Hi, I’m Steve Jobs, and Windows 7 was my idea!

But I do have a final point to add on the regard of application quality. The increased user base of Windows would increase it’s exposure to coders and software designers but by that it would also increase it’s exposure to lackluster coders and software designers.
While OSX has a lower user base and much ‘prettier’ programs, an increased user base would indefinitely increase the amount of less desirable programs out there for OSX.

But really most of the programs I find myself using applicaitions that have versions for both Operating Systems. (Firefox, VLC, AIM, iTunes, Office, etc.) But as I blend OSX and Windows on my laptop, Im finding Windows Only more and more of a problem.

Well, of course they’re all opinions; however, while some might like things different, there is a science to user interface design, and I think the new taskbar behavior is inherently less usable, especially when it’s inconsistent. It should only show windows of an application, not the tabs within windows. Imagine if I had eight tabs open in IE and then I open another window. Now, the taskbar preview is showing both windows and tabs, which is just confusing. Trying to find the last window you were working with becomes a nightmare.

As for who innovated it, I think there are some basic user interface paradigms that you can’t blame companies for copying, like the button. How would you graphically represent a button without actually using one? It would be next to impossible.

And re your control argument, there are more applications available on Windows, however, the quality of those applications is (in my experience) inferior.

The second point, while not necessarily “innovation” on Microsoft’s part, neither would I say it is Apple’s. It is a logical step in reducing multiple processes to a single icon. Seeing as the keyboard ninja is a dying breed, it would be logical that if you only have one manipulate object and you are given two buttons to use, one button opens the program, it seems that the logical function for the right mouse button to display other instances of the process.
An analogy that comes to mind is a cabinet. Personally, I open all cabinets with my left so that I may grab cans and such with my right.
Im not sure if its just how my housing has been built but cabinets in my house all have their hinges on the left side of the cabinet door. Thus if I use my right hand it would block access to the goodies within. (Little off topic but you get my point.)

Again, the complication level of the Start menu is an opinion again. I feel that the Start Menu is more of a boss key than a menu. A sort of God mode or sudo or root for Windows. I enjoy that one menu has access for everything. Again its really a preference. Maybe having Windows for so long has grown on me but I have run Linux and OSX and Windows at one point or another. (I also remember at one point in my life I was daring enough to run XP, Vista, OSX, and Ubuntu Linux all under one PC.)

By control I more of meant that the vastness of applications and programs available on the internet allows me to give a Windows PC almost any functionality I wish. Though recently in light of the increasing market share of OSX, I’m finding more and more programs that have an OSX counterpart so both points are moot.

I do agree that Linux and OSX are inherently more secure than Windows having looked into the subject a few years back, I am going to argue that a user’s experience level again comes into question. While Linux users are geniuses in their fields, a large number of OSX users are not. The paranoia of Windows makes users feel forced to run loads upon loads of Windows and security programs. Its been said before that a well set up Windows system is more secure than a setup done by an inexperienced computer user.

Your first point is that the new taskbar gives people more choice. The fact remains that the primary function of the taskbar is to switch tasks, not to ask which tab I’d like to switch to. That doesn’t mean this behavior is completely useless; it just shouldn’t be the default. It could be assigned to control-click, hold-click, or hover; any one would be better than the default.

Your second point is that Microsoft innovated on the Dock with the new taskbar behavior. However, if you right-click on an item in the Dock, you get a list of open windows. Microsoft making this the default behavior is not innovation.

Yeah, I don’t use Widgets either.

To search for a specific file type in Spotlight, you can use “kind:”, so if I wanted to search for all files with .doc extensions, I’d use “kind:.doc”. I’ve always thought the Start Menu was ridiculously overcomplicated. I mean, one menu for search, applications, favorites, and shortcuts?

As for the control argument, no one’s saying that OS X offers more control over your system. It doesn’t. I’m willing to accept that because I like OS X, and I think it’s the best OS out there right now. However, if you want a truly higher level of control over your OS, I’d try out Linux.

On a tangent note, OS X and Linux are inherently more secure than Windows because of the way Unix systems handle permissions, and also because the vast majority of viruses are made for Windows. You can read more about that here.

—Alex

Your first point deals with how it seems 7 is adding a second step for something that only requires one step. It appears to me that this is added for giving the user more options and more control over their computer and what they wish to do with it. While I do agree that during an intense session of late night computing it can get annoying but it does add flexibility to the computer. Instead of only offering choice at one point it offers choice in all points.

Second point: You state that Apple innovates, but with it’s taskbar, Windows 7 innovates on Apple’s innovation. I do agree that the Windows 7 taskbar does take some ideas from the OSX Dock, the dock doesn’t combine the menubar and the taskbar.

Point 3 is irrelevant as you’ve already stated. I don’t use gadgets or the dashboard on either system. Seems superfluous.

Point 4 is close to pointless but Spotlight does not pwn Windows Search. I can’t isolate files by extension in Spotlight or at least do not know how to do so and Windows Search again integrates with the Start Menu. To me it gives the Start Menu a sort of Boss Key kind of feel.

In Point 5 I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Overall I do feel that Mac OSX and Windows 7 should be treated as seperate entities. But I do feel that while many see Apple as the innovator and the freelancer kind of computer, I feel that Macs are more in a sense a kind of smoke to those that are not fluent in computer usage.

I recently Hackintoshed my Inspirion 1525 using the tutorials Richard posted here, and I’m finding myself more and more driven to return to Windows. I do agree that OSX does have it’s strong points but Windows offers me a higher level of control over my computer than OSX does.

Why sudo get me a sandwich when I can just get me a sandwich?