While criticizing Microsoft for a

While criticizing Microsoft for a lack of innovation is certainly mostly legitimate, think of how cleverly they implemented the progression from DOS/Windows 3.1 on the front end and Win NT 3.1 on the backend to today's (virtually interchangable, from a high-level development perspective) Win2000 and WinME.

This is in stark contrast to the nightmare that awaits Mac users with OS X. I like lots of parts of the Mac user interface, but I find myself gnashing my teeth every time I use a Mac (for example, the machine in the corner of my office right now) because, while I'm using Fetch to FTP a file up to a server, I can't do anything else substantive in the foreground due to the piss-poor multitasking. I feel like I'm running Windows for Workgroups again...

On the other hand, obviously Unix has optimal stability, but the world's worst user interface. I've been pretty skeptical of Apple's ability to reconcile these two extremes, a view that is greatly supported by this article on The Challenges of Integrating the Unix and Mac OS Environments.

Particularly good is the explanation of how resource forks are kludged in OS X, in a way that's going to make filename extensions on DOS look like rocket science. But I digress. Please feel free to forward your pro-OS X flames.

I'm Anil Dash, and I've been blogging here since 1999, writing about how culture is made. Contact me at anil@dashes.com, at +1 646 833 8659, or at anildash on Twitter or IM. Find out more »

If you're new to the site, check out my Best Of and Most Popular things I've written in the past 10 years, or explore the full archives. Browse by month or year using the calendar below.

Powered by Hunch.com

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
  Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan Jan
  Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb Feb
  Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar Mar
  Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr Apr
  May May May May May May May May May May
  Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun Jun
Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul Jul
Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug Aug
Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep Sep
Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct Oct
Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov Nov
Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec