South Florida Final Cut Pro Users Group

Why is the OSX Finder So Drastically
Different in Comparison to OS9?

on 6/29/03 12:36 PM, Doug Noble at doug@adwebhosting.com wrote:
Do you use Quickeys for OSX? I hate the change in Command N for new in the Finder. What were they thinking? Geez! Maybe there are other hacks to change keyboard shortcuts.

Doug, I have used QuicKeys (but I don't have it installed at the moment, so I cannot answer you, definitively). I am not sure whether you can reassign the "Command N" (which yields a new Finder window under OSX) as a particular 'FINDER' designate - or change it so it makes a new Folder as it does under OS9.

Why Apple has made these OSX transitions
seemingly rather drastic in nature?

It is baffling to me as well that Apple has taken this course of action changing so many of the “basic” Finder functions we have all become so accustomed to. Perhaps they have done it to remind us all that they are in the drivers seat with this OS transition. IMNSHO possibly not the best course to take. It would make more sense to me not to piss off your customers, forcing them to change to your way of thinking, especially when there are effective and somewhat more cost effective alternatives waiting in the wings.

I also am forced to admit, rarely has Winblows changed such basic (and useful) keyboard commands, although they have “reassigned” and buried many of the basic properties such as Network settings that force one to go searching for them in XP under the start menu. Active directory setup is still an administrator's nightmare as well.

They have done this across a couple of WIN revisions from 95 to 98 to NT/XP. Don't get me wrong, I still hate using Windows, and Office, just to provide some compatibility with the rest of the universe. But they (WIN/XP) at least have several means to get to these important control areas - and all related functions such as, sharing, printer sharing, security, all wind up in the same dialog. They maximize these using "right-click" contextual menus in all areas.

Different and arguably better in OSX, network settings also baffle me as to why this often needed, combined functionality for network access and printing control is still weak (definitive control is still missing really) in OSX.

You would think based on the strength Apple has had in the printing industry, this would have been a “Number One Priority”, to make a rock solid “Print Center” easy to use and universally printer compatible. Perhaps they are waiting for Quark as well as the rest of us, to finally get that right or pay more attention to it, but it seems painfully “late” to me, as it must to other print/publishing professionals.

In Apples defense though, Rendezvous is supposed to accomplish much of this, but network and third party printer vendors have been slow on the implementation, as they were with USB until Apple forced the issue with the iMAC introduction sans serial and parallel connectivity.  So this is another "let's wait and see".

One thing that I have resolved myself to in using OSX - "it's pretty tough to fight City Hall". It’s easier to just use OSX and get used to it’s idiosyncrasies, than to pine about it not being OS9. There are many docklings and hacks folks have come out with, in order to ease the transition for long time OS9 users. ASM, Fruit Menu, Prefling are all helper apps that add back some of the OS9 functionality, Apple has stolen away from us. However, this does add more apps to set up when trying to unify multiple installations.

Seems like a new OS should have all the feature we are used to, then some great new functionality, doesn't it?

Again in Apple's defense, perhaps they had to go backwards just a bit, in order to get the stability and reliability functions operable. Sacrificing some of the user interface functionality in the process.  OSX is a bold departure from the MACOS we have become accustomed.  It is more robust, capable and overall much more stable. It’s now easier to use disk images to setup under OSX, for multiple machine “upgrades” than in the past. Bootable portable drives using Firewire or USB connections, help immensely as well.

I will tell you this, I now have a hard time going back into OS9.   I even feel clumsy when I go back to it.

Yes, OS9 Finder is still faster than OSX Finder on anything but the fastest machines.
Yes, some printing features we gained in OS9, are nonexistent in OSX.
Yes, sometimes "buttons and links" do not always respond with the response times we have become use to.
Yes, the Windows web browsing experience is more consistent and significantly faster.  Safari is good, but not as fast or compatible as IE on Windows.

However - my experience with multiple programs always running under OSX is that of much higher stability and reliability. And let's face this; Apple is not going to support OS9 forever, and there will be a point in the not to distant future, when they will completely make computers with an OSX where OS9 will just be a major hindrance or not work at all.

They have already “tried” to do this with the last iteration of thier "high End" machines. I think that it failed to achieve their goal based on published sales reports, to “eliminate the use of OS9” mainly because of the lack of printer driver support and the absence of an OSX native Quark. It did succeed in flattening professional sales of new machines and adoption of OSX. Particularly in printing and publishing, typically their strongest market. The "Pros" are waiting for the GHZ gap to close dramatically and machinery to work within their workflow, before making major hardware and software upgrade commitments.

The MDD design was a great design idea from Cupertino! The G5 promise is wonderful and long overdue, but I like having the ability to add a second optical or other "full size" device accessible to the front of the machine.  They added a couple of ports, but took away the second drive bay!  I just don't get it, one step forward and two backward.

I am working in an environment where “Quark is King”, and this is a painful truth no matter how much I want to migrate to OSX. It seems at this point in time, from the objective “scale of economy” it would be far more efficient (and cheaper) to re-tool to Quark in Windows, rather than the learning curve it will take to get artists to transition to OSX and Quark 6.0. (yeeechhh!)

Who knows what awful bugs await us in Quark 6.0? Judging from past major revisions of Quark, it takes them a really long time to get these new “features” worked out, leaving the workarounds up to stressed out Administrators like me! We can only hope that this long wait for Quark to deliver native OSX functionality, means this will not happen, but judging from Quark’s history, we are still in for a lengthy transition process.

In my opinion, the only thing really saving Apple (in the print/publishing environment) is the staunch loyalty of it’s artistic professional user base. I don’t like Windows, because when it breaks, it usually breaks pretty hard, making it cryptic and difficult to troubleshoot. Maybe it’s because I am so MAC centric, but it always seems far easier to fix MAC OS issues than Windows. Easier even under the more complicated OSX, once one gets used to it’s multiple Libraries and Preference areas.

This brings us back to:
“what was Apple thinking changing such basic Finder functionality”.

I am sorry to see that faced with this learning curve, many professional shops have opted to go to Windows for efficiency and economy. Citing the “learning curve” that will be necessary with the change in OSX to learn, as a basis and logic for jumping to Windows. The “bean counters” (sorry Don) now winning the battle against “Creative”, because their long time argument of “I don’t have the time to learn a new operating system”, is now also true for Apple OSX. So accountants argue, “why not go with the lesser expensive operating system and hardware platform?”

Worsening the argument, is simplified printing procedures. Many print houses now use a professional version of Adobe .PDF for final page submission. So the cross platform compatibility argument is gone as well. Using Adobe Acrobat Professional eliminates all of those problems associated with fonts and kerning disparities between computers (and OSes).

Magazine publishers no longer have to go through the tedious procedure of including all fonts used, all graphics and a separate Quark file, only to hope that the separator on the other end can make the files all work properly. A single .PDF file made with a driver supplied by the printer/separator to match their output devices, reducing the errors that have plagued this process in the past. It works equally as well under Windows, and the files print the same whether the RIP is a MAC or a PC.

I am drooling over the possibilities of the G5 2.0ghz Dual CPU.  But I am gonna wait and upgrade my trusty G4 to a DUAL 1.2ghz to get a little better performance in Final Cut and iDVD. Then wait for the next genration to drop the prices a bit.

Avi Learner is the System Administrator for Ocean Drive Magazine in South Beach, FL - Partner in Adweb Services - and is a regular contributor to the Gold Coast Mac User group newsletter,

Copyright© 2003 Avi Learner - avi@adweb.biz
Reproduction in any format, without prior permission is prohibited.

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