[So, Apple released a new version of the iPhone, eh? I've been waiting to post this...]
I like Twitter. I was using it a little while ago to complain about upgrading my Mac, and how the new version of iMovie makes me stabby. The old version (iMovie07) worked great, so of course in iMovie08 Apple added things that make it more confusing and took away all the good stuff, making it suck harder than a starving black hole.
Wil Wheaton replied back, saying:
iMovie 08 should be called iFAIL. This word, “upgrade,” I do not think it means what they think it means. 07 is much better.
I may still be burning a bit from having been pwned by him over warp drive tech. So I one-upped things:
Inconceivable! Oh, wait. It was iOcaine powder, wasn’t it? iMovie, iOcaine, iNconceivable… iSense a pattern.
He replied back that needs a PhotoShop. I agreed. Ten minutes later:
 |
So there you go. Feel free to use that image whenever Apple releases some new "upgrade" that actually reduces an app’s useability.
So there’s really only one thing left to say, isn’t there?
Hello, my name is The Bad Astronomer. You killed my software. Prepare to die.
Did you know there are almost no good images of Vizzini on the web? What’s up with that? I figured he’d be on the flag of Sicily.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
dude, you went there. hard to find teh wordz to describe teh ossum.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Funny, Dr. Plait — I figured that you’d be a Mac user. That being said, I found this very, very funny. Well done, sir. Well done!
EDIT: Well then. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t READ THE ENTIRE BLOODY ARTICLE!! You are a Mac user. Ugh. Me so stupid sometimes…
*facepalm*
June 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
I have one/two words for you: FinalCut.
June 8th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
The latest version of iMovie (the ‘09-version, duh) is actually pretty good (if not outstanding).
Sometimes stuff needs to be redesigned from the ground up to move a few steps ahead. Actually doing that is called vision.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
iMovie ‘08 angered me. I thought that with buying the shiny new aluminum Macbook Pro, that I’d get a video editor at LEAST similar to iMovie HD (on my old G4). No, with the new system I get the wrist slitter delux instead. So I still do all my vid editing on the old machine, that is, unless I can install iMovie HD on the new machine. iMovie HD was so easy to use because I had already used Adobe Premiere on a vast number of occasions and the similarities were there.
Ah well, this comment column will wind up being a big fight over which OS is better, no doubt. A shame, since both have their merits.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I think that a certain Warren Ellis might be happy to see this, as he was raging about the “JesusPhone” earlier this afternoon. iKool-Aid! DO NOT WANT KTHX
June 8th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
great Princess Bride tie in.
iOcaine
June 8th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
Right on, Max. Hated the iMovie upgrade but the benefit was that it pushed me into learning to use Final Cut. A little more complex but so many more options to create over-the-top videos!
June 8th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Owners of iMovie ‘08 can download ‘06 for free from Apple’s website.
http://support.apple.com/downloads/iMovie_HD_6_0_3
June 8th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
I don’t really get what this has to do with the release of the updated iPhone…. I don’t see how it relates to the iMovie upgrade, in the sense that your complaint was about Apple removing functionality or releasing a worse product. But the iPhone 3GS essentially is nothing but upgrades (improved camera with autofocus and video support, improved battery, improved processor, magnometer, higher max storage capacity, etc.).
June 8th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I’m so glad I don’t use computers.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
I am so happy I just finished swallowing what was in my mouth before reading this.
There seems to be a lot of PWNage going around these days, I am so very happy to see that I am not the only one being told by technology to BYTE ME!
To steal a line from my own blog: “”YOU GOT PWN’d! BYTE ME BABY! THAT WILL TEACH YOU FOR STICKING YOUR RAM INTO MY MOTHERBOARD!”
And the Princess Bride is in my Top 5 fav movies of all time, so that makes this post even that much better.
This will do for my daily dose of much needed humour. Normally Wil is very adept at providing that but today he FAILED and you PWNED his ass.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Well I just realized someone else is using my name here now so….
number 12 is ME
June 8th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
He/she is not me
June 8th, 2009 at 6:24 pm
He/she is not me
Though we have the same name, obviously.
I would never capitalize.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Wait! Wouldn’t your long-time use of Mac products have made you impervious to the effects of iOcaine?
Perhaps Apple is pushing people to drop the popular video editing software for professional (i.e. expensive) video editing software?
@Naked Bunny With a Whip: but if you don’t use computers, how do you come up with your bunny character with human-like hair? It’s so cute, I just want to pull its ears.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Awww! Don’t worry Wil! I loved you in that show… what was it? Some show back in the ’90’s I think… Geez, that was so long ago…
June 8th, 2009 at 6:27 pm
08 was afwul. 09 is quite nice though.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Going as far back as my memory permit, iMovie 08 is the only instance I remember when Apple replaced any piece of software with a significantly *less* functional new version.
So beyond the fun in your rant, I think it’s not deserved.
And even regarding iMovie 08, I think iMovie 07 was really heading to a dead end: it was not enough for power users like you and me, who were better off using Final Cut [Express], and it was far too complicated for my father.
So Apple was probably right to throw away iMovie 07 and start back from scratch. The end result is a really pleasing and accessible video editor. And the ground lost in iMovie 08 has been recovered to a large extent with iMovie 09.
And indeed, I really don’t see how that relates to the new iPhone.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I have to second or third the recommendz for Final Cut. You really don’t need to go the Full Monty. Get Final Cut Express. If IMovie has been meeting your needs, you’ll find FCE a more than worthwhile replacement. Plus, it made me feel all growed-up and professional to use real video editing software. The glow alone is worth the upgrade.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Does Apple have 11 fingers?
June 8th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
iThink therefore iMac.
iErf!
June 8th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Technology. I’m thinking entropy. Just around the corner. Heh, heh.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
I have iMovie 09 and mainly I like the way it works. However, it occasionally does seem to make things very hard when they should be very basic. e.g. try adding 30 seconds of silent black into your movie… not obvious how to do THAT!
I write media music so I don’t need full video editing but I do need something that will do admin tasks like the one I just mentioned. Perhaps Final Cut Express would be worth looking at: thanks for the tip, rdriley.
June 8th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
‘08 wasn’t really an upgrade so much as a rewrite to throw out an old and rotting codebase and to try new things without having to work with a feeble interface. ‘09 fixed most of the problems with ‘08. Sometimes you have to take a few steps back in order to go forward.
I mean, yeah, ‘08 was kind of crappy and they should have just skipped it and waited until it was a bit more full-featured to put out ‘09, but in the end I think the product is much better for it.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
@MadScientist: I use a tiny paintbrush and different colored quarks.
Don’t pull my ears. I really hate that. *hopes the reverse psychology works*
June 8th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Get a real computer, Phil.
June 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
Naked Bunny with a Whip do you deal in naked Beauty, or Bottom, quarks?
And is that what you apply your whip too???
I presume you peddle QCD!
June 8th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
[Nevermind; removing comment.]
June 8th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
So there you go. Feel free to use that image whenever Apple releases some new “upgrade” that actually reduces an app’s useability.
You mean like OS X?
Five years on and I still want “Apple-N” to make a NEW folder, not open a different window (It’s not a “new” window, it just wasn’t visible). And I still want the window shades we had back in OS9 and I don’t want an application installing fonts in any random folder it chooses to make somewhere on the hard drive and I’d actually like to be able to find hidden files when I choose the “invisible” option in a search (I could do this in 10.3 but not 10.4). And I’d like my folder windows to dynamically update live, in the background and not wait until I try to select something and have the whole list re-arrange itself at that very moment! And then….
June 8th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
[...] Plait at Bad Astronomy was having a conversation with Wesley Crusher Wil Wheaton about their latest “upgrade”, which made things worse [...]
June 8th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Best laugh I’ve had in weeks.
As for the OS wars, I have two computers on my desk at the moment: My “teaching” computer (Tablet PC) and my “research” computer (Mac Powerbook). Both have their uses, I’ll leave the reasons why I use this arrangement as an exercise for the reader.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
I hate to be pedantic, Phi, but there was no iMovie 07…. I have to assume you’re referring to “iMovie HD 06″, which was the latest iMovie before the huge interface overhaul.
iMovie ‘08 came out with brand new UI, but it also took away lots of effects and features that were in ‘06. However, Apple made iMovie ‘06 available for free download after they released ‘08, which was an admission that ‘08 might not satisfy everyone’s needs.
But when iLife/iMovie ‘09 came out a couple months ago, it filled in all the missing ‘06 features. iMovie ‘09 SHOULD be able to do pretty much everything, if not more, than you could do in ‘06, but with the benefit of the new interface (which is better, if you get used to it).
June 8th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
@Jean-Denis:
“Going as far back as my memory permit, iMovie 08 is the only instance I remember when Apple replaced any piece of software with a significantly *less* functional new version.”
*coughcough* Spotlight *grumblegrumble*
June 8th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
I’m a PC and I feel Pretty Crappy.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Phil, in the immortal words of David Cassidy, I think I love you.
(Even though I am currently on a five year old iBook. What? I got a good price via eBay. I have no loyalty to Apple or PC.)
June 8th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Jean-Dennis is looking for another instance because “Going as far back as my memory permit, iMovie 08 is the only instance I remember when Apple replaced any piece of software with a significantly *less* functional new version.”
Macs used to have a function for low-vision users called “CloseView.” It worked! It blew up the screen by almost any amount (2X, 6X, 10X, 30X…) until is was big enough for a blind person like me to see it. It affected no other functionality of any program, because it took over the display function from Mac OS. In other words, letters were displayed for me, blown up, the same way they are displayed for you.
Mac didn’t like that, got into a licensing pissing match with CloseView and disabled it permanently. Now CloseView is simply not available, not on Mac, not on PC.
As a result, I see things blown up on my Mac, but blown up Mac style, to show all the jagged edges you can’t see, then with the jagged edges filled in with random tones of gray and pink, so that everything is fuzzy.
Takes all the fun out of using a computer. Mac did that. They promised to fix it with Mac OS X or Leopard or whatever, but all those promises are lies. CloseView was my window on the (cyber)world, and Mac killed it.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
Never go up against an astronomer when DEATH is on the line!
June 8th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
Wow, this is so pertinent to astronomy! Thanks Phil! Now tell us whether you prefer Coke or Pepsi.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
I’m a little surprised at how quickly the software industry has convinced consumers that it is the consumers’s responsibility to trouble-shoot and report on the reliability of what are supposedly marketable products.
All of the problems that people were forced to report should have been addressed far before the product went to market.
Twenty years ago, any company trying to pass off beta (at best) products as useful versions would be sacrificing a significant amount of business to competitors who didn’t try to pull that kind of crap. I guess that, at some point, all the players got together and determined that those members of their respective staffs should be done away with.
Congratulations, we are all doing jobs that someone used to be paid to do, and it cuts into all of our bottom lines.
I think we should give up on new technology until this situation is remedied.
I am submitting this message via pnumatic-tube.
P.S. to Bruce,
Really? Computer software is not relevant to someone who uses video to communicate astronomy to the public? And, oh yeah, computer software is irrelevant to you, posting a comment on a computer? Or are you actually commenting via pnumatic-tubes?
June 8th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Bart wins the thread.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
What do you expect? It’s Apple.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
Deleted don’t want Mac vs PC war.
June 8th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
@ Bruce
Hmm let’s see, the tags say “Humour, Pretty pictures”
Have you considered looking at the threads which say…oh, I don’t know, perhaps “Astronomy”?
Just a wild stab in the dark
June 8th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
Don’t you mean “My name is iNigo….”?
June 8th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I don’t really get what this has to do with the release of the updated iPhone….
At least he’s not mixing apples and bananas
June 8th, 2009 at 11:34 pm
This other post is highly relevant, I think (disclaimer: I didn’t write it).
Yesterday’s technology tomorrow
And so is this:
Apple introduces revolutionary new laptop with no keyboard
I totally agree with Phil: while all computer manufacturers want us to drink the KoolAid, Apple is above the rest by a factor of 1000000.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
trulee pist: you haven’t found Ctrl+ScrollWheel yet? I have a 1920 x 1200 screen. I use +2 on the FireFox font. I can scroll the mag up until there are only 9 letters across and it is still readable. Not that I need that much, FF’s +n is really nice, now it does everything on the page and not just the font so layouts are pretty well preserved.
As it happens, I know of only one interpolating zoom in the market that really works well, does not collapse into jaggies on extreme zooms, and (as a Mac user) I have to say it is the Image Browser built in to Windows XP Explorer. None of the add-on image programs zoom as well, they all stop at the pixel block level. On both platforms. Of course, if you are editing the images that is what you want.
AndyD: since FF uses Cmd+N for New Window also I don’t get confused any more. I forget right now, but there are other Apps also that use Shift+Cmd+N for “Really New”. There’s also a shareware app “Keyboard Maestro” if you want to safely remap things.
June 8th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
NERRRRDDD!
June 9th, 2009 at 12:14 am
All I can say is that the author needs to get a life. His blog complains about a software revision that took place a year and a half ago, and has been thoroughly and exhaustively debated in the Mac press. Heck, there has been a whole new release of the software – iMovie 09 – since the one he is complaining about, and it gets very good reviews. As an aside, I will mention that the version of iMovie he seems to have liked – 06 – I think is difficult to use, especially compared to 09.
Moreover, WTF does this have to do with the new iPhone GS? This is a device once again sets the bar for what a mobile communications and computing platform should be. The fact that there are now over 50,000 applications available for the iPhone and that over ONE BILLION have been downloaded from the App Store in less than a year speaks volumes about what real customers think.
And if his point is that only Apple fanbois believe that the company’s products are good because they drink the Koolaid, then how do we explain that 70%+ of the digital music market in the US is iPod/iTunes, and that the iPhone – one model, one carrier – is the second best selling smartphone in the country (and in some calendar quarters, it is the best selling).
He might as well rail against the wind…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Bruce, that’s an old line you’re using. Every few threads that aren’t strictly astronomy and there’s a “Why don’t you post about astronomy on your blog?” whine. Here’s a hint, Bruce; if you can do a better astronomy blog, go for it. At least you know it will follow your strict guidelines.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:20 am
Man, iMovie 08 is an improvement. I’ve been using it with 10 year olds and they were fine with it. It sounds like you’re getting old Phil. You need to start to worry when you need kids show you how to use the microwave.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Computers and their software are often frustrating…
But let’s put this in perspective. Just 37 years ago, my Jr. High math teacher bought one of the very first personal computers. It was as big as a large typewriter, and had less power than the calculator I now carry in my hip pocket.
Phil, you are editing your own video at home! Even 10 years ago, that was something that required specialized equipment and training. I’m not a fan of iMovie, either, but wow! We can edit video at home, on the same machine that holds recipes, pictures, music, spreadsheets, text documents, and a calculator function.
I can’t wait to see what the engineers in Cupertino (and Redmond) come up with next…
June 9th, 2009 at 12:30 am
Seems like Apple was taking it’s cues from Window’s Vista. >.>
June 9th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Ah, if only Amiga had survived.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:38 am
@Jules:
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together.
iJ/P=?June 9th, 2009 at 2:01 am
@AndyD, @Randy A.:
You realise you can change/add keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences, right? Go to Keyboard & Mouse, then Keyboard Shortcuts, and add two new entries for Finder (one to change New Finder Window to something else, then another to change New Folder to cmd-n).
June 9th, 2009 at 2:14 am
[OT] Here’s something even more iNconceivable: The Governator is pushing to dump dead-tree books from California’s lower education system (no, I don’t mean the football colleges). This could be a fantastic opportunity for educators (including those in universities) to contribute to a freely available electronic text which meets the state’s educational criteria and which is also free to copy and distribute. Of course people need to put in time to develop such texts and huge amounts of money will be needed to provide the main repository + tools + source of the texts – but it would be an exciting experiment.
Hell, I’d even proof-read and check the chemistry, physics, and math even though I’ve never spent much time in Ca.
Oh, a selection criterion which I would impose would be that contributors must know how to use TeX or LaTeX – no nonsense and absolutely trivial to make changes.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:14 am
Well, with the possible exception of sight impairment assistance for which I am not really familiar [and even then, Universal Access features doesn't look *significantly worse* to me, though I have no right to claim anything on that], the other examples don’t fit:
- Spotlight *added* functionality, didn’t remove any
- Command-N opening a new Finder window rather than creating a new folder [and similar other complaints]: there is no subtraction there, since it’s still possible to create a new folder. Apple changed a choice for a shortcut that you don’t like? OK, that may be a sore point, but it’s not reduced functionality, even less *significantly* reduced functionality. Besides, you can always restore the shortcut you prefer.
- Mac OS 9 Windows shade and similar complaints: These are HI design choices you and I may be disagreeing with, but there is no *significantly reduced* functionality. On the same vein, you could mention the skinning feature OS 9 had (Appearance Manager or something).
I stand by my point: iMovie is the only instance where Apple replaced software with a new version having *significantly less* functionality.
OK I grant you another one, but I would really not count it: when introducing Mac OS X, replacing Mac OS 9, a number of features from OS 9 were missing from OS X. Most (possibly not all) have been added back to Mac OS X over time.
This is not say that OS X is perfect: the Finder design still sucks for example! Your complaints might be valid. Read my claim in a rather narrow sense.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:56 am
So the earlier version of iMovie became a Reboot Of Usable Software?
June 9th, 2009 at 5:52 am
With all the iThings, does anyone remember Richard Brautigan who, in the sixties, came up with “iDeath”?
It’s in “In Watermelon Sugar”, btw. It’s really not that great a novel, but his poems are fantastic.
June 9th, 2009 at 5:55 am
I’d just like to point out that post 19 is NOT mine.
HAd it been, I’d have asked about iAcid, and included my nom de plume,,,either that or I was in two places at once,,,danged transubstantiation,,,Hard to believe there could really be TWO of me,,,perhaps I’ve been cloned in a transporter accident,,,or someone ate my bread,,,
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 6:00 am
As a Linux user, I bring nothing to this discussion.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:15 am
SO! It appears someone has discovered how to co-opt our names(see Jules/Julia comment).
Bummer!,,,and somewhat disturbing,,,
Phil! Are you paying attention?
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 6:22 am
So downgrade the software and be done with it.
Or go use…a Windows PC.
I hear software complaints all of the time as part of my job. Many are justified. Some are simply people who refuse or are incapable of learning how the software works. Sounds like Phil is in the “justified” category and that he should downgrade.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:47 am
62. Charles Boyer:
When I first started surfing the web, I used a PC (It was what my Bro had laying around his shop) but my first personal computer was an Apple II Plus, in 1980. I even managed to convince the Arabian American Oil Co.(ARAMCO) to buy three of them for in plant use at Jubail Berri Gas plant. The engineering dept used them for statistical analyses. The training dept used them to track individual(read: Saudi Arabs) training, grading, classes, etc. Then about 1983, ARAMCO brass decided to commit to PCs, because, as I was told, they were the biggest Name(but hardware/software wise, not best). Corporate buyers tend to purchase the biggest name. The rationale being, they can’t be accused of screwing up if they’ve gone with a Big Brand(like buying IBM over Univac),,,
My Son worked for MicroSoft for a couple of years, quit and went to work for Apple. His reason? He got tired of working on crap that didn’t work,,,
My feelings precisely,,,
Gary 7
June 9th, 2009 at 6:52 am
@Mad Scientist VA released its first open source textbook (Physics) a couple of months ago – http://virginia.ck12.org/flexr/ I’ve been playing without a text in Env Sci this year. I think many of us (science teachers) are playing on a see-saw, balancing texts with other print sources and online material and simulations in addition to hands-on experimentation.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:06 am
wIkipedia says that there is, or used to be, Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. I’ve been looking for some for precisely this sort of occasion, but haven’t been able to find it.
June 9th, 2009 at 7:14 am
64. arensb:
Check out the following link. It has two apple flavored kool aids, one Candy Apple and one regular apple.
Just FYI,,,
http://www.gunaxin.com/15-mia-kool-aid-flavors/19821
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 7:35 am
Ralph (#50): Thanks! You have illustrated my point perfectly.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Phil, you should really try iMovie ‘09. It’s a fantastic piece of software that I use every other day.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:51 am
A minor (in the grand scheme of things) but highly annoying (to me) functionality change that was made recently was in how iTunes 8.1 handled my trusty, loved, iPod 2d Gen Shuffle. I am in love with my shuffle–it is the only product I have ever seen and bought the first day it came out–because it was *exactly* what I was looking for in terms of convenience, simplicity, size, etc. I use it almost exclusively for podcasts–primarily news and current events–and I was always very happy with how iTunes 8.0 handled the logistics of managing listening to a large number of varied posdacsts. I upgraded to iTunes 8.1 and suddenly a number of features that I took for granted went away.
iTunes 8.1 played havoc with the syncing. It would no longer put the podacsts in reverse chronological order (a feature I relied on to listen to today’s news, then yesterday’s news, then any that had become backlogged), wouldn’t remove deleted podcasts, removed the “the list contains duplicate items, would you like to [skip] / [add]” feature, and you couldn’t play from the iPod when it was attached to the computer. There are some other feature problems that other users have documented, but they were related to features I don’t use.
I fortunately had iTunes 8.0 backed up on Time Machine and did a downgrade, but it involved fiddling with the iTunes Library because the 8.1 library isn’t the same format as the 8.0 library. I did get it it working correctly, and now the trusty shuffle performs as before.
June 9th, 2009 at 8:58 am
A minor point, but one that bugs me is the whole “drink the Kool-Aid” thing. Didn’t the folks at Jonestown actually drink Flavor Aid? The phrase “drink the Kool-Aid” is not only technically incorrect, but also gets used in so many ways that its original meaning (if it even had one) has been thoroughly diluted.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:14 am
As a result, I see things blown up on my Mac, but blown up Mac style, to show all the jagged edges you can’t see, then with the jagged edges filled in with random tones of gray and pink, so that everything is fuzzy.
Crank the contrast up to limit the anti-aliasing and switch to greyscale to avoid color artifacts.
I stand by my point: iMovie is the only instance where Apple replaced software with a new version having *significantly less* functionality.
I submit (iSubmit?) to you iTunes 4.0.1, which removed unlimited streaming to the network.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:20 am
AH, Kool Aid references. Reminds me of the ’60s, in which Kool Aid was a favorite method of dispensing lsd to large gatherings. Unfortunately, since lsd is only readily soluble in alcohol, rather than water, there was a tendency for the active ingredient to accumulate at the bottom of the bucket.
Can you say OOPS???
Some of those so affected said a great deal more,,,
Wasn’t aware of the problems Y’All are mentioning about the iPod software upgrades. I don’t use those gadgets. I HAVE been bugging them about their use of MP3 over lossless compression formats such as FLAC but have been told Apple has their own loss less compression. I really don’t like losing 90% of my music due to compression drop out. Subtle music is my preference and subtlety can get trashed in compression .
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 9:21 am
@Gray-Gaffer, Adam,
Thanks for the suggestion but, although I have two Macs at home, I also have to share them in an office where I don’t get to decide the setup (and no, we don’t use users).
My Apple-N gripe stems from the fact hat it always made a new folder. Then in OS X they decided they wanted a shortcut to open a window and decided to give Apple-N to that new function and give a new shortcut to the old function.
I only use Apple-T in Firefox since I prefer tabs to windows. But even there, Apple-N in Firefox is like making a new document in any other app so it makes absolute sense there.
@ Jean Denis
When OS X was first released, Apple dropped Labels from the Finder. (Oh, I see you acknowledged such things – but eventually reinstating them isn’t really the point, is it?)
I’d have to disagree about the dropping of window shades (two clicks gone, two clicks back, fast, easy and nothing moves) not representing a loss of functionality. Exposé does not compare by a long stretch.
Oh, and then there’s that whole choosing a “save as” filename by accidentally clicking once on a name already in the list. Aaarggh! It should take two clicks or a modifier to do that. And wasn’t there a time when you could switch buttons on a dialogue box with a shortcut rather than a mouse click? That was fast too.
Oh, and the ability to put the damned trash can wherever the hell you wanted it – like next to the window you’re working in – instead of “all the way over there”.
I suspect there’s some really good underlying stuff that makes OS X much better than its predecessors (I do use crontab and rsync for customisable backup) but much of the over-animated front end still looks to me like it was designed as fruit, not for function.
As someone who braved and tamed Blender (3D animation software with a much-maligned interface), I don’t think I lack the ability to learn new things – but there should be a good reason to have to when you’re doing the same things you’ve done for almost ever.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:39 am
@ Sarcastro: “iTunes 4.0.1, which removed unlimited streaming to the network”
Good point. This is significant. Now the reason for that one is very clear (pressure from the Majors).
@ AndyD: all sort of complaints about OS X Human Interface vs OS 9
Your complaints are legitimate, and I share a number of them. However none of them is about *removing* a *significant* piece of functionality.
• Finder labels. Yes OK, during the transition from OS 9 to OS X, Apple chose to deliver early rather than deliver complete. I would contend there was no real loss of functionality anyhow, since during the transition, you could still run OS 9.
• Window shade’s functionality: reducing the screen real estate of a window. OS X lets you do the same with the “orange ball”, to hide the window in the dock. You might think this change is for the worse, but there is no reduction in functionality. Further, I would contend this functionality is not very significant, though significance is in the eye of the beholder.
• Clicking the name in save as: I use that feature a lot! This is very useful to me. Please Apple, leave it. And this is an additional feature. No reduction here.
• Keyboard shortcuts for dialog items: no loss of functionality, since you can still click them. Now I can’t really remember OS9 on that, but you can do it with OS X (see Full Keyboard Access).
• Trash Can location: again, no loss of functionality, whatever the validity of the point.
So that leaves us with 3 cases:
1) OS 9 to OS X transition, kind of, due to delivery schedule.
2) iTunes WAN streaming, due to legal pressure.
3) iMovie, due to rewrite from scratch.
June 9th, 2009 at 9:50 am
[...] of my favorite science blogs, Phil Plait’s Bad Astronomy, recently touched upon a usability topic which gives me an excuse to link to his blog! The story gets goofy from there (a rivalry [...]
June 9th, 2009 at 10:42 am
This was a feeble OS-war thread. We must fight harder next time.
June 9th, 2009 at 11:37 am
55. Daffy Says:
June 9th, 2009 at 12:31 am
Ah, if only Amiga had survived.
Dry your eyes and go to the iTunes application store and check out programs below for iPod Touch or iPhone:
Pinball Dreaming: Pinball Dreams
Rick Rocketson (Rick Dangerous)
Rocket Gold (Thrust)
or
ModPlayer for all you old Amiga music.
@Everybody else: A computer is just a tool, the best hammer in the world will not make you hit the nails any better.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
TS,
Thanks! I’ll take a look.
The Amiga was amazing. Everything Mac enthusiasts claim for their system was true of the Amiga…only with the Amiga it was actually true.
I still have a working Amiga 2000 with Toaster/Flyer. I mainly use a PC with Sony Vegas these days, but I can’t help wondering where non-linear video editing would be if Amiga had lasted. Oh, well.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
@Daffy
I, too, wish Amiga had made it. A friend of mine had an Amiga 2000, and who can forget the Amiga digital effects in Terminator 2.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
Odd. I was trying to read the Kaguya article in NetNewsWire, and I’ve somehow ended up here. Still in NetNewsWire, but not in a browser pane.
June 9th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
83. Stephen:
MAny and flat out weird are the Ways, of the Force, GrassHopper.
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
The Amiga was amazing. Everything Mac enthusiasts claim for their system was true of the Amiga…only with the Amiga it was actually true.
Not only was it true, it was true more than 20 years ago. We had colours and sound sampling years before any other home system. Commodore mismanaged their asset, what a shame
June 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Like what?
I’m not being defensive; I’m very promiscuous when it comes to the OSes I use. I’m just genuinely curious because I have no idea what sort of claims you’re talking about.
June 9th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Amiga was a great computer, but ultimately, Commodore could not leverage it against the vastly superior marketing of IBM and Apple.
I’ve still got a VIC-20 and a C64 laying around in the attic, both were very decent tools for their price point, back in the day anyway. The most powerful computers? By no means no, but with Amiga, that was not true. It was an awesome computer, and really ahead of its competition. Unfortunately, it was also made by a company whose management was far less than their competition’s’.
At one point Apple commanded 86% of the total PC market. That was shortly before the entrance of IBM’s second PC, the one we know and love (or not) as having started the DOS Revolution. People forget the first one, it was an abysmal failure.
What made the IBM machine get into business in a big way was Lotus 1-2-3, which blew away Visicalc. It also did not hurt that Wordstar’s implementation on the PC was very fast, and together the two together made for a complete (at the time) business solution. Coupled with IBM’s very effect corporate sales force, which was long seasoned in the Fortune 500’s computing needs and everyone was toast…except Microsoft.
People forget that Microsoft didn’t even create DOS, Seattle Computer Products did. Tim Paterson wrote DOS in 1980 and it was sold by Microsoft to IBM in the pre-production days of the PC when the IBM Boca Raton engineers came to town looking for applications, not operating systems. Those same engineers had just come from a bad experience with Gary Kildal and Digital Research, who made the then-standard OS of the day, CP/M. Had Kildal not asked for an extremely high price for CP/M for each copy IBM’s PC, then Microsoft would probably have never gotten into the OS business and we would not know them as the de facto standard they are today.
Basically, in the end, Microsoft leased Q-DOS from SCP and eventually bought it. The young businessman, Bill Gates, outsmarted them all.
June 9th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I have to admit, in a business world of sharks, Bill Gates is a killer Whale,,,but I still don’t like PCs,,,
GAry 7
June 9th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Wouldn’t a high-mass black hole suck harder than a “starving” one?
June 9th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
A point perhaps being lost by the fully-employed professionals is that to those of us on a limited budget, it isn’t that you can’t (eventually) get the same functionality back, it is that you often have to pay extra for it.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Jean Denis,
You missed my one about not being able to search for invisible files any more, lost in Tiger (don’t know about Leopard). Actually, you can search for them, that option is listed under OTHER – but invisible files won’t show up in the results. That is a loss of functionality that has near driven me mad on occasion.
I mentioned Blender earlier and Blender default-saves renders to an invisible TMP folder. That isn’t Apple’s fault and is changeable – but it happens (it also uses an invisible setup file) and when it does, searching for the file you just rendered is useless, even if you choose to search for invisible files. The option is there – it doesn’t work and hasn’t worked for quite some time.
(I also seem to recall a munted TCP control in OS 9.x that caused connections to drop-out after a few minutes. The solution required finding and re-installing an outdated TCP control.)
That’s all from me on this because my opinion holds no sway with anyone at Apple and my head is marginally softer than these brick walls.
June 10th, 2009 at 3:01 am
Yep I missed it. Let me address it. I tried it, and you’re right to some extent.
With the default OS X settings, the Finder will not display invisible files. This pertains to the Find Files results window as well, even when the search criteria include “invisible files”. This can certainly be considered as a bug. As a registered Apple Developer, I just filed a bug report for that.
Now there is a supported, though somewhat hidden workaround. The Finder includes an option to display all files, even invisible files. Of course, if you turn it on, all invisible files will show up, and you might not like it.
Clearly, Apple’s choice was the right one: displaying invisible files for all users is an invitation for the user to tamper with them – bad idea.
The Finder option to display invisible files is not exposed to the user. It might have been better for Apple to expose it. Or not. That same request could be done to many many kinds of options. This is the difference between an Apple Preference pane and a Linux or Microsoft Preference pane. I tend to err on Apple’s side on that one.
So here is how to activate the Finder option to display invisible files: open the Terminal application, and type (or paste) the following command:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
after which you need to restart the Finder (for example by logging out and back in).
On a side note, Blender defaulting to rendering to an invisible folder is *bad*. The blame is on them. Not Apple.
(and I don’t recall the TCP issue you mention. A bug too, by your description).