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Yep, I agree. Hacker News is a very conservative place (in terms of technology and UI changes). I think in general Apple does a phenomenal job at UI design. Th

Yep, I agree. Hacker News is a very conservative place (in terms of technology and UI changes). I think in general Apple does a phenomenal job at UI design. That said, the user experience of Mac OS still has plenty of low hanging fruit: - Window management and app switching could be much better. The "app switching system" I liked the most was in Gnome 2 / MATE - I could just quickly move the cursor to the bottom task bar and scroll. It was so effortless, fast and easy. - When I download an app (.dmg) and click it, it shows up as a new disk. WTF? - The file manager could be made much better. Again, MATE had (probably still has) the best file manager I've ever used in terms of UX.

saagarjha 6y ago
> When I download an app (.dmg) and click it, it shows up as a new disk. How do you think it should show up?
- RivieraKid 6y ago
  As an installer program, like on Windows. Or as an installable package (Mac OS should have an integrated package management system like Homebrew).
  - _bxg1 6y ago
    macOS installers exist; I think they were used more commonly before the .app format, but that's how you get the Windows situation where the "uninstall" operation is a crapshoot because relevant files are scattered across your system. I don't know the exact purpose behind the "mount a virtual drive to install an app" model, but it seems far too deliberate to not have a purpose.
    - RivieraKid 6y ago
      I'm sure there's some rationale behind it. But it's simply a UX fail.
      - ricohboy 6y ago
        I barely even notice it now. I’ve been a Mac user since OS 8, and the workflow of mounting a disk image to install software has been around since before OS 8. Regular .pkg installers catch me off guard sometimes
    - _rs 6y ago
      To be fair, there is no supported way to uninstall a .app with all of the scattered files, either (all of the things it places in ~/Library to run, like preferences). For me, AppCleaner is one of the first things I download on a new machine.
      - cerberusss 6y ago
        For people who prefer the commandline: Homebrew can install not just open source software, but binaries as well, via Brew Cask. And often, you can choose to either uninstall an app with % brew uninstall <appname> Or uninstall and remove all of its cruft as well via: % brew zap <appname>
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    DMGs aren’t installers, though, they’re disk images. There are separate installer packages, and disk images don’t have to contain software in them.
filleduchaos 6y ago
> When I download an app (.dmg) and click it, it shows up as a new disk. WTF? So download (or provide for download) a .pkg instead of a, you know, Apple Disk Image file
- RivieraKid 6y ago
  If I download a popular app and it shows up as a disk image, it's not really my fault. This is a UX fail. Apple has the power to fix this. Normal people don't know and don't want to know what are apple disk images and what's the difference between .pkg and .dmg.
  - filleduchaos 6y ago
    I highly doubt "normal people" are losing much sleep over a virtual drive showing up in their Finder sidebars. It's only a "UX fail" if you're of the opinion that all platforms should work exactly the same way, and/or that UX paradigms that aren't what you already know are inherently wrong.
    - kyawzazaw 6y ago
      Yup, normal people just don’t care about it showing up as a virtual drive.
    - RivieraKid 6y ago
      I'm not saying people are losing sleep over it but it's just bad UX. If you download and install an app, it shouldn't have the side-effect of a new disk appearing on your desktop. It's obvious, ask any UX designer if you don't believe me.
      - filleduchaos 6y ago
        Again, UX paradigms aren't inherently bad or wrong simply because they're not what _you_ are used to. macOS users are aware (even though they might not know the technical terms in question) that a .dmg is not "an app". It's a virtual disk format - something reinforced by the literal disk that's its file icon - and using one is reminiscent of inserting a CD or USB stick to get files from. _That's the point_. You insert a disk and copy its contents to your own hard drive (applications aren't the only things stored or distributed via virtual disks). It's like complaining that clicking on a ZIP file has the "side effect" of creating a new file/folder. People who actually use archives understand that they're container formats.

saagarjha 6y ago

> When I download an app (.dmg) and click it, it shows up as a new disk. How do you think it should show up?

RivieraKid 6y ago
As an installer program, like on Windows. Or as an installable package (Mac OS should have an integrated package management system like Homebrew).
- _bxg1 6y ago
  macOS installers exist; I think they were used more commonly before the .app format, but that's how you get the Windows situation where the "uninstall" operation is a crapshoot because relevant files are scattered across your system. I don't know the exact purpose behind the "mount a virtual drive to install an app" model, but it seems far too deliberate to not have a purpose.
  - RivieraKid 6y ago
    I'm sure there's some rationale behind it. But it's simply a UX fail.
    - ricohboy 6y ago
      I barely even notice it now. I’ve been a Mac user since OS 8, and the workflow of mounting a disk image to install software has been around since before OS 8. Regular .pkg installers catch me off guard sometimes
  - _rs 6y ago
    To be fair, there is no supported way to uninstall a .app with all of the scattered files, either (all of the things it places in ~/Library to run, like preferences). For me, AppCleaner is one of the first things I download on a new machine.
    - cerberusss 6y ago
      For people who prefer the commandline: Homebrew can install not just open source software, but binaries as well, via Brew Cask. And often, you can choose to either uninstall an app with % brew uninstall <appname> Or uninstall and remove all of its cruft as well via: % brew zap <appname>
- saagarjha 6y ago
  DMGs aren’t installers, though, they’re disk images. There are separate installer packages, and disk images don’t have to contain software in them.

filleduchaos 6y ago

> When I download an app (.dmg) and click it, it shows up as a new disk. WTF? So download (or provide for download) a .pkg instead of a, you know, Apple Disk Image file

RivieraKid 6y ago
If I download a popular app and it shows up as a disk image, it's not really my fault. This is a UX fail. Apple has the power to fix this. Normal people don't know and don't want to know what are apple disk images and what's the difference between .pkg and .dmg.
- filleduchaos 6y ago
  I highly doubt "normal people" are losing much sleep over a virtual drive showing up in their Finder sidebars. It's only a "UX fail" if you're of the opinion that all platforms should work exactly the same way, and/or that UX paradigms that aren't what you already know are inherently wrong.
  - kyawzazaw 6y ago
    Yup, normal people just don’t care about it showing up as a virtual drive.
  - RivieraKid 6y ago
    I'm not saying people are losing sleep over it but it's just bad UX. If you download and install an app, it shouldn't have the side-effect of a new disk appearing on your desktop. It's obvious, ask any UX designer if you don't believe me.
    - filleduchaos 6y ago
      Again, UX paradigms aren't inherently bad or wrong simply because they're not what _you_ are used to. macOS users are aware (even though they might not know the technical terms in question) that a .dmg is not "an app". It's a virtual disk format - something reinforced by the literal disk that's its file icon - and using one is reminiscent of inserting a CD or USB stick to get files from. _That's the point_. You insert a disk and copy its contents to your own hard drive (applications aren't the only things stored or distributed via virtual disks). It's like complaining that clicking on a ZIP file has the "side effect" of creating a new file/folder. People who actually use archives understand that they're container formats.