I’m not sure how new this is, but it’s really great. Since the content aggregated into Google Reader is time-based, and often becomes irrelevant quickly, it makes perfect sense to expand the usual mark as read functionality to include various time spans. Makes paring down a several-thousand-item unread count easy. Epic win.

I fully understand the implications (which aren’t even destructive! The session’s gonna be fine in the background!). You don’t have to remind me every fucking time. By definition, anyone who uses Remote Desktop is not a casual, naïve user. Why do you treat us as such? I’d argue that this dialog is entirely unnecessary, but if you absolutely insist on giving me this piece of data I already know, for fuck’s sake stick in a “don’t show me this again” option.

Patronizing, lazy, unnecessary. EPIC fail.

(By the way, the Mac version of the TS client doesn’t ask.)

(Also by the way, there might be some way to turn this off, but if I have to hunt for it, it’s less than useless to have it at all)

Here’s how I get there: I build the solution, I have a look at it, I see what’s wrong, I switch back to Blend, I fix the problem, I want to build it again, and– D’oh! I forgot to close the running app. So I have to close the dialog, switch to the app, close it, switch back, tell it to build again.

As is ususally the case with these stupid, stupid error dialogs, it doesn’t help me at all towards my goal. Yes, I forgot to close the running app so you can’t build on top of it. Yes, that was my mistake. How about not scolding me for it, but actually fixing the problem: close the damn thing, and build it again.

Lazy. Inconsiderate. Bitchy. Fail!

See? The Amazon icon on the unselected tab comes dangerously close to the edge of the tab. The label, also, doesn’t get shifted down. It looks like a mistake, it feels like a mistake. It is a mistake. (One, I’ll point out, I didn’t make.) It’s too subtle, and users won’t get it (I’ve seen them not get it); I can’t believe Apple missed this one. Oh, wait, yeah I can. Once again, lack of user testing produces inferior results.

On the other hand, I will hand it to them for reversing their position on the position and behavior of the tabs. Still, the icon thing? Fail.

That’s unfortunate, and something Microsoft’ Terminal Services does with no fuss. In fact, it’s specifically designed for it. Connect to a gateway machine (in a DMZ, say), then on to whatever box(es) you need. On the whole, TS is really great, actually; something that’s really pretty damn complicated to get right, that they do excellently. The biggest pisser? ARD costs $400. Maybe they expect administrators to do everything at the command line? Sure, you can, but a slick GUI makes mundane tasks faster and easier. The lack of these tools is, IMO, a huge impediment to OS X making a dent in business/enterprise environments. It’s too bad; I’d love to see something like Microsoft’s System Center Essentials (full disclosure: I worked on it) for Macs.

Huh. OK. Well, I do use Mail.app; maybe it’s not set as the default mail application or something? Well, nope, that’s not it:

So, really, WTF? How on earth is this complicated? If adding <a href="mailto:what@evs"> to a web page can trigger whatever the default mail client to open and compose a message (and always work; when’s the last time you had that one fail?), then what’s the deal with two applications— both that Apple wrote— not talking to each other. This shouldn’t be a bug. I shouldn’t have to try to figure out what the problem is. Fail!

The drag-to-install is a pretty standard paradigm in OS X, as is using a custom background image to spiffy up one’s disk image folder in Finder. This example from Adium combines instruction with cuteness in a particularly stylish and memorable way. The duck(?) throwing up his wings is adorable-tastic.