Matthew Thomas on Mac OS X
Matthew Thomas switches to Mac OS X and critiques it in 48 points.
- #2: I agree that the ellipsis is used inconsistently, but I don’t find his examples inconsistent.
- #3: I disagree with the parenthetical remark.
- #14: I can sort of see what he’s getting at, but I don’t really agree.
- #15: This has always bothered me. It also happens with other uses of texture.
- #28: I prefer consistency. Also, 99% of the time when I click in the address field it’s because I do want to edit the URL. If I want to replace it, I’ll tab into the field or use Open Location.
John Gruber disagrees with 1.5 points, which is about 1 fewer than me.
Thomas didn’t report these problems to Apple, saying that would be a waste of time. In principle, I do think people should report bugs to Apple, but Thomas is right that with issues such as these it sometimes doesn’t seem worth it. It’s frustrating enough reporting what you think is a serious bug and having it languish in Radar purgatory for more than a year. For UI issues, it’s even more frustrating to list all the surface problems, knowing that the real problem is at the root. Thomas is right that the solution is for Apple to hire people who will make sure this stuff is fixed before it ships.
My point is that the quality of Apple’s human interface has declined and continues to decline. That other current platforms, both Free and non-Free, continue to be even worse does not make this situation any more satisfying. Mac OS X is like Sir Winston Churchill’s description of democracy: the worst possible system, except for all the others.
