14 DAY TRIAL // It was a matter of time before I had again done the stupid thing of accidentally hitting the Return/Enter key right after installing a program that required a system reboot. However, this time around, a little something called X11 came to the rescue, and saved all my precious work. Here's a geeky story with a geeky, happy ending.
While most applications today have a “recovery” function (including word processors and web browsers), not all handle the recovery 100 percent accurately. Plus, it’s a drag to get back on the saddle in exactly the same position as you were before falling off, if you know what I mean.
If you accidentally hit “Restart” after installing a program like the Xbox 360 Controller Driver for Mac, you’ll surely be frustrated watching all your work-in-progress fading away before your eyes as your applications close one by one, without an option to stop the agony. It’s happened to me numerous times.
X11, also known as the X Window System, is a computer software system and network protocol that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for networked computers. It also helps programs like Gimp (image-editing software) run on Mac OS X like native Mac apps. This was my case.
As it happened, I was installing the newly released Xbox 360 Controller Driver, to carry out a few tests. Not surprisingly (now that I have the time to think about it), the final installation dialog virtually pushed me into rebooting my Mac - it didn't prompt me to save my work before I hit that wretched “Restart” button.
Being the temperamental type that I am (even when there’s no reason for me to be that way), as the installation finished with success, I rapidly hit Return without paying attention to what the highlighted command was actually for. To my horror, I immediately realized that I’d just given the command for the single existing option in the dialog - Restart.
However, my agony soon turned into joy, as X11 quickly pulled out its own dialog box warning me that I was about to break the bond between it and GIMP, asking me if I really wanted to Restart my system.
X11 allowing me to reconsider restarting my system Imagine my joy as I realized I was given a second chance to undo something that, at the moment, seemed like the end of the Universe to me. As I hit "Cancel", I felt like a second grader answering the question, “Do you think there’s life on other planets?”, to which the answer “Yes” was obviously a winning ticked.
Finally, as if Mac OS X knew how much trouble X11 had just saved me from...
Mac OS X notifying me that X11 has overridden the restart command, allowing me to save / continue with my work