Windows to OSX: Likes & Dislikes

[Richard1028]

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).

Plus I think you actually still have to "pay" to generate PDF's. Again, this seemingly simple ability inside OSX just blew me away.

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."

Look at the status line as you highlight one of these truncated names. It should display the full file name there.

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

Yeah, I ran across this fix once before but it doesn't work for me. I can't save that file you need to hack... I don't have the right permission even after I change file permissions to allow it in "get info".

 

[contoursvt]

CutePDF...its free and you can create PDF without any watermarks or limitations. Lots of options too...

Plus I think you actually still have to "pay" to generate PDF's. Again, this seemingly simple ability inside OSX just blew me away.

Look at the status line as you highlight one of these truncated names. It should display the full file name there.

Yeah, I ran across this fix once before but it doesn't work for me. I can't save that file you need to hack... I don't have the right permission even after I change file permissions to allow it in "get info".

 

[stainlessliquid]

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.

The last few characters are always gibberish. How am I supposed to know what "...ign.pdf" is for 3 months after saving it? Its completely useless. Getting rid of the last part of the word doesnt help all the time but it helps a lot more than essentially gitting rid of 50% of the usable space like OSX does by converting the file name to random letters.

Your solutions to the problem get very irritating after the 5th mystery file. Hence my complaint.

Yeah, I ran across this fix once before but it doesn't work for me. I can't save that file you need to hack... I don't have the right permission even after I change file permissions to allow it in "get info".

drag the plist to the desktop and make your changes, then drag it back to replace it.

 

[Daveoc64]

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.

Agreed.

My exploration of other Operating Systems has shown me how good a job Windows really does given its simplicity and scalability out of the box.

 

[Signal-11]

The last few characters are always gibberish. How am I supposed to know what "...ign.pdf" is for 3 months after saving it? Its completely useless. Getting rid of the last part of the word doesnt help all the time but it helps a lot more than essentially gitting rid of 50% of the usable space like OSX does by converting the file name to random letters.

Your solutions to the problem get very irritating after the 5th mystery file. Hence my complaint.

Yo. No offense intended and I didn't mean to imply you were being irrational. I read and participate in the MR tech forums because generally, I learn something new every day.

Personally, the last few characters are more important for me to see in my daily browsing because I will often have stuff like this:

IMG0001.jpg
IMG0002.jpg
IMG0003.jpg
IMG0004.jpg
IMG0005.jpg
IMG0006.jpg

Why don't you use the different viewing modes for different aspects of your work? No one mode is the panacea for all the things you need to get done in a file browser.

BTW, have you considered setting the column widths wider as a default?

 

[fehhkk]

My only annoyance with OSX's is that you can actually close an application's main window, but it's still running, and the menu bar is still on top.

Also, I prefer Window's task bar when minimizing application. OSX's minimizes them on the bottom right.

The niceties and benefits of OSX far outweighs the annoyances, though. 7 seconds to shutdown beats the 30 seconds from Windows

 

[contoursvt]

Its not anywhere close to 30 seconds to shut down a windows box. My Vista64 box takes like 10 seconds...I know people dont like windows around here but making a blanket statement to make it sound slow is not really fair either.

http://powerthings.com/video/shutdown_time.mov

...though. 7 seconds to shutdown beats the 30 seconds from Windows

 

[sidewinder]

...how good a job Windows really does given its simplicity and scalability out of the box.

That is the funniest thing I have read all day!

S-

 

[lopoz]

My only annoyance with OSX's is that you can actually close an application's main window, but it's still running, and the menu bar is still on top.

It actually makes a lot more sense than the Win implementation, which is much more inconsistent in it's behavior.
This is a good article explaining the differences (and an interesting read too).

I've worked with Windows up until last year (even Bootcamped for a year on my ), then switched and never looked back. The Finder has it's flaws, but I think Dock Exposé will fix a lot of annoyances with finding the right file/folder (one of my annoyances with the Finder).

Also, I wish you could drag to somewhere on the Path Bar and have the Finder go to that folder. Sort of like Springloaded Path Bar

 

[momo.786]

Numerous "likes" have been mentioned already, so I'll add this...what really impressed me is the ease of installing and removing programs. It's just so simple and quick compares to Windows.

My main dislikes are:
- The enter key renames files rather than opening the file...makes no sense to me. Cmd + down arrow is a work-around, but enter would be easier and simpler.
- Finder sucks! Tried all the different views/options, but i hate to admit it that Windows Explorer is better here Files stay scattered in Icon view when deleting/moving files.
- The lack of dedicated home/end/pg up/pg down keys. Yes...I know that you can use the arrow keys with a combination of Cmd/Fn, but this functioning is inconsistent across different app.
- the 1-button track pad used to irritate me, but i hardly use the button these days...1-finger tap and the 2-finger tap works better.

The maximising of apps take some getting used to, as well as the closing/quiting of apps. Most switchers struggle with this after doing things the Windows way all their life.

But at the end of the day, Mac rocks

 

[niuniu]

Also coming from Windows here, but on the contrary I found that I was far more mouse dependent on Windows that I am now on OS X.

 

[kasakka]

One thing I don't like about OSX Leopard, that will hopefully be fixed in Snow Leopard is that OSX 10.5.x doesn't know how to resize windows based on resolution. When opening Open file dialogs etc you always get these tiny 640x480 or 800x600 windows and those are useless on a 30" monitor with 2560x1600.

By comparison Windows 7 resizes the windows automatically to a reasonable default size. I hated that Vista and XP didn't do this and I'm really glad they implemented it in Win7.

 

[eXan]

If your keyboard has Previous, Play/Pause, Next buttons, the way to get Expose to show desktop is to hold the command key while pressing the Expose F-button (I think its F4 - dont have my alum. kb here). Basically, Cmd-F4.

Anyway:

Likes: Expose+Spaces. Best thing ever.
Dislikes: (dis)connecting USB devices wakes up the computer
Likes: Spring-loaded folders and column view (press space bar to open immediately)
Dislikes: sometimes mounted devices show up in weird places on the desktop
Likes: Not confusing KB shortcuts. Most start with Cmd, followed by usually the first letter in the word, i.e Quit, Eject, Open, Reload, Tab, Window, etc. In less common ones you press Shift key, but the same letter remains, i.e go to Home, Applications, Computer, etc. None of this Alt-F4 or Alt-X-F (wtf) antics.
Likes: Clean design (software and hardware)
Likes: Doesn't require 8 TB RAM and 12 cores to run smoothly
Likes: No viruses to worry about
Likes: Dock
Likes: Menu bar on top (not in every damn window)
Likes: It works (no or very little troubleshooting that is easy to do anyway, intuitive)

Never switched to Mac though... I never had anything besides Macs

 

[ACiB708]

I have a winner...
Like about OSX/Hate on Windows: COMMAND LINE... Unix rules all.

 

[thepawn]

The only thing I'm not that used to over time is that the application menu sticks to the primary display, not being in applications. I still prefer that. I used DejaMenu to help get around it, but eh...

I also like being able to resize windows from any side in Windows...not just the bottom right.

Otherwise, I like both Win7 and OSX... (I have x64 Win7 on my laptop)

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

Dislike about OSX: Can’t maximize a window. The Zoom feature just doesn’t cut it for me. When you’re working on a 13” screen you want that window to occupy every inch. I did set up a universal “Zoom” shortcut but I get mixed results when I use it. And inversely speaking… there’s no way for OSX to “minimize” all windows and reveal the desktop. (I had to get a third party app for this). Maybe it’s just me, but my workflow hinges around a cluttered desktop and I often need to get there fast.

Go into the keyboard/mouse settings and make an Expose Desktop shortcut. I have mine set to alt-D, like window's WinKey-D, only different due to the different key layout. It doesnt minimize your windows, but slides them off to the side. As a bonus you can hit alt-D, grab a file, hit alt-d again and drop it in your app. This is the only window management thing i missed on windows (it would minimize, but not restore the windows) until Windows 7, which is just great at window management.
Anyway, i hope that helps a bit.

 

[Infrared]

Alt+F4 will close a window/application in Windows. I've used it for many years and it seems quite universal.

Try it on a Command Prompt window

 

[Matek]

Windows
Likes:

• snappy
• huge amounts of software
• game performance
• uTorrent, mIRC, foobar2000 <3
• new taskbar/dock/quicklanuch thingy

Dislikes:

• some obvious features (like pdf printing), albeit easy to install, missing out of the box
• you need to be more careful about what you run if you got it from a suspicious place on the internet
• more difficult to maintain

OS X
Likes:

• really hard to mess anything up if you're a newbie
• much less virus prone (again good for people who click on everything)
• very simple app management
• looks
• a couple of really amazing apps
• multi monitor wallpaper setup
• iCal + iSync rule
• Need to reinstall slightly less often than Windows

Dislikes:

• laggy mouse behaviour (even with accelleration turned off with 3rd party utilities)
• simplicity often comes at the price of configurability
• the "we decided a feature is WRONG so we won't give it to you" attitude (cutting files, restoring trash, maximizing, ...)
• Ignorant relationship towards Java
• some cool windows apps lack good alternatives
• some apps are terribly forced into a too-macish interface
• iTunes is slow, bloated

 

[mysterytramp]

OS X
Dislikes:

• the "we decided a feature is WRONG so we won't give it to you" attitude (cutting files, restoring trash, maximizing, ...)

The cutting files issue comes up a lot with Windows switchers. I'm not sure I understand why "Cut file" is so much better than Cmd-delete to move to trash.

Its not anywhere close to 30 seconds to shut down a windows box. My Vista64 box takes like 10 seconds.

I'm still on XP, but it easily takes my laptop a full minute plus to shut down, much much more if our network administrator has "updates" he wants us to add.

My only annoyance with OSX's is that you can actually close an application's main window, but it's still running, and the menu bar is still on top.

I find the Windows way one of the most frustrating parts of my day. I'm in Word all day long, but if I close the last window, Word quits. OK, I can adapt, but then once or twice a week I have a spreadsheet I have to consult, Excel sticks around. Be nice if Microsoft could just be consistent.

One of the things I think is superior on OS X is how you can move from app to app via command-tab. Windows lets you alt-tab window to window but by the middle of the day, I've got 20 email windows open and I want to get to the PDF at the bottom of the list. It just seems smarter to go app to app, then use command-tilde to go window to window. At least for me, anyway.

mt

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

The cutting files issue comes up a lot with Windows switchers. I'm not sure I understand why "Cut file" is so much better than Cmd-delete to move to trash.

Cut allows Cut/Paste, which means you can move files around easily without having 2 finder windows open. Have you never used cut/paste in windows explorer?

 

[crazyxzer0]

Cut allows Cut/Paste, which means you can move files around easily without having 2 finder windows open. Have you never used cut/paste in windows explorer?

try the program pathfinder. It makes transition from windows much better.

 

[mysterytramp]

Cut allows Cut/Paste, which means you can move files around easily without having 2 finder windows open. Have you never used cut/paste in windows explorer?

I use copy/paste regularly. Cut/paste not so much because I'm usually posting files to a network and want an original copy on my hard disk.

mt

 

[skiborsy]

- The lack of dedicated home/end/pg up/pg down keys. Yes...I know that you can use the arrow keys with a combination of Cmd/Fn, but this functioning is inconsistent across different app.

Don't forget the Delete key (the one that forward deletes, not the one PCs call "Backspace"). One key deletion rather than command + delete.

I can somewhat understand the space considerations of leaving these keys off on the MBP 13" (though even my 12" Latitude X1 fit them all fine), but the 15" and 17" should have plenty of space. Two finger scrolling is great, but gets old after awhile compared to hitting page down in a browser window (I'm lazy, too).

 

[NoSmokingBandit]

try the program pathfinder. It makes transition from windows much better.

I tried it, but i dont want to pay for a file manger that should be included with the OS to begin with. Imo, apple should just buy Path Finder and replace Finder with it. Apple doesnt seem to mind buying other people's apps and integrating it (ie coverflow).

 

[The Flashing Fi]

The lack of cut/paste does annoy me to no end with Finder. They really should add it. It's not like it would cause a big change or any change for those who are used to Mac OS X and I doubt that function would be hard to implement.

Mac OS X is really the only OS I've used that didn't have cut/paste.