Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther)URL: www.apple.comPrice: $229 standalone, free with Apple computers
Few operating systems generate stronger opinions than Apple Mac OS X. Many see it as the ultimate OS -- powerful, rock-solid, and easy to use -- while others criticise Apple for its comparatively expensive, and arguably underpowered, hardware. However, regardless of the costs involved, Mac OS X is one of the finest desktops around. It makes a great general desktop, but where it really excels is as a digital media workstation, with many of the finest tools available calling the Mac home.
Installation
You won't need to run the installer if you buy a brand new Mac and installing new versions of Mac OS X on a recent machine is a breeze. It boots straight from the CD, and you can manually create partitions if needed. Once the install completes (which can take some time on older hardware), a wizard runs to set your system's basic configuration.
Hardware support
Since Apple build both the OS and the hardware, you'd expect flawless support for the basic hardware in your Mac, and that's exactly what Mac OS X delivers. It also works well with the same kinds of generic hardware that Linux supports well, such as USB input devices and hard drives.However, Mac OS X doesn't run well, or at all, on older Macs. The OS only supports G3 and newer CPUs, and with 10.3 Apple dropped support for the first G3 machines as well. Mac OS X also lacks support for accelerated video on many older systems.
Desktop and applications
The Mac OS X desktop is a joy to behold. It's really not too dissimilar to a typical Windows or Linux desktop in basic operation, but the smooth and elegant interface is far more refined than anything out there. The Dock lets you launch and switch between applications, and the Finder gives you easy access to your files.The applications bundled with Mac OS X are, almost without exception, excellent. iTunes, the jukebox app that's now well known to many Windows users today, is perhaps the best music management tool available on any platform, and it's joined by iPhoto and iMovie, which make photo management and basic video editing just as easy. Apple's Safari web browser, and its PIM tools -- Address Book, Mail, and iCal -- are similarly top-notch.iLife '04, the media application suite that comes bundled with all new Macs, includes updated versions of iPhoto and iMovie, and adds GarageBand, a music production application. Like iMovie, it's simple, but effective, and it makes a great introduction to the world of computer music.However, when it comes to digital media production, you need to call in the big guns. Most of the key applications in areas like desktop publishing, 2D design and editing, 3D modelling and animation, audio and video editing, and musical composition, are available for the Mac. Apple has been aggressively pursuing the market, promoting development for the OS and taking ownership of major tools like Shake, Motion, Logic, and Final Cut Pro HD.
Contenders
Aside from Windows, there aren't any real competitors in this space. Linux doesn't pose much of a threat to Apple in most areas of digital media production, with few big-name commercial applications available. Open source applications are making headway though, so Linux may soon offer an alternative for less demanding users. However, we doubt it will match top quality commercial applications on the market at the moment.
There is one area that Linux has found its niche, however. Many 3D animation studios run huge Linux PC clusters for distributed rendering, and a number of them have begun to use Linux workstations for their 3D design work as well.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012