I don't feel in a particularly grumpy mood today, but I still have the urge to empty loads of criticism and complaints over my unsuspecting Mac, on which I type this post, on top of all. I have been mostly happy with it, but there are aspects that drive me nuts.
Take the mouse. As mighty as it is, it is already ill-conceived and further proof that at Apple, design brutally dominates over function. When I work on my computer, the screen is much larger than the space for the mouse to roam available on my desk. It happens frequently that the mouse bangs into the computer or assorted stuff scattered randomly on the desk before the pointer reaches its target. If one lets go of the mouse button, the pointer releases and the entire action will have to be repeated. Any other mouse I would just lift by its sides while keeping the button depressed. The mighty mouse doesn't have sides. It's one big button. There is nothing to hold on to. Well, almost nothing. I deactivated the fourth and fifth mouse keys, situated laterally on the body of the mouse. They now give my fingers traction and let me cover larger distances in limited space. That's not what Apple had in mind.
Another thing is the remote control. Nice to have a thought, really cool for presentations. However, Apple, having recently rebranded itself into a life-style company, supports only music, videos and photo slide shows, but not presentations. For that, one has to buy a third-party giffy. I might do that because presentations are a big part of my job, but I resent Apple for not offering the feature in its operating system.
That the laptop gets hotter than my Passat's engine used to when its head gaskets were blown doesn't bug me so much. After riding my bike to work through the London rain, at least I can dry my pants by putting the MacBook on my lap. It's not hot enough to burn through denim.
