Comments on: Apple Mac OS X Window Management: Way Ahead of Windows 7

By: Xacto01

Xacto01 — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:53:57 +0000

I find Windows 7 ahead when it comes to resizing, full screen mode, moving windows around, snapping, side-by-side mode, much better than OSX’s implimentation. Plus, Windows can also download third party software for a much more powerful expose. I own both Windows 7 & Mac OSX.

By: MiMi Wan

MiMi Wan — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 11:49:36 +0000

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By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:40:25 +0000

You might also checkout Breeze by Autumn Apps (http://www.autumnapps.com/breeze/), it’s a window manager on Mac that allows you to save a window state (size and position) then apply that state like a template to another window. Great for resizing windows to fill half (splitscreen) or your fullscreen. Great fix for that annoying green button.

By: Sean

Sean — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 22:56:54 +0000

Thanks for the article, and the comments. Actually the comments here help me a lot. I was wondering if I could switch to mac OS without missing some windows features I've taken for granted. I guess the answer is no. And I have a huge screen, and after watching it in action, I don't like the mac OS top menu bar for all applications. And Now I learn that exposé is useless with many windows opened. I tend to have many windows opened at the same time.

Spaces : what if an application in another space try to get ur attention (like new mail, or messenger message etc. ). Do u get any notification? And I think minimizing is better than using multiple desktop. The only pratical use I found for spaces is having a virtual OS like windows running on another space. And the way u're using spaces/exposé is a bit like windows tiling/cascading on Windows. I learned also that u can't cut & paste in MacOSX and u can't move/copy a folder into another by dragging the first over the second; u have to open the second folder first otherwise it'll delete it and replace it by the one u were trying to copy.

And full screen looks weird on mac OS X compared to windows, is it possible to get rid of the menu bar at the top and the dock? So fullscreen mode actually uses the full screen? Thanks.

Maybe one day, I'll buy a mac. But right now I think windows 7 is the better option for me. I love the preview idea in win7 and u get a big preview when hover on the thumbnail even with multiple windows opened. I love the snap left/right/top and aero shake too, other aero features and 3d flow are nice features to have also.

Looks like Windows 7 windows management is "light ahead" of Mac OS X, after reading all the users inputs who have used the two OS.

By: DL

DL — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:25:46 +0000

The more I use expose the less I understand why people are so enamored of it. Yes, it's a cool effect, but it's usefulness as a window manager quickly breaks down even after opening more than 5 or so windows because it becomes difficult to scan over the options and find the window you're looking for. Even if you use the application specific version, it can still take a long time if they all look very similar, such as a file browser. What makes it worse is that the ordering gets jumbled around when you open or close one of them. You don't have this problem in Windows. The task bar items don't change order unless you change them. And they are always there so there is no jarring change up of windows zooming in and out and squinting at the screen trying to read the little mini versions of the content to figure out which one is the right one.

By: Ken Creten

Ken Creten — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 00:47:07 +0000

I agree with David B. In windows, if there is a button on the bar, or a grouped button, then you know the app is running and you can alt+tab to that application. On OS X, not so. Why is that? What is the point of having an application running if it has no active windows? Why do I have to close the last window, then close the application?

In Windows I can manipulate windows from the keyboard very easily. Having just received a beautiful Mac laptop for work, my click average has gone up at least 50% trying to keep the windows managed on the Mac. Clicking equals repetitive stress injury for me, after years of computer work. For some who don’t mind clicking all the time – it’s fine.

No OS on the market or Open Source today is intuitive for the non-computer user. I don’t know which would scare less, Windows 7 or OS X in general, but they are at least very close. Being that Windows 7 machines can be had for much much less with the same power than Macs, there certainly isn’t enough in OS X to convince me I need a Mac.

Sincerely.

By: kdawg

kdawg — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 23:41:49 +0000

Anchoring of the menubar works well with smaller screens…but does not scale well with large screens (a lot of mouse movement needed)…and the way it is implemented on OS X completely fails with multiple monitors…they really should have the menu follow whichever screen the mouse is on…it’s ridiculous to have to move the mouse pointer to another monitor altogether to get at a menu! (Windows has this problem with the start menu as well, but it’s doesn’t affect individual applications the same was as on OS X).

Dejamenu helps (especially when you map it to some mouse buttons/gestures), but really it indicates a design that hasn’t adapted to the times.

The other thing that Windows does much better is keyboard access to menus. With the ALT key you can navigate menus completely from the keyboard without any need to remember shortcuts at all.

By: Israel

Israel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:36:27 +0000

Hi Tom,

Great article! Have you tried “Shake”? Just go to the window title bar then drag and shake the window — all other windows will be minimized!

I thought that was a gimmick by Windows 7, but the UI team really knows their stuff.

By: Israel

Israel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:35:56 +0000

Hi Tom,

Great article! Have you tried “Shake”? Just go to the window title bar then drag and shake the window — all other windows will be minimized!

I thought that was a gimmick by Windows 7, but the UI team really knows there stuff.

By: Brian Lee Siew Hong

Brian Lee Siew Hong — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:16:23 +0000

On the contrary, I think the article’s main goal wasn’t to compare features, but give an overview on how windows are managed on OS X, and how he prefers that to how they’re managed on Windows (oh the irony).

Again, he’s just showing you how he does it, and saying that he likes it better. There’s nothing to be defensive about, really.