What Mac OS X Could Learn From Windows
An anonymous reader writes "It is almost unheard of to see something written about what OS X could learn from Windows but this details some good examples. And yes, it includes the right-click mouse." I find about half the suggestions compelling enough to be worth griping over, and the other half off-base, but YMMV.
Apple - and the zealotry - need to concede that this battle is lost.
Huh? So Apple are meant to disrupt the muscle memory of practically every Apple user, by dropping a scheme that they have stuck to for decades, to make it slightly easier for a minority of people who use two different systems on a regular basis?
What complete and utter nonsense. What next? Drop the dock in favour of a taskbar that works like Windows... because "this battle is lost"? After all, if it doesn't work like Windows, then it must be a disaster!
Apple has had support for a two button mouse for the better part of twenty years. Just plug one it, and go...simple as that. The fact that most users chose not to spend the extra $30 to do so, tells you that they didn't really miss it.
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This one is a real bother for me on my with Macs. Anybody have a hack or 3rd party way of doing this.
FYI to non Mac'ers, Mac OSX only allows you to re-size windows at the top left corner of the window .
From TFA (emphasis mine):
1) Compatible control keys. Switching between Mac and Windows this drives me nuts. I have to consciously think "command-C or control-C?" It shouldn't have to be that way. And if you're running RDC or VPC and copying and pasting between OS X and Windows!! Sheesh!
The problem isn't the labeling, it's the location of the keys used. I had to use a Windows PC today and I kept pressing Alt-C to copy. This is why it's a problem. If it was simply a matter of labeling, no worries, mate. Apple - and the zealotry - need to concede that this battle is lost.
Implementing this would rock many people's boats, so if Apple did make this change it'd have some serious domino affect on other keystrokes and applications that use them, but maybe it could be done with the switch to Intel, just to ease the pain slightly.
Umm, how exactly did Apple lose? Was there a national convention that decided that the main command issuing modifier key should be hit by the pinky? I much prefer to move my thumb from the space bar and hit command than move my pinky from the a to hit control. Why exactly do we need to conceed here? Because you think you you're right Mr. Author?
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OSX can learn by the bad example that Windows sets in terms of security, usability, stability, and well, just about everything else. Wait... In fact it seems like OSX has already learned those lessons!
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I think the idea is that your cursor doesn't change into a dozen different zany pictures and adopt a dozen different functions depending on which part of the window you're pointing at.
It's all about simplicity.
there's more than one way to do me.
I think this writer still hasn't got it. OSX has supported multi button mice for ages - I have a 5 button Microsoft bluetooth mouse working perfectly with 10.3, making expose easy to use.
The whole point of the one button mouse is to make it easy to use for beginners, and to prevent developers being lazy when designing programs. And using expose with a single mouse button only needs for the screen corners to be set up to trigger the actions.
While some of the points seem relevant, others are completely off the mark.
Save button on toolbars: This is hardly an OS X issue. Lots of Mac apps have them. I can't remember if iApps do or don't, but there's no big deal there.
Only showing relevant file types: The current method is classic Steve. You show all files because the user knows they exist and you don't want to confuse him. Advantages both ways.
Sort directories to the top: If that's a problem, you probably have your tree setup poorly. Again, one can argue this both ways.
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Mac already supports right-click, and more. in fact, my iBook scroll pad has the functionality of a mouse with 5 buttons and 2 scroll wheels. but I usually use my Apple single-click buletooth mouse. it's enough.
REQUIRE just one button, SUPPORT multiple is the Mac way. and it's also the best way. anyone who doesn't understand this is ignorant.
Exactly. That's a hardware issue, not an operating system (OS X) issue. It's not OS X's fault that Apple ships computers with single-button mice.
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1. Control keys can be changed in the preferences for the OS, and for RDC and VPC as well. Plus, it wouldn't be horrendously difficult to change the key mapping to make it more convenient as well.
2. Save buttons on toolbars are up to the developers. And in all honesty, I think a lot more people use keyboard commands to save, instead of clicking on a tiny little button in a toolbar that not even every app has. This definitely is not an OS specific thing...they're available if you need it, but nobody's forcing anyone to use it..
3. My Logitech MX518 works on my Macs. So does my MX900 bluetooth mouse. And all of the other multi-button mice I've ever bothered to connect via USB or bluetooth. end of argument, unless you're trying to say that Apple should ship multi-button mice with their computers. They shouldn't. There's almost nothing worth having a multi-button mouse for that you can't do with a one button mouse, or with the keyboard (except when it comes to gaming and the likes). Now, with the coming Intel Macs, maybe they should. But that's only assuming the person buying the machine will install another OS on it as well.
4. Why on earth do you need to see only the relevant file types? Sometimes OS X will grey out the ones that aren't relevant or not selectable, but what good is it going to do? Afraid of accidentally naming your file a name that already exists?!
5. Useless. In all honesty, Spotlight/Quicksilver/Launchbar sort of get rid of the need for that, like the article mentioned.
6. Why on earth is this supposed to be a Windows thing? It's not. It's in OS X. Blame the developer(s) if it's lacking in the software you're using and complaining about.
Frankly it sounds like the author is just an idiot, but that's my two cents. All of his points are almost completely irrelevant or not applicable.
On top of that, might I add that Microsoft and Apple have copied each other too many times to count, and it's not necessarily good.
Most of these seemed to point out litte small niy-picky things. With the save button, I know when im working on a document its easier just to hit Commad-S from the keyboard then to go to the mouse and hit a button on a tool-bar. I usually turn any sort of tool-bar off though to save screen space. Multi-Button mouses? God. The mac is compatible out of the box but its more of a statement of how simple it is to use then anything else. Moving folders up to the top is just a pain in the ass if you are trying to find a file in a folder full of other folders and files. Say if the file has a name that begins with "F" you have to hit the F-Key a bunch of times to get past all the folders that have names starting with it to get into the files. Wastes more time like that then it could possilbley save, plus you can sort by type. And anyway, who reads documentation for a Apple product?
Go into your keychain and turn on the menubar addon. Then you can lock your screen with two clicks of your one-button mouse.
Simple.
seSales, Point of Sale software for OS X.
Which is something i never had a problem with , All the apps are designed to use one button as best they can allowing me to set my mouse buttons to do what i want. .How many people enthusiast use the mouse that came with their pc (if they built it themselves then its a totally null argument).What i have discovered the main advantage of the one button mouse is that now my wife is far more proficient with keyboard shortcuts.
I personally have a logitech mx900 , Now before anyone jumps on with the one button mouse jokes
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1. There are tools to remap keys. I'm sure the command and control keys can be switched as well. Yes, you do need to look for the tool or option.
2. Idiotic. Command S is not easy enough? Tool bars are generally evidence of poor design. You memorize the shortcut keys for your frequent options. Yes, there can be designs where there are too many keys to remember but SAVE? Oh command S people.
3. control click anyone? why a multi button mouse when control click works just as well and doesn't confuse new users?
4. Interesting, I'll agree.
5. This is horrible. Totally completely stupid and horrible. You sort by name and just TYPE the name of your folder and then press command down arrow to open it. Why in hell do people want an alphabetical sort to separate any files from folders? How do you know when the folders stop and the files start? What if you have more than one screen of folders? Folders at the top is something I really really think is pretty damn stupid as it breaks the metaphor of alphabetical sorting. Oh, if you want it, PathFinder, a finder replacement, has it
6. Um, ok. Software authors heed to increase their budget to have a copywriter write the context sensetive help.
And on : - Existing files selectable in Save dialog
This sucks. I want to click in the file list to set my focus there so i can command up or command down arrow into and out of folders. But now, when I click to set focus, if I hit a file name, I mistakenly replace my current file's filename with that of another file and if I press save, I run the risk of overwriting it and deleting that other file. Super lame.
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Buy an aftermarket mouse and plug it in. Instant scroll wheel.
seSales, Point of Sale software for OS X.
Or, perhaps, someone can tell me how to get XP SP 2 to do any of the following:
OK, on that last one, tweaking the keymap would do it. (And that would solve the article's author's problem with Command vs. Control--swap Windows and CTRL on his Winbox keymap, or Control and Command on his Mac.)
And I don't want stuff that only works for the current load/save dialog, like switching to list view. Yeesh.
At least most Windows apps finally stopped defaulting to saving in the directory the program is in, that was really dumb.
Not that Macs are perfect, either, but they're closer to how I want to use a machine than Windows is.
1) Compatible control keys. Switching between Mac and Windows this drives me nuts. I have to consciously think
OS X is not Windows, strangely enough, some people even choose it above Windows because it is different.
2) Save button on toolbars. I don't think any of the Apple software ever gives you the option to include a Save button.
Learn to use Cmd-S, buttons for every command is a Windows thing, though it has crept in in some programs like MS Word.
3) A multi button mouse. And you thought I'd say two.
Plug in your PC mouse.
Only show relevant file types in open and save dialogs. For those who like seeing every file that's every existed in their Documents folder, give them a checkbox to show all files.
This is debatable, but the only one of his points which might have some foundation - it would be handy to be able to winnow files in the open dialog. Presumably the justification is that files should always be visible, even if they're not directly available in a certain program.
In fact in Tiger you can do this in a neat way with Smart Folders (create one for only word documents, one for images etc, then put them in your sidebar or someplace easy to find from the open dialog).
Sort folders to top of directory listings I know that we don't go folder mining as much since we got Spotlight, so I won't labor on about this one.
Click the 'Kind' column in column view, or smart folders again.
More context sensitive help. I notice since I first raised this two years ago, more of it has crept into OS X. So I guess at least I can't be flamed for this one!
I assume this means tooltips. Don't like them myself, as I feel they encourage GUI designers to litter the screen with cryptic buttons with the excuse that users can use tool-tips to decode them.
Now why is it that I can list all the features I want Leopard to have and as long as none of them are from Windows, its cool?
But dare suggest OS X needs a feature already in Windows and the world comes down on you.
Additional features are not always welcome, efficient or even necessary.
What's far more important than an extensive feature list is that features are well integrated, consistent and well thought out - throughout an operating system and the applications. If I have one major criticism of Apple recently it's that they have forgotten to keep things simple and consistent in their myriad home-grown apps.
And if you can take the heat, what would you like to see Apple borrow from Windows?
There are undoubtedly a few ideas in Windows (which haven't already been borrowed already : ) which would be great on OS X. Some parts of the Finder could do with help for a start (Network, thumbnail browsing etc). Any long time Windows users like to suggest some? (No, things which are just different don't count, there has to some things which work better).
Sometimes I think Slashdot articles would be more thoughtful and insightful if the editors just linked to comments from previous stories rather than uninformed nonsense like this.
I use a simple AppleScript named "Lock Screen" that I launch with LaunchBar. Cmd-space, lo, done.
there's more than one way to do me.
The two UIs are designed to be used differently. The Mac interface is designed to have a lot of windows visible at the same time. Windows is designed to have one fullscreen window (or two tiled windows)visible at a time. A sibling comment says it perfectly: "Though at least windoes makes it easier to use one window per screen."
I understand your frustration -- I'm accustomed to the Mac method and I find Windows (especially the giant opaque super-windows in Windows Office) infuriating.
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From article: Switching between Mac and Windows this drives me nuts. I have to consciously think "command-C or control-C?" It shouldn't have to be that way. And if you're running RDC or VPC and copying and pasting between OS X and Windows!! Sheesh!
If you really must do this, you can do it in 'system preferences'. Just go to the 'Keyboard & Mouse' pref pane and click the modifier keys button. voila! switch control and option or whatever else you want.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Overall, this article is typical windows user complaining because they don't want to spend the time to learn a new platform. OS X has these features, it just takes time to learn them. Same thing if switching from Mac to Windows. Let's go down the list, shall we then...
1) Compatible control keys.
OS X already does this... just look in system preferences for the keyboard and mouse pref pane.
2) Save button on toolbars
This is an app specific criticism and has nothing to do with the OS. Office has these save buttons in the toolbar. in iTunes, iPhoto, etc. such a feature is not needed (everything is saved by default.)
3) A multi button mouse.
see parent: Exactly. That's a hardware issue, not an operating system (OS X) issue. It's not OS X's fault that Apple ships computers with single-button mice.
4) Only show relevant file types in open and save dialogs
conceded... I guess. I don't mind the OS X behavior here because I am in the habit of opening files via drag and drop from spotlight or the finder.
5) Sort folders to top of directory listings
Finder's list view does this if you sort by the 'kind' column.
6) More context sensitive help
conceded. OS X help system in general needs work. But last time I ran Winders it wasn't much better.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Another result of the same decision to use th eALT key for keyboard shortcuts is that it prevented form being used as a kind of super-shift key for typing characters. On the Mac this is great - it's trivially easy to type accented charactérs as you gö along if you want, without breaking your typing speed or train of thought - by using ALT (or option, in Mac parlance) to get to those characters. On Windows, you have to open up a whole separate character palette and cut and paste it from there, or else memorise very arcane keyboard codes. While OS X also has a character palette, it's not often that you have to use it, while on Window you have little choice. To compound the problem on Windows, it also cuts and pastes the font and style from the character palette, which is just plain stupid - I just want the character, please adopt the font and style where I paste it! This is so obvious that I wonder just who provides UI decisions on Windows - this one could have been done better if a 5-year old child had been consulted.
What MS should have done is to specify that an extended keyboard with a command key would be necessary to access keyboard shortcuts in Windows, and within 6 months or a year, those keyboards would have been the standard. Instead they imposed a workaround that had no upsides except compatibility with the existing PC keyboard, and many downsides that are simply accepted by the 'dozers today as "the way it is".
Like everyone else, I'm going to look at the suggestions:
1) Compatible control keys.
Oh, please, no.
If it matters, then there should be an argument about which way is better, other than "more people are used to the Microsoft way". And if it doesn't matter, then it shouldn't be a big deal.
It isn't the labelling, but the position? Let's not muck around too much with the position, eh? It was an unmitigated disaster when some bozo decided that the control key ought to be on the same row as the space instead of to the left of the "A" key; let's not continue the trend of rendering the standard keyboard unusable.
If you want a different layout, remap the keys yourself, or buy a different keyboard. Line up to buy one of the Optimus keyboards if they come out next year, and map all of the keys to exactly where you want them.
If I were paranoid, I'd say that this suggestion was designed to drive the sorts of people who haven't been appropriately indoctrinated into the Microsoft Windows Way[tm] away from computers entirely. If I had to use the Dell keyboard that came with the machine at work, I'd probably be contemplating a job that didn't involve computers, and wouldn't for the foreseeable future.
2) Save button on toolbars.
As has been pointed out, this is an application thing, not an OS thing.
Personally, I'm not a big fan of toolbars. Trying to puzzle out the little icons isn't a profitable use of my time (and! yet! here! I! am! on! slashdot! yeah, yeah, I get the irony.), so I'd just as soon have the option to get rid of the toolbars and reclaim that screen real-estate for getting actual work done.
Finally, the appropriate solution would be to give the user the choice of setting up the toolbar (like Mail.app) with every possible leaf in the menu-tree. Why bicker about "save", when all the leaves in the menu should be allowable targets for the user to put into the toolbar?
3) A multi button mouse
Hardware request. Bogus objection.
What I want is a freaking three-button mouse with a scroll-wheel, where the scroll-wheel isn't trying to double-up as the third button. Yes, I know, I can "just click on the scroll-wheel", but I don't want to. I also don't want tiny little buttons that I can use with my thumb or pinky or whatever. I'm not looking for a funky keyboard on my mouse, after all (which is where this eternally-growing-button-list trend goes).
But if the OS works with a single-button mouse, fine. Why should that be a problem? You want people who do best with a single-button mouse to have a terrible time with their computer? Such sadism makes for a very poor UI, and is no doubt part of the reason I bailed out of the Microsoft-centric world-view many years ago.
4) Only show relevant file types in open and save dialogs.
Many applications ghost out "inappropriate" files already. But making the actual hiding of information a system default is just bad form -- I get extremely annoyed when my computer hides information from me.
Which leads into this nonsense of "hiding file extensions". THEY ARE NOT FREAKING EXTENSIONS: THE ARE SUFFIXES!
Yes, boys and girls, it's the height of idiocy to look at the NAME of a file to determine how to handle it when you can look in a file to see what sort of thing it actually is. One of the stupidest "features" of Microsoft Windows is it's inability to understand that a JPEG file is actually a JPEG file even thought it's named "Foo", or, gosh darn it, even maliciously renamed to "Foo.GIF".
5) Sort folders to top of directory listings
Th
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I can totally relate to this guy. Apple should start using some of Microsoft's ideas, like binding the browser on a molecular level to the OS itself! I upgraded my iBook to 10.3 and it put in Internet Explorer, which I don't prefer to use. I was able to delete it by dragging it to my trash can! No BSOD, no registry conflicts, no "flagrant system errors", nothing!
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Every time I hear about articles like this, even if they have some sort of merit, I feel that the author missed something:
If I travel to another country, people there have their way of doing things. They have their own culture. Sure things may seem difficult to the foreigner, but to the people living there everything makes sense and for them it is obvious. The only way to deal with it is to learn about that culture and accept things for what they are. Of course that doesn't mean that they are immune to learning different ways of doing things.
Switching to a different OS is much the same thing. Not everything is going to make sense, but some things might. Over time you learn the way things work there and accept things for what they are, better or worse.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Look at any study with "new" computer users and you will see that most of them have a lot of trouble adjusting to a "right click".
Now look at any study of what percentage of computer users these days are "new" users. Hint: 1984 was more than 20 years ago and there have been some MAJOR changes in computer user demographics since then. In the US, the average computer user is NOT still using his first computer, and his first computer more likely than not, had a two button mouse.
Granted, in markets such as India or China, most users are now new users, but Macs are nowhere to be found in those markets, and Macs are still using that canard about new users to justify their design in their major markets where only a small fraction of users are new to using a computer mouse.
I supervise on a large educational helpdesk in Australia and from my experience many if not most teachers and school administrative staff would still count as "new" users, which is not surprising given that our average teacher's age is 52 and they therefore didn't grow up with computers.
If you limit "new" users to kids starting out, then this probably is true but many new users are older people who seem to have trouble remembering where to left click and where to right click. And when right clicking on a file/folder can mean deleting that item, it can be pretty messy. So should we recognise that not all people are quick to pick things up and therefore cater for the lowest common denominator or should we just stop these people using computers? Surely it's easier for powerusers to adapt than it is for newbies.
What i hate about the Finder is when you open a view of a Folder using "View As List", and then have to manually tweak the window size in order to fit the list details in that view.
.. and it will resize the list view columns as well, so that the data just fits nicely.
.. why isn't Finder smart enough to adjust the Detail columns according to the metrics of the data being displayed? Seems to me I could fix it with Applescript, but damn .. I wish Finder just moved itself around to conform to your window setting..
With Windows Explorer, you can hit Control-Numpad+ and it will automatically do a little jig for you to get all the content revealed in your window
I desperately need this feature in Finder
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And I think that's the whole point. Anyone can use a Mac as-is, and those that need it can add functionality with another mouse. Those people, of course, are the same people that are most likely to understand their need and know what to buy. A kindergartener, on the other hand, certainly lacks the wherewithall to change the mouse on their computer! Shouldn't the burden be on those who are capable of bearing it?
The real clincher though is when you come to use a touch-screen. If you've used Windows on a touchscreen then you will know that you spend an enormous amount of time hitting the button that makes your next click a right click (and some things you can't do at all, because they require right-drag). If you have used a Mac on a touch-screen, you will know that you don't. The reason for this is that Mac software is all designed on the understanding that a user may not have a second button. If Apple release a TabletMac, then they will have a wealth of software that is already highly usable with it.
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Not to mention quite how wasteful the Windows use of the alt key is. A single key on the keyboard dedicated to invoking menus? Who thought of that idea. Not using the key for a common function, or as a modifier, using it to invoke menus. From which several key presses are then required to select any options.
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1. Compatible control keys
The gist of this writer's complaint is squarely focussed on the positioning of the 'Command' key (some call it the 'Apple' key) on the Mac keyboard. He goes as far as to say that 'Apple - and the zealotry - need to concede that this battle is lost..
I am both a Windows and OS X user (Windows mainly for games) and I can attest that the Mac keyboard command key layout is vastly superior to that of a standard PC keyboard because of the position that you must contort your hand into in order to use the latter.
For many PC users it is a case of simply not having experienced any better, so it's difficult to convince them to change their ways, but take an objective view of using both layouts with just one hand, and it's incredibly difficult to argue that the PC way is less strenuous. Perhaps this is responsible for much greater adoption of keyboard shortcuts among casual users on the Mac platform.
2. Save button on toolbars
Saving actively modifies a file on disk, perhaps overwriting or saving a 'bad' copy over what was originally a preferred version by accident. I am content not to have my toolbar filled with such items. However, this suggestion is not entirely devoid of merit (unlike the others, as we'll see).
3. A multi-button mouse
I don't understand why we still have this issue. You can plug practically any mouse into OS X, with any obscene number of buttons you desire and it will work. The writer continues: 'Why stop at two? Especially with things like Exposé, Dashboard and Spotlight.'. It would, frankly, be a nightmare for anyone but a poweruser to use. My mother does just fine with a one button mouse, she has enough trouble remembering what needs to be single clicked and what needs to be double clicked in the interface. This is truely a ridiculous idea. The preliferation of dozens of buttons of mice is a typical Windows thing - just look at how the Start menu itself has also grown from a simple and fairly useful applications menu (Win 95) to the default monstrosity of usability that it is today (Win XP).
It's also worth mentioning that the usability of software on the Mac platform benefits hugely by forcing developers to come up with more elegant ways with which to allow control of the app - rather than (as is all too often the case in Windows) relying on the context menu to shuffle all the little commands into.
4) Only show relevant file types in open and save dialogs.
This has the effect of confusing users by making it look as though some of their stuff may be missing. It also does not allow for the identification of a folder via its contents (looking for a folder: "It's the folder with the Picture of Mom in it" for example). The OS X way gives you the best of both worlds. If anything, it should be Windows changing to the OS X way here for these important usability reasons.
5) Sort folders to top of directory listings
Not without merit.
6) More context sensitive help.
God... please no. Tooltips should, in the perfect interface NEVER be necessary. They are analogous to sticky tape holding together the interface... 'what's that? I've designed a crap interface and no-one can tell what this button is supposed to do from it's placement and icon? Well I could go and redesign the interface, or I could 'fix' it by adding a tooltip, and leaving it up to the user to figure it all out."
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There is nothing wrong with offering a context menus as an alternative as long as you provide easy access to those functions from the main menu.
Sometimes it makes more usabiity sense to use context sensitive tool palettes (inspectors) to expose functionality because it is readily visible on screen as opposed to context menus which are hidden until you right click.
Take a look a the success of the iPod as a "consumer" device. Part of the reason why it is successful is because it is designed to be as simple as possible and usable by the "average" consumer. It is not a "geek" toy nor does it include a lot of superfluous/niche functionality.
There are plenty of context menus through out OS X and OS X apps. What you will notice is that all functionality in those context menus are also readily available through other means. What you will not see is superfluous right click menus, only menus where it makes sense within the context of the object you are over top or have selected.
I think it is horrible design to rely on context menus for functionality and it is also horrible to include core functionality of an application's main menus within a context menus. It should only contain items relevent to the object you are interacting with.
OS X and OS X apps largely respect that ideal. If you have a problem with that, tough.
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One thing that Windowx now handles much better than Apple:
Sub-pixel font smoothing
Windows font smoothing is really easy ont he eyes, whereas Apple attempts to smooth the fonts in two dimensions, something that comes off looking clumsy. (Because the red, green, and blue parts of the pixel are arranged horizontally, one can simulate a white line that's 5/3 of a pixel wide by lighting up all of one pixel and then R and G of the next, but the height has to be a whole number of pixels.)
It's supposedly a licensing issue, but I'd really like to see Apple make some kinds of deal and adopt something closer to ClearType. It really is a joy to look at.
They already find Mac to be more useful as is. My parents don't need a two button mouse they prefer the single one. They don't need and open/save dialog to change filenames. They don't need a Windows type explorer. Apple does a great job for those people who never used a computer to sit down and start using one. I've posted this in the past that my parents, who are complete novices, first bought the Dell WindowsXP paperweight. When I pushed my Mom to purchase an Apple then she started using it and my Dad can't get off the computer anymore. He went from being scared of the damn thing to ordering everything he wants online and even sold his Dell paperweight on E-Bay. We forget about those individuals that have no experience on a computer and find that the GUI and mouse is very intuitive. Which is why the Mac OS is exactly bothersome for people who used Windows but for others it's perfect as is.
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Please bring us a fast Remote Desktop like MS RDP 5 or ICA.
Yes the apologists will say:
- Use SSH
- Use VNC with compression
- or from a technology standpoint, that it isn't doable with the inherent bitmapping in Quartz Extreme.
A fast secure remote desktop protocol for use with both servers and clients, is definitely one point that Apple's OS X sorely has missed.