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Windows to OSX: Likes & Dislikes
- Thread starter Richard1028
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Hey, I learned something!
Missed this in dsnort's post.
Alternatively, could you not configure "hot corners" to do this. i.e. you move your mouse cursor to one of the four corners that you have designated to show the desktop. System Preferences > Desktop & Screensaver > click screensaver tab > click hot corners tab > specify a corner which will show the desktop. Don't know if you'll find this easier than f11 or not, just a different way to do it.
Otherwise, some interesting observations on the switch to Mac (I'm a recent switcher too, Nov '08). I was initially extremely irritated about not being able to maximise in the Windows fashion, but have now completely embraced the way that I can have multiple applications in my field of view at the same time. I actually find that I can now focus on one main application, and still monitor and deal with three or four others at the same time. I have a 24 inch iMac with a 32 inch as a second monitor, so I can fully appreciate that your experience on a 13 inch screen could necessitate a different approach, where fully maximised windows would be a plus.
Did you try Fn+Ctrl+f2?
That puts you into the menu system then you can navigate with the arrow keys.
I find that using Command+Shift+? then typing part of a menu name is much faster and better, especially for complex apps like Photoshop which have so many menu options.
That puts you into the menu system then you can navigate with the arrow keys.
I find that using Command+Shift+? then typing part of a menu name is much faster and better, especially for complex apps like Photoshop which have so many menu options.
You mean the "tabbing" option? Yes, I've got this set. Strange how OS X leaves this off by default. I can't think of a reason why you wouldn't want to do this.
The problem with this is some applications don't allow tabbing in their dialog boxes and I don't know why. (e.g. Microsoft Office 2004).
I've also got numerous application keyboard shortcuts defined. (But I'm running out of fingers.
).The one thing I absolute HATE in OSX, and which drives totally crazy is that Finder refuses to merge the contents of two folders with the same name when copying one to the other, and instead deletes the target before copying the source. It is completely counter intuitive this bahavior is only seen in OSX (and only in Finder, as a cp or mv from the terminal behaves correctly).
I think this has something to do with how close you stick to the desktop metaphor. If in reality you had two folders and you wanted to merge the contents of one into the other, wouldn't you first open and then move everything over. If you found any duplicates you'd throw them out.
The Finder pretty much forces you to open the folder (in a window) and move the files over. The Windows way is the equivalent of putting two folders together and having them magically morph into one folder, whereas the Unix way doesn't follow any metaphor.
The UNIX way does exactly the same thing as Windows Explorer does. So does every other operating system out there.
I think OSX actually does a lot better with keyboard shortcuts. For one they're mostly uniform (Adobe, in it's infinite shittiness, breaks all rules here) and in easy to reach places. The Alt+F4 to close a program in Windows is pretty inconvenient to do with one hand compared to OSX's Cmd+Q. I also like how preferences is always in Cmd+, whereas Windows programs can have them as any keyboard combination. Where OSX fails though is that there's the Cmd+J "View options" dialog. Why couldn't they just cram that into Preferences as well?
What I hate is that the Home and End keys don't work like they do in Windows. Yeah, Keyfixer (and the Keyfixer addon for Firefox) fix them in some programs but it's still annoying that they won't go to the start/end of the line when typing a forum post for example, instead requiring you to use the silly Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E shortcuts.
If anything, OSX's mouse handling is just appalling. Unless the drivers have their own mouse acceleration system, the mouse movement is sluggish and unnatural. Interestingly trackpads don't have this problem but many mice need 3rd party drivers like SteerMouse or USB Overdrive to fix this to a degree and it's still not as smooth and responsive as mouse movement in Windows. Many people get used to the OSX mouse acceleration, but that doesn't make it good. See http://db.tidbits.com/article/8893 for more info.
Apple really should just license Path Finder and hire the people who make that to work on Finder. It's so much better.
What I hate is that the Home and End keys don't work like they do in Windows. Yeah, Keyfixer (and the Keyfixer addon for Firefox) fix them in some programs but it's still annoying that they won't go to the start/end of the line when typing a forum post for example, instead requiring you to use the silly Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E shortcuts.
If anything, OSX's mouse handling is just appalling. Unless the drivers have their own mouse acceleration system, the mouse movement is sluggish and unnatural. Interestingly trackpads don't have this problem but many mice need 3rd party drivers like SteerMouse or USB Overdrive to fix this to a degree and it's still not as smooth and responsive as mouse movement in Windows. Many people get used to the OSX mouse acceleration, but that doesn't make it good. See http://db.tidbits.com/article/8893 for more info.
Apple really should just license Path Finder and hire the people who make that to work on Finder. It's so much better.
I just set the bottom left corner of the screen to be "Desktop" in Expose. No need for extra applications.
Whoops, sorry I just saw that someone else suggested this.
I know. That's what I don't like about it.
What's a FPS?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-person_shooter
Really?
Let's say you have these folders:
/Users/throttlemeister/test1
and:
/Users/throttlemeister/temp/test1
Both folders contain numerous files.
What happens if the working directory is "/Users/throttlemeister" and you type:
mv temp/test1 .
That is the command that tries to copy the "/Users/throttlemeister/temp/test1" directory to the same directory that contains the "/Users/throttlemeister/test1" directory.
The shell comes back with this error:
mv: rename temp/test1 to ./test1: Directory not empty
No merging happens with "mv". The shell command reports an error while the Finder just replaces the directory with another. If the "/Users/throttlemeister/test1" directory were empty, the command would complete with no error.
Is the Finder behavior counter intuitive? Not really. It just lets you replace a folder with another of the same name even if files exist in the existing folder.
I like how Windows behaves here....but it is certainly not universal.
S-
The "cp -Rp" command does not merge. It copies any file is the source directory to the destination directory. If the file exists in both directories, the file in the destination directory is overwritten without asking if that is what you want to do.
Again, the Windows behavior is quite different and I like it. But is not universal. In fact, it is unique.
S-
Just got a new MBP 13" and none of my hotkeys work..ahhhh. f11 changes the volume or something. And my keyboard doesn't even have little pictures of apples anymore. I feel as though part of me is missing.
Does anyone know if I have to hold down something else for the F keys to work again or change the settings somewhere? Thanks.
p.s. Maybe this is just a leopard thing. I was running Tiger on my iBook so this is my first experience with leopard.
Just got a new MBP 13" and none of my hotkeys work..ahhhh. f11 changes the volume or something. And my keyboard doesn't even have little pictures of apples anymore. I feel as though part of me is missing.
Does anyone know if I have to hold down something else for the F keys to work again or change the settings somewhere? Thanks.
p.s. Maybe this is just a leopard thing. I was running Tiger on my iBook so this is my first experience with leopard.
It's a combination of both. Leopard laptops came with the changeover in the Fn keys. You'll have to hold down the fn key on the bottom left (which is in the wrong location, b/c this is a likes/dislikes thread) to access the F1-12 buttons.
The expose desktop function for you (because you now have a multitouch trackpad) is a four finger swipe up. Or you can assign it to a hot corner.
Oh yeah, and my huuuuuuuuuuge, never-get-used-to-it, completely convinced Apple/OS X are completely wrong peeve is unanchored shift selection. Makes no sense. Or very little sense.
Sweet. At least I can use my F keys again. So four finger swipe gives me the F11 function? Does five fingers give me the F9 function?
There have been sooo many times when I was an intern IT support at my college where i didn't have a mouse but could navigate no problem just fine. My major complaint right now is there is no keyboard shortcut to bring up the context menu in the finder. None that i could find. Quicksilver/etc helps but i miss the context menu key. i really do...
The Alf + F stuff i miss but I've gotten use to control + f2. the keyboard shortcuts just seem so much longer/complex on OSX to me then Windows.
I agree with this observation, 100%. This shortcoming is indeed my biggest complaint about the Mac.
I've had my first experience with a Mac in august last year when I got my first MacBook. After just a few hours using it, I realised how crap Windows is. Since then, I've got an iMac as my main desktop computer and I've bought the new MacBook Aluminum. When I'm obliged to use PCs and Windows, I just feel awfully uncomfortable and pissed off.
I'm never looking back on this decision and honestly I can't stand people who think Windows is the only OS out there. My boss particularly.
I'm never looking back on this decision and honestly I can't stand people who think Windows is the only OS out there. My boss particularly.
I think most people take this for granted, its so annoying in Windows because every time you open a PDF there seems to be a new version that wants to be updated (actually I dont think its Acrobat that gets updated... its Adobe UPDATER).
One of your points reminded me of how much I hate the way OSX truncates file names.... in the middle. Like: "Adobe A...ion.dmg." How the hell does that help me? And to make matters worse you cant get the full file name when you click on them like you can in Windows, you have to try to rename it in order to see what file it is. I dont think that has ever once helped me figure out a file name that I wouldnt have been able to figure out the normal way of truncating the end, but it has made it impossible for me to figure out files several several several times. Its a case of Apple trying to reinvent the wheel. Column view would be so much better if OSX didnt truncate the middle of files and turn them into gibberish.
Another thing that annoys me is when you sort by Kind it just does it alphabetically by file type. Putting Folders somewhere in the middle since folder starts with F. Luckily there is a fix to make it behave like Windows and put folders at the top where they belong: http://blog.lipsiasoft.com/articles/2007/11/05/en-finder-order-directory-before-files
To all intents and purposes there may as well be only one OS. Apple don't licence theirs, and Linux requires tonnes of retraining/support, so what does that leave?
How come?
Doesn't matter whether other OSes aren't as available or widespread. What matters is that they exist, they're more efficient and that looking down on people who use them is pathetic.
Who is looking down on other OS users? Read my post again and then read this one as I tell you I have Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP, Linux, Leopard and OSx86 running on various machines in my house.
What I look down upon is those who look down on Windows. It may not be perfect but its out there working for 97% of the machines in the world. Big up OSX all you want, but it only runs on a fraction of the hardware Windows does, at a price that most users don't feel like paying.
Well, semantics of what is or isn't "truncation" aside, there's a couple reasons why it works this way. The last few characters are often iterated for files with similar names so it's not that unreasonable.
Here's a couple things you can do: You can expand the column width in the column view. If you're in column view, you can also just select the file and you get an info preview in the next column. Or you can hover above file and get the name.