| Ill also be very honest about OS Xs performance. In "finder-related" tasks, Im disappointed with its speed on my G4/350. When you look at the benchmarks, youll see what Im talking about. OS X just takes longer to open things, to modify things, to change the look of things. Im hoping that optimizations will occur between now and July, for it truly does feel like a slug in the finder compared to OS 9.
The good news is that, outside of "finder-like" activities, OS X seems to be a very fast operating system. The benchmarks indicate that computationally, the system is crunching data quite quickly. Most pleasing is the performance of the Classic environment. Because of the stripped-down nature of the OS 9.1 system, many things actually run faster in Classic than they did in 9.1 native!
True multi-tasking also helps bring a perceived increase in speed to many tasks. For example, in OS 9, if you started a huge file copy between two hard drives, you could (theoretically) return to work in another app while the copy job was handled. However, the reality is that the mouse would skip and jump as the app and the Finder fought each other for processing time. In OS X, that doesnt happen. It doesnt matter if youre playing a QuickTime movie while copying a bunch of files and surfing the web. The system makes sure that all the tasks are given enough horsepower to get their jobs done, and everything feels smooth. Background copy jobs take hardly any more time than a foreground copy job. Movies play smoothly while you roll across the animated dock.
If youve ever printed a 50+ page presentation from PowerPoint, you know the aggravation of modal dialog boxes. These are the boxes that dont allow you to click on anything else until theyve cleared the screen. In PowerPoint, Ive often waited 20 minutes for a long presentation to print, staring at a box that says "Now printing page 13 of 75
" In OS X, modal dialogs are a thing of the past. Any model dialog box in Classic can be clicked into the background the only constraint is that other Classic apps may not become active until the modal dialog has been cleared. But all of the OS X apps will work just fine. This also helps you work more efficiently than you could in OS 9, as you can go on to other projects while the long print job spools. Shareware authors wont like this one bit, as modal dialogs are part of their (well-deserved) efforts to insure we pay for what we use!
The importance of a stable core that brings protected memory and true multi-tasking to the Mac cannot be overstated. The ability to leave everything open all day represents true productivity gains that are hard to measure but very tangible. As OS X matures between now and July, the number one area for improved performance (in my opinion) lies in the "finder-like" behaviors of the OS. If Apple can make it as responsive as the OS 9 finder, while keeping the power and beauty of the new interface, they will have a true winner on their hands.
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