What do you like and dislike about Mac OS X?

[Doctor Q]

This thread is for kudos, gripes, and discussion of the design and features of Mac OS X.

Every operating system has advantages and disadvantages. Mac OS X is no exception. What features of Mac OS X do you find especially useful or well designed? What features of Mac OS X annoy and frustrate you?

We tend to speak up when we have complaints more often that when we're satisfied, but I invite you to consider both sides. This thread continues the Things you HATE about Macs... discussion but perhaps we'll hear an occasional positive word too.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. If you have a specific problem and want help, search the forums for a thread on the topic or start a new thread. Avoid using this thread for problem-solving, since those questions and answers won't be easy for others to find in the future.
   
   
2. If you want to see changes in Mac OS X, let Apple know! You can send comments to Apple using their Mac OS X Feedback form.
   
   
3. See the Leopard Tips and Hints thread to learn about and share Mac OS X tricks and techniques.

 

[austinsevo]

Pros:

just about everything.

Cons:
Entourage

 

[jonbravo77]

Pros:

just about everything.

Cons:
Entourage

Entourage is not Mac OS X, it's a M$ product.... just clarifying.

 

[Sky Blue]

I love that the green button does go full screen.

 

[MurphyM]

Not running AV software and anti-spyware stuff is a luxury I'd hate to give up.

I also love the power of the command line environment compared to a DOS prompt in Windows. The commands available at a DOS prompt are a sad subset of what you get with UNIX. A clear signal that Dave Cutler, the leader of the MS project to build NT 4.0, was making a thinly veiled copy of UNIX. And an incomplete copy at that.

 

[edgew8]

I don't know if it is adobe's fault or Apples but flash should not be using over 50% of my cpu to watch a youtube vid or my online anime. My processor goes to 70c whenever flash is use...that is just plain stupid.

everything else is pure gold tho.

 

[Techguy172]

I don't know if it is adobe's fault or Apples but flash should not be using over 50% of my cpu to watch a youtube vid or my online anime. My processor goes to 70c whenever flash is use...that is just plain stupid.

Yes I definitely agree with that! Flash on Mac is Crap!

I really like Spaces and Expose though. Fantastic.

 

[zync]

I don't know if it is adobe's fault or Apples but flash should not be using over 50% of my cpu to watch a youtube vid or my online anime. My processor goes to 70c whenever flash is use...that is just plain stupid.

everything else is pure gold tho.

It's Adobe's fault. They really need to recode the damn plugin.

 

[IJ Reilly]

Exposé is both one of my favorite and least liked features of OSX. In concept it's great, but the method quickly breaks down when you have many windows open. The tiling is random and the window thumbnails too small to tell one from another. Nice idea, needs more work.

Probably my single favorite feature of OSX (and the one possibly least appreciated generally) is the system-level support for PDF. This is one where the students in my Mac classes always go "oh cool" when I show it to them. That, and being able to drag a document along the Dock to see which applications can open it.

Speaking of the Dock...

 

[Beerfloat]

Pro: Very unixy

Cons: Not unixy enough

 

[zync]

Exposé is both one of my favorite and least liked features of OSX. In concept it's great, but the method quickly breaks down when you have many windows open. The tiling is random and the window thumbnails too small to tell one from another. Nice idea, needs more work.

Probably my single favorite feature of OSX (and the one possibly least appreciated generally) is the system-level support for PDF. This is one where the students in my Mac classes always go "oh cool" when I show it to them. That, and being able to drag a document along the Dock to see which applications can open it.

Speaking of the Dock...

The pdf support is one of my favorite features—right down to "printing" to a web receipts folder.

As for exposé, you must have either have an insane amount of windows open, or a tiny screen. I'm working on a 24" screen and never have that problem. I would like it to be a little less random, but I'm not sure how they'd do that other than assigning a location by "depth" or in order the window was opened. That method is a slippery slope to feature bloat, but it would be nice to have an option to decide how it tiles. At least it's consistent unless you change the number or placement of windows.

 

[IJ Reilly]

As for exposé, you must have either have an insane amount of windows open, or a tiny screen. I'm working on a 24" screen and never have that problem.

Neither. I have a 20" iMac. Right now I have five windows open. When I tile them with Exposé, the one open Finder window is too small to determine the contents or even to read the title of the folder. Open two or three Finder windows and you have to hunt around the screen to figure out which is which because they will be even more numerous and smaller. I'm not going to try to fix this for Apple, but I see Exposé as a rather half-baked feature.

 

[zync]

Neither. I have a 20" iMac. Right now I have five windows open. When I tile them with Exposé, the one open Finder window is too small to determine the contents or even to read the title of the folder. Open two or three Finder windows and you have to hunt around the screen to figure out which is which because they will be even more numerous and smaller. I'm not going to try to fix this for Apple, but I see Exposé as a rather half-baked feature.

I think I get what you mean. When I'm using it, it's because I have a lot of windows open and I'm just looking for the window, not what's in it. I sometimes have that problem with multiple finder windows, but I'm very visual so they have to be almost identical to mess me up. But I definitely see your side of it.

They should probably disregard scale during exposé. If you have 3 windows open, each should take up about a third during exposé.

 

[edgew8]

Just thought of another weird thing in Leopard I dont like..

in Tiger there was no thumbnail preview for WMV's..

in Leopard, YAY!! WMV thumbnails, but for some reason it likes to load the movie up and thumbnail the movie a few seconds into it.

This means whenever I go to my movie folder it takes longer for Leopard to build the thumbnails unlike windows XP, thumbnails are there instantly even with a slower HDD Does Apple have some strange thing against thumb nailing the first frame of a movie?

Also, the faux gloss these thumbnails have..I mean seriously, is that necessary?

 

[kabunaru]

Pros: almost everything
Cons: not enough games

 

[Ninja Dom]

Pros: Almost EVERYTHING!!!1

Cons: Beachballs in Safari when loading pages.

 

[boonlar]

pro: few viruses/trojans

con: closed hardware/software

 

[DoFoT9]

Neither. I have a 20" iMac. Right now I have five windows open. When I tile them with Exposé, the one open Finder window is too small to determine the contents or even to read the title of the folder. Open two or three Finder windows and you have to hunt around the screen to figure out which is which because they will be even more numerous and smaller. I'm not going to try to fix this for Apple, but I see Exposé as a rather half-baked feature.

I think I get what you mean. When I'm using it, it's because I have a lot of windows open and I'm just looking for the window, not what's in it. I sometimes have that problem with multiple finder windows, but I'm very visual so they have to be almost identical to mess me up. But I definitely see your side of it.

They should probably disregard scale during exposé. If you have 3 windows open, each should take up about a third during exposé.

why dont you just hover your mouse over the finder window when in expose to read what folder it is?? i dont find it annoying at all, sometimes i cant have 5+, 10+ finder windows open and still know where i am on my tiny MBP screen (compared to a desktop screen that is).

i also find shortcuts very useful in that situation.

theres not a lot that i hate about OSX, i dont have many gripes.

 

[Tallest Skil]

pro: few viruses/trojans

con: closed hardware/software

Pro: no viruses, few trojans.

How is the software closed? It's quite customizable.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

How is the software closed? It's quite customizable.

They meant that the software is open to only specific hardware.

 

[DoFoT9]

Pro: no viruses, few trojans.

How is the software closed? It's quite customizable.

closed software as in he cant download windows things and make them run natively

 

[zync]

why dont you just hover your mouse over the finder window when in expose to read what folder it is?? i dont find it annoying at all, sometimes i cant have 5+, 10+ finder windows open and still know where i am on my tiny MBP screen (compared to a desktop screen that is).

i also find shortcuts very useful in that situation.

theres not a lot that i hate about OSX, i dont have many gripes.

Well, as I said, I don't have a problem with it, but I can see it being annoying to have to figure out which one you're looking for by hovering over it. They could put the text over all of them by default or if it's over a certain number of windows.

 

[DoFoT9]

Well, as I said, I don't have a problem with it, but I can see it being annoying to have to figure out which one you're looking for by hovering over it. They could put the text over all of them by default or if it's over a certain number of windows.

good point, apple does need more customisation!!

oh btw, what about Application Expose?? that way you can only see the Finder windows if you choose.. make it much easier to see.

 

[zync]

good point, apple does need more customisation!!

oh btw, what about Application Expose?? that way you can only see the Finder windows if you choose.. make it much easier to see.

Yeah, though I'm fairly satisfied with what they've decided to do with most UI items. Eventually I figure out what their intent was, or try to come up with other solutions, and realize that I like their implementation.

In this case the application version of exposé is the best answer.

 

[DoFoT9]

Yeah, though I'm fairly satisfied with what they've decided to do with most UI items. Eventually I figure out what their intent was, or try to come up with other solutions, and realize that I like their implementation.

In this case the application version of exposé is the best answer.

yes they always seem to make it just right for most people, sure there are a few gripes but they are very minor.

yea application expose seems the best bet.