I want themes. That's all. All the other stuff is cool and all, but I'd love to be able to mess around with the GUI a little more without having to hack things. I'm sure there's some angle Apple could spin it to make it sound like it will help you "work better."
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Mac OS X 10.5 Details?
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pknz said:
That is what is wrong. There is only the one theme. As for shapeshifter - yea it is fantastic, but after I got the hang of the Mac keyboard, I spent the next few weeks trawling the Internet looking for 3rd party utils to make Mac OS X work the way I want. I shouldn't need to load a dozen 3rd party utils in order to configure the OS - the OS should be that configurable out of the box.
Okay, themes might be a little gratuitous, but the OS should provide the basic functionality of utils like Desktop Manager and WindowShadeX (I'm still looking for a utility that will move the close/minimise/maximise icons to the right of the title bar, one that will put back the translucent title bar from 10.1 and one that will allow me to resize a window from any edge).
--
Michael
Was there anything out there that did what you wanted out of the box? If there was, why didn't you buy that instead?mdavey said:
steve_hill4 said:
No there wasn't. Mac OS X is great - by far the best desktop currently available and the fact that the iLife applications came free with my machine is a real bonus (actually, I don't have the skills to properly use most of the tools but I appreciate them being provided all the same).
As I said in a different thread, it is interesting to note that iLife is provided for free when something similar for Windows would retail for hundreds, but it is also interesting to note that a fair number of things a Unix power user would expect of a modern desktop are missing (see my above post). It isn't a big deal - there is shareware out there for most of my needs and together they costs far less than the equivilent to iLife would on other platforms.
Actually, what would be very cool in the short-term would be for Apple to include a freeware and a shareware suppliemental CD with their OS (other OS's, such as Sun's Solaris, do this). Hopefully in the long-term Apple will introduce window shading, a desktop manager and resizing windows from any edge; and many of the other usability features found in Gnome, KDE and yes even Windows.
jayscheuerle
macrumors 68020
mdavey said:
Apple will never include a CD of 3rd party products. They seem to want to do away with CDs altogether in lieu of expected broadband connections. What they do do is have a section of their website devoted to software that works with OSX, broken down into categories such as "System/Disk Utilities", with a majority of it seeming to be freeware and shareware. I'm guessing that's as generous as Apple will get.
MacSA said:
Not necessarily. I'll be buying my first Mac ever a few months after the Yonah Intels are released and I'm certainly sticking by that unless some monumental problem occurs. Then I'll wait until that problem is fixed and buy one
. I've read about Mac OSX and Vista for a while, and it certainly seems that OSX is much more stable/elegant/secure. All OS's will have their bugs; some worse than others.
Not the Human Factors Way
This is completely correct. "Bitching" is just another way of saying "useful feedback" (the other type is called "praise").
In the Usability profession (my own career), praise is nice if you want to see how "on track" you are, but no where nearly as useful as plain ole "bitching". Most users don't bitch enough; they are complacent little sponges that never realize that their own level frustration about a particular problem may be shared with thousands or even millions of other users. When you multiply the number of affected users by the amount of time wasted puzzling over or solving some problem, even 30 secs of "huh?" adds up to a lot of waste, sometimes in millions of dollars per problem. However, most software companies are smug in the knowledge that you unless collect metrics, you are rarely going to be exposed---ignorance is your friend, and are content that the potential millions of dollars in wasted productivity is OPP (Other People's Problems), being borne by countless individuals and a large number of companies that don't share their own concerns about usability problems with each other --- and quite often, even with the vendor of the troublesome software product!!
All of this criticism can be levied against Microsoft in spades. Alas, also against Apple. Apple's transformation into the Innovation Juggernaut is a joy to behold. But they no longer fully embrace some of the principles they once pioneered. Apple's HCI labs were once staffed by some of the best human factors minds in the industry, and the first Mac showed that level of polish in its GUI (alas, these same folks didn't write the core OS---not their speciality---which ultimately sank the classic OS). Apple is no longer a human factors leader across the board (the iPod's scroll wheel and its menu system being a huge exception to that!) BUT is a leader in Industrial Design. Some of these individuals are conversant in human factors without actually being such or embodying the values of the HF profession --- they have a different ethic, albeit also important. Apple's recent success has shown how important!
The iPod aside, the MacOS X Finder clearly needs an overhaul in terms of usability. It is unnecessarily complex at times, confusing to novices who attempt to do anything but the simplest tasks, and the lack of consistency it is well understood contributes to confusion and interferes with learning.
I am overjoyed with how much Apple was able to bring with its move to UNIX, being a techie myself. I would be thrilled with this even if X was half as usable as it is. Samba, CUPS, X-windows---have all opened so much to me. But while the GUI shows all the signs of cutting edge industrial design, it definitely lacks the polish of a well usability-tested interface. I keep hearing "that will come" but I still haven't seen much sight of it. Like MS, Apple has been so bent on adding new features---and in improving underlying OS code and services---that so many long -standing usability issues have been ignored or forgotten. Until the market rewards Apple for this renewed focus on usability, I can't imagine seeing any of these things fixed except in a onesey-twosey fashion. The average consumer doesn't understand the difference between an interface that is easy to use and intuitive and one that just *looks* elegant and simple, even though a usability test would reveal the difference in measurable ways.
shidoshi said:
This is completely correct. "Bitching" is just another way of saying "useful feedback" (the other type is called "praise").
In the Usability profession (my own career), praise is nice if you want to see how "on track" you are, but no where nearly as useful as plain ole "bitching". Most users don't bitch enough; they are complacent little sponges that never realize that their own level frustration about a particular problem may be shared with thousands or even millions of other users. When you multiply the number of affected users by the amount of time wasted puzzling over or solving some problem, even 30 secs of "huh?" adds up to a lot of waste, sometimes in millions of dollars per problem. However, most software companies are smug in the knowledge that you unless collect metrics, you are rarely going to be exposed---ignorance is your friend, and are content that the potential millions of dollars in wasted productivity is OPP (Other People's Problems), being borne by countless individuals and a large number of companies that don't share their own concerns about usability problems with each other --- and quite often, even with the vendor of the troublesome software product!!
All of this criticism can be levied against Microsoft in spades. Alas, also against Apple. Apple's transformation into the Innovation Juggernaut is a joy to behold. But they no longer fully embrace some of the principles they once pioneered. Apple's HCI labs were once staffed by some of the best human factors minds in the industry, and the first Mac showed that level of polish in its GUI (alas, these same folks didn't write the core OS---not their speciality---which ultimately sank the classic OS). Apple is no longer a human factors leader across the board (the iPod's scroll wheel and its menu system being a huge exception to that!) BUT is a leader in Industrial Design. Some of these individuals are conversant in human factors without actually being such or embodying the values of the HF profession --- they have a different ethic, albeit also important. Apple's recent success has shown how important!
The iPod aside, the MacOS X Finder clearly needs an overhaul in terms of usability. It is unnecessarily complex at times, confusing to novices who attempt to do anything but the simplest tasks, and the lack of consistency it is well understood contributes to confusion and interferes with learning.
I am overjoyed with how much Apple was able to bring with its move to UNIX, being a techie myself. I would be thrilled with this even if X was half as usable as it is. Samba, CUPS, X-windows---have all opened so much to me. But while the GUI shows all the signs of cutting edge industrial design, it definitely lacks the polish of a well usability-tested interface. I keep hearing "that will come" but I still haven't seen much sight of it. Like MS, Apple has been so bent on adding new features---and in improving underlying OS code and services---that so many long -standing usability issues have been ignored or forgotten. Until the market rewards Apple for this renewed focus on usability, I can't imagine seeing any of these things fixed except in a onesey-twosey fashion. The average consumer doesn't understand the difference between an interface that is easy to use and intuitive and one that just *looks* elegant and simple, even though a usability test would reveal the difference in measurable ways.
Leopard CD design
During the keynote address in which he first mentioned 'Leopard,' Steve revealed the CD design:
(Click thumbnail for large version.)
During the keynote address in which he first mentioned 'Leopard,' Steve revealed the CD design:
(Click thumbnail for large version.)
x86 v. PowerPC revisited
I am not sure I agree with this (at least, as written). The move to x86 --- based on what we currently know publically --- seems to have been motivated not by consumer needs but by Profit Margins in a KEY product category. Laptops have a better profit margin than low or mid end PCs/Macs and the aging G4 line wasn't going to cut it moving forward. The current and future specs for Intel processors are quite good for laptops, and Apple I am sure wants to hold on to this market. I doubt most consumers know the difference between a PowerPC, Pentium or Opteron.
On the high end, there is also a good profit margin to be sure, which is why it is doubtful Apple will dump PPC outright. The G5 and PowerPC market in general has a lot of potential and very good price/performance --- if heat isn't an issue. Honestly, the next years ahead may be quite weird as I don't see IBM giving up on creating new and powerful PowerPCs based on their latest and insanely great POWER server chip. Apple simply wasn't that big a customer. I expect to hear a lot of spindoctoring from Apple about IBM's latest PowerPC efforts for the high end (OR even complete and utter silence, which would even be odder given the flaming bunny of yesteryear...)
I'd LOVE to see Apple embrace a processor-agnostic strategy...PowerPC on the high end and Intel on mid to low end and for all laptops. But I don't see Apple entertaining this for more than 2 years after retiring the last high end PPC box.
I have privately mused that this move is more driven by a need of Jobs to recreate the NeXT and to feel vindicated in what failed last time around: A variant of BSD UNIX running on Intel hardware. This is where we last spotted Mr. Jobs when Amelio awarded him a "20th Anniversary Mac" as an award, right before he took over Apple. Everything that happened during the "non Jobs" years --- PowerPC, the OS that the MacOS evolved into --- being (to a large extent) erased from Apple. Same basic approach with an Apple-branded label instead---only this time, wildly successful. It's good to be the CEO.
But I could just be paranoid. (Ever wonder if you would evade a whole country just because someone tried to kill your Dad? Sorry. Some ideas are just hard to shake...)
minimax said:
I am not sure I agree with this (at least, as written). The move to x86 --- based on what we currently know publically --- seems to have been motivated not by consumer needs but by Profit Margins in a KEY product category. Laptops have a better profit margin than low or mid end PCs/Macs and the aging G4 line wasn't going to cut it moving forward. The current and future specs for Intel processors are quite good for laptops, and Apple I am sure wants to hold on to this market. I doubt most consumers know the difference between a PowerPC, Pentium or Opteron.
On the high end, there is also a good profit margin to be sure, which is why it is doubtful Apple will dump PPC outright. The G5 and PowerPC market in general has a lot of potential and very good price/performance --- if heat isn't an issue. Honestly, the next years ahead may be quite weird as I don't see IBM giving up on creating new and powerful PowerPCs based on their latest and insanely great POWER server chip. Apple simply wasn't that big a customer. I expect to hear a lot of spindoctoring from Apple about IBM's latest PowerPC efforts for the high end (OR even complete and utter silence, which would even be odder given the flaming bunny of yesteryear...)
I'd LOVE to see Apple embrace a processor-agnostic strategy...PowerPC on the high end and Intel on mid to low end and for all laptops. But I don't see Apple entertaining this for more than 2 years after retiring the last high end PPC box.
I have privately mused that this move is more driven by a need of Jobs to recreate the NeXT and to feel vindicated in what failed last time around: A variant of BSD UNIX running on Intel hardware. This is where we last spotted Mr. Jobs when Amelio awarded him a "20th Anniversary Mac" as an award, right before he took over Apple. Everything that happened during the "non Jobs" years --- PowerPC, the OS that the MacOS evolved into --- being (to a large extent) erased from Apple. Same basic approach with an Apple-branded label instead---only this time, wildly successful. It's good to be the CEO.
But I could just be paranoid. (Ever wonder if you would evade a whole country just because someone tried to kill your Dad? Sorry. Some ideas are just hard to shake...)
Jon the Heretic said:
Except NeXT computers used Motorola 680x0 chips, not Intel. Surely if Job's was so mad keen on Intel from back in the NeXT days NeXTCube's would have been Intel based. The only reason NeXTSTEP ran on Intels was because NeXT tried to save themselves from bankrupcy by becoming a Software company, and hence had to release an OS that ran on commodity hardware (i.e. Intel CPUs). They failed of course, but their loss is our gain.
Not to me..
Tiger has been good. In fact, I finally upgraded my 10.3 Server with 10.4 Server and it runs great. I know Tiger does a lot of background stuff while you are working and sometimes you have to wait for it to finish an index or something, but the overall OS is the best in the world.
BWhaler said:
Tiger has been good. In fact, I finally upgraded my 10.3 Server with 10.4 Server and it runs great. I know Tiger does a lot of background stuff while you are working and sometimes you have to wait for it to finish an index or something, but the overall OS is the best in the world.
dmsgregg said:
Yeah, Tiger does improve on many complaints with 10.3 that I had. Having Finder finally update itself when another program saves to it without having to bring Finder into focus is almost worth the $70 I paid for it (try it, in Panther save something to the desktop, the file won't appear until Finder is brought into focus - do the same thing in Tiger and the file immediately appears).
But Tiger is not perfect. OSX is approaching 6 years old and some stabilization is needed over adding features. How an x.x.x update can make my 2.5yr old PB not wake up is beyond me. And the fact that with every x.x update practically 80% of the apps are broken. At this time OSX needs to become mature enough so that the internal code is set in stone. I know many of you clamor for innovation - but the truth of the matter is that the ideal Operating System is one that appears transparent to the user. Instead of thinking of my computer as the entire computer I'd rather see it as an internet hub, video editing station, or even a place to video conference with the folks. I want the "computer" aspect of the computer removed. OSX is the closest Operating System to do this, however there are some nit-picks left (we need a package uninstaller for one - or the better idea of convincing devs to not use packages at all, the former being the most probable solution...).
Don't get me wrong, I use 10.4 on both my Macs (however, I will be sending the tower back into OS9 land once I have to upgrade this tibook to a non-os9 booting machine) it's just that I know it can be better. I don't want to have to worry if an update will break my system. I don't want to have to worry if a friend will be able to open a certain document. I don't want to have to worry if I'm on campus and my email errors me that m SMPT server is wrong (it SHOULD automatically check all my SMPT servers and only warn me when none of them work). etc. etc.
JDOG_ said:
The main reason Apple doesn't want themes is that they want all their computers to look the same. You might be screaming, "But I want to think differently!" True, but it's beneficial for Apple that whenever someone sees a Mac screen they want them to know it's a Macintosh. One way of doing that is one unifying theme. Once Apple has a majority of the user base, then themes will come. Until then I'd rather just see Apple get in gear and make all their apps match for pete's sake.
jayscheuerle
macrumors 68020
7on said:
This is all too true. It's like when you see movies about the future and they're using computers, they're not having conflicts or hangs or waiting for processes that should be instantaneous. When you don't know your OS is there (or don't think about it) and it upkeeps itself perfectly, then you'll know that the OS concept is where it should be..
I for one (and I'm sure this has already been mentioned) want Samba networking simplified and improved. It still is quite a bit of work to get Windows/Mac networking set up. I know this can be attributed in large part to Microsoft but Apple still can improve it. I don't think that command-k or the Go>Connect to Server methods are the most intuitive ways to connect to a share. Finder preferences should be in System Preferences as well. I don't really see finder as an app so much as a part of the system...
Also, I would like to see the Keychain, Disk Utility, Directory Access, Airport Setup Assistant, and Airport Admin Utility added to System Preferences somewhere. Also, the iPod updater should automatically run from System Update. * (I'm pretty sure you have to go to the utilities folder once it is run to run it right now)
A onyx/cocktail like app should be added to system preferences as well. I know that OS X does most of this at night but there should be a way to manually do this without having to download a third-party app.
For Switchers, maybe they should add mouse acceleration so that we don't hear so many complaints. Maybe a faster default tracking speed for the System would solve these complaints...
This isn't part of OS X but I think there needs to be a new app for Movies that organizes the movies folder like iTunes does for music (probably should be part of iLife though and connect to an online store) iTunes to me is already too cluttered with the additions Music Videos and Podcasts.
Of course, there could be some improvements in Spotlight.
And finally, please Apple make all the apps have the same GUI. (I prefer the current iTunes one)
Also, I would like to see the Keychain, Disk Utility, Directory Access, Airport Setup Assistant, and Airport Admin Utility added to System Preferences somewhere. Also, the iPod updater should automatically run from System Update. * (I'm pretty sure you have to go to the utilities folder once it is run to run it right now)
A onyx/cocktail like app should be added to system preferences as well. I know that OS X does most of this at night but there should be a way to manually do this without having to download a third-party app.
For Switchers, maybe they should add mouse acceleration so that we don't hear so many complaints. Maybe a faster default tracking speed for the System would solve these complaints...
This isn't part of OS X but I think there needs to be a new app for Movies that organizes the movies folder like iTunes does for music (probably should be part of iLife though and connect to an online store) iTunes to me is already too cluttered with the additions Music Videos and Podcasts.
Of course, there could be some improvements in Spotlight.
And finally, please Apple make all the apps have the same GUI. (I prefer the current iTunes one)
BWhaler said:
Sometimes I get the idea that Apple just wants to run through the O.S upgrades as fast as it can to collect more upgrade fees. It would be nice if things worked as they went along rather than skipping the bugs and writing a new application or O.S. Everytime I upgrade I have a new set of problems for which Apple Care can't provide an answer! I have to run two hard drives to run an older O.S.'s so that I can avoid bugs. Am I the only one that has these problems! iMovie and IDVD are a mess of bugs from 3.0 to 4.1! I need them to work properly rather than more "neato" features!
My only wish is to add a better and more intuitive hiearchy to the way iPhoto catalogs images. NO, I don't want to open iPhoto everytime I send photo attachment. I just want to be able to attach the photo from within my email application and be able to find my photo.
It really is a mystery how iPhoto creates it's folders. Some albums don't show up when looking in folders. It should be simple to create a redundant folder where all the images are located so that it is easier to back up without all the iPhoto folder crap.
It really is a mystery how iPhoto creates it's folders. Some albums don't show up when looking in folders. It should be simple to create a redundant folder where all the images are located so that it is easier to back up without all the iPhoto folder crap.
While it's not exactly what you're looking for the Get iPhoto Images Automator Action might help.UWF404 said:
iPhoto albums aren't folders.
iPhoto isn't the best choice if you need to manually organize and manage folder hierarchies that store your image files. Many people (myself included) don't want to do that and are satisfied with its import/export options.
I think Tiger is great, but with daily usage I see ways it could be improved.
1. When you are using Safari with more than one tab open, it would be good if you could change the order of the tabs.
i.e. say you had the following tabs open: Yahoo!, Google, MSN. It would be great to click on MSN and drag it between Yahoo! and Google so the order is now Yahoo!, MSN and Google. The reason I want this feature is because sometimes when I first come online, I might load Amazon and perform a search. I might have another 5 tabs open. When I right click in Amazon (on a link) and select 'Open link in Tab' it goes to the end of the tab list. So, if I want to swap between Amazon and my search page I need to keep going between the left and right hand side of Safari -- which is annoying. I would like to be able to drag my search result tab and place it beside Amazon. The idea of this effect is similar to the way you can change the order of your bookmarks on display. Does anyone think this is a good idea? I think tabs isa great idea and I have to use Internet Explorer at Uni, and it is so annoying not having any tabs!
2. I think the dock is perfect - it is simple, the way it is meant to be.
3. In preview, sometimes I would like to view images in full screen, but to do this you need to go into a slide show. So if you want to switch between images at your own pleasure, (using the arrow keys) you need to wait for that stupid box to dissapear with the play/pause forward button. Very annoying!
4. Sometimes I accidently click 'Sleep' instead of restart or shutdown, and there is no confirmation box - the computer goes to sleep straight away, it doesn't say something like 'Are you sure you want your computer to go to sleep?'.
5. In iTunes: (Phew!):
Ok, sometimes I could be listening to a playlist and browsing the music store at the same time. I would like to be able to PAUSE the song I'm listening to then click to preview the music on the iTunes music store. But they only allow you to STOP your music. Which is VERY annoying. Also, if you go to the music store while listening to a play list, and click to listen to a song preview, the song you are listening to in your playlist will stop (to allow you to hear the song preview from the iTunes music store), and you need to resume the song from the start again - instead of where the song last played too.
I would like tabbed browsing in iTunes because sometimes I would like to view more than one page at once - isn't possible. You have you view all the pages you want to view in a sequenctial fashion.
6. Dashboard - Calculator Widget - I hate if you've done a calculation and you could have something like '6.66666678' on the calculator that you need to keep pressing delete to make the display clear. It would be good to just click one button to completely clear the calculator screen at once.
That's all I can think of right now!
1. When you are using Safari with more than one tab open, it would be good if you could change the order of the tabs.
i.e. say you had the following tabs open: Yahoo!, Google, MSN. It would be great to click on MSN and drag it between Yahoo! and Google so the order is now Yahoo!, MSN and Google. The reason I want this feature is because sometimes when I first come online, I might load Amazon and perform a search. I might have another 5 tabs open. When I right click in Amazon (on a link) and select 'Open link in Tab' it goes to the end of the tab list. So, if I want to swap between Amazon and my search page I need to keep going between the left and right hand side of Safari -- which is annoying. I would like to be able to drag my search result tab and place it beside Amazon. The idea of this effect is similar to the way you can change the order of your bookmarks on display. Does anyone think this is a good idea? I think tabs isa great idea and I have to use Internet Explorer at Uni, and it is so annoying not having any tabs!
2. I think the dock is perfect - it is simple, the way it is meant to be.
3. In preview, sometimes I would like to view images in full screen, but to do this you need to go into a slide show. So if you want to switch between images at your own pleasure, (using the arrow keys) you need to wait for that stupid box to dissapear with the play/pause forward button. Very annoying!
4. Sometimes I accidently click 'Sleep' instead of restart or shutdown, and there is no confirmation box - the computer goes to sleep straight away, it doesn't say something like 'Are you sure you want your computer to go to sleep?'.
5. In iTunes: (Phew!):
Ok, sometimes I could be listening to a playlist and browsing the music store at the same time. I would like to be able to PAUSE the song I'm listening to then click to preview the music on the iTunes music store. But they only allow you to STOP your music. Which is VERY annoying. Also, if you go to the music store while listening to a play list, and click to listen to a song preview, the song you are listening to in your playlist will stop (to allow you to hear the song preview from the iTunes music store), and you need to resume the song from the start again - instead of where the song last played too.
I would like tabbed browsing in iTunes because sometimes I would like to view more than one page at once - isn't possible. You have you view all the pages you want to view in a sequenctial fashion.
6. Dashboard - Calculator Widget - I hate if you've done a calculation and you could have something like '6.66666678' on the calculator that you need to keep pressing delete to make the display clear. It would be good to just click one button to completely clear the calculator screen at once.
That's all I can think of right now!