fplanque: dev blog

"Apple's design is supposed to be the ultimate perfection in 21st century computing. We should all learn from them."

I get that a lot when discussing b2evolution's user interface (which, btw, I like to think has improved significantly in version 2.0...)

While I do like what Apple does; while I do think Jonathan Ive is one of the greatest designers of our time; I still need to rant a little before I dive into the present day

So here's the top 5 user interaction design "mistakes" I would never have made if I has the final word at Apple's:

1. A mouse where you never really know when you're going to left or right click, unless you really pay attention;
2. An iPod that requires up to ten keypresses to exit shuffle mode while listening to a playlist;
3. A mouse that gives Windows switchers a hard time with no control over acceleration, not even in the most obscure hidden place of the control panel. (Not even from the command line actually);
4. A wireless keyboard with no numpad (not even an option);
5. A battery you cannot replace, not even by turning one single screw. (How comes they got that right on the iMacs?)

And I won't even start with the marketing decisions (leaving a lot of features out of the iPod touch, etc.)

Of course, I'd make a lot more other mistakes, but still... Besides what's the use of a personal blog if not for pointless rants...

I have recently put together a new Core 2 duo PC for doing my web development. And I have been asked why I didn't get a Core 2 duo Mac instead...

The question definitely makes sense. You can now get essentially the same components into a PC or a Mac. So the choice would boil down to:

• Design
• OS
• Software

Design

Well, the Macs look better, definitely.

However...

If you choose your hardware carefully, you can get a pretty decent looking PC. Check out these Antec enclosures (they have a nice quality feeling by the way) or these Sony displays.

And also, if you actually want to connect 3 screens to a Mac, you'll definitely need one of those bigger Mac Pros where you can put in a PC video card. And those sort of lose their coolness factor over the iMacs. But to be fair, I guess you could get away with a 24" iMac

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Link: http://applejack.sourceforge.net/

If you crash your mac: AppleJack!

And even if you don't crash your Mac bad, you want AppleJack. Everytime you hard reset/reboot your mac you add a few errors on your hard drive structure. And as time goes by, you get more and more of those turning pizzas/beach balls and you just don"t know why...

Run Apple Jack and your Mac will feel all clean and new again!