the random thoughts of a programmer

I have been using a Mac since the end of December and I must say that overall my experience has been very positive. Apple hardware is top notch. I really can’t think of something to complain about there but OS X has some really rough spots. Sure OS X is sexy, fast and smart but the Finder can be really, incredibly stupid sometimes. Here is my list:

1. Moving a Folder Overwrites it not a “deep copy” like Windows.
   When you move a folder into another that has a folder of the same name the OS just blows away the existing folder and places the new one one top of it. At the very least they could have a preference somewhere that lets you choose the way you want to handle copying.
2. Hidden Files
   Normally I don’t give a rats about hidden files but when I DO want to see them its a pain to turn them on. You have to edit a preference file and then re-launch Finder. This is just stupid. I realize that Apple doesn’t want to overburden users with choices like *ahem* that other OS, but please consider advanced users.
3. Network Behavior Sucks
   This is a two sided argument. On one hand I think its really beautiful that OS X will allow you to mount things like DAV shares and FTP sites just like any other network place but my real beef comes when Finder cannot connect to the share. In my experience what happens is that it continuously prompts you for a password that won’t get you anywhere and you can’t eject the volume either (freezes the dock) which means… guess what… relaunch Finder. Something about this smacks of Windows.
4. No SFTP
   I work in a shop that makes extensive use of SFTP, it would be just peachy if Apple would make an SFTP plugin for Finder.
5. Asinine Default Application Handling
   I have been trying to bend my brain around this one for about a week but how in the hell does Apple handle default applications? Its seems that you can set a “global default” for a file type but then if you open one file with another application it is forever and always bound to be opened with that application. I don’t care if they keep the current behavior but I want a control panel that lets me globally change the default application for a file type, NO EXCEPTIONS, I don’t care if I opened a html file with Smultron, if I say that BBEdit is my new default application I DO NOT want Smultron opening when I click on an html file.

Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot of things in Finder but there are some places where it seems Apple has put simplicity ahead of functionality and it has really been bugging me as I try to get work done lately.