I don't see how a person can honestly complain about the lack of two discreet trackpad buttons. I absolutely LOVE the two-finger approach. It may seem strange at first, but once you get used to it, you'll never want to go back.

I've had a few opportunities to use a Windows laptop recently, and it wasn't pleasant. The trackpads are often too small, and two buttons seem unnatural. Don't even get me started about two-finger scrolling.

15: Date display. Yes!!!!! Earlier versions had the Next clock that displayed date and time. I kept it in the dock. I was pissed when it disappeared. Worse, when I click the date time menu, it takes a really long time (several seconds--what the hell is it doing?) to show me the date--completely unacceptable.

Concerning the date...it'd be nice if they made it so the iCal icon would always show the date, even when closed, rather than "July 17th."

I have to chime in to offer my support for a two-button trackpad. Telling a user to plug in a two button mouse strikes me as very odd for two reasons. First, some people (like myself, e.g.) hate mice and much prefer the use of trackpads. Your suggestion, therefore, requires me to choose a much less-preferred alternative simply because Apple is too stubborn to adopt the industry standard for trackpad design. Second, your suggestion seems, on the one hand, to acknowledge the design flaw but also asks the consumer to, in essence, get over it and buy an additional peripheral device to make up for it. A consumer shouldn't have to purchase an additional piece of hardware to make up for deficiencies in the initial one. To me, the issue boils down, simply, to the utility of having a two-button trackpad/pointing device v. the degree to which performance of the pointing device is compromised by adding the second button. Given the fact that Apple's mice have more than one button seems to argue rather eloquently that there is some utility to having a second button. Additionally, I can think of no compromise in performance by adding the second button. This makes it a no-brainer for me. It's not always a bad idea, even for Apple, to take an idea from the dark side.

Finally, as to the two-finger "right-click," I won't argue whether that is superior or not. I will point out that (a) a second button is a standard that Apple could have employed for years while the multi-touch trackpad is a relatively recent invention (this matters, because my trusty G4 Powerbook could have had a second button, technologically speaking; it could not have had a multi-touch trackpad) and (b) different people have different preferences (mice v. trackpads, e.g.)... why not accommodate as many as possible, especially here where the design fix is so incredibly easy. Sorry for the rant/length, but while I have absolutely loved the switch to Apple, I have absolutely hated missing my old (windows) laptop's two-button trackpad.

12 - Documents in the dock.
No way. Not the way Windows does it. Most people I know turn grouping on in Windows. This makes the Windows task bar work the way the Dock does. I'd use it, but I have my task bar on the left side of my screen and the Microsoft UI guys have their heads up their butts (grouping only seems to work when then task bar is at the bottom of the screen).

Making documents available when command-tabbing is a good idea (not the Windows way, you shouldn't have all the documents/windows for all the apps currently running mixed together).

11. Resizing
Both bottom corners wouldn't be such a bad idea, the bottom left doesn't do anything now. All four corners is bad because the traffic lights in the upper left.

9. Forward delete key.
I agree. Also, the lack of a control key on the right side is abominable on my PowerBook (two-finger tapping on new models obviates this complaint).

5. Grab entire column separator.
Never bothered me before, but agreed.

4. Auto-sized columns
Reasonable.

3. ?????
I have no idea what they are talking about.

Shutdown.
I know of no operating system with a legitimate instantaneous one-button shutdown. That's for very good reason.

Two button track pad.
Plugging in a mouse isn't really a solution. A notebook should be self-contained. Control-clicking is a pain with only one control key. But I do use a PC notebook, sometimes the button I want is an uncomfortable reach away. The two-finger tap is the best answer in theory. I envy you guys that have it. I still curse my PC for lacking two-fingered scrolling.

Personally, I much prefer the one-button trackpad on my iBook. I tend to click with the edge of my thumb placed in the centre of the button, allowing my hand to hang in a natural position. Going back to a two button pad I have to twist my hand into a less comfortable position to avoid hitting the second button. Just my preference I guess, but after using the one button design I can definitely feel the ergonomic benefit.

I LOVE that brushed aluminium thing and hope it will last forever in Mac OS. I cant help myself. Any other fake-metal lovers over here?

Date Display? F12 and Keep it on the Dashboard, Hell thats what its for right? Over Protective Shutdown Error Trapping? Are you kidding. My 5 year old button pushing sister would have sent me to the loony bin by now if it werent for that nifty freature. Props for the right clicks but bringing a second finger to the table (or trackpad) isnt gonna kill anyone.

I can see why many people (especially Windows users) would find renaming with Return a bit confusing. That key has come to mean "execute," for the most part. Hitting it in dialog boxes says "OK" or equivalent. Hitting it in a Windows file listing says to open the selected file or program. I found it somewhat strange when I first moved over to Mac, but now I'm plenty used to it.

There's a very good reason why it's a bad idea to make all OS X apps use the same interface. (#7) I've explained it here:

http://bla.st/site/blog/28/

to enable widgets on the desktop, open terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.dashboard devmode YES

then: killalll Dock (to restart dashboard)

Then next time you want to drag a widget to the desktop just click and hold then press F12.....the widget will now appear on the desktop!

wackybit, the problem with dev mode is that the widget remains floating over all your apps. Amnesty Singles is a better solution, IMHO.

Regarding Dave's comment:

"I know of no operating system with a legitimate instantaneous one-button shutdown. "

It's two buttons, and it's reversable, but Sun/Solaris machines could be pretty much halted by typing L1-A (and later, Stop-A) on the keyboard. This was (and might still be, I haven't put my hands on a Sun box in a long while) useful for when everything went bad ... you were shunted to the OK prompt (i.e., firmware) where you could sync the disks before powering off the machine. Of course you could resume from this point[*], but often enough innocents would get to this point and have no idea what just happened, pretty much forcing a reboot.

([*] If you knew Forth, you could do more than that too!)

Yahoo Widgets (formerly Konfabulator) allows the user to put active widgets on the desktop - incidentally also offering a workaround (of sorts) to Apple's poor date display. It runs on the desktop, underneath active windows, but can be pulled to the forefront for viewing by using F8.
I use Dashboard for rarely used apps like Calculator and Stickies, and Yahoo's for more immediate stuff - calendar, weather, etc.

Apple has got to join the 1990s (oh wait - the 21st Century) and get over its insistence on keystroke/click/drag to achieve basic industry standard controls. What was quirky is just plain irritating now. Two buttons, Steve - get over it....

Guys -

Preferences > Date & Time >
*Show date in time
**View In Window
**View as Digital
***Optionally set transperency to High
and set it in the lower-right corner of
screen.

Shows (as I speak) December 16, Saturday, under the time.

So cross out #1 already, HUH?! :D

You can put the date in the clock space, I've done it on mine, it's just a bit convoluted fiddling with system preferences but not hard.

I have determined that six is incorrect, or I don't understand it. I just turned it off and adjusted the display sleep setting and tried it several times. If you power mode is being forgotten (not in my experience) that is not the same as a display dimming problem.

Tim, the point is it should be easy. trai_dep, that puts the clock over the desktop, I don't like it there. It used to be possible to keep it in the doc and it should be possible to have the date in the menu bar rather than floating over valuable real estate.

15. Agreed. Although I just hit my bottom right corner and look at my calendar widget, and this doesn't bother me, it should be an option to have it in teh menu bar. iCal icon should also display the currect date when closed.

14. Mac Pilot (just got it free from MacAppADay)

13.* Whatever man. I guess, but just use OS X as your primary and you're fine with it.

12.* Bull crap. Get used to Exposé. It comes in handy.

11.* Bull crap again. Drag to top left, resize. (Windows: Drag each side individually, or drag opposite corners individually, or do the same thing as OS X, drag to top left and resize from bottom right) OS X is easier.

10. Agreed. But, OverFlow. (Got this from MacAppADay too)

9. Fn + Delete

8. Uhhh, maybe, but it's never given me a problem.

7. I barely notice, but if it bothers people that much, yeah I guess it'd be nice.

6. Agreed. Very much so.

5. SO move your friggen mouse to the bottom! You're not playing an time and attention-intensive video game here, and it's not a repeat action. Man, move your lazy fingers.

4. Same ^.

3. What the balls are you talking about?!

2. Again, Mac Pilot. But another simple thing to add. Drag and drop is a good mention for the exclusion of cut.

1. Uhh, I don't know. Get Tiger? Or Leopard in a few months. Tiger works great for me with this.

-----

Reader Peeves:

1. And next time you aim that little arrow at 'Sleep', and you hit 'Restart' on accident, you'll recant. ALL OF YOU WHO AGREE WITH THIS ONE! ...stupidest thing I ever heard.

2.* Well, I think Dan covered that one pretty well.

3.*

   a. Dan's first sentence, I believe, was intended to be a solution for desktop users. His second sentence, I believe, was inteded to be a solution for laptop users.
      1. Mightmouse has right-click. Old Apple mice users: ...*
      2. I find two finger tapping to be amazing. I'd never want to move my poor thumb back and forth like that. But that's an opinion I guess. So you'll always have these people: *

As for the bullcrap about not having to buy extra stuff for your computer, maybe I took it the wrong way but:

Hey, go hook up your firewire hard drive to your Dell.

Go surf the web on IE with your Dell and no Anti-Virus, Adware, Spyware, or Internet Protection software.

Go install Vista on your one-year old Dell without at least a memory upgrade. (Obviously I'm talking about the cheaper Dells.)

-----

*Hey look! You're using a Mac! GET USED TO IT! I could reverse almost every single one of these against a Windows computer.

Good suggestions. One that I would've put on instead of the Widgets on the desktop is an option to show hidden files. Yeah, we can edit the plist file but that grays out icons and just makes the desktop drab. I long for the day that I can edit a .htaccess file locally and upload it without any hacks or terminal.

Tayker, if you're looking for a way to open hidden files easily, BareBones's free TextWrangler text editor has an "Open Hidden..." command that shows you all Unix files. And it's totally free, and a pretty nice text editor to boot.

Thanks. I've tried Text Wrangler before but I prefer Smultron. IMO, that ties me to a product I'm not fond of when I believe the feature I want should already be included in the system. To me the lack of a hidden files option makes as much sense as having the default browser and e-mail reader option under the Safari and Mail preferences.