“To some, Apple has had five chances to build a proper Mac OS X Finder and has failed each and every time. The Classic Mac Finder was a magnificent achievement in software engineering and the Mac OS X version was a pathetic imitation. Their logic has it that Apple should have just ported it over to its “world class” operating system without any alteration whatever. That would have been a great accomplishment and they should not have tampered with success,” Gene Steinberg writes for MacNightOwl.
“I will not, for the sake of this commentary, get involved in any speculation about the alleged desire on the part of the Mac OS X programming team, headed in large part by former NeXT people, to ditch as many traditional Mac elements as they could. That sort of speculation isn’t going to change the situation one whit. Instead, let’s look at the existing Finder, and see if there’s room for improvement,” Steinberg writes. “Some of the folks delivering their own wish lists for Leopard suggest that the Finder is way overdue for a major overhaul. It’s time for Apple to sacrifice some of the needless eye candy visual effects and do something practical that will provide a true 21st century file viewing mechanism.”
Full article here.
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Steinberg is a twit. He’s a true believer of the OS 7-9 days when their religion was the current finder was perfect. Hogwash. OS X’s finder is way more productive. I’m way more productive in Finder.
Now, if what the rumors say about the new Leopard finder will be, then we are in for a treat! But to hark back to the bad old days is pure bunk.
i recently switched to os x after yyyeaaarrrss of loyal windows use (IT field and all too), and i must say for the most part finder is much easier than explorer, quicker, and when viewing file icons as thumbnails, finder doesn’t lock up like explorer loves to do…
IMHO, the only improvement i’d like to see in finder is an explorer-type address bar so you can manually type a directory to navigate to… i used that constantly in explorer and i found it quite handy and speedy.
one main thing i love about finder is the column view, extremely innovative. i’ve seen it as the next step after an explorer-style hierarchal view.. i have a 15″ powerbook, so scrolling horizontally with the touchpad isn’t hard at all, its actually easier that way…
First off Tommy – check out Shift-Command-G to get to your directories (we just call them folders)
Second off…
I’ve been teaching people how to use the Finder for many years now: mac users, windows, and new computer users and the problem is the Finder is OUTDATED!
Think about the concept – back when we were all having stacks of papers on our DESKTOPS and there were Filing cabinets filled with Folders. The Finder made Sense!
Now… in our paperless society. This virtual paper world is no longer the case (to some extent). And the Finder is an outdated mode of working.
Being able to create aliases on the fly with the sidebar and the dock has made things easier.
(But think about how “iTunes” like that window is now!)
Spotlight is also driving us away from having to create Folders within Folders for organizing our stuff. The Mac does this for us with a Smart Folder too.
Old habits die hard and I don’t think the Finder interface is going away anytime soon but there are some GREAT BIG HINTS of what’s to come:
– Just access your files from the Application they work in: we see this in the iLife Apps like iTunes and iPhoto. (BTW – I can’t tell you how many clients I’ve met that muck up their iPhoto Library because they’ve Finder’ized it (threw away stuff they didn’t understand. Please Apple, just bury the darn iPhoto Library deep into Library or something!)
– Front Row! Nope. I have not used it yet but this nice “3-d” environ for my iLife files…
HOW ABOUT ALL MY FILES!
Imagine a “virtual” workspace where we can reach to any folder at any time? Spotlight to files with out the menu-bar and Desktop (and all the Fricken desktop files getting in the way!) in the beautiful Front Row space!
And then when you are sad for the old days…. just command-option-F back to the old Finder space when you really need it. (Just like Classic – sort of.)
Apple’s GOT to add a new Space for Files and then keep the Finder around. COME ON PEOPLE WOULD YOU BUY A BRAND NEW CAR WITH A 20 YEAR OLD DASHBOARD?
But I digress….
Okay, so it’s decided. The next finder will be similar to Aperture.
What do I want from the OSX Finder? I want it to be more like Path Finder: http://www.cocoatech.com/index.php
I find it ironic and amusing, at yet depressing, that a single guy can create a file browser that is better to use and more powerful than Apple’s entire dev team. IMO – but hey, try for yourselves.
~A~
Like others here I have used Apple products since their inception.
My first computer was an Apple II, on to a IIgs on to a Mac in 85 and its been Macs since then.
OSX is easier to use in many ways then past incarnations of Apple OSs but in other ways is a big disapointement.
My main beef is that it has lost its soul.
The fact that I can move over to XP at work and not feel too much pain, is really HORRIBLEl in itself.
I mean does anyone remember going from OS7 to Win3.1.1 for workgroups? it was absolute Hell… I treatened to kill myself once after being forced to use it for more then a month.
I HATE MS. HATE… I Have loved the MacOS since its inception.
So it is hard for me to not feel like my love, is a little blurry, has lost its ways, and gained weight in its middle age.
What is MacOSX?
What is the meaning of it?
its Stable => so is XP technically baring all viruses.
its easy to use => so is XP despite the typical MS uglyness.
it’s powerful and very user scalable (meaning it can be used by novice and advanced power users.) => so can XP.
Every one of the Tiger ‘features’ could be added before with pref pane extensions and what not, and on the XP side you can make your PC function almost COMPLETELY like osX, with just a few Hacks.
(http://osx.portraitofakite.com)
So?
Where is the soul?
What happened to being the only os with a CONSISTENT user interface paradigm?
Where is the OS that used to be the only one with system wide cut and paste?
How is it that our user experience has been so diluted and muddled by a multitude of useless ad ons, and so many different window looks?
how did we get so lost?
I have in my hands right now an extensive manual called: “Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines”, By Apple Computer, Inc, 1992.
This was the Bible, for the mac developer including apple/claris.
We need to come back to our roots and become consistent again.
WE need to find our soul again in the Miasma that is our lovely OSX Tiger. (which really isn’t too pretty)
And maybe the finder is what will lead this rebirth.
I would say if we finally got a truly journaled, fully metadata rich filesystem, something like what BeFS, we would be again separating ourselves once more from MS, (even with the advent of WinFS).
We would have the new heart with the necessary soul.
Maybe its time to drop all of the Carbon compatibility?
But really I think some simpler things could be done.
Like, keeping the interface clean simple and elegant, not a mishmash of kitchy window appearances.
I still don’t understand why interface looks have to change with every os upgrade. we had consistent black and white from 1 to 7, and then since os 8 we’ve had total degradation.
Man.
FOCUS is all I am asking for.
PS: spotlight IS NOT the answer, I like to ORGANIZE my files, I have 3 years worth of music and I like looking trough it on iTunes, I have a big photo collection which I browse trough the slow yet functional iPhoto, what need do I have for system wide search?
Why not instead bring back the concepts that where talked about with open doc and really push the boundaries between application and os?
arg….
iMaki – try Butler. http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?thema=butler&sprache=english
It can be used to place a row of favourite Application icons in the right-hand side of your menubar – BRILLIANT! Each one is active – drag and dropable too. I also use DockBlock – a little App which lets you completely quit that pile of Windowsesque sh*t called the “Dock”.
Expand your Recent Items list to 20 Documents and OS X becomes usable again.
Apple are really losing their core value by messing around with Finder. “Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines” works because it’s based on real-life ‘object relations’ – and Apple will forget that are their peril.
WindozeKiller: You can easily create an Automator action for renaming files and make it a contextual-menu item in the Finder.
Oh, and I love the Finder BTW.