I would love to see a post like this that depicts all the ways you can install on Windows, macOS & Linux (as both a consumer & developer). The DMG experience is a little off as the author suggests & the App store is super easy (as are shared purchases). I briefly set up a Mac mini to use Ubuntu & Mint and found Snap and other ways of installing much more cumbersome; especially when I installed something and wanted an app shortcut to appear in a specific menu (sounds simple but was inconsistent). I’m not that familiar with Windows these days, but is downloading an .exe that different from a .dmg? Is the Windows store as easy as the App Store? Or are there particular apps’ websites that don’t do a great job explaining how to install their software?
How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
91–100 of 638 posts
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#92I bought a Mac in 2014 after a lifetime of using Windows. I never understood why people called it easier to use than Windows. Maybe this sentiment is a holdover from an earlier era when people would mindlessly run executables and zip files attached in emails and AIM messages. From a UI perspective, it's 90% identical to windows. From a UX perspective though, something fundamental like Finder is still not up to the jo…
The Finder isn't great. You might take a look at Pathfinder.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#93Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or "uninstalling" apps, always kind of confusing on Windows. Not on the Mac. Still, I think it's not that the Mac is not that intuitive any more, it's that Windows has more or less caught up.
Only on a superficial level. Everything that the app has dumped across the system (e.g. in ~/Application Support) is still in place, after the default "uninstall" of a Mac app that was put in the trash.
Plus there are two Library folders, both containing Application Support (the one you mentioned, and in ~/Users/username/)
It feels strange that doing Command-delete on some apps just moves them to Trash, but other times it triggers a script that deletes it
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#94I have a 2020 MacBook Pro (Intel) and a Windows Surface Laptop 3. SL3 is objectively faster (i7 vs i5). I'm reasonably familiar with both OS's. I'd agree that MacOS is no more intuitive than Windows. But I'd use the Mac over Windows every time.
Why? Because the Mac is so much more 'fluid'. I must use Expose hundreds of times a day - it's instantaneous on the Mac. On Windows there is enough of a delay for me to try to avoid using the equivalent feature. There are lots of similar comparisons.
The little pieces of friction may seem small but they really make a difference. I feel like I'm driving a sports car with the Mac - not so with Windows.
Edit: If you're going to vote me down then please make a constructive comment to tell me why I'm wrong or where Windows is more 'fluid' than the Mac.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#95For the souls that have to suffer through the context switch of using both OS X and Windows or Linux at different workstations. htps://kinto.sh is a great open source app that let's you have the same keyboard commands and such in every OS, really recommend it!
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#96I just helped a friend who is a lifetime windows user set up her new MBP M1. I was reminded how un-intuitive things are and how useful UI elements are hidden in the name of "simplicity". A lot of it for her is centered around the finder and accessing files in general.
The two biggest issues she had was:
1) finder not easily acting as an image viewer. Eg, she had an SD card from her camera, and wanted to quickly scan through the photos and decide what to keep and what to throw away. The problem was that it took a while to find a view where finder showed images ( think it was called "icon view") and once we found that, it took a while to expose a hidden ui element that we could use to make the images larger.
2) "open file" dialog boxes don't show your home directory by default. She'd have a file in /Users/name/folder and the open file dialog would only show Documents, Pictures, etc, and not her home directory. I finally helped her make symlinks from folders that the file dialog deigned to show her to where she really wanted to go. But why is there no "home" view?
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#97Earlier quoted context omitted.
Or "uninstalling" apps, always kind of confusing on Windows. Not on the Mac. Still, I think it's not that the Mac is not that intuitive any more, it's that Windows has more or less caught up.
Uninstalling on macOS is actually pretty tough, since ancillary files are not cleaned up. I end up installing a set of third party utilities whenever I set up a new Mac that help me with a bunch of the weird stuff that isn't handled by default. (including AppCleaner and ShiftIt for uninstallation and window management, respectively). Windows makes it pretty easy with the one "add or remove programs" section of the co…
Which doesn't clear ancillary files, either. The only platforms that I know of in widespread use which actually clear all ancillary files on uninstall are iOS and Android (except for SD card).
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#98If a certain way of doing things which I am very much used to does not apply to a different environment, it does not mean the subject is not intuitive whether it's macOS, Windows, etc. To me, intuitiveness means how easy it is to operate the system correctly without prior training. Honestly, for a non-tech savvy, macOS and Windows both have many quirks and don't let me start with Linux distros (Fedora is my daily dri…
I've been using MacOS for the past 10 years after mostly using Windows for years before that. Now, I definitely can't really use Windows 10 easily for the rare times I use it. A lot of it is definitely what you use on a day-to-day basis.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#99Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also, by default Finder seems to hide directory structure from you. This seems to be Apple thinking it'll confuse people if they can see 'up' directories, but I think just as often it confuses people like me who are trying and failing to go up. I use all three major desktop OSes regularly now, and overall Windows just feels like the most user-friendly and straightforward, though of course it too has issues (e.g. vari…
The inability to easily go to $HOME in Finder is of great annoyance to mevwhen combined with app signing. Hashicorp seems to run into this most often - download a new version of Terraform/Packer/whatever, install to ~/.terraform.d/plugins/darwin_amd64, and MacOS sternly tells me I can't run it, with zero instructions on how to proceed. Manually type the path in Finder/Go, Option+Open the binary, then you're good to g…
> The inability to easily go to $HOME in Finder is of great annoyance to me
You should be able to use cmd+shift+h to always jump to the home directory in finder. I remember having the same real annoyance until I discovered the hotkey.
Re: How Intuitive Are Macs Really?
#100Window management is even greater s*show. To the point that you need 3rd party apps to make it usable.
I actually gave up on having my windows maximized, or side by side, they are now just all overlapping, and its whatever. I try to keep a portion of every window visible on the screen so I can quickly click between them, it looks like a disorganized mess, but it is MY disorganized mess.
err... try "Spectacle"