The article misses the mark completely. The main thesis is that Mac OS did change only incrementally, while Windows leaps chaotically between new features and philosophies. That's not true, and in fact the illustrations used contradict the conclusions drawn in the article.<p>For example, when they talk about the introduction of the proto Dock in Mac OS, they say "no major changes in UI". But when Windows introduces the Start menu and task bar that's changing the UI "completely". Then come the incremental UI refinements and color changes that coincide with new graphics capabilities, again this is heralded as being more of the same for Mac but radically different with each version of Windows. Looking at these screenshots <i>which show similar trends in UI development</i> side by side and coming to wildly different conclusions in the face of those similarities is just a stunning display of cognitive dissonance.<p>The change to Metro would be the only big jump where the article is actually right in asserting a real change, if we'd be willing to forget the fact that Metro (or whatever it's called now) is nothing but a thin veneer you have to get past in order to access the real Windows, which is of course pretty much a clone of its predecessor.<p>All this just to explain a conclusion from an anecdote, a conclusion which the article itself proves wrong unwittingly. Even if we accept that OS X users don't buy books about their OS and don't rant as much (which I find particularly out of touch with reality), that's because there are vastly more Windows users around. Because the numbers are so great, there are also a lot of Windows users who lack the tech intuition but want to learn, so they buy a book about it. OS X clientele is just by and large different. That's where the real difference lies.
The joke used to go: Windows users blame Microsoft, Mac users blame themselves.<p>(Linux users just fix the problem on their own.)<p>I concur with other posters saying that Mac users ranted a lot when going from Mac OS 9 to OS X 10.0, and they had a lot to rant about. OS X felt slow and didn't support lots of devices, and was a brand new paradigm of computing for them at the time. Now, a lot of stuff just works, much like Mac OS felt like it did.
Funny how they the article turns the stagnation of OS X into a benefit.<p>Also interesting that Windows users now rant about their OS, where they used to rave about most releases instead. I remember being genuinely excited about Windows 95, 98, 2000, XP, Longhorn (but was disappointed by Vista) and 7. I was even tempted to buy a new version from my saved pocket money as a kid - I eventually got pirated versions of 2000 and later XP though :-).<p>Nowadays, I dread new OS releases. Be it Windows, OS X, Linux (Ubuntu, Gnome) - OSes and desktop environments get heavier with each release, yet loose features, and get hideously redesigned because Touch and UX, LOL.<p>From that perspective, the stagnation of OS X <i>really is</i> a virtue, since Apple is at least not messing it up.<p>(I like the inverted scrolling from Lion, the new notifications are useful, and Mission Control is not bad. I can pretend Launchpad is not there. OS X feels like Ubuntu anno 2010 or XP with a Mac theme, which is a good thing.)
Well mac users do rant too. A lot actually.<p>If not for the title, I think you do have a point here. I've had a mac for close to 6 years now and after each installation/upgrade, it feels like I'm back on my old laptop - nothing seems to have changed drastically. And that is a great thing. You get back to work faster knowing that things have been improved under the hood.
The meat of the linked article are pages 2 and 3, where the author gives a breakdown and commentary of the Mac and Windows approach to UI. Those pages are short with lots of graphics. Page 1 is stupid and page 4 is redundant. (This paragraph is for people complaining about the supposed length of the article and for people commenting on the title only)<p>The point of the article is that Apple has never made any dramatic changes to their core UI while Microsoft never seemed to settle on one that worked. While I disagree in many respects, the author makes a reasonable case.<p>The truth is that for most windows (and even mac users), they tend to be locked in to their OS of choice for other reasons and just deal with whatever UI they get. The lesson is more relevant in the general sense and applies to all manner of other GUI software. Windows users might be stuck with Windows but what stopped Ubuntu users from jumping ship when Unity made arbitrary unwanted changes to the interface? What stops Firefox users from switching to chrome or Opera when upgrades break functionality?
For me the Mac is nice because its command line almost matches a linux setup. I use it because it is like a pretty Linux GUI. However finder and preview in 10.7 have some annoying glitches that I really find annoying. For example, in preview you can no longer simply save a document you have to export/duplicate what not. Finder has an annoying habit of trying to be too clever: if you hover a set of files over a folder it will helpfully change the finder window to epxose more of the target folder. Unfortunately this will change the finder geometry causing me to often miss the target of my drop.<p>The OS is sufficiently different from Linux to be annoying in crucial moments when I have too look up why a certain command does not work, or works differently.<p>Also, bsd/linux source code compiling often work, but sometimes don't making things more annoying than if they never worked and you knew what to expect.<p>Wait: I was just ranting. And yet I'm a mac user.
Mac users do bitch about the OS, there's forums where they have done so for decades. There's still folks calling for Apple to fix the fucking Finder. I used Mac OS back in the day and was one of the early users of OS X. But none of this was magically intuitive, people did and still bought how-to books and spend hours Googling tips.<p>And yes, Windows hasn't been that great over the years, but like most tools is manageable with effort. Windows 8.x has been a step backwards on the desktop but Windows Phone is surprising good.<p>As a pro I still think GUIs are one piece of the system, but CLIs still rule in my world.
i could actually rant for hours. but it just frustrates me.<p>i loathe the app store to the deepest core of my being and actively resent any software I am forced to install with it.<p>snow leopard was a tragedy. most people I know had their machines developing weird quirks around then. supposedly osx only stays wonderful as long as you always have the latest and greatest.<p>i now avoid new mac releases as much as possible. last time it was xcode that forced me to upgrade. That is just the most ridiculously large installer for gcc ever.<p>Oh god yes, and even if you go 'theres cli-tools' (behind a registration wall that you have to know specifically to look for) ... last month, apple decided to booby-trap their gcc binary to force you to open up xcode and agree to a new license agreement before you were allowed to compile things on the command line.<p>if you didnt have xcode, you had to download it, to open it up, agree to the compulsory license agreement to unlock your cli binaries.
This simply isn't true. The jump from Mac OS to Mac OS X was huge and Mac users ranted for years about it. You had different file structures, compatibility issues, and Mac OS Classic prided itself in its "out of your way, no nonsense" GUI while OS X started the "Fisher Price" GUI era.<p>More than a decade has passed since then, so I don't remember all the details, but you certainly had to learn the OS X way, just like the man learning Windows 8.
Some examples of books on how to use a Mac:<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Books-Learning-How-Use-Computer/lm/RMAUY0TZ0OSRX" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Books-Learning-How-Use-Computer/lm/RMA...</a><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Macs-For-Dummies-Edward-Baig/dp/1118517199" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Macs-For-Dummies-Edward-Baig/dp/111851...</a><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/My-iMac-Mountain-Lion-Edition/dp/0789751135" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/My-iMac-Mountain-Lion-Edition/dp/07897...</a><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/OS-Mountain-Lion-Pocket-Guide/dp/1449330320" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/OS-Mountain-Lion-Pocket-Guide/dp/14493...</a><p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Guide-Mac-Mountain-Edition/dp/1481077570" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Guide-Mac-Mountain-Edition/dp/1...</a><p>Doesn't seem all that different from Windows, after all.
I've also heard plenty of Mac users rant about their computers.
OSX doesn't do shit that pisses me off. That's what I like about it. It doesn't do things without asking. Oh you want to shut down? How about we run some updates first. Oh lets just reboot because I ran some updates. Hey there's a new JAVADOBEVIRUS update you should get it. Oh you're on a laptop? Lets run 253 updates while it's booting up, you don't need that battery life right?<p>Telling my computer to do something, and having it do something completely different is one reason why I use OSX. Sure, you can force windows to try and be like that, but how long until an update undo's all your little tweaks you've put in place?
This is a terrible article which is made worse by unnecessarily being broken up into 4 pages to quadruple ad views.<p>Mac users bitch about the OS. It just so happens we're at a point where Windows 8 is a drastic change from Windows 7 and OS X hasn't made any drastic changes for a while.
At least in my circle of friends, and company, which are pretty much all Mac users, the basic premise that they don't rant, complain, or talk about Mac OS is completely flawed. I have to hear about problems with every Mac OS release for days and weeks after each release, and get tired of the cross-chatter about it. The Mac users I know talk about and complain about Mac OS probably more than any other topic I hear them talk about, nearly as much as sports fans talk about sports.<p>I'm really just jealous that the people I know don't all use Linux and aren't as passionate about it. :-/ But there's a certain blindness when you're the fan to how much you fan out about things.
Apple features are only used when you explicitly call for them. Otherwise the entire Finder experience can be considered almost kiosk-like in its simplicity.<p>If you do want to learn how to use a new feature, you have to Google it just like the rest of us.<p>If you have a problem with OSX, prepare to enter the dark world of the Apple Forums where any expectation of something working outside of Apple's narrow definition of functionality will be met with derision and ridicule.<p>But is OSX is a slow torture than Windows 8 is a rocket launcher to the head.<p>I've never understood why we have to 'like' one over another. Can't we just hold them all to a higher standard?
<i>yawn</i><p>Anyone that has been tinkering with OSs for a while will understand they all have their benefits. As a web app developer, I run Arch Linux w Gnome Shell 3.10 on my personal computer and my company provides me with an iMac at work.<p>For an experienced user, Mac OS is a unix prison. All the cool tinkering and customizations I love about my linux build are usually locked down in a Mac.<p>When it comes to family members and non-tech people who ask for my recommendation on products though, I usually push them towards Apple. Apple products are essentially tech-training wheels.
I don't feel like reading through four pages (yeah, I'm lazy), but I'll take a guess as to what the rest of the article talks about.<p>1) OSX doesn't change significantly. People ranted about OSX for <i>years</i>, until one day they kinda stopped. Because OSX was new and fresh, right up until the point when it became the same thing that it's been for 13 years.<p>2) More people use Windows so more people are talking about Windows.<p>3) Therefore, OSX is better because [insert reason].
I expected this thread to have more debate. I'm hardly the first person to point out that the OS is increasingly irrelevant, but I think this thread adds evidence for that theory.