“Here is a list of problems I find the most annoying about Apple’s Mac/MacOS,” Thom Holwerda writes for OSNews.com.
Holwerda’s list:
1. Mac OS X does not exactly feel fast.
2. Mac OS X is an inconsistent mess.
3. The annoying Google search field in Safari.
4. Tiger suffers from screen remnants.
5. Macs need an indicator LED for HDD activity.
6. Mail.app is a pointless email client.
7. The evil Mac OS X dock is a UI nightmare.
8. Mac OS X needs a decent uninstaller, supplied with the OS.
9. Apple needs to put more effort into backwards compatibility.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you read Thom Holwerda’s bio, you’ll know that he’s approaching the Mac from an outsiders’ mentality. Currently Holwerda owns two x86 boxes, one Dell laptop and a SPARC machine. Isn’t it interesting how different the lists of “Mac annoyances” look depending upon who wrote them? As Mac users from 1984, we agree only with #1, unless you’re using Mac OS X on an Intel Core Duo or a Power Mac G5 Quad, and then we don’t agree. Remember, we’re comparing the “snappiness” of the OS with Mac OS 9. Holwerda is comparing it to other OSes, but we still reach the same conclusion. We’re not seeing #4 anymore with Mac OS X 10.4.6 for Intel although we have seen it to varying degrees with past versions of Tiger on PowerPC-based Macs. Let us know what you find annoying about Macs and Mac OS X. Let us know how long you’ve been using Macs and if you started with Macs or came to them from another platform. Those factors seem to make all the difference to the content of the lists.
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This guy is dead on…
First post!
Inconsistent mess? Compared to what? That design paragon Windoze? Or that design paragon wannabe Linux? Please. Could OS X be improved? Of course. But a mess?
I totally agree with MDn that OSX to this day still doesn’t ahve the snappiness of OS9, although I’m also hearing this has changed a lot with the Intel based systems.
As for this guys list:
1. Ok maybe
2. Give examples maybe
3. Um, try ignoring the Google field
4. No screen remnants here
5. And LED indicator is so PC. But if you must there are shraeware solutions for that
6. Mail.app is the only client many Mac users use, and having used many other before Mail.app I can say it works just fine
7. The Mac OS Dock is organized perfectly fine and logically, although Im sure this guy would rather have endless aliases on his desktop to make it feel more like a junky PC box
8. and Uninstaller for OSX? What a joke. To run Windows? Why bother.
9. backward compatibility? Again what a joke. Ever use Classic? It’s only been going strong for 5+ years
however… Mac OSX is still, by far, the best consumer operating system available. Can’t wait for 10.5!
Um…
I’d like to be able to view by date modified in column view. Or am I missing something?
Don’t bother. Thom is an anti-mac sometimes anti- anything but MSFT lunatic. In he past he has compared Apple to Soviet Russia, and Murdering of journalists to silence critics. He is worse than paul thurrot.
So don’t even give him the hits.
He doesn’t have the experience or the knowledge to talk about various OS’s.
This guy is completely full of it, likely following the DVORAK model to attract traffic from the Mac faithful…
his list
1. Mac OS X does not exactly feel fast.
This is crap because it depends on how you use your machine.
2. Mac OS X is an inconsistent mess.
It has some inconsistencies, true…but like anything else, they make sense after you use them for awhile.
3. The annoying Google search field in Safari.
I happen to LOVE this feature
4. Tiger suffers from screen remnants.
Yeah…whatever…sometimes…but rarely for me.
5. Macs need an indicator LED for HDD activity.
There were apps in OS9 that did this (and I found them useful) but drives today are so fast that this seems a bit pointless to me.
6. Mail.app is a pointless email client.
I’ve had some issues with it but in general it’s a pretty good client. Is he comparing it to Entourage? Probably…Mail.app is not the best for business I agree…but it works. It needs a better PDF engine and a few other tweaks. I’d like to see Apple produce a heavy duty email client for business.
7. The evil Mac OS X dock is a UI nightmare.
I dunno…I like it. Compared to the “task bar” it’s far superior.
8. Mac OS X needs a decent uninstaller, supplied with the OS.
For most programs this is not a big deal…and many do come with uninstallers built in. He has a minor point here. There should be an OS Level uninstaller.
9. Apple needs to put more effort into backwards compatibility.
Huh? Classic mode wasn’t good enough? Apple is about moving forward.
I still use Tiger on dual 450 mhz as my primary desktop (though I also use a G5 dual and a MacBook Pro 17″ laptop)…It all works pretty seamlessly.
poppycock,
You have to be kidding…
Mail looks different than safari, which looks different than the finder, which looks different from the other iLife apps, which looks way different from garageband. I love apple too, but don’t stick your head in the sand and deny it, just because it is a put down to the mac.
#8 is the only one that I could agree with.
What a loser.
Networking could do with being looked at. I recently installed 8 quad G5s out of their boxes with a checklist of software and hardware so they all underwent exactly the same set up process, yet some of them can’t see the rest on the network whilst the others are fine. A Mac networking expert that I know tells me that Apple still has some problems in this area.
Switched from Windows to Mac about 4 years ago. Here’s what I find annoying:
I hate when writers provide their opinion as fact with nothing to back it up. (i.e. “Mac OS X is an inconsistent mess.” How, exactly? The entire OS is built on consistency. All the iLife apps work generally the same. In fact, most applications are built on the same principals, following the same UI guidelines.)
Also, the “annoying Google search field in Safari?” How can that little search field up there be anything but a convenience? If you don’t like it, don’t use it. It doesn’t go out of its way to annoy you.
I’ll agree that OS X doesn’t “feel” fast, but it’s fast enough, and I’ll sacrifice not having that Windows “snappiness” to avoid having to deal with the spyware/malware/virus/crash issues.
MW: believe. I believe this guy scraped the bottom of the bucket to come up with that list.
Finder is just lame.
I see none of these supposed problems and disagree with all of them. The google search bar is the most useful tool period and I use it all of the time.
I use the mail application as my main mail and I have absoulutely no problems. The dock is really handy to bring up my favorite applications and documents. OSX doesn’t need an uninstaller because all’s you need to do when you want something to go away is toss the appication in the trash!
How easy is that. Uh I’m running an Intel iMac and all the applications that run on Power PC run on my intel iMac, so backwards compatability is definately working and Apple has made a big effort with this. When I work with my intel iMac the PC at work feels like a snail so speed isn’t an issue either. My Mac boots and is ready to actually use in less than 30 seconds while the PC shows the desktop but takes at least another minute before it will let you launch any applications.
So in my opinion this guys complaints are false in everyway possible. He obviously is trying to run it like a Windows XP machine and that’s why it doesn’t work for him. If he uses OSX like it was meant to be used he would see the light and he wouldn’t complain about anything on his list because there would be no list.
Apple magically enables PowerPC programs to run on Intel processors, lets OS 9 run within OS X, and still “needs to put more effort into backwards-compatibility”??!!
His first point is the only one that I agree with. I think OS X has other annoyances, but this has been thoroughly discussed in the past in other threads, so I don’t see the point to repeat. I think OS X is the best OS available.
Screen remnants? Oh, you mean IN WINDOWS, when I can move any Window around and leave trails. Got it!
Why do Mac user’s pretend that Apple/Jobs can do no wrong? OS-X is great, but its not perfect. I’ve been using Macs since ’86 here’s what I don’t like:
I agree fully with #2 and #8:
#2 – I wish OSX attached the tool bar to the top of each individual window rather than simply at the top of each screen.
#8 – Why does OSX make it so difficult to unistall programs? Why do I have to buy a 3rd party app to uninstall progams!!!?
#11 – What is the wireless reception in MAC’s so weak? My buddies $500 Acer PC has a far better wireless reception range than my $2000 Powerbook!
#12 – Why doesn’t Apple do the right than and and a 2nd button to the Trackpad/Mouse? Why in the hell are we still CTRL+Clicking in 2006?
OS X may not be fast but I would hardly call it slow – something that would be a problem. Anyway, in comparison to windows, once it gets bogged down with spyware etc it more than evens out.
I still get screen remnants on my intel mac. Especially when the dock is on auto hide. Or sometimes when dragging lots of files to another folder, I won’t even see the drag icon. I’ll just see the destination gray.
Relax. Everyone is entitled to an opinion.
Fix the Finder and the Dock, and have a standard look for Safari / Finder / iLife / Garageband / iTunes.
These are problems?
1) I don’t notice it feels slow
2) inconsistent? how? how is Windows less so?
3) the Search field is available on most browsers, how is this annoying?
3.1) Safari is an <u>option</u> on Macs with OS X
4) I must have missed these ‘remnants’, can’t be <u>too</u> bad
5) you need a light to tell you your HD is being accessed? <u>GAWD!</u>
6) Mail IS my email client, all <u>others</u> are “pointless”
7) the Dock is a … didn’t Apple ‘borrow’ the Dock concept from Windows?
8) a de-installer? drag the stuff to the Trash and Drop it … de-installed!
9) backwards compatible with <u>what</u>?
9.1) Classic lets 7+ year old software run on the newest PPC Mac
9.2) Rosetta lets PPC software run on Intel Macs
9.!) 5 years is <u>forever</u> in computer time, UPDATE!!! <u>Cheapskate</u>!
1. Totally right. Let’s see what Vista will feel like.
2. No OS is. Mac is better than Windows.
3. I love it. Ignore it if you don’t.
4. Not that I can remember.
5. I don’t need that.
6. I hate what it does with open windows. I love to be able to launch any apps quickly.
8. Uninstalling apps are much easier than on Windows. An unsinstaller would be nice to all these Windows switchers though.
9. I disagree. Backward support is good enough.
I looked further at the article; worth noting that it is part 2 of “what sucks about desktop environments.” So, it is not quite the flame bait I thought it was at first, but it sure looks like “hit bait.” Also note that he does in fact use Mail. app “everyday,” so I am not sure that MDN’s observation about his perspective is completely correct.
Even so, some of this is just juvenile carping. For example, Mail.app is a pointless mail app? Um, it gets and sends mail, has a reasonable filing and filtering system. What other “point” should it have? Here is what he writes about Mail:
Mail.app is a pointless email client, and I am flabbergasted I still use it every day. The amounts of emails I get and have in all my mailbox folders (about 40000) can bring Mail.app to a grinding halt, especially on PowerPC Macs. Other than that, Mail.app has its own theme (why, for god’s sake?), and lacks a vertical preview pane.
The vertical preview pane is available, and while inefficient, I am all for giving people choice. I have 3 times as many stored mail messages as this guy, and Mail does not grind to a halt for me. But I am also on an MBP 2.16. But none of these criticisms–even if correct–make Mail
‘pointless.” Perhaps Holwerda needs to make better use of OS X’s Dictionary app.
An HDD activity indicator? WTF for? So that you can see if your HD is doing anything when the OS gets slow is his answer. I find the presence of that indicator inside Windoze more annoying than anything else. “Backward compatibility”? What for? It’s not necessary, and it sure won’t do anything to address his point #1. As it turns out, though, he means “current compatibility,” i.e., not breaking things that the developer community relies on. That one I am sympathetic to, but how is that a failing of the OS? That’s an OS development spec and a corporate attitude.
An uninstaller? He says AppZapper doesn’t count, but it does exactly what he wants it to do, and his only complaint is that it is not built in. This is not an OS criticism. Annoying Google search field in Safari? He wishes it was removable. Okay, I agree it ought to be an option, but seriously, this is his “top 10” list? What does that actually tell you about the seriousness of these complaints?
FWIW, I have been using Macs since late 84, and PCs since about 87.
I assume that by #3 the guy has never used Firefox.
#11 and #12 have nothing to do with the OS.
Hardware complaints are taken at a separate widow.