Why is Big Sur so ugly?

[Wowfunhappy]

Mountain Lion and Mavericks work fine on Retina screens. You can actually run Mountain Lion in Parallels on your current Mac right now (I recommend VMWare instead because its performance is better for Mac guests.) I expect you'll be disappointed though, because there's no graphics acceleration. It's super sucky.

If you wanted Mountain Lion and still wanted to stick with Amazon, you could get (for example) this: https://www.amazon.com/Apple-MacBook-ME664LL-15-4-Inch-Display/dp/B078WGK955/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=ME664LL/A&qid=1615518498&sr=8-2

I don't know what OS comes preinstalled, but all you need to do to reinstall the original OS is hold down Shift-Option-Command-R while starting the computer. https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/reinstall-macos-mchlp1599/mac

It's all up to you of course, I'm just trying to help! I was in your position a year ago. You can either complain forever, or you can do what it takes to solve the problem.

Edit: As for the actual OS https://www.apple.com/shop/product/D6377Z/A/os-x-mountain-lion. But, if you buy a computer that shipped with Mountain Lion, there's no need to buy a copy. Just do the startup sequence.

 

[nickdalzell1]

I tried to use VmWare but it wanted me to pay even for the free version. It wouldn't progress with account creation without a credit card and a payment plan. I already have Parallels and ran Linux that way.

My concern was the screen. I tried Snow Leopard in the past but it refused to scale properly to widescreen (it was pillar-boxed and blurry). I'm also without a CD drive so I am not sure if I can download or just buy an *.ISO image to run in Parallels. Linux ran fine enough for video playback and browsing, not as fast as natively but doable. Mountain Lion would probably run better since I wouldn't need as much of my RAM shared.

Thanks for the link but by the time I got that kind of money to spend the 1 left would be long gone. Seems a bit high for something compatible with 10.8. I'll win in the end. I always do. I solved that issue on the Android side mainly with tablets (since I missed my iPhone I went back to my 6S, updates disabled of course!) it will just take longer for me to get the Apple side where I want it.

OF course, if there were simply some OEM who cared about skeuomorphism and our demand enough to provide a modern solution it would certainly be easier (as in no compatibility issues with modern sites or obtaining older apps).

 

[Wowfunhappy]

The prices is indeed high; that's why I recommended DoubleDex (which is still pricey but IMO more reasonable).

My broad point is that these computers are absolutely still available, if you want them! I found that link in ~3 minutes. They are still somewhat expensive, but that's because Macs don't loose their value quickly!

(And you don't need to pay for free VMWare Fusion, their website is just designed to guide you towards paid stuff, and so is a bit tricky!)

 

[nickdalzell1]

The website dead-ended for me. I absolutely couldn't get a download link without an account, and that wanted me to pay. Typical crappy site design

In the past, Macs absolutely did lose value a lot. That all-in-one G3 in 2004 was $49 at a Goodwill. The PowerMac 600 was $7!

Unless times changed. Those were Scully-era Macs, not exactly Apple's better days.

 

[qoop]

I agree with Nick Dalzell, I preferred the old look of OS X.

 

[nickdalzell1]

FYI, I still call it OS X. I remember when certain Mac forums raised all sorts of heck if you simply spelled out "Mac" as "MAC" or "mac" or dared call an iPod touch an 'iTouch'.

Now my OCD won't let me spell it macOS. It's Mac OS X darnit!

I preferred the look of old iOS, Mac OS, and so on. It will always look more 'modern' than the flat garbage of today. Perhaps because I lived through the first-coming of Flat UI design back in the 80s, so any modern take on it feels more like a downgrade rather than an upgrade.

I would bet that most people who think iOS 6 is 'dated' looking today aren't very old, or haven't experienced the time when flat UI design originally started--back in the dark days of Amiga WorkBench 1.5, Windows 1.0, or Tandy DeskMate. Once we got the likes of Silicon Graphics UI, or Windows 98's high color theme, or dare I say it, Windows XP and so on, why would we regress back to the era when hardware limits were what made UIs flat when we got displays capable of 120Hz 1440p and multi-core CPUs? All of that tech to display an 80s UI.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

I mean, it can be reasonable referred to as Mac OS X up until Catalina. Not so much Big Sur though.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Well, just like Acrobat Reader, I don't change the title so easily. Apple was lower-casing Mac OS as macOS back in Catalina.

I have always been a curmudgeon, and for good reason. If something ain't broken, it shouldn't be fixed.

Hey, cars are so dated today! they still got four wheels and analog gauge needles! in 2021!!! How 1950s!!! They need three wheels, no six!

That's the kind of thinking we deal with. Apparently our UIs have to change after 6 years forever, because it was getting 'dated' yet cars and trucks haven't really changed their base design all that much since the first Model T rolled off the line. Sure, the bodies changed, some tech sure, but they had four wheels then, four wheels now! What's that saying? "Why must we re-invent the wheel?"

To be honest, was there really anything broken in iOS 6 that needed such a drastic change? On that matter, was anything really broken in Mountain Lion? Sure, we can make things 64 bit and add features under the hood but does any of that warrant drastic UI design changes that goes against the whole Steve Jobs Human Interface Guidelines?

All I hope for is that some flat-UI loving person with their half dozen camera-laden phone with a 6" display buys a 2020 Lincoln MKC and has to live with the fake, skeuomorphic gauge cluster that is basically one large LCD display pretending to be an analogue gauge cluster--complete with 'needles growing out of the center' animation on startup. At least modern cars haven't flattened their infotainment UIs yet.

 

[Jonas07]

I just installed Big Sur a second time, and the whole thing is fugly, it really looks hilarious, big, the contrast is meh, it’s like they tried to hard to do a better job than Ives but failed miserably, it’s like a recycled operating system with a colourful scheme.

Back to Catalina again.

 

[Cyprusian]

I really don't have issues with the appearance of Big Sur (currently on 11.2.3), which runs just fine on my mid-2014 13" Retina MBP. One cosmetic tweak I did indulge though was changing from the default desktop background to the dynamic picture of the Big Sur coastline.

 

[Feyl]

Stop living in the past, people with your thoughts were responsible of the dark age in history....

That's a bit dramatic don't you think? I often look at things from the past and as with history, you can learn a lot from the past. There are many old cars that are still beautiful many decades after or beautiful buildings and structures like the ones from the Ancient Greece. When I look at modern buildings which are made mostly out of simple sharp lines and blocks of cement I'm a little bit sad. It's not very creative and I don't like it very much. Everything looks the same as a result. And the same applies to software these days. You can like it or dislike it, but Apple was very unique back in the day.

 

[fisherking]

hard to grasp why, with the M1 here, anyone would put money into an older mac... for the GUI. a modern OS, speed, performance... would seem to have more value than icons or menubar spacing.

but then, i use my mac for work, life... i don't spend the day critiquing the finder icon...

 

[colourfastt]

I preferred the look of old iOS, Mac OS, and so on. It will always look more 'modern' than the flat garbage of today. Perhaps because I lived through the first-coming of Flat UI design back in the 80s, so any modern take on it feels more like a downgrade rather than an upgrade.

I couldn't stand OS X Crayon then, and I hate it more now.

edit: to date myself—"load *,4,1"

 

[Jonas07]

Even Elementary OS looks better than Big Sur 🤧😪

 

[Jonas07]

hard to grasp why, with the M1 here, anyone would put money into an older mac... for the GUI. a modern OS, speed, performance... would seem to have more value than icons or menubar spacing.

but then, i use my mac for work, life... i don't spend the day critiquing the finder icon...

Ya you invest your time defending it...

 

[adamlbiscuit]

I don't hate Big Surs GUI - in fact, I like it more than Yosemite / Catalina. However, one thing that really gets on my nerves is that the menu bar in Big Sur doesn't change depending on whether you're in light / dark modes like it did before. Instead, it stays the same shade as your desktop wallpaper. Drives me nuts.

The image above from Jonas07 clearly demonstrates what I'm talking about in the top image. Dark mode is clearly on (as seen by the dock) yet the menu bar is light based on the desktop background.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

but then, i use my mac for work, life... i don't spend the day critiquing the finder icon...

I'm not expecting us to agree on this, but I legitimately think I'm more productive on 10.9.

The contrast levels in the newer designs are a real problem for me. I can't quite explain this, but all of the windows just kind of blur together, and I can't open more than four or so at a time before they start to feel messy and hard to keep track of. On 10.9, I can have closer to 10 open at once before that feeling kicks in.

This makes a much bigger difference than raw processing speed, especially on my desktop, since my 4790K is really very fast.

 

[usagora]

That's the kind of thinking we deal with. Apparently our UIs have to change after 6 years forever, because it was getting 'dated' yet cars and trucks haven't really changed their base design all that much since the first Model T rolled off the line. Sure, the bodies changed, some tech sure, but they had four wheels then, four wheels now! What's that saying? "Why must we re-invent the wheel?"

Well, it's the same with computers. They still have a screen, keyboard, mouse, storage, memory, processors, etc. The UI of vehicles has changed DRASTICALLY since the Model T. There's not a single analog gauge even in my Honda Civic these days and you can control all kinds of options through an on-board display. That sounds like progress to me!

Trust me, just like you and most people, normally my first response to change is exactly what you've said here - "It wasn't broken! Why did they have to change it!" However, I find that 99.9% of the time the changes grow on me and it's just my own stubborn human nature that was the problem.

 

[usagora]

I don't hate Big Surs GUI - in fact, I like it more than Yosemite / Catalina. However, one thing that really gets on my nerves is that the menu bar in Big Sur doesn't change depending on whether you're in light / dark modes like it did before. Instead, it stays the same shade as your desktop wallpaper. Drives me nuts.

The image above from Jonas07 clearly demonstrates what I'm talking about in the top image. Dark mode is clearly on (as seen by the dock) yet the menu bar is light based on the desktop background.

Try System Preferences > Accessibility > Display > Reduce Transparency

 

[fisherking]

I'm not expecting us to agree on this, but I legitimately think I'm more productive on 10.9.

The contrast levels in the newer designs are a real problem for me. I can't quite explain this, but all of the windows just kind of blur together, and I can't open more than four or so at a time before they start to feel messy and hard to keep track of. On 10.9, I can have closer to 10 open at once before that feeling kicks in.

This makes a much bigger difference than raw processing speed, especially on my desktop, since my 4790K is really very fast.

check the accessibility preference pane, where you can adjust contrast. and, really, we should all use what makes us happy. but more speed, power... is more speed, power, no matter how we 'feel' about it.

 

[fisherking]

Ya you invest your time defending it...

i (mostly) enjoy the 'lively discussion' on this forum, and am happy to share my opinions. none of it stops me from getting my work done... or enjoying my life.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

check the accessibility preference pane, where you can adjust contrast. and, really, we should all use what makes us happy. but more speed, power... is more speed, power, no matter how we 'feel' about it.

Yeah I've used that, it doesn't do what I need. Adds a lot of outlines and similar elements that end up just being noisy.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

What kills me is that the facetime and imessage icons have such a harsh gradient. If it wasn't as glaring I'd be much happier. It's the little things IMO that Apple really got wrong.

 

[usagora]

What kills me is that the facetime and imessage icons have such a harsh gradient. If it wasn't as glaring I'd be much happier. It's the little things IMO that Apple really got wrong.

I'd hardly call this "harsh" gradient:

Very subtle gradient, actually. I think you may be thinking of what they looked like in early beta releasesof Big Sur.

 

[Ritsuka]

View attachment 1742756

View attachment 1742757

View attachment 1742758

Even Elementary OS looks better than Big Sur 🤧😪

You might want to disable whatever accessibility option you enabled that put that ugly background color in the dock… or using a super bright image with the dark mode enabled…