back to article Apple's next OS X said to be targeted at 'power users'

Apple's next version of OS X may provide welcome relief to users dismayed by the company's seemingly inexorable evolution from computer manufacturer to consumer-electronics company, if unnamed sources speaking to 9to5Mac are to believed. According to those sources, OS X 10.9 – oddly codenamed "Cabernet"* in the closely guarded …

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  1. Jim Wilkinson
    Thumb Up

    PathFinder

    By far the best. Been using it for years and it's rock solid with a raft of really useful tools.

    1. stu 4
      Thumb Up

      Re: PathFinder

      Its ok - I just found it a bit slow.

      I tried this a few weeks ago and find it really great - and free.

      Xtrafinder - tabs, colour, directories at the top, right click create a file, yada yada.

      2 weeks on and I'm loving it.

      1. AbelSoul

        Re: PathFinder

        I had no idea this program existed - thank you for the heads up.

    2. OscarG

      Finder: a disgrace

      There's no excuse for having to use a plug-in or hack like PathFinder to fix glaring and elementary deficiencies in a FILE BROWSER. Finder stands as an insult to users and an embarrassment to Apple year after year.

      A file browser that doesn't even sort properly (with folders AT THE TOP of sorted lists)? That doesn't show you WHERE search results have been found (because there's no path shown for each hit)? That doesn't start searches in the selected folder by default, or even offer that as an option. That doesn't create a new folder within the selected folder when you say "New folder", but instead creates it at the root of the volume (which is often off-screen). That litters your computer and any others you browse with DS_STORE turds, to save display options and other crap instead of storing it LOCALLY.

      What kind of inbred thought process leads a programmer to design a file browser that spews files onto every OTHER computer it visits? That's just offensive. Not to mention a totally defective design, since the next person who browses that same directory will overwrite the turds you left.

      Finder was supposed to be "rewritten from the ground up" years ago. What happened? Nothing. It's the same defective POS it's always been.

      1. AndyS

        Re: Finder: a disgrace

        Got a mac, and installed Ubuntu - Finder was the primary reason. You've covered most of them. Here's a couple more:

        - No single-key way to open a file. Isn't finding, and then opening, files, the main reason for Finder?

        - Drag & drop a file into a folder, it stops exactly where you let go of the mouse button, instead of correctly slotting into the folder list where you would expect (according to the current sort method)

        - No folders at the top? What are you smoking, apple?

        - No tabs - this is hardly the cutting edge of innovation any more

        Since the primary use of an OS is to find and launch programmes and files, getting the browser right is absolutely critical. OSX fails so hard at this it makes baby Jesus cry.

        The whole OS is kind of like this - full of broken philosophy, inconsistent ideas and nonsense user interface decisions. In usability, Windows is a hell of a lot better, and that's not a compliment.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Finder: a disgrace

          Plus Mac OS-X has nearly as many known vulnerabilites as a Linux distribution. About 1,800 now....

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: PathFinder

      OS-X doesnt even support touch yet. Lol @ 'power users' on a Mac. Funny.

      1. Volker Hett
        Pint

        Re: PathFinder

        No, powerusers use "touch" in a terminal window!

  2. Greg J Preece

    Holy crap, are they actually going to improve the core functionality of OSX, rather than adding on more and more iOS gimmicks? The next version might actually be worth the upgrade price!

    Just adding tabs isn't enough for Finder, though. That just gives you two panels of the worst base file manager of any operating system. And yes, OSX users, I am including Windows Explorer.

    1. asdf

      forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

      > The next version might actually be worth the upgrade price!

      That is if you have paid up on your cool club dues and have bought an Apple recently enough. Otherwise they will try to prevent you from even upgrading. Pretty sad when a bunch of hobbyists can provide a boot loader (Chameleon) that allows me to run the latest Mac OS X on my Mac (still annoying because its basically a hackintosh) but Apple can't. Also pathetic that Linux and even Windows 8 support my Mac but Apple doesn't.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

        It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one. Unlike the market for used PCs, the market for used Macs is pretty active. It's not uncommon for people to pay half retail for a Mac that's 4-5 years old. I've done this several times.

        And unlike other OSs, it's stupid easy to transfer your stuff from one Mac to the other. Just clone your drive to an external one or whatever, point a fresh copy of OS X at it, and after about half an hour you won't be able to tell the difference between your new Mac and the old one.

        1. Greg J Preece

          Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

          It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one. Unlike the market for used PCs, the market for used Macs is pretty active. It's not uncommon for people to pay half retail for a Mac that's 4-5 years old. I've done this several times.

          It's OK that Apple force you to buy unnecessary new hardware, because that hardware isn't quite as exorbitantly expensive if you manage to sell your existing hardware after you've forked out for the new one?

          And unlike other OSs, it's stupid easy to transfer your stuff from one Mac to the other. Just clone your drive to an external one or whatever, point a fresh copy of OS X at it, and after about half an hour you won't be able to tell the difference between your new Mac and the old one.

          Oh sweet! So it'll transfer my development environment, and my servers, and my VMs, and my Kubuntu partition, and my Windows one?

          No? Then perhaps upgrades are a better idea.

          1. Darryl
            FAIL

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            And unlike other OSs, it's stupid easy to transfer your stuff from one Mac to the other. Just clone your drive to an external one or whatever, point a fresh copy of OS X at it, and after about half an hour you won't be able to tell the difference between your new Mac and the old one.

            Pretty obvious you don't know much about other OSs then, because you can do that with pretty much any of them.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              It's not legal with OEM copies of Windows to transfer to a new machine.

              Secondly, back in the XP days I remember a work colleague buying another copy of XP because he had used up his 5 activations (after which Microsoft wouldn't activate his copy). He had the boxed version, not an OEM copy and therefore was properly licenced.

            2. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              "Pretty obvious you don't know much about other OSs then, because you can do that with pretty much any of them."

              Re: easily transferring data from an old computer to a new one.

              I admit I haven't tried this with Win8 but at least with Win7 it's pretty terrible. It doesn't even transfer your software. What's the point, almost, since it can take hours to run all the installers for all your software. With OS X most programs are installed via dragging and dropping a bundle.

          2. toadwarrior

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            I know, I'm hoghly upset the latest copy of OSX doesn't run on my early 90's mac. They just don't care.

            1. asdf

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              >I know, I'm hoghly upset the latest copy of OSX doesn't run on my early 90's mac. They just don't care.

              Oh like the the iPAD 1 not being allowed to run IOS 6. You know expecting OS support for a whole 2.5 years is unreasonable after all or maybe Apple just cares so much they don't want to curse their early adopters with their crap map app.

              1. Volker Hett

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                It's bad enough with iOS5!

            2. asdf

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              >I know, I'm hoghly upset the latest copy of OSX doesn't run on my early 90's mac. They just don't care.

              Also did you miss the part where I pointed out that the latest Mac OS X runs absolutely brilliant on my hardware once I hacked around Apple's attempt to try and force me to spend another $2500? Completely artificial constraints and why their share price is falling like a rock under Tim Cook. He has all the douchebaggery of Jobs without any of the talent.

              1. ThomH

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                The oldest supported machines for OS X v10.8 are mid-2007 iMacs and the newest unsupported machine is a just-before-early-2009 Mac Mini. So the most harshly affected purchases were a shade more than three years old when the OS came out. Given that we're talking official support, not how well the thing runs, that's harsh when you consider that Windows 7 and 8 have the same official minimum requirements and Windows 7 came out just shortly after the newest of the unsupported Macs.

                I guess the £25 cost-of-entry explains support and testing cuts at Apple's end but it's hard to call it fair treatment.

                1. stu 4

                  Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                  not strickly true - older macs are still supported - support means OS big fixes, security patches, etc. And they all still happen on pre-lion.

                  Yes, you can't put lion on them, but that doesn't mean they are unsupported.

                  1. asdf

                    Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                    >not strickly true - older macs are still supported - support means OS big fixes, security patches, etc. And they all still happen on pre-lion.

                    They only support the last two versions (an 'n-2' support policy, where 'n' is the latest version of the OS) with bug fixes and before anyone mentions Microsoft (who are crappy also in their own way and trying to be like Apple now) I would point out Microsoft doesn't release a yearly service pack and calls it a new os just to end support. In fact Microsoft still offers bug fixes for an operating system that is now a dozen years old. The big difference is Microsoft is still largely a software company (lol surface fail) and Apple is a hardware company that only uses software to sell hardware.

                  2. Dana W

                    Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                    I've got an 07 Mac Media player that runs Lion.

              2. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                @asdf, would you mind sharing what you did? :-)

                1. asdf

                  Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                  http://www.jabbawok.net/?p=47

                  I warn you first thing back everything up and make sure you have an os x dvd to boot off just in case. The process is not trivial and was kind of PITA to get to work. I am able to get updates just fine but it still usually requires holding the option button down when I boot and having to selected the correct disk (bless command doesn't seem to take permanently for some reason). Good luck and who knows if this solution will work with the next Mac OS. Apple seems to be locking down the OS more and more to squeeze blood from turnips and probably soon won't allow booting a disk with a MBR at all.

                  1. asdf

                    Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                    One other thing I forgot don't use the chameleon version he lists there as it is old now and orginally written to work with the DP. Get the latest version at http://chameleon.osx86.hu/

          3. Volker Hett

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            "Oh sweet! So it'll transfer my development environment, and my servers, and my VMs, and my Kubuntu partition, and my Windows one?

            No? Then perhaps upgrades are a better idea."

            If you know how to clone a drive, it does.

        2. asdf

          Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

          >It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one.

          Yeah because that is not a hassle at all. I thought the whole point to Apple was avoiding the hassle.

          1. Dana W

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            Its not a hassle, I have people WAITING for my old Macs. If I wanted to I could put it on Craigslist in a few hours.

            1. asdf

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              >If I wanted to I could put it on Craigslist in a few hours.

              Nobody creepy ever shops on Craigslist either.

              1. Dana W

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                They can be as creepy as they want as long as their money is green. Anyway, that's a worst case scenario. I have people waiting for the Macs.

                Anyway, I always carry when I do a Craigslist deal and I only take cash.

                1. Jamie Jones Silver badge
                  Facepalm

                  Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                  "Anyway, I always carry when I do a Craigslist deal and I only take cash."

                  That's ok then

                  *rollseyes*

                  1. Dana W
                    Meh

                    Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                    God forbid I don't get robbed by criminals and teener chavs like civilized people. Rolls eyes indeed.

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            How is that hassle? selling your house is hassle, selling a computer isn't.

            1. Greg J Preece

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              How is that hassle? selling your house is hassle, selling a computer isn't.

              Twit.

              I know you're an Apple user, but some of us actually do stuff with our machines. I'm a programmer. My machine triple boots, and there's a development environment in each. I've got an extensive number of programs, configurations, customisations and such going on to make that machine usable for what I do. Do you have any notion of how long it takes me to fully set up a new machine? It is not the half hour some people in here are claiming.

              1. Dana W
                FAIL

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                @Geeg J Preece Gert over yourself, a lot of people triple boot their Macs.

                And a lot of us do REAL WORK on them too. OSX and Lnux are easy and fast to set up. You want to cut down the massive set up times. Ditch Windows.

                And what does that have to do with how easy its is to sell a used Mac? You nevre addressed All you did was tell us how you do real work and how special a snowflake you are.

                1. Greg J Preece

                  Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                  And what does that have to do with how easy its is to sell a used Mac? You nevre addressed All you did was tell us how you do real work and how special a snowflake you are.

                  Given that you can't even spell "Greg", I'm going to assume you can't bloody read either. It isn't about how hard it is to sell a Mac; it's about having to sell the Mac in the first place to get the latest OS when it's an artificial lockout by Apple, and how saying that they hold their value better is weak fanboy justification for that.

                  I need the latest Mac OS X, regrettably, for work. I can't be ditching my machine and getting a new one every time Apple feel like forcing me to do so. My "real work" point was to illustrate that I can't use the consumer-oriented methods of moving across, and I shouldn't have to either. The Windows OS you deride so easily doesn't make me do this, and neither does Linux.

                  Would you like that in crayon?

        3. Dana W
          Happy

          Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

          That's how I do it, I get 50% of my original cost back at the three year mark and I buy a new one.

          1. big_D Silver badge
            Thumb Down

            @Dana W

            And after 10 years, I just upgrade the OS on my non-Apple laptop... Windows cost 19€ and Linux was free. Both run very well on the old hardware.

            My 5 year old iMac wasn't allowed to get the last OS update...

            1. Dana W
              FAIL

              Re: @Dana W

              You are running a ten tear old computer? And you thumb me down because a five year old one can't run a 64 bit os on a 32 bit system?

              You eat a lot of pot noodles don't you?

              1. asdf

                Re: @Dana W

                >because a five year old one can't run a 64 bit os on a 32 bit system?

                If you are talking about the original Mac Pro desktops they can run a 64 bit OS just fine (have both linux 64 bit and Mountain lion running great on mine) The only thing 32 bit on the machine was the POS hacked up EFI Apple unwisely chose for it (unwise for all but shareholders I guess). As formerly mentioned luckily there are plenty of hacker hobbyists boot loaders that allow you get around the fail that is EFI in general.

        4. Mark 65

          Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

          "It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one. Unlike the market for used PCs, the market for used Macs is pretty active. It's not uncommon for people to pay half retail for a Mac that's 4-5 years old. I've done this several times."

          I have a macbook from 2008. Get me half retail price and I'll happily sell it. No? Didn't think so. You may get ok money for a top of the line macbook pro but not much else.

          1. Dana W

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            The sweet spot is three years old for Max return.

          2. Fai

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            Macbook Airs from 2008 are going for around £3-400 on Ebay. That's almost halfway to a new Macbook Air. I know because I just sold one - and there's others going for a similar price.

            1. Greg J Preece

              Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

              Macbook Airs from 2008 are going for around £3-400 on Ebay. That's almost halfway to a new Macbook Air. I know because I just sold one - and there's others going for a similar price.

              Except that those original 2008 Macbook Airs sold for thick end of twice the price of the current 11 inch baby ones. Nice try at twisting the numbers, there. What was that about recouping half the cost again? Can you hear me through the reality distortion bubble?

              1. Dana W
                Meh

                Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

                I've sold my last three three year old Macbook pros for 50% of cost, can you her me through the Microsoft reality distortion bubble?

        5. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

          I've still got my two 2008 iMacs running fine. Sure they cost 1400 sovs when new but 5 years for a consumer device that's used for a miminum for 4-5 hours every single day is not bad going. Just given one of the old iMacs to my little one as her personal machine. The only thing I've had replace in the last 5 years was one keybaord after some twat dropped sticky coke on it and the RETURN key broke.

          Got a couple of 13" white Macbooks, both bought in 2009 and after 4 years of use with no upgrade the drive finally blew on one of them, not bad going. On to Amazon, £35 for a new 2.5 HD, a £1 for a Torx driver and sorted that problem. One of these machines with it's puny little 2GB of memory is still used to edit photos from a full frame DSLR while I'm out and about on camping trips. My images often exceed 1GB while I'm editing them in the latest Photoshop CS6. a 4 year old machine with a 2 year old O/S and still running fine. The batteries are just starting to go funny which again is not bad for 4 years service, so I'll be on Fleabay looking

          for a couple of cheap Far East replacements soon.

          People moan about the price of Apple desktop hardware but like anything if you look after it it will last you and provide years of service. You might well call me a mug for buying expensive Apple kit but I'm not on the upgrade treadmill, my boxes get used until they finally die a natural death after long and productive lives.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

            I've still got my 2006 Acer Ferrari running fine. Sure it cost 1200 UKP when new but 7 years for a consumer device that's used for a minimum of 8 hours every single day is not bad going.

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Devil

              Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

              @AC with Acer Ferrari: I've still got my 2006 MacBook (not Pro) running fine. Sure, it cost me £600 second-hand, but 7 years for a consumer devide that's used for a minimum of 8 hours every single day is not bad going.

              :-)

              1. Anonymous Coward
                Anonymous Coward

                Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

                @SP: Touché :-)

              2. Marina
                Happy

                Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

                I've still got my early 2004 12" PowerBook G4 running fine. Only problem I've ever had with it has been the harddisks keep getting too small so I have to change them out with bigger ones.

                Though I can't install the latest Mac OS on it (it runs Tiger; which nicely matches my ginger tabby) it is still kind of supported by Apple with the occasional software update.

                1. asdf

                  Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

                  >it is still kind of supported by Apple with the occasional software update.

                  No its not. You might be seeing java being patched but the OS is not being patched (last update 10.4.11 (14 November 2007)) even though there are known unpatched security vulnerabilities with Tiger. Sadly though you are still more at danger from an up to date patched java version or flash or Adobe Reader than you are an unpatched OS X version especially one running on a computer that that is non x86 based.

            2. No, I will not fix your computer
              Happy

              Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

              I've still got my 2003 Dell 8600 running fine. Sure it cost 1000 UKP when new but 10 years for a consumer device that's still used every single day (by my daughter) after I used it for 6 years every day, carted to Australlia twice and NYC is not bad going (although the battery only lasts for 40 mins now).

          2. wolfetone Silver badge

            Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

            I have an IBM ThinkPad from 2004, cost me £400, and it still works daily in to 2013.

            Just sayin'.

          3. asdf

            Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

            >People moan about the price of Apple desktop hardware but like anything if you look after it it will last you and provide years of service.

            The issue is not the hardware, except for Apple who try to use software support to make the excellent hardware in your machine obsolete when it still runs great.

          4. Greg J Preece

            Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

            People moan about the price of Apple desktop hardware but like anything if you look after it it will last you and provide years of service. You might well call me a mug for buying expensive Apple kit but I'm not on the upgrade treadmill, my boxes get used until they finally die a natural death after long and productive lives

            YMMV, naturally. My custom-built desktop lasted me 7 years, and even then it didn't die - I was forced to get rid of what was still a fast, excellent machine. At work, the highest rates of failure/return that we experience come from Apple devices. I'm dead serious! I wouldn't have thought it either, but we've got two hard drive failures, a broken screen, two dead iPhones (plus two smashed ones), and a Macbook that I kept alive for six months through sheer force of will.

            1. Dana W

              Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

              My hardware fail rate has been about zero. I've used 15 year old ones that have worked flawlessly. 8 years one bad power switch. It wasn't even broken, it just recessed a bit into the case.

          5. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

            That's not anything better than what I've seen with PC's. I still have every laptop I've bought in the last 15 years and they all work, minus a few dead batteries. My Macbook pro currently has no battery, I didn't think it was a good idea to leave it installed what with the battery bulging and the aluminum delaminating.

            Just last month I was cleaning out the garage and found an old white box 386. After blowing out the dust it booted up with no problems at all.

            If you buy cheap consumer grade laptops then they don't usually last long, but if you buy business class laptops they are generally well built. There is nothing magic about Apple products, just don't compare Apples to oranges.

            I have an old Sony, circa 2005 that saw close to 200,000 miles of air travel without a problem, but if you go out and buy a $299 laptop then don't be surprised if it doesn't make one round trip.

        6. No, I will not fix your computer
          Devil

          Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

          >>It's pretty cost effective to upgrade a Mac by selling it and buying a new one. Unlike the market for used PCs, the market for used Macs is pretty active. It's not uncommon for people to pay half retail for a Mac that's 4-5 years old. I've done this several times.

          This might be because you've already paid a significant mark-up on the Mac? e.g. buy a Mac for $2000 and sell it for $1000 after three years, but you could have bought an equivalent PC for $1000, maybe an upgrade after a year or two, extra ram, SSD, new graphics all you can fit yourself, still more money in your pocket and a machine that you can keep up to date.

          I've got a triple boot Probook 4530s, OSX/Win7/Ubuntu 8Gb ram/SSD/i7/1080p it's chunkier than a Macbook Pro (although I can change batteries etc.), but for less than £600 it's a fraction of the price, the equivalent MBP would be over £2k i'd still lose more money on the Mac than the Probook cost me (even a lower spec refurb is double the cost).

          1. Lallabalalla
            Gimp

            Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

            "a machine that you can keep up to date?"

            I can't be arsed doing all that research for compatible stuff, buying the stuff, fitting and configuring the stuff, getting it all to boot and work together etc.

            I'd much rather spend a ton of money upfront, use the computer as-is for as long I want, then one day get a new one. When you figure in what my time is worth and the fact that I'd happily pay to NOT do all that shit and just get on with my life, it works out way cheap.

          2. Volker Hett

            The half price comparable PC myth ....

            I bought my first Macbook in 2007 because it was CHEAPER than a comparable Sony or Asus. Ok, I could have settled for a Celeron instead of a C2D ...

            The MBP I got in 2010 was cheaper again and I still use it all day long, with a SSD and 8GB RAM I installed myself.

            Have a look at the Mac mini, it is not too expensive if you compare like to like. Same for the iMac compared to other AiO PCs.

            Upgrades and repairs are a problem, no onsite service :(, and the more modern the less repairable they are.

            A Retina Macbook Pro is not for me, I just don't want to buy a maxed out machine because I might need it next year. Same for the smaller iMac where one can't even upgrade RAM. Not to mention the braindead position of the SD cardslot on the back ....

            So yes, Apple is less attractive to me now then it was two years ago, but let's have a look next year, when I need a new one :)

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: forced obsolescence, Apple douchebaggery

        Upgrading a Mac is a lot cheaper than having to buy a Windows upgrade, or down grade.

        I still like the idea that I can run Win 7 in parallel without a fuss, without bother, without effort.

        Best of both worlds.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Someone's probably pointed out that in a time of falling financial figures the best way to secure your long-term future isn't to chase infinitely more flexible companies like Samsung for the low-margin, high-volume world of consumer electronics but to build a base in the low-volume, high-margin worlds of loyal power users and enterprise. Apple survived its last financial apocalypse because designers and video editors and arty types the world over bought macs because they'd always bought macs. It makes sense to try and rebuild that insurance.

    3. Nate Amsden

      what is the best file manager? As a Linux user I think my favorite file manager is the two pane explorer from XP days, not fond of the newer windows 7/win2k8+ one that tries to be more dynamic in the left pane, drives me nuts..

      just curious.

      1. asdf
        Mushroom

        half serious

        Without a doubt Thunar. Flame on!

        1. This post has been deleted by its author

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: half serious

            Watch at least one German will say the text only midnight commander. The app that should have died a decade ago.

            I heard the same said about the command line, yet it's still there. Some stuff simply works, and needs no fancy updates.

      2. Drakkenson

        Re: best file manager

        @ Nate Amsden: The best explorer replacement is Q-dir. It can have up to four file panes and a folder tree pane, and tabs in each folder pane, remembers the last opened folders in each tab, and many other features. It is also free of charge and updated frequently.

      3. Timbo

        Best file manager? Has to be XTree Gold (for DOS) :-)

      4. Greg J Preece

        In my opinion, Dolphin is the best file manager I've used. It's got pretty comprehensive functionality and can be extended/customised to suit (much like the rest of KDE), but if you're a basic user then its standard LAF is easy to grasp. Behaviour is consistent and logical, as are the shortcut keys used to access additional functionality. I'm so used to having all that functionality available that when I use a different (read: inferior) OS like Windows or Mac OS, I get really frustrated at how the companies making them bolt on new whizzy visuals with every release, but never pay any attention to the basic tools that make the system usable.

        And of those inferior file managers, Finder is easily the worst. I despise it, and yet it forms the basic file manager of a system that your average punter considers to be the most usable. Probably because marketing bods said so. It's like every time I saw that "world's most advanced smartphone" tag next to the older iPhones. Just because the advert claims that, does not make it so.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

    If they let iOS apps run on OS X, in their own windows. Touchscreens aren't necessary. Apple already has everything set up so iOS apps (built for x86) can run in the "iPhone simulator" which comes with XCode. You can use them with a mouse and it works fine. The only thing that's awkward is multitouch gestures but most apps don't rely on those.

    That would give Apple a leg up on Microsoft on a few fronts. One is that developers could make one iOS app that runs on all Apple hardware, and two is that if Apple did decide to put touchscreens on all their computers (not saying this is a good idea, but if they did) then they would already have a boatload of software that supported them.

    1. bazza Silver badge

      Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

      "That would give Apple a leg up on Microsoft on a few fronts."

      You're a bit behind the times, aren't you!? The whole entire ethos, reson d'etre, and point of Microsoft's Win8 strategy is that apps are the same(ish) on mobile, tablet and desktop/laptop. AFAIK the source code for a Metro app will (by and large) compile up and run on all of those platforms and interact with the user in the same way. Who needs binary compatibility when you've got source code compatibility?

      Regardless of how well MS have actually managed to pull this off, if anything is to be said about who has got a leg up on who in this regard then you'd have to conclude that MS are well ahead of Apple.

      Having said that, I personally (and seemingly many others) think that MS's strategy (and by extension your suggestion about running iOS apps on OS X) is not really workable. Tablet and mobile are totally different to desktop and laptop. Judging by my own experience and that of everyone I know who has tried, Win 8 is not for the heavy duty content creator, worker, programmer, etc. I've not tried it on a tablet / mobile in earnest, but I could see it working quite well there.

      Of course, that doesn't mean to say that Apple won't do it, but I can't see it becoming a main stream way to produce and consume apps on an Apple desktop.

      1. Greg J Preece

        Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

        Judging by my own experience and that of everyone I know who has tried, Win 8 is not for the heavy duty content creator, worker, programmer, etc.

        Putting aside that I generally use Linux for all my programming, coding on Windows 8 is no harder than it was on 7.

        1. Greg J Preece
          Flame

          Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

          Whoops, did I not follow the established "Windows 8 is shit, no exceptions" narrative? Or did I just piss off a few fanbois?

          1. jason 7

            Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

            Yeah I know, and it's not even the school holidays!

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

              The Windows 8 is POS kids have already given up on any hopes for a GCSE pass or better in English going by the quality of their prose so skiving off school won't make much odds.

          2. big_D Silver badge

            Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

            I use Windows 8 on a tablet. In tablet mode it is a great touch experience. When I get to my desk, I plug it into its dock and it turns into a full desktop computer, with 24" external monitor and I can run normal Windows applications and still have access to my mobile apps as well - in a window as well, using Stardock's Modern Mix.

            Some apps don't make much sense on a desktop or laptop, just like having the desktop on an 11" tablet isn't ideal either, but having access to both on one machine is practical and useful - no having to sync between devices, which is useful, if you are away from base and can only sync using 50€ a megabyte roaming charges!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

        "AFAIK the source code for a Metro app will (by and large) compile up and run on all of those platforms and interact with the user in the same way. Who needs binary compatibility when you've got source code compatibility?"

        Then you know incorrectly and that's why you missed my point. Yes, Metro apps are supposed to be the "same(ish)" but it is definitely impossible to write an app for WP8 and have it run on Win8 or vice versa. The way apps are developed on each platform is radically different. I know developers for each platform that complain about this bitterly all the time.

        1. big_D Silver badge

          Re: Could really poke a finger in Microsoft's eye...

          @AC 16:26 allegedly, the Blue update should go some way to rectifying this situation. The platforms are merging and only a few control libraries remain different, so the main parts of a program will be the same on all platforms, just a bit of tweaking on the UI library and platform specific functions - like access to the phone functions - will be platform specific, so should be switchable at compile time.

  4. Roo

    Yet Another Gnome 2 Alternative

    Just when we thought we had enough alternatives to GNOME 2 Apple had to muddy the waters... :)

  5. Fink-Nottle
    Devil

    Caber Net - a tartan skeuomorphic OS inspired by the magic of a traditional Highland Gathering?

  6. Fuzzy Duck

    bring back 'save as'

    osx should be made for desktops and not incorporate tablet-like functions such as the dreadful idea of removing 'save as' from textedit..

    1. Gareth Gouldstone
      Happy

      Re: bring back 'save as'

      Just hold down the Option/alt key whilst clicking the File menu - Bingo!

    2. SuccessCase

      Re: bring back 'save as'

      Nope "Save As" has always been the source of much evil. The two options it is replaced by function far better and are wholly explicit.

      Why?

      Because "Save As" combines two acts when the user usually wants just one. The most common use for "Save As", is to save a new version of a document. But here is the oft encountered problem. It is easy to start a new version when you need to keep the old version, forget that the old version wasn't saved before you chose Save As, hack the document around to create the new version you need completed in three days time but then find you have buggered up the old version you intended to keep, but forgot to save first before using "Save As" additionally all documents utilising the new duplicate and rename function are going to be compatible with time machine versions of those documents, so your maintenance of multiple versions is handled efficiently and seamlessly.

      Of course if you engage brain you can avoid the problem scenario I described, but I suspect most of us have been caught out by it at one point or another. What's wrong then with duplicate (which duplicates the document in a new Window ready to be saved with a new name and which also means you will be prompted to save the old window when you decide to close it)? By being explicit, there is less room for cock up. Similarly the simple "rename" function is also explicit. You keep the same file but it gets a new name. Can't see why these two wholly explicit functions aren't better than the evils of "Save As" as you are always intending to do one or the other of them when you use "Save As" anyway.

      So sorry I don't concur. Wanting to keep "Save As" is a testament to the power of muscle memory over logic and clarity.

      1. SuccessCase

        Re: bring back 'save as'

        Oh forgot what is perhaps the main point. "Save As" litters the file system with multiple versions of the document. So it is easy to forget which is the canonical version (especially for those many users who use wonderfully myopic constructs like "new document x" !).

        Any apps with the rename function, however, have built in versioning, so you get a single canonical file, with version history stored within the file. As well as versions being saved automatically, you can save them manually. Again much clearer and much safer.

        "Save As" really is the source of much file system evil !

        1. MachDiamond Silver badge

          Re: bring back 'save as'

          A computer just lets you make a mess of a virtual desktop much faster and much more completely than a real space desk. "Save As" isn't the problem, it's the meatware beating their head against the keyboard.

          I use "Save As" when I don't want to touch my original file, such as when I am downsizing a picture to email. I also use it if I have set up a template in an application and want to populate the files with different data.

          The function works consistently across applications, which is very nice. With my Windows apps, I'm never sure if I will be left working with the original, the copy or null space. Some Windows apps really screw the pooch by renaming the original data file and leave it as the active document if you don't tick the box that reads "save as a copy". That's a place where I would like to see the function labeled as "Rename" very cleary and "Save As".

        2. Dan 55 Silver badge
          FAIL

          Re: bring back 'save as'

          The reality distortion field is strong in this one.

          Versioning, autosave, and the first steps of removing the application light from the dock so you can't tell if the app is running or not unless you change the pref might be fine for a phone (stress might), but not for computers.

          You need to copy work and you need to have temporary copies of work. Versioning and autosave take that away from you, you make a temporary change (e.g. cut a few pieces of text or select part of an image for printing) and later find that that's what the OS considers as the good version even though you obviously don't. In other words you're fighting with the OS which is something that you're not supposed to be doing with Apple.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: bring back 'save as' @SuccessCase

          I have to snigger at you when after ending your first post with a patronising "so sorry" and statement that people who don't do it your way lack logic and clarity, you have to follow up with "Oh forgot what is perhaps the main point." Looks like you got yourself sidetracked by trying to cram in the word "evil" as much as possible. And you're pushing advice on organisation?

      2. P. Lee

        Re: bring back 'save as'

        With the size of hard disks these days, there is absolutely no reason not to take the auto-version feature from VMS for manual saving of office documents, especially when auto-save is switched on and you aren't manually saving every five minutes.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      It's a 1980s feature

      Everyone else has explained this here, but one of the things I like about Apple is their determination to make everything as logical as possible, and as legacy-free, for people starting to use computers and Macs today. The new 'duplicate' command feels weird, but it really does make more sense than 'Save As' which doesn't have the graphical cue that you're splitting the file into two differently-named copies which can diverge from each other.

    4. asdf

      Re: bring back 'save as'

      >osx should be made for desktops and not incorporate tablet-like functions such as the dreadful idea of removing 'save as' from textedit..

      OS X like Mac OS before it still insists on forcing you to use a menu bar across the top whether you want it or not (90s UX design at its finest) so not all the desktop stuff in Mac OS is roses either.

      1. Tufty Squirrel

        Menu bar

        Nothing particularly wrong with a single menu bar - it gives you a fixed target to aim for with an effectively infinite height. See Fitt's law. The only time it's really an issue is when you're dealing with multiple screens, with Apple's implementation keeping the menu bar on the "primary" screen at all times - providing an option to move it to the currently active screen might be faster for mouse users (an /option/ as tablet users of the wacom kind would probably prefer to have it fixed as in the current implementation)

        NeXTStep's pop up menus were nice, arguably nicer than any other solution, but suffer slightly from the fact they are invisible in normal use.

        Most "power users", of course, have the majority of common menu command shortcuts committed to muscle memory anyway and rarely use menus on any platform unless they are using graphically intensive apps like Photoshop where they have a hand on the pointing device at nearly all times.

  7. Bob Vistakin
    Linux

    Ahh tabs - Didn't think it would take long before they "invented" them

    Round corners, slide to unlock, pages which (gasp!) turn. Add tabs to that list of marvelous innovations the human race was lost in the wilderness before the genuises at Apple concocted in their labs.

    And courthouses.

  8. Richard Wharram

    Skeuomorphism

    Power users aren't the only ones who dislike wood-panelled apps with brass buttons and such.

  9. jubtastic1
    Meh

    Skeuomorphism

    Someone did a good write up on this, don't have a link handy but the gist was that skeuomorphism isn't a bad thing, it's actually a pretty neccessary thing, checkboxes and radio buttons are skeuomorphic, there's no reason a checkbox on the internet needs to look like a checkbox from a physical paper form other than to instantly convey it's meaning, remove all traces of skeuomorphism and you'll end up with an abstract mess of a UI.

    So the problem with some of Apple's recent apps isn't skeuomorphism per se, but rather one of seriously cheesy design work.

    Personally I can't wait to see what Ive does with software, I'm not expecting him to simply throw out all the CSS files though.

    1. Francis Boyle Silver badge

      I agree

      the problem's not skeuomorphism as such but "seriously cheesy design work" but it's still skeuomorphism. Most skeuomorphism is cheesy because unnecessary - think fake brick siding. It's just that in the digital world there it has a legitimate use case because the objects we are dealing with here have no default physical form. So symbolic skeuomorphism, such as semi-abstact icons, is good. It's the representational version that's cheesy and bad.

    2. tabman
      Thumb Up

      Re: Skeuomorphism

      As I understand it, now that Johnathan Ive is in charge, there will be a big move away from skeuomorphism. Ive. Afterall was one of its biggest critics at Apple

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    multiple display

    I have OSX on a macbook with a second screen plugged in, HDMI, running win8 fullscreen under VirtualBox on it for legacy apps, the only issue is that only 1 is fully live at a time so you need to click between them to check for some updates.

    Powerpoint will automatically detect you are using multiple screens and show different views in each when you run a presentation, both in full screen mode.

    It seems to handle a second screen more smoothly than windows does in the 3 months since I've been using it.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm a power user and I like skeuomorphism

    Well, not the Calendar, admittedly. Nobody likes that. But I liked the richness of the design in iOS when I first saw it, the feeling that I was reading an enchanted scrapbook that shifted as I moved my fingers over it and not just another kind of computer. It felt fun, like playtime. (Bundling Winnie The Pooh with the first iPads to show of the book-reader with a genius decision, it had me smitten from the start.) I really hope they don't lost that in the redesign.

    The features rumoured for OS X sound great, but I wish they'd let me cut files, move somewhere else, and paste. Simple feature I miss from windows.

  12. Dana W
    Thumb Up

    GOOD Apple news? On EL Reg? Am I dreaming, or did I stumble into an alternate universe!

  13. TomS_
    Paris Hilton

    I for one ...

    ... hope they will get rid of the stupid Launchpad thing, and bring back Dashboard on new Macs. Or at least let me choose what I want.

    Dashboard was infinitely more useful for myself than Launchpad, since I can more than easily launch an app using the Command-Space combination to bring up Spotlight.

    On the Dashboard I have many clocks and other little widgets that I like speedy access to with a dedicated key. As it is I have to access it through Launchpad which is pointless.

    I did send this to Apple, hopefully many others did too and they get the message. I did the same when they switched the hardware switch from rotation lock to mute on the iPad and they seemed to change it afterwards to give you a choice of what you wanted it to do. The last two versions of OS X seemed to become far too "consumery" for me, to the point I started contemplating whether I would bother with Macs in the future.

    I never bothered with Lion, but Mountain Lion seems a little better.

    Paris because its all first world problems. Walked past a bunch of homeless people sleeping on the street on the way home tonight, and here I am bitching about how my €3000 laptop doesn't do what I want it to.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Launchpad is actually a pretty sensible idea for novice users

      Macs didn't really have a start menu to open apps you haven't already got pinned to your dock before-only opening the applications folder or typing out the name in spotlight. (When I first used a friend's Mac-this would have been early OS X era-I got completely confused thinking the Apple icon was the start menu.) Launchpad fixes that nicely. I mostly open apps from Spotlight now since I like to have a very empty dock, but if I was a novice mac user starting today I'd appreciate it.

    2. Dana W
      Meh

      Re: I for one ...

      Drag dashboard down to your bar. Its not like they took it away.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Cats...

    Can we please just call it "Mrs Slocombe's Pussy" and be done, thanks.

  15. SteveHC

    GREAT little article

    This is the most intelligent article about Apple OS development direction that I've seen by anyone anywhere in a VERY long time. Development of such an OS 10.9 should put to rest bizarre claims by "pop wannabe gurus" that "desktops are dying" etc. Just the ability of a Mac OS to be able to display two separately-running programs with each on its own display would be a truly great advance; the PIA "work-arounds" that we are currently forced to endure are nothing short of torturous. And the push for iOS and Windows 8 "Start/Metro screen" conformity has been nothing but superficial consumer marketing strategy gimmickry that has contributed virtually NOTHING to user productivity. If Apple pulls this off, my next hardware purchase will DEFINITELY be a desktop rather than a laptop.

  16. stu 4

    spaces, full screen and multiple monitors

    yeh - its a bit pants - but not as bad as it sounds to non mac folk reading the article:

    I run my imac27 with a 20" either side.

    Basically all it means is that your 'space' is 3 monitors. So as you move to another space, you get 3 more monitors of space.

    i.e. set 4 'spaces', end up with 12 desktops of space.

    What you can't do, is move say desktop1/space1 to desktop1/space2 - but I've never found that a hassle personally. you can easily move apps between spaces just like normal.

    full screen is rubbish - as it just blacks out the other monitors. However, I'd argue full screen is a waste of time anyway as it pretty much is the same as maximising a window (which works fine on multi desktops - ie max on one desktop, can still use other 2).

    There is only the odd app, like photoshop where an uncluttered full screen would be good while still having apps on your other desktops.

    On the other hand, watching movies, the present behaviour is exactly what is wanted.

  17. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Fix the disk performance

    This was great until Snow Leopard and has been shitty ever since - not necessarily throughput but the ability for several applications at once to use the disk.

  18. wolfetone Silver badge
    FAIL

    Amazing how people are so in awe of these developments when Linux has been rocking these very same improvements for the last 12 months.

    Carry on with your Fisher Price computers guys!

    1. Dana W

      @wolfetone If I use both on my "Fisher Price computer" am I ok by you oh supreme being?

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    CLI

    Proper power-users dispense with all this GUI prettiness and just CLI what they want. Faster and Cleaner.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    W O W, mac people are starting to wake up! I C A N N O T believe my eyes!

    Maybe, just maybe, some of them (and yes it will be a fraction) will realise its just a computer and software. They both can do what ever you ask of them.

    Sorry one is no better than the other.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Confused

    So I have been using a mac for awhile now, what this means is i can only really compare to Windows XP never having used a windows version newer than that.

    I dont really have that much of an issue with finder. I know where my apps are, and to be honest, rarely look in the finder to start one, I use spotlight, the same for finding files.

    Searching a folder is a little annoying, but only as the search defaults to the whole of the mac rather than the local directory, for which there is a button once the search is finished, this causes a second search, its a bit painful, but not the end of the world, at least the search works, which isint my experience on windows.

    Yes not showing the path to found files is a little annoying.

    I like that in the main it understands (or did understand) numbers properly, that is that 1 is before 10 and that to have 1 before 10 i dont need to number the file 01, although this is a little inconsistent.

    I am not a fan of the new views introduced in, i think Lion, preferred the old ones.

    I find some views work better than others for different tasks, its something i would miss if its taken away.

    Directories at the top is more a convention in my eyes, and sorting by kind usual puts them there anyway.

    I think sort does need improvement though, as it seems its the only way to get icons to line up.

    The path of the current directory is available in at least two places, via cmd clicking on the name at the top of the finder, you get a sort of history of directories to the current directory, and can use it to navigate, and in a bar at the bottom, like explorer that might need to be turned on, cant remember. Unlike explorer the bar at the bottom of teh finder can also be used to navigate to other directories in the path.

    I can right click create files and directories, and it creates them in the directory I am currently in.

    Dragging and dropping files is nicer than in XP (I havent used windows since then so cant comment beyond that), I like if i hover over a directory it opens its.

    I dont mind that the directory doenst sort when I drop files, chances are having them in view is more important to me, I have just dropped them in there to work with them, so either I want to see them in the view, or I want them in there to work within an app, at which point the app is going to have its own view and sort order.

    What i dislike is that when you delete a file/folder or group of files/folders it leaves blank gaps

    One of the major areas it doesnt work for me is I cant see how to drag a copy to a new folder, it always seems to be a move op, maybe i need to cmd click or something.

    Of course, it working fine for me doesnt mean it works for everybody, and if I am honest, I have never been a fan of the tree view of things you get in explorer in windows XP. In fact I think tree views are generally evil.

    All that said I do think Apple need to recognise that some users, call them super users if you must, require more control and access to their own system, hiding and denying access to library folders for example is not good. Where a user wants control you shouldnt be taking it away from them.

    I do think that be default that control should be disabled/hidden, but it should be easy to enable the returning of that control to the user where the user wants it.

    Certainly any dedicated admistration user should have full control by default. I think this is an issue with how the initial users are created.

    1. Tufty Squirrel

      Re: Confused

      >> One of the major areas it doesnt work for me is I cant see how to drag a copy to a new folder,

      >> it always seems to be a move op, maybe i need to cmd click or something.

      Yep, the option (alt) key swaps between move and copy - the default when dragging on the same volume is to move, hold down option and it becomes a copy (with a helpful little green "plus" on the dragged icon), when you're dragging to another volume the default is a copy (with plus), and the option key turns it to a move (the little green plus goes away)

      Finder's still shit though. Pathfinder is loads better, and its "drop stack" feature is a godsend.

  22. Zolko Silver badge
    FAIL

    KDE 4

    "tabbed Finder windows"

    "different working area, which Apple calls Spaces, or a full-screen app on a second display"

    holy crap !!! my KDE 4.5 does this since 3 years ago. Admittedly, it runs on a MacBook Pro 13, but did they catch up with Linux only now ? What's next ?

    - right-click to create a folder here ? (shit, no right click on iMouse)

    - drag'n-drop asking if I want to move or copy or link ?

    - clickable and editable file path ?

    - a button for "open terminal here" in the finder ?

    1. Charlie Clark Silver badge
      Thumb Down

      Re: KDE 4

      If you think that KDE is Linux then maybe you should give Eadon a call.

      "Spaces" have been around for a while on Mac OS. I used to use them a lot on BeOS over ten years ago but with the size of modern desktops find that I don't need them. Mac OS also has a lot of truly object-oriented desktop features that it inherited from NextStep but these are often buried in things like the service menu.

      1. Zolko Silver badge
        Linux

        Re: KDE 4

        you think I can use Linux on a Mac and not know the difference between KDE and Linux ?

  23. Lallabalalla
    Gimp

    I love my iMac

    But I would HATE to have to work on it - Apple really have no idea when it comes to building an OS that can be run entirely wothout a mouse.

    There are dialogs in which you can flip between the buttons using tab, hit enter, and it does the default action (cancel) regardless of which button is highlighted.

    Finder is an effing abomination. Ever tried to find the total bytes of a group of 750 files by highlighting them and choosing "properties"?

    Drag and drop is hopeless. Right-button D&D? Hah!

    It's a great consumer device for the home, has saved me 100's - maybe 1000's - hours in home support, it runs music, movies, web, phone management etc, and Time MAchine has (so far) been a godsend.

    But not for work. No way.

  24. Lallabalalla
    Gimp

    Game Center?

    Really? Does anyone ever use that? For anything? It's just another annoying fucktard thing to have to keep cancelling, like the "firewall has blocked some of iTunes" dialog that never goes away no matter how many times you configure the firewall to allow it. I have no idea what these "features" are anyway, I've long ago stopped bothering with whatever the hell it thinks it is enabling.

    Launchpad is quite popular with the wife n kids - I quite like it too, it *is easy to find applications especially with the search box - but why not just use the search box that's already there, top right? But I digress.

    Messages is another pest - I HAVE my messages, they're HERE, ON MY PHONE where I EXPECTED them to be in the first place. Duh!

    OSX's "user interface" is basically like stepping back to the 1980's - Windows 7 beats the pants off it hands down in every department. The core OS is very very good but the UI - yeurgh! And I'm a fanboi!

  25. John Savard

    Good Idea

    Given that Windows 8 alienated many by imitating a tablet interface, if OS X goes after desktop power users instead, it will be offering an attractive alternative, and could gain a few new customers. Unfortunately, though, there really isn't anything out there - OS X or Linux - that's really ready to replace Windows for most people, who instead will feel they have no choice but to suffer with whatever Microsoft does.

  26. Ian Johnston Silver badge
    FAIL

    Cutting edge stuff

    From the first linked article: For example, in iOS 6, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, Forstall recently demoed an animated paper shredder, which will be used to delete e-tickets and coupons.

    Wow, that sounds amazing, and so imaginative. Does it make a little whirring shredder sound when you drop something into it ... like the OS/2 Warp shredder did, in 1994?

  27. Brainman

    Don't confuse skeuomorphisms with realisms

    skeuomorphisms behalf like a real world object

    realisms build on that to also look like a real world object

    See this excellent flat pixels article

    http://sachagreif.com/flat-pixels/

  28. The Vociferous Time Waster
    Trollface

    Apple's next OS X said to be targeted at 'power users'

    Apple's next OS X said to be targeted at making mactards feel like 'power users'

    There, I fixed it for you.

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Stephen Fry

    If Stephen Fry is an idiot's idea of what a smart person is like then a Mac is a computer illiterate hipster's idea of what a nerd's computer should be like.

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