Seriously, I gave Mac a really good, long chance. But while I admire the beautiful screens and quality hardware design, in the end, if you have a crappy OS X, the aesthetics are not enough. Here's my feedback, having been a lifelong PC user who switched to Mac for a year and back to Windows again (and never again to Mac). Note I don't do graphic design, programming, or gaming on my computers.
- The Dock
The dock is clunky and does nothing compared with Windows taskbar. The taskbar lets you pin quickly (files, folders, program, anything), skip between working docs/programs/anything, autohides, and keep track of programs running in the background that you've minimalised that may not have an open window. If you like to work fast and multitask, I don't know how you can prefer Mac to PC if you have really, really tried using both. Hot Corners can't make up for the Mac's abysmal features for simply switching between programs quickly. Okay, you can use the keyboard shortcuts to skip between programs and open windows, but this doesn't make full use of the 'visual' nature of windows-based OSs...which is why, again, having all your working windows visible and quickly accessible on the taskbar wins hands down. Note that in Mac you can also right click the App icon on the Dock to see open documents and programs but the Win layout when you choose 'Never Combine icons' under Taskbar>Properties means every single open window/document/program has its own icon on the taskbar, so you can access every working file/window with literally just one click.
The taskbar also lets you show desktop with a quick click. You can go to the Start page from there as well, with just a click. EASY. Hot Corners let you do the same thing but the windows remain at the top corner until you go to the hot corner again. You have to minimise them to mimic what the one-click motion in Windows achieves.
- File Management
You can't create files in folders in Mac. You have to actually go to the program, create a file, and save to the directory. To me this is a complete waste of the 'visual' approach of a computer, of having windows as the central feature of an OS - which applies to both Mac and PC. Clunky and stupid. In Windows you can right click within a folder/directory and create many different types of files from a list that comes up automatically (depending on what programs you have installed; e.g., Word, Excel, etc). SO FAST.
Moving files is slow in Mac. In PC you can cut and paste really quickly; the set-up is much more visual and clean. The Mac OS X layout is clumsy and childish.
- Ugly Design
No, not the hardware, but the software. The Finder design when you open up folders/directories is ugly, unprofessional, and childish looking. You can't even take the Finder icon away from the Dock and hide it permanently.
- Menu Bar
The menu bar at the top is ugly as well and you can't really disable it.
Your argument really doesn't sound like you've actually used Mac OS, or you're comparing in your head Windows 7 to Mac OS X 10.2.
As far as the Dock and Window Management, it's much more easy and streamlined than Windows's task bar. First off your description of the features of the taskbar in Windows are things that the Dock can also do. You can also pin almost anything to the Dock, skip between programs, autohide, and keep track of open programs that are minimized. It does it quite well, actually.
As far as window management, on Windows once you have many windows open, it actually becomes harder to manage. To sort through your windows the quickest way is to find that open application, right click it/drag up on the icon in the task bar, and find the window, and then click it. Turn off icon grouping and it's even more hell of sorting your windows. Not to mention Windows STILL has no multiple desktop capability baked in, something that's standard in just about every OS shipped at this point. Therefore you are restricted to keeping every single thing on one desktop making sorting even more complicated. On my Mac, I hit one button and instantly every single open window on my current desktop, every desktop I have set up, every full screen app, and my Dock all become visible. From there I can drag and drop windows and applications between desktops, see which programs are running, rearrange my workspaces, and find which window I want to open. If I'm working exclusively in one app and multiple windows are open, another simple gesture or keystroke pulls up only the windows from that application, and even gives me access to open recent documents from that application. It's MUCH more powerful than how Windows handles it, while at the same time being simpler for the end-user. Your statement about "not making use of the visual-ness" literally makes no sense.
For getting access to the desktop, it's a simple gesture on the trackpad or a simple keystroke and bam, your desktop is shown.
Concerning file management, the only valid point you make is the right-click to create a file. Moving files in Mac is just as easy and simple as it is in Windows. I can click on any file or multiple files, choose cut or copy (or do the keyboard command), go to where I want, and then paste them there. The speed of how long it takes larger files to copy will simply depend on my hard drive's speed.
Not to mention using Finder is literally like using a generic web browser. You can create tabs to save you from having to dig through a hierarchy or having many open finder windows. You have loads of different views to choose from, more than Windows. The way UNIX is organized itself is more user friendly than the standard NT setup (though that is opinion-based).
"Ugly" is simply your opinion and something I can't really deconstruct, but I don't think the UI is unprofessional at all. As far as the menu bar is concerned, it's where your main functions are stored. Windows is the only Desktop OS that doesn't use a top menu bar in fact. Windows chooses to store their menu functions in the application itself, which works OK. As far as hiding or disabling it, just go into full screen.
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As far as why people hate Apple and Macs, there's many variables, but my theory is that most people who hate Mac/Apple haven't ever really used their products to begin with or ever really spent time learning about the systems. There's also the group that does it because they have the need to feel superior, and others who do it just because it's the thing to do. Of course there are definitely people who may have a bad experience or just not like the UI/hardware. I find that those people however, don't ever actually say they hate Apple.
I'm in my 30's now and only got my first Mac in 2010. I've wasted far too much of my life on Windows.
