Who cares about the justification. The major problem with it is that the behaviour is unpredictable. You have no idea what is going to happen when you push that button for a given app. In some apps, they'll go full screen. A browser might resize to fit the current web page. iTunes actually shrinks down to a mini control window.

So now in order to use this button if a useful manner the user has to remember exactly what it does for any given application.

Wolfram Alpha might be the most advanced piece of web technology nobody needs.

In other words, high drug prices give money to gangs. Also, some drugs inherently encourage large gangs - stuff like heroin and cocaine has offshore production, which requires complicated supply chains with large (and therefore violent) gangs. As deplorable as meth cookers are, their small scale and low margins mean they only cause limited damage. Since they work alone, they don't need to shoot disloyal gang members, and they are too small to have real turf wars. And they compete against each other, cutting each others margins, so they don't have the money to hire mercenaries, and it's just not worth getting shot in a gangwar to hold their turf.

I don't like the effect meth seems to have on users though. It would be much better (IMO) to legalise some less damaging drugs. That's the best of both worlds - cheap drugs (so no money goes to gangs, and addicts don't need to steal as much to pay for them), and safer drugs.

I came from a windows background, tinkered with Linux for a few years on and off, and when I started my current job I was given a Macbook Pro. After a few months of using it I as so frustrated, and found myself spending more and more time in my Ubuntu virtual machine, that when they were ordering new MBPs for the design team I offered to give mine up to a designer and buy a ThinkPad, thus saving the company over $1,000. I've been running Ubuntu (and recently Linux Mint) full time for both work and personal use for a year and a half.

In OSX you can only resize a window in the bottom right corner, in Ubuntu I can resize from any corner, or I can hold Alt and middle click anywhere near a corner of a window to start resizing it. No more hunting for the resize sweetspot.

When I click the Maximize button on OSX, it doesn't actually maximize the window 99% of the time, it just picks a seemingly random size. I saw an app a while ago that would let you control how your OSX apps are resized when you maximize them, but if I have to buy an app just to make my OS do what it should do anyway, there's something wrong.

I need 10 different apps on a Mac just to do what I can do out of the box in Ubuntu. Nautilus can access Windows network shares, SSH/SFTP/FTP access, and can mount NTFS, HFS, and pretty much any other filesystem type there is.

On a new linux machine I can apt-get most anything, but if I do need to compile something I just apt-get build-essentials and I'm ready to go, on OSX you have to download a DVD just to be able to compile stuff from source.

I just want to see hidden files in Finder, why is that so hard? Why do I have to google it and use a 3+ key combination to enable showing hidden files? I'm all for keyboard shortcuts, I'm a keyboard man, but until I learn and memorize them, you should put them in the menu where I can find them with a little hunting.

And that reminds me, why can't I type a path in Finder? I prefer an address bar, where I can type a path to a directory I want to view, but noooo, I have to click around, and if it's a really deep folder I'm trying to get to I'm screwed.

I like Home and End keys. Where are they?

In the default Terminal app, there are no shortcuts (at least none that I could figure out) for moving around the text I'm typing quickly, like going forward and back a whole word, or going Home or End, you have to hold down the left or right arrows for a while.

Maybe for some people this locked down, dumbed down environment works for them. Maybe some people love learning the myriad of keyboard shortcuts needed to get stuff done on a Mac, but I prefer Ubuntu, I can get stuff done a lot faster and without wanting to kill myself.

If you asked a friend or searched Google instead of writing your problems here perhaps you would have found the solutions. You took time to learn how to use Linux and the shell, why not take some time to learn how to use OS X as well before complaining that it doesn't do what you want? It does do most of the things you mentioned, and when it doesn't it's by design.

Resizing from any side: Legitimate complaint. Fixed in Lion but this was a big annoyance until summer 2011.

Maximize: It's not a maximize button. Your expectations don't make it broken. Managing expectations of a new OS is dangerous. It's a big reason why people dislike Linux as well, and it's kind of a shame that people expect everything to behave like whatever they are used to.

Finder can access Windows shares, FTP, NTFS, HFS, etc. as well. What are you getting at with this point?

You dislike how Apple distributes their build tools. Ok. Maybe some prefer downloading an installer to running aptitude. (I prefer the package manager way as well, but it's just that: a preference.)

Finder isn't supposed to be a power tool for people who want to know what's in /usr. Hiding that stuff is the right decision. You said you enjoy the keyboard, fire up a terminal and away you go. Or run the defaults command that enables hidden files in Finder if you really need to click on hidden files all day.

Cmd-Shift-G lets you navigate to an arbitrary path in Finder. It has tab completion. You can also run `open /path/to/folder` in terminal. `open .` is often handy.

Cmd-left and Cmd-right are beginning of line and end of line navigation commands. You can also use `Ctrl-a` and `Ctrl-e`, standard Emacs shortcuts just like you're used to in the shell. Home and End are Fn-left and Fn-right if you actually wanted Home and End, which behave strangely on OS X. (They go to the beginning or end of a document without changing the position of the cursor, as Cmd-up and Cmd-down do.)

Terminal navigation shortcuts: Legitimate complaint. Because option and alt are on the same key you have to use `ESC f`, `ESC b`, etc. to navigate by word. Being a Linux geek you should know that `ESC <foo>` is equivalent to `alt-<foo>`. If you want to go to the beginning or end of line again just use `Ctrl-a` and `Ctrl-e`. (Switch caps lock to control in the Keyboard preferences for maximum convenience and comfort.)

It's not locked down or dumbed down, you just didn't take the time or effort to learn it as well as you did Linux. Maybe because you had some preconceived expectation that it was locked down and dumbed down.

Linux seems dumbed down to me after 6 years of OS X because standard keyboard shortcuts for navigation in text fields doesn't work. (Ctrl-[abefnp]) And Xmonad and the like seem primitive compared to just adding tiling goodies (Divvy, SizeUp) to a standard WM to get the best of both worlds.

Honestly it mostly just comes down to managing expectations and what you are already familiar with. Approach things with a fresh and curious child-like mind and you'll be much happier. Never stop learning, never be afraid to ask how to do something even if it seems silly. Like trying to move the damn cursor to the beginning of the line.

Despite my snarky tone I experienced a lot of the frustrations you expressed here. I just dealt with them differently and am happier for it.

Except this was neither hate-filled nor superficial.

The toolbar buttons, for example are a great example of a major usability mistake: what we used to call "mystery meat navigation" back in the day, because it was difficult or even impossible to know in advance what would happen if you clicked a given button.

Suum cuique but some of your concerns really aren't:

> In OSX you can only resize a window in the bottom right corner, in Ubuntu I can resize from any corner, or I can hold Alt and middle click anywhere near a corner of a window to start resizing it. No more hunting for the resize sweetspot.

They changed that in Lion to every corner, every side. And you don't have to press ALT to do it.

> When I click the Maximize button on OSX, it doesn't actually maximize the window 99% of the time, it just picks a seemingly random size.

There's now a full-screen mode that takes care of that.

> Nautilus can access Windows network shares, SSH/SFTP/FTP access, and can mount NTFS, HFS, and pretty much any other filesystem type there is.

One of these might be for you: http://mac.appstorm.net/roundups/utilities-roundups/5-altern...

> On a new linux machine I can apt-get most anything, but if I do need to compile something I just apt-get build-essentials and I'm ready to go, on OSX you have to download a DVD just to be able to compile stuff from source.

Darwin ports? Fink?

> I just want to see hidden files in Finder, why is that so hard?

  defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE ?

Or just use the terminal ?

> And that reminds me, why can't I type a path in Finder?

CMD-Shift-G

> I like Home and End keys. Where are they?

Erh, fn-ArrowLeft/ArrowRight ?!

> In the default Terminal app, there are no shortcuts (at least none that I could figure out) for moving around the text I'm typing quickly, like going forward and back a whole word, or going Home or End, you have to hold down the left or right arrows for a while.

The keyboard tab in Terminal's preferences? Or switch from Emacs-like to Vim-like navigation in the terminal?

> Maybe for some people this locked down, dumbed down environment works for them.

As I said, to each his own and there are valid concerns/tradeoffs about OS X. But in this particular case, the only thing "dumbed down" here is your rant.