Am I missing something in OS X?

[Drask]

Hi there,

I've been using windows since 98 (I'm 23), last month I got my iMac 2011, I love it's design, I'm studying software engineering, and I got my iMac so I could learn to develop iOS apps as a hobby, but whenever I'm not at Xcode I just switch to windows 7, like, everyone says mac os x is just amazing compared to windows but I'm not sure I agree, windows 7 is pretty stable imo, it never crashes, so anyways, my question is, what's the deal for you using mac os x instead of windows/linux?

I think it's because I'm just to used to windows apps, that I haven't really bought that much in mac os x. Anything you guys think I'm missing?

 

[simsaladimbamba]

To learn more about Mac OS X: Helpful Information for Any Mac User by GGJstudios​

Maybe your mind is just set for Windows and Mac OS X is not for you. No shame in that.
Just compare Control Panel with System Preferences, one is a mess (unless maybe used to it), one is quite organised.
Or Task Manager vs. Activity Monitor.

But I guess you use Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, which has some downfalls, like this:

Imagine going from Spaces in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, looking like this

to Mission Control in Mac OS X 10.7 Lion, looking like this

Of course, not everyone uses that many Spaces, but Mission Control seriously hampers the usefulness of more than four virtual desktops.

 

[Macman45]

^^^

Nice comparison shots...I'd forgotten what it looked like!...OP: I think if you spend a little more time with OSX, even run Windows side by side for a while, the benefits will gradually become apparent to you. Stick with it, it's a learning curve well worth the effort.

 

[MythicFrost]

I'm a gamer so I use Windows 7 every day, and sometimes even more often than OS X, but I much prefer OS X. I find it to be much simpler, and much cleaner. (That's not to say I find Windows difficult to use, or that I don't know what I'm doing, it's just OS X seems to do everything better -- except gaming.)

 

[throAU]

If you're a windows user you'll need to use OS X for a while to have it "click".

It will initially be disorienting and strange.


Once it "clicks" though you start finding more stuff that makes you think "oh cool".

If you can avoid it, don't boot Win7 for a couple of weeks and force yourself to try and use the Mac to do what you need to get done even if it initially seems unfamiliar.

I was a Windows user between 1992 and 2008... still am, but in 08 i got my first Mac.

 

[matrix07]

"PC is a tool. Mac is me." one of the wisest guy in the room said in the new Vergecast. If you only consider computer as a tool, then Windows is suffice but if you are romantic toward your computer then there's just no alternative.
This isn't meant what is better but OSX is just one piece of puzzle. On Mac, the sum is more than its parts. All you need is to shake off your Windows habit.

 

[Macman45]

If you're a windows user you'll need to use OS X for a while to have it "click".

It will initially be disorienting and strange.


Once it "clicks" though you start finding more stuff that makes you think "oh cool".

If you can avoid it, don't boot Win7 for a couple of weeks and force yourself to try and use the Mac to do what you need to get done even if it initially seems unfamiliar.

I was a Windows user between 1992 and 2008... still am, but in 08 i got my first Mac.

This sums it up pretty well...There is a kind of "Eureka" moment when newcomers suddenly get it...It helps to have more than one Apple device too..I have a buddy who inherited my iPad 1. He had a windows PC and laptop. After the iPad, he bought a 15" MBP and realised how things work together...He now has an iPhone too, and the PC gets very little use these days...Stick with it OP, you will soon realise the benefits!

 

[robgendreau]

Yeah, Windows once really blew in comparison to OS X, but X has not really progressed much. And it's not so much the system software itself, it's the Finder, which lags. The preview in Windows 7 is much nicer than having to use Quick Look in OS X, for example. And Windows lets me tag; OS X doesn't itself (although lots of nice applications for that).

One big plus you'll notice, however, is pricing. Lion was a huge bargain compared to upgrading a few computers in Windows. Not even close.

Rob

 

[Drask]

This sums it up pretty well...There is a kind of "Eureka" moment when newcomers suddenly get it...It helps to have more than one Apple device too..I have a buddy who inherited my iPad 1. He had a windows PC and laptop. After the iPad, he bought a 15" MBP and realised how things work together...He now has an iPhone too, and the PC gets very little use these days...Stick with it OP, you will soon realise the benefits!

Pretty much the same happened to me, I bought an ipad 2 8 months ago, I just loved it for school, it was easier (for some classes) just take that instead of my laptop, plus thousands of apps. Then I got my iphone, and then the iMac, I'm now thinking of selling my sony vaio lap and get a MBP, but I'd install windows on it so thats what's holding me, spending another $2000 on something I already do in mine, it's just that the MBP is so damn sexy.

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

 

[blow45]

Yeah, Windows once really blew in comparison to OS X, but X has not really progressed much. And it's not so much the system software itself, it's the Finder, which lags. The preview in Windows 7 is much nicer than having to use Quick Look in OS X, for example. And Windows lets me tag; OS X doesn't itself (although lots of nice applications for that).

One big plus you'll notice, however, is pricing. Lion was a huge bargain compared to upgrading a few computers in Windows. Not even close.

Rob

Sure you can tag via spotlight comments.

Os x used to be great, it's still is in the pre lion stuff, but most everything introduced in lion is dung, and the system as a whole has become sluggish and inefficient.

 

[throAU]

The preview in Windows 7 is much nicer than having to use Quick Look in OS X, for example.

Except it (Windows preview) is totally useless if you work on a WAN.

We disabled it company wide on Win7, because on WAN links if you have say, 1-2 users browsing a remote network share, windows uses incurs huge amounts of traffic to generate the preview thumbnails - it essentially reads the content of the file over the network to generate the thumbnail from it.


The finder on OS X is a weak point yes, but just compare the look of the windows 8 ribbonised explorer to OS X finder. Buttons and clutter everywhere, every single function seems to have a button by default when i may never use 95% of it. And if I do need to do something unusual, having it in a menu somewhere or a button i could customise (like I can with finder) would be far preferable.

 

[MythicFrost]

Pretty much the same happened to me, I bought an ipad 2 8 months ago, I just loved it for school, it was easier (for some classes) just take that instead of my laptop, plus thousands of apps. Then I got my iphone, and then the iMac, I'm now thinking of selling my sony vaio lap and get a MBP, but I'd install windows on it so thats what's holding me, spending another $2000 on something I already do in mine, it's just that the MBP is so damn sexy.

Thanks for your replies, much appreciated.

If you do choose to purchase a MacBook Pro, make sure you wait for the next generation models -- they should be right around the corner.

You should try the Finder view that I mention below, it's really great -- a little gem, I found, you could say.

The finder on OS X is a weak point yes, but just compare the look of the windows 8 ribbonised explorer to OS X finder. Buttons and clutter everywhere, every single function seems to have a button by default when i may never use 95% of it. And if I do need to do something unusual, having it in a menu somewhere or a button i could customise (like I can with finder) would be far preferable.

I find Finder on Lion to be really great. I set the view to column view, and then Arrange By to Kind, and then Sort By to Last Opened, and it groups all my files. Oh, I absolutely love it. It makes it so easy to find what you need.