It Ain't Broke But They Fixed It, Anyway!
Yesterday, I took a visual tour of Apple’s upcoming release of OS X named “Panther”. I wasn’t impressed. (You can see it at: http://208.189.136.121/PantherPreview/html/PantherPreview00.html.)
In fact, I found some of the interface tweaks—and I’m talking about the graphical appearance of the OS—a turn off.
The more Apple moves toward grey or metal finishes, the more they look make the Mac look like Windows. Yuk!
There’s an old saying that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This often seems to be an axiom that software companies enjoy flaunting their defiance of it. That’s fine if it’s on their dime. But when they tweak things and want me to pay for it, it’s a different matter altogether. That’s especially true when the tweak is less elegant than the original; and, for me right now, that appears to be the case with Panther.
The elegance of the visual interface of OS X is one of the more attractive things about it, its appealing technical aspects aside. In Panther, Apple has applied iTune’s metallic skin to almost all system interfaces. I’m okay with that in and of. I run my XP computer with a Style XP skin called “Gbrushed” which does the same thing. But Apple applied theirs in a way that often makes the dialog boxes inelegant. I’m hearing from other folks, too, that the metal skin treatment is inconsistent. Those are not good things.
In the bigger picture, I have to wonder if Apple is headed down the same road Microsoft plundered. One of the reasons I wanted off Windows was Microsoft’s continual tweaking of the operating system, especially when they made it incompatible with applications or hardware I was using. Critics would often say that Microsoft appeared to be tweaking Office or Windows just to tweak it. Apple appears to be doing the same thing? Why? Is it to justify Apple’s charging $129 for each incremental update of its operating system? My upgrade costs are becoming a bit much. Because of that, I’m going to take a harder look at what I’m going to get for my money and whether the update is really worth it. In the case of Panther, it might not be.
I won’t make any final decisions about Panther until it’s released, I see the reviews, and play with it on a machine in a CompUSA store, at a Micro Center, or in an Apple Store. But for now, I’d say the odds of me springing for Panther are not huge. Jaguar is good enough.
In fact, I found some of the interface tweaks—and I’m talking about the graphical appearance of the OS—a turn off.
The more Apple moves toward grey or metal finishes, the more they look make the Mac look like Windows. Yuk!
There’s an old saying that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. This often seems to be an axiom that software companies enjoy flaunting their defiance of it. That’s fine if it’s on their dime. But when they tweak things and want me to pay for it, it’s a different matter altogether. That’s especially true when the tweak is less elegant than the original; and, for me right now, that appears to be the case with Panther.
The elegance of the visual interface of OS X is one of the more attractive things about it, its appealing technical aspects aside. In Panther, Apple has applied iTune’s metallic skin to almost all system interfaces. I’m okay with that in and of. I run my XP computer with a Style XP skin called “Gbrushed” which does the same thing. But Apple applied theirs in a way that often makes the dialog boxes inelegant. I’m hearing from other folks, too, that the metal skin treatment is inconsistent. Those are not good things.
In the bigger picture, I have to wonder if Apple is headed down the same road Microsoft plundered. One of the reasons I wanted off Windows was Microsoft’s continual tweaking of the operating system, especially when they made it incompatible with applications or hardware I was using. Critics would often say that Microsoft appeared to be tweaking Office or Windows just to tweak it. Apple appears to be doing the same thing? Why? Is it to justify Apple’s charging $129 for each incremental update of its operating system? My upgrade costs are becoming a bit much. Because of that, I’m going to take a harder look at what I’m going to get for my money and whether the update is really worth it. In the case of Panther, it might not be.
I won’t make any final decisions about Panther until it’s released, I see the reviews, and play with it on a machine in a CompUSA store, at a Micro Center, or in an Apple Store. But for now, I’d say the odds of me springing for Panther are not huge. Jaguar is good enough.
posted by Andy Foster at
4:02 AM
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