Moving from Windows to Mac can be confusing. Long ago, I was a lifelong Windows user before I tried my first Mac, and many of the changes were jarring and confusing. It’s often not the biggest differences that give you pause, either — it’s the hundreds of tiny discrepancies that are just dissimilar enough to befuddle the heck out of you.
For me, one of the most perplexing changes was how much working with apps in macOS differed from Windows. “You mean I don’t need a wizard to uninstall an app?” I thought. “I can just move it to the Trash? Won’t that … break something?”
As it turns out, I’m not alone. People on X (formerly Twitter) are debating exactly this difference between macOS and Windows, and I found the discussion pretty entertaining to observe.
Igniting the debate
It all started with developer Tyler King, who posted the following: “I’m making the switch from Windows to Mac, and there are a million little things that are annoying me, but installing apps is the wildest one. Is this seriously how ya’ll think this should work?”
Alongside the comment, King posted an image of the Figma app installer, which tells the user to drag an app icon into the Applications folder.
I'm making the switch from Windows to Mac, and there are a million little things that are annoying me, but installing apps is the wildest one. Is this seriously how ya'll think this should work? pic.twitter.com/B6n66pEEIm
— Tyler King (@TylerMKing) July 25, 2024
King followed up with another comment: “And you drag the app into that folder and literally nothing happens. There’s zero feedback of any kind. This is the thing that everyone says is well designed?”
For starters, that’s not quite fair. There’s a sound that plays when the file is moved, and if the app is large enough, a progress bar appears like when you move any file. But I’ve found myself in the same spot, often unsure if an app has actually installed, leading me to scroll through the Applications folder to be safe. As a new convert, it can be a bewildering experience.
What King probably didn’t anticipate was that his simple post would set off a firestorm of debate and discussion as to the relative merits of Apple and Microsoft’s approaches to app installation and uninstallation. If you follow along, you’ll see the full gamut of reasonable and not-so-reasonable opinions, proving that the Mac-versus-Windows rivalry is still alive and kicking in 2024.
For instance, X user Laurie Voss echoed the feelings of many Mac users with the statement: “I apologize for everything about Finder, it’s terrible and they refuse to fix it.” As someone who splits their time between Windows and macOS daily, the Finder is something that’s always frustrated me. It’s one of the few areas I can genuinely say that Windows feels more comprehensible than macOS — and that doesn’t happen often.
I apologize for everything about Finder, it's terrible and they refuse to fix it.
— Laurie Voss (@seldo) July 26, 2024
But while I understand that the macOS approach to installing apps is very different to that of Windows, I don’t share King’s opinion that it’s worse. As Brandon McConnell commented on X, “would following a 10-step wizard be better?” User @CrayonBytes chimed in by defending the Apple way, opining: “This was one of the things I really liked, actually. Installing apps is just moving a file into the correct place. And uninstalling is just moving it to trash.”
Of course, this being X, there was a whole heaping of strange, mean, and petty comments. A discussion between several users devolved into an argument over the benefits and drawbacks of NFTs. “I see you don’t like simple,” Alex Raihelgaus pithily observed. Mocking, laughing emojis proliferated from every direction and standpoint. In other words, it was just another day on X.
Conditioned habits
Despite all the opinions flying this way and that, there’s a serious point to be made: Is this actually an example of bad design, or are we just conditioned to one way of doing things over another? Users were split on this topic, but there could be something to it.
For example, uninstalling an app in macOS is 99% drag and drop, where all you need to do is move the app from the Finder into the Trash, all without needing a wizard. Yet despite that, some apps insist on using an uninstaller, and I still get caught out when that happens because I’m conditioned to expect a simple drag-and-drop process on my Mac.
That’s what makes switching operating systems so finicky at first. Whether you use Windows or macOS, over time you get used to how that system works. When something changes — even if it’s something as simple as installing an app — your muscle memory gets thrown off.
Personally, I like Apple’s approach to app management, but I agree that there should be a more obvious sign of a successful installation. If your sound is disabled, and the app you’re installing is relatively compact, you won’t have any indication that the process has been completed. Apple could do better.
But that’s a far cry from some of the amusing — and concerning — comments posted on X. When a conversation about installing apps on your computer devolves into a heated dispute over the pros and cons of NFTs, it might be time to step away from the keyboard and get some fresh air.
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