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Microsoft plays catch up to Apple's interface

updated 01:20 am EDT, Wed May 5, 2004

MS vs. Apple GUI

ZDNet's Dan Farber says while Microsoft struggles to play catch up with Apple's user interface, the Windows user experience has been (for now): "For the last 20 years Apple has been leading the charge in making computing easier for mere mortals. Microsoft has always strived to attain the kind of elevated status Apple has for its user experience and emotional attachment, but has consistently fallen short. Some of the compelling user interface features found in Mac OS X, such as the underlying graphics foundation, won't be available in Windows until Longhorn ships in the second half of this decade. Nonetheless, Microsoft's lagging behind Apple in some areas of user interface design and experience hasn't adversely impacted Windows dominance."

by MacNN Staff

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Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/05, 02:01am | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Good enough

I don't think 90% of computer users are REALLY stupid, just really lazy.

Clive
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

05/05, 02:12am | report spam | close Reply |
Apple leads?

Do metallic windows and drop shadows really answer a user's needs in a bug-ridden Finder?

Stephen1
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Joined: Jul 2002

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05/05, 02:57am | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Apple Leads

Do metallic windows and drop shadows really answer a user's needs in a bug-ridden Finder

As far as a question of aesthetics, no probably not.
As far as the bug ridden finder?
Windows gets by nicely with a bug ridden, virus ridden operating system.
So in other words unless you have anything relevant to say...
Don't bother.
Every OS out there has bugs of some sort or another.

Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

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05/05, 03:01am | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Apple Leads

Oh I own a Mac and a PC and PCs are STILL a huge pain in the a** to trouble shoot when problems occur.
They still occur (for me at least) far more often then they do with a Mac.
They've improved, but they still have a long way to go.

Kenneth
Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Mar 1999

0

05/05, 03:03am | report spam | close Reply |
well...

Typical people don't want to pay $799 for an eMac.. they rather pay $499 for a DELL.. sad to know.

MacBolo

Joined:

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05/05, 03:10am | report spam | close Reply | delete
Re: Re:Good enough

"I don't think 90% of computer users are REALLY stupid, just really lazy."

Watch your tongue boy! YOu do not know what your talking about.

I have been a Mac fan and evangelist more than a decade and the real issues underlie why people choose Windows over the Mac is beyond than just personal preference and laziness :

1. Isn't it obvious, as a computer company Apple makes its own OS. Unlike other hardware brands which simply rely on M$ windows. The end result- it was easier for M$ to promote its OS via branded and clones, while Apple is alone in promoting the Mac platform

2. Because of this, there was a time that it is more profitable for third party developers to prioritize Windoze platform.

3. For companies, instituions, schools (like mine) its too costly to migrate to the Mac.

4. Not everyone is as rich as the US. I bet, globally more than half of the people are even below poverty line. Thus creating the so-clled "digital divide" where only the rich can appreciate Information Technology. With this scenerio, guess which platform your government will support.

For 4 years I have worked under the sole distributor of Apple here in my country. And after 5 years eventhough I remain Mac fan, I could not blame anyone if they opted to use a pc.

Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

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05/05, 03:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Good enough

Watch your tongue boy! YOu do not know what your talking about.

MMMMM Love that tough talk over the internet...boy!
Based on personal experience I know EXACTLY what I'm talking about..
boy.
As far as Global economics are concerned and the cost of Macintosh computers, BULLSHIT!!
I personally know plenty of people who are in a pretty low (read poor) tax bracket and yet still managed to purchase a Mac.
At one point I was one of them.
I worked my a** off to buy my first mac.
I now own a G5 and a G4, and guess what I"M NOT RICH!!
Just very thrifty.
You make it sound like poor people are lazy shiftless bums who settle for whatever life throws at them.
A friend of mine works at the Calgary school board (Yeah I'm Canadian yah dipshit)
Where they recently replaced ALL THERE PCS WITH MACS!!!!!!!
The reason? cost of ownership on those badly built boxes caught up to them and bit them on the a**.
Networked Macs where easier to maintain and required ONE IT GUY!!!
Hence they ended up saving money in the long run by going Mac.

PS.
My first comment about people being lazy was meant to be facetious
a******.
PS again
Don't call me boy...

Mr. Bob
Forum Regular

Joined: Dec 2003

0

05/05, 04:14am | report spam | close Reply |
goddamn

The main reason wintel computers outsell is because of marketing.

When people buy a computer, they think "Windows" not MacOS. Apple has started to change this, but for the last few years has failed.

Also I know MANY people who just chose not to go with Apple because they has no idea how to make computers look for a few years. That whole translucent thing made MANY people think "Hmm, ment for kids, I will go with the (insert computer name here)". Also, business and government will not buy nasty a** looking translucent computers.

Now that Apple is starting to make their computers look more professional, and not something that a goddamn 7 year old drew up, they are selling strong. The PowerBooks look awesome, the PowerMacs look awesome, all there computers look awesome. All they need is a headless iMac and a smaller PowerMac (I would love just a single g5 PowerMac, without all the empty space) and they will finally have a really good product line. Better then any other company.

Also, there OS doesn�t suck a** anymore. OSX is da bomb.

Finally if you don�t like my opinions, I really don�t care, because I know I am right, and deep down so do you.

Clive
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

05/05, 04:34am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: Apple leads

Stephen:
>So in other words unless you have anything relevant to say...

Geezer, you're an arsehole.

Just about 90% of the problems I have with X are centred around the Finder, is it somehow wrong to say that? Is it somehow irrellevant to say it's bug-ridden when someone is saying how Apple leads?

No, it isn't.

The X Finder is a relatively large step backwards from the Classic Finder, it's getting better, but it still doesn't have the maturity/ease of use of the Classic Finder. It's ok to keep adding features, but please let us switch the bloody things off (who wants metallic windows/tool bars/side bars on every window?:

Top Mac Finder hates:

Spinning beachball of death.

Don't use relative dates and do calculate all sizes in view options revert to default settings - no matter how many times to reset them.

Using the "inspector" mode of get info and trying to option-double-click folders does some pretty weird things

Switching from metallic windows to standard loses the header info bar, which can't be restored without closing and re-opening the window...

>PS again

It's PPS you dimwit.

Mr Bob:
>Now that Apple is starting to make their computers look
>more professional, and not something that a goddamn 7
>year old drew up, they are selling strong.

You mean the G5 towers - I think that pretty much universally sales of these have been disappointing.

dru
Senior User

Joined: Apr 2002

0

05/05, 05:57am | report spam | close Reply |
But Explorer is stable...

Say what you will about the "buggy" Windows but Explorer can be depended upon to show visual feedback when you drag a large number of images from one folder to the other. Panther? "Puh-leeze, it don't happen!" Panther will randomly move Desktop icons (no Undo!), under specific conditions a selection will be started without a mouse click, disk info headers vanish, you have to manually open more than one Get Info individually (unlike 9.x), anything above trivial use of Icon Previews will crash the Finder. There's more but I only get 3000 characters. Bottomline: At least Microsoft made Explorer *reliable*; we still have a flaky Finder which has less mature UI than 9.x.

MacBolo

Joined:

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05/05, 06:09am | report spam | close Reply | delete
re: stephen 1

Since you live in Canada you REALLY DONT KNOW what your talking about. Hello, Canada is oozing with opportunities. My fellow asians flocking their to migrate as teachers or caregivers. Yes, I'm an asian.

We maybe not be as rich as your country. But we are a proud people. People here opt to use the alternative platform because its practical. Here the price of a Mac is TWICE the price there. We are neither stupid nor lazy which you earlier declared in your first post. So don't turn the tables.

I own a Mac G3 blue and white running OS 9. I love the latest OS version and G5. But will I upgrade my unit or buy a new G5. As long as my unit still does the job I'm happy with it. Here there are other more important investment than personal caprices.

MacBolo

Joined:

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05/05, 06:35am | report spam | close Reply | delete
re: Don't call me boy...

Since you are living in Canada I'm surprised that you are not that well informed.I was right calling you "boy" the first time.

Nope, I stand corrected. Since you resorted to calling me "__hole" I think Dork is much more appropriate. Its night time here so and I need to get my sleep, so its useless to respond to this post Stephen 1. Again watch your language next it gives us a wrong impression.

IonCable
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Apr 2001

0

05/05, 07:06am | report spam | close Reply |
the bottom line

PCs lead because of the bottomline. Corporations, schools, government all buy from the lowest bidder unless there is a very compelling reason not too. At the beginning of the "computer revolution" buying a computer was an extravagance. Families bought the PC because that's what Dad/Mom had at work as a way to justify the puchase, "I could bring work home." Now it's just "being with the rest," my wife loves iphoto, itunes and the rest but she wants a PC because that's what everyone else has and she tried of going to websites that don't work, getting emails she can't see, and finding software she can't get. So far I've refused, but I may break down just so I don't have deal it anymore.

joltguy
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: May 2001

0

05/05, 07:11am | report spam | close Reply |
re: goddamn

Also, business and government will not buy nasty a** looking translucent computers.

Surely, you must be refering to the eMachines knock-offs with this comment because the original iMac was a beautiful piece of industrial design.

JeffHarris
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 1999

0

05/05, 07:27am | report spam | close Reply |
Kill the Competition

Surely the reason that Microsoft dominates the computing landscape has been their mantra of killing the competition. They seem unable to produce superior products, regardless of how much money or how many people they throw at a problem. Instead, Microsoft steals, cheats, intimidates or simply buys out it's "competitors". If Bush hadn't been "elected", the DOJ slap on the wrist they gave MS in the sham monopoly case would have been with a 2x4 instead of a wet noodle.

So, superiority in this case has more to do with strong arm tactics than superior products. Look at the c*** that the US produces and people gobble up. It's a shame that this same c*** pollutes the rest of the world. And on SO many levels.

bobolicious
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2002

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05/05, 08:05am | report spam | close Reply |
Interface gets my vote...

...I would concede the macs are beautiful to work on - but my PC outshines it in so many material ways (incuding OS features like system restore & available software apps) that I now understand why they are the choice of many...

I still try to do my work on my Mac, but I now consider it a very real compromise & recognize additional effort is needed for the 'priviledge' including higher capital costs & frustratingly poor software availability in some areas... Of course the macs now have titles pc users want as well...

Skins for the PC can help tame the user interface although it will never be a mac - I actually prefer to run XP in 'classic' mode on a purely graphical front...

nat
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 2002

0

05/05, 09:08am | report spam | close Reply |
stories

everybody's got 'em. i have a less than 6 month old hp laptop. everytime i shut down it gives me a dialog box that a program isn't responding or some such nonesense even though NOTHING IS RUNNING!

it crashes far too often for my taste. it does some mighty funky things on its own (like it won't let me eject a zip disk if the window for it is open, C'MON!). i use it for some development and nothing else at all, and even then very light stuff.

it is, imho, a piece of c***.

my emac 700 has never crashed and it is my main machine for everything except when i have to port to the pc which then does what i just described.

i'll take reliability over any perceived interface advantage/disadvantage any day.

i've yet to find a software that i want that i can't find for the mac.

cebritt
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2000

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05/05, 09:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Hey PC lovers...

...if your PCs are so cool and Windows is so great, why are you over on a Mac site posting messages? Get over to www.arstechnica.com or www.dellcentral.com...oh wait...there is no Dell central. Just like there aren't any Ford Taurus car clubs...

iomatic
Mac Elite

Joined: Oct 1999

0

05/05, 11:06am | report spam | close Reply |
Geez.

...

...

It's like a regular spelling bee in here.

*sigh*

...

...

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

05/05, 11:12am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: but explorer is stabl

Say what you will about the "buggy" Windows but Explorer can be depended upon to show visual feedback when you drag a large number of images from one folder to the other. Panther? "Puh-leeze, it don't happen!"

What do you call visual feedback? A progress bar or some other nonsense?

Panther will randomly move Desktop icons (no Undo!),
Geesh, Windows has done this for years! I think they might have finally solved it in XP (but not sure, as I lost my icon positions like 3 months ago once). Windows 2000 would do this all the time. And I have no problems with my desktop icons (except when I drag stuff to the desktop they don't go where I drag them, but I'm sure that's because I turned on the snap-to-grid business for that.

under specific conditions a selection will be started without a mouse click, disk info headers vanish, you have to manually open more than one Get Info individually (unlike 9.x), anything above trivial use of Icon Previews will crash the Finder.

Don't know what 'disk info headers' are. You talking about disk driver problems or some interface complaint? You need to remember not everyone calls items the same things as everyone else.

As for get info, I know of very few people (OK, none, but I thought I'd give you the benefit of the doubt) who want separate info windows for a selection of files or folders. I want to know how much space a selection is taking up, not how much each individual item is, then pull out a calculator to add it up. Oh, and Explorer does the same thing, so its not like its any better in this sense (which is where your initial complaints were headed).

Bottomline: At least Microsoft made Explorer *reliable*; we still have a flaky Finder which has less mature UI than 9.x.It might be stable, but its slow and buggy.

Except explorer isn't reliable. I've had serious problems (brought on by IE 6, by the way) with the stupid interface. First, its slow. Deleting a file or folder always prompts. But if you're too fast when you go "Delete, Enter" to confirm, you actually open the file because the return is caught before windows can figure out the whole deleting process. Trashing files is laborous to say the least. And if you use the folders view, be careful how you drag files around. There's a huge bug with the feedback when you drag to folders on the left side. If you're too close to the top or bottom of the folder 'row', the highlight is on a folder, but the drop actually takes place in the folder above or below it. This has happened to me more often than I can count. I don't have these problems on my Mac.

beeble
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

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05/05, 11:13am | report spam | close Reply |
Never had a problem with

the new finder. I really like it. It is so much easier to get work done. I don't know why people keep complaining about the metalic look. I think it looks fine, even interesting compared to the bland windows of the past. The improvements in finder in 10.3 are great. It's never crashed once on me and I use my mac for design work and programming. It's on 24/7 and is only restarted for updates. My record between updates is 69 days of uptime with the machine being heavily used each day. I really don't know what you lot are complaining about but I suggest to look into maintaining you systems better. Try checking your hd's for corruption and fixing permissions. I do that before each system update and have never had a problem there either.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

05/05, 11:17am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: stories

Hey, I blue-screened a friends Dell Laptop yesterday (running XP) just by installing a web cam. Pretty cool.

He's also got an eMachines piece of c*** that literally took an hour to install the latest XP security patches (but, then again, that piece of c*** machine would become unstable after a month or two when it was just being used for email and IE - hey, it is an eMachines after all)

jfromnillicus
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2004

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05/05, 11:36am | report spam | close Reply |
re: Mr. Bob

i'm gonna preface this by saying i know i'm basically responding to a troll, but i just really need to rip into this one...

>Also, there OS doesn�t suck a** anymore. OSX is da bomb.

i'm glad you like OS X, bob, but your bias (or previous bias, as it may be) is blatantly given away by your implication that the Mac OS used to suck. I'd wager (especially given the number of OS X Finder complaints on here) that the vast majority of users here would choose the "classic" Mac OS over Win 95 or 98 any day, and did for many years, when they were the latest and greatest versions of the systems. The fact that you seemingly had other preferences before OS X really makes you look like a total dipshit.

AS DO your implications that the product that SAVED APPLE was a crappy piece of industrial design. The original iMac revolutionized computer design and virtually SINGLEHANDEDLY brought Apple back from the brink of financial ruin. It's been copied endlessly, as has the "iXXX" naming scheme and translucency in design; "that whole transluscent thing" made Apple stand out again, and drew a LOT of positive attention to the company, without which it would almost no doubt have gone under. While it may have driven away a few design-averse morons like yourself, most people thought the design was novel and hip, and it showed in the financials and sales figures. Most people disagreed with you.

As for the PMs and PBs, they've always had strong "professional" design; I doubt that the transluscent handles of the PowerMac G4s ever had anybody worried that they were going to look unprofessional - no more so than a square box, which would look like a large brown t*** in any tastefully designed office setting. Design of those never should have been a huge issue, and I doubt it ever was.

I agree you were right in the first place to say that MARKETING (or rather branding, branding as the only real choice, and the fact that enough people bought into it a long time ago) is the main reason Microsoft has dominance; to imply that Apple has fallen behind due to poor industrial design (LONG an area Apple has dominated in) or software design
(Apple has always been recognized as creating more usable, stable software - only recently has there been some perceived narrowing of the quality gap) is contradictory to this statement, and fat out wrong to boot.

Good day sirrah.

jfromnillicus
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2004

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05/05, 11:43am | report spam | close Reply |
oops

*flat out wrong to boot.

glad to keep up the grand tradition of poor spelling on this page :)

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

05/05, 12:51pm | report spam | close Reply |
Talk about catch-up

Saw this today:

According to Microsoft Watch, the average system and driver requirements for Longhorn, the next major release of Windows, are: "a dual-core CPU running at 4 to 6GHz; a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM; up to a terabyte of storage; a 1 Gbit, built-in, Ethernet-wired port and an 802.11g wireless link; and a graphics processor that runs three times faster than those on the market today."

That's some nasty specs for an average machine.

Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/05, 01:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Clive

It's PPS you dimwit.

Wow Clive..
You got me on a gammatical mistake.
You da man.
Everything else you said is of course pretty stupid.

dthree
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 1999

0

05/05, 01:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
haha-from the article

"Gates also said a fond goodbye to the floppy disk. "For the first time, I can say that the floppy disk is dead." The future is USB flash, which, according to industry reports, is expected to ship in volume of between 67 million and 120 million drives in 2005"

Thanks SO much, bill, for letting us know its offficial. Personally, I haven't used a floppy (on a mac) for over 6 years.

But your replacement suggestion is stupid:
1. How do I update my PC's bios with a USB flash drive, idiot.
2. I'm not going to give people a flash drive instead of a floppy when I need to give someone a file, just to risk not getting it back. If the file small enought to fit on a floppy, I will email it. If its not, I will make a cd. $ Per meg, a CD destroys USB flash, even CDRW.

And people wonder if Gates "gets it"?

Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/05, 02:08pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re:Macbolo

Since you are living in Canada I'm surprised that you are not that well informed.I was right calling you "boy" the first time.

Far better informed then you pretend to be.
Something based on actual experience as opposed to pure supposition
on your part.
Let's see..you call me a boy and I call you an a******.
You call me a dork because I call you an a******.
Hmmm..I could never top that..you win tough guy.
I'm not well informed based on what? Your big mouth?
You're the kind of guy who would probably fold in a heartbeat if this where a face to face debate.
Anytime anywhere.

Here the price of a Mac is TWICE the price there. We are neither stupid nor lazy which you earlier declare in your first post

First off Macs are not twice the price in Canada.
Sure they are more expensive, but please don't make it seem worse then it actually is.
Secondly what does being Asian have to with anything.
I never brought that up, you did.
Thirdly I never DECLARED any particular group was stupid or lazy..
I said "I don't think 90% of computer users are stupid, just lazy."
So if you read that again you'll notice I called nobody stupid just lazy.
EVerybody is from time to time.

Here there are other more important investment than personal caprices.

Well it's a big investment for me as somebody who does post production audio and video work.
It�s not a capricious investment, it�s an investment in my business.
The faster the Mac the better.

I took issue with Macbolos statement that
"Not everyone is as rich as the US. I bet, globally more than half of the people are even below poverty line. Thus creating the so-clled "digital divide" where only the rich can appreciate Information Technology. With this scenerio, guess which platform your government will support.

The government may support one particular platform over another (no debate there) but that doesn't mean we as individuals can't look at Apple as a viable alternative to the Windows monopoly.
As I tried to point out when I mentioned the school board in Calgary.
"Cost of ownership of Apple computers became more fiscally viable for them then owning Windows PCs."
I really don't believe that you need to be rich to own an Apple computer anymore.
I'm not, not by any means.
It seems though that people want to perpetuate this myth that
Macs still cost to much.
I don't buy it. (pardon the pun)

kentuckyfried
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2002

0

05/05, 05:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
4 key items...

...that Apple must overcome:

1. The myth that they aren't compatible with PC's. Yes, there are some hiccups, but they're compatible for the most part. There's alot of people who still believe that they can't talk to each other!
2. Price. Apples are still expensive for the "average" consumer who is looking for nothing more than the cheapest unit possible to write papers, play video games, surf the web, get warez, and download p***. In that regard, PC's can't be beat on the bottom line. There has to be a compelling reason for this consumer to spend more on a computer.
3. Going back to video games. It's unacceptable to use a mac as a gaming platform if the games come out more than a year after their PC counterparts. A year is like ancient history in the gaming world.
4. Apple isn't marketing their computers enough to the business sector, and the general public (well, maybe this is a good thing, we're not overbombarded with ads). The iPod for example...nobody really knew about it until word of mouth got by that it totally kicked a**, and then demand for it has completely exploded. If Apple can do the same for the rest of its hardware, that could change everything.

Person Man
Professional Poster

Joined: Jun 2001

0

05/05, 09:18pm | report spam | close Reply |
About price and business

Apple has stated in the past that they aren't going for the low end market. They are uninterested in competing with the $499 PC.

As for the business sector... each time there is a new worm or virus on the PC side, and companies spend millions of dollars to fix it, more and more companies will start to look at other platforms... if not to completely replace Windows, then to diversify as a way to guard against it.

Some companies that have departments that are Mac only are already seeing the proof... while some departments aren't able to do their jobs because of the virus/worm-du-jour, the Mac departments are fully productive. People *do* take notice. In the past, TCO (total cost of ownership) projections never took malware (viruses, etc.) into account. These days, you can't ignore that clean up efforts contribute BILLIONS of dollars to TCO.

I don't see many Fortune 500 companies rushing to do this just yet. It's the small and medium size businesses currently changing. Eventually, the larger corporations will do it too. And I expect that word of mouth will play a large part.

(I know, many will choose Linux, but more are starting to see Apple, too).

MacBolo

Joined:

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05/05, 09:27pm | report spam | close Reply | delete
Good Morning Stephen 1

I declared I'm an asian because its critical in the issue. Its about perspective-- GLOBALLY. Situation here in the south east is different there in the North West. Economy maybe stable there but here we are struggling.The price of Mac there maybe tough but here its unreasonable (Yes the price of the Mac is twice here because we have to get it from Singapore first before it gets to our country!).

As I said before, I use to work with Apple's sole distributor herein our country for 4 years. I know pretty much sure what I am talking about.

Now, I am presently in a university's information and communication technology department. We have 2 old Power Macs here but its still predominantly pc. Still I love my g3 at home-- even if its using OS 9.

I do closely work with guys here doing video and post production using soudForge, Conopus, Digisuit, Pinnacle, Media 100 and an Avid. Lately they have concentrated to Avid Express DV in a pc. I tried convincing them to try a Mac (G5), but even my contacts in Apple here admitted to me that it is much expensive to invest for an Avid Express DV in a G5.

I admired that you work hard to get a G5 for your business, but believe me, at least here in this side of the world they can survive without the Apple.

You call me bigmouth?
You said "I don't think 90% of computer users are stupid, just lazy." Included in those 90% is my sister, my friends, my school, my coleagues and perhaps a greater part of my people.

Maybe I'm too sensitive or implusive. But I a unbiased mac fan, and i will certainly would think twice before making such irresponsible and biased post over a medium that goes globally.

Me debating you?
This topic has gone too stale already. And you? I realize not worthy of my precious time.

Person Man
Professional Poster

Joined: Jun 2001

0

05/05, 09:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: buggy Finder

Half of the issues people mentioned AREN'T BUGS! Let's see:

1. Spinning beachball of death.

Depends. The Finder is not fully multithreaded yet. I'll call this a bug, but it's probably more of a "feature." Should be addressed once the Finder gets more multithreaded.

2. Don't use relative dates

Not a bug. This is the lack of a feature. May or may not be addressed, as some people (like me) find relative dates superfluous.

and do calculate all sizes in view options revert to default settings - no matter how many times to reset them.

Bug. Needs fixed.

Using the "inspector" mode of get info and trying to option-double-click folders does some pretty weird things

Can you elaborate? Could be a bug or a feature. If it's a bug, it needs fixed. If it's a feature, they'll need to rethink their implementation.

Switching from metallic windows to standard loses the header info bar, which can't be restored without closing and re-opening the window...

Not a bug. Most likely an oversight or possibly an intentional thing. Again, they need to rethink the implementation.

Say what you will about the "buggy" Windows but Explorer can be depended upon to show visual feedback when you drag a large number of images from one folder to the other. Panther?

Probably not a bug. More of an oversight. Or an intentional feature. Still, should be fixed.

Panther will randomly move Desktop icons (no Undo!).

Bug. Needs fixed.

under specific conditions a selection will be started without a mouse click

Never had this happen to me, so it may be one of those bugs that are very hard to reproduce. Needs fixed, but may take a long time.

you have to manually open more than one Get Info individually (unlike 9.x)

Not a bug.

Bottomline: At least Microsoft made Explorer *reliable*;

No more "reliable" than the Finder. Maybe with respect to the problems listed above, but Explorer still has bugs that the Finder does not.

we still have a flaky Finder which has less mature UI than 9.x.

They rewrote the Finder from scratch for OS X. As time goes, it will mature more and more.

I didn't buy Panther for the Finder. I spend less than 10% of my time in the Finder. Yes the Finder has bugs, but it doesn't make my computer unusable as many people here would claim. Show me a job where you get paid to spend 50% or more time in the Finder as a primary job function and I'll eat my words.

Stephen1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

0

05/05, 09:57pm | report spam | close Reply |
Good morning to you to

Me debating you?
This topic has gone too stale already. And you? I realize not worthy of my precious time.

My what overbearing arrogance.
I'm not worthy?
I'm sure I'll still sleep at night.

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Microsoft plays catch up to Apple's interface

updated 01:20 am EDT, Wed May 5, 2004

MS vs. Apple GUI

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Re:Good enough

Apple leads?

Re:Apple Leads

Re:Apple Leads

well...

Re: Re:Good enough

Re:Good enough

goddamn

Re: Apple leads

But Explorer is stable...

re: stephen 1

re: Don't call me boy...

the bottom line

re: goddamn

Kill the Competition

Interface gets my vote...

stories

Hey PC lovers...

Geez.

Re: but explorer is stabl

Never had a problem with

Re: stories

re: Mr. Bob

oops

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Re:Clive

haha-from the article

Re:Macbolo

4 key items...

About price and business

Good Morning Stephen 1

Re: buggy Finder

Good morning to you to

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