Stop ruining my operating system! Options

[*mipadi*]

Probably a scant few (read: none) of the people reading this post followed Apple's announcements at yesterday's Worldwide Developer's Conference, but Apple gave a sneak peek at at Mac OS X 10.5 (aka "Leopard"), the next version of Mac OS X. A lot of Mac users are pretty excited by Leopard's new features, but personally, I'm rather ambivalent about them.

In my mind, operating systems are becoming entirely too complex and bloated. Most of my opinions stem around the design of the Mac OS in this regard, but I think most of my opinions are easily applicable to Windows as well (Windows certainly has at least as much bloat as OS X).

I don't mean to be a stick-in-the-mud, but I'm just not terribly impressed by Leopard. A lot of my discomfort with the direction of the Mac OS was emphasized over the weekend. A few years ago, I got a free iMac at work. It was nothing special, just one of the early iMacs with no upgrades. Didn't do much with it (I actually had the PowerPC version of Ubuntu running on it for a while). I was digging through my old boxes of software from a Performa I had a few years ago, and I found some cool games: Lode Runner, Power Pete, Spycraft, Buried in Time, Strategic Conquest, a bunch of games I played as a kid but haven't played in years. I also found my Mac OS 8.5 install CD. I had nothing to do, so I installed 8.5 on the iMac, and the games, and had pretty much a whole weekend of fun reliving the glory days, back when I still thought computers were a magic box and had little idea how they worked.

I'm digressing and getting nostalgic, but here's the point: I forgot how simple the Mac OS was at one time. Okay, sure, maybe not all that simple--I didn't manage to get this iMac connected to my router/cable modem assembly yet, but for the most part, it was simple. I installed it in around 120 MB of disk space, and it runs in probably around 32 MB of RAM. Granted, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of OS X, but compare that to OS X: My install takes up 1.7 GB of space, and it's hard to have a usable Mac with less than 512 MB of RAM.

Now, granted, OS 8.5 wasn't fancy, but in my opinion, an OS shouldn't be: It should provide a mechanism for basic computer functionality, and a solid framework on which to build apps. I think Apple was right in switching to a Unix-based OS X, and "under the hood" I love, love, love OS X, but I don't like a lot of the glitzy, glamorous stuff Apple tacks on. I don't use Dashboard, and its role was previously filled by Konfabulator anyway, which I could at least quit when I didn't need it. I don't use Spotlight a whole lot, either; in fact, I prefer the old way of searching for files in the Finder, and I almost fear where Apple is taking this metadata search thing. And I miss the simplicity of the old Finder. New Finder windows, by default, take up a lot of screen real estate (which, as a 12-inch iBook user, I don't have much of). I don't even display the sidebar and I constantly have to resize windows to make them smaller.

Really, I'd rather see Apple focused on improving performance and usability in the system (although the interface is definitely leaps and bounds above anything on other platforms), and leave "fancy" features like Dashboard and Spaces to third-party developers. Maybe it's just the "developer nerd" in me, but I'm much more impressed by Apple's additions and improvements to the various APIs with each OS X release, rather than the resource-hungry features. The problem is that evertime I buy a Mac, I have to spend time removing all the bloated crap I don't need or want: GarageBand, for example. Of course, I also realize it's hard to sell an operating system based on "UI improvements" and "performance boosts", especially with Microsoft breathing down your neck. Most users aren't wowed by performance and behavior improvements, and the never-ending corporate software release cycle mandates that you have to keep adding flashy bloat to attract users and their dollars.

I do realize some people love Dashboard or the iLife stuff, so I'm not saying to get rid of it entirely; it would just be nice if this extra stuff was an optional install.

Big thing I'd like to see is UI consistency. I loved the Mac OS before because it had a solid, consistent UI. But for the last few years, Apple has had this weird crisis deciding between brushed metal and untextured windows, and doesn't even seem to follow the Human Interface Guidelines that closely in its own software. (It does seem that Apple is moving towards a more unified interface with newer releases of the OS, so I'll give them that.)

In general, more and more, I've been wishing I could just turn back the clock and go back to using an OS as simple as Mac OS 8, but with the stability and foundation of OS X. I wish that hardware improvements translated to performance boosts on a system, rather than sitting idly by as software developers take advantage of every performance boost to ultimately build a machine that is somehow slower and less responsive that that old iMac sitting on a card table in my basement.

[*Zatanna*]

There there, Michael.

It seems like today's society (particularly when it comes to technology) is geared towards one-shot or easy plug-and-play type of systems. I think one of the unfortunate results of that is a loss in the simplicity of a good, functioning and stable operating system.

[BonneVache]

I'd have to agree, although all the things coming up in leopard are spiffy & shiny looking I was really hoping for improvements & simplification on what was already set out.
I'm really hoping "Time Machine" & "Spaces" don't have to be kept on like dashboard, as I don't have the processing power to divide among them all.

All in all, I was slightly taken aback that there weren't more improvements and the keynote focused mostly on add-ons.

[magicfann]

haha. macs. simple and easy to use? good joke. i lol'd

[*kryogenix*]

I'm not a big fan of bloat either. I don't use OpenOffice regularly anymore due to the bloat. I'll admit that KDE, while I prefer it over gnome, has its share of bloat.

You might say that bloat decreases productivity because time is wasted processing pretty graphics and transitions when it could be spent doing actual work. However, I feel that's only half right. Computers need a human to operate them. Therefore, the interface is key between human and computer.

Computers are tools, and they are limited by how well a person can use them. Let's use an analogy. Cars with manual transmissions are generally understood to be more efficient than cars with automatic transmissions. If you have an experienced driver, he can shift at the right RPM, shift on hills, etc. This is a driver who can take full advantage of the functions of a stick shift. However, if you put a new driver behind the wheel, the advantages pretty much disappear. In fact, you could say that it would be disadvantageous to drive a stick shift car when you aren't comfortable using it.

The same goes for computers. Power users and elites swear by terminals and command line interfaces. These are the kind of people who can take full advantage of what this type of interface can give. However, for more inexperienced users, the lack of a gui would make them feel uncomfortable and put them in a position of unfamiliarity. They need to have a pretty gui to make operating a computer easier.

Actually, I'm kinda distracted right now and I forgot what I was even talking about.

[leegao]

hey, i would buy an OS just because it looks cool, which i admit is really stupid

[uLoVeMikeRoch]

hey, i would buy an OS just because it looks cool, which i admit is really stupid

Never... Post... Again...

I haven't been too fond of what Apple has been turning into over the years. Apple, in my opinion, is trying to gear towards more of a Windows-like functionallity. One obvious reason is probably to get more people attached to Apple and Macs. But Apple has been disappointing many Higher Computer Users. With all these unnessesary addons, they are trying to get in on, the average computer user.

Ironically? Microsoft is gearing toward a Apple/Mac like functionallity, while trying to maintain their own somewhat unique OS. Basically, they are coping like what Apple does and it's ideas. Well, not everything but you get the point.

Ironically again, just like how Apple did this to Creative.

[*T0rmented_Soul*]

Yeah I agree with some stuff here, Apple has been trying to addon their OS's with windows functionablility, so they can attract users to use their Machines, But I've never been a MAC fan due to the lee competitive they have againast Windows based Users. Their User Face is somewhat not my kind of type.

[*mipadi*]

I used the example of the Mac OS because I am most familiar with that, but my post shouldn't be construed to mean that the Mac OS is the only operating system (or piece of software, for that matter) that suffers from such flaws. Software bloat is present in most operating systems—Windows, is a fine example (evidence being the fact that it's taken five years to release an update to XP). Overally, I'm just concerned about the level of bloat that gets injected into commercial software.