Another example of Apple being different just for the sake of it is in the Super key overload of the Cut, Copy, and Paste operations.
In every other OS we Cut/Copy/Paste in the same way.
Control+X, Control+C, and Control+V
Apple certainly couldn't follow this standard, so instead when we switch between a Mac OS system and Windows/Linux we need to use Super+X, Super+C, Super+V (Super is also known as the Command key on Mac OS (the strange flower) and the Windows Key on most other keyboards).
This difference can be rather distracting and increases the time taken for many users to be able to efficiently use the Mac. Context switching is an expensive operation for users and so is the different contortions your fingers need to make to use this differences.
Finder:
While we are talking about Cut/Copy/Paste, let's talk about the Finder App. Like Windows Explorer or Nautilus in Gnome, this is your file system management Application. Copy/Paste work as normal, however the ability to Cut is disabled. Why is this? Am I not able to move a file in the Apple File System? No on the contrary I can, however, I must use my Mouse to drag the file to a new folder. So again Mac is too focused on using the mouse and that is an expensive operation for me to take my hands off of the keyboard just to move a file.
Alternatively, use the Terminal and the *nix 'mv' command. Should be more efficient for power users. But why Apple, why must you force the use of a mouse on us? The mouse was a great innovation, however, being able to accomplish most things via the keyboard is still more efficient.
---More Apple Rants comming over the the next week or so.
2 comments:
No, in every other OS we have non-uniformity and randomness. This is because ctrl-c, etc., have real meaning inside a terminal. And so terminals on non-Mac platforms use something else for cut/copy/paste. And web browsers will deviate as well.
Then there's system-wide standards for switching tabs, and more.
Apple's the only organization to solve the problem: one key combo for cut/copy/paste in *every* app. Somehow, no one else has done it.
Hi Robb,
Thanks for the comment. It is a good point, however, I got used to Ctrl-C/V and when using most Terminal Apps just moving to Ctrl+Shift.
I still have a big problem with the fact that you cannot use the keyboard to Move (Cut and Paste) files via the Apple Finder. I really hate having to move windows around so that I can click and drag between them. The decision to block functionality seems odd to me.
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