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Blue95: a desktop for your childhood home's computer room

(github.com)
567 points elvis70 | 6 comments | 30 Mar 25 15:30 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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metadat ◴[30 Mar 25 16:14 UTC] No.43525239[source]▶
This looks nice and easy to use.

My hypothesis is today's "modern" OS user interfaces are objectively worse from a usability perspective, obfuscating key functionality behind layers of confusing menus.

It reminds me of these "OS popularity since the 70s" time lapse views:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=cTKhqtll5cQ

The dominance of Windows is crazy, even today, Mac desktops and laptops are comparatively niche

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esafak ◴[30 Mar 25 16:29 UTC] No.43525364[source]▶
Microsoft Windows programs hid functionality under layers of menus and the registry. MacOS, at least, surfaces much less functionality, because it offers sensible defaults. I never had to do anything akin to fiddling with the Windows Registry.

I did like some Windows things, though, like the ribbon, and reconfigurable UIs. Today's UIs are more immutable, for the worse.

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1. diggan ◴[30 Mar 25 16:48 UTC] No.43525533[source]▶
> I never had to do anything akin to fiddling with the Windows Registry

If I recall correctly, when I got my first Macbook, I had to edit plist files or something similar in order to do basic things like permanently showing hidden files, showing the full path in Finder, show file extensions for all file types, increase the animation speed so the computer didn't feel slow as molasses, etc, etc.

Maybe these things are now easier to configure via GUI on macOS?

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2. cosmic_cheese ◴[30 Mar 25 17:12 UTC] No.43525730[source]▶
Toggling hidden file visibility in Finder and open/save dialogs has been doable with the key shortcut Command-Shift-. for quite some time now.
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3. diggan ◴[30 Mar 25 17:13 UTC] No.43525743[source]▶
Is that permanent across reboots and all? I think that was the main issue I had with it, but was a long time ago now.
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4. baq ◴[30 Mar 25 18:22 UTC] No.43526310[source]▶
One thing that is weird is that you’re expected to look around the menu bar holding the option key as the menu contents change when that is pressed (also applies to tray icon menus, e.g. WiFi icon shows a lot of stuff when option-clicked.) IIRC some of what you say can be toggled with option menu items.
5. foobarchu ◴[30 Mar 25 20:03 UTC] No.43527130[source]▶
The last time I was setting up a system, it's still very difficult to find in the menus. If it's not discoverable and I have to know the incantation/shortcut to do it, then that's bad UI.
6. wpm ◴[01 Apr 25 01:24 UTC] No.43541888{3}[source]▶
There is a checkbox for file extensions and a View menu item for full paths. Hidden files is still not surfaced in the GUI, but is persistent.