Apple Peel

Fixing the small stuff in Mac OS X: Just how long is it going to take?

As a Mac writer, I find it a bit problematic to devote entire columns to describing all kinds of small problems that affect my work on a Mac on a day-to-day basis. The whole point of writing about the Mac — or about any topic of interest, really — is to try and get a sense of what the bigger picture is, to be able to take a step back and put things into perspective for the benefit of readers who might not have the time or inclination to do so.

I don’t particularly enjoy devoting my columns to complaints about stuff that doesn’t work. As a reader, I know that it can be comforting to read from other people reporting on problems you’ve been experiencing personally. While it doesn’t necessarily help (especially when the problems in question have no known workaround), at least it gives you a sense that you are not alone, that other people share your frustration and impatience.

But on the whole it tends to give too much of a negative impression — and that’s where I have a problem with it. I do not want to come across as a “whiner“ who only writes about stuff that bothers him and never has anything nice to say about the Macintosh, because it simply is not who I am. I am a great fan of the Mac platform. I help all kinds of people get the best out of their Mac, and I think it is fair to say that I have generated a fair bit of revenue for Apple by tirelessly recommending their products to people who were unsure about “thinking different” or, more specifically, buying different.

I try to write columns about my appreciation of the Macintosh as well — but I also realize that there is something about human nature that makes it easier for us to complain than to praise. One of my core beliefs as an artist and an art lover is that it is much more important to try and share with other people our own appreciation of art that we like than it is to criticize art that we don’t like. After all, if a work of art is rubbish, even if it’s popular today, it is quite likely that it will soon be forgotten. History is the greatest art critic. The works of art that stand the test of time are the ones that are worth talking about. (I am fully aware that what I am saying here is borderline tautology. It’s on purpose.)

As a Mac columnist, I would like to bring more of that same approach to the world of computing. It’s not that I believe that computing is a form of art. A computer is primarily a tool. And I am far from sure about time being the best critic when it comes to computers… But I think it would be nice for a change if more Mac writers devoted more time and more column space to talking about the stuff that works, the stuff that is nice, enjoyable in the Mac computing experience.

Fortunately, the fact that I am now writing my own blog about (among other things) Mac computing issues enables me to put a good part of my “venting” online in a less formal setting using a medium that is perhaps more appropriate, instead of allowing the steam of on-going frustration to build up over time and letting it burst out on occasion in the more formal setting of my “Apple Peel” columns. (I also try to write about more positive stuff in my blog, though!)

All this is to say that I would very much like to devote today’s column to something positive about the Mac platform — especially since I devoted my last column to a major issue with Power Mac G4 MDD computers and Apple’s rather poor handling of the situation. Part of me really believes that writing about positive stuff is what I should be doing here today. But…

… The unfortunate truth is that, when thinking about this week’s column, I was once again reminded of the fact that there are several outstanding issues with Mac OS X that are, quite simply, unacceptablem and I am feeling the irrepressible need to share, once again, my frustration and puzzlement with my readers.

The reminder in question came in the form of a post on MacInTouch.com, in the “Reader Report” on Mac OS X 10.2, which reads:

Date: Tue, 13 May 2003 11:41:49 -0700
Subject: 10.2.6 Bug report sent to Apple 5/13/2003

The following bugs are present in 10.2.6 and have been present since 10.2.
[list of outstanding bugs snipped]

I submitted all of these bugs to the Mac OS X Feedback page in December of 2002. I am not a developer, so I do not have access to official bug submission channels. I have been told by Apple employees that Apple reads all of the Feedback very carefully. While it would be nice if someone from Apple read Macintouch every day and submitted bug reports based on information in the reports, I don't expect that. I do expect a software maker to fix a bug that is reported directly to them via an official channel.

I am afraid that I can only agree with the author of this post, and share his frustration (although he should know, as several people explained to him on MacInTouch the following day, that everyone can access Apple’s “official bug submission channels” by simply joining — for free — the Apple Developer Connection). And today I’d like to share a couple of bugs that have been there for months and are simply not acceptable.

The “New Folder” Dialog

The first bug I want to mention affects the “New Folder” dialog box in almost all Mac OS X applications, including popular ones such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop.

In a nutshell, when you are in a “Save As…” dialog box or dialog sheet, and you click on the “New Folder” button to create a new folder somewhere on your hard drive before saving your file inside that folder, you get a small dialog box on top of the “Save As…” dialog that looks like this:

Regular "New Folder" dialog

Since you have to type the name of the new folder, naturally you have to take your hand off your mouse and start typing on your keyboard. It’s only natural, then, when you’re done, to press the Return or Enter key as a substitute for clicking on the “Create” button with your mouse. In fact, Apple encourages you to do so by highlighting the “Create” button in pulsating blue — which is the Aqua convention for indicating the default button in a dialog, i.e. the button that can be triggered by the Return or Enter key.

The trouble is, quite simply, that hitting the Return or Enter key doesn’t work. Even though the button is in pulsating blue, hitting Return or Enter does not do anything. You have to go back to your mouse, move the cursor pointer to the button, and click on it. It’s the only solution.

(Bizarrely enough, the keyboard shortcut for the other button in this dialog, i.e. the “Cancel” button, which is, conventionally, the Esc key, works just fine!)

It might sound like a minor thing, but when it happens to you every day, several times daily, it does become very frustrating. As Erik Barzeski puts it unequivocally in his own blog, in an entry dated February 25, it is something that “pisses me off daily”.

When Erik wrote his blog entry, the bug had already been around for a while. Another three months have elapsed since then. Apple has released several updates, including Mac OS 10.2.5, and then Mac OS X 10.2.6. Still, the bug is there, in its full glory.

Like many other people, I, of course, submitted the bug to Apple through the feedback page and through the Apple Bug Reporter a long time ago. And, like the MacInTouch reader above, I simply cannot believe that Apple still hasn’t fixed it.

I myself wrote a blog entry about it in March, and this prompted a reader to share a “workaround” of sorts with me. In a number of applications, in the “Save As…” dialog, you can actually use the cmd-N shortcut instead of clicking on the “New Folder” button, and the keyboard shortcut will open a New Folder dialog that is not the same as the one that the “New Folder” button opens:

Alternative "New Folder" dialog

Strangely enough, in that other New Folder dialog, the Return/Enter key works! The only problem I have with this workaround is that it doesn’t work in all applications (but it does work in common ones such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Photoshop) and, more importantly, that it means that you have to switch from the mouse to the keyboard before the step of creating a new folder, which is somewhat counter-intuitive if, like me, and most Mac users I know, you do most of your browsing in the “Save As…” dialog using the mouse. Clicking on the “New Folder” button and then switching from the mouse to the keyboard is just the natural sequence of events, and it is hard to “unlearn” it.

In other words, while it does offer an alternative, this workaround is not a satisfactory solution. The bug in the regular “New Folder” dialog must be fixed. Just what exactly is Apple waiting for?

Creating a New Folder in List View

The other bug I want to mention here is the one that affects the process of creating a new folder in a Finder window that is in “View as List” view mode. It is bad enough that Apple changed the keyboard shortcut for creating a new folder from cmd-N to cmd-shift-N in Mac OS X. But what is much, much worse is that, right after you hit cmd-shift-N in List view, instead of making the name of the new folder (typically “untitled folder”) editable, the Finder immediately switches back to the mode where the folder name is not editable, and hitting keyboard keys causes a change in the selected folder depending on which letter you typed.

Now, correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that, in 99 percent of all cases, the very next thing that the user wants to do after creating a new folder is name it! The behavior in Mac OS X’s Finder in List view is quite clearly a bug. (Things work fine, as expected, in Columns view or in Icons view.)

So you hit cmd-shift-N and start typing the name… and instead of editing the name of the folder, Mac OS X’s Finder jumps all over the place, trying to find a folder whose name begins with the letters you are typing! Now you have to grab your mouse to select the “untitled folder” folder again (or type “U” and hope that you don’t have another folder name starting with that letter in the list, otherwise more keystrokes will be required), and then the Finder makes the “untitled folder” name editable and stays there. Phew!

What’s Taking So Long?

That these two very simple bugs affecting essential tasks in Mac OS X have managed to slip through the cracks of Apple’s quality control checks is bad enough. But many people have already reported these bugs directly to Apple, and Apple has already released several new system updates since the bugs first appeared, without fixing them!

This is clearly unacceptable, and no amount of other, fancy features or bug fixes in those system updates can make up for the fact that these two fundamental flaws have not been fixed. There is no excuse for this. The bugs are obvious. They have been reported by many users. Apple knows that they are there, that they have been there for a long time, and that they are a constant source of frustration to countless users.

What on earth is Apple waiting for? Are we really going to have to wait for Mac OS X 10.3 (“Panther”)’s release in the fall to see a bug fix for these? How can Apple justify forcing millions of Mac OS X users to live with these extremely annoying bugs on a daily basis for almost a year?

If the priority system adopted by Apple for Mac OS X updates somehow justifies this unacceptable delay, then that system is quite clearly flawed, and major changes are needed in the process that leads fr0m bug reports to bug fixes.

I wish I could end this column on a more “positive” note, but all I can do is shake my head in disbelief. No matter how great Mac OS X is, no matter how much I enjoy my computing experience, I can only share the frustration 0f the afore-mentioned MacInTouch reader and attempt to give this issue the coverage that it deserves.

- Pierre Igot

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