I'm running XP on my main rig with Kubuntu 8/KDE 4 in VMware Server and OS X on my AMD/AGP rig. I'm actually pretty much cleaning up tons of rendering errors that the browsers just aren't getting fixed (inline elements when set to display as block aren't having their height property set correctly in
any browser period in example).
By default GUIs suck I mean the default should
always cater to the common lowest experience level. Any noob knows what a download is, but if they don't have a big friendly icon with a text label saying "download" which also translates in their mind as "this won't blow your computer up". Well there is the issue of
im_so_not_a_virus.exe but that is more of an OS/monopoly issue. *cough* Bill Gates *cough* I can say that Konqueror 4 did make
some progress in GUI customizability.
I just tried to install Firefox 3 and Opera 9.5 on Kubuntu. I basically guess clicked on stuff and Firefox 3 worked from a tar (? I think?) download. Opera is sitting there dead in the water doing nothing with a couple files like install.sh. Now if I can't get RPM installers that kindly ask me where I want the program installed with other common installation options it's
so not ready for someone like my mother to be on the phone following my directions on how to install it. Sure not being able to install stuff
could be great in some ways (
im_so_not_a_virus.exe) and it's bad in others (I run Linux
only in VMware without the desire to learn console commands when GUI should exist for this stuff a
long long long. Seriously the only things I have to use a console for in XP is to ping and tracert. They have a frigin GUI app on some flavor of Linux to ping but you have to use a console to install most software?
Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of using Linux once they get their heads out of the console for a little bit. Sure it's great but Linux will forever remain a single digit market share OS until they learn that free isn't the only thing you need to be to gain substantial market share: easy and thus productive GUI environment.
That is why the vast bulk of user agents on my site (obviously other then coming from my IP address of course) continue to be from XP. Only noobs who don't know jack about computers who buy Dells and little kids who presume in absolute that newer must always be better will run Vista. So long as Vista's sexy yet completely horrible GUI and desire to treat physical memory as a #%^#%ing RAM-drive remain in tact the OS market is going to fragment as IE6/IE7/Firefox/Webkit (based) browser market has. We don't want IE6 but businesses are sticking with it. Microsoft wants to sell Vista and Windows 7 but people are going to stick with XP. Why? For those situations those applications and platforms work with minimal effort. Remember: it's not difficult to get a page to look "alright" in IE, it's difficult to follow standards and get it to look alright in all browsers
including IE.
As far as OS X goes I dread having to deal with multiple window apps. The dock looks cool at first but it's very easy to loose windows. As far as I can tell there isn't a way to press a button and have a window take up the maximum amount of desktop space available like in Windows. Keep in mind most people who own a mac blew tons and tons of money to get theirs many of whom consider that amount of money mere pocket change. The screen resolutions I record from OS X users tend to be much higher (2500+) but they are also
locked on many things. My Uncle for one can't upgrade Safari past 1.2. I consider myself lucky that I noticed my copy of OmniWeb was sporting Webkit build 420 (Safari 2.x) so I can at least get that covered. They w...(mac.com down and can't get the price of the 2GB upgrade on Mac Mini.)
Another topic almost altogether: developers don't comprehend design! WTF is my Go button in Firefox 3? Great...remove the go button for the bulk of the browser's session because "it takes up space". Absolutely brilliant! Why not drive without tires on the argument that extra weight burns more gas! ...and to top it off the plastered a stupid bookmark icon to fill up that "wasted" space. I'd say a safe estimate based on my clientele that 90% of people who surf at home don't bother to bookmark/favorite pages. Typically they use the same search term on Google. Don't believe me? Look up the references in your access log/statistics script. You didn't get 45 unique people searching for "free iPod", you got 12 people four of which make up the bulk of those results. I click go to make an intentional $_GET request in place of a $_POST when I don't feel like doing something noobish like making a double post. Sometimes the first $_REQUEST simply ended up in a black hole, time to reconfirm your commitment to loading the page before the Sun burns out and the browser decides to inform you there was no response...after a 300 second time out. Middle-clicking (from what I hear) the go button duplicates the current tab. How many times do you "go" a day? How many times do you bookmark things? I bookmark pages maybe about 1-3 times a week
tops. I'm really not that easily amused nor am I going to bookmark something I commonly go to (W3C site shows up just fine for quick and dirty CSS references in example).
I know people, I know their behaviors, I know their habits. I know what they want before they knew it existed. I just need to learn the web development and the "right" way to do things versus the "it just works" way with PHP and MySQL. Many people argue against what I say because I initially embrace the inexperienced over the technically savvy...well why not? They know how to turn off text labels in Firefox's GUI! They know how to customize this stuff to be completely unusable to noobs who reboot their computer three times because they can't connect to the mail server (heh awesome video). Not everyone wants to learn and embrace technology...it just needs to work. That's why I love this forum because web design/clientside only goes so far until you get bored looking at a pretty page. People need to sign in and have their preferences and important information saved. They need to achieve goals, not tinker with something in hopes that it will work and that they can get a three hour job done five minutes before 5 so they can rush home because the system simply sucks. I know how the system should be, it's only a matter of figuring out how to make it myself. But then again I'm one guy and I don't have the time and resources to chew out a Firefox installer with preinstalled preferences and extensions. I know my destination in life, I'm just not sure who will join me along the road.
If developers were supplemented by designers mac.com wouldn't be down right now. Vista would only preload programs like Oblivion and WOW and not treat physical memory like a page file and hard drives like disposable floppies. I'd be using Linux if I could turn off the page file because I
am competent to know if I'm not using it then it doesn't need to be sitting in a page file...I've got all the memory I'll be using for a while, stop trying to turn my hard drive in to Swiss cheese. To me how stuff
should work is easy. Convincing others to take someone else's perspective, well I suppose miracles could happen...