O.S.
X-cellent?
When it comes
to
Marian technology this year, change is in the air. The 24 pretty new eMacs in Pipeline and their similarly
aesthetically
pleasing companion OS X (Operating System 10), are making waves in
Marian's
computer labs.
Good looks
aren't
the only thing OS X brings to the table, they are accompanied by a few
operation changes that seem daunting at first but are easy to handle once
you
sit down and figure it out.
Junior Katie
Shirk
voiced her frustration over the new operating system, "They're slow and I
hate
them. I really get
frustrated. I especially hate
that
colored wheel."
Unfortunately
for
Shirk and other frustrated Marianites, the upgrade was inevitable. As technology progresses, systems
will
be updated, for better or for worse. There are, believe it or not,
positive
changes that accompany the new generation of Mac operating
system.
Some
noteworthy
changes include a new way to access your server space, the addition of the
words "dock" and "spinning rainbow of doom" to the technological
vocabulary of
Mac-lovers everywhere, and a split-screen option for the finder window.
With every new
operating system come a whole slew of updated programs to run in that
system. There are updates
installed at for Microsoft Office, Macromedia Studio, and Photoshop 7.0,
just
to name a few. None of these
updates meant changes in the functionality of any of the software, so the
only
difference a user should notice would be an aesthetic one.
While many
programs
put out updates that would run in OS X, many did not. But fear not, gentle PageMaker user, OS X was prepared
for
this. To make it possible to
run
programs that are not updated OS X, the operating system will start up OS
9.2
in the background and run the two systems simultaneously so that software
made
for 9.2 will still run without any problems.
Many Marian
students have slightly mixed sentiments about the new system. Junior Marge McGill voices some of
the
student body's frustration, "After two years of trying to master the
computers,
I have to start over now.
It's
like a child being forced to use chopsticks after learning to eat with a
fork."
Friendly TAR
Katrina Smart urges the student body to remain hopeful, "I like it better
than
OS 9. Once you get used to
it,
it's great. It is easy and
lovely. "