Mac OS X is the best desktop OS ever. Seriously, it is. The newest offering, OS X 10.4, is slick beyond comprehension at times.

The migration app included and run during the post-install setup program is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Check it:

I bought a new dual G5 2GHz for a coworker a couple of weeks ago. Usually, when a new machine comes, I set it up on the network, install the suite of apps we use (Adobe Creative Suite, Macromedia Studio, QuarkXpress, et cetera, et cetera), config the user account, enable sharing on the needed directories, and so on. It takes usually 4-6 hours. But not any more.

Now, I boot up the new Mac, next to the old one, and turn it on. It starts the setup program, and along the way asks if I am migrating from an old machine. When I say yes, it waits for me to connect a FireWire cable between the new machine and the old machine. I then power on the old machine, holding down the ‘t’ key. This boots any recent Mac into Target FireWire mode, allowing the old mac to basically become an external FireWire hard drive. Once that is done, the new Mac begins transferring user information and programs to the new machine. It took about 60 minutes to transfer roughly 50GB of files, user information, and programs, to the new machine. And when it is complete, it prompts me to turn off the old Mac, and reboot the new one. After I rebooted, all I had to do was reactivate Quark, which has a bogus licensing scheme these days, but you can activate through their web site, and it only takes about 10 minutes for themto get back to you with a new ‘Activation Code’.

But seriously, *everything worked*. Printers, file sharing, all programs, the user account was absolutely identical, icons in the same place, everything. Absolutely fucking gorgeous.

Now if only XP could help me out like that….even with F&STW it still takes agonizingly long to get a new machine to the state I need to to be….Three days of free time and my T30 still isn’t absolutely dialed, and that was just a reinstall!