Despite the fact that Windows is the world's most-used desktop operating system, it lacks certain features and gimmicks that other operating systems do have (no, really?). PCWorld made a list of 18 features Windows should have, but in fact doesn't. While some are spot on, others are a bit of a stretch.
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Waa, the Mac has this... Waaa, the Mac has this..., ad infinitum.
As for #15, Windows 95/98 did come with a built in Web server. It, like any included complex service can be, was a gaping security hole. Microsoft rightly removed it. Adding in something like Apache by default and expecting non-technical users to understand it and not muck with the configuration in such a way as to open security holes is ludicrous. Never mind the fact that most residential ISP user agreements specifically prohibit the running of full time servers.
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Actually, every version of Windows since about 1995 had a web server (Not sure which version of NT introduced IIS, but it was there by 4.0. Windows 95 OSR2 at least had one.), except for XP Home, Vista Home and Home Basic. (The article acknowleges that Vista Business, Enterprise and Ultimate have it).
Microsoft never "removed it" although AFAIK it has never been installed/enabled by default (except on servers), they just rightly realised that most Home users have no need/use for such a thing.
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The author I'm sure found this all very entertaining. Much of what he listed I really don't want on my Windows boxes. My two cents.
The dock and the start menu essentially serve the same purpose. The start menu is not like the unified menu. The unified menu is actually something I dislike about Mac OS but Expose really helps it work well. As Windows does not have a unified menu, Expose would just get in my way.
All in all, I'd have to say I like the way the Applications works on the Dock on my Mac over running through the start menu on my Windows machines. However, for applications I have in the quick launch versus apps directly on the dock, it's all the same.
The whole web server thing. I like having this built into the mac. I also install Apache on most of my Windows boxes. It's great for doing stuff locally or across the network.
I'd be be quite concerned about serving either to the Internet without going through the config files and make sure things are suitable for web consumption. If I recall correctly, the default Apache install in Windows clearly states that it is not suitable to be put on the web. If you wish to do so, you need to change some things.
I'm sure there was more but I forgot what else the article talked about already.
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"Waa, the Mac has this... Waaa, the Mac has this..., ad infinitum. "
Get over it already. That is one of the ways you come up with features an OS should have but doesn't. You compare it to the competition. Love it or hate it OS X is the main competitor to Windows at this time. And I agree with some and disagree with others.
All in all it was an interesting read. It would be tough writing an article if we could not make a comparison to something else.
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Not to mention that this so called whining about what the Mac has is the only reason windows exists in the first. Waa...waa this mac has these things called windows...waa...waa...and a trash can...waa...waa...whats a mouse and why don't I have one...waa... you get my drift. MS has taken a quite a lot of ideas from Apple, this whining is how they know what to steal next.
Edited 2008-04-30 19:38 UTC
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I don't get it.
Almost all of these have free 3rd party (or in the case of Virtual Desktops, available from Microsoft) solutions available.
Would the author rather Microsoft include all these features natively and make Windows bigger than it is, so they can turn around and accuse Microsoft of "bloat" or "anti-competitive practices"?
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Exactly. Simple and basic window manager features are inexcusable. Always on top, rollup, virtual desktops, and pin to all desktops should be a no brainer. The only reason they are not included is because of third party applications that hook into the windows or hacks.
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Not Invented Here. They don't hold the patent too those nice little features and probably avoid adding them too keep from possible infringement. This, I'd guess, is the same as keeping there developers from referencing non-MS source for fear or contamination.
Even MS get's screwed by software patents.
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Interestingly, apart from virtual desktops, Mac OS X doesn't have those basic window manager features by default either. That was a big surprise to me when I tried the Mac for the first time, after years of using Linux and taking "always on top" and "pin to all desktops" for granted. To get that functionality on Mac OS X, I had to install the free Afloat program.
I'm still new to Mac OS X, so if I'm wrong about those features not being in the base system by default, please feel free to correct me.
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The pretty much are optional now since the user must find and download them but the "user must find" part means they are not easily available.
MS could easily include these in the next Windows install disk as optional (default too not included) features which users could include. Win98's themes and theme manager where purely eye candy features yet they where available but not embedded by default.
The complaint is not that MS includes everything in there OS. It's that they do so in a way that assumes the user wants everything available too be installed. It's also that they do so in a way that keeps those "optional" pieces not uninstallable. Example; Can I uninstall IE yet and replace it with another browser and still expect the install to be supported?
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Most of these suggestions seem reasonable enough to me. There are a few exceptions: the Dock (which exists well enough via the taskbar), Coverflow and the consistent menubar ribbon. Those are just "implement Mac on Windows" comments. The desktop cube (which would be cool, but is not something Windows "should" have), and software repos are "Linux on Windows."
All the others seems fair to me. Beautiful backups, a decent Window Management tool (Expose > Flip3D), Podcast recording, a decent screenshot tool, etc are certainly fair things to expect from your OS. I also think self-contained apps are by far and away the best way for apps to exist.
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I take screenshots fairly regularly, and I've never needed anything that wasn't built-in to Windows, most users very rarely take screenshots.
Microsoft even included Tablet PC's Clipping Tool in Vista for those people who can't be bothered to do their cropping in Paint.
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I take screenshots fairly regularly too. Here's the procedure:
1. Activate window you want to shoot.
2. Press Alt + Print Screen to capture active window.
3. Open Paint
4. Paste picture
5. Highlight section of item I want to shoot
6. Ctrl + X
7. Open paint.net
8. File > New
9. Press "OK"
10. Ctrl+V to paste content
Here's how I do it on Mac:
1. Cmd + Shift + 4
2. Highlight area
3. Click
You decide.
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You realise that step 7 is entirely unnecessary, right?
Plus, I take it that you are going to do something with the image (I am often writing technical documentation)?
To insert the resulting image in Word (for instance, since it is available on both platforms):
Mac: Insert, Picture, From File, Browse to file, OK.
Win: Ctrl+V.
Edited 2008-04-30 14:29 UTC
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I have decided. I chose Mac. How is dragging your mouse across a 20" screen to a cascade of menus easier than a key combo to capture the action?
You haven't compared apples to apples here, so to speak. The other posts described taking a chunk of a screen and properly saving it. Both the Windows way (hit PrintScreen) and the Mac way (one keystroke combo) are easier than your description above.
If you just want a snapshot, straight away, no editing at all, on Mac, it's Cmd+Shift+3 and you're done.
YOU decide.
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MS sort of tried to implement it with the software store available through Windows Update though I couldn't tell you what's become of it since I looked last. It felt like a store displaying only the company private brand merchandise but with lots of empty space if other vendors took interest.
Apple's iTunes does seem to be going the same route. They have a better chance of it since the more strict Apple certification program already vett's software. I think that was one of the things around the iPhone API anyhow.
Where they both can't compete is still the volume of software included. Apple can use the iTunes business model and there existing osX certification program to come closest. Microsoft hasn't the controls in place too become a gateway for all win32/64 available programs.
They are both also profit motivated. Due to corporate law, the profit margin is the bottom line. If a decision chooses between better quality and better return for investors then legally, the second choice must be accepted. Providing equal access too one's own products along side the competitions products does not maintain barriers against competition. Expensing more budget to hire repository administration staff also works agains the profit margin.
We'll see what Apple does though. It has the smaller software library so it may be managable for one company to maintain the library along with the rest of it's day to day product design and retail.
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GNU/Linux has everything built in.
The author just doesn't know anything but MacOS X.
Expose is available on compiz, for a start, and everything they listed, except maybe time machine.
Now should we go through the list of features GNU/linux have and MacOSX have not? That would make a huge list.
LiveCD/USB? Advanced office applications? network administration/sniffing? I can go on and on and on. You can't beat GNU/linux on features. Maybe ease of use, but not on features.
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The author just doesn't know anything but MacOS X.
Expose is available on compiz, for a start, and everything they listed, except maybe time machine.
Now should we go through the list of features GNU/linux have and MacOSX have not? That would make a huge list.
LiveCD/USB? Advanced office applications? network administration/sniffing? I can go on and on and on. You can't beat GNU/linux on features. Maybe ease of use, but not on features.
This article is about what Windows doesn't have, not what Linux may or may not have.
As for the article, it's of little value to me. While I agree that there's some basic things missing from the window manager, such as focus follows mouse, I think that downing Windows for stuff it doesn't have yet easily added for free is silly. But then again I am not the average user; I know where to look for free stuff
And for remote access to a PC, logmein.com is free, and works like gotomypc.com does.
This article is really just a thinly masked Mac leg-humping session.
Edited 2008-04-30 14:41 UTC
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You need to read the article ...
http://www.pcworld.com/printable/article/id,145118/printable.html
1. Expose Available on: Mac
2. Virtual Workspaces Available on: Linux, PC-BSD, Mac
3. Back to My Mac Available on: Mac
4. Screen Sharing Available on: Mac
5. Time Machine Available on: Mac
6. ISO Burning Available on: Mac, Linux, PC-BSD
7. Stickies Available on: Mac, Linux
8. Podcast Capture Available on: Mac
9. Software Repositories Available on: Linux, PC-BSD
10. Desktop Cube Available on: Linux, PC-BSD
11. Application Dock Available on: Mac
12. Automated Screen Shots Available on: Mac
13. Multitouch Trackpad Gestures Available on: Mac
14. Cover Flow Available on: Mac
15. Pre-Installed Web Server Available in: Mac, Linux, PC-BSD
16. POSIX Compliance Available on: BeOS, Mac, Linux, PC-BSD
17. Standardized Menu Ribbon Available on: Mac
18. Single-File Applications Available on: Mac
All of those are available on the default install on GNU/Linux ...
Edited 2008-05-01 00:08 UTC
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Xfce has stickes, so if PCBSD runs XFce, it should have them too.
Also, there is a dock available in Linux. It is called avant window manager I think.
ScreenSharing is available on Linux and Windows using VNC.
You might argue that VNC or Avant aren't included in Linux or Windows. Remember NOTHING is included in Linux. Compiz isn't, XFce isn't, Gnome isn't.
If you include anything that can be installed with a package manager in Linux, then you should include anything you can install with a web browser and double clicking on an exe in Windows. If that is the case, then a lot of what was said changes.
Edited 2008-05-01 14:18 UTC
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Also, there is a dock available in Linux. It is called avant window manager I think.
ScreenSharing is available on Linux and Windows using VNC.
You might argue that VNC or Avant aren't included in Linux or Windows. Remember NOTHING is included in Linux. Compiz isn't, XFce isn't, Gnome isn't.
If you include anything that can be installed with a package manager in Linux, then you should include anything you can install with a web browser and double clicking on an exe in Windows. If that is the case, then a lot of what was said changes.
Nope not the case. Any good distro should have most of these things enable by default. If that were the case then Linux would fail on all counts because at the end of the day its just a kernel, everything else is an installable package. Most distros like Ubuntu include compiz by default, as well as vnc.
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On that note I would have to disagree. Its more a matter of taste. The little bit of acceleration that compiz adds to most animations is visually appealing to me, while both KDE4 and Apple just move the window without any acceleration. There are things that compiz does that I miss seeing in expose sometimes. Compiz lets you do filtering by typing text if you know the app name or window title, another thing I keep trying to do in expose is right-clicking on windows to bring them to the front or pressing the middle mouse button to close windows. Its little things like that I think makes compiz batter in some ways. Other than that there are very little differences in how each one works. You can always turn off the acceleration if you don't like the, imo, more dynamic animation in compiz, and all of the other features could be turned off as well.
One feature I do like that iss missing in the list is the space bar thingy in OSX. I like being able to preview a file or get some information on a file just by tapping the space bar. That was genius imo.
Edited 2008-04-30 14:00 UTC
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What does that have to do with Expose on the mac or the fact that I'm talking about filtering windows in in expose mode in compiz? As far as I know (and I'm using vista as I write this) you can't do that in flip3d mode. Not everything is an attack on Vista. I was comparing features between two different implementations of expose.
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2007-09-18
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What the heck has the OS to do with recording podcasts?
Besides that infamous term "Podcast" is nothing else than a Soundfile that you can create in your personal way, i don't see any connection with the OS.
I'm using Mac OS X (and occ. Mac OS 9), just wanted to add that.
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First off, there is definitely a reason Microsoft Windows doesn't have some of these features - it is a different economy. Microsoft has built an economy based on 3rd-party software vendors. By providing excellent development tools, from early VB to current Visual Studio, MS has paved a way for ISV to carve out a niche for themselves. This article is definitely a case of "Damned if the do, Damned if the don't". When MS integrates tools into the OS, the hurt the ISV's, and they get grief over it. Now, if they leave it to the ISV's, they are criticised. Which is it?
My second comment has to do with software repositories. I really believe this is the greatest strength of Linux/BSD. I don't just have Windows Update, I have everything-on-my-computer update. And how much easier can it get than the "Add/Remove Programs" on Ubuntu. Click the programs you want to add, and click Apply. I think package management is a must-have feature for a modern OS. It makes for a secure, easy-to-manage system.
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1) Expose - Kinda useful, but since Windows has a per-window taskbar as opposed to the Mac's per-application dock, not as useful as on the Mac.
2) Virtual workspaces - Microsoft already make a powertoy (for XP at least) for this and there are several decent freeware implementations available. Useful, but not really missed.
3) Back To My Mac - Windows already has Remote Desktop, but it's not all that useful outside of a LAN unless you have a dynamic DNS provider, and even then it has no NAT traversal. I could imagine Microsoft putting together something more useful under the Windows Live or Home Server banners. Until then, LogMeIn has a free version, unlike the suggested GoToMyPC.
4) Screen Sharing - NetMeeting, Windows Meeting Space, SharedView. 'Nuff said.
5) Time Machine - Shadow Copy (mentioned in article) is part of Windows, just needs a better UI (currently accessed via file properties).
6) ISO Burning - I agree, definitely needed.
7) Stickies - Outlook has them, but I've never really seen the need to clutter up the screen with imitation post-its.
8) Podcast Capture - What? Very few people do/can/should podcast. Not really something that needs to be build in to Windows, but there is always Windows Sound Recorder (updated in Vista).
9) Software Repositories - A single application update system would be very welcome at least, although I think something more like Steam, but for all kinds of apps would work better than just coping apt.
10) Desktop cube - Would only work in conjunction with item 2, but even then, it's only a graphic effect.
11) Application Dock - Not sure exactly what it is asking for, we already have the sidebar and taskbar, what's missing?
12) Automated Screen Shots - Between "Print Screen", "Alt+Print Screen", Paint and Clipping Tool (Vista/Tablet PC), Windows has just about everything the Mac has, except I can never remember the key combinations on the Mac.
13) Multitouch Trackpad Gestures - "Some PC notebook vendors, such as AsusTek, are beginning to ship their notebooks with multitouch trackpads and the drivers required to make them work." - Already coming then.
14) Cover Flow - Just eye candy. I do, however use a cover-flow-esque UI to switch apps on Linux, so maybe a useful effect, but not something that is in any way required of Windows, in fact, I'd prefer Microsoft to come up with their own graphic effects.
15) Pre-Installed Web Server - All not non-"Home" versions of Windows already have it. Most users will never use it.
16) POSIX Compliance - Not something that should really be user-visible. Application developers can already include the cygwin runtime with their ported app, Microsoft has made several attempts at this (NT POSIX subsystem, Services For Unix, Subsystem for Unix-based Applications) none of them particularly successful.
17) Standardized Menu Ribbon - Mac UI feature. Probably better than Microsoft's current strategy of building a custom UI for every application though.
18) Single-File Applications - Would be great. Even single-folder applications (as they really are on the Mac) would be good, but Microsoft follows the philosophy of hiding things, rather than simplifying them, so very unlikely to happen.
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1)On Linux with KDE and Compiz, I have *both* Expose-like features and the taskbar. They are both useful, especially if you have N different windows of the same application opened and you can't easily spot them from the taskbar.
2)The MS virtual desktop powertoy is next to unusable (at least, it was on XP). It allowed only 4 desktops (I am accustomed to at least 8!!) and it worked really bad.
7)I like 'em instead. If you don't want them, just don't use that. Having more features is never bad if those don't go into your way.
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3) Hamachi and Teamviewer are free as well.
4) Use Teamviewer as well
11) i think the taskbar+task-switching+icon tray in Vista is better than Mac (except Mac had Expose). Yes, Mac had even more eye-candy.
9) Software Repositories make sense to OSS world. If Microsoft implement it, it will only bring more trouble to them!
Point 8) 11) 12) 15) were added to discredit the article itself.
17) personally, i like Microsoft style. fairly speaking, i dont see anyone really had problem with using a menu. Sure, people may be confusing switching to/from Windows/Mac
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Why isnt there a way to virtualize the user space, so whatever a user installs, it does not damage the underlying system, and when you remove the user, you remove all software/changes/data from that user.
It should be beyond file/device rights or jails, the user should have access to change everything, run services, etc, yet it does it only for that user.
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2007-10-24
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Single file application should be spread to all OS! Yes it takes more disk space with duplicates and common files but who cares? HD space is cheap these days and it's so much easier to manage, it keeps the bloat out of the system. It'd be even better if applications were linked to their generated files/configs and those were destroyed along the app in case of a "deinstall".
Edited 2008-04-30 14:54 UTC
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I don't need or want all the flash expose/dock icon resizing. I like my menu bar to be associated with the window (and there is standardisation, File Edit View(optional) Tools(optional) Help is the standard order for windows).
Most of the rest are included third party apps. Remember MS got sued for including a web browser and a media player in it's OS, so if the powers that be believe that that is too much bundling, how would they react to an app that recorded media and published it to the web!
The only thing on that list that I agree with is ISO burning, though I wonder how often non-power-users who are not pirating software actually need to burn an ISO?
This is ridiculous list, that could easily be replaced by the sentence "Windows is not Mac OS X"
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2008-04-30
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18) Single-File Applications
Already coming. Portable Applications became a trend (http://portableapps.com/, http://www.portablefreeware.com/), Thinstall (now part of VMware), Altiris (now part of Symantec) and Softgrid (now part of Microsoft) brought easier deployment with the application virtualization and now the only thing left is that the process is standardized on all windows app.
Maybe soon will be the time for a registry-free windows?
on the rest... I agree, they mostly want a mac-on-win, and many of those things aren't even useful on windows... anyways, if you want them, go get them.. there are free docks (http://rocketdock.com/, full even with leopard stacks: http://rocketdock.com/addons/docklets/1791 and another option: http://home.cogeco.ca/~rklauncher/), free Expose clones (http://devrexster.googlepages.com/)... etc.. there are also non-free ones
for the desktop cube, there was Yodm3D, that was bought by Otakusoftware, but now there is Cubik Desktop (http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=46298)...
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The fact is... the per-window taskbar is a tool that works pretty well for me. Since I work on a mac I really miss it. Before I clicked on the right tab on the bar, I knew where the window was, so I had not to look for it. Now I either have to use Apple+TAB but that only switches beween Apps, or I have to use exposè, push the button, get a lot of windows that often look all the same, find the right window (I don't know where it is already), click on it. For me this is cubersome. Not really a must have.
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