Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Reasons you dislike windows: tell us!

Hi all,


I've recently got a PC with Vista and it took me a couple of weeks to be happier with it than with my work PC with XP.

There are some really silly things going on in Redmond, the biggest of them I imagine is that the guy who invented Clippy must have been promoted and is in charge of a lot of other things in MS development :D

Some dislikes of mine: The UAC can get in the way in a silly way, especially if people are trying to do something that is PC admin work... Under OS X and Ubuntu Linux the password requests are there, "dangerous" operations are clearly marked but it just doesn't get in the way. The other day I really thought of calling Redmond and ask to have a word with Clippy: I was watching a film and suddenly the thing stops, and a window pops up letting me know that an important update had been installed and the PC would reboot in 90 seconds. Oh thanks for that. A normal unprivileged user should only see updates when he switches off the PC, but Clippy CTO decided otherwise. not even a cancel button or "i'll reboot later" sheesh!

The rest of my annoyances are actually about general programming practices, the OS really isn't to blame. They already existed under XP and nothing changed: everyone and their dog want to have a notification area icon that flashes and wants my undivided attention. That must be their idea of 15 minutes of fame, I guess. When I see OS X desktops with a dozen icons on the top right corner I suspect that the stupidity is spreading...

Final one> I really need to install that X-Window Mouse power toy. These days there's just too many Clippy fans who want their software to have focus even if it's just when the Splash screen shows. As a user I expect the computer to allow multitasking and things to happen behind what I'm actively doing. I wish they would design things bearing in mind user-obedience.

rant over :)
 
The largest issue in the world is that Windows doesn't release program memory when you close a window. On the Mac you close a window and you can then rightclick and close the app in the dock. On Windows you have to open taskmanager and have to quit the app. Even then the RAM is not freed up. I get "You do not have enough memory to open up a new window. Please close some current windows." So upsetting :( So you have to restart. I've had that error happened when I've only had 5 windows open. :(
 
I used to find it very frustrating that Windows doesn't come with Expose. Now I find it very frustrating that Windows doesn't come with Expose and Spaces. I guess these basics of Mac OS X have spoiled me, since it's hard to work without them. In fact, it's hard to work with older Mac OS X versions too.

Windows' lack of a visual indicator that a program is launching is also an annoyance. I often can't tell "if it heard me."
 
Doctor Q said:
I used to find it very frustrating that Windows doesn't come with Expose. Now I find it very frustrating that Windows doesn't come with Expose and Spaces. I guess these basics of Mac OS X have spoiled me, since it's hard to work without them. In fact, it's hard to work with older Mac OS X versions too.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, it makes me feel cramped when using it even on larger screens in comparison to my MB. And It gets really quite frustrating after a short time. I know there are third party options to add expose like features to XP but I only really use windows on managed computers on my university networks so can not install them. And in regards to flip 3D on vista it is on installed on the uni network but when I have used it is not an ideal solution and quite slow to pick out the window you want and selecting it takes quite a bit longer, not good.
 
This discussion makes me realize that it would help us if Microsoft "borrowed" more features from Mac OS X. If, for example, they added "Windows Exposed", a new feature that is an exact clone of Expose, there would be a royal uproar about their copycat tactics, but it would be helpful to those of us who need to use a standard PC now and then.
 
i hated the registry.
i had memory problems, always running out with plenty of ram
and in general i found it cramped and a bit bloated. no need for all the legacy support imo.
 
It just doesn't run as well as OSX.

I plug in a mouse, it plays some random sounds and after 5 seconds it'll work.
I plug in a mouse in OSX and it'll work in 2 seconds.

Meh I'm too busy to list all the things I don't like about Windows, OSX is just much better on every usable level. My only problem is that OSX doesn't run my games (aka no Steam) and a software suite that I use often.
 
I have several reasons:

1. Slow/Utter Failure to Perform Basic Functions. Every single copy of Windows I've run (ME once and XP a few times) basic Operating System functions cease to function after about a year. The computer fails to shut off when you shut it down, Windows Search become painfully slow, the folder system takes five minutes to load when you click My Documents, et al.

2. OS Stability. I have lost countless hours of time because the system crashes in the midst of typing a document, the midst of creating a PhotoShop file I need for work, et al.

3. Usability. After having used both Mac OS X and Windows, Macintosh is a much more easy-to-use operating system. Common features, such as music, movies, photos, etc, are grouped into common goals and therefore handled by their own dedicated, well-thought-out application.

..and after hours of using my Mac, I can shut it down and start it right back up again if I've forgot something. Bingo! Back on! Windows: After two hours, the system gets dog slow, and whence you shut it down you've got to wait a half hour to an hour before it'll reboot if you turn it off.

On a scale of 1 to 10, I give Leopard a 10.5 (get it? :) ) and Windows a minus-1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000....how many is a googol?
 
melrose said:
1. Slow/Utter Failure to Perform Basic Functions. Every single copy of Windows I've run (ME once and XP a few times) basic Operating System functions cease to function after about a year. The computer fails to shut off when you shut it down, Windows Search become painfully slow, the folder system takes five minutes to load when you click My Documents, et al.
Click to expand...

You know... I'm good with computers. I don't get viruses, I have protection software. I defrag once a week and perform various maintenance services every so often. Yet I get the same problems. XP takes longer to boot and shut down (especially), there will be some strange delayed pause after boot. I don't install anything or change any config settings. It just... gets old?

Now I keep all my important files on my OSX partition or on an external drive and format XP every few months. It's better that way. It's useable.
 
Speed - Very slow. It takes ages to do anything.

"You have unused items on your desktop" - stupid bubbles that pop-up telling you useless information about stuff that you know, or don't care about.

The users - Most of them are idiots. Or think Windows is the only type of computer there is. Or are completely illiterate. In the words of David Mitchell in Peep Show: "they think that when you open a new window on the computer, the one behind it has disappeared forever".

It looks horrible - Well it does. It's dull and boring. There's nothing "cool" or "nice" about it in the slightest.

System Preferences - The system preferences are hard to find and use. On my iMac, I just go to the Apple Menu, click system preferences and it couldn't be any easier from there on. On Windows, you have to click start, go on system settings, navigate through menu after menu on the horrible and slow "Start Menu" system, find the right thing you're looking for, understand all the geek language the Micronerds wrote on there to help "users" alter the system and then navigate through complex systems to do the simplest of things. I rarely touched the system preferences on my PC. On my Mac, I can barely get away from them! Even changing the desktop background on my PC was a grueling task.

Not even Microsoft cares about it - Or at least they don't seem to. No wonder no-one makes nice looking programs on it, or takes any care when making them.

You can't even do the simplest of things without something going wrong - Self explanatory.

Everyone uses it anyway - Again, self explanatory.

I seemed to want to use it again - After using a Mac for a while, I got the urge to use Windows again because I felt like I missed it. I even looked into getting Parallels or VMWare. But I used a PC briefly and it all fluttered away; I realized how badly it sucked and how glad I was to not have to use PCs.
 
raggedjimmi said:
You know... I'm good with computers. I don't get viruses, I have protection software. I defrag once a week and perform various maintenance services every so often. Yet I get the same problems. XP takes longer to boot and shut down (especially), there will be some strange delayed pause after boot. I don't install anything or change any config settings. It just... gets old?

Now I keep all my important files on my OSX partition or on an external drive and format XP every few months. It's better that way. It's useable.
Click to expand...

I had the same frustration with XP, and I consider myself also to be fairly well-knackered at handling computers (taking 7 hours to hunt out corrupted registry entries after a spyware infection my mom got may not qualify for some but ah well). It's like the Windows operating system just slowly dies or disintegrates with the passage of time and age. Whatever reason (computers are so linear) behind such failures, it's still a lousy system.
 
The utter lack of any usable command line interface. Cygwin makes a good effort, but it isn't perfect.

On any UNIX incl. Mac OS X, I can open up a terminal and proceed to zip around the system doing all sorts of useful things. On Windows, I have to open up menu after menu, looking for what I need, and when I can't find it, I have to search on MSDN which is a complete crapshoot.
 
Today I was using the new Vista Aero on my iMac. I was flipping through windows in whatever that new window-flipping feature is called, and I realized something.

The windows aren't in any sensible order! What I mean is, when I choose one, it's not like the one after it is directly behind it or anything. It just doesn't seem to be logical sensible, and the way it works takes some getting used to. Expose is naturally intuitive, thank goodness. Additionally, flipping through the windows still leaves some programs obscured because of the weird 3D angle, therefore, I have to flip to that exact Window to see the contents clearly. It's hardly all that more useful than flipping through programs using ALT-TAB on OS X (which is useful, but it doesn't show as much useful data as, say, Expose).

I don't like the translucency, but if you know me, you know I have a passionate hatred for the new trend to make everything look futuristic by making it translucent. I guess the future is gonna be see-through. I can see it now. See through homes, see through clothes, see through computers, see through books, see through desks. I can see it now... err, or should I say, I can see THROUGH it now. :p

The other day I was using Windows for the only good thing you can use it for (games), and then I realized it was time to keep my promise to take the wife out for breakfast at McDonald's (we do it maybe twice a year). So, I put my request in to XP, "Please shut down." It went to the "shutting down" screen, and we left out the door. We had a leisurely breakfast, and talked a bit afterwards. When I returned home, XP was still shutting down!!! :eek::mad:

I also forgot to mention how I hate how often I get disrupted by Windows giving me some pointless message or beep. Random beeps sometimes occur, not sure for what, but it distracts me from my work. Additionally, stupid windows pop up giving me pointless messages I don't need to know (like the previously mentioned unused desktop icons).

I also noticed what others have said about how Windows users' system trays are bursting at the seams with absolute garbage. They've got every imaginable thing installed and running as a background process. I hate how when I sit down to use the computer at work, it pops up a window and begins scanning the entire (small) hard drive for viruses and other malware, yet despite the 40 gig or less drive, it takes forever and a day. I try to open MS Word, and it hangs for about 45 seconds, and then it starts to slowly show piece-by-piece, painfully rendering each artifact of the MS Word window. Ugh....

Finally, the virus checker finishes, and it has to interrupt my work, force the screen focus to itself, and demand that I click "OK" to a message that no abnormalities were discovered. If nothing was discovered, shut up and disappear quietly! It's like getting a routine physical with a blood test, and then being called at work, asked to take the phone, you put your meeting on hold, go to the phone, and the nurse says, "We just want to say that, as expected, there was nothing unusual about your blood test. It's all clear." ... OK, thank you, next time just call me if there's a problem.

I know that's the anti-virus program itself, but still, lots of Windows software is coded to do annoying things like that. And as mentioned, OSX is not immune to this, but I HATE splash screens! I hate some giant box popping up in the middle of my screen disrupting my work, showing some company's logo and the name of the program I started. Then I have to wait a few seconds for the thing to finally go away and let me continue working. Thank goodness some include a feature to turn it off, if you dig into the settings.

Another annoying thing is software installation. Not only does it usually leave junk all over that you never get rid of it even with uninstalling programs, but it has to ask you entirely stupid questions. Do I want to do a custom install? Sure. What are my unique options? NOTHING! So why did you even bother asking me to customize it or not? Geez... And, to boot, you have to constantly click boxes to disable putting icons all over your system.
"Would you like to place an icon on your desktop? In your quicklaunch tray? In your system tray? In your start menu? In your jeans pocket? In your wallet?"

I just don't like Windows...
 
Trip.Tucker said:
So name some of this better hardware to back up your statement or provide an article or reference.
Click to expand...

Well honestly you could probably get a ThinkPad or a Sony Vaio that are about equal in quality with a Mac. If you're buying an Apple for the hardware your buying it for the wrong reason. I've had Compaq's that have lasted as long as my Apple products, the reason I'm not using that Compaq right now is because I like OS X, not because its a crappy machine (which it isn't). I could build a machine that would be quicker than a MacPro for less, but I'd have to deal with running windows, and drivers, and all that crap, I'd rather just drop $3000 for a computer with software I enjoy running and don't have to deal with.
 
rhsgolfer33 said:
Well honestly you could probably get a ThinkPad or a Sony Vaio that are about equal in quality with a Mac. If you're buying an Apple for the hardware your buying it for the wrong reason. I've had Compaq's that have lasted as long as my Apple products, the reason I'm not using that Compaq right now is because I like OS X, not because its a crappy machine (which it isn't). I could build a machine that would be quicker than a MacPro for less, but I'd have to deal with running windows, and drivers, and all that crap, I'd rather just drop $3000 for a computer with software I enjoy running and don't have to deal with.
Click to expand...

That's the thing, though. You can *build* a machine for a lower price than ANY computer manufacturer. Not that that invalidates your point, but, you know :p
 
I don't want to get us off track, being the OPer and all...

But I think we need to constantly remind people that when you buy a Mac, you buy more than just a manufactured computer with OS and software -- you're buying the uniqueness of the design. This may mean the all-in-one aspect of the iMac/ Mac Mini (minus the monitor), the simplicity and smoothness of the MacBook (Pro), or the lightness of the Mac Air. All also come with their unique design that many find aesthetically pleasing.

To tie it back in with the OP, that is another reason I dislike Windows: no packaged computer that comes with Windows pre-installed has ever really looked great to me. Some have looked OK, or even good, but none have looked great; the Macs generally look great (Mac Mini is... so-so, and the Mac Pro is... well ... it's a professional machine).
 
Two different OS philosophies.

Windows wants to act as a bridge between the user and the software. It always pops up to remind you that it's still there.

OS X just hides. It jumps out of the way to place the user directly in the program.

Other gripes:
Consistency. In Windows, I hit the red X, and the program closes. I hit another red X and I get a little popup telling me the app is still running.

In some programes, "Preferences" is under "Options." In others, I have both "Preferences" and "Options". In other words, I can't find the "preferences" menu item in the same place on every program.


On the preference menus, if there are two rows of tabs, if I click one in the back, it moves to the front. I don't like clicking buttons that move around on me.

I tried to change my signature in Outlook. I had to click five times in order for it to allow me to change it. And after the fifth click, it opened Word. Needless clicking.

I dislike not being able to drag a folder into the Favorites pane.

I dislike how InDesign and Illustrator file windows are constrained to the program window.

I dislike not being able to drag the icon in the menu bar into a program to place a file.

I miss expose.

I miss quickview.

I honestly find myself working about 30% faster on a Mac, since OS X is not constantly reasserting itself to remind me it's there.
 
I know there are 3rd party apps to fix this problem but I miss a built in Spotlight-like functionality for searching. Heck if I want to do a quick calculation then I can type it into spotlight.

OSX is just really built well for the best user experience. XP is an old piece of software but Vista isn't much better. Granted I do like the menu and navigation speed of XP. But to find individual files now I find OSX quicker.

And windows boot ups! Gah! I get a few hardware popup screens "please install this hardware" etc... It's annoying as hell. No matter what options I select it still brings up this message on boot. It's like a bloody symphony with them USB connection/disconnect noises.
Oh and whilst playing TF2 or any new PC game, if I change volume then the whole system crashes. If I run the same games on the OSX side then it doesn't crash.
 
Here is why. :p

I used Windows before and hated it, I have to use it sometimes so I have Vista Basic on Parallels, but I hate using it then, too, Vista SUCKS!.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back