[Dougmc]

I've been a pretty hard-core Mac user since 1987. I've never owned a PC of my own�only Macs. Yes, I'm a Mac geek.

When I sit and contemplate the beauty and strength of Macintosh, rekindling the bygone days of that first Mac I started using, I'm reminded of learning and understanding "Finder" vs. "Multifinder"; having seven floppy disks to install Illustrator 88; a Mac world without installers, rather, dragging the handful of files to their appropriate locations (which there weren't many at the time).

It was truly a beautiful experience for the computer user. I emphasize user here because it wasn't about having to know computers. It was the platform aimed at the user, not the technophobes. Problems seemed easy to solve (often replacing a file from one of those floppies seemed to fix the problem).

Fast forward to OSX: A sleek, powerful suite of the most advanced technology made to give the user the most diverse tool possible while still keeping that Macintosh quality of esthetics and grace.

However, the vast advancements, that I greatly reap the rewards of, have come at a price. Gone are the days of that easy fix. Gone are the days of not needing to feel like the technophobe. Gone are the days of simply being able to use (emphasize use again) my computers.

Today, I'm faced with needing to remain educated about what's under the hood. "Start up in safe mode"? What's that? Huh? "Repair permissions...open up the Terminal application...now type..." What? Terminal? Hey! Wait, that's computer commands that I'm typing to fix my Mac.

It feels dirty to me. It feels like, well, a PC.

I miss the days of having the computer that not only ran better than my friend's PC, looked better than my friend's PC, but was also much closer to idiot-proof to maintain.

While my friends were signing up for classes to learn how to use a PC, I was busy using (emphasize using here) my Mac. It was during those times of using my Mac that I sat tall knowing that any problems I might face were never too difficult to remedy on my own.

Now, don't misread what I'm saying. I love OSX. My life has never been better while sitting in front of my Mac creating, playing, relaxing. My user experience has been piqued.

And although the Mac is still leaps and bounds ahead of our PC cousins in regards to its ability to recognize peripherals and install software, I'm simply sorryful for the expense of knowledge I'm required to obtain to maintain this awesome machine.

I hope that the Mac experience can once again find its way back onto the path towards being completely user friendly while managing to remain king of the mountain in the computer world.

SIDE NOTE: Flashing back to the seven disks you had to shuffle around to install Illustrator 88...even though that was a headache at the time, at least I knew exactly what files I was placing onto my computer and where they were going. Today, installers sprint through literally thousands of files placing them in the their appropriate locations throughout my computer�all of which I have no idea what is going where or why. I have no idea what is really on this machine and what I need them for. For the mostpart, I'm ok with this. Like I said, I want to be a user. But, I can't help but wonder about how much "fat" is being put into my Mac that doesn't really need to be there.

I do love my Mac.

D

[Link]

I agree and wish apps would store their prefs in their own tree instead of dumping them all over the place.. it gets really messy fast (but this happened in OS 9 as well)

[ryju]

Originally posted by Link:
I agree and wish apps would store their prefs in their own tree instead of dumping them all over the place.. it gets really messy fast (but this happened in OS 9 as well)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all the prefs from all the apps placed right in the Preferences folder in your Home Library? I think it's organized that way and not spread out all over the HD.

[Superchicken]

ever look in your documents folder?

[Immortal K-Mart Employee]

You must be kidding. The fact that OSX got rid of extension problems and rebuilding the desktop makes it 10x easier to troubleshoot.

[Xeo]

Applications that don't install everything into your their own directory or package should only put other things in the Application Support folder. And even then, it should only be something specific to users. Pref files should be created when the app is first opened, and of course, in the user's own home.

Any apps which break this are the problem. The organization apps are supposed to follow is extremely intuitive.

Unix programs are something entirely different, and are thrown around (into conventional locations), but they are not installed by users unless the user already knows what he/she is doing. It's better to think of the ones you have as system tools that you only need to touch when troubleshooting. And to tell you the truth, having command line access to the computer is just another method of trying to solve problems. Having more than one way is a Good Thing.

[Developer]

Originally posted by ryju:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't all the prefs from all the apps placed right in the Preferences folder in your Home Library? I think it's organized that way and not spread out all over the HD.

Yes, they are. Incidentally that's the exact same place where OS 9 stored the preferences. So what's this about?

[Millennium]

Starting up in Safe Mode is the same thing (in principle; technically it's quite different) as starting with Extensions off from OS9. You do it the same way, too: start up while holding down the Shift key.

Repairing permissions is done from Disk Utility.

When have you ever needed to use the Terminal for any fix?

The fact remains, for the same types of problems that occurred in OS9, OSX is either as easy to troubleshoot, or it no longer matters because those problems have been eliminated. The kinds of problems we now see in OSX were the kinds that needed a reinstall back in OS9; it's not that they're harder to troubleshoot, it's that you can troubleshoot them at all now.

[Link]

Very true. There are a few instances where when I would have had to restart on any other OS I can simply SSH in and crack the problem...

Or repair the install instead of reinstalling totally.. there's SO many ways to do that now

[fizzlemynizzle]

Originally posted by Link:
I agree and wish apps would store their prefs in their own tree instead of dumping them all over the place.. it gets really messy fast (but this happened in OS 9 as well)

As long as they don't go to a registry. No, no, evil. No.

[Dougmc]

I agree with everything all of you have said, truly. I can see all sides of the issues pretty clearly. And, after re-thinking my opinions, I think that I've learned that I'm changing as much as my Mac is.

We're both evolving, often at a different rate than one another.

The most recent, and marked, evolution for me has been OSX and my new laptop. And I now recognize that I approached these two new opportunities much different than I have approached my computer changes in the past.

For one, I visited this forum multiple times a day to see the latest buzz about when the 17" PowerBooks started arriving at people's doorsteps. I read all the post I could about troubleshooting the machines, the OS, how the for factor worked and didn't work. And it's really only now that I have understood that I've emmersed myself into a unique crowd of people.

Although I think of the Mac community as a close-knit fraternity, and that in the end we're all users, it's only reasonable to assume that the users that are frequenting these forums are beyond just a user, they're hardcore. The vast majority of the people posting on these forums that offer substance get off on tinkering under the hood. Their interests digs in deeper than just using a tool, they like making the tool work better and faster.

That being said, these forums create an outstanding resource for any user.

So, my impression was skewed from the beginning of my latest journey. I emmersed myself into a stadium-full of Mac zealots and hung on their every word. Because of the nature and demographics of the crowd, I found myself overwhelmed with conversations that I've not found myself in before. Terms were used that I've not used before. Techniques that I've never needed to be familiar with were suggest to users with problems.

In the end, I do feel that the "user friendly" experience hasn't changed nearly as much as I first thought. Rather, I've been changing along with the computer environment and simply didn't recognize that the change wasn't about the experience, it was about the education.

Because of my daily visits to these forums, I'm now more educated about the inner-workings of my Mac. Moreso than I've been in the past.

Change is good; Macintosh is better.