Pet peeves when switching from Windows to Mac?

[crockett]

If you switched from Windows to an iMac (or any Mac for that matter), what are your pet peeves? What do you miss?

For some reason, I miss the start menu. Don't ask me why. Yeah I know, there are work arounds.

Another is while working in an application and moving to the top menus, I have to verify that the menus are for the application I'm working in.

I just got my 2.8 iMac the end of last week. Overall it's a nice machine and i'm glad I went with the 24 inch. The screen looks massive next to my two 19 inch monitors that I use with my PC.

Pet Peves.. I would say the keyboard and the mouse annoy me (mainly the mouse). The keyboard looks nice but I just get the feeling it's going to break. No complaints on the usability of the keyboard but it's just so small I feel like it will break. If I had a kid running around I'd be real scared of him breaking it.

The mouse on the other hand IMHO sucks if you come from a Windows/PC environment. (where's my right click's) The single main button works ok, but the two side buttons are hard to push with out also pushing the main button. Just seems like Apple worried more about the looks of the stupid thing rather than how well it functions. So with out a doubt I'll be quickly replacing the mouse.

The machine it's self seems to work well and I have no real complaints other than the OS layout seems to be set up for a teen myspace type user or the non computer illiterate. What I mean by this is all the crap added at the bottom of the screen. Why put all these things that I'll never use on my screen? iChat, iPhoto, Garage Band, iTunes, Spaces... How about iConfigMyOwnDesktop?

IMO windows and the "start menu" has Apple beat all to hell for easy access to your software. I'm sure there is a way to config that lower menu to what I want but I haven't found it yet. Seems if they are pushing ease of use, they should have a very simple walk through of letting you personalize your desktop right from the start after you first set the machine up.

Also with out a "start menu" type set up, how do I know what's installed on the machine? I installed unity3d on the machine (the entire reason I bought the iMac) and I have no quick easy way to find it. I have to either use Finder or look in the hard drive for it. Why not just give me a easy Start Menu type set up that lets me see all the installed software?

 

[crockett]

one other thing that annoys me, is having the close button on the open windows on the left side rather than the right. That and I can't just grab a window anywhere and re-size it. It has to be all the way down on the right lower corner.

 

[wrldwzrd89]

A solution for the green button problem that i can think of would be to have the little icon change to a minus when its going to minimize your screen. Like in windows when you click the maximize button the icon changes to either the "two screens" or a single screen to indicate if its maximized or minimized. Apple could also do this by having the + icon change to a - icon. I think this would help with the confusion of if its going to maximize or minimize your screen.

-Maul

One small problem - the yellow button always minimizes a window. The green button can shrink a window, yes... but never minimizes it.

 

[Maul]

One small problem - the yellow button always minimizes a window. The green button can shrink a window, yes... but never minimizes it.

Sorry. By minimize i meant... make it smaller. Sorry for the confusion. Just like when you click on the "maximize" button on a windows desktop it makes it full screen, then when you press on it again it switches back. But, notice the icon changes. Thats what i was suggesting for the mac so you know if its going to enlarge or shrink the window. The only problem would be changing the yellow button to look like the windows minimize button.

Edit: (Just in a circle button, not in a square).

 

[Marble]

The mouse on the other hand IMHO sucks if you come from a Windows/PC environment. (where's my right click's) The single main button works ok, but the two side buttons are hard to push with out also pushing the main button. Just seems like Apple worried more about the looks of the stupid thing rather than how well it functions. So with out a doubt I'll be quickly replacing the mouse.

The machine it's self seems to work well and I have no real complaints other than the OS layout seems to be set up for a teen myspace type user or the non computer illiterate. What I mean by this is all the crap added at the bottom of the screen. Why put all these things that I'll never use on my screen? iChat, iPhoto, Garage Band, iTunes, Spaces... How about iConfigMyOwnDesktop?

IMO windows and the "start menu" has Apple beat all to hell for easy access to your software. I'm sure there is a way to config that lower menu to what I want but I haven't found it yet. Seems if they are pushing ease of use, they should have a very simple walk through of letting you personalize your desktop right from the start after you first set the machine up.

Also with out a "start menu" type set up, how do I know what's installed on the machine? I installed unity3d on the machine (the entire reason I bought the iMac) and I have no quick easy way to find it. I have to either use Finder or look in the hard drive for it. Why not just give me a easy Start Menu type set up that lets me see all the installed software?

Many people dislike the Apple Mighty Mouse, but lack of a right-click is not a good reason. You can enable it in the system preferences. Then: click on the right side of your mouse.

Applications you installed on your machine are in the Applications folder. You can access all your apps using a Stack in your Dock, or just drag individual apps to/from the Dock for your own customized "Start Menu," except without the annoying button. You can basically customize your desktop however you like.

Have fun with Unity. It's the most powerful development environment I've ever used.

 

[crockett]

Many people dislike the Apple Mighty Mouse, but lack of a right-click is not a good reason. You can enable it in the system preferences. Then: click on the right side of your mouse.

Applications you installed on your machine are in the Applications folder. You can access all your apps using a Stack in your Dock, or just drag individual apps to/from the Dock for your own customized "Start Menu," except without the annoying button. You can basically customize your desktop however you like.

Have fun with Unity. It's the most powerful development environment I've ever used.

Yea, I have the push button on the scroll bar set up as the right click, however I still don't like the mouse. I was gonna go buy a new one this weekend but never got around to it. Maybe Monday.

The keyboard I'm getting used to it, the more I use it, but it still seems too toyish. If I was a betting man I'd say Apple is just trying to get people used to flat style keyboards.

After I saw a video on the touch panel display system Apple made public a year or so back, I'm will to bet eventually they plan to move in that direction and get rid of the mouse and keyboard all together in the next few years.

 

[big_malk]

without a doubt what bothers me the most is how programs somehow uninstall themselves in Leopard. Many times I delete what I believe to be the installer file and the next time I try to run the program its not there anymore. The same goes for if I remove a shortcut, the program is seemingly gone forever.

My only other gripe is not being able to hit the right arrow key when using preview to look at the next image in a folder. There is also no slideshow for preview, one of the most basic features period.

Aside from these small gripes, everything else about OS X 10.5 is surprisingly similar to Windows, but far surpasses in most areas.

A lot of Mac programs don't come with an installer because they don't need one, sounds like your actually just deleting the program itself. I'd guess the same goes for aliases (shortcuts), all aliases in OS X have a little arrow in the bottom left of their icon.

You can play a slideshow in Quicklook, not a very fancy one granted, but it'll automatically play through all the images you selected, and give you a tiled preview of them all. If you open all the images you want to use in preview, you can step through them all with the arrow keys, the only issue people have is that preview doesn't automatically open all the images in a folder when you open one.

 

[pjarvi]

Having switched a little over 2 years ago, I find my only continuing gripe is the lack of a headless mid-range system with an upgradeable video card. The lack of an affordable system with a decent GPU is the only reason I still keep my Windows PC around.

Other minor gripes from a switcher perspective:

-Windows has better mouse acceleration
-No MS Paint equivalent
-Capturing a screen shot isn't as simple as pressing a single key labelled: "Print Screen", although I do like the power provided by OS X's option
-Cannot "Copy & Paste" universally with every app using the Option-C and Option-V (or is that the "Command" key??) key sequences
-Installers mount as a drive, but don't automatically unmount when done
-Bluetooth crashing (Leopard)
-MacBook turns itself on from a completely powered off state (Leopard)

The last 2 items occur rarely enough that I only consider them minor issues.

 

[Marble]

Having switched a little over 2 years ago, I find my only continuing gripe is the lack of a headless mid-range system with an upgradeable video card. The lack of an affordable system with a decent GPU is the only reason I still keep my Windows PC around.

Other minor gripes from a switcher perspective:

-Windows has better mouse acceleration
-No MS Paint equivalent
-Capturing a screen shot isn't as simple as pressing a single key labelled: "Print Screen", although I do like the power provided by OS X's option
-Cannot "Copy & Paste" universally with every app using the Option-C and Option-V (or is that the "Command" key??) key sequences
-Installers mount as a drive, but don't automatically unmount when done
-Bluetooth crashing (Leopard)
-MacBook turns itself on from a completely powered off state (Leopard)

The last 2 items occur rarely enough that I only consider them minor issues.

I presume you're comparing the default mouse settings? Most mice, say from Logitech or Kensington, come with their own drivers and acceleration options, both in Windows and on the Mac.

As for Print Screen... Is Cmd-Shift-3 just too many buttons?

In which apps do you find copy and paste doesn't function as expected? Or perhaps you mean copying whole apps in the Finder?

 

[crockett]

I think I'm going to add one more gripe, now that I've used mine a few days. While I love the really big 24 inch screen, it seems way too bright compared to my other two LCD's.

I know not really a windows vs Mac pet peeve, but still it's one to be considered. It's so bright my eyes actually hurt after using it for long periods of time.

As a side note I bought a new mouse, so I'm good on that end now.

 

[Marble]

I feel the same way. Try using Shades to dim the screen below the minimum brightness of the LCD.