“In many ways, it’s easy to slam Windows XP and Vista: Just start counting security flaws or user experience nightmares. When you’re the Goliath of the operating system world, everyone wants to hurl stones. But what about the proverbial David, or in this case Apple Computer Inc.’s Mac OS X? Looking for flaws in Apple’s OS seems like picking on the little guy — until you remember that Apple is doing very well these days and has made much of its vaunted UI and seemingly secure OS underpinnings,” Scot Finnie and Ken Mingis write for Computerworld.
Finnie and Mingis write, “Even though it’s been out for more than 18 months now, Mac OS X 10.4, or Tiger, is a noticeably better operating system than XP or Vista. But it’s not perfect. OS X has its own quirks and flaws, little irritants made all the more irritating by the fact that they come out of Cupertino, which should know better. There are some things about the way it works that aren’t as flexible, usable or convenient as Windows.”
Finnie and Mingis write, “we’re focusing on 15 of the little things already in OS X that need refinement or rethinking based on our everyday use of Macs:”
15. No Date Display
14. Widgets Can’t Be Placed on the Desktop
13. Inconsistent Use of Context Menus
12. Documents and App Instances on the Dock
11. Managing Window Size
10. Accessing Applications
9. Backspace and Delete Keys
8. Printer Setup
7. Inconsistent User Interface
6. Laptop Screen Dimming
5. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 1
4. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 2
3. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 3
2. Finder’s Hobbled Cut Command
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh
Finnie and Mingis write, “Some readers have already sounded off about their Macintosh pet peeves, and here are some of things they picked at:”
1. Over-protective Shutdown Error Trapping
2. Renaming Isn’t Easy
3. Secondary Mouse Button
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, there are third-party products and hacks that allow you to attack some of the issues mentioned above. What are your favorite solutions and/or other pet peeves about Mac OS X?
My number one irritation with Mac OS X are the people that use Mac OS X. They are obnoxious.
Welcome To The Social
15. No Date Display
Click on the time in the menu bar.
11. Managing Window Size
Much easier than Windoze, since we have the green “fit to content” in the upper-left of all windows.
10. Accessing Applications
Spotlight works well as a built-in application launcher.
8. Printer Setup
Compared to the Windoze printer set-up process? Pssh.
7. Inconsistent User Interface
WHAT?? Mac OS X uses system APIs throughout the finder and release them for developer use to maintain consistency.
6. Laptop Screen Dimming
My PowerBook’s screen dims and brightens with changes ambient light. Plus all Apple notebooks dim the screen brightness by default when running onbattery power.
…and so on, and so on.
Mac OS X isn’t perfect, but it’s the closest thing to computing nirvana that I’ve ever experienced. This list holds little credibility.
Apparently, the Computer World writers don’t know about the System Preferences where the day/date can be set to display in a window on the desktop like a calendar page.
sigh.
The only thing that drives me nuts about OS X is that my applications keep crashing for no good reason.
I’ll be browsing the intenet, playing a video or something and the application will just shut down!! There doesn’t seem to be a fix for this problem either…
I would really like to see this one fixed!
ZT you never disappoint..keep it up
Zune,
Brevity is the essence of wit. And you’ve been sarcastic for a long time now. Time for a change?
As for OSX irritations:
15. You CAN show the date and time in the menu bad, idiots
10. Shift CMD A, people. Or just drag the app to the dock.
9. What’s irritating about the backspace and delete keys? They do exactly what they’re supposed to do.
#1 is the only one that really bugs me.
How to display the date in the menu bar:
http://paulstamatiou.com/2006/06/11/how-to-display-date-in-os-x-menu-bar/
I agree with Computerworld that this should be a System Preferences option.
15. No Date Display
– gee, sure is hard to click on the menubar clock.
12. Document and App instances on the Dock.
– this can be done.. what are they trying to say?
10. Accessing Applications
– huh? this is way more flexible than Windows.
9. Backspace and [forward] Delete keys
– this is a stupid PC thing anyway.
6. Laptop Screen Dimming
– how is that a feature of OS X? Do they want more software control over it? I fail to see how that would improve the OS.
2. Finder’s Hobbled Cut Command
– yes, this could be handy
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh
– do they mean windows should always show the latest? I think this is being fixed with the “new” Finder coming in Leopard. It’s going to blow everything away that we’ve seen.
Those last 3 “knit-picks” are just stupid. More PC mentality being inflicted on OS X. Wouldn’t necessarily make it better.
“8. Printer Setup”
This is aleady incredibly simple and straightforward.
If that’s the best they can do (with most of the items being personal preferences and taste issues, not actual problems), I’d say that’s proof Mac OS X is an excellent OS. Just like the lame attempts a “proving” Mac OS X has security issues just proves how secure it really is (if that’s the best the hackers can do, Mac OS X must be pretty secure).
[With Windows, you can fill up a list of 150 items with just the current malware exploits.]
Tank, it is in the System Preferences you dolt!
Widgets can be loaded onto the desktop…
Open up Dashboard, and pop open the widget bar. Find a widget you want, hold down the mouse button, drag onto the dashboard screen (while holding the mouse button) and hit F12 (or whatever button you use to activate the Dashboard).
Boom!
a) Screen dimming is strictly optional – the defaults are just quite sensible, but you can configure it as you wish.
b) Window resizing under OS X sucks, that much is true. Fit to content is nice, actually remembering the last window size is priceless, but the resize-at-every-border feature in Windows and other systems is simply superior in this regard.
Jeremy: I’ll be browsing the intenet, playing a video or something and the application will just shut down!! There doesn’t seem to be a fix for this problem either… I would really like to see this one fixed!
Probably a misconfiguration or simply a buggy application. I don’t know this kind of problem apart from one application I know is rather fragile.
I am quite pleased that the Finder doesn’t retardedly treat entire files as “cut/paste” or “copy/paste” targets.
That kind of retarded shit was what a well-designed GUI was supposed to avoid!
Clueless Windblows sufferers wishing their archaic nonsense on the rest of the rest of us…
The Dark Side of the Moon,
Cool, I didn’t know that. Only problem is, the second you invoke the dashboard again, it’s gone.
It won’t show the date in the menu, only the day of the week through the date and time menu, but tank’s tip is great
15. No date: I use MenuCalendarClock (iCal edition)- it puts a little caladar with the date in your menu bar and a pull down calendar appears when you click on it with all your iCal events in it. It’s phenonmenal (Apple should buy this and have it on every Mac as the default).
14. No Widgets on the desktop? Use Konfabulator.
13. They don’t really give any examples of what they’re talking about, so it’s hard to comment on this.
12. I TOTALLY disagree with their analysis. The LAST thing I want is to have a all my open documents cluttering up my Dock. I like cmd-click to see the list of windows open in any given app- it’s good enough for me.
10. They TOTALLY blew it here. Create a folder with aliases to all the apps you want to group, then put that folder on the right side of the dock- now click and hold the mouse button on that folder in the dock and you’ll get a pop-up menu of every item in that folder (whether app or document). Great short cut utility.
9. Valid point
8. Also valid. It’s MUCH harder than it needs to be (you see they’re close- but not quite there).
7. Petty, irrelevant complaint.
6. EXTREMELY small complaint, but I’ve seen this on my MBP and it is annoying.
3, 4 & 5. Like 6. But if it really bothers you, buy PathFinder- a massively better Finder than the Finder.
2. Is this really the best they can do? Do they have ANY idea how miserably this compares to the list of 4,000 improvements I could make to Windows? Come on guys, give me a break!
1. I have NO idea what they’re talking about here! I’ve never seen a problem with this (whereas on Windoze, it’s ALWAYS a problem).
10) Quicksilver is a wonderfully elegant app-launcher (among other things), and it’s faster than Spotlight too.
9) Touch-typists can get used to the Fn-delete for a forward delete. Same goes for Ctrl+Click—it makes more sense than right-click
1) The finder works quite well. Worst-case scenario, it can be relaunched. Fortunately, it’s nowhere near as buggy as Windows’ Explorer. Integrating the internet browser into the system its self is only a bad idea.
Hey Ping…
Thanks for the input… The problem is that the only applications that crash are Safari, Mail, Quicktime, iCal and iTunes. All my other apps run just great!
I’ve tried checking the disc for errors, everything.. Am I the only one here having this prob?
I love my Mac but I have not used the one button mouse in the five years I have used a Mac.
I think this is one place where Apple has not let function override form as it should. A Two-button Logitech scrollwheel mouse is the best $50 a new-to-Mac user can spend. Even the Mighty Mouse “looks” cool but falls down on real world functionality.
Maybe my hands are odd, but I prefer the contoured Logitech over the “Dove Bar” any day!
Jeremy: Thanks for the input… The problem is that the only applications that crash are Safari, Mail, Quicktime, iCal and iTunes. All my other apps run just great!
That’s bizarre… I don’t use Mail, but I’d guess that it’s more due to some other influence. You might want to check the system and console log after such an event, additionally the crash log of the offending application. You might indeed find out why this happens on your system but not on other people’s computers…
Double-Command is a MUST HAVE for anyone with an Apple laptop. It turns your backslash key (below the delete key) into a forward delete.
http://doublecommand.sourceforge.net/
The missing forward delete on MacBooks is a big problem that should be issued. It annoyed the heck out of me in the beginning, and even now that I’ve got used to fn+backspace, I’d still prefer a single button fwd delete. BTW, two-finger tap on touchpad or two fingers on touchpad + mouse click is much better and way more intuitive than a key combination.
For brevity sake: I second Zune Tang’s statements.
The Dark Side of the Moon
Cool, but you know what? The computerstorewindowssalespeoplemakingmoneyfromcrapsoftware can just piss off and leave me to just work. Hasta baby, I’ll be black.
PS 100mil iPods at year end, wanna bet?
if your apps are consistently crashing it is probably unique to your system rather than an overall issue. I am a graphic designer who has hundreds of fonts huge graphic files and multiple apps open at a time…and the only apps that crash is not apples issue, it’s adobes! Check your fonts for duplicate or corrupt fonts because that could be your issue. Rather than blame the OS you might want to think about user influence?
Zune and the like – I understand your complaint.
I know it must be PAINFUL for you to be WRONG – ALL of the time.
What are these two button mouse issues? Desktops have right click and the macbook/Pro have this feature also just not as literal. The right click thing has to end! It’s a non-issue
As a recent convert from pc to mac, I really miss the “tile/cascade windows” options. Is there a replacement for this on the mac? I find organizing windows on a mac to be annoying, although expose sure is a helpful weight on the other side of the scale.
We are not obnoxious, we are smug, oh yes, smugger than Paul McSmug from smugtown who’s just got a Mac and is very, very smug.
Jeremy,
It’s something on your system. This isn’t the place to get help though. Try posting on the forums at:
http://www.macosxhints.com
Put as many details as you can about your system and the problem. I’m sure they’ll point you in the right direction.
5, 4, and 3: absolutely. I was thrilled when OS X introduced column view — I was a big fan of Greg’s Browser in the pre-OS X days. Windows still has nothing that comes close for quick file navigation (though I guess Vista will gain the little triangles Mac users are familiar with in list view.)
But the implementation drives me absolutely nuts. In fact I’m really looking forward to the Leopard Finder in the hope that some Apple Magic(TM) has been applied.
This is a really good article. I notice a few readers are getting their backs up (as Mac fans tend to do), but if you read the whole article rather than the list above, you’ll see that in almost every case, Computerworld acknowledges that OSX does things better that Windows, but that there’s still room for improvement.
And if you believe there’s no room for improvement in OS X, then I guess you’ll be saving some money this year — no point in buying Leopard, if Tiger is perfect!
Fix iTunes 7x. The so called fix hasn’t worked for me. My 3rd gen. ipod now has corrupted s/ware. The restore option in iTunes won’t help. Ditto with the reset option. My reseller has confirmed the problem and Apple won’t accept responsibility. So I’m now going to have to pay to fix a problem created by a company that I’ve always been proud of doing business with. It won’t stop me using Macs etc. but frankly this is just plain wrong.
Only people with no knowledge and little inspiration would come up with this list. 10.5 will be light years ahead of 10.4 and Leopard’s successor will be even better.
I take pride in being a smug Mac user. I mean, if there’s a real and honest reason for being smug, what’s wrong with it?
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Jeremy, almost certainly you have a case of bad RAM. Change it, or the bad set, and you will solve all those ridiculous crashes.
Okay here are my peeves.
1. No cut function in contexual menu
2. Finder column view does not remember the column widths
3. Why can’t a column be dragged from anywhere on their length, I hate going to the bottom.
I’m hoping for tabbed finder windows in Leopard.
As for smugness, I am with Tom Clancy on this one:
If someone asks you what type of computer you use and you tell them a Mac, they will either be impressed or embarrassed. Why? Impressed – because they have one, too and will respect your choice or embarrassed – they don’t have one and want one and will have to admit they envy the ease of use and complete elegance of the Apple operating system. – (or something like that – it’s been a while since I read that one. I am sure he said it more punctiliously).
And if a multi-millionaire author can see the benefit of Mac beyond all the non-problems with the finder, why not make the jump or just sit there and zune in your pants with envy.
Either that, or you may have corrupt preference files. You should be able to use plutil to scan your preferences files and find any corruption. Or you can simply erase the plist files, and let the application rebuild them.
I also wonder why on earth OSX doesn’t have an uninstaller. I hope Leopard has one. I’d also like to see a command line defragger for OSX. Regardless of what tech sites tell you, HFS still can become heavily fragmented as a filesystem handles lots of file creations and deletions. The file system can become like a minefield of scattered openings, and eventually this reduces OSX’s ability to save files in a contiguous fashion. On low memory systems, OSX really pays a penalty when going to VM on a heavily fragmented drive. OSX also needs a system preference for setting cpu throttling manually, so that people who want to use laptops but lower heat output can cap their cpu speed and not worry about burning their laps.
I would also like to see system scripts for setting system variables accordingly for desktop, server, low memory, high memory, etc. OSX isn’t currently dynamic enough specifically for lower memory systems. I understand Apple wants to sell support, but that isn’t an excuse for making OSX run well under ALL configurations that they sell it on, or at least giving tools to help optimize it for every configuration provided.
I lent my boss my old PowerBook the other day – said he could keep it till January if he wanted. He kept it one day, saying it was too complicated. He has a PhD in chemical engineering – WTF? I don’t think he even gave it a chance, but he had the opportunity if he wanted to learn.
So many people are so used to doing things the “Windows Way”, they can’t see any other way. For me, there is nothing on the Computerworld list I give any weight to.
Jeremy, I don’t have any problems with the applications you list. You certainly have either a corruption problem with some shared files or a hardware issue. It’s so rare to see an application crash for me that it shocks me when it happens (other than Lotus Notes, which will always crash on my MBP when replicating databases but is stable otherwise).
MDN Magic Word: Love – as in I love my Macs and OS X!
Jeremy,
You may have font issues. It’s been quite a while since I read about it, but I recall that the Apple apps you mentioned would crash if particular fonts were removed. Helvetica being one of them. Have you removed any fonts from any font folders?
common denominator
windows users wanting to make MacOSX more like windows
if you are going to use the mac, learn how to use the mac and dump you’re windows baggage
Finder needs a contextual menu to easily move/copy files from one “place” to another (like in Mail). Right now, the Finder only has a contextual menu to move a file to the Trash and nowhere else.
I agree with some of the gripes. I don’t show the system date and time and use the program wClock. This allows me to see the date as well as the time and get a little clickable calendar.
Network access and the finder sometimes drive me crazy. Network access can cause the dreaded spinning beachball. I want the finder to ALWAYS respond…
That said… I am forced to use Windows at work. Ugh
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”hmmm” style=”border:0;” />
Windows is a pathetic operating system… I don’t understand how anyone could prefer Windows.
:::
:::
:::
::: Real Thumbnail Preview in Finder
:::
::: (like XP & Vista have)
:::
:::
:::
Pain-Avoider, I’m with you. The inability to cut files in the Finder is a positive, not a negative.
You can have the date in the title bar: go to System Prefs:International click on the Formats tab. Then Customize the Times (adjust the medium to include the date) and it should include the date in the Title bar. I’ve been using it that way for a long time. Mine says: “Thurs 6:24:04 PM Dec 14”
I do have a few other gripes that should be included:
Finder/Spotlight search should allow for wild cards including “*” to be any character and “#” to be any number.
The green “zoom” button in the title bar does not work well at all. It is very unpredictable. In OS 9, there was an option that when you pressed option and clicked it, it would force the window to take up the entire screen, regardless of what is in the window. I never use the green button because I don’t know what is going to happen. Usually, it moves it and changes the size to something I don’t want – this happens in just about every application except OmniGraffle. Windows definitely beats the Mac GUI in this decision.
Other than that, I like the Mac far better.
If you leave iCal running the icon in the dock has the Month and the day number…
One thing that bugs the snot out of me is if I am in ICON view in the FInder, and I want to drag a file up one level in the directory, I have not found an easy way to do it. My first impression was to drag the file on the BACK arrow in the top left of the window. Nuttin. Seems like Apple usually reads my mind for this type of thing.
Does anyone know something that I am missing? I consider myself pretty savvy with OSX, and this seems like a pretty basic oversight.
Can’t somebody find an alternative assignment for the computerworld writers? They could try to find a life, maybe?
I miss the Scrapbook.
Finder Consistency is a biggie. The look and function of windows and dialogue boxes would be great.
Column View needs some work! In the Finder and in Open & Save dialogue boxes.
Having to constantly resize the SAME column in the SAME window or the SAME dialogue box drives me crazy! How about a button or preference that expands a column to show the whole file name?
I look forward to seeing what Apple does with the Finder in Leopard!
Many of these, including by others posting to this thread, are right on. But I hope Apple is listening to us–otherwise, this is kind of pathetic. Overall, of course, OS X is light years ahead of the competition, but there’s always room for improvement.
I am a long time Mac user and would not want to trade my Mac for a PC, ever. I do like the list view that remained on the left hand column of the Window’s finder. It is very easy to navigate between folders in different locations in the file system without have to have multiple finder windows open. Other than that, Windows sucks.
i know No1 on the list is a dud, windows refresh as and when things change in the finder and i know this for a fact because often when i’m uploading something from my desktop using yummy ftp and i delete some rubbish off my desktop the change is automatically reflected in yummy….what more could you want?
Jeremy,
My systems are in use 12 hours a day for years and Ihave yet to crash…..
I have no idea what you are running or smoking…
I think u r just full of it!
Here are my wish lists:
– Uninstall program
– Faster start up
– View the pictures easier, like XP(Don’t bang on me). Don’t like to view the pictures by launching a program
My peeves,
1) Controlling line spacing in Mail application. The other day it was putting every stroke of the return key as a double space, and there was no way to control or correct is that I could find.
Conroling font size and type not as easy as it could be in the mail application. They force you to open additional windows if you want to change either the font size or the type. I much prefer the pull down menus for this.
If someone asks you what type of computer you use and you tell them a Mac, they will either be impressed or embarrassed.
What happens when they ask “Which Windows version does your Mac have?”
Or better yet, “Apple? They’re still in business?”
The #1 thing Apple needs to change in Mac OS X is AWARENESS!!
For the love of God, shine some light on the poor souls buying “Vista ready” PofC’s from Best Buy. Or the ones who go online and order up the “Dell recommends…” crap.
I realize you aren’t going to win everyone, but at least let them know here’s a valid choice.
Tagging!!
http://leblog.exuberance.com/2006/06/implementing_ta.html
This alone would revolutionize the finder. Tell me what you think!!!
My main complaint with OS 10.4 is general instability compared to previous versions and a lower standard of quality bekow that I had come to expect. Panther was incredibly stable and efficient whereas Tiger has caused many problems on both my Macs. Frequent Airport dropouts have become common where it never happened before. It didn’t stabilize until the .4 revision was released. Kernel panics have happened, Safari often crashes and/or freezes if a tab is loading a heavy site. Once it even lost all my bookmarks. iDVD GUI stops responding while rendering audio, iMovie GUI does not respond if an imported file is large. Mail frequently has trouble transmitting passwords to local ISPs and .Mac leading to bouncing icons on a regular basis and having to tell it to ignore.
So am I upset? Not at all. Even as such Mac OS is so majorly superior to Windows that I consider myself fortunate.
That there is some discussion, at least, I find gratifying. OS X ain’t perfect. Pet peeve: finder update lag.
It’s very easy to fix the date display. In fact I’ve had it on all my machines for so long I’d forgotten it wasn’t there by default!
After reading the entire article I understand where this guy is coming from. These are legitimate complaints, but what a stretch it is to get there. All of them are extremely trivial and shouldn’t even register a blip on the radar screen. I will gladly take all 15 problems plus many more to keep from having to face windows every day!
Maybe Macworld should publish a 1001 Things that Could Be Better in Windows article.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Hi guys l see alot of hate towards Mac and the Pc.. Guys l dont own a mac, just a Pc. Here are my thoughts… 1. l`m sick of the way Xp runs with so many viruses and crashes. 2. l`m stick of the way we have to now activate almost every microsoft product. the things that l hate about Apple is not the products its the way some people are. Yes Apple has great products, and yes so does microsoft. But what`s with all the hate against microsoft. l seen l think it was the lastest video from apple all the hate they had for windows vista. A company doesn`t matter if it`s Apple or Microsoft doesn`t need to put the other company down. That`s the only thing l would have to say l hate about apple. Oh there is just one more thing.. everytime l visit macdailynews l`m sick of seeing vista this and vista that also zune this and zune that. Remember microsoft zune Vs apple ipod when apple released there first one l would say zune would have been the best player. But if people want to say todays ipod vs microsoft`s first zune is the best yes it is but we couldn`t Compare them both.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
l`m proud to say l`m a computer lover… being a Mac or a PC
ummm, i have a forward delete key… its above the arrows… the only macs i know of that dont have that are laptops….
The date on my iMac menu bar reads–Thu 7:35 PM Dec/14/2006, so what’s the beef?
The window resize thing I think is an issue. Why can’t you drag a window from any corner or edge to resize? That’s just silly.
Being able to tile windows would also be a useful feature.
But the thing which causes me most angst is the Dock. I love it and hate it. If it’s set to hide, it has this annoying habit of popping up when I don’t mean it to when mousing towards the bottom of the screen. If it set to always display, it takes up screen real estate. I’d like to be able to click-hold a launched application and see a pop-up of all the open windows as thumbnails… or something.
>ummm, i have a forward delete key… its above the arrows… the only macs i know of that dont have that are laptops….>
If you use the option key also, it deletes the word.
“3. Secondary Mouse Button”
must…resist…urge…to kill!!!
I swear, if I hear this again…!
BUY A NICE MOUSE!!! Microsoft makes a wonderful mouse!!! I use them on all my Macs, and have since the laser mice came out years ago!
*Think!!!*
I’ve been putting my widgets on my desktop since day one.
IT’S CALLED THE TERMINAL!!! USE IT AND LOVE IT!!!
>I also wonder why on earth OSX doesn’t have an uninstaller. I hope Leopard has one.>
Get AppZapper.
The analog clock in the menubar is hard to see.
TASKMENUBAR for OS X!!! Greatest classic shareware app ever.
Bring back the old way of shading just the folders (like you could do in classic) and give users the ability to choose their own colors. I don’t like the fruity colors that you get in OS X’s label choices.
Fix the dock so that it fits all the way across the screen (if a user wants it to) and leave a section of it for high res apps (such as stock tickers, system info, etc). If I have to live with the dock, then make it better…
– Mark
Drill to find an app?
What a bunch of numbnits. Start typing in Spotlight and the app will AMAZINGLY appear right before your eyes.
Sheesh.
I totally agree with #15, the date should be a clock preference choice.
Thanks Tank! That tip may not be “Apple” user friendly, but it works great!
I agree about the dynamic finder update…
It takes about 4-5 seconds for a new file to display in FInder, though you can see it in an application’s ‘open’ window.
There are a number of OS9 features that I thought were really great.
Widgets like OS9 D/A’s.
Tabbed folder windows on the dock
I really love OSX otherwise.
App launcher:
Command + space bar = Spotlight
start typing.. see app as Top Hit,
Command + return(enter) = App launched.
of course the Dock works, including adding an App folder, or, if you shut down your machine, you can have some launch at startup.
Comment:
From: MPC Guy
Dec 14, 06 – 07:18 pm
:::
::: Real Thumbnail Preview in Finder
:::
::: (like XP & Vista have)
Already have that, it’s just a bit hidden. cmd-j for folder view settings. Click the all windows radio button, then click “show icon preview” and bingo, you’ve got thumbnails. (and resizable ones unlike in windows, if you change the icon size).
Get AppZapper.
Get AppDelete, it does the same thing as AppZapper. But I find it’s not too difficult to use finder search (always use the search bar in finder for spotlight, so much better) and delete all the things that contain the name of the app, and you’re done.
You guys rock…
Well there are a couple of things on the list that are just plain wrong,
15. No Date Display – wrong, but it requires explanation (how big are windows manuals again).
14. Widgets Can’t Be Placed on the Desktop – wrong
13. Inconsistent Use of Context Menus – personal preference and opinion (provide examples pls)
12. Documents and App Instances on the Dock – More opinions and partially wrong (who wants 50 document instances in the dock. uugh messy) try expose F9 to track open documents. They are all laid out on the screen to pick from.
11. Managing Window Size – opinion & preference (never been an issue for me)
10. Accessing Applications – simple and cleaner than windows solutions offered, hell the easiest way is to just drag your hard drive to the right side of the dock for an Instant “start” uugghhh menu. I have my 10 or so most commonly used apps in the left column of all finder windows. Now that’s a great way to launch.
9. Backspace and Delete Keys – Well Apple have changed their keyboards before. “Option” now says “Alt” (shame that. I preferred “Option”) Maybe they will give you your precious delete key on the next batch of Macbooks. I prefer backspace personally – next!
8. Printer Setup – Never found this difficult so again opinion.
7. Inconsistent User Interface – Apple are throwing a few new interface styles at us on a few apps to judge response. Best way to see if we prefer the new style. At least they didn’t foist a Fisher Price interface on us like XP But I’ll give you that one even though it isn’t a peeve for many people.
6. Laptop Screen Dimming – Fair point. The screen does often go dim when you are watching a movie. It’s to save battery power. Does anyone know if this can be ovrridden so it doesn’t go dim to conserve battery power? One thought. Some people might welcome a setting for say the screen dimming only when the battery is below a user configurable percentage.
5. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 1 – not a problem for me. More of an ex-windows users issue
4. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 2 – again opinion.
3. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 3 – never seen this happen but if you say it does then you really do nest files deeply.
2. Finder’s Hobbled Cut Command – Since I grew up with Macs I never really thought about cutting and pasting files all around the place. I just want nice spring loaded tabs in finder windows pls. Is that really coming?
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh – I never noticed an issue with the finer not refreshing. Strange!
So 9, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1 are all fairly good points but most of them have never bothered me. Only really the screen dimming when I watch a movie.
So we can give them the new article name “6 minor peeves with OS X”
As far as Apple changing these 15 things. Most of them are about getting out of your old Windows bad habits. Why should Apple change these computerworld?
So as this is an opinion thing really can we write an article saying the top 1,000,000 peeves for Windoze Vista.
1. Registry still there
2. Still DLL hell
3. Basically it is a piece of solid poo. Unlike the Zune which is more a kin to squirty poo…
etc etc….
You guys rock…
Well there are a couple of things on the list that are just plain wrong,
15. No Date Display – wrong, but it requires explanation (how big are windows manuals again).
14. Widgets Can’t Be Placed on the Desktop – wrong
13. Inconsistent Use of Context Menus – personal preference and opinion (provide examples pls)
12. Documents and App Instances on the Dock – More opinions and partially wrong (who wants 50 document instances in the dock. uugh messy) try expose F9 to track open documents. They are all laid out on the screen to pick from.
11. Managing Window Size – opinion & preference (never been an issue for me)
10. Accessing Applications – simple and cleaner than windows solutions offered, hell the easiest way is to just drag your hard drive to the right side of the dock for an Instant “start” uugghhh menu. I have my 10 or so most commonly used apps in the left column of all finder windows. Now that’s a great way to launch.
9. Backspace and Delete Keys – Well Apple have changed their keyboards before. “Option” now says “Alt” (shame that. I preferred “Option”) Maybe they will give you your precious delete key on the next batch of Macbooks. I prefer backspace personally – next!
8. Printer Setup – Never found this difficult so again opinion.
7. Inconsistent User Interface – Apple are throwing a few new interface styles at us on a few apps to judge response. Best way to see if we prefer the new style. At least they didn’t foist a Fisher Price interface on us like XP But I’ll give you that one even though it isn’t a peeve for many people.
6. Laptop Screen Dimming – Fair point. The screen does often go dim when you are watching a movie. It’s to save battery power. Does anyone know if this can be ovrridden so it doesn’t go dim to conserve battery power? One thought. Some people might welcome a setting for say the screen dimming only when the battery is below a user configurable percentage.
5. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 1 – not a problem for me. More of an ex-windows users issue
4. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 2 – again opinion.
3. Managing Finder’s Columns View, Problem No. 3 – never seen this happen but if you say it does then you really do nest files deeply.
2. Finder’s Hobbled Cut Command – Since I grew up with Macs I never really thought about cutting and pasting files all around the place. I just want nice spring loaded tabs in finder windows pls. Is that really coming?
1. Dynamic Finder Refresh – I never noticed an issue with the finer not refreshing. Strange!
So 9, 7, 6, 3, 2, 1 are all fairly good points but most of them have never bothered me. Only really the screen dimming when I watch a movie.
So we can give them the new article name “6 minor peeves with OS X”
As far as Apple changing these 15 things. Most of them are about getting out of your old Windows bad habits. Why should Apple change these computerworld?
15. You can already change this with any system level utility (ie Tinkertool)
14. Konfobulator; it is free
13. Talk to the software devs, but keyboard controls are faster anyways.
12. Try command + ~, or dare I say Exposé
11. To each his own
10. Spotlight has a key command mostly for this functionality
9. I hate to break it to you, but EVERY laptop I know of Mac or PC isn’t an extended keyboard, so indulge yourself with some expoxy and fix this so-called “mistake”
8. Explain. Constructive criticism is supposed to be constructive.
7. I can understand the problem, but color is not the most important thing in a UI
6. Not everyone runs a laptop on a diesel generator, sorry.
5. I agree, although I don’t use this view personally
4. Wait for it
3. This is a personal problem with you pulling that crap you did in #4. Smaller filenames are the solutions to all of your problems
2. Not that big of a deal.
1. The go to folder selection will refresh where ever you go to, not the best solution, but then again a refresh is rarely required.
1. This has always been the case and for good reason. It sure would suck if your computer just shut off because you overreached for the delete key on your laptop.
2. Renaming is twice as fast on OS X. Simply hit return on any file and rename to your hearts content.
3. Fn + Click, carpal tunnel not included.
3. I meant ctrl + click, but it still isn’t that hard
Aussie Paul:
Hi Mate,
I understand what you are saying about us Macheads beating on Vista and Zune but you have to realise why we do it to understand.
We have had to put up with Windows users having inferior products but always taking the piss out of us for using Macs. I for one have put up with Windows users smug (but fake) platform superiority for years with stuff like “why don’t you get a real computer?” Or “I heard Microsoft bought Apple!” or “Aren’t Apple going out of business”. Here’s a good-un: “But We use Windows because it’s industry standard!” (defacto doesn’t make it a real standard pal!).
So we come on this site to gloat, bash Windoze and feel smug. The zune (although it’s getting a bit boring now) is just another thing we can poke fun at. It makes us feel good to bash the bully so to speak.
MDN is a site for the Mac users of this world and although windows users are welcome to come on here and comment and enjoy it or hate it you can’t begrudge us venting our frustrations with the unaware world out there. I know it’s probably Apple’s fault for not advertising the mac or OS X’s great points everywhere but that’s OK. We do it or them…
One thing you have to realise Paul is that if you go and look for video clips and interviews with Steve Jobs or Jonathan Ive you will realise that Apple’s driving force is passion for the work they do and a desire to make the best products they possibly can. Whereas Microsoft’s goal is to just own every market by any means necessary.
As a result, all Apple products since Jobs came back to the fold have been beautiful, fun, and impressive to use. With a few minor exceptions like the feint cracks in a few G4 cube clear cases. But Again in that example. Apple pushed the envelope and took a risk by creating something nobody had ever done before. they learned from that and are second to none in the use of transparent plastics.
To: British Mac Head
Bud all l can say is WOW you are right in what you have just said. l just dont know what else to say hehehe you got me. l`m hoping next year after the next steve jobs video comes out in jan to buy a mac mini. l hope this is the right choise for a first timer. Thanks again bud at least you were nice about it and with your reply. Maybe because we are both english heheheh Thanks again you have opened my eyes to all of this. we have given microsoft the chance to change but l guess they will never learn. Now l have to look up some great mac site for free software ect… Oh just a couple of things or if anyone else knows. 1. When are they going to release the limited edition of the harry potter ipod? also is apple going to release there own xbox gameing console or are they just getting into the gameing world for there computers? l hope they get into gameing for the computers… This would stuff up microsoft heheheh
Thanks
Paul
I agree the inconsistent UI. Why some windows/apps are like brushed metal(Safari) and some are not? What about iTunes 7 scroll bars??? Where did they come from …
Paul:
Nice one mate. The Mac Mini is a great little box and will allow you some portability at a really good price.
I would personally love one just to get a Mac with an Intel processor. I am currently running a G5 dual 2.5ghz. It was the fastest Mac around when I bought it but things progress quickly in the world of computer hardware.
I am not sure another Harry Potter iPod with the hogwarts crest will be made available. The 4th Gen iPod had one. Maybe they will do it again.
As for gaming consoles. There are some rumours about it but with the loss that Micro$oft are taking on the Xbox 360 I doubt M$ will bother for that many more years anyway. M$ seem to do a good job of stuffing themselves.
Oh yeah. And I am also a Paul.
We’re kinda prolific on this thread eh!!!
Mikko:
I think Apple were testing the water with the different interfaces. There is talk about a new interface style code named “illuminous”. Maybe these new non brushed metal styles are a precursor for this new one and maybe it will debut in Leopard.
Two things which are hardware oriented –
– A lack of forward delete key on MacBooks.
– The button under trackpad should be split like other PCs (physically or at least have left and right sensors with a single cover). The default setting can be both sides act as s single button and a system preference available to do left- and right-clicking.
Forget the control-clicking and other multi-object combos arguements, they aren’t as elegant as actually having the button. Adding a mouse with those features is even less elegant.
As for the app launching thing — I hear the same things over and over.
“Buy a utility.” Shouldn’t the Greatest OS in History (not sarcastic) include this functionality? (Actually, I’ve used DragThing since System 8, and love it, but Apple should really have its own built-in solution.)
“Drag your Apps folder to the dock and click-hold for a pop-up menu.” Nice solution, but it couldn’t be less intuitive. You have to know that a folder will behave that way when dragged to the Dock. (It also was a bit slow when I tried it.)
“Use the Dock or the Finder Sidebar.” (You can also drag icons to the Finder window titlebar, by the way.) Again, not a bad solution, but you have to know the option exists, and set it up. Also, not a good solution for someone who uses a lot of apps.
Finally, the one I “love” the most — “Type the first few letters in Spotight.” (Usually followed by some term that suggests you’re a complete moron for not doing it this way — I believe “numbnits” was used above.) Okay, let’s try that, shall we? (Overlooking the fact that it’s not really intuitive to use a search tool when what you want to do is run a program.) I want to run Flash, so I activate Spotlight, and type F-L-A… well, I want to keep typing, but I can’t. Spotlight is busy searching right now, thanks very much, and can’t be bothered to listen to any more keystrokes. (Don’t try to do anything else, though, or you’ll lose your Spotlight search!) Okay. Well, the list is getting pretty long, and Flash isn’t in it, just the utility SAFlashPlayer…Wait! There’s a red icon! It’s Flash! It’s…now it’s gone. Lots of items with FLA in them…just not Flash itself. (True, if I take the extra step of opening the Spotlight window, it’s there. But if I’m gonna open a window, I could just hit shift-command-A and look for it.)
(Sorry to rant. I’m not a Spotlight fan, if you can’t tell. I think it has tremendous potential, but so far it feels very much like a half-finished beta shoved out the door as a final product.)
::: Real Thumbnail Preview in Finder
:::
::: (like XP & Vista have)
Biscuit wrote: Already have that, it’s just a bit hidden. cmd-j for folder view settings. Click the all windows radio button, then click “show icon preview” and bingo, you’ve got thumbnails. (and resizable ones unlike in windows, if you change the icon size).
Thanks Biscuit, that’s a great tip. I was thinking more along the lines of previewing more file types though – like movies and such. Great tip though! Thanks!
Forward delete? I’ve used that on purpose a handful of times my entire life — and I write a lot.
Cutting and pasting files is trash.
Dynamic manual refresh is ABSOLUTELY THE WRONG WAY TO GO. Why? It makes *you* do the work that the finder should be doing for you. No way would I want that on my Mac. That’s freaking idiotic.
As previously pointed out, most of these “peeves” have workarounds in preferences. Several of them are things I LIKE about OS/X over Windows.
Ex/ Overprotective shutdown process – I once was running Bootcamp and accidentally pressed the power button while picking up my computer by the side. Windows just shut down…no prompt, nothing. Sure, this is configurable too, but I had not done it at the time. Annoyed me to no end.
All that said, OS/X has room to improve too…I’d like more autosorting options in my folders….both OSes have this issue. Also, as much as we mock the start button, it is nice to get a quick list of installed apps. Sure, you can drag the apps folder to the bar, but things installed elsewhere (like XCode) won’t show up.
But many things are vastly superior too, like managing downloads in safari, browser tabs. I’ll take OS/X over XP any day. If it wasn’t for game playing (and here’s where Apple needs to take note), I’d ditch my pc.
Most of what was listed is easily taken care of.
My desire is to have a simple, single panel interface in order to do printing. The interface should allow you to select paper size, type of media (CD, banner, etc.), orientation, and DIRECTION OF PAPER FEED, so that you get consistent, predictable output from whatever printer you’re using. I know some of this must come from the printer manufacture drivers and the third party apps, but seems so un-Mac like the way it presently is and causes the unnecessary printing of “trial” sheets too many times.
Oh, and one more thing:
I use Command-tab, Command-W, and Command-A a lot. Unfortunately, Command-Q sneaks right in between these keys! PLEASE always include a “Are you sure you want to quit?” dialog after Command Q has been hit! I’ve accidently shut down some programs I really didn’t want to quit!
OK, I’m on a roll.
I’d like the ability to select a file in a folder and make it the icon for the folder. It would make it easier to quickly scan folders when you have several. I know this can be done with third party apps (http://www.filebrowse.com/), but would be nice to be part of the finder. Maybe this will be unnecessary when Spotlight matures.
One thing that bugs me about OS X is how slowly Rendezvous (I never really liked the change to Bonjour) dynamic networking works. I use a wireless network at home and Ethernet connection at work and, to my knowledge, there is no way I can just save the IP address given to me at work in the Network System Pane and if there is, I still think it would be slow. Perhaps that’s the fault of the network admins, but the lines give static IP addresses, unless I’m much mistaken. Anyone got some useful tips?
scn7bs7d6sbp http://www.176352.com/278628.html 2c7m9iyfj4fi