Finder is Stupid
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.