Frustrations with OS X

[phinsman]

Well, first off, let me say that I love my new iMac, my first Mac ever. It's beautiful. I love OS X, for the most part. It's run flawlessly -- I think I've only had to kill an app once in the month or so I've had it. iTunes, iPhoto -- best of their kind. Safari is a really nice browser and I'm trying to choose it over Firefox (but Firefox is tough to beat).

I've used the old TRS-80 CoCo, UNIX, MS-DOS, Windows (of course) for years, and the last couple of years almost exclusively GNU/Linux.

I think my number one frustration right now is that it seems like every piece of software I've been interested in downloading is shareware. Freeware seems to be non-existent, scarce at best. Coming from using GNU/Linux (where everything is Open Source and free), this is a major shock to me.

OS X does run most all of the X apps I'm used to, but they're not really integrated into the operating system; i.e. to start them up, I'll go through the "X" dock icon, and of course they just don't look like Mac apps. They also don't look nearly as good as they did on my Red Hat systems.

An example of what I'm talking about is this: yesterday morning before work, I spent an hour or so trying to find a Mac-equivalent to "TuxCards", which is a Linux notebook-style notes application. I found quite a few, but every single one of them was anywhere from $15 to $30. Really -- this is a notebook app we're talking about here. No way would I pay that much for one. I looked at Xnippets (which I liked best), something from Hog Bay (I think that was the name), and a couple more. I finally am just settling on using TuxCards, which I installed from source after installing QT via Fink, and dealing with the fact that it looks like crap on here.

I'm a programmer for a living, and I've started looking into Cocoa development. So at some point (when I have time!) I can hopefully create some of the apps I'm looking for. But for right now I'm completely annoyed at all of this, to the point where I'm not sure I'd spend the $1500 on this machine if I had it to do over...no matter how nice it is.

My next frustration is the "treatment" of minimized windows. It's like you shouldn't do it or something. Yes, they show up in the lower-right corner of the dock, but Expose completely ignores them, as does CMD-TAB. I think this stinks...at least give me the option to include them in Expose. I've seen add-ons out there that seem to accommodate what I'm wanting, but they do it a little differently; I'd like to see this in Expose.

Let me quickly say that Expose is one of the cooler features I've ever seen on an operating system...I love the way a video can be playing, and you will still see it running amidst all the windows.

I miss using HOME and END to go to the beginning and end of lines...everwhere! I'm trying to get used to using CTRL-A and CTRL-E. That's a minor gripe.

The iCal dock icon -- it stinks that you have to restart it every day to keep the date correct (well, maybe I'm doing something wrong here). I actually removed it from my dock so it wouldn't confuse me.

The Mail app looks good, but it doesn't have the power of Thunderbird or Evolution. No Entourage for me, either.

I guess that's it...I apologize if this offends anyone. Hopefully someone will spot ignorance in my statements somewhere, and tell me how to change/fix whatever I'm whining about.

Dale

[dbonneville]

I noticed you mentioned Home and End missing on OS X. I'm coming from Win XP and almost can't function without it. What keystrokes are you using in place of just Home and End? Command-A is select all for me. Command-E doesn't appear to do anything.

Thanks!

[rubaiyat]

You are going to find plenty more to annoy you.

Personally as a Mac user since the Fat Mac, I think the user interface is still very rough and inconsistant even after 5 revisions.

On the other hand you are also going to find many gems, only they will be different and hidden in places you would not expect. A different mix, I guess. Coming from Unix you of course will miss the freeware, but believe me shareware is still cheaper and more freeware is available than on Windows where avarice is God.

I know that that this is not exactly what you are looking for as a notebook, but explore the possibilities of TextEdit. I find it enormously powerful and versatile and heck Apple, gave it to you for free.

The more powerful features TextEdit may lack canbe often had by utilising Services (3rd item down under the TextEdit menu). Hunt on VersionTracker and other DL sites for more services to suit your needs. Just don't be fooled by TextEdit's apparent simplicity, it does an enormous part of what most word processors do without most of the hastles.

One drawback is Apple, for some weird reason, does not allow changes to the print margin, but there is a simple hack that fixes that and that can be your first venture into Xcode programming.

[fryke]

I'm using Fn ArrowLeft and Fn ArrowRight. Those keys even have "home" and "end" written on them on my PowerBook. Must admit I'm not sure what the desktop keyboards currently have for that.

About offending anyone: I'm pretty sure you didn't, since you didn't say "Hey, Macs s*ck!", but rather you made your point quite nicely.

I can understand your gripe about the freeware/shareware situation. linux _is_ different here, a different movement altogether. However, I've seen more and more freeware alternatives pop up for any given utility task over the past few years.

I personally use SideNote for notes. It's the greatest, I believe. Handy, useful - and still under active development AFAIK. And hey: It's freeware. Looky! http://www.apple.com/downloads/macos.../sidenote.html

[fryke]

Oh, Apple hasn't updated that page about SideNote. So here's the link to the developer's homepage, where you'll find version 1.7: http://www.chatelp.org/?s=Sidenote

[kainjow]

Originally Posted by phinsman

Safari is a really nice browser and I'm trying to choose it over Firefox (but Firefox is tough to beat).

After using Mac OS X for a while, you'll come to appreciate Cocoa programs much more then any other type (i.e. Carbon, X11, etc). Safari is so much nicer because it gets all the free system enhancements for free - like spelling.

Originally Posted by phinsman

I think my number one frustration right now is that it seems like every piece of software I've been interested in downloading is shareware. Freeware seems to be non-existent, scarce at best. Coming from using GNU/Linux (where everything is Open Source and free), this is a major shock to me.

Mac developers have a lot more requirements put on them then any other OS in the world. Why? Because Mac users expect good looking applications with slick UI's. Not all developers can do that and have skills in that. Plus, it requires icons, which 99% of programmers can't make, so they have to hire someone. But if they're going to be making a freeware app, they don't want to spend any more money then necessary on it. Mac users are picky. They don't take just any program that does the job. They want it to look good! I think it's sort of hard to grasp when users come from others OSs, especially Linux, in which the entire OS is open source! Mac OS X is not 100% open source, so why should each individual program be? Open source doesn't make full sense unless the OS is open source. Get my drift?

Originally Posted by phinsman

OS X does run most all of the X apps I'm used to, but they're not really integrated into the operating system; i.e. to start them up, I'll go through the "X" dock icon, and of course they just don't look like Mac apps. They also don't look nearly as good as they did on my Red Hat systems.

Again, it's the same thing with GUIs. Most Mac OS X users don't care about X11, because there are (usually) far better native alternatives.

Originally Posted by phinsman

I'm a programmer for a living, and I've started looking into Cocoa development. So at some point (when I have time!) I can hopefully create some of the apps I'm looking for. But for right now I'm completely annoyed at all of this, to the point where I'm not sure I'd spend the $1500 on this machine if I had it to do over...no matter how nice it is.

Next time I'd suggest you research the topic first, before spending $1500! Don't just assume the Mac is for you, because lots of other people are switching, especially if you're a techy

Originally Posted by phinsman

The iCal dock icon -- it stinks that you have to restart it every day to keep the date correct (well, maybe I'm doing something wrong here). I actually removed it from my dock so it wouldn't confuse me.

Maybe iCal is meant to stay open? That's how Mac OS X works best. Give it good enough RAM, and leave all your programs open. That's what I do - I have anywhere from 15-25 open at once.

Originally Posted by phinsman

The Mail app looks good, but it doesn't have the power of Thunderbird or Evolution. No Entourage for me, either.

What kind of "power" are you referring to? You know, Thunderbird is available for Mac OS X..

[phinsman]

Originally Posted by dbonneville

I noticed you mentioned Home and End missing on OS X. I'm coming from Win XP and almost can't function without it. What keystrokes are you using in place of just Home and End? Command-A is select all for me. Command-E doesn't appear to do anything.

Thanks!

It's actually CONTROL instead of COMMAND for those two...I do believe those are emacs keys, but I'm a vim guy so I wouldn't know.

Dale

[phinsman]

Originally Posted by rubaiyat

You are going to find plenty more to annoy you.

Personally as a Mac user since the Fat Mac, I think the user interface is still very rough and inconsistant even after 5 revisions.

On the other hand you are also going to find many gems, only they will be different and hidden in places you would not expect. A different mix, I guess. Coming from Unix you of course will miss the freeware, but believe me shareware is still cheaper and more freeware is available than on Windows where avarice is God.

I know that that this is not exactly what you are looking for as a notebook, but explore the possibilities of TextEdit. I find it enormously powerful and versatile and heck Apple, gave it to you for free.

The more powerful features TextEdit may lack canbe often had by utilising Services (3rd item down under the TextEdit menu). Hunt on VersionTracker and other DL sites for more services to suit your needs. Just don't be fooled by TextEdit's apparent simplicity, it does an enormous part of what most word processors do without most of the hastles.

One drawback is Apple, for some weird reason, does not allow changes to the print margin, but there is a simple hack that fixes that and that can be your first venture into Xcode programming.

OK, thanks for the tip. I will give it a try. I haven't messed with TextEdit enough to know what it's about.

Dale