Unlike other versions of Linux and Unix, Apple made the OS X install easy. Just start up from the Mac OS X CD, open the installer, and install. You will have to register, but that's no big deal. Much simpler than a Linux or Windows installation procedure, that's for sure.

Of course, the first thing you will see when you boot into OS X, is the Aqua interface. With cool pulsating buttons, shadowed windows, and candy colored window controls, there is more iCandy than one can shake a stick at. Unlike what you may have previously heard, this is a very good thing. More user feedback, easier to use, and all around cooler makes this thing a much better Graphics User Interface than ever seen before.

The next thing you will notice is the Dock. The Dock replaces the Apple Menu of old, the Control Strip, and the Application Switcher. And it does a darn good job of this. You can store your most used applications, folders, documents, etc in there, applications pop in there when they launch, and pop-up menus for certain docklings all make those previous technologies extinct. You can hide the dock when not in use (but this practically makes it useless), magnify the dock when you cursor is over it (helpful for those with bad eyes), and turn off bouncing application icons (while they launch). The Dock is the future.

While you can do folder navigation through the dock, Apple has made many changes in which you navigate the Finder. Now, you have a toolbar, which is customizable, and one window that replaces the contents upon opening folders. You can remove the toolbar which makes multiple windows open as well, in case you like the old style navigation. As for views, you have the old icon and list views, plus you can go into column view, which keeps everything you have been in open, while new folders keep opening on the left of the window, making it easy to go back and forth through large lists.

Another couple of things Apple changed with its Operating System Revolution, is the menus, and window dragging and resizing. The menus are now way different (if you are a Mac OS veteran). The Apple menu contains recently used apps and documents, as well as stuff from the special menu of old, Force Quitting, system preferences, dock preferences, and a location manager replacement. The application menu now sits between the Apple Menu, and the File menu. It contains stuff from the Application menu of old, as well as about the program, preferences, and quitting. The rest of the menus are pretty much the same, with a few new commands.

Window resizing and dragging is much improved. Instead of seeing a ghost of the window, the contents are shown while dragging and resizing, moving around, and changing as you would expect. While this is a little slower than the ghost mode, it is much more useful, and worth the minor speed hit (which is getting better with every OS X update). And if you haven't seen the genie effect yet, it's nothing but awesome. When you minimize a window, it will shrink down into the dock, where mini representations of it show. Quicktime movies will run, web pages will display, and text in documents will be visible. TIP: if you hold down shift while minimizing, the genie effect will be in slow motion.

As with the Dock, and Finder windows, much of the new Mac OS is customizable. Besides view options and toolbars in the Finder Windows, you can even set different background images for each folder if you wish. Plus, the System Preferences application contains everything you would need to change like Network settings, Classic settings, Screensavers, Energy Saver, and much much more. Not to mention the customization you can get through the dock and third party utilities if you so wish.

One of those settings I mentioned was networking. Mac OS X supports automatic networking configurability. If you want to get online via a modem, just launch Internet connect. If you want to use Cable or DSL, just plug it in, and launch your browser. Mac OS X will automatically detect which type of networking you are using, and change it to meet your needs, without you ever knowing. Plus, you can be set up on multiple networks at once. An awesome feature for those on the road alot, or bringing their Macs from work to home and back again.

Another thing I mentioned was Classic. Just like when Apple switched over form the 68K to PPC CPUs, code has to be changed to run natively on Mac OS X from the classic Mac OS. That is why Apple built-in compatibility. If you launch an application that is not Mac OS X compatible, Classic will launch into Mac OS 9.1, and you will most likely still be able to work with that application. Some things will not work yet this way, and it is somewhat slower to run two OS's simultaneously on one machine, but it's a great substitute to loosing your old applications, until they get updated for OS X that is.

Speaking of Applications, developers are hard at work making their programs compatible with OS X. While many apps still haven't been updated, most of the time you can find a different application that will do what you want, and be OS X compatible. Unfortunately, this is not the same with games. Sure, many shareware games are coming out all the time for OS X, but only a handful of commercial games are OS X compatible. The sad part is, because many of the great games are so old, is doubtful the publishers will pump money into making them OS X native. So gamers, you may want to avoid OS X for now.

Finally, I get to the underlying stuff that OS X was built upon. Unix is one of the oldest, but still one of the best operating systems around (in terms of stability). Apple realized this, and built Mac OS X on top of a Unix core. This means, we have really great stuff like protected memory (application crashes no longer bring the system down), efficient virtual memory and memory management, preemptive multitasking, and the super stability of Unix. Windows users can only sit and cry to Microsoft for bringing them very unstable OS's, while Mac OS users can rejoice in an even more stable OS.

Mac OS X is a very new OS. Being released to the public on March 24 of 2001, there is bound to be bugs. While Apple is working very hard to get these fixed, I have to point out the biggest ones here, the ones that need to get fixed, and the most annoying.

First and foremost, Burning Data CDs is yet to be supported in Mac OS X. While you can burn Audio CDs with iTunes, Disc Burner has yet to make it's way to the new OS. Along these same lines, DVD playback still isn't part of the OS. All of you with DVD drives in your Macs will have to boot into 9.1 if you want to watch your DVDs.

The next one is more for PowerBook users. While Apple has increased battery life while using your PowerBooks with the latest update, they still haven't fixed the battery drain during sleep bug. If you let your Powerbook sit and sleep for 4-5 hours while running Mac OS X, you will wake it up to n almost dead battery. Very very bad.

Then, we have one that applies to those Macs coming preinstalled with Mac OS X. Since there is a little something in these things that tells it that Mac OS 9.1 is the default OS, the startup disk System Preference doesn't exactly work right. It won't keep your selection when quitting and relaunching, and is hit and miss whether it will startup from OS 9.1 or X unless you specify which OS you want before shutting down.

That brings us to the volume and brightness keys found on PowerBooks and the Pro Keyboard. These keys are vary nice in that you can adjust those settings really fast, without any software intervention, or so you think. In Mac OS X, the volume keys do work, but do not show you the nice little slider bar, or change the slider bar in the System Preferences. The brightness keys will work, and show the slider bar, but ONLY if you first launch the System Preferences, and select displays. Kind of defeats the purpose of those keys.

And finally, the biggest gripe everyone seems to have with OS X, the speed. Because this is such a new OS, Apple has not had the time to really optimize the code. Because of this, everything seems a bit slower than with OS 9.1, and with some things, ALOT slower. About the only thing so far that is faster in OS X is OpenGL games. I'm sure Apple will fix this in the future.

Mac OS X isn't for everybody. If you want to get your work done, don't upgrade yet. Apple spent 17 years making the old Mac OS, and X is only a few months old (as of this review). There are bugs to fix, optimizations to complete, features to implement, software to port, and so much more. But if you like fiddling with the latest and greatest, or need to be ahead of the curve in terms of technology (for tech support, your company, etc.), then OS X is for you. But if you are a hardcore gamer, graphics artist, or looking to get your work done as fast as can be, thenyou might want to hold off for a while.

Pros	Cons
Cool Auqa Interface Loads of new options with the dock Better finder navigation Solid window resizing and dragging Built on the super stable Unix Force quitting that works The ability to get deeper within the system is there Protected Memory, Great memory management, and preemptive multitasking A LOT of potential Timely updates	No Data CD burning No DVD playing Bad power management in sleep mode Still very few applications/games Various bugs throughout Speed is not up to the level of Mac OS 9.1
7/10 stars