September 13, 2000
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Arguably one of the best things that Apple has managed to accomplish over the last few years was to poke, prod, and otherwise dissect its entire operating system strategy. Out of this examination came the whole technological circus train of NeXT, Rhapsody, Yellow Box, Carbon, Mac OS X, Cocoa, and of course Aqua. Regardless of the need to eliminate the chewing gum and baling wire holding together the current operating system and actually build a stable, buzzword-compliant foundation from scratch, Apple really should have treaded a bit lighter when overhauling the interface. OS X: Our New War finally voices something that I have been thinking about for a long time about the lickable, but not necessarily likable, new user experience.
“The interface is what I work in, and it’s the reason I stuck behind the Mac even in the dark days. And still do. With Aqua, Apple has removed 15 years of progress and started afresh. They’ve put us 10 years behind, and now, we have to climb that mountain all over again.”
Even with all of the differences in the system architecture and the alien (at least to most Mac users) UNIX underpinnings, a subtler, transitional interface would make migration to OS X more seamless and less painful. I’ve used a Mac for sixteen years (and before that, a Lisa) and the current experience that Aqua affords me is disorienting and awkward at best. Yes, I can adjust and adapt (and I will), but the point is that I haven’t actually been forced to adjust or adapt significantly when upgrading to any previous Mac system software. Mac OS X, in its current state, is not a operating system that I could recommend to people if they have never used a Mac before. To be honest, neither is Windows, but that’s another ball of wax. Even the existing iteration of the classic Mac OS is not as simple as it should be for a beginner (like my Dad for instance), but it’s a heck of lot friendlier than OS X.
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