What Sucks About Apple Computers

Let me first come clean - I am a Macophile. Since switching for Music Production purposes some 4/5 years ago I very quickly got to the point where my PC only gets switched on for testing and gaming purposes. As a techie and musician OSX is unbeatable - like comparing a MiniMoog to a Casiotone. However, Apple-philes are somewhat inclined to gloss over (or not even see!?!) the sub-standard points that are inevitably part of any system. So here's my honest appraisal of the bad bits for anyone struggling to find someone willing to dob them in:

1. Finder. Finder is Mac OSX's Explorer and it sucks. This is by far the Mac's biggest achilles heel. Why is it SO bad?
  1. There's no tree view. This means no little plusses to quick dig deep into a menu structure then go back out to another level - or keeping two folders open in the same window to DRAG and DROP quickly between them. It gets confusing in there, and it's so difficult to traverse back
  2. It doesn't remember where you are, so you have to start again EVERYTIME
  3. Worst of all, there is no CUT+PASTE (incredible!). Apple must be restricted by either Microsoft patents or Job's stubbornness (perhaps a bit of both) but this is rubbish
  4. File dialogues have crippled functionality - no delete etc from within an Open or Save dialog, which is often where you want it most. It's a) open one of your 15 Finder windows b) browse clumsily to the location c) do it from there
2. iPhoto. Ok, you don't HAVE to use this - but you have to fight OSX if you don't want to. Sync up any iPhone / iPod and zap - your files disappear into some weird, hidden folder governed by the inner mind of iPhoto. My photos are the most precious thing on my hard-disk and I like to know WHERE the files are and WHICH of the numerous duplicates that iPhoto creates is the picture I want. I like to move them between computers, back them up myself, e-mail them and work on them in applications I want to use. The commonest question I get asked by less techy mac users is "where are my photos" and "how do I e-mail one". Apparently the new iPhoto allows mail-out directly from the app - presumably to MacMail. An improvement perhaps - but most people I know use gmail.

3. Applications. So really this should be listed alongside the other Finder niggles, but it's not obvious (unlike Windows) how to launch applications that aren't in your dock. Open Finder, start a new window, browse to Applications. Similarly, installing by dragging to this folder is techie-cool but an unnatural metaphor to most. So what do we want? iPad style app browsing, and a desktop App Store equivalent for a "click to install" experience.

4. Over egged Multi-touch Love my MacBook Pro - would not swap for anything else right now, and the multi-touch pad is generally great for moving around... BUT the zoom function is on ALL OF THE TIME. This wouldn't be so bad but for the single-surface-no-mouse-button pad - I suspect I'm not the only one who sometimes rests my thumb on where the button "used to be" whilst scrolling around. The result? Desktop icons randomly enlarge to ridiculous sizes, the Logic workspace disappears into the distance, and no end of other unintended consequences...

5. Stubborn refusal to implement a right mouse button even though EVERY application, even those Mac specific have right-click functionality. I HATE reaching for the option key every single sodding time because Steve is too stubborn to admit defeat...

6. Application menu at top of screen. I've been using a Mac for years now, and I still don't understand the benefit of having your menu detached from your window - especially when running two monitors; you've got an application open on your second desktop, but it's menu is on the first screen. Handy!

7. Stubborn refusal to go "full screen". The little green expand buttons on windows don't go full screen. Apple claim you don't NEED to, as these expand to the full document size - but here's the news
  • EVERYONE wants to go full screen when they click this - so that their concentration is just on that application
  • 98% of the time, Apple's idea of "your whole document" is totally different to yours
  • People can drag an application to another size
How about 2 clicks on the green button to offer both functions?

This is an ongoing post - please mail me contributions.

Sort these pecadillos out Cupertino, and you will have as near to perfect a user-experience as is possible with today's tech.

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