Poll: What's your opinion about the rumored Panther feature: 'Piles'

[MacRumors]

Vote: Poll: What's your opinion about the rumored Panther feature: 'Piles' (http://www.macpolls.com/?poll_id=165&ref=forums.macrumors.com)

[howard]

this is a feature that you will really have to use to know if you like it or not. it seems like it could be cool and it does seem very new. but who knows??

[Nermal]

Originally posted by howard
this is a feature that you will really have to use to know if you like it or not. it seems like it could be cool and it does seem very new. but who knows??

I agree. I can't really comment until I've used it myself, or at least seen it in action.

[skymaXimus]

i think its a really cool idea and can't wait to see it. there is always room for improvement and new ideas

[melchior]

this is a feature that i would find extremely useful and would love.

I have realise though, that the performance on my little ibook is going to be quite sad.... Maybe when Panther is released i will get an imac... or an "ibox" =)

[arn]

Originally posted by melchior
this is a feature that i would find extremely useful and would love.


yeah - my impression is that it will be very useful....

I have a lot of documents strewn about... I already pile icons on each other at times to try to organize them somewhat...

arn

[edesignuk]

Just for anyone (Like me) who didn't have a clue what "Piles" was when they saw this thread, an explination is here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24375&highlight=piles) :)

[cb911]

Piles should be a good way to work. i've already got Minimise In Place installed and i always end up piling the icons one on top of the other.

can't wait to see it in action!!:D :D

[melchior]

could Panther have minimise in place installed too? huh?! huh?! nah, what am i saying... just have to keep using that.... really old dock.....

please apple? =(

[iGav]

Originally posted by edesignuk
Just for anyone (Like me) who didn't have a clue what "Piles" was when they saw this thread, an explination is here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24375&highlight=piles) :)

I think it's a very unfortunate name...... :p :p :p

[AllenPSU]

I can see it working for people that like to keep a lot of stuff on the desktop. I've grown up in an age that you had to use sub-directories and folders to keep things organized. I think this is good for a certain specialized uses.

Bottom line... go ahead and add it if it doesn't take away the power of the system and add an option to turn it off.

[NavyIntel007]

I find piles very useful. I have many of them in my room. Piles of clothes, piles of papers, piles of books all on the floor where I can easibly access them. :D

[funkywhat2]

It seems a bit compicated for something coming out of Apple. An older or inexperienced user may just get too confused by it. We don't want OS X being too powerful for users, or too compicated, or it will lose it's advantage over Windows.

[wdlove]

Originally posted by edesignuk
Just for anyone (Like me) who didn't have a clue what "Piles" was when they saw this thread, an explination is here (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24375&highlight=piles) :)

I'm like you, was very confused by the term "Piles" Thank you for he link. The feature sounds like it could be useful, a way to cleanup desktop clutter!

[Floop]

I get piles when I sit on a warm radiator.

Why would I want this feature in my operating system?


Floop

[Gelfin]

I'm kind of skeptical until I try it, mostly because my REAL desktop is covered with stacks of papers I have to flip through to find anything, and I hate it. I'm not convinced I would want that on my computer desktop.

[vniow]

Originally posted by melchior
could Panther have minimise in place installed too? huh?! huh?! nah, what am i saying... just have to keep using that.... really old dock.....

please apple? =(


Completely agree, the MIP hack is one of the single more useful add-ons to OSX I've ever used.

[scem0]

Sounds interesting - can't say I'd use it that much - but it sounds cool none-the-less.

[MacFan25]

i dont really know too much about them. but i think that they will be useful.

[joelc]

I'm excited to see what this is all about. Windows and Mac OS are really getting so similar that apple needs new ideas. Panther is supposed to offer that, perhaps with piles as a big part. It can't happen too soon

[Wry Cooter]

As Floop pointed out, the choice of name for the feature is unfortunate- hope they choose another name before it is released. But would another name make as much sense?

Featurewise, I probably welcome it... have to actually see how it works.

[wdlove]

Originally posted by Floop
I get piles when I sit on a warm radiator.

Why would I want this feature in my operating system?


Floop

I hope it's not too painful for you Floop! Do you have a favorite treatment? :p

[Wry Cooter]

Originally posted by wdlove
I hope it's not too painful for you Floop! Do you have a favorite treatment? :p

Wasn't there a device called the Ice Pod, for such?

[GeneR]

It sounds okay, but I've never tried it. So? I'll reserve judgment on it until I do. :D

[yzedf]

Originally posted by AllenPSU
I can see it working for people that like to keep a lot of stuff on the desktop. I've grown up in an age that you had to use sub-directories and folders to keep things organized. I think this is good for a certain specialized uses.

Bottom line... go ahead and add it if it doesn't take away the power of the system and add an option to turn it off.
Thank you. That is precisely what I was thinking.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by vniow
Completely agree, the MIP hack is one of the single more useful add-ons to OSX I've ever used. it's hardly an add-on... it's apple-designed. someone just made a package to copy the dock from a pre-release jag build.

anyways, as long as you can turn piles on and off, i'll call it innovation and welcome it. maybe i'll love it and use the feature, or maybe i won't personally like it, and turn it off. either way, i'll call it innovation. if you can't turn it off, then i'll just be mad. but that won't happen :D

[vniow]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
it's hardly an add-on... it's apple-designed. someone just made a package to copy the dock from a pre-release jag build.


Well yeah, but I still refer to it as a haxie because it's not in the OS by default and it requires some changes to some of the essential parts of the OS.

[Codemonkey]

Piles (or haemorrhoids) are swollen veins near the anus. :eek:

Sorry, but I think it's worth spelling out to anyone who may lurk here who has any influence on what apple names/markets their products as.

And for the rest of us: damn funny.

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by Codemonkey
Piles (or haemorrhoids) are swollen veins near the anus. :eek:

Sorry, but I think it's worth spelling out to anyone who may lurk here who has any influence on what apple names/markets their products as.

And for the rest of us: damn funny. well they can't very well call them stacks without screwing programmers over. what did you have in mind? seriously, that sounds like an association that few but sedentary middle-aged men would make. when i hear piles, i think about a pile of things, just like is intended

[Codemonkey]

Originally posted by Shadowfax
well they can't very well call them stacks without screwing programmers over. what did you have in mind? seriously, that sounds like an association that few but sedentary middle-aged men would make. when i hear piles, i think about a pile of things, just like is intended

I'm a 25yr old male. Pardon me for being a learned individual (who can use Google, too!).

("That's leaaaarned Pépé, leaarned" - Homer Simpson)

And the term "stacks" was used in Hypercard too, so I'm not sure what your point is. ASP has a double meaning these days too, but I don't see any .net programmers whining.

"Mouse? I don't see a mouse... I do see a white corded thing connected to my computer tho"

Point being: if you're going to associate yourself with a word that's already taken, make sure it doesn't have to do with gross anal dysfunction. It's not that hard! Try it! :-)

Chris.

[wdlove]

It just happens to be another one of those words in the English language the has a dual meaning! There is also an equal and positive meaning, a way to keep organized. This is the meaning that Apple wants to put forth. Piles is an old outdated word, note it's put in paranthesis.


http://www.pilestosmiles.com/

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by Codemonkey
I'm a 25yr old male. Pardon me for being a learned individual (who can use Google, too!).

("That's leaaaarned Pépé, leaarned" - Homer Simpson)

And the term "stacks" was used in Hypercard too, so I'm not sure what your point is. ASP has a double meaning these days too, but I don't see any .net programmers whining.

"Mouse? I don't see a mouse... I do see a white corded thing connected to my computer tho"

Point being: if you're going to associate yourself with a word that's already taken, make sure it doesn't have to do with gross anal dysfunction. It's not that hard! Try it! :-)

Chris.
OK, sorry, but it does seem hypocritical (in light of the negative response to piles) to say this after having dissed the idea of piles because you decided to make the mental link to uranus. it's a double meaning, aye, and you should be able to figure out which one this is playing off of.

[Wry Cooter]

Well if it has a bad connotation, lets rename it. How about
Arbitrary
Storage
System?

[shadowfax]

Originally posted by Wry Cooter
Well if it has a bad connotation, lets rename it. How about
Arbitrary
Storage
System? LOL dude. that would have been great even without the acronym, which took me a second to notice, even though i was chuckling before i did. good call. :D

[wdlove]

If I have alot of papers on my desk, I put them in a nice neat pile! Maybe to prevent the negative connotation, just call it "Pile."

[Wry Cooter]

I think people have been misled by exposure to Minimize in Place... I don't think they are necessarily the same thing. I think "piles" may or may not resemble MIP, but I think there is more to it.

I think Piles also sort of plays with the notion of custom searches, which used to be saveable in earlier versions of Sherlock, and used to actually use os 9 metadata such as File Type and Creator, which is not really part of the UNIX character of OS X. It also ties in this notion to aliases.

Suppose your Mac truly was set up with all your documents in one folder, and all your applications in another, and all the Apple stuff in another. By taking the docs, you have a clean mac save for the applications. By taking the application folder as well, you have the state of the mac as new (with Apple apps and system). They could all be on separate removeable volumes if you wish. Real easy to maintain this sort of system, but probably impossible to find what you are looking for. So you still have the finder folders as is, plus 'piles'. Piles could link a collection of files together as you wish, without having to copy them. The piles could be described, or even changed as you view.


You your desktop you could have a pile called JPegs, one called Text, and one called Web Archives, and one called downloads, etc... The actual files may be elsewhere. Some piles may even be supersets of the other piles. Or you may have piles by project, which might have various kinds of data. You could VIEW piles by Date Created if you want, to help you view something, and have a pile called THIS WEEK, which updates itself daily to go back only seven days. Sort of like Smart Playlists in iTunes... except for the finder.

My desktop would be a lot cleaner if I merely had files of the same sort, I want available on the desktop to remind me, in piles of like type (I have about 100 icons on the desktop now, but that could be reduced to five piles).

[vniow]

Originally posted by Wry Cooter
I think people have been misled by exposure to Minimize in Place... I don't think they are necessarily the same thing. I think "piles" may or may not resemble MIP, but I think there is more to it.


I agree, the description sounds somewhat similar in some fashions, but 'Piles' or whatever its going to be called sounds a lot more complex and intuitive, the MIP hack will likely look hopelessly inferior by comparison.