Windows Software Ugly, Boring & Uninspired 924
An anonymous reader writes "CPU magazine has written a very straight-to-the-point editorial on the lack of quality and innovation in software for the mainstream OS. They compare it to the Mac, which is found in a much different light. Where has all the innovation gone?" From the article: "There's too much coal and not enough diamonds within the sphere of downloads. The greatest pieces of software are plagued by unintelligent design, and very few rise to the level of ubiquity. Windows users don't have a strong sense of belonging; there's no user community rallying around the platform. We use the computer, certainly, or is the computer using us?"
Parent sounds like a Troll (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Informative)
Secondly, I guess I could have been clearer, but I'm talking about the browser together with the stock desk-accessories that ALL of these OS's have... calculator, notepad. And games too.
Want to know the 5-day forecast for the week? Well, of course your browser is already open, so you're not waiting for it to load. And of course you've already bookmarked the exact place where that forecast is available, so basically, you're clicking on a link.
So let me rephrase that...
Want to know the 5-day forcecast for the week? Click on a link.
Given that you're only loading the page for that one link, and not potentially dozens of pages like you are when activating Dashboard, it's much faster.
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
I could go on... but like I said in the other post, you should just learn more. [apple.com]
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Informative)
No, I included expressly because I think it's a big feature. Yet again you insist that I somehow know very little about OS X and FreeBSD? I think that to make such a baseless remark demonstrates that it is you who knows very little about computers in general. Very little.
The Steve Capps' Finder delivered with the original 128K Mac *still* blows away today's Finder in terms of elegance, responsiveness and overall usability. Moreover, I see no difference between today's Finder and WIndows Explorer, except for this odd example you give us which really has nothing to do with anything. BTW, I've never had the need for force-quit Windows Explorer. You really want to call that a feature?
We were talking about GUI's, otherwise I'd give you that one.
Talking about GUI's, remember? And there is a lot of shit you can get for free on Windows. I will admit though that the free DVD Player is nice.
That has no end of bugs to it. No thanks.
That I have to download again and reinstall anyways to get it working with GNU readline. Again, no thanks.
Eh? I've found exactly the opposite IFF we're talking about networking the same machines. Different machines, all platforms have quirks, even Samba under Linux.
Click on Services. Click on the Service you want to start. Done.
Already mentioned this, and it still isn't GUI-related.
When I need fast graphics rendering, it's when I play games (ohmigod, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up the GAMES you can play on Windows and not on Mac, whatever was I thinking? :) )
Is getting rather old by now. Personally I think GNOME looks the best of all of them, but then, I am a minimalist. Plus, GNOME let's me make any window fullscreen. Steve Jobs will die before allowing that to happen under Aqua.
You know it's funny, I saved this message of yours to disk, and I'm STILL hearing the disk grind away in the background.
NetInfo. ooops. (and you say I don't know what I'm talking about?)
If only that were the case. Besides, many of the preferences you're describing are located in a single folder on Windows here too. I'd call this a tie.
I prefer *nix over Windows in this regard too, but it's a preference only, one that derives from FreeBSD (remember, when you said I don't understand OS X?), and one that ultimately is of little consequence to the end-user in any event, who is simply happy to find their file in the folder where they left it the previous day.
I'm sure you could, but as we've seen, you haven't really addressed the subject of the thread. You've offered no example of where Mac OS X outshines Windows
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
Not even the most zealous slashdotter would actually defend finder. It's the biggest piece of crap out there... single threaded (do something that takes any time and your desktop is hosed for minutes), and as for youre force-quit comment.. *why should I need to*. If finder was actually stable and didn't keep locking up I wouldn't need to force-quit it (oh, and force-quit does not always work. Sometimes you have to powercycle.. presumably it tries so hard to stop the OS failing it gives up).
Re:Mac isn't boring and uninteresting?! (Score:2, Informative)
Tabbed browsing: It's a preference.
Turn on the debug menu: Into a terminal window type this:
defaults write com.apple.Safari IncludeDebugMenu 1
Block ads: Create a style sheet and select it under preferences->advanced. Below is what what mine looks like. You can copy and paste it into a text file if you like. I'm sure it can be made better, but it works pretty well for me. Mine's called adblock.css, but you can name it anything you like. Restart Safari when you're done.
A:link[HREF*="ad."] IMG { display: none ! important }
/* disable ad iframes */
IFRAME[SRC*="ad."] { display: none ! important }
/* turning some false positives back off */
A:link[HREF*="ads."] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/ad"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/A="] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="?click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="?banner"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="=click"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="/ar.atwo"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="spinbox."] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="transfer.go"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="adfarm"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="bluestreak"] IMG { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="doubleclick"] IMG { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="ads."] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/ad"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/A="] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/click"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="?click"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="?banner"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="=click"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="/ar.atwo"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="spinbox."] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="transfer.go"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="adfarm"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="bluestreak"] { display: none ! important }
IFRAME[SRC*="doubleclick"] { display: none ! important }
xIMG[usemap] { display: none ! important }
A:link[HREF*="download."] IMG { display: inline ! important }
A:link[HREF*="click.mp3"] IMG { display: inline ! important }
Re:Just wait, it'll come to Linux too. (Score:5, Informative)
I'm sure I don't know what you mean. Have you even heard of Xcode [apple.com]? It's like Visual Basic, except it's free, a little more intuitive (to me, at least), and it can import make files like they were project files.
Re:Garbage (Score:1, Informative)
You can easily force-quit the Finder without having to worry about OS X crashing.
Under Windows, if you "force-quit" Explorer, your entire shell will briefly go away and then return. The OS itself doesn't particularly care. Since the shell restarts automatically, it's not a big loss. (ok, you lose all of the other open explorer windows, that kinda sucks)
Additionally, you can tell it to open each window in a separate process. Then if you force it to close you have no problems.
No viruses or spyware. 'nuff said.
I wouldn't boast about that if I were you... You'll get spyware in due time.
# NO REGISTRY! I've seen many a 3.4 Ghz P4 system cripled to the equivalent of a 300 mhz Celeron because their registry (an unbelievably stupid concept) was fscked.
# Instead of the registry, OS X has an intelligent method of organizing users's preferences. They're all located in a... single folder.
I'm not convinced it is such a stupid idea, and you haven't given any actual points to support that. Ok, so the implementation may not be all that great, what's your point?
As a programmer, I do prefer config files... but most people don't want to mess with syntax so they'll change things through UI. Given that, who cares where it's stored?
Windows gets a bit more broken, though, in that it has the registry, *two* folders for application data (per user), and a few other places like "Cookies", etc. And there are the machine-wide settings as well.
Because OS X has real, actual unix permissions (unlike windows),
True, Windows doesn't have "actual" Unix permissions (maybe if you install SFU...) but it does have ACLs, which are far superior. Let's see you explicitly deny delete permission (while permitting additions and modification) on a folder's content to a single user. It probably takes 10 clicks on Windows, but it's impossible with simple Unix permissions.
it is by default very secure on a multiuser system, with excellent user home folder organization.
BY DEFAULT, however, Windows users tend to be Administrators due to software written for Win9x. Administrators don't get to ignore permissions like root, but they typically get pretty lax ones and can ignore ownership and modify those permissions. If you set someone up in a User account, they can't access other user's files.
Computer Consumer vs. Computer User (Score:2, Informative)
Apple does not make computers. They make creative experiences.
Even though I made the switch in 2000, I'm still pleasantly delighted when things just work the way I would hope they would, like when I copied World of Warcraft onto my iPod, and it ran on other Macs!
That is part of the excitement... the idea that without knowing exactly how everything works, you could discover it.
So while you might only ask "does it work?" there's definitely something involved in human emotion which makes it more worthwhile, I think, if you can answer the "does it work while making me happy?" in the affirmative.
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
One thing I'll say for Finder - yes, you can force-quit it. And usually, when you have to, 90% of the time, you're back in business. Not so with Explorer. Once you kill Explorer, sometimes it starts back up, sometimes it doesn't. When it does, you're still often in an unstable situtation. Worst thing about Explorer is it's lack of apartment-threading, (seems to be fixed in XP though) where you can't do multiple copy-jobs to one explorer window; once a copy is in-progress, you're stuck until it's done.
Oh, I've got a lot to complain about with Finder, (like how it barfs when you select a corrupt mpeg - hey, I'm just selecting the damn thing, maybe I want to delete it?) as well, but at least Apple has steadily (if slowly) improved it along the way. The same isn't true for Explorer - but with XP, at least it's semi usable now.
Re:Windows rants: boring, ugly, uninspired (Score:1, Informative)
The X in "generation X" is the roman numeral for 10. As in 10 genrations (20 years each) since American independence. Generation I was born between 1776 and 1795, II between 1796 and 1815, etc. That makes generation X born between 1956 and 1975. So the correct term for someone born between 1976 and 1995 is generation XI, not Y.
Re:Windows rants: boring, ugly, uninspired (Score:3, Informative)
Not a productivity app? Too bad. It's too much fun for me to care. That creative energy is what later enables me to be more productive elsewhere when I work. And yes, I only use Comic Life at home, so don't make assumptions. Try it, it's that good.
Re:Windows rants: boring, ugly, uninspired (Score:2, Informative)
Er...the real reason "Gen X" caught on was not because "X" referred to the "10th generation", but rather because "X" felt right to the general culture in an algebraic sense, as in for the value x. Undefined, without reference points, without grounding. Thus the easy move to "Y" for the next group --- other than at its initial introduction, no one thought X=10. Though "Y" isn't accurate as a count, it is here to stay.
We have Douglas Coupland [coupland.com] to thank for much of the spread of "Gen X" as a term; we have The Replacements [twintone.com] to thank for singing great songs which (without intention) gave voice to much of what Gen X-ers were thinking.
Frankly, I think the cutoff from Gex X to Y ought to be 1974 --- do you have at least vague recollection of when Nixon was president? The worldviews of those born after are often much, much different than those born before.
Re:Garbage (Score:2, Informative)
I was using list view in Windows Explorer the other day and renamed a file in it. I was shocked to discover it didn't automatically reposition itself in the list based on its new name.
Thats arguably a feature. Sorting is something that should happen when you first open a view onto a folder or when you change the sort criteria. Sorting should NOT mean that when you rename a file it suddenly jumps to another part of the list, making it seem like it disappeared, or alternatively cause your place in the list to suddenly jump. That's an unexpected side effect, NOT a feature.
I thought I'd add something more to this point. If you're viewing a folder and an application creates a new file in it then the file appears at the very end of the list. Way easier to spot it as you're likely to have an active interest in the file. If you want the folder sorted, hit refresh.
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Garbage (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, in my experience Widgets take a fair amount of memory. Each Widget seems to take around 150 Meg ov VM, and use several Megs of real memory. They also seem to leak real memory. This is after about four days:
Real Mem Virt Mem NAME
27.33 MB 159.59 MB Weather DashboardClient
11.51 MB 144.20 MB Stickies DashboardClient
10.85 MB 147.11 MB Oblique DashboardClient
9.13 MB 154.76 MB Unit Converter DashboardClient
9.11 MB 144.05 MB Calendar DashboardClient
8.79 MB 151.12 MB Dictionary DashboardClient
8.65 MB 144.61 MB World Clock DashboardClient
6.20 MB 126.45 MB Calculator DashboardClient
This adds up to about 90 Meg of real memory, and over a gig of virtual memory, for about eight widgets. Desk accessories the world over are hanging their head in shame.
Re:Garbage (Score:2, Informative)
Comment removed (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Windows... (Score:2, Informative)
You're not looking. Here's what's improved from Windows 2000 to XP (Pro):
- WIA (common interface for scanners/cameras)
- UPnP
- Remote Desktop
- Remote Assistance
- Welcome screen
- Fast User Switching
- 32-bit (RGBA) Icons
- Tiles View
- ID3 support in shell
- Grouping in shell
- Two-column start menu
- NX-bit support
- System File Protection
- System Restore
- Help & Support Center
- Internet Connection Sharing
- Windows Compatibility Mode
- Files & Settings Transfer Wizard
- Search Assistant
- IE 6.0
- Outlook Express 6.0
- Windows Movie Maker
- Windows Media Player 8.0
- Automatic Updates
- WiFi support
- Bluetooth Support
- Safe removal of removable devices without unmounting
- Driver rollback
- Driver signatures
- Resultant Set of Policy
- Effective Permissions
- Tab-completion in command line
- Windows Picture & Fax Viewer
- Photo printing in Shell
- Themes
- MSConfig
- New EFS Features (EFS over WebDAV, etc)
- Windows Messenger
- Passport integration
- Taskbar Button grouping
- System tray icon hiding
- Clock syncronization
- 1000s of new devices supported out of the box
Now, you can argue that these features aren't significant, or that they aren't useful. But millions of people use them every day, and I find many of them particularly useful:
- WIA frees me from having to use whatever crappy software comes with my camera. I can now drag-and-drop the photos off my camera using the standard Windows interface.
- UPnP lets me open ports on my Linksys firewall without having to mess with the web interface. Smarter applications (games, mostly) will open the proper ports automatically.
- Remote Desktop is a feature that I use on a daily basis. It's faster than VNC and far more useful.
- Remote Assistance comes in handy when you have family or friends who could use a hand - but you don't want to walk them through setting up VNC / setting a password / giving you an IP address.
- The Welcome Screen is a great boon if you have more than one person who uses a computer. Our "kitchen" computer uses the welcome screen so everyone can have a logon without remembering a username.
- Fast User Switching helps as well. I can leave the 23 IE windows (and 2-3 Word documents) open and switch to my account.
- 32-bit (RGBA) icons make the UI considerably cleaner and more attractive.
- Tiles view is nice for icons with long names. You also get the filetype and size. It's more compact than "details" but more verbose than "icons".
- ID3 support in shell is great for organizing my music folder.
- Grouping in shell works particularly well with ID3 support (group by artist), or when I have a folder with multiple document types (e.g. PDFs and Excel documents) with similar names.
- Two-column start menu allows me to have my favorite programs on the left (Firefox/Thunderbird/GAIM/Media Center) and all of the things I commonly use on the right (Control Panel, Network Connections, Printers, Run)
- NX-bit support helps stop buffer overruns from creating exploits
- System File Protection is nice when a virus or spyware screws your system files. Put in your Windows CD, delete the files, and watch as fresh copies are written to the disk.
- System Restore has saved important documents on more than one occasion.
- The Help & Support Center is much improved over Windows 2000.
- Internet Connection Sharing is a necessity when you want to share WiFi at a LAN party (or any other time).
- Windows Compatibility Mode can help with stubborn applications that hardcode for a specific Windows version.
- IE 6.0 finally has half-working CSS support in standards-compliance mode
- Outlook Express 6.0 has better virus protection, web-bug elimination, and a number of other new features.
- Windows Movie Maker is a n
Re:Garbage (Score:3, Informative)
I did notice, however, that my machine was quite a lot slower after installing Tiger. I poked around, and found the reason was that it was swapping a lot more. The Dashboard widgets were using around 50MB of real memory doing nothing - it seems they don't even get completely swapped out when the Dashboard is hidden. This was just enough to push my RAM usage high enough that switching applications required swapping. I suppose it's to be expected though, after all my PowerBook `only' has 512MB of RAM...