An interesting consensus on OS X

I read with interest the post, "UnTiger," over at tuaw.com "The Unofficial Apple Blog."  I found some of the comments close to my thoughts.

Tim Bray remains down on Apple's OS X 10.4 aka Tiger. In a recent post on his blog, he finds fault with both Spotlight and Dashboard, the two new killer features of Tiger. ...

I have to say that for the most part, I agree with him. I've learned to like Spotlight, but the email searching capabilities aren't by any means the bees knees. I can, and do, do without Dashboard.

Back on May 3, I did the following post, "Tiger perhaps not a critical upgrade for everyone."  It's interesting to look back at my initial comments and see how my thoughts have changed.

Dashboard doesn't do anything for me yet, but I am willing to be convinced.  Spotlight is fine and useful, but I don't really need it every day.

In the months following I have gone to the trouble to turn off Dashboard.  I rarely use Spotlight in email or even to find a document. 

I still feel strongly about this part of what I wrote back on May 3.

...what I would like to say to Apple, "why muck around so much with the user interface?"   One of things people loved some much about OS 9 was the consistency.  I don't sense that consistency in user interface is a priority in OS X.

Like many others I still switch back to a system using 10.3.9, so I do miss the consistency in user interface.  I haven't upgraded my wife to Tiger and her system still runs fine.  I think Dashboard would just slow it down.

I have quit trying to sync with dot Mac and my only limted use of Spotlight is to search emails by subject.

I went on to say the following.

More and more I believe the real innovation is on the web. Tiger is more about bells and whistles and added revenue than the added functionality that the average user really needs.

I think the hype over Tiger has proven to be just that, hype.  I also have seen more innovation on the web lately especially with products using AJAX.

I went on to compare OS X 10.4 to SUSE Linux in "SUSE 9.3 Linux Upgrade a heavy weight compared to Apple's OS X 10.4 Tiger."  One of my comments is still pretty close to what I think.

To be honest, SUSE in spite of having the reputation of being one of the slower Linux distributions out there, seems snappier than Tiger.  Both, however, Tiger and SUSE are plenty fast for me and should be more than adequate for almost all users as long as your machine is a recent one.

I have become very comfortable with Tiger, I like it a lot, and right now I like it better than Linux.  I just don't like if for the hyped features, Spotlight and Dashboard.  Tiger is very stable after a few updates.  Not too long ago I did a post, "Some of my favorite things on OSX," which talked about all the things I enjoy on OS X.

SUSE has gone to their own 10.0 which I also reviewed in "Experiences with SUSE 10.0 Linux" where I had this to say.

I think Novell has done a very good job with the Suse 10.0 release.  I probably had less serious problems with the installation than I did with Apple's Tiger.  However, networking Macs is much easier than networking Windows or Linux machines so there is still some distance to go before declaring victory.

That are a lot of things with Macs that just work. Linux has a ways to go to catch up with OS X. 

Yet I really think Apple needs to focus on making those things that differentiate OS X even better.  Apple doesn't need hype to sell OS X, they need more refinement and a clear commitment to to user interface consistency.  I've gone to the trouble to make the changes so that my screen captures are now automatically back in jpegs.  Why should that be such a pain.  I would love to see Apple involve users more in what needs to be done on OS X.

Screwing around with which menu the "export" command lives under and flipping around on how dot Mac sync works doesn't help users who might have to switch between versions of OS X. 

I have given up on Safari.  When I log into Typepad, the blogging service that I use, the rich text tools still aren't there like they are on Firefox.  I'm tired of the waiting for it to be fixed.

I still think the real innovation is happening on the web.  I just want OS X to be a good solid foundation for my system.  I would like it to be the operating system on all my computers, but I guess the Dells will have to live with Windows and Linux.

Linux still has a way to go, and if Apple is smart they can get their competitive edge there. Their focus needs to be on making OS X rock solid, consistent, and fast.  They also need to make certain that the rich Mac ecosystem stays healthy.  I may not like "Spotlight," but I'm very impressed with "Foxtrot" from CTM Development, the makers of my favorite mail client PowerMail.  Products like Foxtrot and Firefox make the Mac platform even better.  Apple needs to appreciate that.

I like the conclusion that IT Enquirer came to in their article, "Foxtrot searches and shows."

Tiger users might be forgiven thinking they don’t need something as simple as Foxtrot. However, if you really need to find information in an easy and powerful way, Foxtrot is a viable alternative and addition to Spotlight, by any standard.

To pre-Tiger users, Foxtrot will bring search power only Tiger users could dream of before.

I still don't think Apple gets how important browser compatibility is these days. Progress on Safari is just too slow.  I think Apple should be thankful for Firefox, and web pioneers like Flickr, webmail.us, Furl, Google Maps, and Writely whose products work fine with Macs.  After all there could be a lot more Google Earth type products out there which have pages which state that Macs aren't supported.

I know one thing, if it weren't for Firefox, I wouldn't still be using a Mac.  Typepad has become a service that is important enough to make me switch platforms.  I'm just glad that I haven't had to do that because I love OS X and my Macs even if I'm not an Apple corporate fan.

I think a great investment for some of those billions in cash would be hiring more programmers to really make OS X the best operating system on earth without any hype.  That would be something to give thanks for this holiday.

Comments

[Damian]

I agree that Spotlight and Dashboard are both deeply flawed. Actually, I've disabled the latter and I rarely use the former. And I really don't care about Automator (or auto-mate 'r, as Steve Jobs seems to call it, though surely it should sound like "automaton") either.

And, yes the UI is getting more inconsistent, and that is a real pain.

But I'm not sure that Tiger is really about all this fluff. Aren't Core Data and Core Image what's really important?

Besides, there are some nice new toys inside Tiger. You don't get this kind of thing with XP:

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/mac/2005/11/22/cli-tools.html

XP hasn't got emacs, vim, and pico available at the CLI either.

All the criticisms you made were worth making. One could also add that Tiger was shoved out the door when it wasn't ready - or even secure. That was bad.

But when all's said and done, you can get a pretty serious machine for a mere $499.00 from Apple. That's a heck of an achievement.

[ocracokewaves]

Yes, it was clear that Tiger's release had more to do with revenue timing in the quarter than readiness.

Even having said that, I think the short time that it has taken to clear up most of the problems is absolutely remarkable.

I haven't gone deep into Tiger's features, but there is a comfort with it that makes me have to admit that the Linux people are going to have to try harder to unseat Apple.

All of this makes me wonder. How great could OS X be if Apple paid as much attention to it as they do the iPod?

I would think providing the world with an operating system that really is the best that it can be might be attractive even to Steve. This should be the case especially if he could do it while owning the desktop and dethroning Bill.

But as you've said, if that is his intention he really is playing his cards close to his vest. Then again that wouldn't be a first either.

[spot]

In 9/X, I search for documents often. I concluded that the "Search" box in the toolbar is a huge upgrade, especially in Panther. It's much better than opening the entire "find" or sherlock window. Spotlight is a refinement of the tool, but I agree that it needs more backend fixing.

As for Dashboard, I originally couldn't see a good reason to switch to a new "workspace" to see a calculator, when it could be open "next to' my Word or iMovie files. Since the release, there are now 15,000 or so widgets available, and many are very useful to have in a separate space. Having stocks, weather, IP info, and many more reference items in the dashboard does clean up the clutter and removes the need to open a new web page, find the link, and load the info (repeat 5-10 times). So I now see the value in Dashboard. But as you noted, I can still live without it.

I would rather see apple implement a true "workspaces" concept into, or in addition to the dock. To create multiple workspaces for a user is available with add-ons and I believe a concept from X11 or linux. It should be there and allows worksets. While this isn't for novices, there are millions of non-mac novices who could be more productive with this addition.

Making the Dock more customizable is necessary interface change. (such as a stacks of apps, choosing to separate metaphors of aliases in dock from active apps in the dock, ability to change the width and height, and of course making it text only, like in toolbars.)

[Nick]

"More and more I believe the real innovation is on the web. Tiger is more about bells and whistles and added revenue than the added functionality that the average user really needs."
Please realize that you (and me for that matter) probably don't represent the average user.

And, well, I use Dashboard and Spotlight on a daily basis. ;)

[karen mitchell]

The UI inconsistency was bugging me a lot. Then I found Iridium:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19074

Steven has figured out how to tweak the UI and create consistency. And, he did it without using ShapeShifter!!!

Oh, and another great part, not only is it free, it's also opensource. :)

[Pete West]

Annoying for me is the poor response of my Mac if its connection to the server gets interrupted - why should it take two minutes of the SBOD for my computer to become useable again just because the server has dropped my connection?

re. Interface consistency - Apple has completely dropped the ball on this, not just with look and feel, but with basic operational matters.

I live in hope that there will be a return to form in the near future.

[Damian]

"But as you've said, if that is his intention he really is playing his cards close to his vest. Then again that wouldn't be a first either."

No, I guess not. Steve's claim that there's no market for a video iPod and Apple would never do one is a hoot in retrospect.

[David Garcea]

I understand the desire for UI consistency, I have it as well, but it comes with the price of having a stagnant and outdated UI. MacOS 9 was consistent, but for way too long. It ended up just looking old, which is why modding the UI became so popular.

If Apple didn't continue to work on the look and feel, we would still be stuck with MacOS X 10.0's pinstripes everywhere theme.

Also, I think it's important to remember that all they are doing is tweaking the UI. The themes may change, but they aren't really changing the way things work.

I think the largest benefits of Tiger are what it allows developers to do (in terms of CoreData, CoreImage, Bindings, etc.), which means users get more software, and better software, in a shorter time frame.

[engrish]

"MacOS 9 was consistent, but for way too long. It ended up just looking old, which is why modding the UI became so popular."

Yeah, modding is not popular anymore. From the top of my mind: ThemeChanger, ShapeShifter, Iridium, ClearDock, TransparentDock, Cage Fighter, Mail Stamps… :-)

After four Mac OS X releases the Classic Mac OS UI looks old, but it was not stagnant or outdated at the time. Nowadays Apple is tweaking the UI constantly (read each Siracusa's review again) and the novelty tend to fall out of fashion rapidly, brushed metal was all the rage, now it looks like an aberration. In a way 10.1 looks more dated than Mac OS 9 because the OS X UI has been turned upside down with each new release. Why? I suppose UI trends help to generate revenue.

[shrimp]

As to TypePad not showing the rich text tools, this happened to me with WordPress, but it seems the WordPress team decided to hide the text tools for Safari because Safari 1.x wasn't compatible. You might want to check if you can change that.... I just looked at WordPress support and changed some PHP code to make it work. Maybe the TypePad team did something similar?