12-14-2010, 07:00 PM
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Executive Editor, Apple Thoughts
Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 2,936
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I Know Change is Hard, But This is Ridiculous
"I practically floated into the Apple store. That's how excited I was to leave Black Friday with a new iMac. The salesman needed merely to gesture to the 21-inch flat screen on display, and I was sold: out the door, box in hand, convinced I had turned a corner in my career." 
And so, his experiment with his iMac a failure, the author returned his computer to the Apple store, feeling deflated and beat down, dragging his power chord behind him. What a crock. When I first read this, I thought it had to be a joke. But I think the guy is actually serious, which leads me to agree with one comment that said "he should stick with paper and pencil."
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iPhone 4, 1.6 GHz Core 2 Duo MacBook Air, Apple TV, 2.66GHz Intel C2D Mac Mini, 1TB TC, Airport Extreme,several iPods and an iPad, 32GB Wi-Fi version. Follow me on Twitter. |
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12-15-2010, 03:42 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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This article was a pretty interesting read because I struggled with a couple of these issues myself.
The author seems a bit clueless, but I think it's fair to ask why he had some of the assumptions that he did. For us here on this site, we know that Windows PCs don't come with Microsoft Office by default any more than Macs come with Microsoft Office or iWork. But given the reputation that Macs have in the industry, can you blame the guy for not realizing that while Macs come with software to edit videos, photos, and make Web sites (iLife) they don't come with software to open an Excel file or Word document? Every Windows PC from a big OEM comes with Works, or now Office 2010 Starter edition, so out of the box they're more capable at document creation than Macs. That may have been part of his faulty assumption.
The salesperson should have suggested a copy of iWork at the very least, but given it was Black Friday I can't blame the salesperson for being a little off the ball...
Thinking he needed to take a photo for the login profile? Silly.
Disliking the Magic Mouse? I'm with him on that one - I think it kind of sucks from an ergonomic/usability standpoint. I think it's a really good example of function over form - the trackpad surface is amazing, yes, but from an ergonomic point of view it's a disaster.
The keyboard not having a number pad? Well, that's something you'd think he should have noticed before buying it, but the root question of why it lacks a number pad is a valid one. I can't even think of a keyboard for a Windows PC that lacks a number pad. For anyone that enters in numbers frequently, a dedicated number pad is a must. Is there really a good reason beyond design aesthetics that Apple removed it? They wanted to make it be exactly like the Macbook keyboards, but why is that a laudable goal for the end user? Why should a desktop computer be under the size constraints of a laptop?
Not realizing that there are alternate FTP clients out there for OS X? Silly. If he had searched for "OS X FTP client" he'd have found some great free options.
The problems he had with not being able to move files from the external drive, only copy them? I'm a Mac n00b myself, so I really don't understand this one either - I couldn't figure out why I couldn't delete files from a USB flash drive for instance. Long-time OS X users accept this as normal, but for a Windows user, this kind of stuff is pretty confusing. I find myself saying "Why is my Mac doing THAT??" quite often. If Apple licensed NTFS from Microsoft, it could write to NTFS-formatted external hard drives/flash drives/etc. without fuss, but Apple won't do that and so users suffer in the end. Thankfully some companies like Seagate are providing OS X NTFS drivers with their externals hard drives to lessen the pain.
Trouble with moving his iTunes playlists over? Legitimate gripe if it really can't be done (and I don't know if this is true or not) - why doesn't iTunes 10 have some sort of playlist export function? It would certainly make "Switching" easier. I personally don't use playlists so could care less about this, but I know some people spend hours and hours carefully crafting their playlists - and to not be able to go from iTunes on Windows to iTunes on OS X with your playlists seems inexcusable.
Quicktime's weak-ass file support? Legitimate. Sure, he should have gotten some advice from a Mac user and installed VLC Media Player, but that doesn't change the core weakness in Quicktime. I can now play MPEG4/MOV/h.264 files in Windows Media Player 12 on Windows 7 without a hitch - I no longer need to install Quicktime. Microsoft clearly sees the need to support an array of video files, so why doesn't Apple?
Thunderbird font size? I can't speak to this one. I don't use the program, so maybe there was an easy way to increase the font size in the program in terms of email text display without impacting the outgoing font size. Most mail apps have this.
The way Safari renders his Web site? If he calls himself a "Web Designer" it's pretty ridiculous that he's never cross-checked his site in all the common Web browsers. He should be thankful that his bad coding has now come to light so he can fix it.
I think, all in all, this article was about 50% ignorance and about 50% truth. This guy clearly isn't techy, or else he'd have realized Windows is just as capable at video editing as OS X - you don't need to buy a whole new freakin' computer to edit a video.
But, still, I see the seeds of frustration here that I've experienced either myself with OS X, or witnessed via consulting others on Windows and OS X. There are small things Apple could do to OS X to improve the experience for first-time users.
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12-15-2010, 04:10 AM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,503
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Long post there Jason; could well turn it into an article of your own. :P
No complaints about mouse acceleration? It's the first thing that hits me when using OS X.
But I did have a good laugh; complaining about the way Safari renders his website was damn priceless.
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Baka. Soku. Zan. - The justice behind the dysORDer.
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12-15-2010, 04:12 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng
Long post there Jason; could well turn it into an article of your own. :P
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Oh, I think it's flame bait enough for this thread, no need to go all front-page with it. 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng
No complaints about mouse acceleration? It's the first thing that hits me when using OS X.
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Do you mean the way the Magic Mouse scrolls waaaay too fast at the slightest flick? Or the way it doesn't seem to accelerate when you move the cursor across the screen quickly? I find myself having to pick the Magic Mouse up a lot and move it to "home position" again to get to the other side of my screen, which is something I don't have to do with Windows.
Remember this was just my response to HIS points, not my own list of gripes about OS X. That would be even longer.
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12-15-2010, 04:48 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,608
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I have no problem with someone deciding a Mac running OS X is not for them but this guy is an idiot. Period. The equivalent of someone buying a WP7 and returning it because he can't access the Android Market or brush his teeth with it. @ Jason . . Why would you think you can't delete files from a flash drive in OS X ?
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27" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 8GB RAM
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iPhone 4S (16GB), AppleTV 2.0
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12-15-2010, 04:52 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,608
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
Remember this was just my response to HIS points, not my own list of gripes about OS X. That would be even longer. |
Don't get me started about how many clicks it takes to do basic tasks in Win 7 or the entire convoluted way it handles networking
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27" iMac 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 8GB RAM
16GB LTE iPad3, 13" Macbook Air Core i5 w/128GB SSD
iPhone 4S (16GB), AppleTV 2.0
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12-15-2010, 04:58 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Macguy59
I have no problem with someone deciding a Mac running OS X is not for them but this guy is an idiot. Period.
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Well, he might be an idiot, but don't you think he has some legitimate points? I think he does.
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Originally Posted by Macguy59
Why would you think you can't delete files from a flash drive in OS X ?
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Because I couldn't - last night I was editing some video files that I told iMovie '11 to copy off the USB flash drive, and even when iMovie was no longer running it wouldn't delete them. I've just booted up my Mac Mini to confirm this - when I put my USB flash drive into the Mac Mini, it loads and I can see all the video files. When I click on one and press the delete key, nothing happens - but I think that's because the delete key is really a backspace key, right? Yet it functions as a delete key in some apps, like iMovie.
OK, so then I try dragging and dropping the file into the trash bin - that's the way to delete things on a Mac, right? When I do that, a message pops up that says "The item can't be moved to the Trash because it can't be deleted".
I know OS X can't write to NTFS drives, but it can read them - can't it delete from them? 
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12-15-2010, 05:55 AM
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Contributing Editor
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 2,503
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Deleting requires writing, Jason. Typically the OS writes a "delete byte" to the file that's getting deleted to let the file system know that area is available to be written over (that's knowledge from my DOS days, so if anyone has something more up-to-date that shows I'm wrong feel free to correct me).
Quote:
Do you mean the way the Magic Mouse scrolls waaaay too fast at the slightest flick? Or the way it doesn't seem to accelerate when you move the cursor across the screen quickly? I find myself having to pick the Magic Mouse up a lot and move it to "home position" again to get to the other side of my screen, which is something I don't have to do with Windows.
Remember this was just my response to HIS points, not my own list of gripes about OS X. That would be even longer.
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The mouse cursor moves way too slowly at the start, then way too fast when you push it faster. Initially it's like going through molasses then it's like a hyperactive chipmunk on 40,000cc's worth of sugar.
I was referring to his points; surprised he didn't pick that up.
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Baka. Soku. Zan. - The justice behind the dysORDer.
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12-15-2010, 06:02 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng
Deleting requires writing, Jason. Typically the OS writes a "delete byte" to the file that's getting deleted to let the file system know that area is available to be written over
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Doh! Of course...I can't believe I didn't realize that.  So by Apple not being able to do any more than read an NFTS device, you can't delete files off it either. That's so pathetic.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lee Yuan Sheng
I was referring to his points; surprised he didn't pick that up.
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I don't think he's QUITE that sophisticated. 
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12-15-2010, 05:47 PM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
The author seems a bit clueless, but I think it's fair to ask why he had some of the assumptions that he did. For us here on this site, we know that Windows PCs don't come with Microsoft Office by default any more than Macs come with Microsoft Office or iWork.
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Are people really that clueless? Especially an investigative journalist who does writing for a full-time living? I don't buy it.
In any case, he didn't actually try to compare TextEdit to Word; that might have been a way of representing the case you're trying to compare here. He compared TextEdit to Notepad and said the former was stripped-down. This is factually incorrect. First off, he meant WordPad, not Notepad; the latter is as stripped as it comes. Second, TextEdit is a capable rich-text editor. It's very basic, but it does have full font, spelling, and formatting support. He didn't even try to figure this out.
Finally, Apple has bundled iWork trials on Macs before, but in general, they try to minimize bloat. We decry the bundling of trial or stripped-down versions of software, and that's what Apple does, and then we cry about that. I don't buy it. Again, a journalist should know better. Moreover, the Apple Store would have helped him transfer his work over and would have suggested the purchase of a word processor.
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Disliking the Magic Mouse? I'm with him on that one - I think it kind of sucks from an ergonomic/usability standpoint. I think it's a really good example of function over form - the trackpad surface is amazing, yes, but from an ergonomic point of view it's a disaster.
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This is your opinion. He stated a factual inaccuracy: that the power switch scraped across his desk. That's impossible, unless he had a defective mouse (in which case he should have returned it, and given that I've never seen this complaint before, I'd be surprised if that was the case). The switch is less deep than the rails on the side of the mouse. He didn't comment on any other aspect of the ergonomics. And, I have to say, the Mighty Mouse took me a week to get used to, but now I find it by far the nicest mouse I've ever owned, and I've been using mice since approximately 1985 (and I was using them even before I used Windows).
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The keyboard not having a number pad? Well, that's something you'd think he should have noticed before buying it, but the root question of why it lacks a number pad is a valid one. I can't even think of a keyboard for a Windows PC that lacks a number pad.
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Really? There are plenty of compact keyboards for Windows machines. Microsoft themselves sell several without number pads. Moreover, you can buy an Apple keyboard with a number pad! Apple calls it a "Keyboard with Numeric Keypad," even!
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For anyone that enters in numbers frequently, a dedicated number pad is a must. Is there really a good reason beyond design aesthetics that Apple removed it? They wanted to make it be exactly like the Macbook keyboards, but why is that a laudable goal for the end user? Why should a desktop computer be under the size constraints of a laptop?
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It's a design decision, but again, he didn't mention any of this, nor did he say he enters lots of numbers. He said he "booted up his bank account," whatever that means. If I'm logging into my bank account, I don't miss the number pad. And, again, this is your opinion. I have a wireless Mac keyboard at home and love (and prefer) the compact form factor, and don't miss the number pad 99% of the time.
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If Apple licensed NTFS from Microsoft, it could write to NTFS-formatted external hard drives/flash drives/etc. without fuss, but Apple won't do that and so users suffer in the end.
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Perhaps, but Microsoft is generally reluctant with NTFS licensing; I tried a search for "NTFS licensing" and found several hits right at the top where embedded companies etc. gave up because MS considers the full specs proprietary and won't generally release them. The most common implementations of non-Microsoft NTFS are clean-room implementations, but they're not fully compliant.
Besides, this is the kind of thing you ask for help about. The wisdom is to use FAT32 (or the newer version, which Snow Leopard does fully support) whenever you move between platforms. An investigative journalist, again, should ask. Apple offers plenty of free help. And, can I legitimately complain that Windows 7 doesn't have any HFS+ support whatsoever, which is what my external hard drive is formatted in? File format incompatibilities are unfortunate, but they exist in many different ways.
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Trouble with moving his iTunes playlists over? Legitimate gripe if it really can't be done (and I don't know if this is true or not) - why doesn't iTunes 10 have some sort of playlist export function?
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So, if you don't know, why do you assume he is correct? He's completely wrong. You copy the iTunes Music folder, drop it into place, boot iTunes, and your entire library, with playlists, is all moved over. Done. That's exactly what I did years ago. There's plenty of tools to help with migration. Apple provides free migration support for users at the Apple Store, on top of that.
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Quicktime's weak-ass file support? Legitimate.
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Except he complained about, e.g., mkv and flv files, which as far as I can tell, WMP12 doesn't support either, you need a third party app or plugin for that. So, again, he's outright wrong on that note. Also, if you search for "mkv mac", you get a bazillion hits. Also, how did he get MKVs? They're typically produced by, e.g. DVD rippers. Someone who has done that knows a thing or two about codecs. He's just being lazy.
Also, may I suggest Perian for you? Your media gripes (and a few of his) are certainly legitimate, but trivially fixable.
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Thunderbird font size? I can't speak to this one. I don't use the program, so maybe there was an easy way to increase the font size in the program in terms of email text display without impacting the outgoing font size. Most mail apps have this.
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First hit in Google for "Thunderbird font size".
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I think, all in all, this article was about 50% ignorance and about 50% truth.
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No, it was 95% ignorance, and even worse, sheer laziness. I found many of the hits in the links above by the very first Google hit on a simple, naive search for, e.g. "foo mac". If he's going to go to the trouble to write an article, perhaps he should actually try that? Or, I don't know, use the free tech support that Apple provides, and is highly ranked for?
Other incorrect or ignorant points he made that you didn't touch upon:
1. QuickTime Player can't make playlists: yes, that's what iTunes is for.
2. Inability to network with other PCs. Macs have had first-class SMB and NFS support for years.
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But, still, I see the seeds of frustration here that I've experienced either myself with OS X, or witnessed via consulting others on Windows and OS X. There are small things Apple could do to OS X to improve the experience for first-time users.
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Jason, here's my main argument: your post, if you worded it as your own frustrations, would be fine. I am disappointed you use them to defend the repeated, outright inaccuracies in his, though. I also am disappointed that you would assume his ignorance is excusable, when there are legitimate end-user channels to help him with most of them. If you're going to spend $1,500+ on a computer, wouldn't you do some research and give it an effort? No, this smacks more of someone who is uninterested and unwilling to learn a new computer. Which, by the way, is totally fine -- but then you don't go out and write a hit piece on a platform that you haven't even tried to figure out.
Jason, let me analogize it this way: didn't it make your blood boil when people who hardly tried to use Vista would slam it? Or people who would write that Windows 7 was a coat of lipstick on a pig? They were just as wrong as this guy was. They didn't make an effort either.
Finally, one last note on this last comment you made: Mac OS has been around for 26 years. Some of the UI aspects you find unintuitive have been around longer than Windows has been. Should Apple ditch its longstanding conventions, which its users are used to? When people ask me about OS X and learning it for the first time, I point this out, and say that there are conventions that have been established over the decades that are fundamentally different than Windows, and that it takes some time to get used to it, just like how they had to get used to Windows in the first place.
--janak
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