Snap-Fest! Mac OS
Today is the 20th anniversary of the release of Mac OS X. I wrote a bit about it in my Macworld column this week, and also put together a little Mac OS X timeline.
As a proponent of the Linux OS, writing about Linux apps each week helps LinuxInsider dispel the nagging attitude that doing stuff in Linux is difficult compared to using Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. That's not the case with Linux apps today. To borrow a common phrase and apply it to Linux, yes, there's an app for that! Shutterly Functional. Hilarious retro parodies! Experience the world through the eyes, ears and chubby little hands of a baby! Crawl your way through a zany retro sandbox experience, filled with imagination and fun! Baby Hands is a funny, family friendly VR baby simulator!
I’ve written a lot about Mac OS X over the years. Compiling that timeline reminded me of that. I was a features editor at Macworld when Apple began shipping OS X precursors, and so I edited most of our early coverage. Beginning with Mac OS X 10.1, I wrote most of Macworld’s big feature stories covering each release.
I’ve lived in the same house since 1999, so I have spent many springs and summers sitting out in my yard under our redwood tree writing and editing articles about Mac OS X, OS X, and now macOS.
How many? This many:
- OS X Prehistory (compiled by me from multiple Macworld features)
Wow, that’s a lot of operating-system releases. Here’s to the next uncountable number of them.
(While I wrote shorter reviews for Macworld, John Siracusa was always reviewing OS X at length for Ars Technica. Here’s a list of all his reviews.)
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I hear you, Mitch, and I’m glad the snaps work for you.
My position remains, though. Add to the mix the Planar and Ortho toggles (in various combinations of being on/off) and snapping becomes more complex than is needed, in my opinion, with lots of mousing involved for changes when things don’t work out as desired.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that the snaps “don’t” work or “can’t” work as they are. I’m merely suggesting that they could work a whole lot more easily and intuitively—especially, it seems to me, if hotkeys could be dynamically used (as is the case in PowerCADD, who handle snaps better than any other program I’ve encountered). Seasoned Rhino users will possibly have deciphered the nuances required as things are (and I’m not convinced of this based on many conversations I’ve had with others about rhino snaps); however, the reality is that new users are often baffled by snaps/ortho/planar in their totality.
I realize the inherent difficulty of questioning existing methods to those intimately acquainted with existing software. Often it is what we have become (ab)used to that makes existing methods seem immutable. I’m as guilty as the rest in this! However, in the quest for new users, constant improvement (and McNeel has a very good track record here!) is rewarded in the marketplace. As such, there is value in always considering if better ways can be realized. And a valuable way to identify areas for improvement is if frustrations are sought, expressed, and given a degree of consideration without too much defending of the existing solutions. (Again, McNeel has a good record here, too). That’s really my main goal here. Just relaying reactions from teaching Rhino to over 100 students and my own personal observations.
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Case in point is that when I proposed The Gumball to Bob several years ago, he directed me to McNeel’s lead programmer. The reaction from more than a few McNeel folks was, “Why in the world would anyone EVER use something like that?” A few weeks later, and to my great surprise, I received a beta Gumball to test-drive. The rest is history, as they say. (And thank you again, McNeel not only for The Gumball, but doing even more with it than was thought possible!!!)
Snap-fest Mac Os Update
~Dave