Mac OS 9 Lives
General => News, Information & Feedback => Topic started by: Mat on May 01, 2025, 11:06:24 PM
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I am thinking about writing another article for the mainpage, that talks about the uniqe features of the Finder and the surpassing concepts of our user interface. Mainly I have the "spatial finder" in mind, But also small things like "ALT-klick-release" for Alias creation that I use extensively for example.
One of the helpful features Mac OS 9 offers, that is really outstanding, and that I love is the dragging of an URL. So I can just drop an URL to a download or as further informations into a folder.
So please inspire me!
-) What is still unreached by other Operating Systems that Mac OS 9 offers for you?
-) What is missing in any other OS that you love about Mac OS 9?
-) What concepts are missunderstood in other user interfaces?
-) What functions do you love that you do not have elsewhere?
-) What use cases are much simpler in the Finder than in other desktops?
-) Why do you love the Finder, what creates the easiness, elegnce and simplicity for you?
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Mat, are you familiar with these articles?
https://daringfireball.net/2002/11/that_finder_thing
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2003/04/finder/
Otherwise - window shade, shortcuts, clippings, non 3d icons, speed(!), search (old one, not Sherlock), remembering window positions.
EDIT. Forgot the important one - lack of animation!
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In fact I did read this article 20 years ago, but I didn´t have it in mind anymore. While I send around John Siracusas article to everybody for more than 2 decades. (Even linked to it in my Graphics article).
And yes, Window shade is one that I also use extensively.
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the look is the one thing, but for actual work what is even more important are things like the keyboard commands, how drag and drop works, these basic things are imperfect in OSX/macOS and terrible in windows 7/10/11.
though i should add that i use a bunch of extensions to macOS9 which make the finder even better. for example the default behaviour with the usually much too small and not-resizable open and save dialogs are a pain in MacOS - until you "upgrade" them.
i also would not like to work without solid dragging or "default folder".
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care to share?
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Wow, I loved your article on DTP / layout. Very much looking for another one, Mat!!
Apart from the things that have been mentioned, I love that the Finder's basic concept remains unchanged :-D .. I mean, I've been using this thing for 30+ years starting with System 7 and was able to learn all the shortcuts I want / need, I know how the thing behaves, I know what it is good at and what not .. kind of like an old marriage. :-)
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I particularly miss the "Command-Y" shortcut, where anything on the desktop can just be 'put away' when youre done using it. Its Just so convenient because if you use the same file on different programs, you just have to put it on the desktop, and its right there. And when your done with that file, boom, just hit "Command-Y" and itll be automatically put back to the diectory you got it from.
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Wow, I loved your article on DTP / layout. Very much looking for another one, Mat!!
Thanks for such a great compliment!
I mean, I've been using this thing for 30+ years
But that is not in particular a feature of Mac OS 9 ;) Imagine if you would have cared about NetBSD or Be/Haiku the last 30 years you would love them as well :-p of course I will mention it if I manage to write something good.
But please people go on! To my shame I have to confess I did not know about "Command-Y"! So I do not like to miss anything.
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I like how I can put stuff where I want it.
Only the System folder has special rules for what can go where, and that's fair enough.
If I want to mix my applications and work files I can. If I want to put photos in a folder called Junk I can.
If I want to delete everything except the system folder, I can.
It's a shame Apple tried to mess this up with stupid Applications (Mac OS9) and Documents folders.
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I love that the Finder's basic concept remains unchanged :-D
you love that it remains unchanged because you use it since 30 years, lol, as it seems "great minds think likewise" is till true after all the years.
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But that is not in particular a feature of Mac OS 9 ;) Imagine if you would have cared about NetBSD or Be/Haiku the last 30 years you would love them as well :-p of course I will mention it if I manage to write something good.
But please people go on! To my shame I have to confess I did not know about "Command-Y"! So I do not like to miss anything.
Ah, didnt know that, I never used any of those OSes you mentioned(yet), Glad to know MacOS isnt the only one to heva that feature. Makes me kinda sad they took it away with OS X, It messes with my workflow alot more than I thought it would.
And I didnt know about the feature up until last year, while reading Aker Naimans "Macintosh Bible second edition"
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Haha, Mat, in a way you can consider it a "feature". There'll be no fundamental changes to it. Anything you learn today will stay relevant in 5 or 10 years from now. In an IT world where everything is in constant change and you never get a full grasp on things due to this changing nature, it's a relief to sit down and use the Finder and know that things work the way they are and will be in the future. (unless *you* decide to change it via installing some extension)
Hope that better conveyed my thought. But you're correct, of course it's not a "technical feature" ;-)
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Glad to know MacOS isnt the only one to heva that feature.
There is a missunderstanding. I was not talking about any special feature, just about the fact that one may love every Operating System after 30 years of usage. NetBSD and Be/Haiku were just examples for other "non-mainstream" Operating Systems.
Hope that better conveyed my thought.
I absolutely understood you, already in your first posting!
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What I for example realized today, when I had to work on Mate;
When you create a folder, these silly Desktops create them and sort them directly somewhere else than your mouse is and where you created the new folder, …
So go on, tell me more love stories! ;)
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Well, for once, last weekend I realized again just how comfortable it is on OS 9 to add or deactivate system components (Extensions). Don't need Modem support? Yank out the respective extension! Reboot. Done in 2 mins. Hence - it's possible to create a truly & fully personalized computing experience, optimized to *your* own personal wishes and demands. Good luck trying that with your Windows 11 laptop!
Another interesting experience is just how approachable the UI is designed. I saw this with my 5 year old daughter yesterday. She has no reading skills and has had no tutoring. But she was closing folders, navigating the Finder to the kids games and starting up KidPix. The design is so clever a 5 year old can learn it by just watching you do it once or twice. If you consider *when* Mac OS was designed and what everything else in terms of operating systems around it looked like, my respect for these Apple engineers only keeps growing!
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Well, for once, last weekend I realized again just how comfortable it is on OS 9 to add or deactivate system components (Extensions). Don't need Modem support? Yank out the respective extension! Reboot. Done in 2 mins. Hence - it's possible to create a truly & fully personalized computing experience, optimized to *your* own personal wishes and demands. Good luck trying that with your Windows 11 laptop!
I agree, I love the ease of customization with the Finder. Unix-based systems may be more customizable (to the degree that Apple or Microsoft want you to be able to customize, and in Microsoft's case, what tier of OS you bought), but the Finder presents those options in a clear format. The Extensions Manager is a brilliant interface, easy enough for me as a yute to mess around with, turning on and off different system functionality. Maybe a bit too easy, since I can remember more than a few times having the OS crash or not boot correctly.
I've been thinking about this reply for a few days now since it's difficult for me to extricate my nostalgia for the Finder. I like it because it reminds me of a time long since gone, a simpler era of the 1990s where I was optimistic about the future and excited to see what new technologies will come next. Now, as an old, jaded and grumpy computer user of many decades, I no longer yearn for the new and cutting edge. I want the good ol' days, and I want the user interface that evokes those memories.
That's not to say OS 9 isn't a good operating system, it's great. It's one of the best I've ever used and it served me well as a daily driver back then. I had a PowerBook 1440 and it served me well for schoolwork. If my work wasn't so wrapped-up in cloud-based document workflows, I'd try to use my clamshell iBook for my modern computing needs. But ultimately computers are tools, and an unused tool is a decoration.
So again I must gush and thank the people who keep OS 9 alive. Thanks to Cameron Kaiser and the other developers of Classilla so I can post this! Thanks to the owners and moderators of this forum for keeping discussion alive! And thanks to all of you reading this for being interested in the glory of OS 9!
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Kind of last chance, to tell what makes the Finder unique for you. ;)