1. Each document for an application is in a window inside that application Window. And if you maximize the document window, you have two sets of Windows window controls (Close, Minimize, Maximize) sitting right there together. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to close the Window only to Exit to software application.

2. When you maximize a Windows window, and then maximize another window layered on top of that window, the behind window becomes un-maximized. That’s way inconsistent.

AC, as Andy pointed out, of course the two OSs are similar in the basic ‘goal’, but the way they go about things and how they achieve these goals is a very different matter.

i.e. security, UI function (i.e. maximising a window when it doesn’t need that much space- we’re not all using 15″ CRT screens anymore! My 24″ demands I fill it with plenty of windows)- actually, that’s another point- the way the two OSs operate differently, interface design (there’s a difference between looking nice and functioning just as well, and looking ‘cool’ just to be cool without adding to the function), the way each OS notifies you (OSX lets you do your work, XP/Vista constantly annoy you with windows and bubbles, or fading your desktop so you can focus on the UAC window, distracting you and decreasing productivity), etc. The list goes on…

i.e.e in OSX, I have no problem having 20+ windows open, because I can instantly access any one of them and see the content of all of them at once. In XP or VIsta, you have a limited-space taskbar to see what you have open, and in Exposé copy erm, Flip3D, you get to see them hidden by the windows in front and ‘flip’ through them, wasting precious time- it should just be that you can see them all at once. Flip3D is rubbish.

There’s just a few quick ones off the top of my head

I’ve recently had an experience with Windows XP that provides a direct comparison with how the 2 OS’s work. Hopefully, Vista is more like OS X when it comes to internet functions than what XP is like.

At Christmas, my brother and I set my mom up with her first computer, a new PC equipped with XP. I got her the same Look.ca dialup service I use at home with my Mac (OS X)because my experience with Look has been a good one. With the PC, I’ve had nothing but problems, and despite getting things set up and working at Christmas, my mom’s still not online –the online access suddenly stopped working after I left. With Look, we’ve determined it’s not a hardware problem, phone line problem, or Look’s problem –it’s a bloody Windows problem.

I’m heading out this Saturday (2nd Saturday in a row) armed with every article I could find on the Microsoft site about dialup problems to try to fix it. Do I have time for this? No. Damn you, XP….

The issue is not with the hardware, with the ISP, or the phone line –it’s with Windows XP (we haven’t even installed any additional software on this machine, so there’s nothing else that can be causing the problem).

I am so frustrated with XP that I’m never buying another Windoze-powered box of crap again.

Having said that, the actual XP interface has been user-friendly enough to help my mom overcome her technophobia. If the internet problems hadn’t happened, I would have given it two thumbs up.

Ed

If you don’t believe me, have a look at some of the internal MS emails that have come to light recently.

Really, i wish Apple would rake MS over the coals about how they ripped of Mac OS X to make Vista – not just on a superficial level, but some of the deep OS features too. But Apple needs Office, and MS knows it Can anybody say ‘monopolistic abuse’ ?

The reason could be that I use Mac OS X at home for media editing, where I cut and paste between apps way, way, way, more than when I use office apps at work in Windows.

My worst irritation about windows is that it uses the CTRL key where you’d expect to use a Command key.

My worst irritation about Mac OS X is that it uses the Command key where you’d expect to use the CTRL key, and that changing the modifier keys in Apple does not help for some reason.

I feel just a bit dirty piggybacking on Mr. Scoble’s video debate, but the one point I’m trying to make here is that both operating systems are a lot more similar than they are different…