Aware that I have just started to moan. An OS in so intrinsic to using a computer, I wish they'd get the basics sorted. A bit of competition is good, but the Microsoft stranglehold on the OS hasn't been healthy.
I fear the whole thirst for profit and protecting intellectual property is just dangerous here.
Innovation and ease of use should be rolled into an uberOS.
Open protocols and filesystems should be at there.
Agree ACLs great idea; in practice - buggy as hell; but I left windows, so they might have changed things.
What I was getting at was, that despite the added features to each incarnation; the average Joe might not notice that much has changed. They just want to do what they want to do easily.
My Dad happily got the job done in word perfect and i comfortably used a browser (until the os crashed) on Windows 3.1.
I agree with you on Finder's irritations. Gnome's nautilous puts finder and explorer to shame in my opinion. But it has little irritations of it's own. I did notice recently that in Windows7 explorer would carry on copying files rather than terminating on error; about time!
It's been said; that Windows omitted the security model in earlier pc's as they didn't forsee home pcs connecting the web. Hardware and cost also must have also been a limitation for earlier os's.
I used to do sys admin, and I was forever trying to lock down windows, i.e limited accounts, but it would break the apps or make them error or buggy. That's not really Microsoft's problem; unless they didn't provide adequate documentation. It's poor implementation. Likewise I've seen printers not working under limited accounts; I even saw a hilarious fix: make the whole system dir totally read/writable! To cut a long story short it riled me so much; I left windows.
People went from no security to a locked down system; that they found plain irritating. Whereas in OSX there is one simple system preferences panel, that asks for your password if you do anything that requires root privileges. Windows config is nasty until you learn it. Then they change it in each incarnation with the eventual itteration resembling a turd. Don't start me on Linux desktop implementations.
Also the security model on Windows feels the wrong way around. It should be locked down and slowly opened to trusted apps. But as you say perhaps that's finally been overhauled.
My mate uses win98 as he can get his job done easily. He can reset his os in seconds as it is so small. I wouldn't use it, but it's fine for him. About the only reason he might shift is for firefox, but he recently said he's found some compatibility layer that let's him run some modern apps. Hilarious. I don't know how he copes without a command line, but he does.
Don't get me wrong, there have been some leaps and bounds, but from my perspective, I'd rather a simple system; that works; that I can tweak if i want, that is portable, interoperable, that is fast and intuitive to use rather than a machine with oodles of power just to watch a high def movie or provide a transparent window, with drop shadows.
That line was pretty sick. But the article did remind me of something that happened when using google yesterday - not gmail I should add.
I was searching for a news site from another country. Soon after Google was hitting me with ads about meeting a guy from XYZ country (the one I queried.)
They basically assumed my ethnic origin. And my sex, and failed on both. But it did suggest that previous search terms were being used to target later adverts at me, which was quite sneaky nonetheless.
There is some perl adage about a good programmer being a lazy programmer. Learn the shortcuts. I think python is a pretty good one, so might be emacs.
I think you generate code. Programming and implementing are probably better verbs, in my opinion.
I have worked with a CS graduate that struggled with practical application. And programmers that can't write from scratch.
Rudiments such as coding paradigms get you a long way, so does cut and paste and a bit of glue code. Reuse where possible.
You can get lost in theory, you can learn and learn more and more; but you can also thrive on a minimal subset of something larger - like a programming language. You can't learn everything!
You can understand a language without speaking it - and possibly get by with grunts, nods and hand gestures.
What I meant was that my friends pc still does everything he needs and has no compulsion to upgrade to windows 7.
Stability aside (which I think is a good thing) all that I can see that is different in windows is a bit of eye candy. Big wow.
OSX and iPhoneOS is infinitely more intuitive than windows. And there lies it's strength. Linux sadly just imitates where it should be innovating on the desktop.
I can understand though the desire not to confuse the users by radically making a design change. And quite frankly the security model on windows has been a joke.
That is simply not true. Not everyone has a laptop and a smartphone. The ipad is far more compelling than a smartphone for me, maybe not for you. I can think of a dozen innowative usas for it. If it lives up to the promise of 10 hrs battery that's amazing in itself.
It ain't what you do it's the way that you do it. I see this as innovation rater than the last 10 years of immatation.
Nonsense. Perhaps the codebase is more stable. But why would a friend of mine still run windovs 98? He has no compulsion to change. You have to think end user.
Why then would dvorak put s there if it were difficult?
Sensibly most English punctuation is on the left hand along with the vowels on dvorak; which is easy to remember.
Dvorak is very well considered. The combos: qu, th, wh, ph feel really nice.
What amazes me is the fact that the keys are staggered on a computer; I'd expect them to be radial; with my fingers. It appears no one's ready for a radical departure from the typewriter layout. Let's see what happens with the ipad.
Some of us choose to see the web the way we like it. For me I mostly abandon all the author's style's and apply my own.
So the most important thing for me is a big fat h1 and ideally having the main content first. So his post was very readable for me.
Each to there own, content is king; who cares what it looks like! I learnt a precious lesson after my pc died and I replaced it for a few months with a 133mhz running lynx over dial up!
If you are a designer/author place a hidden 'jump to content' link if you have extraneous fluff on the page please.
It's very sad but true. I have become embarrassingly dreadful recently - I've been reading everything and anything.
My last day job; I refused to doss about on the web. And as a webdev never suffered - if we had connectivity issues. Other's looked stranded.
I also was pretty diligent in using books. I absorb so much more reading from paper. I also find the quality of information online to be weaker than print and lower than the past. There is a lot of uneducated opinion, repeated ideas; and it makes finding information more arduous too.
It's strange how the non-multitasking disconnected days of old used to feel better. I'd download usegroup messages and read in a burst, then do something else. I'd also sit back reflect and fine tune a reply.
When the web cost me more - dialup - I was far more discerning.
It's really a case of poor time management and prioritisation. The web can be a distraction; it's easy to lose hours. This is actually a good wake up call.
He expands on the blog post that gives just the street name example. The combination of methods are different to arrive at the desired outcome. Reminds me of programming and problem solving. Sometimes it helps to rethink the problem. There may be multiple ways - each having their own advantages and disadvantages.
I fear the whole thirst for profit and protecting intellectual property is just dangerous here.
Innovation and ease of use should be rolled into an uberOS.
Open protocols and filesystems should be at there.