I have been a user of all three operating systems for many many years now. My current fave OS is OSX, but I use many different operating systems based on the job requirements at work. You see, I do computer forensics. I have to know my software (and hardware). My main workstation both at home and at work is currently OSX. So can I tell you WHAT I HATE THE MOST ABOUT OSX?? PLEASE??? Here’s what it is and why…
I just love how with OSX I have the command line power of Unix/Linux with the market share (8.5%) and clout of an Apple OS (as compared to Linux’s ~1%) so that I can get the mainstream programs that I also like to use such as for video editing, and Lightroom for my photos (or my wife who is hooked on Word at her work and has special work needs that restrict her to either the Win or OSX environment). Plus, I just have grown to love the GUI as well. It’s simple, and unlike Windows, it just lets me get jobs done as simply as possible. I doesn’t get in the way like Windows. My use of Windows now is reduced to only for the specific software that requires Windows, such as EnCase or FTK, and to know it to be able to investigate it forensically.
Anyway, enough beating around the bush. My one big gripe about OSX as compared to Linux is that I can’t reboot the GUI if it hangs, independent from rebooting the operating system itself. This makes OSX hijack the hardware similar to the way Windows does, and I hate that. Why-o-why can’t Apple make a CTRL-ALT-BACKSPACE like Linux? I really want to be rid of that lack of control. I believe the main reason is due to the proprietary nature of the Aqua GUI which is the only non-Darwin part of the operating system. To me this reason ranks down there with Microsoft’s reasons for having 87 different editions of Vista. Marketing. Now I do understand that marketing angle. I do. It’s just that I really hate that they can’t or don’t disconnect the inverse umbilical relationship between functionality and money making.
So Apple, if you’re listening, here is my shortlist of desires:
- Detach Aqua from the main OS body
- Build Aqua to run as a parent gui server app like Xorg or XFree86
- Allow the user to kill the parent app called “Aqua” (and all the child programs) with one keystroke (after authenticating obviously)
- Keep this “Aqua” app completely independent of the main OS which could/should have the option of starting without the GUI being started. This would allow more efficiency for Mac Mini type servers
- Make this command-line booting functionality option only switchable-on via the command line as the superuser to prevent any inadvertent usage by an uneducated user.
Hell, at this point you could consider marketing your entire open source portion of your operating system as a headless server and then only charge for distributing the GUI which would be the only part that would be tied to Apple hardware. I could download the open source portion from Apple at one time, then later if/when I need a GUI, I just purchase the Aqua server and install/run that on the open source OSX base to turn the server into “OSX: The Workstation”. This would possibly allow penetration into the free Linux server market for users that are OSX power users that would otherwise use Linux in that situation but are already intimately familiar with the inner workings of OSX. Just a thought…
Linux can do it - why can’t you???
4 Comments
Interesting. I noted that someone on Digg just mentioned that I should have referred to the the “Apple operating system” as “Mac OS X” rather than “OSX”. Lol. I am assuming the the reader who would want to read this article would know what I was referring to when I mention OSX as being the “Apple” product and specifically version 10 and not 9 or 8 etc.
It’s a little like saying the “Chevy Corvette Car” when everyone knows what a “Corvette” is.
Sorry if that is confusing for some people…
Aqua IS detached from the “main MacOSX body”. It runs as a separate process, and can easily be killed from the command line and it will respawn. Since you are an “Expert,” I leave it to you to discover which process must be killed. However, I note that in my years of using MacOS X, the GUI itself has never hung, some independent routines (like the Finder) may hang, but those also can be killed and respawned (some even from the GUI itself).
The WindowServer process - Responsible for managing the computer’s display and mediating between the various Applications and other processes that want to display information on it. It also does the grunt work of launching new user applications, so most user processes are actually its children in the process hierarchy.
Interesting, “OSX User”. I would look forward from a tutorial from you on how to kill and respawn Aqua from the command line when you don’t have a terminal window open when the beach ball happens. Even if it is just the Finder that hung. How do you kill that? Compare this to Linux. I think you missed the point. Thanks for the comment anyway.
John Doe - that is correct about the WindowServer process - but how do you kill/respawn Aqua ala XF86?
This is the entire beef people have when comparing Darwin and OSX.
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