I thikn it comes down the the original ideas of what a GUI is... there is an achronym
WIMP Window Icon Menu Pointer...
Windows has all of them, it's nice thatin a Mac there is a kind of quick launch to launch favorite apps,
but then the quick launch has ben available in windows since windows 98...
it's horrible that on macOSX for some programs you still have to navigate through folders, windows 3.11 style died, and should have stayed dead some ten (or 11 now it's 2006) years ago now!!!
it's annoying that there is now start bar, on a mac, i realise that the small arrow that comes underneath the launch bar on a mac indicates that the program is open, but that's not much good if you have say multiple documents open, at least in windows (or linux) you get a propper app manager that lets you see what's open, with the titles of the open documents there in front of you...
then we come to menus.
in windows (and linux) each windows has it's own menu, on a mac there appear to be a general menu that just sits at the top of the screen... that changes depending on what app is open, regardless of whether you want to see it or not... and when nothing is open it's an explorer bar...
that makes the whole OS very un user friendly for new users, (and microsoft have been critisized for doing something like this in Vista).
it's not that I'm anti Mac..
it's just that...
like I said earlier...
everyone raves about their design... but it's not that good.
everyone goes on about the power... but it's not that good, and you can get better PC's
everyone goes on about user friendly, (as in the setup), but buy a PC from dell and you can just take it out the box and plug it in).
everyone goes on about the apps... but most apps are ported to windows anyway, and some even work better on windows! (it's amazing how much a second mouse button can bring to a computer!).
everyone goes on about the stability...
but, windows XP is very stable, I've seen xp crash, and I've seen OSX crash, usually it's more to do with the hardware, and what a user is trying to do than a vendor problem.
windows has a lot, (and I mean a lot) of poorly written software... (don't believe me I could write a program now in a few seconds that would crash windows 98 (BSOD0 and cause XP to throw a fit, but it'd do the same on a mac as well! (and if it didn't then it'd actually point to a much larger security problem).
I guess at the end of the day everyone hates MS and say they are controlling...
but how are they controlling, they've opened up a global computer market, they've opened oppertunities for thousands of software houses.
Mac controll and regulate their hardware, you can't even install RAM yourself without breaking a warrenty... and the parts cost so much more than PC hardware, they are clunky and yes, they are slow...
IF Microsoft had that kind of control... (e.g basically no third party software writters / conplete hardware conrtol / the ability to steal a Unix core for it's newest OS without anyone even saying a thing)... then windows would be a lot better...
Like i said, it's not a case of hating macs. it's more the situation that for my situation, (i.e not being fantastically rich, and wanting to be productive on a PC and occasioanlly wanting to play games), a PC suits my needs a whole lot better than a Mac does, or ever will...