Mac OS X Flaws – Simple Things That Mac Cannot Do: Mac Is Not User Friendly!

Apple Mac has several short comings. It lacks several simple functionality. Apple launched another one of their negative ad campaigns against Microsoft Windows on the launch day of Windows 7. You can check out those new ads here!

The_Anti_Mac_Ad_by_NFRANGA

Meanwhile, learn about the simple things that a Mac cannot do:

These are with respect to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Things OS X Cannot Do

Right Click to Create Text Files: You have to open TextEdit, create a file, navigate to the right folder, and save as…just to create a stupid file.

Set a picture as background: You certainly cannot select a picture in finder to set it as background. No app in OS X lets you do that. You have to use go through a long series of clicks in desktop background settings and manually find your file. The only other way is to open your image file in firefox and set as background, but having to open a a image from a browser to set it as background is lame.

Choose entire folders to be wallpapers: You can add a folder, but SUBFOLDERS ARE NOT INCLUDED. That means you can’t manually organize your wallpapesr. Again, iPhoto is useless for anything but photos, so unless all your wallpapers are photos, don’t expect iPhoto to be a solution.

Merging folders: (See a comment below for why you need to do this) When you copy a folder, if the new location contains a folder of the same name, there is no way to merge the folders. Instead, Finder overwrites the original folder with the new one. All files in the original folder are lost. The only way to get around this is to use the unix mv -v command….very user unfriendly design.

Trash is Broken

Cannot selectively delete trash: There is no way to delete one or several items in trash at a time. (useful when you want to double check the items one at a time before you actually delete them). You can only empty all the trash at once.

Cannot restore trash: If you accidentally moved something to trash by accident, there is no option to restore the file to its original location. You have to remember where it was. Why do you even need trash if you can’t even restore what you deleted to where it was? If you accidentally deleted a file buried deep in the filesystem, does it make sense to drag it back to….for example…Desktop??

Finder is Broken

There is no cut: There is no "cut" option like in all other OS. So to move a file you have navigate to the destination in a separate Finder window and drag to it, or drag while navigating in the same Finder window through many folders and hope you don’t miss.

Can’t calculate total size: When you select some files in a folder and right click -> Get Info to find the total size, Finder displays a box for EACH item with the individual sizes.

There are lots more if you are interested to know. Read the complete list at xFlaws

This post was published by on October 24, 2009

About the Author: Thilak Rao works as a Social Media Expert. He is one of the first professional bloggers from India, and he loves to write, travel and click photos. Follow him on Twitter @thilak

  • Name

    merging folders is the only feature you listed that i find to be an issue. that's the best you can come up with? i'll stick to OS X thanks.

  • http://meghan.in/ Meghan Naik

    It was just a comparison. But, To each, his own. :)

  • http://meghan.in/ Meghan Naik

    It was just a comparison. But, To each, his own. :)

  • http://meghan.in/ Meghan Naik

    It was just a comparison. But, To each, his own. :)

  • http://meghan.in/ Meghan Naik

    It was just a comparison. But, To each, his own. :)

  • David

    The argumentation in this article is weak. I do agree much of these are true, but there is an equal (and probably higher) amount of features we could list up that OSX does and others don't.

  • http://tech-buzz.net Thilak Rao

    Well, I'd agree. The problem with most Windows users is that, they find it totally alienatic when they start using the mac and visa-versa… Windows 7 is awesome though!

  • Miko

    To calculate overall size when selecting a group of files: [option] + [command] + i

    To restore a trashed file: right click, choose “Put Away”

  • Miko

    To calculate overall size when selecting a group of files: [option] + [command] + i

    To restore a trashed file: right click, choose “Put Away”

  • http://www.prizerebel.com/index.php?r=126265 Mike

    I agree these are flaws, however they never effect me in the slightest, why would I want a poor resolution photo as my desktop wallpaper? There are far more flaws in PC, the majority of which bug me when I am using a PC.

  • alohajoe

    Seriously, OSX is just crippled Linux with the kernel and most system resources being “protected” from the user/owner. I agree that a lot of non mac people should also be “protected” from their OS internals, like mac users, but it should be a user/owner choice. OSX server has been so crippled that it's the only 'NIX can't even run on VMWare. The old NetWare kernel even runs on VmWare (or was that to force Mac server users into Mac only hardware…hmmmm)!

    I've noticed that in 30 years, Apple (the non-gadget side of the company) has always targeted a certain demographic and it has been at 2%± for the entire ride. It targets organizations that don't have to show a profit margin (predominantly education 23%). That's a pretty interesting demographic. The “I want the kids to think I'm cool and different like the commercials say.” BTW, I'm a Linux guy and I dislike Windows and Microsoft too :)