How to repair the horror of OS X

[George O]

I know there are some people who like OS X. Fine for them. This
message isn't for them, and they should skip it now. I think OS X has
destroyed every reference point and efficient practice learned through
years of Mac experience, all for the purpose of inflating Steve Jobs'
ego. Somebody should calculate the impact on the economy caused by
lost productivity resulting from incompetent interface design in OS X
-- I bet it would be in the billions.

But I'm stuck with it and there's no way to go back. All there is to
do now is to repair the damage. I'd like recommendations from people
for freeware, shareware, etc., that fixes all the things that OS X has
destroyed. This is what I have found and am using so far:

ASM (Application Switcher Menu) -- shareware that restores the regular
application menu. Until I found this I was utterly non-functional.

Windowshade X -- another shareware piece that restores the basic
window shade function that the OS X morons deleted.

Labels X -- shareware to restore that file labeling function that has
been standard for *years* in the Mac. If anyone needs evidence that OS
X will go down in history with New Coke and the Edsel as a legendary
business disaster, look no further than than this. Thank god for the
people writing these repair programs.

ClassicMenu -- shareware to restore the customizable Apple menu (and
it's even better than the original Apple menu).

iCan -- puts the trashcan back on the desktop. Now if I could only
shove the dock up Apple's round mouse we'd be getting somewhere.

What I am still looking for:

Surely there is someway to get rid of the insane transparency of
inactive windows. The screen is so muddy and fuzzy I can't even tell
which windows are in front and which are behind. Are there different
skins that are available for this? If so, where can I get them? I am
set on the graphite appearance, which at least gets rid of some of the
colored junk bubbles everwhere so I can concentrate on my documents.
How's this for stupidity: in OS X the *inactive* window is *darker and
more visually prominent* than the *active* window in front!!

I wouldn't know where to begin to ask about fixing the file-open
dialog boxes. I've been using this idiotic system for two weeks and I
still can't even find files.

Is there any way to get rid of all the ridiculous user folders, blah,
blah, blah, home, libraries, garbage, etc? This is a *personal*
computer, it's not a multi-user computer. If I set the whole thing to
log in as "root" all the time, can I finally go back to having the
machine be mine instead of feeling like Big Brother is running the
thing and just letting me use a little corner of it? Can I then throw
out the entire users folder and all the garbage in it?

I'm sure there's more, but I can't use this thing for more than 15
minutes at a time without wanting to smash it to pieces.

OS X is 1984
Bad design is good design
Lack of control is control
Inefficiency is efficiency

[Bev A. Kupf]

On 19 Jul 2003 17:26:37 -0700,
George O (OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com) wrote:

> I'm sure there's more, but I can't use this thing for more than 15
> minutes at a time without wanting to smash it to pieces.

To each their own -- I'm more productive in OS X than I was in 9.x,
or earlier versions of MacOS.

The simplest solution for you would be to wipe OS X off your drive,
and roll back to OS 9 or whatever suits your fancy.

Bev
--
Bev A. Kupf
Bev's House of Pancakes

[Tim McNamara]

In article <slrnbhk1jf.8qi.bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.e du>,
"Bev A. Kupf" <bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.edu> wrote:

> On 19 Jul 2003 17:26:37 -0700,
> George O (OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com) wrote:

> > I'm sure there's more, but I can't use this thing for more than 15
> > minutes at a time without wanting to smash it to pieces.

>
> To each their own -- I'm more productive in OS X than I was in 9.x,
> or earlier versions of MacOS.
>
> The simplest solution for you would be to wipe OS X off your drive,
> and roll back to OS 9 or whatever suits your fancy.

I have to agree with Bev. OS X is way more powerful and way more
stable than OS 9 ever could have dreamed of being, but it's not for
everyone. It sounds like it's not for you. OS 9 still works as well
as it ever did.

[Robert Hsu]

[email]OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com[/email] (George O) writes:

> OS X is 1984
> Bad design is good design
> Lack of control is control
> Inefficiency is efficiency

Oldthinkers unbellyfeel OS X.

[Hud]

On Sat, 19 Jul 2003 22:55:18 -0500, Tim McNamara wrote
(in message <timmcn-803F1B.22551819072003@gemini.visi.com>):

> In article <slrnbhk1jf.8qi.bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.e du>,
> "Bev A. Kupf" <bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.edu> wrote:
>

>> On 19 Jul 2003 17:26:37 -0700,
>> George O (OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com) wrote:

>>> I'm sure there's more, but I can't use this thing for more than 15
>>> minutes at a time without wanting to smash it to pieces.

>>
>> To each their own -- I'm more productive in OS X than I was in 9.x,
>> or earlier versions of MacOS.
>>
>> The simplest solution for you would be to wipe OS X off your drive,
>> and roll back to OS 9 or whatever suits your fancy.

>
> I have to agree with Bev. OS X is way more powerful and way more
> stable than OS 9 ever could have dreamed of being, but it's not for
> everyone. It sounds like it's not for you. OS 9 still works as well
> as it ever did.

I agree that OSX is more stable than OS9 and more powerful for the people who
like to tweak the system with Terminal and run Unix. But for the average user
it is a major step backwords in ease of use. My sister used my old (8.5) Mac
a few years ago and wants to buy a Mac to replace her old PC. The multiple
documents folders ( specific user or old user) would just drive her nuts. I
am telling her not to do it. The way it is laid out is confusing. The Dock
just takes up too much room. The first thing I did was install MaxMenus so I
could reduce the clutter of the dock. I would like to thank the original
poster for giving me ideas for some neat shareware programs so I can quit
tweaking my system and just use it.

Hud

[Robert Hsu]

[email]OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com[/email] (George O) writes:

> Somebody should calculate the impact on the economy caused by lost
> productivity resulting from incompetent interface design in OS X --
> I bet it would be in the billions.

However, it's possible that any such loss is offset by productivity
gains resulting from improvements made to other parts of the system.

Personally I don't use the OS X Finder very often, mostly because the
command line is available, but also because I agree with you: the
interface design in the OS X Finder is incompetent, especially given
that they had the classic Finder as a starting point.

Most of your complaints are specific to the Finder. Unfortunately, it
is the application that, for the most part, defines the "Macintosh
experience." Nevertheless, it is just one application, and can be
fixed quickly.

My observation, based on the existence of certain other aspects of OS
X, is that there is indeed an "ego" issue. It's a good thing to want
to do something better, but after the attempt, it's wise to also ask:
did I actually do it better? It takes a certain courage to honestly
answer that question.

No experienced Mac user can possibly conclude that the OS X Finder is
even remotely as usable as the Classic Finder. (I boot into OS 9 once
in a while for the sole purpose of seeing the old Finder.) Personally
it doesn't bother me much, because as I said I don't use the OS X
Finder often. But I can appreciate your frustration. If enough
complaints are made, maybe they'll do something about it.

[Marc Heusser]

In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:

> >am telling her not to do it. The way it is laid out is confusing. The Dock
> >just takes up too much room.

>
> I agree with this; I think XP's taskbar is a much better idea for
> limited screen real-estate. For 1600x1200 the dock's not a big deal
> and it looks nice, but for 800x600 or 1024x768 it takes a lot of room.

Try
System Preferences>Dock and check Automatically Hide and Show the Dock.

This way the dock takes zero real-estate on your precious screen.

Marc

--
Marc Heusser - Zurich, Switzerland
Coaching - Consulting - Counselling - Psychotherapy
[url]http://www.heusser.com[/url]
remove the obvious CHEERS and MERCIAL... from the reply address
to reply via e-mail

[Revanant Morituri]

In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:

}On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 0:12:23 -0500, Hud <nospam@nospam.net> wrote:
}
}I can't comment on your sister, but my mom has similar phobia of
}computers, and she's able to cope with it under XP; she doesn't have
}her eMac (yet) but I'm sure she'll be able to handle it. She'll click
}on the "Home", "Desktop", or "Documents" folder on the file/folder
}dialog box, and she'll be in just the place to save files, with no
}hassles. Reasonably easy and fast. Since she doesn't have the rights
}to save to others' folders, I'm confident she'll quickly learn to save
}to her own folders.

One of my personal complaints with the "documents" folder is that it is
on the wrong fricking hard drive. Not just partition, drive. And even
if my room mate is using my machine, it is with my blessing, and I _want_
him to have access to my files. And let us not go into the old iMac in
the living room being used as the music server: we both need equal access
to all of its files...

--
| /\_/\ | The Genome Diversification Project
|_( ^.^ )_| Because one sentient species on the planet
| >`-'< | is simply too boring for words.
+-Pounce!-+------Remove obvious spamtrap to email------

[Revanant Morituri]

In article <3q1xwmyloj.fsf@shell4.tdl.com>,
Phil Stripling <phil_stripling@cieux.zzn.com> wrote:

}OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com (George O) writes:
}
}> computer, it's not a multi-user computer. If I set the whole thing to
}> log in as "root" all the time, can I finally go back to having the
}> machine be mine instead of feeling like Big Brother is running the
}> thing and just letting me use a little corner of it? Can I then throw
}> out the entire users folder and all the garbage in it?
}
}Logging in as root all the time is not recommended -- you think OS X sucks
}now, wait till you've royally screwed it up as root. :->

*yawn* That old argument. It is my computer, it is my right to screw
it up as a learning experience. That's how I used to learn which
extensions were actually needed under OS 9. Of course, under 9 I could
just drag the entire contets of the boot drive to another to back it
up...

--
| /\_/\ | The Genome Diversification Project
|_( ^.^ )_| Because one sentient species on the planet
| >`-'< | is simply too boring for words.
+-Pounce!-+------Remove obvious spamtrap to email------

[Tom Stiller]

In article <63214d352f5740add3ec6840378cdcb5@TeraNews>,
Revanant Morituri <revanant@obvious.adelphia.net> wrote:

> One of my personal complaints with the "documents" folder is that it is
> on the wrong fricking hard drive. Not just partition, drive.

From a user perspective, there is no difference between the two. The
operating system sees them both as volumes which can be mounted or
dismounted, except for the the startup volume, which cannot be
dismounted.

> And even if my room mate is using my machine, it is with my blessing,
> and I _want_ him to have access to my files. And let us not go into
> the old iMac in the living room being used as the music server: we
> both need equal access to all of its files...

What is there about the unix permission scheme that prevents you from
doing what you want?

--
Tom Stiller

PGP fingerprint = 5108 DDB2 9761 EDE5 E7E3
7BDA 71ED 6496 99C0 C7CF

[Chas]

George O wrote:

> I know there are some people who like OS X. Fine for them. This
> message isn't for them, and they should skip it now. I think OS X has
> destroyed every reference point and efficient practice learned through
> years of Mac experience, all for the purpose of inflating Steve Jobs'
> ego. Somebody should calculate the impact on the economy caused by
> lost productivity resulting from incompetent interface design in OS X
> -- I bet it would be in the billions.

Smells like classic troll bait to me.

comp.sys.mac.advocacy is this way >>>>>>

=:~)


--
news at cdss dot fsnet dot co dot uk

[Wesley Groleau]

Marc Heusser wrote:

> In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
> foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:

>>I agree with this; I think XP's taskbar is a much better idea for
>>limited screen real-estate. For 1600x1200 the dock's not a big deal
>>and it looks nice, but for 800x600 or 1024x768 it takes a lot of room.

>
> Try
> System Preferences>Dock and check Automatically Hide and Show the Dock.
>
> This way the dock takes zero real-estate on your precious screen.

Or just shrink it to the size of the Windoze task bar.

[Declan MacLeod]

In article <timmcn-803F1B.22551819072003@gemini.visi.com>,
Tim McNamara <timmcn@bitstream.net> wrote:

> In article <slrnbhk1jf.8qi.bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.e du>,
> "Bev A. Kupf" <bevakupf@ebv.mimnet.northwestern.edu> wrote:
>

> > On 19 Jul 2003 17:26:37 -0700,
> > George O (OSX_is_1984@yahoo.com) wrote:

> > > I'm sure there's more, but I can't use this thing for more than 15
> > > minutes at a time without wanting to smash it to pieces.

> >
> > To each their own -- I'm more productive in OS X than I was in 9.x,
> > or earlier versions of MacOS.
> >
> > The simplest solution for you would be to wipe OS X off your drive,
> > and roll back to OS 9 or whatever suits your fancy.

>
> I have to agree with Bev. OS X is way more powerful and way more
> stable than OS 9 ever could have dreamed of being, but it's not for
> everyone. It sounds like it's not for you. OS 9 still works as well
> as it ever did.

And if observations are worth anything, the more you try to force OS X
to be OS 9, the more trouble you'll have with it and the more unstable
it will become. If you dislike it as intensely you seem to, don't use
it.

If you're willing to go into this with an open mind, go to:
[url]http://homepage.mac.com/rgriff/index.html[/url]
and download The Mac OS X Solutions Guidebook. Try it out. If you
still don't like what you see, wipe OS X and carry on with OS 9.

--
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[George]

The title of your post led me to believe that you were having problems
"fixing" OSX problems. I think that's the biggest issue for OS9 types
on migrating to OSX. When something runs amiss, it's much easier to
trouble shoot and fix in OS9. OSX is still too much like a "black box"
when it comes to fixing problems. The book OSX Disaster Relief helps
somewhat.

Regarding your rant about using OSX, it just takes some time to get used
to it. OSX is far more stable than OS9, and hence far less
troubleshooting needs to be done. I prefer it after using it for a
year. I think it's easier for new users since it's stable. Unix geeks
like the terminal option which I plan to get more familiar with someday.
There's also a unix window interface that's a free download which I
haven't tried yet (I forget the name), but it's nice if you're using
your mac as a terminal to connect to a unix mainframe or running unix
programs with graphics and the like.

There are shareware and freeware options out there if you want to make
the desktop "look" more OS9-ish.


George (not George O)

[tristero]

In article
<declan_macleoid-B80C88.10143320072003@news2-ge0.southeast.rr.com>,
Declan MacLeod wrote:

> And if observations are worth anything, the more you try to force OS X
> to be OS 9, the more trouble you'll have with it and the more unstable
> it will become.

This is a crucial point: trying to force OSX to act/look/feel like old
MacOS is hugely counter-productive. If the OP absolutely refuses to
admit that old habits are not always the best way of doing things, and
that it might possibly be worth learning some new ways, he should just
run MacOS 9 forever and be done with it.

Otoh if he's not as dogmatic as that, he should start trying to learn
to use OSX as OSX. Maybe, even after giving this approach a fair
chance (which he obviously hasn't done so far), he'll still decide he
hates it. But I doubt it.

[foo]

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 10:16:01 +0200, Marc Heusser
<marc.heusser@CHEERSheusser.comMERCIALSPAMMERS.inv alid> wrote:

>In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
> foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:
>

>> >am telling her not to do it. The way it is laid out is confusing. The Dock
>> >just takes up too much room.

>>
>> I agree with this; I think XP's taskbar is a much better idea for
>> limited screen real-estate. For 1600x1200 the dock's not a big deal
>> and it looks nice, but for 800x600 or 1024x768 it takes a lot of room.

>
>Try
>System Preferences>Dock and check Automatically Hide and Show the Dock.
>
>This way the dock takes zero real-estate on your precious screen.

I find hidden docks / taskbars very annoying.

[foo]

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 09:06:27 -0500, Wesley Groleau
<wesgroleau@myrealbox.com> wrote:

>Marc Heusser wrote:

>> In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
>> foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:

>>>I agree with this; I think XP's taskbar is a much better idea for
>>>limited screen real-estate. For 1600x1200 the dock's not a big deal
>>>and it looks nice, but for 800x600 or 1024x768 it takes a lot of room.

>>
>> Try
>> System Preferences>Dock and check Automatically Hide and Show the Dock.
>>
>> This way the dock takes zero real-estate on your precious screen.

>
>Or just shrink it to the size of the Windoze task bar.

Then you can't tell what's running. A little text label (without a
mouseover event) would be handy.

[Tim McNamara]

In article <0001HW.BB3F8EE7005A91D5F0305600@news.texas.net> ,
Hud <nospam@nospam.net> wrote:

> I agree that OSX is more stable than OS9 and more powerful for the
> people who like to tweak the system with Terminal and run Unix. But
> for the average user it is a major step backwords in ease of use.

Well, I almost never run Terminal and do almost nothing from the
command line. I find OS X easier to use than OS 9 was, I find it much
less ugly to look at as well. OS 9 (and OS 8 before it) was so bad to
use that I was contemplating leaving the Mac OS entirely. A major
weakness in OS X, however, is the Save dialogs, which were much better
prior to OS X. (I'm not quite up to date, running 10.1.5 mainly out
of protest of Apple's Windows-esque pricing ripoff for incremental
upgrades. Apparently the dialogs are better in 10.2.*)

The big thing for me is stability. OS 8 and 9 were horribly unstable
on my computer, crashing many times per day. Conflict Catcher was
never able to find a cause. OS X has crashed and needed to be
rebooted twice in two years. It runs 24/7 for months at a time on my
computer without complaint.

[Tim McNamara]

In article <c9ckhv4or300vbqhpt6jq5ijeqiuv7125u@4ax.com>,
foo <foo@bar.com> wrote:

> For 1600x1200 the dock's not a big deal and it looks nice, but for
> 800x600 or 1024x768 it takes a lot of room.

I run OS X on a Rev B iMac. No problem with screen real estate, since
I have hiding turned on for the Dock.

[Tim McNamara]

In article <86oezpwz4w.fsf@localhost.localdomain>,
[email]rhsu@ed.com[/email] (Robert Hsu) wrote:

> No experienced Mac user can possibly conclude that the OS X Finder
> is even remotely as usable as the Classic Finder.

Bullshit. I've used the Mac since 1986, before System 6 was released.
OS X is the best interface Apple ever produced. You just have to
bother to learn how to use it. I can find ANYTHING on my drive faster
and easier than I could with any preceding Mac OS.