Its the little things that remind me why I prefer OSX

[TheStu]

And this must just be me since no one else I have spoken to has ever had this problem, but I have always noticed it, on every Windows system I have ever used... I have my USB mouse connected. I have to move my computer, so I end up accidentally plugging the mouse into a different USB port, so it reinstalls the drivers as if it had never, ever seen this device before.

Windows has always done that AFAIK. I have no idea why it keeps track of devices down to the port like that but it does it with PCI devices too.

Wow, I am just glad to know that someone else has had the same problem, made me think that I was either going crazy, or only ever buying incredibly bad systems.

OS X lets you disable the trackpad, not the MacBook (or iBook, or whatever). Based on what I have seen from other laptops that have similar functionality (Some HP laptops have a little button above the trackpad that you can press), is that it is some sort of vendor made application that allows you to do this, not the OS itself. And since this is a list of things about OS X...

Which is a bad analogy though, Apple wrote the trackpad drivers so it makes sense that they'd include a tool to disable the thing in the OS. Since Acer (or whoever manufacturered the trackpad in another laptop) wrote the drivers for it it makes sense that they'd include the tool to disable it too.

Fair enough. I wonder if someone with a hackintosh laptop will weigh in to let us know if that feature works on non-apple trackpads.

Some larger applications (Photoshop, iWork, Office, that sort of thing) do require it, and there are free apps that will do it for you (find all the miscellaneous files in the library that need to be deleted) I do sometimes wish that Apple would include something like that by default.

You mean some apps come with installers but no uninstallers on OS X? That's even worse than what Windows does.

Yes, that is exactly what I mean. Now, for 99% of the applications out there, simply deleting the .app, or the folder for the app will remove the application and everything is hunky dory. Since most of the data is contained within the .app, and definitely all the executable code, deleting it is analogous to uninstalling. There will still be files left in the Library after that, but they are mostly harmless but useful if you ever reinstall. In the case of poorly written beta software (like LittleSnitch 2.0 beta that borked my entire user account), even with their uninstallers they don't completely go away.

The uninstall feature in Vista is getting there but there is no application standards it seems.

It seems that OS X doesn't have a standard either since I don't think "none" can be considered one.

The standard is None. Take that Windows!


With regards to the whole different component thing. The Intel Macs have come a long way with regard to internal hardware compatibility. But OS X in general has basically always had the built in drivers to let you use most any peripheral (I think Webcams in particular it is not very good with) right away.

 

[Nothinman]

Wow, I am just glad to know that someone else has had the same problem, made me think that I was either going crazy, or only ever buying incredibly bad systems.

I don't know if I'd consider it a problem (except for the keyboard side effect you mentioned), it's just a strange way for Windows to keep track of a device is new or not.

Fair enough. I wonder if someone with a hackintosh laptop will weigh in to let us know if that feature works on non-apple trackpads.

Well it would probably have to have the same model trackpad to have any chance of working and even then I wouldn't be surprised if Apple made their driver ignore all drivers except a specific list that they use in their laptops.

There will still be files left in the Library after that, but they are mostly harmless but useful if you ever reinstall.

So it _is_ just like uninstalling apps in Windows, nice...

The standard is None. Take that Windows!

Lack of a standard doesn't make a standard. And considering that most of the OS X users that I know use fink in addition to "none", I'd say you have at least two standards.

 

[Kmax82]

The difference between OS X and Windows apps, is that OS X apps contain all their viable program files within their Application folder, or in the app's package file. The Library is only used for preferences, and registration control. So while it is similar to Windows with leaving files after an uninstall, Windows apps typically leave Registry settings which can bog down your system. This is not the case in OS X.

 

[clarkey01]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
The difference between OS X and Windows apps, is that OS X apps contain all their viable program files within their Application folder, or in the app's package file. The Library is only used for preferences, and registration control. So while it is similar to Windows with leaving files after an uninstall, Windows apps typically leave Registry settings which can bog down your system. This is not the case in OS X.

I think registry problems are often blow out of proportion, my 2 year old Vista ultimate rig only had a few errors on it after I checked it out last month, I use that rig as a Vmware server and I installed crap loads on there and taken a load off.


Besides I don't think there asking much if you run a free reg program once every 6 months to delete some entries for you.

 

[clarkey01]

There will still be files left in the Library after that, but they are mostly harmless but useful if you ever reinstall.

So it _is_ just like uninstalling apps in Windows, nice...

The standard is None. Take that Windows!

Lack of a standard doesn't make a standard. And considering that most of the OS X users that I know use fink in addition to "none", I'd say you have at least two standards.[/quote]

I thought the exact same, so well noted.

 

[Nothinman]

The difference between OS X and Windows apps, is that OS X apps contain all their viable program files within their Application folder, or in the app's package file. The Library is only used for preferences, and registration control. So while it is similar to Windows with leaving files after an uninstall, Windows apps typically leave Registry settings which can bog down your system. This is not the case in OS X.

99% of the time left over files and registry entries on Windows don't "bog down" the system. There are times when they can cause problems but the effects are usually overstated.

 

[clarkey01]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

The difference between OS X and Windows apps, is that OS X apps contain all their viable program files within their Application folder, or in the app's package file. The Library is only used for preferences, and registration control. So while it is similar to Windows with leaving files after an uninstall, Windows apps typically leave Registry settings which can bog down your system. This is not the case in OS X.

99% of the time left over files and registry entries on Windows don't "bog down" the system. There are times when they can cause problems but the effects are usually overstated.

+1

 

[Kmax82]

Originally posted by: clarkey01

Originally posted by: Nothinman

The difference between OS X and Windows apps, is that OS X apps contain all their viable program files within their Application folder, or in the app's package file. The Library is only used for preferences, and registration control. So while it is similar to Windows with leaving files after an uninstall, Windows apps typically leave Registry settings which can bog down your system. This is not the case in OS X.

99% of the time left over files and registry entries on Windows don't "bog down" the system. There are times when they can cause problems but the effects are usually overstated.

+1

Yea.. I haven't had that happen in Vista, but I have had system slow downs in XP. I've also had complete system failure in Windows when a rogue app took out my install. Haven't had that issue in OS X, "yet". We'll see though... I've only been using OS X for a little over a year. While I have used Windows for over 10.

 

[umrigar]

AFAIK, you can no longer use IE7 to upload to FTP sites easily.

I ran across this issue at work (tech support) and after Googling, it seems you must use Windows Explorer to get the folder views; they've been removed from IE7 as a security 'feature.'

http://ie7triage.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!3B6634EF5458F389!192.entry

you have to edit the registry - something we don't do where i work (muck about in people's PC registry).

 

[sourceninja]

For simple apps I prefer the mac method for installing and uninstalling, but i get worried when the installer is a pkg. You never know if those are going to follow the standard and how easy/hard it will be to uninstall them. I really wish there was a easy removal tool that was used by default by the OS.

 

[KeypoX]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
For simple apps I prefer the mac method for installing and uninstalling, but i get worried when the installer is a pkg. You never know if those are going to follow the standard and how easy/hard it will be to uninstall them. I really wish there was a easy removal tool that was used by default by the OS.

yep me too lol

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
For simple apps I prefer the mac method for installing and uninstalling, but i get worried when the installer is a pkg. You never know if those are going to follow the standard and how easy/hard it will be to uninstall them. I really wish there was a easy removal tool that was used by default by the OS.

AppZapper, AppCleaner, and AppDelete will all do that for you, but yeah I agree it should have been built-in:

http://www.appzapper.com/

http://reggie.ashworth.googlepages.com/appdelete

http://www.freemacsoft.net/AppCleaner/

 

[EGGO]

Quicklook
Quicksilver (I now hate using the Start Menu in Windows because it seems so tedious and long)
Renaming is just alt+enter
I'm actually comfortable with the mouse because I love exposé (oh and doing easier symbols)

Few things I hate that stands out in my mind is Preview doesn't animate animated gifs.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

Wow, I am just glad to know that someone else has had the same problem, made me think that I was either going crazy, or only ever buying incredibly bad systems.

I don't know if I'd consider it a problem (except for the keyboard side effect you mentioned), it's just a strange way for Windows to keep track of a device is new or not.

Fair enough. I wonder if someone with a hackintosh laptop will weigh in to let us know if that feature works on non-apple trackpads.

Well it would probably have to have the same model trackpad to have any chance of working and even then I wouldn't be surprised if Apple made their driver ignore all drivers except a specific list that they use in their laptops.

There will still be files left in the Library after that, but they are mostly harmless but useful if you ever reinstall.

So it _is_ just like uninstalling apps in Windows, nice...

The standard is None. Take that Windows!

Lack of a standard doesn't make a standard. And considering that most of the OS X users that I know use fink in addition to "none", I'd say you have at least two standards.

But many linux distros have a similar issue, no matter whether you use apt, portage, yum...

if you do a sudo apt-get remove gaim, then ls -lah ~, you'll still see a .gaim folder in your user's home directory.

OSX basically installs all programs to a common directory (kind of like forcing everything to install into /opt in linux), and keeps all the application files in that one directory. Deleting a .app is therefore analogous to:

cd /opt
rm -rf gaim

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: EGGO
Quicklook
Quicksilver (I now hate using the Start Menu in Windows because it seems so tedious and long)
Renaming is just alt+enter
I'm actually comfortable with the mouse because I love exposé (oh and doing easier symbols)

Few things I hate that stands out in my mind is Preview doesn't animate animated gifs.

I think actually that you do not need to hit alt+enter, on my macbook i can hit either return or enter to rename a file. This is on 10.5.5.

 

[Nothinman]

if you do a sudo apt-get remove gaim, then ls -lah ~, you'll still see a .gaim folder in your user's home directory.

I never said otherwise, a package touching a user's home directory would be incredibly stupid. And unless you purge the package the global config files will remain as well but most people don't really care because it's usually just a few K of files in /etc. The important stuff (i.e. binaries, shared libraries, icons, etc) are all removed.

OSX basically installs all programs to a common directory (kind of like forcing everything to install into /opt in linux), and keeps all the application files in that one directory. Deleting a .app is therefore analogous to:

cd /opt
rm -rf gaim

Which would also leave your ~/.gaim directory.

But that's not always the case, some things mentioned earlier have real installers that spread some files around but don't have an uninstaller to remove them. The fact that multiple people took the time to write uninstallers for OS X definitely says something.

 

[EGGO]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: EGGO
Quicklook
Quicksilver (I now hate using the Start Menu in Windows because it seems so tedious and long)
Renaming is just alt+enter
I'm actually comfortable with the mouse because I love exposé (oh and doing easier symbols)

Few things I hate that stands out in my mind is Preview doesn't animate animated gifs.

I think actually that you do not need to hit alt+enter, on my macbook i can hit either return or enter to rename a file. This is on 10.5.5.

Oh hey, look at that! It even highlights just the name and not the extension.