Mac OS X v. Linux (Was: Re: Ubuntu Boot Up Logo)

[Robert Valk]

On 24/06/2005, at 1:56, Michael Beattie wrote:
> ...
> Exposee is garbage compared to a real task bar.  You have any idea how
> many times people switch between windows in a day?

Expose is fast, flexible and a wonderfully fluid way of working. I'm  
a long-time windows and gnome user, only a recent Mac user, and I  
really miss expose when it's not there.

> With a task bar you can just look at it and then click on the one you
> want.  With exposee it's a key press or moving the cursor to a corner
> waiting for them to tile, then looking and selecting the one you want,
> then waiting for it to come back to the front.

Everything you get with a task bar you get in the dock/expose combo.  
Tiling takes a fraction of a second and the tiles show you the  
current state of the window, even updating in real-time. This is far  
more convenient than reading task bar titles. Their is an option that  
allows you to tile only the current apps' windows - very useful for  
browsers.

> Also, with a task bar windows of
> applications remain in the same place.
You can switch between apps with the dock, which never moves icons  
around on you. A right-click will bring up a menu with a list of all  
windows for that app, much like a properly sorted task bar.


>   So you never know where
> you are going to have to click.
>
... but you can _see_ it instantly. This is better UI design than  
having to remember where everything is.
Also, if you don't add extra windows, expose will tile windows in a  
consistent manner.

> Sure it looks nice, but in reality Apple should have just bit the
> bullet and made a task bar.
They took the concept of a task bar and made it user-centric, not  
machine-centric.
Remember, the people who created the task-bar thought that Word 97  
had a good interface...

As a widely GUI-ed user, I can say that working on OS X is by and  
large the most comfortable way to use a computer as a tool, as  
opposed to dealing with the machine underneath. Apple should use the  
GNOME file dialog though - the 2.10 one is incredible!

Cheers
Rob

--
'Too much music finishes too long after the end...'
         --Igor Stravinsky