The first issue you bring up seems to be Windows specific behavior so I can't comment on FF's new direction there. On OSX, I get a regular menubar up top. Menus don't seem to be gone from the Linux Beta, either. So..... maybe it's your choice of OS that's the real issue? Bazinga! JFWY.:) Have you tried hitting ALT in the beta? If they're aping Chrome, this will bring up a menu bar. BTW, this is a good thing. The menu doesn't really do anything except take up space. The average non technical user doesn't need most menu items and technical users are the ones who are more likely to just hit alt and navigate by arrow. And if you're a real efficiency nut, you use keyboard shortcuts and don't really navigate menus.
The second issue - the location bar/search field combo is not a bad decision for the general user. For you, seems to me that the separate search field is a clunky solution anyway. Set up custom smart keyword searches. This a much more efficient way to hit both specific search engines AND do web site searches. The last time I used FF as my primary browser, I almost never used the search field.
Regarding this cargo cult usability, you haven't given a specific example of where the imitation is only skin deep - where does it fall apart?
FF's chronic stability, memory and CPU leakage - definitely got a point there. These are the reasons I switched primary browsers. Some day, if these issues are resolved, might switch back.
Rage quitting anything is a bad thing and isn't very productive. Switch for good reason. You'll carry less useless emotional baggage about software.
Sadly I think you are right. Looking at the latest beta it looks so much like a Chrome ripoff they may as well just drop Gecko for Webkit. I could understand if they made a change because it gave the user a feature that had been requested, but this strikes me too much like Cargo Cult Usability where you just ape the other guy without really understanding the reasons behind the design and that just isn't a good sign.
Can you be more specific? On what are you basing your accusation of FF devs not knowing the reasoning behind UI decisions? What features does FF4 ape?
It's been a while since I've used FF but if FF4 does achieve feature parity with Chrome, I might consider going back. I would count emulation of good UI and features to be a Good Thing. Definitely not a Bad Thing and a reason to abandon a browser.
Your entire post labors under the impression that Apple even wants to be involved in the enterprise space. Apple's not playing "make believe at enterprise support." Those are token gestures.
Apple's making money hand over fist by NOT playing the enterprise game. Why get into a highly competitive, relatively low margin market when consumers are practically throwing money at them?
Half assed is the assumption that every company out there has to play the same game and get into the same rat race as every other tech company. Apple got to where it was by playing their own game, not the one defined by every other player.
OS X doesn't fail. It is either Java or Flash that gets the system in trouble. You may have noticed that the Pwn2Own contest is run against stock systems. Now that flash and java are not on the system when it ships lets see who fails first.
And just as a side note the person who crashes OS X first is an Apple hater. If he was a windows hater I wonder which system would go down first......
Even with that OS X passes the first day of testing. So does windows. It is only when they can get to the keyboard and send the browser to a website that the system gets in trouble.
This post is so wrong, I barely know where to begin.
First, Charlie Miller is far from an "Apple hater." His uses an Apple and his preferred browser/OS combo is Safari on OS X.
Two, you also imply that the exploit requires physical access to a machine, which is far from true. These are drive by download exploits - the point being that the machine is exploited when it goes to an insecure web site.
And third, I'm not sure what you're trying to say - that it's Java and Flash's fault? That these two not being there will somehow make OS X more secure?
Jobs' has nothing on McNealy. Sun came up with TCP/IP? Sun open sourced it? Sun invented open source? Linux wouldn't have happened if they 1U'd Solaris on Pentiums?
WTF was McNealy smoking? He's got a completely warped understanding of his own company's history. If this is what he truly believes, then I'm starting to come around to those who have been saying that McNealy and co were just lucky - bystanders who happened to be at the right place at the right time and not really the pioneers they'd like to think they are.
I'm starting to come around to the conclusion that it's not Apple or Steve Jobs that wannabe techies really hate.
They really hate it that their role as the interpreter and guide to the tech is being obsoleted. It's a dying priesthood and the writing on the wall doesn't look good for them. Thus the hate.
In this case, it's the tech literate who are most vested in the cathedral and it's priestly trappings, not Apple that's actually managing to bring usable tech access to the masses.
iluvcapra isn't the one who's being dense here. Everyone gets that MP3 players were out before the iPod. No shit. No one's arguing that.
"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
Remember that?
Like Apple or not, like Apple's walled garden approach or not, for the past ten years, when Apple enters a market, they radically change the game. There's no shame in admitting that, even if you hate Apple. Stephen Elop can admit it.
Until someone comes up with a better metaphor for interactions on a two dimensional screen that most people understand on an intuitive level, we're stuck with what we've got.
On the whole, there aren't a lot of metaphors that are on the whole better than the desktop metaphor for what we have in terms of human interface devices.
That's the thing that Mr. UberByTheBook doesn't get. He's too used to parroting the same line to put much thought into the appropriate solution for the problem.
When I was practicing and doing research in African hospitals, I basically did what you just described with patient charts and data, only with 5-6 USB hard drives on rotation between my hospital, the capital office and my research partners back in the states.
That's right, RAID is not a backup. YOU strung together a couple of sentences that suggested they were.
As for the backups, off-site, on-line backup services work fine, and that's if you don't do a Time Machine across a network to another location which I've seen done before as well.
Evolve and get with the program. Guys like you are equivalent of the car guy who insists that it's not really driving if it's an automatic or it's not really an off road vehicle without manual gear locking differentials.
Yeah, definitely looks like this iteration is for people whose first Apple device was an iDevice to make them feel more comfortable with the OS. Everything from the gestures to the new UI components.
I don't picture myself using a lot of these features, such as full screen apps, Launchpad or Mission Control. Well, maybe MC (what goofy name) if it's better at windows management than Spaces+Expose.
Much more entertainingly written than other "let's turn good and evil on its head then" fantasy fiction. Fantasy fiction, ugh. Boy am I glad that's a phase I grew out of.
If you take Shivetya's advice, stop after the third book. Man, I love me some Glen Cook's Black Company, but some of those middle books were a slog. Picked up near the end, but it read as if Cook had lost interest in many of his own characters.
This argument is and always has been horse shit, informed only by the view of those who are too myopic or narrow minded to see the quickening pace of technological advancements beyond their own limited world views.
Your comment is a good indicator of how individuals are likely to think that others are much like themselves.
It's been my experience that organizational and individual users of Apple products are younger people - those more likely to skew liberal. I was recently in a situation where expats were being evacuated out of a developing country where people and organizations of all stripes were thrown together. Mac users - almost universally younger and/or belonging to secular NGOs. PC folks - mostly missionaries and/or commercial businesses.
Remember, Apple inculcates their future users young, just as they enter college. After school, these are the people for whom Its Really Important to have a Mac, regardless of their financial situation.
Slashdot Mirror
The first issue you bring up seems to be Windows specific behavior so I can't comment on FF's new direction there. On OSX, I get a regular menubar up top. Menus don't seem to be gone from the Linux Beta, either. So..... maybe it's your choice of OS that's the real issue? Bazinga! JFWY. :) Have you tried hitting ALT in the beta? If they're aping Chrome, this will bring up a menu bar. BTW, this is a good thing. The menu doesn't really do anything except take up space. The average non technical user doesn't need most menu items and technical users are the ones who are more likely to just hit alt and navigate by arrow. And if you're a real efficiency nut, you use keyboard shortcuts and don't really navigate menus.
The second issue - the location bar/search field combo is not a bad decision for the general user. For you, seems to me that the separate search field is a clunky solution anyway. Set up custom smart keyword searches. This a much more efficient way to hit both specific search engines AND do web site searches. The last time I used FF as my primary browser, I almost never used the search field.
Regarding this cargo cult usability, you haven't given a specific example of where the imitation is only skin deep - where does it fall apart?
FF's chronic stability, memory and CPU leakage - definitely got a point there. These are the reasons I switched primary browsers. Some day, if these issues are resolved, might switch back.
Rage quitting anything is a bad thing and isn't very productive. Switch for good reason. You'll carry less useless emotional baggage about software.
Sadly I think you are right. Looking at the latest beta it looks so much like a Chrome ripoff they may as well just drop Gecko for Webkit. I could understand if they made a change because it gave the user a feature that had been requested, but this strikes me too much like Cargo Cult Usability where you just ape the other guy without really understanding the reasons behind the design and that just isn't a good sign.
Can you be more specific? On what are you basing your accusation of FF devs not knowing the reasoning behind UI decisions? What features does FF4 ape?
It's been a while since I've used FF but if FF4 does achieve feature parity with Chrome, I might consider going back. I would count emulation of good UI and features to be a Good Thing. Definitely not a Bad Thing and a reason to abandon a browser.
Your entire post labors under the impression that Apple even wants to be involved in the enterprise space. Apple's not playing "make believe at enterprise support." Those are token gestures.
Apple's making money hand over fist by NOT playing the enterprise game. Why get into a highly competitive, relatively low margin market when consumers are practically throwing money at them?
Half assed is the assumption that every company out there has to play the same game and get into the same rat race as every other tech company. Apple got to where it was by playing their own game, not the one defined by every other player.
OS X doesn't fail. It is either Java or Flash that gets the system in trouble.
You may have noticed that the Pwn2Own contest is run against stock systems.
Now that flash and java are not on the system when it ships lets see who fails first.
And just as a side note the person who crashes OS X first is an Apple hater.
If he was a windows hater I wonder which system would go down first......
Even with that OS X passes the first day of testing. So does windows.
It is only when they can get to the keyboard and send the browser to a website that the system gets in trouble.
This post is so wrong, I barely know where to begin.
First, Charlie Miller is far from an "Apple hater." His uses an Apple and his preferred browser/OS combo is Safari on OS X.
Two, you also imply that the exploit requires physical access to a machine, which is far from true. These are drive by download exploits - the point being that the machine is exploited when it goes to an insecure web site.
And third, I'm not sure what you're trying to say - that it's Java and Flash's fault? That these two not being there will somehow make OS X more secure?
No, but I've had sex with plenty of them. Does that count?
Yes. Please say nothing more of Gor, thank you.
Jobs' has nothing on McNealy. Sun came up with TCP/IP? Sun open sourced it? Sun invented open source? Linux wouldn't have happened if they 1U'd Solaris on Pentiums?
WTF was McNealy smoking? He's got a completely warped understanding of his own company's history. If this is what he truly believes, then I'm starting to come around to those who have been saying that McNealy and co were just lucky - bystanders who happened to be at the right place at the right time and not really the pioneers they'd like to think they are.
I'm starting to come around to the conclusion that it's not Apple or Steve Jobs that wannabe techies really hate.
They really hate it that their role as the interpreter and guide to the tech is being obsoleted. It's a dying priesthood and the writing on the wall doesn't look good for them. Thus the hate.
In this case, it's the tech literate who are most vested in the cathedral and it's priestly trappings, not Apple that's actually managing to bring usable tech access to the masses.
iluvcapra isn't the one who's being dense here. Everyone gets that MP3 players were out before the iPod. No shit. No one's arguing that.
"No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."
Remember that?
Like Apple or not, like Apple's walled garden approach or not, for the past ten years, when Apple enters a market, they radically change the game. There's no shame in admitting that, even if you hate Apple. Stephen Elop can admit it.
blah blah blah metaphor shear blah blah blah documents blah desktops blah "files" blah blah blah butter churning blah blah automobiles blah path lock blah.....
Until someone comes up with a better metaphor for interactions on a two dimensional screen that most people understand on an intuitive level, we're stuck with what we've got.
On the whole, there aren't a lot of metaphors that are on the whole better than the desktop metaphor for what we have in terms of human interface devices.
IT is not CS. This is an IT question. N=NP is a CS matter. Mechanics versus mechanical engineers.
That's the thing that Mr. UberByTheBook doesn't get. He's too used to parroting the same line to put much thought into the appropriate solution for the problem.
When I was practicing and doing research in African hospitals, I basically did what you just described with patient charts and data, only with 5-6 USB hard drives on rotation between my hospital, the capital office and my research partners back in the states.
That's right, RAID is not a backup. YOU strung together a couple of sentences that suggested they were.
As for the backups, off-site, on-line backup services work fine, and that's if you don't do a Time Machine across a network to another location which I've seen done before as well.
Evolve and get with the program. Guys like you are equivalent of the car guy who insists that it's not really driving if it's an automatic or it's not really an off road vehicle without manual gear locking differentials.
For those of you who are missing the joke, from the same guys who brought you Badger Badger Badger:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/kenya/
Yeah, definitely looks like this iteration is for people whose first Apple device was an iDevice to make them feel more comfortable with the OS. Everything from the gestures to the new UI components.
I don't picture myself using a lot of these features, such as full screen apps, Launchpad or Mission Control. Well, maybe MC (what goofy name) if it's better at windows management than Spaces+Expose.
The default configuration of the Mini comes two drive which you can configure as a RAID.
And, surely, you're not suggesting RAID is a backup, are you?
An office Mini server with a Time Machine backup is trivial to set up. Plug them all into a UPS. It's a decent solution that works for small offices.
Ubuntu? Nah.
You wouldn't be able to pronounce the name of the distro I use.
It was over 9000. That's all that really matters.
Thanks for putting the finger on it. I read the article and scratched my head a little thinking WTF is this guy babbling on about?
Second this recommendation.
Much more entertainingly written than other "let's turn good and evil on its head then" fantasy fiction. Fantasy fiction, ugh. Boy am I glad that's a phase I grew out of.
If you take Shivetya's advice, stop after the third book. Man, I love me some Glen Cook's Black Company, but some of those middle books were a slog. Picked up near the end, but it read as if Cook had lost interest in many of his own characters.
This argument is and always has been horse shit, informed only by the view of those who are too myopic or narrow minded to see the quickening pace of technological advancements beyond their own limited world views.
I was going to write a snarky comment myself, but I decided to just do an obligatory snarky reference to a comic instead:
http://xkcd.com/123/
Your comment is a good indicator of how individuals are likely to think that others are much like themselves.
It's been my experience that organizational and individual users of Apple products are younger people - those more likely to skew liberal. I was recently in a situation where expats were being evacuated out of a developing country where people and organizations of all stripes were thrown together. Mac users - almost universally younger and/or belonging to secular NGOs. PC folks - mostly missionaries and/or commercial businesses.
Remember, Apple inculcates their future users young, just as they enter college. After school, these are the people for whom Its Really Important to have a Mac, regardless of their financial situation.
And I wonder who it is who developed the flat screen technology that you are undoubtedly reading this reply on now?
Engineers reserve their greatest acclaim for the guys who change the game, not those who preserve the status quo.