Comments on: Do I like Windows 7 because it’s so like a Mac?

By: Marc

Marc — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:31:36 +0000

Didn’t RISC OS have a dock back in 1993?

By: peebee

peebee — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:07:50 +0000

It’s been said elsewhere that the concept of the Mac Dock isn’t a million miles from the MS Office Bar which has been around at least since Office 97 … It was a good concept in any form which is why I used Rocket Dock with its Mac lineage until Win7 came along.
But the Taskbar works very differently from the Dock, and vastly improves daily usability. I may be missing something but it seems to me that the Dock is good for opening and switching tasks, but nothing else. The Taskbar on the other hand shows you at a glance what tasks are running, and more importantly with jump lists allows you to get quickly to the various tasks/files you work on every day. It also allows you to navigate quickly between tasks using the same program – I know you can do that on the Mac by bringing up thumbnails on the full screen of everything that’s open, but concentrating these things in the taskbar is more logical and usable, and reflects the useful task-oriented approach that always distinguished the Windows taskbar from anything on the Mac. In fact, though there’s much to like about OSX, Win7 has highlighted how old fashioned its approach to task and file management really is.
I’ve had cause to spend more time with OSX in the last year, and when I first turned to it I was quite baffled by much of it. I don’t think that’s all OSX’s fault – it just brings home how much usability depends on what you’re used to. But I also think that Apple’s claim that a Mac “just works” is pretty ludicrous. It’s true only up to the point where it “just doesn’t work”.
Btw in reference to Chris’ next piece in 15 years of using a PC with online connectivity I’ve never had a virus. If you’re sensible it’s no more of a problem than it’s fast becoming as Apple market share grows.

By: ty

ty — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:43:40 +0000

osx is just a riped off linux stop ggt%%%%$$6tggh and just in joy the os’s

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:41:56 +0000

Just one look at what M$ have done with the Taskbar is enough to make it abundantly clear that they have ripped off OS X. I’m amazed it’s proving so hard for you to work this out when it’s so obvious.

By: Windywoo

Windywoo — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:57:41 +0000

Nick,

Yawwwwwwn

Mac users are forever bringing up ridiculous things to find fault with Windows. Should I mention the awfulness of Finder compared with Explorer? But you will of course be blind to that, since most Mac users are.

By: Nick

Nick — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:11:21 +0000

At least OS X doesn’t foist 15 useless folders on you forcing you to use their verb to a noun search nonsense.

Spotlight works very quickly and finds things that are relevant. Windows search grinds away uselessly for ages and then finds something from your email that’s entirely unrelated.

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:14:53 +0000

*launch not lunch (I was hungry at time of writing)

By: Paul B

Paul B — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:13:46 +0000

@Alan – I think it depends on where you’re coming from. To a Windows user it looks like an evolution of quick lunch. To an OS X user it feels very much like the dock.

In the end it’s very much its own thing, with elements of quick launch and the dock, and some new features added in. It’s not a mere copy but it builds on what was already there.

By: Christofer

Christofer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:24:13 +0000

Yes, now it’s close to what enlightenment 0.16 did 10 years ago, yay

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:24:59 +0000

Let me clarify…
Intergrating the open programs into the Quick Launch toolbar seems, to me, to be a natural progression of what as already there. The claim that it’s a mere copy of the Dock in OSX is nonsense.