5 Things I Miss About Windows XP Since Switching Back to Apple
It's been about six months since I switched back from about 8 years of using Windows to an Apple MacBook Pro 15" laptop, and while I love the Apple for the most part, there are some things I miss from Windows. Here are a few:
- File transparency. Apple's OS X seems to make a lot of copies of files and stores them all over the place, especially iPhoto, iTunes and Mail. One of the reasons I bought the Mac was to organize my years worth of photos, but that's a failure, and now I feel less organized than ever. When I imported all of my photos into iPhoto, it made a copy of each, and the same thing happened with iTunes. I've installed Windows XP with Parallels just so I can use Windows File Explorer and get a handle on things.
- File Structure. Again, this is just my own ignorance, but the Mac has made a user directory for me and then a lot of sub-folders inside there. I like to keep my file structure simple and just store everything at the root level of the drive, but I've heard on the Mac that this is not safe. I have no mental model of the OS X file structure.
- Alt-Tabbing. This is minor, but I miss it dozens of times a day. Alt-tab on Windows cycles you through each open window. Command-Tab on OS X cycles you through each application. When I have five or six open browsers or I'm cutting and pasting from one Word document to another, I want to switch back and forth more quickly.
- Microsoft Outlook's Calendar and To-Do List Integration. While a lot of things about Outlook drove me crazy, I've always felt it was something Microsoft got right for the most part. it is a much better e-mail application than Apple Mail and a much better calendar than iCal. I also really miss being able to drag and drop from one application in Outlook to another. Like I can drag an e-mail to the Calendar or Task List to make an appointment or task out of the e-mail. Mail and iCal can do this, but it's not as fast.
- Fav Icons in Bookmark Bar in Safari or Firefox. Again, this is minor, but I loved having just the icons for Web sites as bookmarks in my link bar in Internet Explorer, with no text. There is no way to do this in Safari or Firefox for Apple OS X. I can't believe it. I had dozens of sites bookmarked this way, and now I can only fit ten or so up there.
Update: I found a Firefox 3.0 Plug-In for this. Here's a link: Mac Toolbar Fav Icons (via Lifehacker)
posted by Joe at
8:20 AM
18 Comments:
On alt-tabbing for the different windows open within an App, on the Mac, once you are in the program with the multiple windows, you can command-` to cycle through them. This should be of some help.
A more efficient way to go to a specific window is to use the Expose feature of OS X. I have mine initiated with a "hot corner", and with a flick of the wrist, all my open windows are displayed at once...Just select the one you want from there. You can also initiate Expose with hot keys as well
Many sympathies on the switch you are going through - it's hard to think around some of the paradigms you're working with. It took me ages, so here's some stuff that I learned along the way:
When using iPhoto or iTunes, you shouldn't get copies of files - they should be moved to a specific, program-defined folder location. You can, for example, consolidate your library in iTunes, such that it stores it all in the default location (~/Music/iTunes Music, I believe, where ~/ indicates whatever your home directory is).
The reason that you don't put things in the "root" folder is that the system and the user data are strongly separated in OS X (and Unix). You don't want to put things in the wrong places. So, you have a User area (under Users, with your account name listed as one user) and you have a System area that you really don't ever need or want to touch. You can safely ignore the various Documents, Music, etc. folders within your User directory and put things where you wish. Just don't delete the existing folders, since programs love ot use them and assume they're there. Your own crap? Drop it where you want.
If you're seeking a window-specific switcher that isn't Cmd-tab but acts like a Windows machine, check out Witch by Peter Maurer. Really nice, really easy to use. Then again, if you're in a single application, you can use Cmd-~ (tilde, above the tab) to switch between the windows of the open app. Also, Expose with F10 (for a single app) and an arrow (from one window in an app to another) can work, though I hate that method. Others love it. Whatever.
I agree with you that Mail and iCal need some work. I just dropped them, basically, and moved back to iGTD. It has enough Mail integration to suit my needs, and I can get past the bugs as long as I don't actually use iGTD to handle tasks. I use iCal for events, that's it. But yes, better integration would really really help.
As to the bookmarking in the bar with just the FavIcon, dude, yeah, that would be great. I get around that by retitling some of my bookmarks using weird symbols from the symbol font. It works well enough, and I have a ton of great links up there that nobody else can understand.
Anyway, those are just some ideas. Isn't it funny how the small things are frustrating and you need to spend time finding weird workarounds? It's a different mindset on each platform, and you have to be differently creative, I find. But, hey, if these are your complaints, then honestly, you're already further along than I was for a long time. Man, it took me forever to get used to OS X, and now I am just totally out of my element when I'm in XP.
Outlook is expected to be better since it costs hundreds of dollars, where as Mail.app comes free with every Mac. No?
I find Mac's application switching and window switching paradigms to be better than Windows. You'll notice this when you have a lot of applications with multiple windows open. On Mac, application switching is Command Tab, and window switching (for the active application) Command Tilde (~). I love those gorgeous icons when switching applications :)
I can totally empathize with the favicons... I really miss that from Windoze. I had a nice string of just icons. Too bad. =\
Peace,
JasonRobb.com
Regarding copies of music and photo files. iTunes and iPhoto will make copies if you have the existing files on the computer. If you import directly from the camera it won't do so. Apple assumes that you may want to keep the originals so does not automatically delete them. Deleting them manually is not that big a deal. Conversly Msoft spreads program files all over the place, so getting rid of apps etc can be troublesome. Apple apparently will be changing its file system in the next version to something more modern and efficient. We shall see.
Re: making copies of your music.
In iTunes you have options in preferences that determine how iTunes organizes your music. Look under the "General" tab in the "Advanced" preferences. iTunes can be told to create new folders organized by artist/album/song, OR it can be told to leave your song locations alone (it does this by creating aliases to the locations of the songs).
There may be a similar option within iPhoto, but I'm not as familiar with it.
The more you use the Mac, the more you'll find that you can just trust it's hidden power. Much of the hidden power is just bellow the surface so that the interface is easy to approach. For example, if someone sends you an email with task information, just highlight the task info and click the To Do icon in the mail toolbar. The task is added to iCal automatically without ever leaving the Mail app. Mail also automatically spots dates in a message. Just hover on the date then choose add to iCal from the drop-down menu. In the same fashion, you can go directly from an emailed street address to a Google map with one click.
If you stick with Mail for a bit, I think you'll begin to view outlook as a relic from the last century. It just takes a while to get used to assuming that almost everything will be a one os two click process, rather than a multi-tabbed dialog box time-sink. You'll be much more efficient in no time.
Send your comments to Apple and maybe the changes will show up with Snow Leopard. :)
try witch: http://www.manytricks.com/witch/
option-tab to get a list of all windows grouped by application - i love it
By default, iPhoto and iTunes copy files they import. Once imported, however, just delete the originals.
Now, to never mess with that again, just go into each program's Preferences and click the Advanced tab. You'll find an option to Copy imported files. Just uncheck it and you're done.
Regarding congestion in the Bookmarks Bar... Remember, you can have folders up there, giving a huge number of links available (I currently have 86). Even better you can arrange to have every bookmark in a folder open in separate tabs with just one click.
The bookmark issue is one where I feel Apple really misses the boat on design. This is exactly what the favicon is useful for.
Is there a Mac browser out there that uses the favicon in the bookmark bar?
These are some of the dumbest reasons for missing an entire OS I've ever heard.
You just don't know any better yet, expecting things to be like windows, they seem difficult on the Mac, when in actuality, they are easier, faster, and actually natural. Readers comments, I think have addressed each of those 5 things you miss on XP, sufficiently.
Keep reading Apple's "tips & tricks" as well as find a buddy that knows Macs... when frustrated, settle down, use help, and ask... when you get the answer, you'll smile and say, "that was easy!"
Usually, there is many, many, ways to do the same things on the Mac.. it's highly customizable and powerful and built to not get in the users way.
Please write another post, after you get more familiar with things, as a follow up.
In Firefox the Smart Bookmarks Bar add-on allows you to view bookmarks by their favicon. This works fine on my Mac.
@ Hoby
Dude, you are so right....
Joe,
"back to Apple" says it all :-)
You need to go forward to Ubuntu. Then you can overcome silly "one-window-manager-per-OS" restrictions, enjoy Amarok instead of iTunes and escape Steve Jobs' evil grip ...
PS: Like your site!
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