Macintosh OS X (TIGER...roar!)

1. What type of interactive product is it? This interactive form is an interface. It is the operating system for the Macintosh platform. I will be demonstrating specifically Mac OS 10.4.3 (Tiger)

2. Who is it for? Describe the audience? It is for a large audience. The audience varies from those that are very tech-savvy, to those that enjoy basic computer usage such as browsing the Internet. With this in mind, the age will largely diverge. However, the audience that is popularly known to be using Mac OS is those in the design industry.

3. What makes it suitable/attractive to that audience? Mac OS X (10.3 and later) is attractive to such a broad audience because of the nature of the OS system. The fashion under which the OS functions is rather intuitive and/or innate. The price of OS X is not very expensive either. It is less than the cost of (most) software that designers use, such as Adobe CS. The OS is readily available by an easy upgrade, online purchase, or in-store.

4. Describe the navigation. Is it intuitive, directed, mapped? Does it use semantics/symbols? As mentioned, OS X navigation is very intuitive. For example, the shortcuts for all the programs, disks and folders are neatly placed on the dock, which is right on the desktop. This can be personalized with which programs, files and disks you want, and where the dock should appear. Also, with the outbreak of iPods, the navigation of the screens and pages within OS X are very much based around the look of iTunes. This means that they all have the main selection menu or icons on the left hand side of the screen. This is divided and the user can navigate to the right of it. This consistency and mimicry is done in order to get Windows users used to Macintosh easier, since many people would have learned how to navigate on iTunes. The semantics also make sense because they are usually the logo of the program for example. Also the way or positioning of the menu is intuitive. The apple symbol is always there and is very intuitive.The symbols are bright, because Steve Jobs wanted something that would grab attention and “make you want to lick the screen!”

5. Consider the graphical user interface. What elements do you see? The look of the new OS is very 3D and futuristic looked, in comparison to past Mac OS and Windows. This can be seen in the design of the icons for example. The use of a GUI (Graphical User Interface) helps users understand how to navigate. The way that the icons look is an important part of it. For example, in order for someone to understand that the Startup Disk Hard Drive is where you would click in order to open the Hard drive, it would have to look like one. Mac OS X has made these icons 3D and sleek looking in order to help the viewer realize what the icon is. The apple menu is easy to recognize because it is an apple symbol, which everyone knows. The placement is also easy to find.

6. Consider the look and feel, do you think they were used appropriately? Why?
The look of Mac OS X is very futuristic yet very simple. Everything has a sleek element to it. This is very appropriate to the audience using it. This is especially appropriate to the design audience. Designers care about the way things look and function. This is because this is their job, and also because they are usually visual learners. Ease of navigation and aesthetic beauty are important to designers, and Mac OS X has aimed and hit it right on the money!

7. Is there rich media, such as audio/video/interactives?
Yes there are rich media audio interactives. For example, there is “Speech Recognition.” This allows you to operate many functions on your computer with your voice, if you choose to. In Mac OS Text Edit you can use the speech command, and have the entire file read out to you. This makes it very useful for editing papers, especially when it is read out by an unbiased voice such as the computer. There are also sounds when ejecting and trashing hard drives and files

8. What development tools were used to create it?
The development tools that were used to build OS X are on the same foundation of the past. The coding system for Mac is UNIX. This is another reason why Mac OS X is appealing to the audience it is. UNIX coding is difficult to hack into and therefore difficult to make viruses for. Also, since Macs are used by about 10 percent of computer users, it is not worth it for the hacker to create a virus, because, it wont be effecting a huge population, therefore they wont get high prestige.

9. What do you like the most about the chosen product?
My favourite part about Mac OS 10.4.3(the one I’m running on) are the Widgets! I could spend( and have) a whole day downloading and using them. This is another great thing about Macs. You can easily personalize everything. I like the Expose functions too because it easily allows me to get to my widgets, and it also makes navigating through windows a lot easier for me. In general, I love the way that I can save so much time and headaches because of the shortcuts on Mac OS X.

10. Is there anything that could be improved?
If I could improve anything, I would make Mac’s turn into a Window’s in order to use certain program, without having to by Virtual PC. In other words, I would make Virtual PC a part of the operating system. However, this is not necessarily in improvement to everyone, but rather a biased preference. Navigation wise, I couldn’t say I would improve necessarily anything, because OS X is so personable. Different options usually exist and just need to be turned on.
A common response on Macs that I get from non-Mac users however, is the ejection of a hard drive that is inserted. When ejecting it, non-Mac users find it uncomforting to send that hard drive to the trash bin to eject it. Perhaps this could be improved, but since his has been standard since the beginning of Macs, this is something people just have to get used to. It may not be intuitive for non-Mac users at first because of their conditioning, but thinking more about it, it makes sense. If you want to “throw something out” of the computer, it would come out via the trash bin. This is the only aspect that is maybe questionable in its intuitiveness.