Vincent Gable

September 29, 2008

OS Sounds

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , — Vincent Gable @ 6:06 pm

Here’s a case where Windows 98 “beats” out Mac OS X.

September 25, 2008

Simple Truths About Cross-Platform Apps

Filed under: Design, MacOSX, Programming, Quotes — Tags: , , — Vincent Gable @ 7:10 pm

Scott Stevenson tells it like it is,

Even if Apple recommended cross-platform toolkits for Mac development, the basic premise of Mac software market would not change. Mac users bought the computer they did because they found the experience more appealing. Bringing an application across from Windows with minor tweaks simply won’t resonate with this sort of user.

And gives free advice,

Maybe the most important thing you will ever need to know about Mac development is this:

Mac users will generally favor an app with a better experience over the one with more features.

The full article.

September 5, 2008

The ‘Apple Stands on 3rd Party Shoulders’ Theory

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — Vincent Gable @ 9:39 pm

Do you know what the real difference is between a Mac and a PC?

It’s not just the OS. A platform always stands or falls on third-party development. The difference is that Mac software tends to be well designed, and Windows software tends to suck.

Mike Lee, being “an elitist Mac-fan wanker”. Some interesting comments so far.

August 14, 2008

Only Skin Deep…

Filed under: Design, MacOSX — Tags: , , — Vincent Gable @ 6:30 pm

Pictures showing that a nerds desktop can look like other operating-systems … at least from a few feet away.

It’s a good reminder that design is not just skin deep.

July 23, 2008

Wow, Macs Really Are Easier

Filed under: Accessibility, Design, MacOSX, Usability — Tags: , — Vincent Gable @ 5:56 pm

Atul Varma learns to love his Mac

…In a nutshell, though, I had always assumed that Macs were only marginally easier to use than PCs. I guess I’ve found over the past two months that in some ways, this holds true—the Mac is essentially an incredibly sexy-looking PC, with the same annoyances and a few polishes that make it a bit more humane to use. In other ways, however, the difference is truly like night and day.

This is a story about such a situation.

… I had to go through 8 wizards in all, so that’s a grand total of twenty-four clicks required to unplug my keyboard and mouse from one side of my computer and plug them into the other side. I’m not actually installing brand-new hardware here.

The first time I had to plug this keyboard and mouse into my Mac, I was floored. In the best-case scenario, I expected it to think for a second or two and then give me a reasonably unintrusive message informing me that I could use my USB mouse and keyboard. That would have been pretty humane.

But it did one better.

The Mac didn’t tell me anything, because my mouse and keyboard just worked the moment I plugged them in. When you plug in a power cable or a pair of headphones into a computer, you don’t get some kind of confirmation message from your operating system, because it’s obviously supposed to just work—why should plugging in a USB keyboard and mouse be any different?

… I have to admit that when it all adds up, I find my Mac to be significantly easier to use than my PC.

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