What can Apple learn from Windows 7?
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From: Woody on 14 Nov 2009 21:09 zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > I know a few of you have had a reasonable play with Windows 7, and I'm > curious... What stuff has Microsoft done with it that Apple could really > learn from for the next version of OSX? > > At first I thought I liked the feature where hovering over an app in the > taskbar gave you previews of all the app's open windows, but now I'm not > so sure; rolling my mouse over the dock would give me a headache, and I > have loads of windows open in some apps, which would make the previews > very small. The previews can be small, but they are live previews and they do work. It doesn't really give you a headache > The "throw a window on each side of the screen and have them take up > exactly half the space" feature seems useful, in that you can quickly > set up two windows to be visible rather than spending (slightly) more > time arranging them manually to avoid overlap. Is it useful in practice? I don't like the snap to full size option. i didn't know there was a half size option. > > Everything else I have heard of that seems interesting appears to be a > second-rate copy of OSX features. That Expos� "show the desktop" feature > (Aero Peek?) seems very badly thought-out; why do they leave the > outlines of all the windows onscreen? > > I'd be interested in hearing the "highlights" from a Mac user's > perspective... I have been using windows 7 for quite a while (I am one of the official beta testers, rather than the random downloads) and it is definately one of microsofts best to date. Some of the things they have done are great. Some of the things they have done that echo what has happened in a way on OSX are going to irritate windows users, like the search and the abstraction away from the file system. There are things that apple should copy which I like, such as the overwrite dialogs when you copy something from one place to another and get told it already exists there, giving you the option to overwrite, cancel or copy with a different filename. I believe it was a vista feature anyway, but all the vista features work better in 7. Apart from search. Ultimately there is nothing that makes me want to use it more than OSX, but there are somethings that make using it better than the previous windows. -- Woody www.alienrat.com
From: Rob on 15 Nov 2009 01:41 SteveH wrote: > Rob <patchoulianREMOVE(a)gmail.com> wrote: > >> zoara wrote: >>> I know a few of you have had a reasonable play with Windows 7, and I'm >>> curious... What stuff has Microsoft done with it that Apple could really >>> learn from for the next version of OSX? >>> >>> At first I thought I liked the feature where hovering over an app in the >>> taskbar gave you previews of all the app's open windows, but now I'm not >>> so sure; rolling my mouse over the dock would give me a headache, and I >>> have loads of windows open in some apps, which would make the previews >>> very small. >>> >>> The "throw a window on each side of the screen and have them take up >>> exactly half the space" feature seems useful, in that you can quickly >>> set up two windows to be visible rather than spending (slightly) more >>> time arranging them manually to avoid overlap. Is it useful in practice? >>> >> I saw this done on an ad and thought it'd be very useful on SL. Got it >> to work to a point with TwoUp, but alas that baulks on certain apps. >> Someone kindly replied to my original query about this, and advised >> Applescript - but rather beyond my limited abilities. > > The only time I ever use that feature is when I'm working in Excel, > which has had it for years anyway. > > Suppose it's a 'nice to have', but it's not essential. Indeed - I often work with Word and a web page, or web editor and a text doc, etc. It's not exactly taxing to manually resize. Rob
From: J. J. Lodder on 15 Nov 2009 17:21 zoara <me18(a)privacy.net> wrote: > I know a few of you have had a reasonable play with Windows 7, and I'm > curious... What stuff has Microsoft done with it that Apple could really > learn from for the next version of OSX? > > At first I thought I liked the feature where hovering over an app in the > taskbar gave you previews of all the app's open windows, but now I'm not > so sure; rolling my mouse over the dock would give me a headache, and I > have loads of windows open in some apps, which would make the previews > very small. Built into Snow Leo. Just move the mouse there, click and hold, Jan
From: Clive Sinclair on 16 Nov 2009 04:05 zoara wrote: > I know a few of you have had a reasonable play with Windows 7, and I'm > curious... What stuff has Microsoft done with it that Apple could really > learn from for the next version of OSX? > > At first I thought I liked the feature where hovering over an app in the > taskbar gave you previews of all the app's open windows, but now I'm not > so sure; rolling my mouse over the dock would give me a headache, and I > have loads of windows open in some apps, which would make the previews > very small. > > The "throw a window on each side of the screen and have them take up > exactly half the space" feature seems useful, in that you can quickly > set up two windows to be visible rather than spending (slightly) more > time arranging them manually to avoid overlap. Is it useful in practice? > > Everything else I have heard of that seems interesting appears to be a > second-rate copy of OSX features. That Exposé "show the desktop" feature > (Aero Peek?) seems very badly thought-out; why do they leave the > outlines of all the windows onscreen? > > I'd be interested in hearing the "highlights" from a Mac user's > perspective... > > -zoara- > > Apple learn from Microsoft? Very little. I know it's not constructive... I chuckle everytime I watch my wife boot her 5 month old laptop into Windows 7 takes forever. My 2yr old Mackbook Pro loads 10.6.2 is ready to use in about 40sec from power on. -- Clive We don't die, we just stop paying taxes.
From: Jon B on 16 Nov 2009 05:46
Clive Sinclair <clive(a)cs.com> wrote: > zoara wrote: > > I know a few of you have had a reasonable play with Windows 7, and I'm > > curious... What stuff has Microsoft done with it that Apple could really > > learn from for the next version of OSX? > > > > At first I thought I liked the feature where hovering over an app in the > > taskbar gave you previews of all the app's open windows, but now I'm not > > so sure; rolling my mouse over the dock would give me a headache, and I > > have loads of windows open in some apps, which would make the previews > > very small. > > > > The "throw a window on each side of the screen and have them take up > > exactly half the space" feature seems useful, in that you can quickly > > set up two windows to be visible rather than spending (slightly) more > > time arranging them manually to avoid overlap. Is it useful in practice? > > > > Everything else I have heard of that seems interesting appears to be a > > second-rate copy of OSX features. That Expos� "show the desktop" feature > > (Aero Peek?) seems very badly thought-out; why do they leave the > > outlines of all the windows onscreen? > > > > I'd be interested in hearing the "highlights" from a Mac user's > > perspective... > > > > -zoara- > > > > > > Apple learn from Microsoft? Very little. I know it's not constructive... > > I chuckle everytime I watch my wife boot her 5 month old laptop into > Windows 7 takes forever. > > My 2yr old Mackbook Pro loads 10.6.2 is ready to use in about 40sec from > power on. Power on? Always around 5seconds here from sleep -- Jon B Above email address IS valid. <http://www.bramley-computers.co.uk/> Apple Laptop Repairs. |