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Well, what's nice about the way OS X does it is that dragging the icon isn't a proxy for a bunch of magical installing/uninstalling. You're literally dragging t

Well, what's nice about the way OS X does it is that dragging the icon isn't a proxy for a bunch of magical installing/uninstalling. You're literally dragging the app from one location in the filesystem to another. But I think the iOS model is good too because the abstraction is not leaky (in the same way that package managers and and installer/uninstallers on windows are)

gaelian 16y ago
I've been using Hazel with OS X for a while now to further facilitate my bordering on obsessive compulsive desire to keep my machine clean. Hazel takes care of preference files etc. that can be left over after trashing a piece of software on OS X. I still remember the moment it dawned on me that my new Mac didn't have a registry, I think I almost shed a tear of joy.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  I tend to prefer that old preference files be left around - they don't cause me any harm (not even a feeling of clutter, since it's not like I'm poking around ~/Library/Preferences all the time) and if I ever reinstall the app, I'm right back where I was. I can understand that it does bother some folks, though.
  - gaelian 16y ago
    I can indeed understand your sentiment also. Hence my description of my behavior bordering on something close to OCD. I think I get that "feeling of clutter" a lot more easily than many people :P For whatever reason though, I guess I don't really reinstall apps very often. Once I decide to remove something, it's almost always after pondering the issue for a little while and making a decision that I very rarely go back on. The only time I can remember reinstalling something on my Mac was Filezilla. I got myself a new FTP client, removed Filezilla as I didn't think I'd be using it anymore and then found out that my new FTP client had a bug that prevented proper connectivity via FTPS. So I went back to Filezilla and as luck would have it, Filezilla's preferences are stored in ~/.filezilla and they were all still there (because I didn't know about this directory). That was a small time saver. I suspect a great deal of my attitude towards being (likely overly) careful about what I install/uninstall and what's left behind afterwards comes from my many years as a Windows user. I remember it even took me a while to figure out that you can usually just drag stuff to the Applications folder to install on a Mac, I kept thinking to myself "I'm missing something, it can't be this simple..."
sshumaker 16y ago
In theory. But in fact, many apps do leave stuff behind, even when you delete them out of your applications directory. Hence the need for programs like AppZapper.
- hexley 16y ago
  I wouldn't say there's a need...

gaelian 16y ago

I've been using Hazel with OS X for a while now to further facilitate my bordering on obsessive compulsive desire to keep my machine clean. Hazel takes care of preference files etc. that can be left over after trashing a piece of software on OS X. I still remember the moment it dawned on me that my new Mac didn't have a registry, I think I almost shed a tear of joy.

glhaynes 16y ago
I tend to prefer that old preference files be left around - they don't cause me any harm (not even a feeling of clutter, since it's not like I'm poking around ~/Library/Preferences all the time) and if I ever reinstall the app, I'm right back where I was. I can understand that it does bother some folks, though.
- gaelian 16y ago
  I can indeed understand your sentiment also. Hence my description of my behavior bordering on something close to OCD. I think I get that "feeling of clutter" a lot more easily than many people :P For whatever reason though, I guess I don't really reinstall apps very often. Once I decide to remove something, it's almost always after pondering the issue for a little while and making a decision that I very rarely go back on. The only time I can remember reinstalling something on my Mac was Filezilla. I got myself a new FTP client, removed Filezilla as I didn't think I'd be using it anymore and then found out that my new FTP client had a bug that prevented proper connectivity via FTPS. So I went back to Filezilla and as luck would have it, Filezilla's preferences are stored in ~/.filezilla and they were all still there (because I didn't know about this directory). That was a small time saver. I suspect a great deal of my attitude towards being (likely overly) careful about what I install/uninstall and what's left behind afterwards comes from my many years as a Windows user. I remember it even took me a while to figure out that you can usually just drag stuff to the Applications folder to install on a Mac, I kept thinking to myself "I'm missing something, it can't be this simple..."

sshumaker 16y ago

In theory. But in fact, many apps do leave stuff behind, even when you delete them out of your applications directory. Hence the need for programs like AppZapper.

hexley 16y ago
I wouldn't say there's a need...