[geeks] Leopard, was: find - having a senior moment

[nate at portents.com]

[...discussion of moving/copying in operating systems...]

I don't know of a single GUI-based operating system that does
moving/copying well, there is so much room for improvement it's just
laughable.  I think they all suck very badly.

Things they could do but don't:

- comprehensive filesystem operation undos with a clear UI

- pay attention to source/destination volumes if multiple copies/moves are
in progress at the same time and create a queue if more than one copy/move
is in progress to/from the same physical media, and for copy/moves that
are in progress to volumes on different media, ensure they are running
concurrently

- provide a good UI for overwriting or merging, at the user's discretion,
when there is already something with the same name in the destination, and
provide the option of file previews (like Quick Look in Leopard) for
visual comparison and/or file diffs and extended file
information/metadata, and make it optionally extensible so you can script
a complicated merge (the Mac OS has always done a complete replacement of
a folder hierarchy when you choose to replace a destination folder with
the same name, whereas Windows has always done a merge - without telling
you explictly you are merging - when a destination folder has the same
name)

- allow the user to set priorities and see the raw performance of the
copies/moves in progress, and optionally to generate a report with a
customizable level of detail once it is completed

Let's face it, there's a ton of additional functionality across the board
that the designers and programmers of today's operating systems could be
doing, and doing it in a way that doesn't necessarily get in the way of
the novice user, but because those features are not perceived as things
that will help sell the operating system, they're not a priority.

- Nate