Check out this post titled “Things OS X Cannot Do”, which essentially lays out an endless list of complaints about the OS X Leopard user interface. While the list does contain a few interesting points, some of them are downright ridiculous. For example, check out this complaint about Leopard’s trash.
Cannot restore trash: If you accidentally moved something to trash by accident, there is no option to restore the file to its original location. You have to remember where it was. Why do you even need trash if you can’t even restore what you deleted to where it was?
Does this guy know what the word ‘Trash’ means? More than anything, though, I’m baffled as to why someone would devote so much time and energy to write about something they seemingly can’t stand, in such passionate detail no less.
The author ends his diatribe with this gem:
“Do you really want a Mac? The only reason you should use Mac is if you’re a rails programmer and can’t live without TextMate. Or if you need the Unix shell and cygwin is not good enough for you.”
If that’s not good for a laugh, then I don’t know what is.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:03 am
I’m not sure it was worth giving this guy more attention.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am
I seem to recall that one was able to do that in classic Mac OS.
February 9th, 2009 at 9:47 am
This comment was priceless:
iTunes: Takes any music file you have into its library. You have to use another player if you just want to test listen. (as a workaround, you can delete the file from library afterwards, but it’s ugly).
Firstly it’s not true, and secondly pressing space will have quicklook preview the file for you.
I can’t work out if the site is run by a Microsoft astroturfer or a double-bluffing Apple shill.
February 9th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Well, in Vista you have a button in the trash that is “restore”. So every file that was deleted goes back where it was when it was deleted.
“I’m baffled as to why someone would devote so much time and energy to write about something they seemingly can’t stand, in such passionate detail no less.”
I assumed you’re not so baffled when you read something bad about Windows. Maybe because you don’t like it.
That guy doesn’t like OS X either.
I like the two OS’s, by the way. (I don’t like Linux)
The differences makes us the same. When you like something you just can’t be impartial or fair to judge others opinions.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am
Snafu is correct. In Classic MacOS (all the way up through MacOS 9) the trash would not only let you put items back exactly where they came from, but the trash also told you how much you were deleting. You’d think by 10.5 Mac OS X could tell you how much you were deleting…but I suppose by now those who cared stopped complaining and new users probably don’t know what they’re missing.
Having said all that, I agree with Andy. You’re giving this clown way too much attention for a mindless rant.
February 9th, 2009 at 11:30 am
I sure as hell miss the “Put Away” feature (Command-Y in OS 9 and earlier). I’m not sure what you mean to ask by wondering if the guy knows what ‘Trash’ means, but I somewhat frequently, when picking up files after myself (I don’t trust myself to create automatic rules in Hazel), discover later on that I didn’t mean to put something in the Trash, and wish to return it where it came from; indeed, this is the entire purpose of a ‘holding area’ before deletion. Quick Look helps to identify files in the Trash I may change my mind about throwing away, since QL works in the Trash even though you can’t double-click them, but QL took the Command-Y shortcut. Anyway, just FWIW; I didn’t actually read the link.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
I’m hardly a Microsoft apologist, but I have to agree with some of these comments. Others are just nuts. I just dragged a file from Finder to the Desktop preference pane and *zap*, there’s my backdrop. And uninstall under Windows usually doesn’t remove preferences either.
However, I think the “Trash” one is a symptom of a deeper problem. Not only can’t you readily “undo” a move to the trash, you can’t reliably “undo” any file moves you make in Finder. I don’t know the exactly logic as to when it works and when it doesn’t, but sometimes I can undo a move, other times I can’t.
February 9th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
“I just dragged a file from Finder to the Desktop preference pane and *zap*, there’s my backdrop.”
As a long time Mac user, this is always one of the things that amuses me the most about Windows users on the Mac: Dragging.
Because of the “full screen” design of Windows (ie, where the application takes up the whole screen), the concept of dragging from one application to another is foreign to most Windows users.
I recently listened to one guy who was complaining about adding files to an Xcode project and how he had to go through, one at a time, and add these files and how horrible it was and why couldn’t Apple make it more efficient to use these dialog boxes? The first thing I did (after resizing his full-screen project window), was show him that you could drag files from the Finder directly into the project. Then I showed him that you could actually drag files into the open file dialog from the Finder, so you didn’t have to drill through the directory structure. Finally, I showed him that you could use a command-click to select groups of files.
He was absolutely flabbergasted. He’d never even considered that it was possible to drag things!
February 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Peter da Silva: “However, I think the “Trash” one is a symptom of a deeper problem. Not only can’t you readily “undo” a move to the trash, you can’t reliably “undo” any file moves you make in Finder. I don’t know the exactly logic as to when it works and when it doesn’t, but sometimes I can undo a move, other times I can’t.”
You can ‘undo’ both moves with command-z. (I have the latest, 10.5.6, so I can’t test to see if bugs exist in earlier versions; in any case, if they existed, they were bugs, and have been fixed.)
February 9th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Here’s my reply on his post:
I have no problem with much of your list, but why have you titled your post “Mac OS X Is Not User-Friendly”? By doing this, you’ve created the adversarial stance that you warn against.
I’ve worked in the DOS, Windows and Mac OS world for decades, at a fairly deep level, and could honestly write a similar list of usability issues for each environment. Suffice to say, today I am totally Mac-based.
At the holistic, getting-things-done level, Mac OS X is far superior to its peers, despite all the legitimate details you’ve offered. I think some of the items on your list represent more your preference for the way Windows does things, or a working paradigm that works well for you but perhaps not for others.
As one example, you cite the inability to selectively delete trash as a liability, while I see this as an asset. In the real world I generally do not dumpster-dive, and there is nothing about the mac trashcan behavior that creates cognitive dissonance for me. If I ever need or want this feature, I can add a low-cost utility that integrates seamlessly into the OS. I’m a firm believer and having what you need, and not tripping over what you don’t need.
Also, wearing my UI designer hat, I agree with you that Spotlight has its quirks, but whenever I need to find something I just Apple-F in Finder and there it is. I have never wanted for a 3rd-party search utility since Apple added Spotlight to Mac OS X. So any time I would spend writing about how Spotlight could be better is just extra-cirrcular, because I’ve already found my work and moved on.
I’ll concede that Windows PCs are better for technical people who either like to tinker or need to fine-tune their systems for a specific application, but these activities take time and result things like IT departments. That’s the world I vacated whenever I came home to a Mac and got actual work done, which is the real measure of user-friendly in my opinion.
Fyi, a free menubar app called SounderFlowerBed enables you to redirect and play sound at the same time with Soundflower.
Regards
February 9th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Unfortunately, picking out one criticism you think is incorrect and using that to discredit an entire, well-thought and valid article is preposterous. But I wouldn’t expect you to do anything less than call his “diatribe” anything short of absurd on a site called “Edible Apple.” Good luck next time.
February 10th, 2009 at 5:12 am
the snide author if this blog is a moron.
the reason why this fellow’s critique are “so passionate” is precisely becuase we hold apple to a higher standard!
and if you can’t accept the fact that the ’emperor had no clothes’ then you do diservice to the whole mac community.
did I mention that you are a moron?!
February 10th, 2009 at 7:10 am
NOBODY on here is “a moron” ~ least of all the blogmeister, who provides a fine service, sharing his enthusiasm. (Why hurt the feelings of a stranger?)
Sure: I clicked the link, took a good look at it… but you could sum the critique up in maybe ONE sentence: “It wasn’t windows.”
That guy has an agenda. And it wasn’t to elicit higher standards from Apple! More to spread fear and sow confusion : WHY YOU SHOULD NOT SWITCH TO A MAC
The thing is, the folks who have done just that ~ so many times have I seen ‘Switchers’ say, they would not go back to the PC!
zahadum says, “we hold apple to a higher standard”. Maybe some do. So “this fellow”, why didn’t he write WAYS TO MAKE THE MAC A WHOLE LOT BETTER (?)
{and don’t anyone say: “make it like windows.”}