mac files and sizes

toasterman

Hi guys,
Real geek question really - just wondering...
Is everything on a Mac bigger?


For example:

Firefox 2
Windows version is 5.6mb download
Mac version is 16.8mb

I downloaded a trial of the latest version of Dreamweaver and the download for that was a good 100mb if not more, bigger than the Windows trial of the same software.

VLC Media player:
23mb download on Mac
9.2mb on Windows

The minimum requirements for Thunderbird on Windows is 52mb free space. On a Mac, it states it needs 200mb.

Does everything on a mac take up more space somehow? Maybe compression is different?


Also, anyone know why when I write something in Textedit, save as .rtf to a memory stick - it shows up as I would expect. When I put that memory stick into a Windows pc, I can see a load of hidden files on it, with almost identical names to the .rtf ones I created? Is it some sort of "undo" cache, like .pk files on Cooledit?

patflanel

Most Mac applications now are written for PPC and Intel processors, so 2 sets of coding are contained in one application, which is why they are larger file sizes. The mac uses hidden files, eg .DS_store for desktop filer windows icon positions which allow you to set how you window is viewed. Also macs use hidden metadata files which hold various info about type, creator etc which "should" be largely pointless now on OS X.

Hope that help clear it up.

isofa

Applications covering both Intel and PowerPC processors code are known as Universal Binary.

PowerPC processors are based on a RISC instruction set and require very different compiled code to that of Intel x86 processors which are CISC based. Obviously these applications (and installers) supporting both are much larger than one designed for a single type of processor, hence many application installers are larger than PC installers, which are for x86 compatible processors as patflanel says.

It also shows that companies are committed to supporting both architectures during the transition period, even though Apple has abandoned PowerPC technology in favour of Intel, it's latest OS X Leopard still runs on quite a few recent PowerPC Mac based systems (G4s and G5s), and most previous versions run on nearly all older G3/G4 PowerPC Mac systems.