Dane D. said:
I don't consider myself or other Mac users 'elitist.' We or maybe I don't understand the way of the Windows world. I have tried to grasp the Windows way on my brothers PC and find it maddening. As for UI, Windows looks terrible, the icons are un-polished, the cusor too big, the movement of the mouse imprecise, the stupid closing of an application when you click the 'x', always having to goto a window to see the drives, I could go on. To each his/her own if they like to do it that way; fine, I'll still be using my 5 going on 6 yr old G3 B/W. Never had to re-install the OS or re-format, still using everyday for all my computer needs.
Believe me, there is a STRONG scent of elitism wafting around these boards. I've seen posts here where people have actually said they enjoy the sense of superiority they feel from being a Mac user. I don't take it personally because I see the same thing on PC-centric forums, where Mac users are often cited as being less intelligent because they can't handle the complications of Windows. Hell, merely admitting I purchased a Power Mac earned me a few attacks from Mac-bashing retards. It was very surprising for me to come here and encounter that same ignorance and us-vs-them mentality from some members.
I agree that Windows looks terrible.
WindowBlinds does the trick.
Disagree big time on the mouse movement though. OS X's mouse movement is for geriatrics. Way too slow. USB Overdrive has helped, but I still prefer the way Windows handles mouse movement.
Also, consider that closing an application with the "X" is only stupid to you because you're used to Macs. I find it somewhat dumb that an application can be open and I'll have no clue other than a little black arrow beneath its icon on the Dock.
I don't reinstall Windows regularly either. Not necessary.
IJ Reilly said:
Most of the applications I use are one click away in the Dock and the applications folder is located in every Finder window sidebar by default. I've also dragged my applications folder into the Dock for another shortcut. In fact when Windows users tell me how great the Tray/Task bar is, I ask them whether it can do any of those things -- which of course it can't.
Start > Programs > Every app you have installed
The Windows task bar can have multiple toolbars with shortcuts to applications. You can't drag/drop documents, true, but if I simply open the document, it appears on the taskbar anyway.
IJ Reilly said:
I did miss that. But I think it's abundantly evident that the Dock isn't simply a marginally improved version of the Windows tray/task bar. The only real similarity is their location at the bottom of the screen, which I think leads many people to conclude that they are functionally similar. The ability to drag a document along the Dock to choose an application to open it is no trivial difference. The ability to drag files, folders, application and URLs in and out of the Dock is also non-trivial, as is the ability to run lightweight applications in the Dock. I find the tray and task bar in Windows to be virtually useless because they in fact do so little, relatively speaking. In fact their only similarity is as a place to store minimized windows. Beyond that, the implementations could hardly be more different.
But that's what's so crazy! The UI improvement provided by the Dock is that you actually know all the apps you have open at a glance. Remarkably similar to...the Windows taskbar. However, I really appreciate the fact that the taskbar tells me not only what apps I have open, but how many windows of each. Therefore, I know not only what
applications I have open, but the actual
documents I have open. I prefer this to the Window menu under OS X, which not only requires extra clicks, but also requires that the user already be focused on a specific application before selecting it. Exposé takes care of that, but again, I prefer to know at a glance. I will say though that Exposé is much more helpful than the Windows taskbar when you have many, many windows open.
Randall said:
That is true. Regardless of that however, is the undeinable fact that metadata and tags will be the future of searching on your Hard Drive, and eventually we'll see searches on our home computers that return results as quickly as Google does.
I find tag/metadata searches an overrated development.
If the application vendor is responsible for creating the tags, accuracy and relevance will range from poor to exceptional.
If the end user has to add their own tags for accuracy, who's actually going to spend their time doing that? I'd rather make an effort to organize my files and know where they are off the top of my head. It's easier for me to keep all my unfinished novels in ~/Documents/Writing/Stuff I'll Never Sell than it is to add metadata to each file. I do see the value of metadata in non-text documents though. Again, I have no problems organizing my images into folders such as ~/Pictures/Breasts/Pamela Anderson, so it's of little value to me personally.
If you look at how internet search engines work today, metadata carries very little relevance because it's often grossly inaccurate.
I do like Spotlight. I dug up an old e-mail the other day that I thought I'd lost.
