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About this site

For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Saturday, October 04, 2003

XP user interface (task-based, iterative) vs. OS X user interface (1985 desktop GUI)
Mac-using readers continue to confuse what I mean by XP's task-based, iterative user interface and why it's superior to the basic desktop GUI used by Mac OS X, a UI that hasn't changed appreciably since 1985. Here's a response I provided via email to such a reader, who noted that OS X has stand-alone apps, not "things that are trying to be part of the OS." I think he missed the point...

The iApps are pretty good overall (I love iTunes; iPhoto is OK). But there are no task-based or iterative interfaces in Mac OS X.

You're thinking at too low a level. In fact, you're thinking like a Mac users, about applications, and not about the system as a whole. On the Mac, you have to connect applictions with tasks in your head. As an experienced user, you do this without thinking. But this can be confusing to many people, especially computer neophytes. For example, you want to print a photo. How do you do it? Do you manually find the photo in the shell and double-click it, hoping the app that launches can print, and that you can find that functionality? Or do you "think" of an app you want to use, launch that, and then find the photo from the app? (I realize you know how to do this. I'm considering the wider range of computer users out there.)

In XP, there are special folders exposed through the Start Menu that make handling photos, music, and other documents simple. When you launch these (and other) folders--directly from the Start Menu that Mac users think to be so silly--you'll see good examples of the task-based aspect of XP in action. Select a photo, open a folder full of photos, or whatever, and you'll see a list of tasks applicable to those file types. Including print. You don't have to worry about the app. There's nothing like this in OS X, which make you think app first. An odd approach: Shouldn't the computer do the heavy lifting?

The other side of the interface difference is iteration. XP's UI is also iterative where possible, which means it presents step-by-step lists, or wizards, to help users accomplish tasks. The Scanner and Camera Wizard is a perfect example: Simply plug-in a camera, scanner, digital memory card or CD with photos, or a similar device and the wizard appears, stepping you through the process. You get wonderful fine-grained control over which pictures you import, whether they're deleted from the source, where they're put on your system, and how their named. Now compare this to OS X, where an app, iPhoto launches. What now? The "import" button is highlighted, but there's no information at all about what you're doing, and no step-by-step help to guide you through the process (iPhoto also has other limits; you can't easily import only certain photos for example). By default, you must be sophisticated. This makes OS X harder to use than XP for normal people.

I've only highlighted the differences between a specific activity on both systems, but it's an obvious one (and one where Mac users always assume their experience is somehow better, when it isn't). But a task-based, iterative UI has nothing to do with bundling applications, it has to do with helping users accomplish the tasks they need to do, both frequently and infrequently, regardless of which apps they want to use.

[ Posted at 12:21 PM | Permalink ]

Mac OS X 10.2.8 update posted
Apple's bug-ridden 10.2.8 release was reposted with fixes to the Ethernet driver and battery status gauge. You can find out more from the Apple Web site; download is available via Software Updates.

[ Posted at 12:12 PM | Permalink ]

China seeks to undercut Apple's MPEG-LA licensing costs
This could get interesting: Increasingly frustrated over clashes with licensing agencies like MPEG LA, China is striving to wean itself from foreign standards and to free itself of royalty payments for high-volume products, such as DVD players and cell phones. The move could undercut the power and revenue of licensing agencies like MPEG LA, a consortium of patent holders such as Apple and Sun that charge a royalty of $2.50 per system, compared with China's proposal of 1 yuan (12 cents) for its codec. More on the EE Times...

[ Posted at 12:07 PM | Permalink ]

Friday, October 03, 2003

Best photos of the year
It's unclear who voted (and it's only October) but they are great photos.

[ Posted at 4:30 PM | Permalink ]

Half-Life 2 source code stolen
This is simply unbelievable and it should serve as a warning to anyone that travels or leaves their PC unattended without logging out. Valve's Gabe Newell this week confirmed rumors that the source code for Half-Life 2 has been stolen, thanks to flaws in Outlook Express. Newell describes the problem in a post to the Half-Life2.net forum, where he also asks for help finding the perpetrator.

[ Posted at 1:02 PM | Permalink ]

Goodbye Aqua, Hello Platinum
This blog posting takes a nice look at Apple's quiet retreat from the useless, fluffy translucency effects in Mac OS X as the company revs up to "Panther" (v. 10.3). It mirrors what I've been saying all along, right down to the "gaudy" nature of OS X's overly sharp color contrast and silly translucent menus. "The upcoming 10.3 upgrade ... largely kills the striped look, removes many useless translucency effects (from eg. inactive window title bars) and generally adds darker tones of grey to the backgrounds of windows to make the overall contrast more tolerable. In other words, it adds a healthy dose of Platinum elements into the Aqua appearance. I'm glad this shift in focus — from PR-friendly eye-candy to better usability — is happening, although I'm not exactly pleased to see that it took Apple almost three years to realize that Aqua with it's translucency effects and overly sharp color contrast was too gaudy. The switch from Platinum to Aqua happened too abruptly and many of the changes brought into the Mac GUI — such as translucent menus or translucent Save boxes — were unjustified at the time, and still remain so. Many of the so-called improvements done to the [original OS X] GUI were changes for the sake of change. What little reasoning supported changes like translucency and pulsating buttons was strictly marketing-related. Eye-candy sells software (and hardware, since we're talking about an entire OS) [though it didn't work in the case of OS X, obviously. --Paul]. Luckily Apple has finally realized that while the scaling effects of the Dock or the translucency effects used in the window manager make for great technological demos, they do nothing to improve day-to-day work efficiency, and that usability should come first." Ah yes, there's the key: Usability sould come first. Repeat that a few times after me, and then start looking at the iterative, task-based UI in Windows XP for examples on getting it right.

[ Posted at 12:57 PM | Permalink ]

Thursday, October 02, 2003

OpenOffice.org 1.1 released
OpenOffice.org has released OpenOffice.org 1.1, the latest update to the organization's free office productivity suite. Version 1.1 offers enhanced compatibility with Microsoft Office and is loaded with new features, such as the ability to export documents to Adobe PDF (Portable Document Format) and presentations to Macromedia Flash. The product also offers improved XML (Extensible Markup Language) support and UI work, though it still doesn't look that great to me. Version 2.0 will reportedly include major UI changes.

[ Posted at 9:17 AM | Permalink ]

Tuesday, September 30, 2003

Mozilla Firebird and Thunderbird release candidates
Firebird 0.7 release candidate 1 (RC1) and Thunderbird 0.3 RC 2 are now available for testing. It looks like both contain just minor changes, though Thunderbird's toolbar icon spacing--finally--looks to be corrected.

[ Posted at 10:27 PM | Permalink ]