You forgot
- can only resize a window from one corner, and that corner may be off the screen in certain cases so that you can't move the window to a position where the corner is even visible (this just bit me this week)
- still doesn't understand how to fullscreen programs (windows maximize function is the single best OS function I've seen that allows a user to focus on just ONE thing). I think this is fixed in the upcoming OS X but I don't have it.
- liters the screen, the doc, the global menu with all kinds of state icons to show running programs and background services, but doesn't have a built-in notification system so that the users have to install http://growl.info/ http://growl.info/
and more and more.
That said, it still manages to be a great OS. It was miles ahead of XP. About par with Vista.
But sadly, it's lagging behind Windows 7. And the new OS X versions just don't make me terribly excited. I'm ready for something new.
your first two points are mostly solved in Lion.
Adding few more.
- No cut-paste.
- No tabs in Finder.
- The missing delete key. (Backspace is renamed as delete)
- The not-so-modern Terminal. (hence the wide usage of iTerm)
I've been hit by your first point as well (not often, but often enough since I switch between resolutions frequently), and if you press the maximize button it will often (not always though) "raise" the lower portion up above the dock enough so you can resize. Not the most intuitive, but it works. I agree with #2 as well - that's one thing Windows does just right, and I'm glad to see that could be coming in Lion.
> I've been hit by your first point as well (not often, but often enough since I switch between resolutions frequently), and if you press the maximize button it will often (not always though) "raise" the lower portion up above the dock enough so you can resize. Not the most intuitive, but it works.
I'm not arguing with you here, just adding a data point about how unintuitive it is.
I certainly agree that you can do this—but, to my mind, you're then re-sizing the window in its maximised state; and, if you click again to ‘un-maximise’ it, then it'll be right back to the inaccessible position that it had before. I don't know if this is any sort of serious objection, in the sense that it can actually cause trouble, but it nags at my mind when I use it: “You don't really want that window maximised! Go back to its rest state!” I therefore usually wind up with the solution of “Find a big enough monitor and re-size there.”
(By the way, I love Mac OS, but definitely hate this behaviour.)
> still doesn't understand how to fullscreen programs
You're working off of two definitions of maximize though. It's not that OSX "doesn't understand" how to make an app run at fullscreen. It's just a design decision to only maximize to the document's dimensions. I'm not saying that I agree with that decision, but saying that OS X "doesn't understand how to fullscreen programs," is implying that Apple is attempting to make the function work like it does on Windows, but fails at it.
i would prefer to always use Linux, but my company gives all the engineers Macs, so that's what I now use. I miss Linux deeply, but maintaining two dev environments, not to mention context switching wrt key commands, drove me to the brink.
On the positive side, OSX is still unix. MacVim rules. OSX fixes some of the Linux issues that drove me mad (like power mgmt & plugging in an external monitor). And I've gotten around the screen resize issue mentioned here w/ a little 3rd party app called sizeup... Not ideal, but a workable solution that keeps me productive on the platform.
w/ a little 3rd party app called sizeup... Not ideal, but a workable solution that keeps me productive on the platform.
One of the nice things about OS X for sure is that many of the major pain points in the raw OS can be resolved with 3rd party applications. The community, tired of dealing with these minor unaddressed annoyances, has usually resolved most of these issues on their own -- there are 2 or 3 apps of some kind for most of the major OS rough spots.
One of the bad things about OS X for sure is that many of the major pain points in the raw OS have to be resolved with 3rd party applications. The community, tired of dealing with these minor unaddressed annoyances, usually has to resolve most of these issues on their own -- there are 2 or 3 apps of some kind for most of the major OS rough spots.
Out of the box, window management with Mac OS X is a pain in the ass. Once I installed and configured BetterTouchTool, however, most of my complaints went away. Binding keyboard shortcuts and trackpad gestures to window management form a great balance between a floating and tiling window manager. Even if it doesn't solve all of the problems with the operating system, it is a large improvement.
misplaced ctrl, default keybindings are inconsistent, forces developers to use the fn key to reach the function keys
All of this can be adjusted to your liking in the Keyboard preference pane.
I agree with all your points except the first (I'm especially bitter about Spaces, in fact). But as for that one:
> "have global menus (who really wants that with todays screen resolutions and two monitors?)"
Because there are a lot of operations you can do that are not specific to a particular document/window, or in some cases don't apply to any windows at all. And, even more importantly, sometimes you want to close all the windows for an application without closing the whole application!
I've run into this problem in a variety of applications, including DrRacket and Logisim as well as more widespread ones like Word: I want to go through several documents sequentially. Naturally I want to close one before I open the next, so that I don't have a whole pile of old windows open. But if I close the only open window I quit the whole application, so I have to leave one of the docs open as I sequence through the rest. The behaviour of several "close" operations (e.g. clicking the window's close button) varies according to whether there are other windows (close window) or not (quit app). Some apps get around this by opening a dummy "new document" window if you close the last open window, but that's still a little jarring and counts more as a workaround hack than anything else. I don't have these problems when I'm working on a Mac.
Oh, and I almost forgot: Fitts's Law. The global menu bar is a mile high, and it's way way WAY easier to acquire than a menu bar inside a window.
App controls should live in the dock icon. As Chrome, Word, and most modern Microsoft software has shown us, there's really no need for the standard "File, Edit, etc" menu bar today.
have global menus (who really wants that with todays screen resolutions and two monitors?
I never had a problem with that. With a 13" device it's possible to have 2 to 4 windows open at the same time, since the windows themselves use space efficiently. So at best this argument is subjective to the user.
needs the worlds best trackpads because their laptop keyboards have misplaced ctrl and their default keybindings are so inconsistent that users would be lost without a good pointing device
Not being accustomed to the keyboard layout is rather an excuse than an argument. Also my impression of the key bindings is that they are well done and consistent. Do you have examples to prove your case?
forces developers to use the fn key to reach the function keys, but even then, maps some of the F-keys to operating system functions.
As an developer you should be able to tackle more difficult tasks than finding out that the custom fn keys can be disabled in the system preferences->keyboard pane(if it is important enough for you to write about publicly).
doesn't get multiple desktops? Don't ask me why they ship them, because their window management is so broken that multiple desktops just doesn't work, at least not for me
Window management is a problem for me too. Tools like Shiftit make it easier, but it does't feel like THE solution. I'm curious though if that problem is considered solved on any other platform. The last times I used Windows (XP to 7) it did not do any better.
Try have someone who doesn't know iTunes burn a cd
At some point it was easier to do that(e.g. dedicated button), but given that disc-drives are on the leave in PCs, burning is of less importance to users (at least I can't remember someone burning cd's recently). As one of the most used peaces of software iTunes has a pretty good help documentation, which describes how to burn a cd nicely. The procedure is also quite reasonable, introducing few concepts apart from standard procedures(creating a playlist).
Windows 7 ships with something similar to Shiftit (windows key+arrow keys). Between that and spaces' habit of randomly rearranging my windows on the z-axis I prefer Windows to OSX for window management.
I think the problem is solved, but only for people who don't use OSX or Windows and take a month or two learn how to use a scriptable tiling WM =/
Resorting to a shell? I prefer the shell. I'd like to see users of other operating systems turn off their computers from bed without resorting to VNC.