Ways OS X Can Improve
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I am an Apple evangelist, speaking the ways of the Macintosh, and have been since the days of Vista. I love OS X and the ease of use, the customizable interface, and the many benefits it has to offer. However, no OS is perfect, and despite what most Apple fanboys say, OS X is no exception.
The Dock. The Dock is a very nice feature and has been in OS X for quite some time. However, it lacks a few things, in terms of customization. Apple needs to put in “themes” for the dock. The glassy look is nice, but it gets old. And not everyone like the 3D look. Yes, you can download applications that modify the dock, but I strongly believe that this needs to be built in.
UI Themes. Like Windows, OS X needs themes for the overall interface. The gray look with colorful buttons is nice, but gets old. I would love to see Apple creative support for themes that are built in to OS X, such as an “Aero” look, similar to Windows. Again, you can download software to have a themes in OS X, but Apple needs to make their own, built in to the OS.
More options in Expose. Expose is great, especially in Snow Leopard. I still think it is unfinished, and could use more customizable options, and I also think Apple could implement Expose in other Apple software, such as iTunes, Safari, iPhoto and iMovie.
The return of support for third-party screen savers. When you upgraded to Snow Leopard, you probably noticed that all of your third-party screen savers no longer worked. It is unknown why Apple removed the support for this, but it would be nice to have it back.
These are just a few, but important, things Apple could improve OS X with. There are more, I’m sure. Comments welcome.
11 Comments
Daan Berg
November 3rd, 2009
at 3:00pm
You know what? I’m not even a user of Mac OS X, but I recognize all of the problems, and I’d like to see them fixed too.
It’s also because I’m saving up for a Mac, but… yeah.
As you already say, no OS is perfect. Although I guess some are a bit better than other ones. But nothing is perfect. Not even my mom.
Finlay
November 3rd, 2009
at 3:10pm
I seem to have a Quartz Comp. working as screen saver. Useful for anyone who can’t stand the Apple ones
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November 3rd, 2009
at 3:10pm
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Jake Eger
November 3rd, 2009
at 3:16pm
I agree with you about the themes, but there is actually a reason for the screen saver issue. 32 bit screensavers will not work in snow leopard, which is entirely 64 bit. It is up to the third party developer to create a 64 bit version of the screensaver.
Martyn
November 3rd, 2009
at 3:48pm
Snow Leopard has third-party screensavers, it’s just that a fair few were broken with 10.6, but I have a bunch on my iMac and MacBook Pro.
I think when it comes to the UI Apple want you to use their design and no other, so I doubt you’ll get built-in customisation.
Some things I think are more important are functions like ‘cut’ in the Finder, and I don’t like the fact that new expose scales all windows the same size as often I would choose a window based on its size, because it was relative to the other windows.
PAPO
November 3rd, 2009
at 5:32pm
actually some 3rd party screen savers still work (it just so happens of the 2 I had the 1 I used to use was the one that broke
)
Metanoia
November 3rd, 2009
at 6:49pm
Whilst your initial statement is correct; no OS is (or can ever be) perfect, your article is a little preoccupied with visual customisation, which I believe for many people, particularly current OS X users is little more than a minor issue, in comparison to such issues as proper Memory Address Randomisation etc.
Whilst your comparison to Windows is an obvious one, the first really customisable version released was Windows XP, which was either a nauseatingly powerful blue, an obnoxious almost arrogant gold or a cheap looking silver (not forgetting ‘Windows Classic’)
Vista/7 enhanced this by making more colour choices and transparency options, but the dilemma here is, who really cares what soft tint the windows have? And has anyone ever said the the transparent nature of the windows aids in any way to productivity?
OS X may be, out of the box, grey and less alluring to the easily-impressed, but it’s inherantly usable, with a near-fully customisable interface Redmond sheds tears over nightly! Not to mention there’s been 3rd party programs for editing OS X GUI for the last few years anyway!
*Rant over*
jkls
November 3rd, 2009
at 8:35pm
Agreed, I haven’t used OS X all that much, but I can see how all of those points could be improved.
Markus Zeller
November 4th, 2009
at 12:41am
Who really needs a screensaver? I just let turn the screen off to save energy!
I like the “old-fashioned” look and because of that all apps look the same. This keeps the workflow simple and easy.
Metanoia
November 4th, 2009
at 5:10am
@ Jake Eger Snow Leopard is not entirely 64bit, it has both 32 and 64bit kexts and by default boots into the 32bit kernal (but because of the 64bit kexts can run 64bit apps). It also has a 64bit boot mode, but even then it can still run 32bit apps, so I can’t see how your point is valid.
Jake Eger
November 4th, 2009
at 6:51am
Well from what i’ve heard 64 bit seems to be the screensaver issue, if you open up system preferences in 32 bit mode (via right click > get info) then you are able to see and test all of the 3rd party screensavers that may have been previously unavailable. I have found that I am able to test those screensavers in 32 bit mode but then when i try to use them they do not work. Also i’m pretty sure snow leopards kernal by default is now 64 bit unless you have a 32 bit mac. I haven’t used snow leopard on my 32 bit mac mini but I’m curious as to whether the screensavers would work on there.