<strong>The no applications running bit is the installer, not the OS.
Nothing OS X can do about that, especially once you give the Admin password (which most of those programs don't really need by the way, but won't install without).</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know. But I want OS X to not allow that anymore. Even apps that don't require an admin password to install can shutdown everything. (Again corel and procreate are the culprits.) It just pisses me off.
Having 'Admin Privileges' and being 'Root' are not the same thing. This is a good thing, the way it should be.
Remember that MacOS X is based on Unix (as everyone knows, of course), and Unix is/was designed, make that concieved, as a multi-user operating system. Dozens of users are expected to be logged in simultaineously! Using all sorts of programs, or compiling code, or checking email all at the same time.
Just because one of those users has admin privileges doesn't mean that user has permissions to go trashing system files, potentially bringing down the system. The system, in a sense, is only protecting itself.
In the case of a installer's log file that's owned by root; well, that was probably just an oversight. But generally, if it's owned by root then you want to ignore it anyway. Don't worry about a couple k file.
1. Break up software updates into smaller blocks. I now have to look forward to a 40Mb download on a 56 k modem. That is if AOL will let me download a file that size.
2. Speed. mentioned already but this thing needs to be as fast as OS9.
3. Switch items around in menu bar.
Apple Menu-Favorites, recent items and documents (with the option of turning this feature off), about this Mac, system preferences, and the ability to add things to the Apple menu.
Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.
File Menu-keep as is along with items from Finder Menu.
View Menu-keep as is.
Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.
4. Make the Dock optional. The Hide feature is pretty good, but if we had favorites in the Apple Menu, we wouldn't need the dock at all except for open apps. I would like to use the Dock for only open apps, and the Apple Menu for everything else.
5. Put the trash Can on the desktop.
6. Put the Software Updater in a more obvious spot like the Apple menu in addition to system preferences
7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.
8. Bring back WindowShade. This goes along with using the dock only for open apps. i would rather shrink the window, then put it in the dock.
9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.
10. Get rid of the throbbing buttons or at least give us the option of turning it off.
11. More appearance options, especially with regards to fonts.
12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.
13. Notepad. Why isn't there Notepad for OSX? (I know there is shareware, it should be on it anyway)
14. This isn't an OSX criticism, but Apple should include Appleworks on every computer they sell.
Thats all I can think of for the moment. I do notice that texts seems a little blurry. Did anyone notice that you can still take a pic of something on the screen by hitting command- shift -4? I thought that was removed-I'm glad its here I use it all the time!............................................. ..............................
[quote]1. Break up software updates into smaller blocks. I now have to look forward to a 40Mb download on a 56 k modem. That is if AOL will let me download a file that size.<hr></blockquote>
nothing to do with OS X functionality
[quote]Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.<hr></blockquote>
The Finder menu only exists in when using the Finder. The Application Menu is fine as it is. The Application menu is for app related controls. The File menu is for file related controls.
[quote]Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.<hr></blockquote>
This is idiomatic stuff. I don't go shutdown anything. I don't go restart anything. Apple should not restructure its OS based on bastardized English...sorry.
[quote]7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.[quote]
Eh? AFAIK, you need to run the installer. That's the entire reason why it was put there in the first place. Software Update only downloads system updates. It doesn't run them for you. It only runs simple updates that don't give you customizable options, unlike system software updates.
[quote]9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.<hr></blockquote>
I'm having trouble figuring out what all this means.
[quote]12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.<hr></blockquote>
Your answers to each of my wishlist items was incorrect. I am right and you are wrong. My way is better than your way. Oh sorry, i thought i was Steve Jobs for a second
1. Break up software updates into smaller blocks. I now have to look forward to a 40Mb download on a 56 k modem. That is if AOL will let me download a file that size.</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is more about the Knowledge Base/ Apple support of old than anything with the OS. I have no problem with Apple giving out the updates in pieces from their web site, perhaps even alerting you to this option in the software update pref panel. Do they still do this? I've been on cable modem too long.
Ideally, I think the one-click (Ok, sometimes more) interface of the current software update is fine, but like the QT preferences, the OS should know what your connection speed is, and be able to resume downloads if they are cut off.
[quote]<strong>3. Switch items around in menu bar.
Apple Menu-Favorites, recent items and documents (with the option of turning this feature off), about this Mac, system preferences, and the ability to add things to the Apple menu.
Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.
File Menu-keep as is along with items from Finder Menu.
View Menu-keep as is.
Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I totally agree that Favorites would be a great addition to the Apple menu. But it seems to me that by adding a Favorites menu, you've just customized the menu and made the items more universal, made it easier to add items and made more ways to get to those items (within file dialogs, etc -- totally modeless).
For the life of me, if there is one thing that made perfect sense to me, something I had thought about for years before OS X was a twinkle in Apple's eye, it's the introduction of a real Application menu. (I think this is what you're referring to as the "Finder" menu -- I'll get on that in a second.) That is, place where you do all the things that are specific to the application, not a file, not a window. So The App menu in OS X is perfectly logical with its contents, and in the right place. the hiearchy is extremely clear and uncomplicated; no exceptions or things stuffed in strange places: Apple menu = system, Application menu = application, File menu = files, Window menu = windows. While I do think some items should be more logicaly placed within this order. (e.g., the Empty Trash command is only found in the Finder's app menu when it should be universally accessible.)
The Go menu is for going places, that is navigation, as opposed to operation or status (see View menu and Apple menu respectively for that). It has a similar position as the old Special menu, which is why I think you suggest placing the shutdown and similar items there. Unless you want to go to the Trash folder, it would not be the appropriate place for this kind of item.
[quote]<strong>4. Make the Dock optional. The Hide feature is pretty good, but if we had favorites in the Apple Menu, we wouldn't need the dock at all except for open apps. I would like to use the Dock for only open apps, and the Apple Menu for everything else.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually, the idea of a temporary bin to hold your stuff is still pretty appealing. It's not perfect, but its versatility, while initially thought to be conceptually messy and confusing to use, is its blessing. It's great for navigation -- more flexible and convenient than a customizable Apple menu -- just dump a folder into the Dock and you're off!
[quote]<strong>5. Put the trash Can on the desktop.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Here's another one I don't quite agree with. If anything, the ability to dump stuff from any app or window into the Trash is perfectly brilliant. Having the Trash in the Dock makes this far more convenient than having to uncover it on the desktop. The idea of a universal Trash is a very compelling one. Now if only all apps used the Trash like this...
[quote]<strong>6. Put the Software Updater in a more obvious spot like the Apple menu in addition to system preferences.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ideally, all apps will be able to track updates and make the upgrading process as safe and convenient as possible for the user. I really love apps like OmniWeb and Watson that have little items under their ap menus to check for updates. While we're on the subject of System Preferences though, I do think the user should be able to organize his or her prefs as they please -- make their own categories and arrangements, that is.
[quote]<strong>7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think you downloaded the update, but it's sitting on the desktop waiting for you to actually run it. Obviously in OS x, it runs the updates from the software update pref panel, thus skipping a step. But in OS 9, you have to double click the downloaded updater icon like any other compressed file you downloaded.
[quote]<strong>8. Bring back WindowShade. This goes along with using the dock only for open apps. i would rather shrink the window, then put it in the dock.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Funny, I only miss WindowShade for palettes. I wonder if a more consistent and simpler method of getting the same behavior would be with disclosure triangles. Right now, MacroMedia apps for OS X have something like this but it eats up some extra space. Perhaps it could be added to the window's title bar? Or perhaps the oblong toolbar widget a lot of apps are adopting could work in stages like how Adobe Photoshop (before version 7 at least) palettes use their windowshade widgets to collapse the window in steps: see the layers palette in Photoshop for what I'm thinking.
I like the fact that Apple by choice and by necessity is taking a self-critical stance towards their own product. Simply thwoing the OS 8/9 UI back into OS X would be irresponsible if they really are concerned with making a better user experience.
[quote]<strong>9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think a better solution would have been to keep the rollover badges (x - + ) persistent and use color as the rollover effect for individual widgets. Seems to me that you could tell what each widget is at a glance that way (that's why the old widgets worked -- God only knows what those things represented the first time you look at them), and by highlighting the widget one at a time, it would alert you to your possible action. That is, when you bring your pointer over the close widget, it would immediately highlight in red, and wouldn't that make you think. and rather than the three lighting up at once like with the widget badges now, you would better know if you're hanging over the wrong one or not over one at all (in-between widgets).
[quote]<strong>12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I find the Home button indispensible! One of the things a lot of people are realizing is that when we demanded that the hard drive icon be placed on the desktop again, we would almost never use it! how often do you go to the top level of the hard drive? Now, how often do you go to your home folder? slowly, people are disabling the hard drive icon on teir desktop because it's pretty useless. The toolbars are just shortcuts -- aliases.
Don't forget you can drag anything in there, say like the Dropstuff icon so you can compress files in the Finder window, or your thesis project folder instead of having to dig through "Home" or "Documents".
That was a thoughtful reply, i guess we all see things a little differently, but thats one of the reasons i think Apple should give us a little more choice.
I would like to add to the wishlist getting rid of the gray stripes. They make text look fuzzy.
Now for a question-when i try to do some things, like updates, I get an adminitsrator message and have to enter a password. Is there any way to stop that?
Also, on setup it asked me my name so i put my full name. The computer uses my name to name the system, unfortunately only the first 2 letters of my last name is shown after my first name and it looks ridiculous. Is there anyway to change this name? I tried and it wouldn't let me. Thanks............................................ .........................
[quote]Blame the person who made the installation package. That's not a fault of the OS. In fact, the OS is doing exactly as it should, not letting you delete something you don't have permission to delete. <hr></blockquote> What a silly comment!!! First off, I own the computer and I buy the (non freeware) softer I use on it. Whom should I ask for permission? This is the most annoying thing in OsX, especially for long time Os 7 - 9 users. What I do with files on my own computer is up to me and no one else. Besides, Apple decided not to give us root password. That's not the fault of the guy who made the installation package
hmmm... looks like a fairly well thought-out thread so far. nice to see.
anyway, yeah, i'm finally tired of the stripes everywhere. i liked 'em at first, but now i find myself using duality themes to go to a smoother look. i just feel like i can read everything better.
speed. i dunno, i sort of agree. but 10.1.4 really makes my imac dv se 400 (original graphite) FEEL faster. though if they increase speed in 10.2 and up, hey, i won't complain.
i have mixed feeling about the dock. on one hand, i think it's great. on the other, i think it's a mess. i don't mind that it's trying to be a catch-all, but things bug me, like no names until i "scrub" the dock, icons that by default move out of the way when i try to drag files on them... yeah, i know, hold the command key, and they stay put, but i think that by now, an operating system would be able to discern a bit better when i am aiming for my big honkin' icon of my hard drive vs. aiming for the space in between it and another folder. it's 2002 for cryin' out loud!
why doesn't anybody else miss getting more info when you empty the trash? heck, i'd kill to have copy agent's ability to show you what's in the trash in the dialog box (via disclosure triangle), and an option for secure erasures, too.
whoever suggested the disclosure triangles to get the classic windowshade effect back, i think that's a great idea. i just spent better part of a decade learning to double click title bars to roll them up -- i just can't break that habit easily! and it is still WAY too hard to distinguish different minimized windows int eh dock.
whatever happened to one-app mode??? it got applause from the masses at wwdc during public beta, and then vanished. just put the option back, please...
the only reasons i am NOT paying for unsanity's kick-ass haxies is that i have a gut feeling that apple will roll these features out sooner than we suspect. and it remains to be seen if mac os x.x updates will take very kindly to os installs that have been hecked too much (it's been know to happen for lesser mods).
and, i said it before, i'll say it again... badge icons of minimized windows with a 16x16 icon of the app to which it belongs for faster identification at-a-glance (e.g. finder windows with the finder smiley face, photoshop windows with the photoshop eye, word docs with the "w", etc.)
totally fantasy gui-hack (a hack which apple removed in recent builds)... multiple sized icons in one space. to i could have my most used icons biggest on the desktop, and lesser used ones a bit smaller. then again, i'd hate to waste processor cycles just to remember dozens of different icons sizes.
but then again, why is column and list view unabel to show icons any bigger than 32x32? i've got some gorgeous icons for os x, but i use column view 90% of the time. sure, final hierarchy files are 128x128, but all the folders are teensy!
hmmm... if i think of anything else, i'll post 'em.
With any luck, we can avoid reducing this to a simplistic love/hate assesment of the OS. so far so good...
[quote]Originally posted by rok:
<strong>anyway, yeah, i'm finally tired of the stripes everywhere. i liked 'em at first, but now i find myself using duality themes to go to a smoother look. i just feel like i can read everything better.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm all for new appearances, just not the kinds of themes that move everything around and add or remove features arbitrarily. colors, stripes, shades, etc are all OK. I think Apple is within their rights to create a consistent look to their product, but I think there is room for variation within Aqua's distinct looks. I don't mind the stripes, but I would if I set my monitor to a color profile with a different color curve. Besides, there's no Apple product save the individual displays that have pinstripes, and even those displays have a different pinstripe than the G3 iMac look of the Aqua.
[quote]<strong>why doesn't anybody else miss getting more info when you empty the trash? heck, i'd kill to have copy agent's ability to show you what's in the trash in the dialog box (via disclosure triangle), and an option for secure erasures, too.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think alert messages, dialogs, utility windows, status windows, etc. all need more information available and a better way to present the info at times. The disclosure triangle is perfect because it is simple by default and give you much more info if you ask for it -- that's the idea behind the open/save dialogs and that much about them is very good. Verbal dialogs need the friendly and concise phrasing of the older OS. You know, no passive voice, explains itself if there's a problem and where to go/what to do about it. The current dialogs are very perfunctory.
[quote]<strong>and it is still WAY too hard to distinguish different minimized windows int eh dock.[qb]<hr></blockquote>
This is why I like the notion of using minimized windows more as miniature windows -- make them larger, put them where you please (such as in place or on another screen edge). This is something Apple is apparently looking at for Jaguar, however like single widow mode, it might not be figured out for all scenarios in time.
[quote][qb]whatever happened to one-app mode??? it got applause from the masses at wwdc during public beta, and then vanished. just put the option back, please...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Speak of the devil. They couldn't get it to work very well. Once you start adding drawers (which are just special windows), palettes, info panels, Carbon save dialogs, etc, they couldn't get the system to work in all scenarios well enough to pass it on to users. Too many possibilities to consider and resolve. I hope/think they haven't given up on the idea yet, but I think more apps need to adopt Aqua's UI elements which means all those "dirty" Carbon apps need to be polished.
[quote]<strong>and, i said it before, i'll say it again... badge icons of minimized windows with a 16x16 icon of the app to which it belongs for faster identification at-a-glance (e.g. finder windows with the finder smiley face, photoshop windows with the photoshop eye, word docs with the "w", etc.)</strong><hr></blockquote>
Dock badges and animated/updating dock icons should be used much more by these apps. IMO, there is plenty of relatively untapped upside to the Dock despite some of its drawbacks.
[quote]<strong>totally fantasy gui-hack (a hack which apple removed in recent builds)... multiple sized icons in one space. to i could have my most used icons biggest on the desktop, and lesser used ones a bit smaller. then again, i'd hate to waste processor cycles just to remember dozens of different icons sizes.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I wonder about this for Dock icons: app icons vs. minimized windows. I imagine there's some degree of usefulness to something like this, but how would it be systematized? right now, I just wish that you could tell which open folders and apps are open by their icons.
[quote]<strong>but then again, why is column and list view unabel to show icons any bigger than 32x32? i've got some gorgeous icons for os x, but i use column view 90% of the time. sure, final hierarchy files are 128x128, but all the folders are teensy!</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't see much of a point for larger icons in those two Finder views. I wonder if the preview pane could be brought to the List view and I wonder if Column view could be arranged by date modified, kind, etc. as well as alpha-numerically. I know Jaguar lets the user toggle the preview in column view (no more waiting five minutes to draw a preview of a 80 MB TIFF). I think how the Finder handles previews could be much better implemented with a drawer. These Cocoa apps like Watson and LaunchBar (the configuration window) demonstrate how benefitial drawers can be. Now Apple just has to give that ability to carbon apps. (That means they have to let OS 9 apps handle these drawer elements as utility windows and let OS X show them as true drawers.)
It seems to me that some people here don't understand what root is in Mac OS X, what it is in other unix systems, why it exists in the first place, why it owns certain things and how to use it.
First of all, root is a user, also known as "system". Root login is disabled by default in OS X. That doesn't mean it's not there, it means it's disabled. The reason root is disabled is because root is the only user with no-holds barred access to every file on the hard drive. Apple decided to disable root because they were able to make everything else work fine for regular admin users. They even gave us the sudo ("super user do") command in Terminal, which lets you execute commands as root, but only for 5 minutes.
I can see how this might be annoying if you don't have a basic understanding of how unix systems work, but trust me - it's for the best that root is disabled by default. Now, if you're the adventurous type and you want to enable and log in as root so you can fiddle with everything, here's how.
Go to /applications/utilities/netinfo manager and open it, go to the Domain menu and select Security. Then choose Authenticate. Enter your admin name and password, then look at the Security menu again. You can now enable root. If you want to log in as root, first log out. Root will not show up with an icon, so make sure you can either hit the "Other user" button or just make sure the login window is only displaying empty name and password fields.
the username is root, the password is whatever your admin password is. But if you log in as root, for God's sake be careful. It's far easier to screw up your OS when tromping around as root in OS X than it ever was in OS 9. I think Apple was perfectly justified in hiding root initially, myself. I have about 600 users where I work, you think root's gonna be enabled on any one of those Macs? Not a chance. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
Anyway, log in as root, have fun, don't come back here asking for help if you delete vital system files. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />
Just a note on the Installer log files that are owned by "Root". You could always log in as root and delete them, OR you could whip open your termanal, type "su" and then the root pass when it asks, type "cd /directory/to/file" and then "rm -rf filename". Seems like a lot of steps, but it's actually faster then logging out, and logging in OR going back to classic.
Comments
No more applications that are allowed to tell you that no applications can be running during the installation.
I HATE that. There is absolutely no reason for an application to tell me that.
[edit: there seems to be some sort of unspoken order of operations for smilies.
will be :mad
[ 04-22-2002: Message edited by: torifile ]</p>
<strong>The no applications running bit is the installer, not the OS.
Nothing OS X can do about that, especially once you give the Admin password (which most of those programs don't really need by the way, but won't install without).</strong><hr></blockquote>
I know. But I want OS X to not allow that anymore. Even apps that don't require an admin password to install can shutdown everything. (Again corel and procreate are the culprits.) It just pisses me off.
Remember that MacOS X is based on Unix (as everyone knows, of course), and Unix is/was designed, make that concieved, as a multi-user operating system. Dozens of users are expected to be logged in simultaineously! Using all sorts of programs, or compiling code, or checking email all at the same time.
Just because one of those users has admin privileges doesn't mean that user has permissions to go trashing system files, potentially bringing down the system. The system, in a sense, is only protecting itself.
In the case of a installer's log file that's owned by root; well, that was probably just an oversight. But generally, if it's owned by root then you want to ignore it anyway. Don't worry about a couple k file.
-Rick
<strong>I want the ability to select hard disk sleep settings on a per drive basis in the Energy Saver control panel.</strong><hr></blockquote>
that's a great idea!
Apple never acted.
I'm going to send Apple feedback...
1. Break up software updates into smaller blocks. I now have to look forward to a 40Mb download on a 56 k modem. That is if AOL will let me download a file that size.
2. Speed. mentioned already but this thing needs to be as fast as OS9.
3. Switch items around in menu bar.
Apple Menu-Favorites, recent items and documents (with the option of turning this feature off), about this Mac, system preferences, and the ability to add things to the Apple menu.
Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.
File Menu-keep as is along with items from Finder Menu.
View Menu-keep as is.
Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.
4. Make the Dock optional. The Hide feature is pretty good, but if we had favorites in the Apple Menu, we wouldn't need the dock at all except for open apps. I would like to use the Dock for only open apps, and the Apple Menu for everything else.
5. Put the trash Can on the desktop.
6. Put the Software Updater in a more obvious spot like the Apple menu in addition to system preferences
7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.
8. Bring back WindowShade. This goes along with using the dock only for open apps. i would rather shrink the window, then put it in the dock.
9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.
10. Get rid of the throbbing buttons or at least give us the option of turning it off.
11. More appearance options, especially with regards to fonts.
12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.
13. Notepad. Why isn't there Notepad for OSX? (I know there is shareware, it should be on it anyway)
14. This isn't an OSX criticism, but Apple should include Appleworks on every computer they sell.
Thats all I can think of for the moment. I do notice that texts seems a little blurry. Did anyone notice that you can still take a pic of something on the screen by hitting command- shift -4? I thought that was removed-I'm glad its here I use it all the time!............................................. ..............................
[ 04-26-2002: Message edited by: steve666 ]</p>
nothing to do with OS X functionality
[quote]Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.<hr></blockquote>
The Finder menu only exists in when using the Finder. The Application Menu is fine as it is. The Application menu is for app related controls. The File menu is for file related controls.
[quote]Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.<hr></blockquote>
This is idiomatic stuff. I don't go shutdown anything. I don't go restart anything. Apple should not restructure its OS based on bastardized English...sorry.
[quote]7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.[quote]
Eh? AFAIK, you need to run the installer. That's the entire reason why it was put there in the first place. Software Update only downloads system updates. It doesn't run them for you. It only runs simple updates that don't give you customizable options, unlike system software updates.
[quote]9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.<hr></blockquote>
I'm having trouble figuring out what all this means.
[quote]12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.<hr></blockquote>
They're already completely customizable.
.................................................. .......................................
<strong>My Official Wishlist:
1. Break up software updates into smaller blocks. I now have to look forward to a 40Mb download on a 56 k modem. That is if AOL will let me download a file that size.</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is more about the Knowledge Base/ Apple support of old than anything with the OS. I have no problem with Apple giving out the updates in pieces from their web site, perhaps even alerting you to this option in the software update pref panel. Do they still do this? I've been on cable modem too long.
Ideally, I think the one-click (Ok, sometimes more) interface of the current software update is fine, but like the QT preferences, the OS should know what your connection speed is, and be able to resume downloads if they are cut off.
[quote]<strong>3. Switch items around in menu bar.
Apple Menu-Favorites, recent items and documents (with the option of turning this feature off), about this Mac, system preferences, and the ability to add things to the Apple menu.
Finder Menu-get rid of this altogether-put contents of this into File Menu.
File Menu-keep as is along with items from Finder Menu.
View Menu-keep as is.
Go menu-should contain Restart, Shut down, empty trash, force quit, and sleep. makes sense, right/? Go empty the trash, go shutdown, etc.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I totally agree that Favorites would be a great addition to the Apple menu. But it seems to me that by adding a Favorites menu, you've just customized the menu and made the items more universal, made it easier to add items and made more ways to get to those items (within file dialogs, etc -- totally modeless).
For the life of me, if there is one thing that made perfect sense to me, something I had thought about for years before OS X was a twinkle in Apple's eye, it's the introduction of a real Application menu. (I think this is what you're referring to as the "Finder" menu -- I'll get on that in a second.) That is, place where you do all the things that are specific to the application, not a file, not a window. So The App menu in OS X is perfectly logical with its contents, and in the right place. the hiearchy is extremely clear and uncomplicated; no exceptions or things stuffed in strange places: Apple menu = system, Application menu = application, File menu = files, Window menu = windows. While I do think some items should be more logicaly placed within this order. (e.g., the Empty Trash command is only found in the Finder's app menu when it should be universally accessible.)
The Go menu is for going places, that is navigation, as opposed to operation or status (see View menu and Apple menu respectively for that). It has a similar position as the old Special menu, which is why I think you suggest placing the shutdown and similar items there. Unless you want to go to the Trash folder, it would not be the appropriate place for this kind of item.
[quote]<strong>4. Make the Dock optional. The Hide feature is pretty good, but if we had favorites in the Apple Menu, we wouldn't need the dock at all except for open apps. I would like to use the Dock for only open apps, and the Apple Menu for everything else.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually, the idea of a temporary bin to hold your stuff is still pretty appealing. It's not perfect, but its versatility, while initially thought to be conceptually messy and confusing to use, is its blessing. It's great for navigation -- more flexible and convenient than a customizable Apple menu -- just dump a folder into the Dock and you're off!
[quote]<strong>5. Put the trash Can on the desktop.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Here's another one I don't quite agree with. If anything, the ability to dump stuff from any app or window into the Trash is perfectly brilliant. Having the Trash in the Dock makes this far more convenient than having to uncover it on the desktop. The idea of a universal Trash is a very compelling one. Now if only all apps used the Trash like this...
[quote]<strong>6. Put the Software Updater in a more obvious spot like the Apple menu in addition to system preferences.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Ideally, all apps will be able to track updates and make the upgrading process as safe and convenient as possible for the user. I really love apps like OmniWeb and Watson that have little items under their ap menus to check for updates. While we're on the subject of System Preferences though, I do think the user should be able to organize his or her prefs as they please -- make their own categories and arrangements, that is.
[quote]<strong>7.Make the upgrade more explanatory for newbies. After downloading the 9.2 update there was a 9.2 update folder on the desktop. I almost clicked on 'install OS 9.2.2, even though the download already accomplished that. I'm sure I'm not the only one who almost did that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think you downloaded the update, but it's sitting on the desktop waiting for you to actually run it. Obviously in OS x, it runs the updates from the software update pref panel, thus skipping a step. But in OS 9, you have to double click the downloaded updater icon like any other compressed file you downloaded.
[quote]<strong>8. Bring back WindowShade. This goes along with using the dock only for open apps. i would rather shrink the window, then put it in the dock.</strong><hr></blockquote>
Funny, I only miss WindowShade for palettes. I wonder if a more consistent and simpler method of getting the same behavior would be with disclosure triangles. Right now, MacroMedia apps for OS X have something like this but it eats up some extra space. Perhaps it could be added to the window's title bar? Or perhaps the oblong toolbar widget a lot of apps are adopting could work in stages like how Adobe Photoshop (before version 7 at least) palettes use their windowshade widgets to collapse the window in steps: see the layers palette in Photoshop for what I'm thinking.
I like the fact that Apple by choice and by necessity is taking a self-critical stance towards their own product. Simply thwoing the OS 8/9 UI back into OS X would be irresponsible if they really are concerned with making a better user experience.
[quote]<strong>9. Bring back icon widgets in the top bar for minimize/maximize, quit, put into dock, and hopefully windowshade.The icons were much easier to make out immediately what they mean than by color alone.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think a better solution would have been to keep the rollover badges (x - + ) persistent and use color as the rollover effect for individual widgets. Seems to me that you could tell what each widget is at a glance that way (that's why the old widgets worked -- God only knows what those things represented the first time you look at them), and by highlighting the widget one at a time, it would alert you to your possible action. That is, when you bring your pointer over the close widget, it would immediately highlight in red, and wouldn't that make you think. and rather than the three lighting up at once like with the widget badges now, you would better know if you're hanging over the wrong one or not over one at all (in-between widgets).
[quote]<strong>12. Simplify the window bars. Is there really a need for 'Home', 'Favorites', etc? I think this confuses more than it helps find where things are.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I find the Home button indispensible! One of the things a lot of people are realizing is that when we demanded that the hard drive icon be placed on the desktop again, we would almost never use it! how often do you go to the top level of the hard drive? Now, how often do you go to your home folder? slowly, people are disabling the hard drive icon on teir desktop because it's pretty useless. The toolbars are just shortcuts -- aliases.
Don't forget you can drag anything in there, say like the Dropstuff icon so you can compress files in the Finder window, or your thesis project folder instead of having to dig through "Home" or "Documents".
I would like to add to the wishlist getting rid of the gray stripes. They make text look fuzzy.
Now for a question-when i try to do some things, like updates, I get an adminitsrator message and have to enter a password. Is there any way to stop that?
Also, on setup it asked me my name so i put my full name. The computer uses my name to name the system, unfortunately only the first 2 letters of my last name is shown after my first name and it looks ridiculous. Is there anyway to change this name? I tried and it wouldn't let me. Thanks............................................ .........................
anyway, yeah, i'm finally tired of the stripes everywhere. i liked 'em at first, but now i find myself using duality themes to go to a smoother look. i just feel like i can read everything better.
speed. i dunno, i sort of agree. but 10.1.4 really makes my imac dv se 400 (original graphite) FEEL faster. though if they increase speed in 10.2 and up, hey, i won't complain.
i have mixed feeling about the dock. on one hand, i think it's great. on the other, i think it's a mess. i don't mind that it's trying to be a catch-all, but things bug me, like no names until i "scrub" the dock, icons that by default move out of the way when i try to drag files on them... yeah, i know, hold the command key, and they stay put, but i think that by now, an operating system would be able to discern a bit better when i am aiming for my big honkin' icon of my hard drive vs. aiming for the space in between it and another folder. it's 2002 for cryin' out loud!
why doesn't anybody else miss getting more info when you empty the trash? heck, i'd kill to have copy agent's ability to show you what's in the trash in the dialog box (via disclosure triangle), and an option for secure erasures, too.
whoever suggested the disclosure triangles to get the classic windowshade effect back, i think that's a great idea. i just spent better part of a decade learning to double click title bars to roll them up -- i just can't break that habit easily! and it is still WAY too hard to distinguish different minimized windows int eh dock.
whatever happened to one-app mode??? it got applause from the masses at wwdc during public beta, and then vanished. just put the option back, please...
the only reasons i am NOT paying for unsanity's kick-ass haxies is that i have a gut feeling that apple will roll these features out sooner than we suspect. and it remains to be seen if mac os x.x updates will take very kindly to os installs that have been hecked too much (it's been know to happen for lesser mods).
and, i said it before, i'll say it again... badge icons of minimized windows with a 16x16 icon of the app to which it belongs for faster identification at-a-glance (e.g. finder windows with the finder smiley face, photoshop windows with the photoshop eye, word docs with the "w", etc.)
totally fantasy gui-hack (a hack which apple removed in recent builds)... multiple sized icons in one space. to i could have my most used icons biggest on the desktop, and lesser used ones a bit smaller. then again, i'd hate to waste processor cycles just to remember dozens of different icons sizes.
but then again, why is column and list view unabel to show icons any bigger than 32x32? i've got some gorgeous icons for os x, but i use column view 90% of the time. sure, final hierarchy files are 128x128, but all the folders are teensy!
hmmm... if i think of anything else, i'll post 'em.
[ 04-27-2002: Message edited by: rok ]</p>
[quote]Originally posted by rok:
<strong>anyway, yeah, i'm finally tired of the stripes everywhere. i liked 'em at first, but now i find myself using duality themes to go to a smoother look. i just feel like i can read everything better.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I'm all for new appearances, just not the kinds of themes that move everything around and add or remove features arbitrarily. colors, stripes, shades, etc are all OK. I think Apple is within their rights to create a consistent look to their product, but I think there is room for variation within Aqua's distinct looks. I don't mind the stripes, but I would if I set my monitor to a color profile with a different color curve. Besides, there's no Apple product save the individual displays that have pinstripes, and even those displays have a different pinstripe than the G3 iMac look of the Aqua.
[quote]<strong>why doesn't anybody else miss getting more info when you empty the trash? heck, i'd kill to have copy agent's ability to show you what's in the trash in the dialog box (via disclosure triangle), and an option for secure erasures, too.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I think alert messages, dialogs, utility windows, status windows, etc. all need more information available and a better way to present the info at times. The disclosure triangle is perfect because it is simple by default and give you much more info if you ask for it -- that's the idea behind the open/save dialogs and that much about them is very good. Verbal dialogs need the friendly and concise phrasing of the older OS. You know, no passive voice, explains itself if there's a problem and where to go/what to do about it. The current dialogs are very perfunctory.
[quote]<strong>and it is still WAY too hard to distinguish different minimized windows int eh dock.[qb]<hr></blockquote>
This is why I like the notion of using minimized windows more as miniature windows -- make them larger, put them where you please (such as in place or on another screen edge). This is something Apple is apparently looking at for Jaguar, however like single widow mode, it might not be figured out for all scenarios in time.
[quote][qb]whatever happened to one-app mode??? it got applause from the masses at wwdc during public beta, and then vanished. just put the option back, please...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Speak of the devil.
[quote]<strong>and, i said it before, i'll say it again... badge icons of minimized windows with a 16x16 icon of the app to which it belongs for faster identification at-a-glance (e.g. finder windows with the finder smiley face, photoshop windows with the photoshop eye, word docs with the "w", etc.)</strong><hr></blockquote>
Dock badges and animated/updating dock icons should be used much more by these apps. IMO, there is plenty of relatively untapped upside to the Dock despite some of its drawbacks.
[quote]<strong>totally fantasy gui-hack (a hack which apple removed in recent builds)... multiple sized icons in one space. to i could have my most used icons biggest on the desktop, and lesser used ones a bit smaller. then again, i'd hate to waste processor cycles just to remember dozens of different icons sizes.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I wonder about this for Dock icons: app icons vs. minimized windows. I imagine there's some degree of usefulness to something like this, but how would it be systematized? right now, I just wish that you could tell which open folders and apps are open by their icons.
[quote]<strong>but then again, why is column and list view unabel to show icons any bigger than 32x32? i've got some gorgeous icons for os x, but i use column view 90% of the time. sure, final hierarchy files are 128x128, but all the folders are teensy!</strong><hr></blockquote>
I don't see much of a point for larger icons in those two Finder views. I wonder if the preview pane could be brought to the List view and I wonder if Column view could be arranged by date modified, kind, etc. as well as alpha-numerically. I know Jaguar lets the user toggle the preview in column view (no more waiting five minutes to draw a preview of a 80 MB TIFF). I think how the Finder handles previews could be much better implemented with a drawer. These Cocoa apps like Watson and LaunchBar (the configuration window) demonstrate how benefitial drawers can be. Now Apple just has to give that ability to carbon apps. (That means they have to let OS 9 apps handle these drawer elements as utility windows and let OS X show them as true drawers.)
First of all, root is a user, also known as "system". Root login is disabled by default in OS X. That doesn't mean it's not there, it means it's disabled. The reason root is disabled is because root is the only user with no-holds barred access to every file on the hard drive. Apple decided to disable root because they were able to make everything else work fine for regular admin users. They even gave us the sudo ("super user do") command in Terminal, which lets you execute commands as root, but only for 5 minutes.
I can see how this might be annoying if you don't have a basic understanding of how unix systems work, but trust me - it's for the best that root is disabled by default. Now, if you're the adventurous type and you want to enable and log in as root so you can fiddle with everything, here's how.
Go to /applications/utilities/netinfo manager and open it, go to the Domain menu and select Security. Then choose Authenticate. Enter your admin name and password, then look at the Security menu again. You can now enable root. If you want to log in as root, first log out. Root will not show up with an icon, so make sure you can either hit the "Other user" button or just make sure the login window is only displaying empty name and password fields.
the username is root, the password is whatever your admin password is. But if you log in as root, for God's sake be careful. It's far easier to screw up your OS when tromping around as root in OS X than it ever was in OS 9. I think Apple was perfectly justified in hiding root initially, myself. I have about 600 users where I work, you think root's gonna be enabled on any one of those Macs? Not a chance. <img src="graemlins/oyvey.gif" border="0" alt="[No]" />
Anyway, log in as root, have fun, don't come back here asking for help if you delete vital system files. <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" />