I ran across an interesting read a few minutes ago that was written by Jack Wallen. I’ll grant that the article is pretty biased and therefore appears to be strongly opinionated. But at the same time, several good points are made.
First and foremost in the minds of a lot of people are how ‘pretty’ the OS is. Face it – if it’s ugly, most people just won’t use it. An argument is made in the article about how customizable the Linux GUIs are vs. how ‘un’customizable the OS X GUI is. I’ll grant that OS X is beautiful. But what if you want to change it? You can do a few things here and there, but you are limited. With Linux, you have the capability to make it look however you want.
This is just one example the writer gives. He also touches on areas such as open source, security, hardware requirements and even keyboard efficiency.
Again, the writer here is totally a Linux guy, so keep that in mind as you read the article. ‘Better’ is definitely subjective. Something I think that people should understand, however, is that Linux is simply different. It’s different from Windows (although it tries to mimic it in some ways). It is different from OS X. I say that’s what makes it great.
Jonathan is a self-proclaimed geek who likes pretty much anything tech-related. He is especially into Linux, but is interested in Apple and Microsoft tech as well. Jonathan is also into a little bit of gaming - he owns a PS3 and a Wii, but with his limited budget only owns a handful of games for both consoles.
For money, Jonathan works at a large engineering firm. He works in a datacenter as part of a group of 3 managing about 200 servers (and growing!), most Microsoft, some Linux and about half are virtualized using VMware.
I actually think you’re last paragraph is why I like OS X the best… Linux is different from Windows but most distros (at least the really popular ones do) try to mimic Windows in order to help make it a more comfortable environment for people wanting to switch from Windows. I like OS X because it’s not Windows and Apple doesn’t try to mimic Windows either. Instead, to make the switch easy, or for people new to computers in general for that matter, Apple simply makes the UI intuitive and easy to learn from the get go. It’s not a bad thing that Linux does this, I just think it’s better that Apple doesn’t. This is of course just my opinion.
I read the same article earlier this morning and I agree that the writer is definitely bias but he does make a good point about hardware requirements and cost… for some people. I know not everyone needs a $2k computer and it took me a little while to get mine but the build quality of my MacBook Pro (the new aluminum version) makes it worth every penny. It truly is extremely well built and I think you’d agree with me, Jon, about the build quality of your new iPhone and that it was worth every penny especially when considering the OS and access to the ~10,000 apps available in the App Store.
I personally prefer the way the Gnome menus are laid out – Applications, Places and System. It may not be the most intuitive in the world, but I had no trouble making sense of it when I first used it. If I spent enough time on OS X, I’d probably say the same about that. (I’m taking donations if anyone has a Mac to spare.) File management is no problem to understand, and administrative tasks are getting easier and more intuitive all the time.
This is part of the beauty of Linux. It’s totally open, so anyone can make it do anything they wish. Ubuntu and OpenSuSE are, in my opinion, doing the most to make Linux as user-friendly as possible, out of the box. And Ubuntu’s app management speaks for itself. We’ve both agreed in previous conversations that it’s second to none.
What little I’ve used of a Mac, my biggest gripe is that each app doesn’t have its own menu. Only the single one at the top of the screen. It’s something I could probably get used to without issue if given enough time, however.
Oh, I didn’t mean to forget the iPhone. That is the best handheld device I’ve ever owned. I would prefer that it was open, but T-Mobile doesn’t have towers in my area.
I know it’s a bit long, but read this and tell me what you think about each app having it’s own menu.
Yes, that’s long. I’ve actually (tried to) read it before. I think I understand the basic premise though (though I’m not sure). It may just be that I don’t fall in line with Apple’s overall ‘philosophy’ or whatever you want to call it.
As far as apps having their own menu, to me it’s a matter of practicality. I normally have several windows/apps open at once, scattered all over the screen. If my app’s title bar isn’t near the top of the screen, I hate having to move my mouse all the way to the top of the screen to access the menu.
It’s so long because he thoroughly explains “the basic premise”.
Ok, I finally read it all. The argument about the menus is that it is easier to ‘throw’ the mouse at the top left of your screen rather than target a small area at the top of the app window. On a display with a low enough resolution (1280×1024 max) that may be practical. That is what I have at work. At home, however, I have a widescreen that does 1680×1050. Not much more vertical space, but a lot more horizontal. If I have an app at the lower right area of my display, it’s a long way to the top left corner to use that app’s menu. I’d rather keep my mouse near the app itself as I tend to ‘look’ with my mouse, especially when I’m reading.
Again, this is all my preference. I still wouldn’t mind having a Mac and being forced to go all the way to the top of the screen.
One thing I found humorous was this statement:
If it took an interface nerd like me two weeks to notice this (speaking of Outlook using Word as it’s mail writer) imagine how blurry the distinction is to normal people.
All jokes aside, I’m not normal.. But the first time I ever used MS Office and Outlook, I noticed this the very first time I ever composed an email and looked for a way to turn it off. So while what this guy says may apply to most ‘normal’ computer users, that statement alone nullifies anything he says for my own personal use.
Give me something I can customize to my own taste and usefulness. Even Linux isn’t ‘everything’ to me in that regard, but it’s the closest.