Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Thanks for that hint Chris.. I only acted up after all these ppl with generic response lecturing me of how I should adjust to the OS X way without addressing the issue at hand. I called OS X lame.. yes, but I assume no one would take that personally..

No one takes it personally. We just believe, and rightly, that if you're going to use a different OS you ought to adjust to the way it works. Otherwise, why bother?
 
I'd also rather have a workflow where I can do a copy on a file and then point my cursor to the input box and paste and have the path to the file be pasted there.. much much easier than dragging IMO.
I would venture to say, that it is because you are used to cutting and pasting.

Reminds me of when I went from DOS to Windows/Mac OS. I loved DOS, but eventually saw how much easier most things were in a GUI environment. I, like you are here on this thread, clung to my DOS methods and would try to continue to use them when other good alternatives were available.

A friend of mine, PC/Unix type, just got an iMac.

I sent him some advice of which this was a part:

"Don't use it like you do a PC. Just let yourself go with the Mac flow. For example. How would you make a copy of a file in place on a PC? Usually most folks will use the COPY then PASTE function. With the Mac, just select DUPLICATE under the FILE menu in the Finder."

What I find, is that most switchers try to do it the Windows way instead of learning/adapting the Mac way.

So give the Mac OS way a try for a while. Who knows, you might find that you like it better. And if you don't, fine. But at least you tried. Plus, as others have said, there are add ons that can enable the Mac OS to do things like you want.
 
lol, now you guys know how windows users complain, we (still have a windows desktop..) complain alot, about everything.

To OP, from windows to mac is a "switch", no matter how easy apple is trying to tell you. In some cases, Its not.

Its very difficult to run OSX exactly "windows" way, with absolutely no judgement on "which way is better", I think it might be better if you getting used to it ASAP, unless you are still trying to figure out if you want to keep it or not.
 
Okay so I have a finder window open and I've browsed to a folder where I've just created a zip file of the contents in that folder.

Now I want to upload that zip file to mediafire.com I click browse from the mediafire page and another finder window pops up so I can select the file to upload. This is where it gets frustrating:

In Windows, I can simply copy the absolute path of the folder where the zip file was created (folder is already open in the background) and paste it into the newly opened prompt window and then choose the zip file that exist there and click open. I'm now done.

In OS X, when the new Finder window pops, I have to browse manually to the zip file, and this especially gets frustrating when the folder is buried deep. Is there any reason why I can't EASILY grab the path of a finder window that's already open and paste that path somewhere else? In other words, There is NO way it seems to type a path to a folder in OS X Finder. You HAVE to freakin' click around for everything!

Does Apple think we're stupid and would always prefer the point n' click?

Oh and I also hate how after updating a file in an application, the file's modify date in finder doesn't get updated until I click on that Finder window.. wtf!?

I only acted up after all these ppl with generic response lecturing me of how I should adjust to the OS X way without addressing the issue at hand. I called OS X lame.. yes, but I assume no one would take that personally..

A. Your title and original post was rather whiney and didn't deserve this much attention. You started out this way, it's kinda obvious to expect just as equally 'jerky' comments in return.
B. No one is really taking this personally, just giving you sxxt for mostly your original post.

If it was a simple, "I'm trying to figure out how I can do this XXXXXXXX when in Windows I did XXXXXXX can anyone help" you would have found a much more welcome response. I would imagine that would be beyond your ability though considering the first post.

Report this post, ignore it, heck I don't care. If you start out with a good attitude, you'll get one in return. Start out as a jerk, you'll end up with such responses back.
 
Report this post, ignore it, heck I don't care. If you start out with a good attitude, you'll get one in return. Start out as a jerk, you'll end up with such responses back.

My attitude was directed at the software. My bad for insulting some of you in the process.
 
The lack of tab based button navigation in a prompt window still bothers me though.. a huge oversight by Apple.

Yes, it is possible.

Systems Preferences >> Keyboard & Mouse >> Keyboard Shortcuts
 

Attachments

  • keyboard.jpg
    keyboard.jpg
    21.2 KB · Views: 61
The reason we're telling you to stop doing it the Windows way is because OS X isn't Windows. It's not because we're silly fanboys or have some kind of alternative motive for getting you to use the Mac way. It's just that it's a different operating system, and certain things are different.

What I don't understand is why switchers sometimes complain that the Windows method is easier to better and then try to argue it when it's clearly not an issue of better vs. worse. Sometimes it's clear that one implementation of something is better than another. Trying to restore items from Trash on a Mac is going to be harder than restoring from the Recycle Bin on Windows. Trying to drag and drop everything you see is going to work much better on a Mac than it will on Windows.

When it comes to this kind of thing, it's not that one method is particularly better than the other. Personally, I always found the Windows copy-paste method of file management to be very messy and bothersome. The point of a GUI is to shield the end-user from such command-line level operations. That's why OS X is much more drag-and-drop focused than copy-paste focused. I like it that way. You don't. That's all there is to it. I find the OS X way easier. If you don't, it's not the Mac's fault: either adapt to the new method, or turn to 3rd party alternatives have been suggested. It's not a flaw; it's a different way of doing things. That's why we told you to adjust to the OS X way. If you refuse, there are other 3rd party methods that will get it to work the "Windows way." We're not necessarily saying either way is better, but the fact is that they are different operating systems with different ways of approaching things. All switchers need to accept that. That's all there is to it.
 
We're not necessarily saying either way is better, but the fact is that they are different operating systems with different ways of approaching things. All switchers need to accept that. That's all there is to it.

The ultimate and common goal of all OS is to improve the ease of operation. Since Windows and OS X pretty much caters to the same clientèle, Whatever the differences in workflow, one will always be better than the other. Some Apple is good at, some Windows is good at. One shouldn't have to accept to adopt to the workflow designed by some individuals at a company. If no one voices an opinion, then where are the end-users in the equation?

Case in point: What is the point of displaying the path to a file in "Get Info" if the user is unable to copy that string? The path is displayed there because it is obviously a useful piece of information, but without being able to access that info, it only serves as a filler on the GUI. Does Apple expect me to get out a pen & pad to jot down the path? For something as obvious as this, one shouldn't argue that "It is designed as such in OS X so just get used to it." In Windows, the properties window of a file allows the user to copy every piece of information that is displayed there. OS X should follow Windows in this regard.
 
The ultimate and common goal of all OS is to improve the ease of operation. Since Windows and OS X pretty much caters to the same clientèle, Whatever the differences in workflow, one will always be better than the other. Some Apple is good at, some Windows is good at. One shouldn't have to accept to adopt to the workflow designed by some individuals at a company. If no one voices an opinion, then where are the end-users in the equation?

Case in point: What is the point of displaying the path to a file in "Get Info" if the user is unable to copy that string? The path is displayed there because it is obviously a useful piece of information, but without being able to access that info, it only serves as a filler on the GUI. Does Apple expect me to get out a pen & pad to jot down the path? For something as obvious as this, one shouldn't argue that "It is designed as such in OS X so just get used to it." In Windows, the properties window of a file allows the user to copy every piece of information that is displayed there. OS X should follow Windows in this regard.

Posting complaints here isn't going to get to Apple. It's just antagonistic to the posters of these forums. I provided a link to Apple's feedback page in another post. If you feel strongly enough about your ideas of the right way of doing things, tell Apple.
 
The ultimate and common goal of all OS is to improve the ease of operation. Since Windows and OS X pretty much caters to the same clientèle, Whatever the differences in workflow, one will always be better than the other. Some Apple is good at, some Windows is good at. One shouldn't have to accept to adopt to the workflow designed by some individuals at a company. If no one voices an opinion, then where are the end-users in the equation?

But this is exactly what you've done, except you've adopted the workflow that Microsoft emphasizes. They are different operating systems with different views on how your computer should work. You don't have to like how everything works with either of them, but you should accept that that's just how they work until someone changes it. If you feel strongly enough about it, submit feedback to Apple. If you really want to be completely free to change your operating system to work exactly how YOU want it to work, then switch to a Linux distro. There are some really great ones out there. Personally, I like Ubuntu and Fedora.

But if you want to use Windows or OS X, then they both come with their advantages and disadvantages. Which do you prefer? I like OS X and I like how it does things. Sometimes I find something that could be improved and I tell Apple about it. But there are some things that are more fundamentally a difference in how they operate. There will never be a start menu on OS X. There will never be a single menu bar on Windows. Go with whichever OS you prefer realizing it WILL come with certain differences. There will be flaws in it, whichever it is, and there will also be things that aren't flaws, but that you just don't like for one reason or another, because you're used to something different. If you don't like that--suck it up and use Linux. You can change it to no end.
 
Can not drag with FireFox.

firefox doesn't bundle with OSX, there are some APIs (public, or secret) that firefox does not use. There are pros and cons with it. If this is very important, then you can try out safari.
 
Or Camino.

Does Camino support this feature? If so, then it should be fairly easy for Firefox to implement it (especially since they're both made by the same people...). Someone ought to point this out to them ;)
 
Case in point: What is the point of displaying the path to a file in "Get Info" if the user is unable to copy that string? The path is displayed there because it is obviously a useful piece of information, but without being able to access that info, it only serves as a filler on the GUI. Does Apple expect me to get out a pen & pad to jot down the path? For something as obvious as this, one shouldn't argue that "It is designed as such in OS X so just get used to it." In Windows, the properties window of a file allows the user to copy every piece of information that is displayed there. OS X should follow Windows in this regard.

In every well designed user interface, simple operations are designed to fit together so that the user can achieve the complex things that they want to achieve. However, the "simple operations" of user interface A and the "simple operations" of user interface B can be very different and hard to exchange.

If you do something in five simple steps in Windows, you may find that each step is difficult to do on MacOS X - but there are four, five or six completely different steps on MacOS X that let you do exactly the same thing. Or the other way round.

In MacOS X, it is very, very, very rare that you would need a pathname. One place where I need pathnames reasonably often is when I am using Terminal - and in Terminal, you just drag a file to the Terminal window and the path is there.
 
Does Camino support this feature? If so, then it should be fairly easy for Firefox to implement it (especially since they're both made by the same people...). Someone ought to point this out to them ;)

I think one's Cocoa and the other is Carbon or something like that, so it's not as simple as copy and pasting and code.
 
Does Camino support this feature? If so, then it should be fairly easy for Firefox to implement it (especially since they're both made by the same people...). Someone ought to point this out to them ;)

Camino is Aquafied Firefox, so I would assume so. Firefox still uses some of its own UI components such as buttons. I can't test until tonight to know for certain. Anyone want to try for me?
 
Camino is Aquafied Firefox, so I would assume so. Firefox still uses some of its own UI components such as buttons. I can't test until tonight to know for certain. Anyone want to try for me?

I just tested it. Camino's implementation is the same as Firefox's. :mad:
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.