Why I Use Apple's Apps
I came across a really interesting article over at AppleMatters.com, where Chris Howard attempts to answer the question "Why Do I Use Apple's Apps?" He specifically mentions Spaces, and I thought I would concentrate on that. Chris writes:
Spaces is far from an original idea. In fact, Apploids have been pleading for it since OS X came outâmaybe even before. Spaces is a virtual desktop manager, and I used a couple of very good ones on OS X sporadically over the last four years; I have tried the ones built into Linuxes; and I probably even dabbled with some in my past life on Windows. But none of them hooked me in. I gave up on all of them. So I honestly never thought Spaces had a hope. But somehow, Apple has made virtual desktops seem like the normal way to work.
It hadn't hit me until I read that paragraph, but I feel the exact same way.
In the past, I've tried a few virtual desktop solutions, namely VirtueDesktops, and Desktop Manager. However, none of them stayed on my system for longer than 2 weeks. It's not that I disliked them (both are very well written applications), it's just that I stopped using them consistently. On the other hand, I've been running Leopard for almost a month now, and find myself using Spaces constantly.
For me, I think it all boils down to simplicity. Spaces may not have all the configuration options that VirtueDesktops has, but I kind of like that about it. I don't want to decide whether I want the screen to slide away, fade away, or flip around like a cube. Granted, many people like those options, but to me it just makes the app more complicated that it needs to be, and feel less like part of the operation system. Which brings me to my second point.
Spaces feels less like an application, and more like a functionality. When I say functionality, I mean something the operating system can do for you, as opposed to something you have to add on to the operating system. Think of Photoshop. In Photoshop, there's a menu item to rotate an image. Photoshop is the application, and 'Rotate Image' is a functionality of that application.
Making apps feel like functionalities is a combination of many factors, but I think simplicity is a key factor. Functionalities generally do one thing, and do it well. They don't require much (if any) configuration, and you can always count on them being there. As well, they don't take the spotlight. They simply blend into the background and perform their tasks perfectly. If you think of things like Spaces, Expose, and Dashboard, you'll see that they all share those traits.
Anyways, these are just a few of my thoughts on the subject. Please leave a comment if you have anything to share, or just feel like telling me what I wrote is nonsense, haha.
02:39 PM | 0 Comments