple users 
jump ship, with the result that Apple might face dangers of closing down, 
eventually? I hope not!

Specifically, I found OS X to be very slow, inelegant, and clumsy - and too 
gimmicky ... all things that remind one of Windows. I know at least some of 
these things  are customizable and can be fixed. E.g., I removed the 
"animated items in dock" feature, change the multi-colored window buttons 
to a sober graphite, and ensured that a double-click on a folder would open 
in a new window (vs in the same window, as in Windows Explorer).

However, inspite of the limited customization one can make (or at least 
that's what I know so far) the end result is quite inelegant, slow, and 
non-intuitive. I had a wonderful way to organize/customize and use my 
machine, and now I find myself reduced from an expert to a novice.

Lastly, but most importantly, OS X appears to make everything VERY SLOW. 
E.g., resizing a Window has a long time lag in OS X windows; but is 
instantaneous in OS 9, even when I'm in classic mode. Similarly 
applications take forever to open.

Bottomline: am I missing something here, or is this a common experience?

Thanks.

- Hemant



-----------------------------------------------------------------
To UNSUBSCRIBE, send email to <info at email.esm.psu.edu> with
"unsubscribe macosx-tex" (no quotes) in the body.
For additional HELP, send email to <info at email.esm.psu.edu> with
"help" (no quotes) in the body.
This list is not moderated, and I am not responsible for
messages posted by third parties.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
</x-flowed>




More information about the macostex-archives mailing list