Trixology
General Category => General Computing/Macintosh => Topic started by: Bull Winkus on June 21, 2016, 08:07:57 AM
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(https://cnet1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/06/13/0c2ccfab-af72-426a-964f-41c03e456bb6/resize/970xauto/8f8520ad09c61d34c49f382e91f1800c/macos-sierra-slide.jpg)
Here is a video from 9to5Mac (https://youtu.be/1un9d8ociyk) that does a very good job of going over many of the new features of macOS Sierra. It's about 24 minutes long, so go to the bathroom first. None of the 24 minutes are wasted, though. For the first time in a long time, Apple is coming through with an OS upgrade that is not just cosmetic. Finally, ? yes finally, using and managing your computer is going to improve significantly! All you hold outs, not yet on Mavericks or El Capitan (and you know who you are) will see plenty of reason to give [tup] to Sierra!
Enjoy, and discuss as needed.
[cheers1]
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And even though it's not even available for use (it's only recently available to developers), there are already negative nellies out there calling it useless and worse. I usually wait several weeks, often until after the first update, to a new version of OSX (now called Mac OS, BTW, we're finally through with the doubly redundant OS X 10 stupidity... ) but I know of many who jump right in on the first day of availability. Here's a link to an <article (http://tidbits.com/e/16575)> by Adam C. Engst, TidBITS publisher, debunking the already spreading Sierra 'myths'.
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Being new to MacOS I have El Captian and having the new version next fall might be fun.
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Dear Herb, Weatheraardvark, and WeatherCat oldtimers who remember when using a Mac was . . . . . S-s-s-simple . . . . [banghead]
Yesterday, I finally managed to move my sister's computing data from an iMac to a MacBook Pro. It is still running Mavericks and even so, it took me several days of pulling teeth. Anyone who believes that OS X really isn't UNIX underneath - surprise!! (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/D'oh.gif)
Here is a video from 9to5Mac
Well at least I could download that and can watch it tonight on da' big screen!
that does a very good job of going over many of the new features of macOS Sierra.
Yeah, but does it list which of the features of macOS Sierra will actually be bug-free and usable when it is released? . . . Lest you face da' alternative . . . (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/chased_by_spider.jpg)
Also, do they mention if Silicon Labs will actually release a driver that they guarantee will work with Sierra?
All you hold outs, not yet on Mavericks or El Capitan (and you know who you are) will see plenty of reason to give [tup] to Sierra!
Uh, I won't be jumping on this bang wagon very soon. (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/hiding.gif)
I'm still cursing the move to Yosemite . . . . when you guys insisted it was safe to get in da' water . . . . (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/shark-nasty.jpg)
Grumble, grumble, grumble, . . . . . Edouard . . . :(
P.S. No wonder I can't get along with Tim Cook, . . . . he must be a guy who likes mountains and I'm clearly a seashore kind of guy! (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/Scuba-smiley-emoticon-small.gif)
P.P.S. and why must macOS be spelled with a lower case m? MacOS looks perfectly reasonable to me. Have the guys at Apple stopped using keyboards or something? . . . (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/question_mark_confused.gif)
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I won't be jumping on this bang wagon very soon.
Neither will anyone else. It won't even be released until at least the Fall! Relax. And no one is going to be forcing you do update, anyway. [rolleyes2]
Have the guys at Apple stopped using keyboards or something?
In fact they have. [blush] Those things only come with computers, [computer] iDevices don't use them. Which points out the probable reason for the lowercase hardware name and the Capitalized "OS". You've already been using the lowercase "i" for all those mobile devices. The Mac (devolved from Macintosh) has been the holdout mainly because it was a proper name for the other "apple". So, to standardize things, the operating system that is trying to work on every device Apple makes gets the Capital Letters. Besides, Macos just doesn't have the same 'ring' to it... no, it's now watchOS, iOS, macOS... BTW, you may want to change the default spel chequer database or you'll constantly be changing Mac OS into the new and improved macOS. [banghead]
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Steve and I will update to Sierra rather early. Won't we Steve?
One of the new features I will use all the time is Copy from your iPhone, Paste on your iMac. This feature was made for me.
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i remember Windows would come out with a new version and with it a load of fixes and upgrades. I am going to wait as well on the upgrade until it has been out and either the majority of users are cheering or booing
Right now I am trying to figure out why the "other" classification on the on disk storage is so large. not much results so far. there has to be a pile of junk somewhere. As far as the goodies, they are small
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First, there is no 'label' for 'files'. Second, there is no 'label' for OS stuff. Third, remember this is an Apple designed display that keeps a lot of stuff hidden fro 'normal' users. [rolleyes2]
I suggest that if there is a real desire to see how much of what is on a disk that an app like <DasiyDisk (https://daisydiskapp.com)> be used. It's now available in Polish, BTW! Be sure to watch the video; a short vid is worth 978 words! [tup]
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In Polish. Heck I have a problem with Iowa-ese.
Oh I looked and a lot of stuff is in libraries.(ooh it is thundering out there, maybe we might get some rain. only got 0.05 inches while just to the East 4.67 inches. ) I did the usual cleaning with ccleaner. I used it with my PC.
I am not going to go into the oS or a library and start trashing. I am using cloud storage more and more, and I have an Airport Time Capsule and an external drive. Also using Crashplan for off site storage. Probably over kill. But trying to keep as much off the HD as possible. But it keeps growing that mystery stuff.
IF that was related to the OS, I could get a handle on it. But when I go to something like a program, it still doesn't tell me what it is and can I do without it. The mystery of apple.
One thing I did see in the video of Sierra, it is suppposed to address that. So I wait.
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It is possible to get a head start on everyone else in getting macOS Sierra. You can join the Apple Beta Software Program (https://beta.apple.com/sp/betaprogram/).
I did this for several months when the program was first introduced. However, at the time I was using the older computer (2008 iMac 24") and soon found that running under a beta OS presents issues of uncertainty. When the train jumps the track, do you blame the rails or the engineer? Also, while Apple encouraged feedback, they didn't give any. So, no matter how many times you'd push that feedback button, you were in the dark as to whether it was even being read by anyone. So, with the next public release, I discharged the Apple Beta Software Program and abdicated my responsibilities to someone else.
When Sierra goes public, I will probably wait about a month and read the reviews for the "Oops announcements." Only if it's pretty quiet or the issues don't apply to me, will I then do the download.
My favorite new feature is the auto trashcan. Oh, and I'd like to give Siri a try at some OS operations. I may be able to par down my Dock contents and use Siri to launch less often used programs.
Weatheraardvark, I found this on the web about your issue (http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/what-does-the-other-section-consist-of.1366273/). It dates back to Mountain Lion, but the issues may still be the same.
[cheers1]
EDIT: My Other falls just under 100GB, & about 44GB on the WeatherCat Mac. FWIW
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But when I go to something like a program, it still doesn't tell me what it is and can I do without it.
Not sure I understand exactly what you want to do.
However, even in Finder, you can control click an app and select "Show Package Contents". You should now see folder/directory named "Contents". Open it and there can be lots of 'stuff'. Those files/folder probably won't show up in any Finder search (they certainly do in PathFinder). Nor do I know if they appear in apps like DaisyDisk. However, unless you wish to delete the ".lproj" files, I'd suggest keeping your hands of everything in any apps "Contents" directory. They'd all get deleted by simply trashing the app, anyway. [banghead]
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I did add microsoft Excel, One Note, Outlook, then Sparkle and SpySecurity.
I have the files saved off the HD but i am guessing something remains behind.
I just have to be sure i have enough HD space to upgrade when that time appears.
No, I am more comfortable deleting stuff on the PC that messing with the MAC.
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I did add microsoft Excel, One Note, Outlook
Well, there's your problem! [lol]
What size internal drive do you have?
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1 TB
the app sizes are about 1 GB.
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I'm still cursing the move to Yosemite . . . . when you guys insisted it was safe to get in da' water . . . .
No problems at all with any major or minor upgrades since buying this computer in 2011. You must be getting everyone else's share of problems. ;)
Steve and I will update to Sierra rather early. Won't we Steve?
Yup!
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1 TB
the app sizes are about 1 GB
I'm assuming you are talking about some individual apps being 1GB. I have 55.6 GBs of just apps, but that includes all the Apple apps, as well. I've barely using one third of my drives space, so I'm far from concerned about running out of room. Certainly not even thinking about removing stuff. Of course, I do NOT have any MS apps. [cheer]
OTOH, I don't have WC running on this machine. WC runs on a Mac mini with 'only' a 500GB drive, with less than 55GB in use! 13.5 are 'apps'. Even with all of todays WC movies plus another 7 days worth, that only adds up to 2.5GB! [tup]
Unless your drive is approaching 15% free space, I just don't understand your concerns. :)
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Dear Herb, Weatheraardvark, and WeatherCat oldtimers who remember when using a Mac was . . . . . S-s-s-simple . . . . [banghead]
I do. OS9. A wonderfully user-centric system that did everything I needed to do. OSX has basically become windows. Computer-centric and buggy.
I dropped el Capitan and went back to Lion. I would much rather go back to Snow Leopard, but it does not recognize the thunderbolt port.
I doubt that I will even try Sierra for a couple of years. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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I do have a plan, sort of to get rid of some apps. My wife has a PC with Vista. It works fine, 8 gig ram and all that, but the OS doesn't match well with the OS on the server at her work. So after we get back from our adventure, she is going to opt for a Win 10 self contained.
I get her old Vista. I am going to load in Blue iris and get that going, delete the ip camera program I am using off the mac. That should free up space. I assume that when I trash an app, MACOS takes all the files associated with it as well and trashes those?
That should free up some of the odd stuff. I might move the weather station software as well. I don't know on that. I also need to see if Numbers will take my MS Excel files and work with them. Then to find a replacement for One Note and try to run the original apps that came with the machine as close as I can. That might reduce the other as well.
I turned off Time Capsule and that didn't make much difference when I rebooted the computer.
Somehow a PC for me is a heck of a lot easier, but then again.. I love this mac [thermo]
I am holding out to see what the new Apple Watch has. if it has a better battery, I am going to put the Fitbit Blaze on the shelf and go for it. If not.. I am not to that thinking stage yet.
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Dear X-Air, Blick, Weatheraardvark, Herb, Steve, and WeatherCat admirers of Steve Jobs,
Okay, I saw the video last night with my Mom and we both were very deeply disappointed. For starters, Apple continues to steal features found in 3rd party utilities and calling them their own. That will only further poison the relationship between Apple and its developers. If Apple likes something developed by another developer, the developer should get some compensation for being put out of business (which very frequently happens.)
Worse still, when Apple steals these ideas, usually they aren't as well implemented as the original. Apple's updates to the Finder are a very pale imitation of Path Finder. You already can share your clipboard between your Mac and iOS devices. There are better third party tools for you to search for old files and make better use of your disk space.
I didn't see a single feature that I would want that isn't already implemented better by existing 3rd party utilities and I saw plenty I really didn't like. The windows to tabs feature is likely not to work properly on applications that weren't designed with such functionality in mind. Apple should not have simply made the clipboard shared across all devices. There may be cases when that could really mess up your workflow, especially if your run a multiple clipboard managers like CopyPaste Pro. Instead Apple should have entended the user-interface to provide access to an independent cloud clipboard. That way - when - you want to save something in the cloud, you have the freedom to do so - not every time you cut or copy anything. Otherwise you might find yourself with an extremely embarrassing moment when you paste something in public that was perfectly okay in private context when you cut or copied it.
In general I'm seeing Apple gutting two central paradigms of the Mac user-interface that were essential to making great. These principles go all the way back to the Xerox Alto (http://www.catb.org/esr/writings/taouu/html/ch02s05.html). Everything could be operated by a mouse and everything could be discovered by exploring. Back in 1989 or so, I was supposed to make demonstration of my Mac II and forgot to bring my keyboard. I was able to complete my demonstration with only the mouse. Try to do that today with your Mac. In the old days you could you learn most of what you needed to know by launching a Mac application and systematically going through all the pulldown menus. Just that process was usually good enough get a reasonably good idea of the programs functionality. Is there any sort of equivalent heuristic you could use today to figure out an iOS app?
Apple products have gotten much harder to use and I fear that Apple engineers are proud of it in the same geeky way that Microsoft engineers were proud of Windows. Us old timers are the only ones who remember was Apple was like and I fear nobody is listening as . . . . the egalitarian elegance of Apple slowly fades away . . . (http://www.canebas.org/WeatherCat/Forum_support_documents/Custom_emoticons/sad-smiley.png)
Edouard
P.S. So what sort of biometrics is Apple proposing to prevent someone from simply stealing your Apple Watch and using it to unlock your computer? Even it the watch can recognize you, can it recognize whether or not the reason you brought your watch next to your Mac is because a bad guy is holding a knife to your throat?
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From last to first... as we drift further off topic...
I turned off Time Capsule and that didn't make much difference when I rebooted the computer.
If Time Machine is being used correctly and normally, you won't notice it doing it's thing. It will be running every 60 minutes updating it's backups with anything still on the drive that has changed in that 60 minutes. Overall, that is usually a very small amount of data, even though they can be strategically important.
If you force it to run once a day, it will have all the changes you made in how many hours you've had the computer on, obviously, that may involve dozens more files and could then take dozens omore minutes and tens of thousands more CPU cycles. But, to each his own. [banghead]
I also need to see if Numbers will take my MS Excel files and work with them.
It may, but the UI will be completely different, much more intuitive, in my opinion, but I never had to use Excel, so my opinion is irrelevant. I did use FileMaker very often for things I saw Excel used. Never could understand why rows and columns appealed to so many when FM could display things so much easier. Again, my opinion is irrelevant.
However, Numbers is not equivalent to Excel. If your calculations and functions are very complicated, you will probably be disappointed. However, there are still free apps that can almost exactly the operations and even the UI of Word/Excel/Powerpoint/etc. In alphabetical order: LibreOffice, NeoOffice, and OpenOffice.
I assume that when I trash an app, MACOS takes all the files associated with it as well and trashes those?
Usually. Especially apps built in the 'bundled' fashion or purchased from the App Store. But that does not apply to Adobe and Microsoft who strictly follow the 'not-invented-here' philosophy. [banghead]
Some apps also have UN-installers and you will be well advised to use them. I do not recommend any of the several "app removal' type apps, you simply cannot be sure their developers have built them well enough to know which files may be used by other apps or even the OS. Others swear by them rather than at them. I just don't see the point of trusting some dev to know exactly how thousand of other devs install their apps and support files.
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As I've said many times, "Some people will be upset even when they are hung with a new rope"! Good grief! You used to be able to fix or at least tune up your car with a timing light and a screw driver, sometimes even with just the screw driver! Try that now! [rolleyes2] I still run through the menus of any new app I get, it's the simplest step to begin using it! Yet it never ceases to amaze me when people ask the most obvious questions that can be answered by simply telling them which menu to look in! [banghead]
I simply do not understand all the bad mouthing about an OS that is not even available and especially about functions that people have never even seen, much less used before. How many of these people said they'd never use, much less need a "computer" 30 years ago? Take a break, relax, maybe try some of that stupid, expensive flavored water! Use what ever OS/hardware you want, but stop telling us what we won't or cant do with what we choose when it's not even a choice yet! Frankly, some of the posts in this thread remind me of some of the pilots where I used to work with. Even though they had never had any business training, much less ever owned/run a business of any kind, they always had a 'better way' to run the company. At least the smart ones stayed in the cockpit and didn't demonstrate their stupidity by actually trying to run anything! [lol] As Alfred E. Newman once said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt."
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As I've said many times, "Some people will be upset even when they are hung with a new rope"! Good grief! You used to be able to fix or at least tune up your car with a timing light and a screw driver, sometimes even with just the screw driver! Try that now! [rolleyes2] I still run through the menus of any new app I get, it's the simplest step to begin using it! Yet it never ceases to amaze me when people ask the most obvious questions that can be answered by simply telling them which menu to look in! [banghead]
I simply do not understand all the bad mouthing about an OS that is not even available and especially about functions that people have never even seen, much less used before. How many of these people said they'd never use, much less need a "computer" 30 years ago? Take a break, relax, maybe try some of that stupid, expensive flavored water! Use what ever OS/hardware you want, but stop telling us what we won't or cant do with what we choose when it's not even a choice yet! Frankly, some of the posts in this thread remind me of some of the pilots where I used to work with. Even though they had never had any business training, much less ever owned/run a business of any kind, they always had a 'better way' to run the company. At least the smart ones stayed in the cockpit and didn't demonstrate their stupidity by actually trying to run anything! [lol] As Alfred E. Newman once said, "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open ones mouth and remove all doubt."
To quote Larry, Moe and Curly, Larry said "I resemble that remark." However, I do know this is your playground , your board, thread, and all but at least have some compassion on asking a question.
I don't fly, I do teach. Veteran of 30 years before the teeming masses of little minds wanting to remain little, but we don't do that. I wrote at least a thousand IEPs and at no time did any of them ever refer to someone's stupidity.
I would wish you would not be so caustic.
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From last to first... as we drift further off topic...
I turned off Time Capsule and that didn't make much difference when I rebooted the computer.
If Time Machine is being used correctly and normally, you won't notice it doing it's thing. It will be running every 60 minutes updating it's backups with anything still on the drive that has changed in that 60 minutes. Overall, that is usually a very small amount of data, even though they can be strategically important.
If you force it to run once a day, it will have all the changes you made in how many hours you've had the computer on, obviously, that may involve dozens more files and could then take dozens omore minutes and tens of thousands more CPU cycles. But, to each his own. [banghead]
I also need to see if Numbers will take my MS Excel files and work with them.
It may, but the UI will be completely different, much more intuitive, in my opinion, but I never had to use Excel, so my opinion is irrelevant. I did use FileMaker very often for things I saw Excel used. Never could understand why rows and columns appealed to so many when FM could display things so much easier. Again, my opinion is irrelevant.
However, Numbers is not equivalent to Excel. If your calculations and functions are very complicated, you will probably be disappointed. However, there are still free apps that can almost exactly the operations and even the UI of Word/Excel/Powerpoint/etc. In alphabetical order: LibreOffice, NeoOffice, and OpenOffice.
I assume that when I trash an app, MACOS takes all the files associated with it as well and trashes those?
Usually. Especially apps built in the 'bundled' fashion or purchased from the App Store. But that does not apply to Adobe and Microsoft who strictly follow the 'not-invented-here' philosophy. [banghead]
Some apps also have UN-installers and you will be well advised to use them. I do not recommend any of the several "app removal' type apps, you simply cannot be sure their developers have built them well enough to know which files may be used by other apps or even the OS. Others swear by them rather than at them. I just don't see the point of trusting some dev to know exactly how thousand of other devs install their apps and support files.
Coming from a PC background ( I started out with at TRS80 that is how long in the game), the Microsoft office apps were very crucial to my job. i had to learn them and feel comfortable. FFP I used as well and liked it. I have been only using the iMac since April 8. The school where I taught got a 3 million dollar grant and every teacher had their own MacPro Book. I was comfortable with that as being a geek I explored it fully. the district loaded the MS office software.
I did do some fiddling with Numbers and it will open my weather data . I have data back to 1994 , in different spread sheets (http://desmoinesweather.org/weatherdata/index.html (http://desmoinesweather.org/weatherdata/index.html) ), I am not sure who gets off looking at them,, but I go for long term trends.
I didn't feel comfortable with the program aka app, so I deleted it. I am also going to see how I like pages and follow similar suit.
With regard to the watch, I am not interested in using it to bypass the password or whatever the os3 has in store. I have been tossing this back and forth for a while now. I have the computer, phone, ipod, ipad, why not the watch and then I can paste the "steal me please" decals on all my windows.
IF I have to upgrade to Sierra I will do so. IF, unlike Microsoft, Apple doesn't have an end of life OS, then I will stay here. Yes, there are a few things in the new one that are of interest to me, but I would rather wait a couple of months to see what happens.
Time Machine? just curious, does it save anything to the harddrive? I have the Airport Time Capsule. My wife uses her mac for grad school and everything is on that machine (you may chuckle as my students did when I called it a machine), so having the wifi set to the Airport she has her time machine backing up . The down side is it only works when she is at home. but then again .. I suppose time machine could go for the icloud .
Now... the real question, is an updte of the Weathercat coming out? I use Securityspy and their latest update for me is crash city. and with that. it is sure hot here today.
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Time Machine? just curious, does it save anything to the harddrive? I have the Airport Time Capsule. My wife uses her mac for grad school and everything is on that machine (you may chuckle as my students did when I called it a machine), so having the wifi set to the Airport she has her time machine backing up . The down side is it only works when she is at home. but then again .. I suppose time machine could go for the icloud .
Time Machine is software. It saves to wherever you tell it to save. If you have a Time Capsule, then Time Machine will save to the drive on the Time Capsule. If you are using both Time Machine and a Time Capsule, you are not saving any hard drive space on your computer's local hard drive by turning Time Machine off.
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To quote Larry, Moe and Curly, Larry said "I resemble that remark." However, I do know this is your playground , your board, thread, and all but at least have some compassion on asking a question.
I don't fly, I do teach. Veteran of 30 years before the teeming masses of little minds wanting to remain little, but we don't do that. I wrote at least a thousand IEPs and at no time did any of them ever refer to someone's stupidity.
I would wish you would not be so caustic.
I started to write you via the Private Messaging system on this forum. But, perhaps it's better this way:
First, my post did not specify any individual on purpose. But I will definitely say it was not, in any way, directed at you. The person(s) it was directed are "generic", even if certain members exactly fit my description. Also, remember that post may not always follow the post they may be replying to. That's exactly what happened here.
However, I deeply apologize to anyone who was offended by my remarks. I had hoped they would be seen as sarcastic rather than caustic, however, that line is often too thin. My point was that the second post in this entire thread contains a link to an article that exactly addressed the attitude to which I was referring.
While I did say some people were "stupid", they were certainly not anyone named nor even implied to be members of these forums. Lastly, remember to check for the use of 'smileies'/'emoticons'/small images found on the Full Editor page, that can often relay more about the posters attitude than mere words. Rather goes with the 'one picture is worth a thousand words' philosophy. [cheer]
And, once again, because of my slow 'typing skills*', I see that another reply has been posted before I can finish this one.
* "Skills" be very loosely defined by the use of two fingers on different hands. [lol2]
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Time Machine? just curious, does it save anything to the harddrive?
Generally, Time Machine is designed to run (save stuff) on an external drive or at least a drive in addition to your normal, single internal drive. Time Capsule has additional hardware (WiFi) that allows it to be used without a cable. However, you may be able to use your wife's Capsule by using a cable to connect to it so it is available without her being there.
As to what it will back up, by default, it will back up everything. But most of use use its preferences/controls to prevent it from backing up certain things.- Many of us have apps that came on CD's, those things can last for decades, no point in putting them on a back up drive.
- Now a days, the App Store is the source of many apps. That means they can easily be restored, assuming you have Internet access.
- As I mentioned earlier, WC creates fairly large movie files. Since mine is running 24/7, I have 24 movies a day! And I have the automatic erasing function running on a seven day schedule. I don't see a need to waste backup space/time by saving all those movies. YMMV.
- The OS is huge but it is quite easily restored via the hidden Recovery Disk, so why bother backing it up.
- You may have a dedicated folder/directory to serve as a "scratch" disk or area. You may want to exclude that from the TM backups.
The point is, you decide what you want it to exclude, the default is to backup everything.
Limiting the TM backup also cuts down on the time each backup takes. Apple has designed a very tolerant and stable app that is very 'kind' to other operations, so it easily makes use of microseconds when nothing else is happening. That's the main reason we seldom ever notice it working... even if you type with all ten fingers! [lol2]
Now, just to throw another idea into the fray... I highly recommend you not rely solely on TM for all your backup needs. Many of us, and many experts, suggest using at least two different backup methods. One is TM, since it is free and included on every recent model of Mac. The other is an app that can create a bootable clone of your entire disk, at least once a day. The two most well know apps of this type are CarbonCopy Cloner and SuperDuper. Neither is free. And both should also be used on a drive separate from the TM drive, for safeties sake.
If you have additional Mac-related questions, I suggest you start a thread or just add to threads in the "General Computing/Macintosh (http://athena.trixology.com/index.php?board=21.0)" forum. [tup]
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How to Clean Your Mac OS X El Capitan Hard Disk Drive
and a few hints and tips (not comprehensive)
In the following order of importance:
Empty trash can
Remove all unwanted files from the Downloads folder
Empty trash can
In iTunes, View, Show Duplicate Items menu option, scan for duplicates and delete (note that same title and artist may not be a duplicate)
Empty trash can
Optionally delete cache files (Safari, Google Earth, Etc?)
Empty trash can
Uninstall or delete useless applications
Empty trash can
If your 1TB drive is over half full, you've probably got a lot of stuff on there you can live without.
Time Machine may write scratch files to your boot disk. If the backup destination isn't available then Time Machine creates a local snapshot of any files that have changed since the last backup. This is temporary and when the backup destination is available, the snapshot will be moved to the backup destination drive.
Spotlight indexes your hard drives. The greater the number of files, including small files, the larger the index.
How Time Machine Works its Magic (http://pondini.org/TM/Works.html)
[cheers1]
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Another item to add to my list, Bull; exclude your other drives unless you want TM to back them up.
Sadly, Mr. James Pond is no longer alive, but his info is still valid. And I thought I had seen some one planning on keeping that site up-to-date. Little has changed in the "Magic", however. [tup]
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http://www.macworld.com/article/3087556/os-x/8-hidden-features-of-macos-sierra.html?token=%23tk.MCW_nlt_mw_daily_html_2016-06-23&idg_eid=d53151b84b8a2a36829bdc1f51e925ff&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Macworld%20Daily%202016-06-23&utm_term=mw_daily_html (http://www.macworld.com/article/3087556/os-x/8-hidden-features-of-macos-sierra.html?token=%23tk.MCW_nlt_mw_daily_html_2016-06-23&idg_eid=d53151b84b8a2a36829bdc1f51e925ff&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Macworld%20Daily%202016-06-23&utm_term=mw_daily_html)
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Dear X-Air, Weatheraardvark, Herb, and WeatherCat IT historians,
Perhaps it is a lost cause, but I'll try to make one last attempt to appeal toward something genuinely lofty and beneficial in user-interface design.
Do any of you guys remember the "desktop paradigm"? You are staring at it as you read this posting. It is the Mac OS foundation that made the Mac different and was so special that Microsoft had to steal in Windows. But you really appreciate the big idea behind the desktop user-interface?
Before the Alto, and the refinements in the Apple Lisa, computers were driven by commands typed into a console. Everything had to be learned by rote memorization. At best the command names had some relationship to what they were doing, but how many of you would realize that mv stands for move a file in UNIX?
The guys at Xerox PARC undertook a very difficult task. They decided to try to come up with a way that someone who had no understanding how a computer operated to nonetheless be able to operate a computer. Their solution was to create a desktop "virtual reality." The functionality of say moving a file would be emulated by a process that an office worker physically carry out on a desk. To move a file, you physically drag the file just as you would move a document from one place to another on a desk.
The desktop user-interface was hardly a perfect recreation of a desk, but it was much easier to pick up than UNIX or MS-DOS. The project of abstracting the counter-intuitive functionality of a computer into an everyday environment people were familiar with utterly changed computing and made it accessible to just about anyone. Yes, the early Mac could be used by grandmothers. Today's Macs aren't nearly as friendly to elderly.
As far as know, there isn't any sort of everyday environment paradigm for iOS like there was for Mac OS. Sadly it is now clear to me that even Steve Jobs didn't fully appreciate what made the Mac so special. iOS is full of clever tricks, but you simply need to learn them. There isn't any sort of human experiences that you can turn to in order to infer how the iPhone or iPad should work. It is a graphical user-interface, but it is just as arbitrary and contrived as UNIX and MS-DOS.
The silicon valley is supposedly the place of "big ideas." However, the status of smart phone operating systems makes a sad reality clear - the silicon valley has run out of big ideas. If Apple and Google couldn't exceed the brilliance of Xerox PARC researchers by creating a smartphone GUI every bit as elegant as the desktop computer interface - clearly those engineers aren't as good as they have lead us to believe.
Edouard
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I get it. But the tune the Pied Piper is playing makes me want to follow him.
The little stuff interests me. No way that the update will make me svelte again or dance around again. What it will do help me get rid of the bloat that is now and will be off my computer. that irritating yellow others file maybe to figure out what is the problem and to reduce the stored crap without terminating the program.
I was over at the apple store today. went to every imac they had there and checked the storage. of course it was wonderful. The only thing I can think of to make my bloat is the other stuff I added after the initial stuff Apple put here.
I am hoping that when I uninstall/delete stuff they go away with the app.
What I don't care for is that if I drag something from the documents folder the program makes a copy of it. maybe that is a safety thing. If I drag something to the icloud or an external graph, it stays on the mac until I dump it.
To paraphrase My Fair Lady when Henry Higgins sings "oh why can't a mac be more like a pc?"
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What I don't care for is that if I drag something from the documents folder the program makes a copy of it. maybe that is a safety thing. If I drag something to the icloud or an external graph, it stays on the mac until I dump it.
I sincerely think you need to start a new thread in the General Computing Forum (which is where this thread is) to get answers to these types of questions. [cheer] Much of the benefit of forums is the ability to keep different topics in different threads; think the vast array of shelves in a library. If all books were on one huge shelf, it would become impossible to find anything, even if there was a workable index. Similar situation on our now huge hard drives; if we don't create a system of directories that makes sense to us, we'll end up with everything in a few huge repositories and have to rely on search functions to find things. [computer]
This, and most other 'tech' or 'help' forums, depend on people placing similar questions and related posts in separate "threads" so they can be searched easily and logically read by others in the future. [tup] Mixing topics in one thread even makes it difficult to look at the index and decide if one might contain information related to an enquiry. This thread was originally about a future OS that we've only seen glimpses of as yet, but we are now deep into discussing the details of what and how recent Systems work. One never knows what will follow from one post to the next or if they will even be related to the original topic. There are many here who are willing and able to answer most any question about the Mac, hardware or software, but few will expect to see those questions in a thread entitled "macOS Sierra". [banghead]
Thanks for considering my opinion. ;D
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@weatheraardvark,
There is a freeware/shareware application called Grand Perspective that scans your drive and gives you a visual representation of files that are taking up space. Kinda neat to see how much she some that you don't really think about occupy.
And unlike the days of old, simply deleting an application does not get rid of all the cruff left behind. There are preference files, application support files, logs, Internet plugins, and more. One good way to see what files are associated with an application is by using Clean My Mac or similar applications. CMM has an uninstall routine that lets you see associated files and determine if you want to remove them. It also searches for and lists orphan files in case you've already deleted an application but not the remaining files.
Steve
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Dear X-Air, Weatheraardvark, Herb, and WeatherCat IT historians,
Perhaps it is a lost cause, but I'll try to make one last attempt to appeal toward something genuinely lofty and beneficial in user-interface design.
Do any of you guys remember the "desktop paradigm"? You are staring at it as you read this posting. It is the Mac OS foundation that made the Mac different and was so special that Microsoft had to steal in Windows. But you really appreciate the big idea behind the desktop user-interface?
Before the Alto, and the refinements in the Apple Lisa, computers were driven by commands typed into a console. Everything had to be learned by rote memorization. At best the command names had some relationship to what they were doing, but how many of you would realize that mv stands for move a file in UNIX?
The guys at Xerox PARC undertook a very difficult task. They decided to try to come up with a way that someone who had no understanding how a computer operated to nonetheless be able to operate a computer. Their solution was to create a desktop "virtual reality." The functionality of say moving a file would be emulated by a process that an office worker physically carry out on a desk. To move a file, you physically drag the file just as you would move a document from one place to another on a desk.
The desktop user-interface was hardly a perfect recreation of a desk, but it was much easier to pick up than UNIX or MS-DOS. The project of abstracting the counter-intuitive functionality of a computer into an everyday environment people were familiar with utterly changed computing and made it accessible to just about anyone. Yes, the early Mac could be used by grandmothers. Today's Macs aren't nearly as friendly to elderly.
As far as know, there isn't any sort of everyday environment paradigm for iOS like there was for Mac OS. Sadly it is now clear to me that even Steve Jobs didn't fully appreciate what made the Mac so special. iOS is full of clever tricks, but you simply need to learn them. There isn't any sort of human experiences that you can turn to in order to infer how the iPhone or iPad should work. It is a graphical user-interface, but it is just as arbitrary and contrived as UNIX and MS-DOS.
The silicon valley is supposedly the place of "big ideas." However, the status of smart phone operating systems makes a sad reality clear - the silicon valley has run out of big ideas. If Apple and Google couldn't exceed the brilliance of Xerox PARC researchers by creating a smartphone GUI every bit as elegant as the desktop computer interface - clearly those engineers aren't as good as they have lead us to believe.
Edouard
Well, Edouard, there is another way to look at that, as I'm sure you already know. "Their [The guys at Xerox PARC] solution was to create a desktop "virtual reality."" Some say that invention is more discovery than invention. In that instance, the symbolic metaphor, between desktop activity and abstract file housekeeping within a storage device, already existed. The guys at Xerox PARC were bright enough to notice.
In this view of invention and discovery, it might be possible, given the extensive complexity added to the digital landscape by multiple devices of different sizes and functions together with their interconnection at multiple junctions as determined by legacy processes evolving with changes in usage profiles, that there is no discoverable metaphor to be applied. Put another way, we're in unknown and hitherto unexplored territory here with the explosion of popularity in digital technology in this century. The language is confusing, and redundant. The potential for criminal exploitation is high, and the full extent of the technology's potential is still unknown. Any GUI is going to be inadequate. So, they added Siri, and much research is being done to replace the, now old and inadequate concept of a GUI, metaphor with a new UI that is for the time being a hybrid of GUI and VUI (Voice User Interface). To make VUI work, though, a lot of work is being done in AI & ML (Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning).
However, we are still in transition. There is still much to be done, and it appears that Apple's engineers are willing to adopt what they perceive to be the best of the best as these methods appear. Which might explain many of the new features in Sierra.
[cheers1]
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Your first premise was correct. LOST CAUSE on me.
I get it.
So... how are things coming on any new improvement on an already great product?
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Dear Herb and WeatherCat armchair user-interface researchers,
Well, Edouard, there is another way to look at that, as I'm sure you already know. "Their [The guys at Xerox PARC] solution was to create a desktop "virtual reality."" Some say that invention is more discovery than invention. In that instance, the symbolic metaphor, between desktop activity and abstract file housekeeping within a storage device, already existed. The guys at Xerox PARC were bright enough to notice.
I think you are missing the real benefit that the desktop metaphor provided. People without any insights as to how a computer actually worked could operate a computer and accomplished tasks. My Mom never did understand how a file system works and she gets in real trouble every now and then. Still, she has been using a Mac since the late 1980s and would be extremely unhappy without a computer. It her way to keep in touch with her relatives and friends in France. The big idea I was trying to advance is that the Mac allowed the common people to use computers who otherwise would never be able to understand what was going on.
In this view of invention and discovery, it might be possible, given the extensive complexity added to the digital landscape by multiple devices of different sizes and functions together with their interconnection at multiple junctions as determined by legacy processes evolving with changes in usage profiles, that there is no discoverable metaphor to be applied. Put another way, we're in unknown and hitherto unexplored territory here with the explosion of popularity in digital technology in this century.
Unfortunately, what you are calling a virtue is a vice by any other name. Before Apple, computers were strictly in the realm of nerds and geeks. Thanks to Apple and the desktop paradigm, people were able to learn enough about computers that many people could purchase, setup, maintain, and manage a computer. The desktop paradigm was enough of a window into how computers actually worked that most people were able to figure out the complexities underneath. Still the virtual environment served as the "shallow end of the pool." Without it, people would be drowned in the complexity.
Today people are drowned the complexity and the silicon valley throws everything and kitchen sink at the general public. Not simply is the public asked to beta-test buggy software, the public is now the user-interface guinea pigs. The very complexity is driven in part by the open market and the wild west nature of silicon valley. While competition might provide better products in terms of speed, storage capacity or efficiency. How on earth can the general public be asked which is the best user-interface? Especially when the question isn't even really asked. Whereas once products really were scrutinized by user-interface engineers, today products have multiple user-interfaces and it does not appear much thought is given as to how they are supposed to work together.
Devices that use the human body as a pointing and control device desperately need to be designed in a way that is consistent with how human beings actually use their fingers, hands, and minds. iOS is frustrating because it is way too easy to attempt to do one thing and end up doing something else. Worse, on iOS your pointing device can interfere with the task you are trying to perform. When using a mouse, the cursor is always in view - trying to use your hands forces you to be at the very spot you are trying to work on.
Sadly iOS suffers from its piecemeal and incremental creation. Today's iPhones and iPads have so much more processing capacity than the first iPhone. If iOS had been designed from the ground up with this sort of power in mind - what would the user-interface look like?
This is one of those sad moments where I plainly see that profit and novelty are working to the genuine detriment of humankind. It isn't that a real effort has been attempted to develop the same sort of analogies that the desktop user-interface provided to get us out of the command-line. Xerox PARC was free to explore their ideas because nobody could profit from personal computer yet. Is there any attempt to create a cooperative effort between industry, research institutes, academia and government to actually see what could be done? The answer is obviously no. Companies like Apple want their innovations to remain secret, even if as a single company it cannot do the sort of research needed to solve hard problems like what should be the best paradigm for a device controlled by our own hands.
As a result, we get mediocre products that are heavily biased by the geek culture, lacking in the broader perspective that say academics could bring to such technology. Are we worse off because of it? Honestly, can there really be any doubt? :(
Edouard
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my next computer will be a PC
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What I don't understand is why some here think the "desktop" is a suitable metaphor to force onto a tablet, much less a smart phone. In case you haven't noticed, no one make a mobile device that even has a mouse. The trackpad on early MPR's was a poor substitute. Gestures have been around longer than the iPhone. But Laptops are exactly where the 'pointing device' interface was developed. And Apple wasn't even the first to do that!
BTW, people are now not chained to desks, anyway.
@ Edouard, did you ever read the linked article from TidBITS?
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Unfortunately, what you are calling a virtue is a vice by any other name.
Sorry Edouard. I called nothing a virtue. In fact there was no qualitative implication in my analysis, other than that Apple engineers were filtering out the rest to make use of the best of the best. What I described was the complex circumstances inherited in the marketplace, and the difficulty with making that inherent complexity fit a GUI metaphor based on objects on a desktop.
Your sadness is astounding, but resolute. But, if there is no metaphor that fits the current complex technology to make it more approachable by our parents, then there likely never will be. Both my parents are gone. Their ability to influence markets has gone with them. The market influencers are much younger than us, now, and they love iOS, even with its warts.
[cheers1]
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my next computer will be a PC
Just start up Boot Camp and install Windoze.
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Naw, iF a PC is because many of the programs I rely on, are Windows OS. I have had to completely change my mind set for over 40 years, learn new tricks and the realization that the television and movies, which show primarily Macbooks that the folks are using are the thing, the direction to go.
In reality, if you are looking for technical programs, there are not a lot out there for the mac. For example, Weatherlink for PC is very good compared with Weatherlink for Mac.
There is no comparison between Microsoft Excel to Apple Numbers, or Word to Pages. Microsoft fortunately was smart enough to grab on to this issue. The documents, spreadsheets are universal documents that work on both platforms.
Dual platform might be the way to go, but not for this camper. My wife may get a new computer, givng up her Vista OS and I will latch on to it when she discards it. Vista will run what I need to run and I will use my Mac for other endeavors as I have a lot invested in it.
I have learned both systems and in reality those on the silver screen, are on facebook, Firefox and Twitter.
It is sad, that this has occurred and probably will be the trend, but I don't give a rats ass .
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I use parallels desktop on my macbook pro which lets me seamlessly use Mac or Windoze programs on the fly as I need. As to Office, I use the Mac version.
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[tup]
BTW, you may want to change the default spel chequer database or you'll constantly be changing Mac OS into the new and improved macOS.
Turns out it's not in the Aple Spel Chequer. I had installed a TibBITs collect in Typinator! Corrected it so it won't now change "macOS" into "Mac OS"! Now, I'm ready for the Fall unveiling! [lol]
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I use parallels desktop on my macbook pro which lets me seamlessly use Mac or Windoze programs on the fly as I need. As to Office, I use the Mac version.
when I am up and running, I have SecuritySpy running, Weathercat, Quicken and my email and of course bloat Firefox. I have to have the horses . By having the PC, I can run the other stuff and keep the Mac doing its thing happy.
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Microsoft fortunately was smart enough to grab on to this issue. The documents, spreadsheets are universal documents that work on both platforms.
A fun little tidbit. Word was available for Mac four years before there was a Windows version.
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Another tidbit, the precursor for Excel was VisiCalc for Apple ][, the first spreadsheet app for personal computer. Didn't care for spreadsheets then, still don't. BORing. [rolleyes2] FileMaker is the way to view data(base/info). It even made a great page layout app!!! Even data fields can be dragged and dropped anywhere you want, [cheer] way before Pages (which was never intended to replace Word, BTW). [lol]
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My first spreadsheet was DynaCalc.
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Dear X-Air, Herb, and WeatherCat technologists,
What I don't understand is why some here think the "desktop" is a suitable metaphor to force onto a tablet, much less a smart phone.
No that isn't my point at all. My point is that iOS has no metaphors at all beyond incomplete ideas that some things are sheets of paper and so on. My gripe is that no effort was made to look for such a thing.
Sorry Edouard. I called nothing a virtue. In fact there was no qualitative implication in my analysis, other than that Apple engineers were filtering out the rest to make use of the best of the best. What I described was the complex circumstances inherited in the marketplace, and the difficulty with making that inherent complexity fit a GUI metaphor based on objects on a desktop.
Your point is well taken but it is a loss for human civilization as a whole. As the old saying goes: if you want to win the lottery at the very least you have to be willing to buy a ticket. If computers aren't ball bearings, toilets, or some other interchangeable commodity - but infrastructure and effectively "language" out of which our civilization is made - then we all have a common interest to make the best of such things. Would we allow ourselves to be hobbled by a version of English that was exclusively controlled by Apple computer? Effectively we have allowed this to occur and we are all very much worse for it.
Your sadness is astounding, but resolute. But, if there is no metaphor that fits the current complex technology to make it more approachable by our parents, then there likely never will be. Both my parents are gone. Their ability to influence markets has gone with them. The market influencers are much younger than us, now, and they love iOS, even with its warts.
If the issues at hand were only old people, there would be very little to worry about indeed. Robert Kennedy was fond of the quote: " I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" That our young people are addicted to these devices offers us absolutely no idea of how much better these devices night have been had we insisted on a more cooperative development process that involved more than private companies. It isn't the old that I worry about but the young who lack the worldliness and commonsense to see the flaws in these devices and demand better. There was a time when the craft of good writing was a virtue. Young people have turned misspellings and broken grammar into a communication medium and think they can express their deepest most feelings that way. As is true in so many things theses day: they are fooling nobody but themselves and they will be dearly sorry for it someday.
Edouard
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Well Edouard, it's not a loss if it has never been, and you are talking about developing something that has never been, that exists only in the vaguest of terms. I'm not saying that it can't be done. I'm saying that we can't know if it can be done until after someone does it. And, while the young have a tendency to squander away their misspent youth, they also have a tendency to wander into maturity at some point. I wouldn't worry to much about them.
Nothing is ever as it should be, at least according to most people I know.
Best!
[cheers1]
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Dear Herb and WeatherCat users who should be afraid of the power of big information managers,
Well Edouard, it's not a loss if it has never been, and you are talking about developing something that has never been, that exists only in the vaguest of terms. I'm not saying that it can't be done. I'm saying that we can't know if it can be done until after someone does it.
My complaint isn't that nobody succeeded, my complaint is that as far as I can tell, nobody even bothered to try. In my mind that is a objection that is much more serious. User-interface design is a very specialized business. We can't shop around for better one if we don't like the ones offered to us. What does the evidence behind iOS and Android suggest to you? Apple came up with a hodgepodge user interface and Google who could have invested the brain power to come up with something far superior instead was content to imitate. This was precisely the moment when the competitive forces behind capitalism are supposed to drive innovation. Well the economics failed to foster the excellence that supposedly the silicon valley is capable. If these forces don't encourage these technology titans to try harder - exactly what is supposed to do it?
And, while the young have a tendency to squander away their misspent youth, they also have a tendency to wander into maturity at some point. I wouldn't worry to much about them.
Unfortunately that tendency to mature isn't simply a matter of biology - it also requires a culture that values maturity. At least since the rise of Hollywood, the west has indulged in a dubious tendency to view the carefree days of young with too much longing. What works out in movie rarely happens in real life and rarely are the errors of youth not get paid for.
The rise of silicon valley has put a troubling spin on this wishful hope that we can be young forever. Hollywood dwells on youth, but the silicon valley is populated with young people who have been very narrowly educated in a discipline that is not even related to the physical world - much less the human one. Steve Jobs was deeply effected by the little time he spent at Reed college. The vast majority of silicon valley engineers are very expert in a very narrow aspect of technology. Most went to a lot of trouble to avoid learning anything that wasn't focused on their passions and/or paychecks. Such people simply haven't been exposed to the broader ranges of human experiences to understand many things about what is rightfully called human wisdom. Worse still, their technical training encourages a black and white view of many things and their success quickly goes to their head. While the typical geek may be terrorized by social situations, they nonetheless think extremely highly of themselves and have an unrealistic conception of their problem solving skills.
So the world now finds itself with a group of individuals who are poorly suited to dealing with the extremely complex and tangled nature of human problems, but through their control of technology have the capacity to exert enormous forces on society. Organizations like Facebook have already admitted to controlling the information that their users have access to. They have no choice, if that information isn't filtered, it becomes overwhelming and will cause people to leave Facebook. The 64-dollar question is - HOW - Facebook manipulates those filters.
Facebook has been already accused to making access to conservative information more difficult. Even without any intent, Facebook could be causing their users to shift their political views to the left, simply through the process by which friendship networks interact with the very geeks who provide this technology. Facebook is collecting huge amounts of data on their users, if they were aware of a shift toward the left - would they do anything about it?
Even if you are a Democrat, this sort of a scenario should send chills down your spine. Democracies can only function if there is a viable opposition. Without it, there is no way for the voters to object to the current government. The effects can be anything from government gridlock, to voter apathy, to extremism. We are observing all three at the moment. Could companies like Facebook, Google, and even Apple be unwittingly unraveling core foundations of western civilization? If they were, do they have the sort people working for them that could understand the implications of how they package information and find remedies?
The rise of big information companies move their role out of simply economics. They are having an effect on our social and political lives as well and at the moment we are powerless to understand what sort of manipulations such institutions may be causing on the public - even those which are completely unintended and unanticipated.
We are facing a dangerous moment in our world that makes the monopolies around 1900 pale in comparison. Thus far, there isn't massive public outcry demanding transparency in what these information titans are doing with the information they collect. I do hope that there isn't some sort of intentional process of deception. However, I am very worried that these companies don't employ the sort of people with the wisdom and worldliness to realize what are the unintended consequences of this "brave new world" of information. Thus far, larger society has been too focused on the benefits of information technology to look closely at the potential harm. Worse still, we have gone along with myth that "geeks" are somehow super-genius, rather than demanding that they deliver on what they claim to be capable of - like well thought out user-interfaces. Can we reign in these information titans? Can we afford not to?
Edouard
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I understand and agree with the Orwellian implications of media companies controlling the slant of disseminated information. ABC, CBS and NBC have been doing just that for years with impunity. With the addition of Fox, MSNBC and CNN, we now have twice as many news organizations doing it. However that wanders quite afield from the subject of whether a GUI is as good as it can get.
Personally, my only real objection to iOS is the complete loss of user connection with any files or data being created. The new paradigm Apple pushed out with iOS was an opaque relationship with the file system, where to lessen the required understanding by the operator, the software was entirely responsible for the data. Well, that's great until something goes wrong with the software, and with most 3rd party software, things go wrong every time there is a system update.
Here's an example. I had an app on my iPhone called Gas Cubby that tracked my fill ups and maintenance. It reportedly even backed up to the Cloud. Over about a year, I build a very large maintenance dataset around two vehicles and was about to add a lawnmower, pressure washer, air compressor and leaf blower, when Apple pushed out a system update. The program crashed, and it was months before the little company was able to release a fix. However, the fix was incomplete, since there was an incompatibility somewhere that caused the backup system to fail. All my data was lost, and there was nothing I could have done to prevent it since the entire management of datasets in iOS is completely opaque to the user.
[cheers1]
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To all those discouraged and disappointed in current User Interfaces:
Perhaps we can spare 26 bucks and get direct access to someone who works in UI/UX design. It might help alleviate those "as far as I know" holes. [tup]
Good UX process, step by step: For beginners (and those who need a refresher) (http://www.oreilly.com/pub/e/3755?imm_mid=0e51ae&cmp=em-na-webcast-info-webcast_20160627) O'Reilly Community, Thursday, June 30, 2016 10:00am PT. Of course, you'll have to be willing to listen to a younger, possibly slightly more experienced, member of the community. That is often my biggest learning deterrent... [blush]
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Dear Herb, X-Air, and WeatherCat social observers,
I understand and agree with the Orwellian implications of media companies controlling the slant of disseminated information. ABC, CBS and NBC have been doing just that for years with impunity. With the addition of Fox, MSNBC and CNN, we now have twice as many news organizations doing it.
Yes your point is well taken and sadly as you say instead of having much hope of cutting through the biases we now are drowned in different biases. The task of making sense of the news source is a very difficult one indeed. My concern though is slightly different. None of us have enough time to to carefully shift through the possible sources of information. So we all have to rely to some degree on computer software to thin out the information we are seeking. Whether it is Google, Facebook, or MSN, the owners of that software have an understanding of how they prune our information that we are not being given access to. It is bad enough to cope with unreliable sources, but now there is a second level that is just as opaque.
However that wanders quite afield from the subject of whether a GUI is as good as it can get.
Agreed, but my point wasn't whether or not there is some ideal possibility out there, my complaint was over a complacency that seems rampant in the silicon valley. In the early days of computers, the need to make computers easier to use was a matter economic necessity. If computer were going to be adopted, people needed to have an easy enough experience. In effect, we have been "trained" to put up with the geeks way of doing things, so now they can get away with sloppy user-interface design. In order to feed our addiction to technology, we put up with whatever they throw at us.
Clearly companies like Apple are making money, but it is a very sad change from the days when Steve Jobs truly was concerned about giving users of Apple products a top-notch experience. Being the best in a business is no achievement when your competition even more mediocre than yourself.
Personally, my only real objection to iOS is the complete loss of user connection with any files or data being created. The new paradigm Apple pushed out with iOS was an opaque relationship with the file system, where to lessen the required understanding by the operator, the software was entirely responsible for the data. Well, that's great until something goes wrong with the software, and with most 3rd party software, things go wrong every time there is a system update.
It is a different objection but I also agree with this one like 1000%!! Given that many people have become comfortable dealing with the inner working of a computer, it is nothing short of an insult that Apple does not provide a "power user" mode so that we can cope with problems like this.
In way the two objections put together really add up to a double disappointment. On the one hand, iOS deprives us of the one familiar paradigm we are used to: the inner workings of a computer. On the other hand, it doesn't have any other unifying paradigm. It is a GUI, but one that simply must be learned by rote. Sorry Apple and Google, but I expected more from you guys.
Perhaps we can spare 26 bucks and get direct access to someone who works in UI/UX design.
I'm sure there are guys who really try hard, but my fear is what motivated my complaints in the first place. I concerned doing my PhD in user-interface design, so I know something of its intellectual foundations. It is clear to me that those foundations are being violated. I can't be certain I understand why, but the lurking fear is that user-interface designers no longer feel that "doing it the geek way" is any impediment for the general public. It is true that most of us have had to learn a lot about how IT technology works, but relationships should always be a two-way street. The general public has been forced to learn a lot about how geeks do things. Are geeks making the effort to understand how the general public actually lives out their lives?
I while working on my PhD, I collaborated a little bit Brigitte (Gitti) Jordan who sadly died just last month of cancer:
http://www.lifescapes.org/ (http://www.lifescapes.org/)
At the time Gitti was working at Xerox PARC and Institute for Research on Learning. She was working on how companies like Apple could reach out to understand how people actually use technology in their daily lives. Sadly, it is clear that Apple, Google, Facebook, and so on never did grasp these methodologies. If they had, the road to the Apple TV would not have been nearly so rocky.
Edouard
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R.I.P. Brigitte Jordan, PhD. The world is not a better place with your passing, and your work will succeed you for years to come.