Thinking Different?

I’ve been using my Mac now for about six months, having never used a Macintosh before, but there are a few things that still seem alien to me, and of course some things I miss from Windows. For those of you who have never used Mac before, I thoroughly recommend it, there is no real learning curve and nor is there this ultimate dilemma of loosing out on games. However you do have to get into the simple way of thinking. Yes I did say the simple way.

For example, something that would take maybe 5 steps on windows, takes about 2 on Mac, things are where they should be, and the problem is Windows has gotten us all used to using the computer in a very-straight-forward-process-that-cannot-deviaite-from-a-set-line-under-any-circumstances. Exactly like that. The best examples I can think of are joining a Wireless network. On Mac, You click the network, enter your encryption key and click join. In Windows, you usually have to enter a utility (unless your lucky enough to have one that pops up for you and gives you a network list) then you have to select the network, enter the key, then tell it what type of network it is, then click a box that says “reconnect automatically” and then click Save.

It’s not that counter intuitive, but it’s still a process we don’t necessarily need to go through. The extra steps are needed to cover a Windows ‘flaw’ so to speak. In Windows it needs you to specify what type of network it is, to apply security settings. In Mac, due to it’s Unix base, has a set, standard profile set up. For joining a network as standard, it’s great, no extra configuration needed, however there are advantages to the way Windows does it by the way it adds preconfigured ‘Network profiles’ to minimise the effort needed, but then going into why that’s actually a bad thing would require a separate article all on it’s own.

Another example is the Start Menu and the Dock. Think of the dock like that little quick launch area on your Windows machine, your commonly used applications are in it, for instance, here’s mine.

I have finder, (think Windows explorer), Mail, Safari, iChat, iCal, iTunes, Address Book, Spaces (more on this later), System Preferences, Tweetdeck, Skype, Adium (MSN Client), Pages (Mac equivalent of MS Word) and Writeroom (Word processor)

There are also three other things on the right which I will get to in a moment, the far right is of course the trash and works pretty much like the Recycle Bin on Windows so I’m not going to explain it to you (if however you do need help knowing what that is, I suggest you stop using a computer and seek guidance)

So, For me, just like quick launch, if I want to open my Word processor I open Writeroom or Pages by clicking it. Nothing else opens up or takes up the space, all you get is that little white dot underneath the application icon to let you know it’s open. And generally I don’t have to go anywhere else. Up until Windows 7 this was totally different to the way Windows worked. The icons would be there, but that’s all they would be, opening a new application would mean a new ‘tab’ would open on your taskbar which if there was any application activity would flash orange and blue at you. Windows seven now is more mac like by giving a glassier feel to it, but it still flashes. But, what If I want to open another application thats not in my quick launch or dock! Well on Mac, here’s all I tend to do if I want to open say ‘Numbers’ (the iWork equivalent to Excel)

All I tend to do these days is go to spotlight (the magnifying glass) and type “numbers” in, and low and behold numbers has popped up, there are of course easier ways to do this, I could open finder by clicking Finder, I click applications, and scroll to Numbers like so

Or if I really want to be daring I could take that applications folder and turn it into a Stack. (More on that here http://blog.woopid.com/?p=398)

Ok so let’s give the example in Windows to open Excel assuming it’s not an application I use a lot so, wouldn’t have it on my desktop, or in my quick launch icons.

I click start > all programs > Microsoft Office (assuming your application icons are in the Microsoft office folder) and then click Excel. Or if you’re like my last system, Start > All programs > Office applications > Microsoft Office > Excel

It’s a long process that seems normal to us, but, Mac just seems more intuitive. When the original adverts came out that said ‘Think different’ they really meant it.  But after a while you get a feeling that this is really how it should be. You can see on the screenshot above I have a quick link to my Downloads folder, yes you can do this in Windows, but it’s not quite as simple as Mac, you just look at the Places list, think “I want a link to the folder in there” so you drag the folder into the list. it’s simple, intuitive etc.

Oh and installing an application? Usually it’s just drag and drop, and I really mean that.

However I said some things seem alien to me. Let’s start with the first. These things.

On Windows they are on the right hand side of your Application Window. The Far right is an X, meaning “Close the program”(unless your on Windows 7). In the middle is “maximise the current view” and the one on the left of that again is the “hide this application to the taskbar”

On Mac however they are on the left hand side of your application window. The one on the far right in most native applications means, ‘Resize this window to fit the content as best you can” not however to expand the window. The middle on, is minimise the window to the dock. The one on the left we therefore assume is Close the program right? Er… No. I don’t actually know what the technical name for the button is but it’s more like a ‘hide me’ button, thats just infuriating. If i want to close my program I have to press Command + Q or actually go to the application menu and select exit. The button doesn’t close it. it just gets rid of all trace of it yet still leaves it open. This confuses me no end and it’s just utterly counter intuitive.

Other things include the lack of fullscreen web browsing, and decent voice dictation and sometimes getting around. It’s not a major thing but it does sometimes feel a little strange. However I was surprised by the lack of decent voice recognition.

Don’t get me wrong, I know that Mac OS has voice recognition – to a point. It’s more for accessibility than anything else and does work exceedingly well for that purpose, however Windows Vista and Windows 7 came with built in voice recognition, which was actually incredibly good. I always used to use it with a webcam, but almost every blog post up until about a year ago was voice dictated. I loved it, especially as it took fifteen minutes to train and was one of easiest pieces of software to use. I’ve never found anything that worked quite like it, why didn’t mac sort that one out for me?

I guess I really am starting to Think Different….