The ribbon had all the settings for the OS, and was always a click away. Finder worked out of the box. These days, copy-paste is hit or miss, and the window manager can’t be reliably controlled via the keyboard.
Also, even in first party apps, keyboard shortcuts are completely inconsistent. Command-0 no longer reliably restores the main window. In maps, Command-L doesn’t focus the location bar like it does in safari; it repositions the map to your GPS location.
Even the keyboard is a shitshow. Notes aggressively autocorrects technical terms to random words on the latest MacOS, but nothing else does, and I can’t find the second “turn off autocorrect” setting that it must be using instead of the OS-wide one (which is definitely disabled).
Current OS X’s UI and filesystem layout are a cruel parodies of OS 9. It’s like a bunch of Shoggoths or an army of slightly better LLMs tried to recreate OS 9, borg-style.
Apple mostly adds software features by acquiring stuff, storyboarding UIs, demoing a prototype to an exec, and then shipping it, so I guess that’s how it got so weird.
Anyway, I wouldn’t say the result has finesse.
All those projects, hellosystem, this one, I guess I've seen one or two more before — all of them are just kind of missing the whole point.
I would say the current KDE Plasma is somewhat starting to approach any amount of finesse at all. Hope they continue, at least they've learned from the whole KDE4 kerfuffle.
But I will relent and acknowledge that your arguments ring very true. How do I get my Messages window back if I accentally close it? Very good point.
The ribbon though? I think your memory is optimistic. It was in my memory ugly, clunky, slow and had some, but few system settings. But I must admit that in my heart OS 7.1 was the high water mark of usability and I resented all subsequent innovations... which it sounds like you might be able to empathize with.
Just checked it: Cmd+N (New) will pop it right back. If you don't want the stupid new message, Cmd+0 will do the trick.
I don't understand this.
Are you saying its hard to install Linux? Has this ever been true? Usually you smash the Next button. There is a partioning screen, but that is some serious changes you are going to make.
I don't care what OS religion you follow, I'm taking the blindfold off during partioning.
If you mean 99% of US computer users, maybe.
This is not about religion, man. This is about accessibility.
macOS is more than shiny traffic lights buttons on your windows, global menus, and dock.
It's also a clipboard that works everywhere and not like "oh you cannot do this because X11 this or wayland that", it's also human interface guidelines (the old ones, the new ones are unparseable shit) that make bloody sure that the OK/Cancel buttons appear where you expect them to appear.
It's also some bloody keyboard shortcuts that work everywhere the same and not every bloody app bringing in their own and their own little ways to configure them or none at all. Yeah chrome, I'm looking at you.
It's also that the most used system stuff can be configured pointy-clicky and that stuff that the system can figure out on its own is what it bloody figures out on its own, without me having to drop down to command line (although it is an avenue too, and command line and GUI must be in sync).
It's also that it's accessible out of the box. Try blindfolding yourself, inserting your installer usb stick, and installing your thing and using it successfully. Come on. OS X could do it since Leopard, I think, which was in... 2007?
In other words, macOS could abandon their Aqua looks and go for industrial NeXTStep looks, and still be ahead of almost everything else in terms of consistency, accessibility, and general lack of fuckness.