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MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

toastytech.com

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Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#91

I'll take Puma's System Preferences, pinstripes and all, over what we have today. Blech!

Agreed. I think the new System Preferences was a big step back.

And for what reason? There were things that were so easy to do - like change network interface priority by reordering the list of interfaces - that have obvious method anymore (I want to prefer ethernet when it’s attached, for example).

I can no longer navigate to settings I frequently used and need to search for just about everything. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect things to stay the same after 20 years(!), but for long time users, it’s bewildering.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OS X was a bet on the future, that double buffering everything was OK because graphic cards would get there eventually. They certainly did, but we suffered through menus taking a good fraction of a second to drop down for a few years. I can still feel the pain. I would never have taken that bet. I want computers to be fast now . It was the right bet.

Another hard decision that was the right choice in retrospect was going with KHTML. I remember watching the keynote and waiting for them to announce it was based on Gecko. Camino had shown it was possible and worked well. Apple had hired David Hyatt. It was obvious they would go with Gecko. There was an audible gasp when they announced it was based on KHTML. What the %^&$ is KHTML?

Yet another one was going with LLVM.

Now that they had a decent running GCC on PowerPC they want to build a compiler infrastructure from scratch?

Apple is full of those decisions. I'm just glad they don't take advices from me.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#93
post #59
post #2

Wow, unbelievable that it was designed in 2001! It still looks fresh and modern, although maybe a bit too playful so that it appears a bit childish? But only barely. It appears to have all the basic functionality expected from a modern operating system, I instantly feel right at home although I've never used it. I find the review terrible though, one of the major changes was the user interface, revolutionary I would…

> It appears to have all the basic functionality expected from a modern operating system The truth is, for the most part operating systems haven't really advanced that much, at least from a ux standpoint. Speaking as someone who started using computers in 1997 on windows 95 and a 133mhz pentium. All the basic metaphors and mechanisms have stayed the same. Tabs in browsers were considered like a huge leap (I know it's…

Search as the primary interaction method instead of menus and icons is pretty dramatic shift though; compare vscode command palette to traditional vs, or windows 7 and later start menu to its predecessors. Another thing, especially on Windows, is the de-emphasis or straight out removal of menu bars, once staple of desktop interfaces. As a more generic trend, I think modal dialogs with forms were far more common interaction pattern back in the day than these days.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#94
post #16

Here is the John Siracusa review from 2001 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2001/10/macosx-10-1/

> As in Mac OS 9, it is possible to play DVD movies "on the desktop" by setting the desktop pattern to be a particular color. The DVD player uses this color as a mask for its video display, allowing the movie to appear on the desktop pattern even when the player window itself is hidden.

Today I learned!

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#95

> This screen shot shows the login screen. It displays a graphical list of users that can login on this system. (Interestingly Windows XP does something similar) > Being based on BSD Unix, MacOS X inherits many useful unix features such as real security and user accounts. > This means that, for example, you can create a special account for someone else to play games and don't have to worry about them deleting system…

Turns out it wasn’t enough.

What we were just barely starting to grasp then was that, among the “other users” we need to be protected from, were the software vendors themselves.

In other words, I am not a single user; the combination of me and various groupings of binaries are the user, and they must be carefully isolated. And now, it turns out I want still another layer of protection too (e.g. multiple browser profiles/containers).

Back then, most people were still on dialup internet. It was still relatively rare that software would record everything about us and report all of it to HQ. We used to call software like this “spyware”, which isn’t really a word that even exists anymore.

The idea for the need for something like Qubes OS would’ve been completely alien.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#96

> Also folders can be browsed as a series of menus when placed in the dock. http://toastytech.com/guis/osxhddoc.jpg That is more useful than the icon view it has now.

You can still get it like that, just right click on any folder that is pinned to the right side of the Dock, you’ll get 4 different display options.

You made my day! That’s actually really slick in the “list” mode.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call XP (Luna) theme ugly. It wasn't as clean as Windows2k but it was just fine.

I found the bright blue taskbar and window decorators and the bright green start button, among other very bright and contrasting colors, quite the eyesore both at the time and now. Thankfully you could switch to the Windows Classic theme.

There was also the silver version of Luna that was far less garish https://twitter.com/zacbowden/status/1089184545201709056/pho...

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#98
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It still looks fresh and modern, although maybe a bit too playful so that it appears a bit childish? The aesthetics is called „Frutiger Aero“. Lots of colors and especially of blue, lots of transparency effects and fake light reflections. It all is inspired by natural landscapes with blue skies or blue water surfaces. Also skeuomorphisms everywhere. Windows 7 could be called the pinnacle of the use of Frutiger Aero…

“ I wonder what will be next or are we going to stick with heartless, cold metal designs forever” If any design folks have an opinion on which way the winds are blowing, I’d love to see an example.

I think there's a tendency recently towards keeping the Apple-esque minimalism in terms of shapes, but moving the materials to softer, warmer, speckled, textile or textured, and the colors to earthier, more natural.

You can see these tendencies in stuff like the recent Microsoft Surface laptops and their textured handrests, the Acer Aspire Vero and its recycled plastic shell, but also in small ways in some Apple products, i.e. power cords for the Mac Studio and the handle for the box (!) being made of textured fabric instead of featureless plastic/rubber, as well as some of the new iPhone colors being Forest Green and the like.

It's not a huge change but it feels like a trend to me.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#99
post #16

Here is the John Siracusa review from 2001 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2001/10/macosx-10-1/

> As in Mac OS 9, it is possible to play DVD movies "on the desktop" by setting the desktop pattern to be a particular color. The DVD player uses this color as a mask for its video display, allowing the movie to appear on the desktop pattern even when the player window itself is hidden. Today I learned!

Unrelated: in Windows you can paint on almost everything you see. You just have to get the handle and then you can paint on the canvas of the UI element at runtime. So you can have videos play on buttons for example.

Re: MacOS X 10.1 (2001)

#100
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wouldn't call XP (Luna) theme ugly. It wasn't as clean as Windows2k but it was just fine.

The fisher price look. For me it was a downgrade in aesthetic and seemed like trying too hard to make it appealing and friendly for the computer illiterate masses.

I called it that too! My backup was, "well, when your UI is designed by Hasbro". It really did have that Duplo Block look to it. When run at very high resolutions, it did get a bit better.
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