Note to Apple, re: The Finder
Dear Apple,
I have finally figured out a way for you to fix the Finder in Mac OS X, and do it for considerably less money than you are currently spending. Since you are fond of three step descriptions, I have used the format here in my suggestion.
Step 1: Fire the entire Finder development team. I’m sure they could be put to better use somewhere else inside the company.
Step 2: Assemble a new Finder team. First, bring on John Siracusa as a consultant. He, more than anybody else, I believe, understands the current Finder’s weaknesses. Next, hire Steve Gehrman, the genius behind Path Finder. Steve has done a better Finder all by himself than your entire team of developers has done. Finally, make sure Mike Matas handles all of the visuals.
Step 3: Give the new Finder team a simple mission statement that sounds like this:
Create a new Finder that appeals to both new users and professionals. Make it easy to use, extremely responsive, and extremely powerful. Make sure it has every feature the past Finder has had since its inception in 1984. If a feature must be dropped, a better idea must be implemented to achieve the same goal.
The only part of Leopard that I find a disappointment is the Finder. Is it better than the Finder in 10.4? Hell yes. Is it as good as it can possibly be? Hell no.
Jobs tried to pass the Finder off as a whole new Finder back at WWDC, but it isn’t. It is an evolution of the original Mac OS X Finder, with many improvements, and many more lingering bugs.
It’s time to get serious. Kill the Mac OS X Finder and assemble a small, ninja-flexible team to do the work that you have not been able to accomplish in 7 years.
Posted: October 2, 2007 / Category: Opinion