I can understand why some people wanted to stick with Mac OS 9, especially in the early days of Mac OS X when extra clock speed and memory were expensive and harder to come by. And connecting the PowerBook to my router required a trip to the TCP/IP Control Panel to get things working-the OS didn't just detect an active network interface and grab an IP address as it does now. The concept of 'Control Panels' that are installed and used like individual apps is alien to someone used to the all-in-one convenience of System Preferences. Niceties like scroll wheels and right-clicking aren't supported, even with an external mouse, and the third-party software created to enable those features didn't like my Logitech wireless mouse. There are oddities to get used to, though. It looks like the Windows 98 version of Mac OS. Even for someone who has primarily used OS X, this is still recognizably Mac OS, even if its underpinnings are much different. I booted to the classic Mac OS desktop, thanks to Mac OS 9.2.2 install media from Ars Senior Science Editor John Timmer.
