Ready (or Not), Apple Taking OS X Plunge

Apple is forcing OS X down our throats--and that’s a good thing. In January, Apple chief Steve Jobs said the Mac’s new operating system would be preinstalled on new Macs as of July. But last week at Apple’s annual developer’s conference, he reneged: Apple is preinstalling OS X right now.

Why the accelerated timetable? To catalyze software developers into releasing versions of their programs that take advantage of OS X’s superior reliability and flashier interface. The more users who are hungry for native OS X programs, Apple figures, the sooner programmers will hit the Jolt cola and finish their efforts.

That argument sounds good in pixels, but many programmers are pointing their Dorito-stained fingers at Apple and saying that it is partially to blame for the dearth of OS X software. Portions of OS X and the tools used to develop native software remain in flux, and as I’ve said before in this space, you can’t build a house until the foundation is dry. And the fact is, revamping a complex application program to run under a new operating system takes time--no matter how intense users’ hunger might be.

What’s more, Apple isn’t exactly giving the new OS a full vote of confidence. OS X may be installed on new Macs, but those Macs are configured to start up under OS 9.1, which is also included. Apple is hoping some users will choose to boot up under OS X instead, especially as native programs become more plentiful.

Numerous utilities and small programs are already available for OS X, and America Online has begun beta-testing a native version of its software (see https://www.apple.com/macosx for a list of native programs). But only two major application programs are shipping in OS X-native form: Macromedia’s $399 FreeHand 10, a widely used illustration and publishing program; and FileMaker Inc.’s $249 FileMaker Pro 5.5, the Mac world’s most popular database program.

After spending time with both, I’m all the more eager for the native-software flood to begin--and I’m all the more convinced that Mac OS X isn’t yet ready for prime time.

Both programs look great decked out in OS X’s Aqua interface. Their tool palettes and dialogue boxes have an elegant, 3-D appearance, and the contents of their windows remain visible even as you move the windows. (In earlier OS versions, you see only a rectangle when dragging a window.) Both programs also use Mac OS X’s redesigned file-management dialogue boxes, which make it easier to navigate a hard drive.

But each program is accompanied by a read-me file detailing a litany of issues with OS X: printing problems, interface glitches, features that work in OS 9.x but don’t work in OS X. The programs are also slower under OS X: on a 667-megahertz Power Mac G4 with 256 megabytes of memory, FileMaker Pro 5.5 takes twice as long to start up under OS X as under OS 9.1.

Apple is doing the right thing by preinstalling OS X now. The move may not accelerate the arrival of native software, but at least more users will get to try the new OS. But if they’re like me, those users won’t be willing to sacrifice features and performance in exchange for pretty icons or even increased reliability.

Apple needs to continue working to remove OS X’s rough edges and improve its performance. And developers need to think twice about releasing native versions that aren’t identical or superior to their 9.x counterparts. Releasing a native program that’s markedly inferior to its 9.x cousin isn’t going to win any converts to OS X.

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Jim Heid is a contributing editor of Macworld magazine.