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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mac OSX is application modal. Apple used to be famous for its view that modal was not usually a good think to be.

When I am working, I don’t really care what applications I am using – I just care about what I am doing in each window.

Mac OSX keeps thinking in terms of applications. For example, if I close a window, the most natural next window to activate is the last window I was working on – no matter what application that belonged to – who cares? Instead of activating the last window I was working on Mac activates the last used window in the application of the window I just closed.

Windows has got this right.

- Applications that are windowed, don’t have to have actual windows to still remain running. I can close all Safari windows, and Safari will still be running.

- I go ahead and use the Spaces and Expose, but my Safari is nowhere to be found in there, even though it is still running. Neither is the dock indicating in any easy way that is still running, unless I right click on the proper icon.

4) So then it seems, to really manage windows well you need to use Expose, Spaces and Dock all in combination. In Windows all you have to worry about pretty much is just a single place – taskbar.

I think all of these are very important issues and they are even more important because Mac OS X is touted as to be “easier” for the newbie – the computer illiterate. But the points above highlight, and I myself was a witness of a elderly person interacting with Mac OS X, that is far, far from being intuitive and easy.

The first issue can be addressed by hiding windows (Command-H) instead of minimizing them. They’ll still show up in Command-Tab that way.

The second issue sometimes bothers me, too. I don’t really use Command-Tab that much, instead using Expose, and that’s a big reason why. I also use a new unibody MacBook, and the four-finger swipe is so easy to invoke Expose.

The third thing is interesting. I wouldn’t think it would save much time to look at a long list of previews over just clicking the browser and looking through tabs, but if you say so I won’t argue with you. I can’t get Win7 installed on my Dell because it says the CD drive is failing (Ubuntu installed just fine, darn you!), so I’ve not used that preview system. About Safari, though, yeah, it’s wonky. I actually found this tip on The Apple Blog a little while ago. Go here: http://www.macuser.com/tips/psst_safari_31_is_a_single_win.php?lsrc=murss That will explain how to get Safari working right. If I can do it, it’s really simple. Or just use Firefox.

The fourth thing sounds useful. The closest I can think is the fact that you can press Q to quit apps from within Command-Tab. That will close every window in a browser, obviously, not just certain ones, so perhaps it defeats the purpose of what you’re after.

Fifth, the previews sound pretty nice again. The best thing I do on my Mac is set up research pages alongside whatever I’m composing, or use Command-Tab for quick switching.

And, uh, uh, we have Quick Look! ;) (Actually, I really like Quick Look)

Anyway, that’s the best I can do for ya. Someone who is a more experienced Mac user may do better (I’m a little less than a year in — loving it, though).

I got my wife a macbook about 3 months ago and being a bit of a geek I had already learnt all the tips and handy stuff. And we both really liked it. In fact I was really counting the days before I got my 17″ MBP and ditching windows altogether.

But now I’m using Windows 7 RC on my laptop, I have to say I’m now finding Leopard a bit clunky to use from a window management/efficiency point of view. I sat in the car and used the Mac for several hours last night trying to be productive instead of messing about, and there are several things that annoy me that I take for granted now in windows.

I’m not listing these as a Win vs Mac fight, but because I want to move to Mac and I want to know from any of you if there are ways around these things, or if I’m being thick and missing something.

OK – first thing… I minimise a window in Mac OS, and it disappears from alt-TAB or expose completely. I can’t just just get it out of my way but get back to it using fast switcing. I have to use my mouse to go back to the dock. Really annoying. Why can’t I minimise it so it doesn’t distract me, but be able to see it as a still running program?

Second, I find it annoying to have to use alt-TAB to switch to the application, and then move to alt-’ to find the relevant window. In Win7 I just alt-TAB and can settle on any window that’s open.

Third, and this is where I find Win7 really shines… when I hover over the IE button in taskbar, EVERY webpage i have open is shown as a preview. It doesn’t matter whether they’re in tabs or different browsers… it treats each as an individual. So I can go straight to a page I want without having to find the browser window first and then the correct tab. I spend so much time online now, especially at work where we provide a lot of online apps, this saves so much time. This would be doubly useful for Mas OS because I find Safari so innconsistent in behaviour. I set it to open links in a new tab, and sometimes it does and sometimes it opens a new browser. So after a few hours work it’s quite hard to find the page I’m actually after.

Fourth… I can actually close windows from the mini previews too. Really useful. This would be sooooo easy in expose…. imagine how useful it would be to use expose (especially within Spaces) to show all your open windows (including minimised ones) and being able to just close all the things now redundant really quickly. This feature is also useful in conjuction with being able to see each webpage as a preview rather than each browser window. It’s normal to be researching something and have a dozen pages open across browser windows which you want to quickly tidy up. Being able to see them all regardless of which window it’s actually in and then close them is cool.

fifth – aero shake, aero peek, flip 3d,etc etc. They’re all quite gimmicky and not that much value. I don’t really need to be able to seee my desktop, especially when i can’t then do anything on it like launch an icon. Mac better here. But it’s very useful to be able to hover over a preview (especially of a minimised window) to temporarily be able to see the contents without having to actually change anything around on screen. I’m trying to write a report on research I’ve done, but I can’t quite remember a couple of facts on a few webpages. Rather than switch to a browser and navigate between tabs, I can just hover over each preview to see it on screen, and in 2 secs I’ve got the info, moved my mouse off the preview and then i’m right back typing my report again. No switching required.

I really want to get my new shiny mac and make the final move. But suddenly I find myself liking windows more than i ever have because of these little things. So… you apple guys out there… are there some third party add-ons or things I’m missing that might help??

sorry for being verbose… it’s friday, and i’m not in a work mood right now :O)