Otaku, Cedric's weblog

Regarding the right-click gripe, this may offer some relief:

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060627210830917

For what it's worth, Apple-M will minimize the current window. Apple-Delete will delete the current file in the Finder.

Speaking of "finger aerobics":
http://raibledesigns.com/page/rd?entry=two_finger_right_click

;-)

As someone who actively switched away from Linux and Windows a little over a year ago, I haven't found much of what you've stated to be a shortcoming or problem, as I put myself in the mindset of "I'm now going to do things differently" because I was just sick and tired of my old routines.

That being said, I understand many of your gripes. Maybe the following will make things a little easier on you.

- I use Alt-Tab a bit and Alt-~, but for window switching bliss, I use Expose. I find Alt- to be clumsy now. I set up Expose to trigger in a variety of ways, one of which is a click on my tablet.

- The right mouse button is done by clicking with two fingers on the trackpad after you enable it in System Preferences.

Like every other OS I've used, OS X is made more "hackerish" by getting lots of other little apps. QuickSilver, Visor, KeyCue and OnyX being some of the ones I use. It also pays to learn a little AppleScript (being able to control a multitude of apps with AppleScript can be very handy).

A couple of quick responses to hopefully help out in your experience:

Quicksilver - Quicksilver wasn't meant to be google search. It does a great job as a app launcher (which most people use it for) but it provides some pretty significant productivity boosts above and beyond that. It takes some time reading through the tutorials on the quicksilver site to really get it, or at least it did for me.

Task switching - have you checked out expose (http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/)?

Right clicking - the two finger on the trackpad has helped with right clicking significantly.

Minimizing - a lot of mac users just do Command + H to hide the app instead of minimizing it. But this is for the whole app not just one window.

Command, Ctrl inconsistency - Command is the primary modifier on OS X. In SWT this is MOD_1. It does take a little getting used to when coming from Windows but it is a much better positioning than the Ctrl key as you point out.

Quicktime maximizing - yeah, most people just pay the $30 for the pro version just for the full screen mode.

XEmacs - if you're looking for a change check out TextMate. TextMate is one of the best apps on OS X. Also if you're familiar with Emacs keybindings a subset of the keybindings are available in all Cocoa text areas which is a nice perk.

Yup, I think you're pretty much right on with all complaints. Two years ago, I was in exactly the same position:

http://pcal.net/blog/archives/2004/06/so_ive_had_my_p.html

But I still have my PowerBook and have since grown to love it. At first, it's difficult to fully appreciate many of OSX' virtues (stability, intuitiveness, lack of OS clutter (e.g. a registry)). Its flaws are real but I found them easier to forgive over time.

* Active Desktop was out later than 1995.
* Ctrl is in the same place on my 1999 PC keyboard as it is on my MacBook. Perhaps that's something to do with the UK keyboard layout.
* Speaking of UK keyboard layouts, whose decision at Apple was it to remove the # key COMPLETELY from the keyboard? As part of the MacOS setup (Airport I think) I needed to enter a # key...
* The two finger-click for right mouse button is becoming very natural quite quickly.

And to add a couple more to your list

* Why do AFP and SMB mounts automatically unmount at the slightest problem with the file server? Why can't they just go "offline"?
* I use Firefox (of course). It's just a shame that all Firefox menus open on the primary monitor even if the Firefox window is on a secondary monitor.

Try 'fn Backspace' for Delete.

You don't agree that it's the best of both worlds then? (Unix + modern GUI)

And .app bundles are a handy innovation.

I can recommend http://aquamacs.org/ btw. Some of the fonts look pretty good.

Cedric, most of your complains just come from the fact you expect Mac OS X to behave the way you are used to on Windows and Linux. As somebody else said here, I approached Apple's OS with the idea of trying something totally different. While Mac OS X is FAR from perfect, I have hard time giving it the same griefs as you do. I seldom feel the need to right click (and the latest Mac OS X 10.4.7 let you do that with the touchpad by the way), Apple+Delete is fine by me to delete folders or entries in apps, etc. Also, if you encountered apps that use Ctrl+Something, then the apps are wrong. All Mac OS X apps use Apple instead of Control and that's the way it is. Critics are fine, but please avoid being stubborned :) (BTW, I do use Windows and Mac OS X every day and Linux very often)

Oh I almost forgot: the "maximize" button on Mac OS X is NOT a maximize button. It's meant to size the document window to the size that fits best the content. I've had hard time with it in the past but now I kinda like it. On the contrary to Windows where I used to have a single maximized document on screen at a time, I now have several documents/applications with sensible sizes. I prefer it that way but that's a matter of taste I guess.

For RichB, I agree, whoever decided to remove the # from a UK keyboard obviously wasn't writing C on it! For those of you who don't know, Alt-3 gets you a # and Alt-2 gets you a €...

And on the other things, hear hear! I love my Mac, I prefer it to Windows, but there are some real gripes that also make me hate my Mac and miss Windows.

Re: Window resizing. No WIMP should insist on clicking on a two pixel wide button. To make them usable, resize borders should be much wider. OTOH, they take up more screen real estate than the title bar without showing any useful information. They should be done away with, together with the clickable scrollbar.

In terms of affordance, it's much better for the manipulted object to show it can do something, rather than the manipulating cursor doing something odd.

I'm with you on a lot of the points. Sadly I still feel that Windows is a lot more consistent from a keyboard shortcut/UI perspective but overall I'm still really happy I made the switch. When I first switched from Windows/Linux to the MacBook I wrote this posting:

http://gabrito.com/post/macbook-pro-first-impressions-and-why-i-switched

then after using it for a while I wrote up a few of my gripes:

http://gabrito.com/post/4-things-in-need-of-improvement-in-os-x

After almost 3 months solely on a MacBook I still get confused with the inconsistent keyboard shortcuts but overall as a combination development/office apps machine it's the best combination out there in my opinion.

I like the Apple key over CTRL because in Terminal I can use CTRL-C to kill a process and Apple-C to copy. Easy! On the Windows' command line, copy is unintuitive and works differently between Win2k and XP. Linux is even weirder with both the X clipboard and the desktop clipboard.

I find it ironic that you complain about Mac using Command-B for bold where everything else uses Ctrl-B. Apple basically invented menu shortcuts, and the Apple/Command key was added to their keyboards explicitly for this purpose. When Microsoft later copied the Mac interface to make Windows, they didn't (then) have the power to add a new key to PC keyboards. So they had no choice but to use an existing key for menu shortcuts, with Control being the best available choice.

So it's really shortcuts that use Ctrl that are wrong :-). On the Mac, I've only ever noticed this in Java applications. They'll often use Ctrl as it's more consistent across platforms. Although I'm pretty sure even Java apps can fully support the Command key without much difficulty.

Some history:

http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Swedish_Campground.txt

I find it ironic that you complain about Mac using Command-B for bold where everything else uses Ctrl-B. Apple basically invented menu shortcuts, and the Apple/Command key was added to their keyboards explicitly for this purpose. When Microsoft later copied the Mac interface to make Windows, they didn't (then) have the power to add a new key to PC keyboards. So they had no choice but to use an existing key for menu shortcuts, with Control being the best available choice.

So it's really shortcuts that use Ctrl that are wrong :-). On the Mac, I've only ever noticed this in Java applications. They'll often use Ctrl as it's more consistent across platforms. Although I'm pretty sure even Java apps can fully support the Command key without much difficulty.

Some history:

http://folklore.org/StoryView.py?project=Macintosh&story=Swedish_Campground.txt

The first years of my software development career was building apps for Mac and even though it was crappy Mac OS 7.5 I did like it a lot (I was switchin from Solaris and X that I used in uni). After almost ten years using Windows and Linux I decided to "switch back" last year. It took me about a month of much annoyance before I "relearned" Mac OS and I was almost to the point were I regretted my PowerBook purchase. Now, I can't go back, and I'm experiencing the same annoyance whenever I use Windows (and let's not even talk about Linux). It's far from perfect but I would insist it's combination of slick UI and Unix underpinnings makes it the currently best "geek" operative system. And even my girlfriend likes it! (She got so annoyed every time she was forced to use our Dell when I was on the Mac that we ended up buying an 19 inch iMac for her.)

Cédric, I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts on Mac OS X after you've had a chance to immerse yourself in it for a few months. Most folks I know in your position complain about the same issues, and it takes a while to unwrap your brain from around the Windows way.

Just for fun, I wrote a response on my own blog:

http://www.jasonian.org/2006/07/04/switch-different/

Enjoy!

One minor point: you can add folders or even your whole hard drive to be indexed by Quicksilver - I just add my home directory and my project stuff, and that typically includes everything I need. Go preferences -> catalog -> custom...

To get the application swtich behaviour that you want, install the free witch: http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch

To get the application swtich behaviour that you want, install the free witch: http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch

Cedric i can share your thoughts and issues because i went through them some weeks ago. But i also have to agree with Jason. You have to leave some windows habbits behind. Still there are some annyoances of course. I pick some annoyances which are still there for me even trying hard to be a typical Mac user ;-)

- I dont use the Notebook too often without external keyboard and mouse but when i do, the lack of a second button drives me crazy. i am also missing various keys like delete.

- Perhaps its only a german keyboard layout issue but i find many important characters quite hard to reach like []{}, i remapped them alltogehter to be in the windows keyboard layout.

I cant share too much of your GUI issues because its just a different way of operating. I use Apple+M for minimizing all the time and Apple+Del for deleting stuff. I like the doc as it is (a better approach than having all those app-icons on the desktop).

IMO the best thing you can do is not think of how windows would do it. But i switched to Apple not only of its GUI, my main reason was definitely the SHELL or better said, the underlying operating system. This combined with a better approach how applications are packaged was my reason. I mean, try this with windows:

Backup your user folder with all your apps on an external firewire drive. Go to a random Mac, plug in the firewire disk and tell Mac OS that your user folder is there. Voila, you can work on a different computer like its your own in a matter of seconds.

VLC and Apple Remote: http://www.filewell.com/iRedLite/ (free)

I bought a Mac over a year ago, and still find OS X disappointing after giving it a fair shot. For me, Linux (Ubuntu/Debian specifically) is the ultimate hacker OS. OS X is neat, and I use it for audio/video apps, but overall it doesn't live up to the hype. The fact that they nickle-and-dime you (Quicktime Pro, Quicktime plugins you have to buy such as MPEG2) is annoying because you paid all this money for a supposedly premium OS (which is also supposedly great for video) and yet you still have to keep paying for all these little things that are taken for granted in Linux.

Cedric, The Mac has its advantages and disadvantages. On the whole, though, I really like it as a development machine.

* On the good side, it contains a Unix base. Tcl, Python, and other fun tools are built in, as is Java. It supports all sorts of multimedia from the get-go. I don't have to slow my system down with anti-virus software.

Some quirks:

* The Home key usually goes to the start of the document (ironically, this is emacs style). End goes to the end. I am really used to Home going to the start of the current line. This constantly gets me.

* Cmd-Q quits an application. Most apps will not quit if you close the last window. (Some do, though.)

* "Maximize" on iTunes actually toggles between small window and large window mode. Neat feature. Totally inconsistent.

* I agree that using the dock for showing running tasks as well as launching new tasks can be confusing. I think my biggest problem with this is related to the screen size. Most Macs come with a built-in screen that has a far too low resolution (for my tastes). The latest revs of Macs have better resolutions, but still not enough for me. I am definitely planning on getting a second monitor for my iMac. But, I'd prefer if the built-in resolution was greater.

* I love the idea of the dashboard, but not the separate virtual screen it is implemented on. So, I usually turn it off, saving some processing power and memory.

* To RichB, in the USA, the "#" glyph is (often) called a "pound sign". Hence, when creating a British keyboard, the pound sterling symbol replaced the "#", which is obviously the "right thing to do" :-). Your best bet is to treat this as a sign from God that you should not develop in C#.

* The plastic used on Macs emits a special chemical. Within a month you should no longer have any complaints about the Mac. You should realize it is the greatest thing ever.

Suggestions:

* There are many versions of emacs for Mac OS X, some more Mac-like than others. Of course, you're using the enemy of emacs. :-) See http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ for many apps.

* I really try to use cross-platform tools, such as jEdit for editing, Eclipse for an IDE, Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for email, and so on. These tools all work mostly the same as on other platforms.

* I recommend an add-on terminal app, either iTerm (http://iterm.sourceforge.net/) or Terminator (http://software.jessies.org/terminator/). The latter is written mostly in Java and is my current favorite.

* I use OpenOffice.org on Windows and Linux and NeoOffice on the Mac. NeoOffice is a mac-ized port of OO.o at http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php.

* AdiumX (http://www.adiumx.com/) is a great multi-protocol IM client.

* Mac icons are works of art. I use CandyBar (http://www.iconfactory.com/cb_home.asp) to switch the standard icons.

Good luck.

Cedric, The Mac has its advantages and disadvantages. On the whole, though, I really like it as a development machine.

* On the good side, it contains a Unix base. Tcl, Python, and other fun tools are built in, as is Java. It supports all sorts of multimedia from the get-go. I don't have to slow my system down with anti-virus software.

Some quirks:

* The Home key usually goes to the start of the document (ironically, this is emacs style). End goes to the end. I am really used to Home going to the start of the current line. This constantly gets me.

* Cmd-Q quits an application. Most apps will not quit if you close the last window. (Some do, though.)

* "Maximize" on iTunes actually toggles between small window and large window mode. Neat feature. Totally inconsistent.

* I agree that using the dock for showing running tasks as well as launching new tasks can be confusing. I think my biggest problem with this is related to the screen size. Most Macs come with a built-in screen that has a far too low resolution (for my tastes). The latest revs of Macs have better resolutions, but still not enough for me. I am definitely planning on getting a second monitor for my iMac. But, I'd prefer if the built-in resolution was greater.

* I love the idea of the dashboard, but not the separate virtual screen it is implemented on. So, I usually turn it off, saving some processing power and memory.

* To RichB, in the USA, the "#" glyph is (often) called a "pound sign". Hence, when creating a British keyboard, the pound sterling symbol replaced the "#", which is obviously the "right thing to do" :-). Your best bet is to treat this as a sign from God that you should not develop in C#.

* The plastic used on Macs emits a special chemical. Within a month you should no longer have any complaints about the Mac. You should realize it is the greatest thing ever.

Suggestions:

* There are many versions of emacs for Mac OS X, some more Mac-like than others. Of course, you're using the enemy of emacs. :-) See http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/ for many apps.

* I really try to use cross-platform tools, such as jEdit for editing, Eclipse for an IDE, Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for email, and so on. These tools all work mostly the same as on other platforms.

* I recommend an add-on terminal app, either iTerm (http://iterm.sourceforge.net/) or Terminator (http://software.jessies.org/terminator/). The latter is written mostly in Java and is my current favorite.

* I use OpenOffice.org on Windows and Linux and NeoOffice on the Mac. NeoOffice is a mac-ized port of OO.o at http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php.

* AdiumX (http://www.adiumx.com/) is a great multi-protocol IM client.

* Mac icons are works of art. I use CandyBar (http://www.iconfactory.com/cb_home.asp) to switch the standard icons.

Good luck.

As you i have begun with HP mini calculators, then Oric, Then Amstrad, then Amiga, then Mac, then Windows, then Linux.Many 30 year old people have this same experience you know. You're not alone.

After reading your post, i think you should continue to work on Mac to have a better view of the Operating System.

It's absolutly too early after one week of use to write an article like this.

I think you lose your time writing such article : you should have continued to investigate on Mac OS, which is to my mind one of the most advanced Operating systems this time. All what you speak about are not real problems.

Cheers

As someone who also switched from Windows about 10 months ago i have to say I agree with most of those, plus an added four gripes:
1) you can't cut and paste files in Finder - you have to drag and drop to move files around
2) keyboard shortcuts are really inconsistent. As someone who likes being able to control his whole computer from the keyboard I don't like this - particularly having to use apple-left cursor and right cursor instead of home and end - not helped by it being different in some apps.
3) always having the application menu stuck in the top bar would make it annoying to use with a dual monitor setup
4) not being able to copy the path of a file to the clipboard in Finder is rubbish (and why I now use Pathfinder)

That said, Mac OS X is a *really* great OS and I have far less gripes with it than with Windows. Most users I know have the same experience. I now recommend to all people who ask that they should buy a Mac - if they ignore my advice and get a PC I refuse to act as helpdesk for them. Those who buy a Mac never need my help cause it's so easy to set up and use - so I don't get hassled either way!

This list of "complaints" is highly typical of Windows users moving to Mac. Much of it is simply because MacOS differs from what you are used to... not that what you are used to with Windows was actually a better solution. The remaining items amount to nitpicking differences between MacOS and Windows, most of which - as numerous others have listed above - have a MacOS equivalent.

As a longtime user of both platforms, I can assure you that your habits will change and you'll find yourself appreciating MacOS more and more. I find that Macs largely just let me get my work done, while Windows is constantly jumping in front of me and distracting me from the task at hand. I'm at the point now where I find Windows completely inexcusable and avoid it whenever possible.

Good luck and happy switching!

"1) you can't cut and paste files in Finder - you have to drag and drop to move files around".

You absolutely can. Try it!

If you want to watch Quicktime movies (and others) in full screen, I suggest NicePlayer. Like VLC, it will play virtually anything and you can view it full screen for free. http://niceplayer.indyjt.com/

If you aren't viewing a movie full screen, there are no control bars cluttering up the screen like VLC has now :-/ They appear when you hover at the bottom or top of the video. Oh, it also has a playlist, unlike Quicktime, so you can toss a bunch of .mov files in the playlist, sit back, and enjoy. You can also have more than one video open and have them stay on top of your other applications.

Which Mac Pro are you using? The 17 inch has the higher end graphic card which does push some BTU's but no more than my AlienWare Windows Box. The heat transfer is one of the reasons I went for the 13 inch instead of the "Pro" line. Even though it's one of the shared mem graphics cards, I don't do that much video and it more than serves my development purposes(I do use a separate monitor on my desk) as well as music. Plus it's a nice size for travelling.

Overall, I'm happy I switched. I dual boot Windows XP and Mac OS and find myself more and more staying with Mac OS. And it's nice not having to dick around with as many viruses as on Windows. And as you said, having a native Unix shell on a good UI is a pleasure.

When I first switched I had many of the same problems with my "learned behaviour".

However, my biggest grip was RoboForm only works on Windows and there was no Mac equivalent. This hurt a lot; so I wrote 1Passwd :)

1Passwd uses the Keychain and integrates with Safari, Firefox, Flock, and Camino so you never need to leave your browser to login to a web page. By using the keychain you can have one secure, centralized area for managing (and backing up) your logins.

Apple is for brainwashed fanboys who have more money than sense. What could possibly force you to buy its products?

Reading through your list it appears that most of your issues would simply go away if you'd run GNU/Linux with KDE.

I switched about 3 months ago. It took me about 4 weeeks to get de-intoxicated from Windows and 10-years of brain-wash. Mac OS X is not perfect but is is some much better than Windows in so many ways. It will be interesting to see how your feelings will evolve in the next 4 weeks.
-Edwin

Hey Cedric,

I like Windows better than Mac, but I think it would be useful and objective if you'd try to post an entry about Mac advantages over Windows.

That would make this post fair.

Marius

A post about Mac advantages over Windows would be pointless. Expectations for Mac are higher. The Mac isn't saddled with backwards compatibility. They should be able to do a much better job. Nobody goes around saying Windows is much better than Mac. But Apple and many fans go around telling people Macs are FAR better. Thus, when I use a Mac I expect more. When I'm using Windows, I *expect* annoyances and inconsistencies. Thus, annoyances and inconsistencies don't bother me much; I'm prepared for them. But on the Mac, I've been told everything is consistent and easy to use and never annoying, so any inconsistencies and annoyances stand out, and bother me a great deal.

I'm just curious what you mean when you say "I have recently been "forced" to start using a Mac Book Pro". Why do you put quotations on forced?

If you haven't found it by now, there is a little app that lets you use the apple remote with VLC.

http://channels.lockergnome.com/osx/archives/20060430_gettin_apples_remote_to_work_with_vlc.phtml

""1) you can't cut and paste files in Finder - you have to drag and drop to move files around".

You absolutely can. Try it!"

Please, tell me how! I honestly would love to know.

PS. This issue was my personal gripe. I agree w/ most everything else also, but this hurdle would probably set me free.