A very well thought out and eloquent post. I think it really kinda hits the root of why a lot of whiny/.'ers want things open soureced: they don't have the mathematical skills or the drive to go out and discover or create something totally new. They'd rather ride on the success of others.
Not meant as a blanket statement for all/.'ers. I know there are some brilliant developers out there, but the "fp'ers" and people who blindly scream "open source" without thinking about all the consequences come off sounding just as bad as "Apple zealots"... a brand I reluctantly wear. ---------------------------
Um, Xerox knowingly and willingly gave away their GUI to Apple. It was MS that came in and stole it. Apple already tried to kick M$ in the can for that infringement and was soundly beaten down for the attempt. ---------------------------
I'm not looking for the most flashy web site. I'm looking for the web site that loads fastest, gives me the information I want, and lets me click the Exit button without flashing a million things in my face.
Who are you? Jakob Nielsen? Or just some random luddite? ---------------------------
I'm just having a hard time believing that SO MANY of my friends haven't read these books! I'm just waiting to see a preview of Bilbo biting off Gandalf's finger and Galadriel and Sarumon getting it on! ---------------------------
As far as UI's go, MS Office (XP included) is just a nightmare.
The toolbars are scattered all over the place. There is a dearth of key commands. Clippy keeps showing up!
If you want to see near a near perfect example of UI design, just look at Adobe's suite of apps. Once you learn one program, the others all just fall in line.
and still only one mouse button, and they still can't burn cd's.
I guess some moron had to bring up the one button thing. You can use multi-button mice if you so choose under OS9. You can also burn CD's under OS9 very easily.
Do your research before opening yer trap
And they say Mac users are zealots and bigots! Just look at all the Linux zealots and bigots on this board! Sheesh
I've been using Speakeasy.org as my ISP for about 5 years and I've had DSL with them for the last year.
Sice the Speakeasy went national (rather than being just a hip little internet cafe/isp in Seattle) customer service has slipped a little, but is still by far the best ISP I've ever had to deal with. My DSL service is reliable and fast. I pay $80/mo for 768/386 service but actually get 768/768. Comparable service from Qwest is signifigantly more expensive and I've heard their customer service is not the greatest.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the Speakeasy.
Why are command line people so obsessed with more mouse buttons?
Hell, I'm a Machead from way back and I work in the graphics field and I avoid the mouse as much as possible because A) mousing is a slow way to work especially if you know key commands and B) RSI.
If only there were a good way to use Photoshop without a mouse I'd be happy. ---------------------------
I use GNU/Linux because it gives me freedom, something proprietary OS-es like OSX does not give.
Thus in my eyes, Apple has NOT delivered - GNU/Linux has
Well, until the Linux folks can convince Adobe that it would be profitable to develop Photoshop and Illustrator, I'll stick with my newfound *nix based MacOS on a PPC chip thankyouverymuch.
And no rants about the GIMP, please, it's about as powerful as Photoshop 2!
Exactly, usability and UI are related but by no means the same issue. A person can become accustomed to a bad UI, but poor usability is much harder to overcome because the design of the software itself is muddled.
Take Lotus Notes for example. It used many of the traditional UI metaphors... tabs, buttons, etc. However, if you press ctrl+N it asks you if you want to create a new database rather than a new email or calendar event. That is a usability problem, not a UI glitch.
And what's with this alt+f4 crap to quit Office apps? What is ctrl+q not good enough for ole MS?
You nailed it on the head. I very frequently have to deal with programmers who push functionality instead of usability.
Personally, I'd rather have a program that worked properly and easily rather than a high-powered app that requires a PHD to use. That's why I use Adobe apps on the Mac platform. They just work and never crash my machine and the learning curve between apps in minimal. If you know the tool set in one app, you pretty much know the tool set in all the others.
Granted, I use Macromedia products all the time as well because of their capabilities, but I spend much more energy swearing at Flash and Dreamweaver than I do at Photoshop and Illustrator.
I won't even go into the usability of MS' products! ---------------------------
Wait! Did I just read the words socialist and MS in the same sentence!
Microsoft is in the hot water they are now because they behave like Industrial Revolution era monopolists! If that isn't the paragon of capitalism, I don't know what is!
You might want to go back and look at your use of terms a bit mroe carefully! Democracy does not negate Socialism, nor does Socialism negate Capitalism. Monopolism, like tyrrany destroys both by creating a single power structure that stifles choice, be it poltical, creative or economic.
Microsoft is the hard-nosed capitalist company there is. If there is competition to their core markets, they crush it in old-school John D. Rockefeller fashion.
And since when is quality control a control freak issue. Did you ever use some of the Mac clones that used to exist? My gawd! The PowerComputing PowerBase had to be one of the worst pieces of crap ever built!
...apple's stock continues to plunge.
Uh......
Sorry, I actually made money on AAPL today. I don't know ehere you're getting your information, but you might want to look elsewhere!
Um, click and hold contextual menus? Ever tried using the ctrl key while pressing on a window?
I don't understand all this multiple mouse button madness! Having a single button mouse forces me to use the keyboard a great deal more and I'm way faster with keystrokes than with a lumbering mouse for simple commands.
I've got a 3 button mouse on my Dell here at work at I never use the other 2 buttons because I've bothered to take the time to learn how to use the keyboard shortcuts.
Ugh! If only I could somehow move my cursor around with my eyes and never use a freaking mouse again, I'd be a happy camper!
PDF is based off of Postscript. You can't make a decent PDF without somehow making a postscript of your document.
The big issue is for *nix developers to come out with some decent postscript drivers or ps compliant virtual printers. Then you need some way to "distill" the ps to a PDF. Very few applications currently have the ability to "save as" to PDF but can export to it or at least allow you to print to a ps file.
p.s. Also, stop using TrueType fonts and you just might find that the quality of type in PDF's improves greatly!
Slashdot Mirror
-- if the interface gets up to photoshop caliber.
oh yeah, like that's every going to happen!
---------------------------
A very well thought out and eloquent post. I think it really kinda hits the root of why a lot of whiny /.'ers want things open soureced: they don't have the mathematical skills or the drive to go out and discover or create something totally new. They'd rather ride on the success of others.
/.'ers. I know there are some brilliant developers out there, but the "fp'ers" and people who blindly scream "open source" without thinking about all the consequences come off sounding just as bad as "Apple zealots"... a brand I reluctantly wear.
Not meant as a blanket statement for all
---------------------------
Um, Xerox knowingly and willingly gave away their GUI to Apple. It was MS that came in and stole it. Apple already tried to kick M$ in the can for that infringement and was soundly beaten down for the attempt.
---------------------------
And when was the last time Compaq did anything original?
iPaq sounds suspiciously like iMac and came out shortly after the iMacs release.... and didn't it come in cool colors also? Innovative!
And let's just face it. This thing is susupiciously like the TiBook or the ultra-thin Vaio.
One way to keep your R&D costs down is to copy someone else's.
---------------------------
I'm not looking for the most flashy web site. I'm looking for the web site that loads fastest, gives me the information I want, and lets me click the Exit button without flashing a million things in my face.
Who are you? Jakob Nielsen? Or just some random luddite?
---------------------------
You CAN bookmark particular pages within a Flash site if you design it properly using Frames and carefully targeted SWF files within those frames.
And I suppose you've never used tables for layout rather than tabular data before?
Think before you type or at least do some research.
---------------------------
I'm just having a hard time believing that SO MANY of my friends haven't read these books! I'm just waiting to see a preview of Bilbo biting off Gandalf's finger and Galadriel and Sarumon getting it on!
---------------------------
Same difference: PDF stands for Postscript Display Format.
some might say "portable document format"
---------------------------
As far as UI's go, MS Office (XP included) is just a nightmare.
The toolbars are scattered all over the place. There is a dearth of key commands. Clippy keeps showing up!
If you want to see near a near perfect example of UI design, just look at Adobe's suite of apps. Once you learn one program, the others all just fall in line.
---------------------------
I guess some moron had to bring up the one button thing. You can use multi-button mice if you so choose under OS9. You can also burn CD's under OS9 very easily.
Do your research before opening yer trap
And they say Mac users are zealots and bigots! Just look at all the Linux zealots and bigots on this board! Sheesh
---------------------------
Well the programs they're running are probably AltiVec and MP optimized.
---------------------------
I've been using Speakeasy.org as my ISP for about 5 years and I've had DSL with them for the last year.
Sice the Speakeasy went national (rather than being just a hip little internet cafe/isp in Seattle) customer service has slipped a little, but is still by far the best ISP I've ever had to deal with. My DSL service is reliable and fast. I pay $80/mo for 768/386 service but actually get 768/768. Comparable service from Qwest is signifigantly more expensive and I've heard their customer service is not the greatest.
All in all, I'm very satisfied with the Speakeasy.
---------------------------
ah yes, the oblligatory one-button mouse bashing!
Don't bring up anything useful, just bash the mouse!
---------------------------
Why are command line people so obsessed with more mouse buttons?
Hell, I'm a Machead from way back and I work in the graphics field and I avoid the mouse as much as possible because A) mousing is a slow way to work especially if you know key commands and B) RSI.
If only there were a good way to use Photoshop without a mouse I'd be happy.
---------------------------
I use GNU/Linux because it gives me freedom, something proprietary OS-es like OSX does not give.
Thus in my eyes, Apple has NOT delivered - GNU/Linux has
Well, until the Linux folks can convince Adobe that it would be profitable to develop Photoshop and Illustrator, I'll stick with my newfound *nix based MacOS on a PPC chip thankyouverymuch.
And no rants about the GIMP, please, it's about as powerful as Photoshop 2!
---------------------------
Exactly, usability and UI are related but by no means the same issue. A person can become accustomed to a bad UI, but poor usability is much harder to overcome because the design of the software itself is muddled.
Take Lotus Notes for example. It used many of the traditional UI metaphors... tabs, buttons, etc. However, if you press ctrl+N it asks you if you want to create a new database rather than a new email or calendar event. That is a usability problem, not a UI glitch.
And what's with this alt+f4 crap to quit Office apps? What is ctrl+q not good enough for ole MS?
---------------------------
You nailed it on the head. I very frequently have to deal with programmers who push functionality instead of usability.
Personally, I'd rather have a program that worked properly and easily rather than a high-powered app that requires a PHD to use. That's why I use Adobe apps on the Mac platform. They just work and never crash my machine and the learning curve between apps in minimal. If you know the tool set in one app, you pretty much know the tool set in all the others.
Granted, I use Macromedia products all the time as well because of their capabilities, but I spend much more energy swearing at Flash and Dreamweaver than I do at Photoshop and Illustrator.
I won't even go into the usability of MS' products!
---------------------------
What dvantages does OS X offer? Ever used a little program called Photoshop?
BE? Why would they have done that?
Wait! Did I just read the words socialist and MS in the same sentence!
Microsoft is in the hot water they are now because they behave like Industrial Revolution era monopolists! If that isn't the paragon of capitalism, I don't know what is!
You might want to go back and look at your use of terms a bit mroe carefully! Democracy does not negate Socialism, nor does Socialism negate Capitalism. Monopolism, like tyrrany destroys both by creating a single power structure that stifles choice, be it poltical, creative or economic.
Microsoft is the hard-nosed capitalist company there is. If there is competition to their core markets, they crush it in old-school John D. Rockefeller fashion.
And since when is quality control a control freak issue. Did you ever use some of the Mac clones that used to exist? My gawd! The PowerComputing PowerBase had to be one of the worst pieces of crap ever built!
...apple's stock continues to plunge. Uh...... Sorry, I actually made money on AAPL today. I don't know ehere you're getting your information, but you might want to look elsewhere!
Um, click and hold contextual menus? Ever tried using the ctrl key while pressing on a window? I don't understand all this multiple mouse button madness! Having a single button mouse forces me to use the keyboard a great deal more and I'm way faster with keystrokes than with a lumbering mouse for simple commands. I've got a 3 button mouse on my Dell here at work at I never use the other 2 buttons because I've bothered to take the time to learn how to use the keyboard shortcuts. Ugh! If only I could somehow move my cursor around with my eyes and never use a freaking mouse again, I'd be a happy camper!
Wow, dude! Check your calendar! It's currently 1:39pm, Wednesday November 29 in Seattle; currently located in the Pacific time zone.
Too bad it's Wednesday and your alliteration no longer works.
PDF is based off of Postscript. You can't make a decent PDF without somehow making a postscript of your document.
The big issue is for *nix developers to come out with some decent postscript drivers or ps compliant virtual printers. Then you need some way to "distill" the ps to a PDF. Very few applications currently have the ability to "save as" to PDF but can export to it or at least allow you to print to a ps file.
p.s. Also, stop using TrueType fonts and you just might find that the quality of type in PDF's improves greatly!