some question about Macintosch

http://www.apple.com/findouthow/mac/#switcher

Around 3:45 min.

 

It's a bit weird indeed. Some applications like iTunes and Mail don't quit if you click the red button. The system assumes you still want to run these applications in the background, e.g. listen to music or be able to recieve mail. You can quit by pressing CMD-Q.

 

You can also right click on the icon and select quit.

 

It might be weird "at first" (= when coming from Windows), but once you get used to it, it makes sense. Clicking a "close" button closes the corresponding window, just as it should. Why would closing a window imply quitting the app?

 

Why not?!

It is natural and to a high degree logical that it does so, as it does in Windows. (Why try and defend some peculiar and il-logical way of working?!) In Windows the user has the choice of (just) minimizing the Window and letting the program still run, or close the program (which also of course means to close the window). Why does not Mac's operating system follow such a logical and userfriendly way of handling this? And why on earth does someone has the motivation or inner urge to try and defend it?

 

That's your opinion.

Countless other people have different ones, it doesn't mean it's illogical.

Another example would be the [line, box, cross] window controls in Windows. Those icons don't inherently make any more sense than the [green, amber, red] window controls of OSX. Neither is wrong, it's just a different way of doing things.

 

Just one of those things that evolved differently between Windows and the Mac. There really isn't a "more logical" or "less logical" here. I am used to this as a long time Mac user, so I always check the dock to see which apps are still active. When I'm on a PC, I do dislike having to start up an app again (if it takes several seconds especially) because I accidentally quit it by closing a window. I'll get used to it too .

 

I use a windows machine at work, heavy use, all day. At home I have a macbook ( little white 08, upgraded and quite perfect ). At home I am also on the computer all the time. What I find interesting is that in time my mind just takes over and I never have to give the little differences between the two systems a thought. PC...brain goes into PC mode. Mac = mac mode. I don't even give it any thought. Both uses of the minimize/ close app buttons seem logical. Even the new save features, the " reversed" finger scrolling in Lion....it just happens.

Love my mac and the mac way, would use one at work if I could. But to say one is the absolute right way or wrong way? I can't .

 

"logical" ... "peculiar" ... "illogical" ... to you.

To me, the OS X way makes sense because one app doesn't equal one window necessarily.

An app may provide one or more services (like iTunes playing music), and expose controls in one or more windows (like iTunes' playlist).

Closing one window, regardless of whether it's the only one or not, should just remove the window from the view by hiding it (like hiding the playlist while the music keeps playing).

That's exactly what happens in OS X. In Windows, it goes further and stops any related service as well (like stopping the music). How does that make sense?

 

This drove me nuts when I first switched, but now I've changed to just click on the app title then close. My wife just hits the red dot and it doesn't really hurt anything. Next time you "run" the app it seems to start faster.

 

Exactly and that is the point of the feature, OS X is very attuned to multitasking by the user, once you have completed the work in one window you can close it and continue with another. Equally you can kill all windows and leave the programs memory management to OS X. Many never close apps as there is no real need to other than reducing the Docks footprint.

 

In Mac OS, some apps quit, some dont. When downloading lots of files with firefox, for example, I may want to close the window and do something else. Thats possible in Mac OS. In windows, I would terminate the downloads, or be obligated to leave the window open, wich can be annoying. You can also close your itunes window and keep surfing the web. In windows, I have to leave it open....

And most the time, I simply close the red button, even when I mean to terminate the program. Since I dont see it, it works for me as being closes. So what its running in the background? It does not eat resources.

 

I've switched like 2 years ago and I agree with some of the points.

First, we don't really care if the app is closed or not fully closed as long as you don't see it and there is no memory problems about that. It will even launch again faster, so that's good.

But for a "user friendly" OS like MacOS, some things really dont make sense. I thought that when switching, now I'm used to it but I still think this.
First like said, the red dot doesn't do the same for every program.
If I close system preferences (or others), the application is fully closed.
If I close spotify or itunes, it stays opened and keeps playing.
SO as a new switcher, I first dont understand, then I try to get used to this but still dont see the big difference between the red and yellow buttons in this case.

And last thing is sometimes you can get messed up if there are several windows of the same program running. You can lose one in this.

Well that is for a beginner, then you begin to understand. But at first, you cant find any easy and very evident way of closing itunes (for example) and making it stop

 

No computer operating system ever fully makes sense to everyone; there are always oddities that not everyone agrees with.

 

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That's correct, as the app should still be sitting in memory and will continue to sit there until your system needs that memory for another process.