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Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

engadget.com

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Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#121

Post by qwzybug »

kogus wrote: post #60

I wish they would get rid of the absurd "mount a disk before you run an installer" paradigm. Installing an app downloaded from the web, Windows vs Mac: Windows: 1 - Click a download link 2 - Yes, I'm sure 3 - Run 4 - Next, Next, Next, Finish 5 - Delete the setup file OS X: 1 - Click a download link 2 - Yes, I'm sure 3 - Open a finder window 4 - Open .dmg file, and it mounts 5 - Open the mounted image 6 - Run the inst…

Disk images are one of the most confusing things about day-to-day Mac OS X use, no question. The next time you're at a relatively non-technical friend's house, apple-click on Firefox or Chrome in their Dock. Dollars to donuts, it resides on a disk image.

Apple got rid of disks, why not get rid of the images too?

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#122

Post by wtallis »

randallsquared wrote: post #118
kenjackson wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you press them both at the same time if you have a fat thumb?

After extensive testing (that is, a quick test), the answer is definitely "yes, you can". :)

The command key does need to register first, though. How easy that is depends a bit on what style of keyboard you have.

With the old full-travel desktop keyboards, it's a bit awkward.

With the pre-"chiclet" laptop keyboards, where there is no significant gap between the keys and the edges are simply beveled, it's pretty easy and smooth.

I don't have a chiclet keyboard handy at the moment to test, but it probably isn't any more awkward than the full-travel keyboards.

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#123

Post by mortenjorck »

blehn wrote: post #58
mortenjorck wrote: post #39

In 2009, Apple added a video camera to the otherwise perfected iPod Nano. It was a sign: While one might have had to be quite prescient to imagine exactly what would come after it, it was obvious that Apple felt it had reached the end of what could be innovated with that form factor. The 2010 reinvention of the Nano was the only logical next step, at least for Apple. In 2009, Apple released Snow Leopard, whose emphas…

Out of curiosity, how do you think you'd react if Apple implemented something that closely resembled 10/GUI? Do you have any patents for it? Didn't they interview you for a job at one point? Did they indicate if they were experimenting with new desktop UI frameworks?

Off the top of my head, I guess I'd just count myself among the ranks of the inventor of Cover Flow, the creators of Konfabulator, and the creators of Quicksilver. It happens, and the best thing to do is just to double down and never stop thinking, exploring, and making. As disappointing as it might be, it would be an enormous validation.

My experience with the Apple recruitment process didn't tell me much about the company's plans for the desktop (I didn't get far enough to sign an NDA), but I did learn something important: Their interaction designers, the concept guys whose explorations eventually filter down into shipping products... are also developers. Apple hires the best of both worlds, idea people who don't even stop to sketch ideas out on paper but head straight to XCode and an NSWindow. That's literally their process.

The best thing that came of it was that it inspired me to set out to learn Objective-C and Cocoa. I'm not as far with it as I'd like to be yet, but it's opened my eyes to the possibilities of becoming a designer/developer. Even if, in the future, I'm still the archetypal designer looking for a technical co-founder, hopefully I'll be good enough that I can at least carry my own weight.

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#124

Post by SoftwareMaven »

mortenjorck wrote: post #123
blehn wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, how do you think you'd react if Apple implemented something that closely resembled 10/GUI? Do you have any patents for it? Didn't they interview you for a job at one point? Did they indicate if they were experimenting with new desktop UI frameworks?

Off the top of my head, I guess I'd just count myself among the ranks of the inventor of Cover Flow, the creators of Konfabulator, and the creators of Quicksilver. It happens, and the best thing to do is just to double down and never stop thinking, exploring, and making. As disappointing as it might be, it would be an enormous validation. My experience with the Apple recruitment process didn't tell me much about the…

More importantly, you'd have an intimate understanding of the trade-offs required for various designs. Of course, the flip side is that you have to learn to ignore those trade-offs at times or else you start designing based on trade-offs instead of trying to push the limits.

FWIW, I'd love it if Apple did something like 10/GUI.

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#125

Post by SoftwareMaven »

roc wrote: post #107
blehn wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, then I'm left with two copies and I have to go back and delete one. If OSX had a cut/paste, that might work better. Even so, with the way Finder currently works, it's easy to have 10-15 Finder windows going at any moment, so cmd+` can be a pain.

... it doesn't have cut/paste?

It has copy/paste for files, but you can't "cut" a file. This is a continual source of frustration for Windows power users who come to the side with cookies. My guess is Apple doesn't think "cutting" a file makes sense: you are actually moving the file or deleting the file. However, why it would suddenly make sense to "copy" but not actually have "copy" do anything is still confusing to me.

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#126

Post by SoftwareMaven »

igravious wrote: post #34
philwelch wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I select "restart" (edit: at least when installing system updates), the computer should save application state and reboot instead of every application asking me stupid questions like "are you REALLY sure you want to quit web browsing?". I want to select "restart", go to the kitchen, get my dinner, come back, and the computer be rebooted and my applications restored the way they were before. Also, the developer t…

Yeah, I'm going back to Linux because I realize I miss apt-get more than all the goodies and bling OS X brings to the table. I checked and Ubuntu 10.10 will install happily on My Macbook 5,2 and I've checked my app list: Skype for Linux? check, Spotify for Linux? check, OpenOffice? duh, Chrome? yup, Tweetdeck? there's Gwibber, the list goes on ... Textmate I'll miss and Preview.app is super-duper but apt-get install…

In addition to Fink, there is MacPorts. Between the two, you can get a lot of things installed just as easily as on Linux. Of course, proprietary software is still proprietary.

Re: Apple to announce OS 10.7 (probably) on October 20

#127

Post by ary »

Timothee wrote: post #103
roc wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A 10/GUI style horizontal window scroll is quite feasible with the new touch mouse and trackpad.

Sure, but the 10/GUI is managing the windows though. It's a different way of doing window management, but that's still what is it. I'm curious to know if ary had something else in mind.

I do. No window management.

The recent praise full-screen applications got at the 10.7 sneak peek doesn't resonate with me, but perhaps it will with others. What I want are applications that intelligently manage screen real estate themselves. My thoughts on this are still somewhat unpolished, but what I'd really like to see is automatic management based on need and importance. Clear, standard notifications (and as few as possible), cooperation between apps when two or more run on the screen, and a clear way to navigate between them. All the while there would be no title bars or min/max/close buttons to be found.

This isn't a call for more iOS in OS X (although it seems to be going that way) so much as it is a call to acknowledge the limitations of user ability and patience. It's something I think about a lot.

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