18 Features Windows Should Have (but Doesn't)

[OcciferFriendly]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

And what was that part about Apple making their own hardware?? I'm pretty sure everyone else makes it and Apple just tells them what to make and certifies it to only work with Mac OS's.

AFAIK, that is the case. That's why they aren't really Macs anymore, just PC's that run a special OS.

The article seemed to be written as if "other OS's have these things, so Windows should". Well, maybe. But I prefer a slimmer OS, almost everything on that list is something I'm never going to need and/or use.

Every OS has its good points and bad points - even Windows.

[Zambini]

I'm too lazy to read on, but Logmein.com works for #3. Its free, and I used it to work from home last summer.

[screwballl]

18 Features needed to turn Windows into OSX

[OcciferFriendly]

Originally Posted by screwballl

18 Features needed to turn Windows into OSX

Correct!

[MantaBase]

I'm not an MS fan - in fact, I'm prone to pointing out the ...urm stupidity that is Windows at times.

However, a few of those entries are complete BS and stretching. I love Macs - and yes, you can quote that. What I'm really starting to dislike are Mac users.

Instead of 18, it should have been "8".

I use a Mac workstation with OSX and administer an OSX mission critical file server - and have since the days of Apple IP.

They (Apple) have a great product - but it's articles like this - ones that could have merit but wander into exaggeration - that really annoy me.

Manta

[gvblake22]

I agree Manta. Mac users somehow turn into a cult type thing where everything else is just trying to live up to the greatness of OSX; kindof like Jeep owners!

And for the record, I have nothing against Macs either. They are incredibly innovative and do a great job, I am just not shy to point out the few negative points (like everything else).

[screwballl]

There is no truly perfect OS... until you learn linux programming but thats another discussion... OSX has its share of bugs and annoyances, Windows has its own as does Linux.

[polobunny]

Originally Posted by screwballl

There is no truly perfect OS... until you learn linux programming but thats another discussion... OSX has its share of bugs and annoyances, Windows has its own as does Linux.

Oh man, cut it with your Linux already. There's plenty of people with enough knowledge to fiddle with Linux inner workings and guess what, there's still bugs in it. I don't think Linux is the answer to a perfect OS, far from that even.
Not only that, but Windows itself is pretty versatile too, and no matter what people tell you it's not all that hard to crack it open and fix things yourself. People just don't bother and prefer to whine instead of finding ways to fix it, but hey, it's that way just about everything.

[screwballl]

I didn't say linux was perfect, I said all 3 have their shre of bugs and annoyances... but due to the open source nature of linux, if some key programmers were to sit down and actually put large amounts of time and data into it, it could become as close to perfect as possible with modern computing.
I am saying it is possible, not probable...

[Boy'nBlack]

I swear I've seen this before. Odd that it's saying what a very old OS should have had (XP) and not so much Vista.

1. Expose - Vista has the new "show desktop" button.

2. I don't know what this is, but it sounds like a taskbar. Where they describe "virtual workspace" as all the applications having to be in full display causing clutter...you actually hit a button called "minimize". Hover over the minimized app and you get a pretty preview.

3. Back to Mac - Is FTP/VPN that they charge you $100 a year for? If I'm at home, I can grab stuff off my work computer for free.

4. Screen sharing - Not a feature of Leopard as much as iChat. MSN messenger has had this, and more, since 4.0 (prior?). Not only can we share screens, I can take over your computer and do stuff on it. Boy, that was fun in dialup days!

5. Time Machine - They say windows doesn't have it, but then they do but it's hard to use. It is hard to use, but it's there. The beef should be that it should be improved, not that it isn't there and should be added.

6. ISO burning - Either way, I enjoy the specific Suites to do this. Sure it'd be nice for the OS to include it, but then it'd have to be neutered to meet copyright laws. DRM dear reader...DRM. If it was included, I'd still have to pay for items like AnyDVD, Decrypter, and find DVDshrink. No retail OS can do all this. If they did, they'd still have to be better than Nero.

7. Stickies - Vista has more than a note widget. It has a calender. Right? I put my schedule out for the year, and it's better than a sticky.

8. Garage band - Wav Studio can't record a human voice? Editing is nice, but then again...it must be better than Adobe or it would be useless. If I had a mac, I'd use Adobe or the countless others that are more powerful. Podcasting is too narrow of a chore. Like the ISO thing, these additions must be useful or it's a waste.

9. Again, don't know the use of this. They kind of got on an Open Sauce rant. Open source can have open source. Windows includes anything and they're sued to the gills. It's a pipe dream. What they really describe are pre-installed aps, that just happen to be free. That's been a bane of buying OEM computers I thought...bloat. I do believe we're starting to see OpenOffice on OEM's though. EEEPC has it due to it's open source roots.

10. Dumb IMO. I tried something similar with Firefox and hated it. We go backwards with pretty stuff that isn't more productive. You click on things, not manipulate them and then click. This goes back to #2. Just give me a simple preview and I can manage much better than a huge spinning cube I have to toss around. Perhaps Gestures and no pictures at all would be a better addition here.

11. De Ja Vu. I'm getting the feeling they want 15 variations of a taskbar in the perfect OS. Spinning cubes, desktop catalogs, docks...you gotta pick one PC world. They're also suffering short term memory loss by forgetting about Vista's side bar. Grab it, pull it to the bottom, you have a dock.

12. Screen Cap - Grandma might like it, constant forum posters might like it. Who else would though? Sounds the same, but a hidden editing app starts with it. I see no issues with copy and paste. At least then I can do more than crop. Paintshop Pro, PhotoChop...just open it.

13. Gestures. See #10. It's a good idea. But the editor is mincing hardware and software as an ability. Windows has touch screen abilities. And to say Mac's don't need drivers to get it to work is ignorant. By definition, drivers are the middleman between hardware and software. Mac may just not call them drivers...but they have them.

14. Cover flow - "We all absorb information in different ways, and some of us do better at handling visual information." Some of us don't. Thumbnail is about as complicated as I like to get. Cover flow is for an un-organized computer IMO. With over 1 Terabyte of space (and probably 600G used), toggling through them all with a picture would be a nightmare. This is for the Mac user only. They seem to just use the computer to take and store pictures. It's then hand in hand with their nifty crop thingy. But what if you use a computer for work? To Game? How does this help? I don't need a picture of COD4 to know where it is. If I lost COD1, I type "CoD" in Vista and it's there. Magical.

15. Preinstalled web server. Oh...my...gosh. Back to #3 again? I don't need apache to host a web page. I can use Frontpage I suppose. I guess I'd have to know HTML *Shock*

16. POSIX Compliance - I have no idea why this is needed or why the editor would like it. To put a spin on it, then a DOS compliant utility needs added to all computers. It's useful if you use DOS. POSIX is useful if you use *nix. What if the majority of the computer users don't? Shouldn't even be on the list. If you want Linux Emulation, well...use it. Don't include it in my non-Unix OS.

17. Standard menu buttons - This editor is reaching to make a list. Don't customize anything, conform, uniform, and all computers must be the same. That's what he likes I guess. I like a computer tailored to me, with non standard menus. But there's two parts to this. All windows users, hit the "Edit" button at the top of your navigation bar. He's saying we don't all see the same thing. We do. What I like is when we right click on things and have tailored options. He's saying those should be standard too?

18. Single file applications - At the bottom of the list is the ONLY thing Windows should have from this list. It'd be awesome for sure. The other stuff above is what a specific mac user would have, based on his or her usage.

Originally Posted by OcciferFriendly

AFAIK, that is the case. That's why they aren't really Macs anymore, just PC's that run a special OS.

It's an Asus board, Crucial memory, nVidia card (some have ATI), and an Intel processor. The OS is *nix. The current line of ads state that the PC's problem is that the parts are all from someone else. It's common Mac bigotry at it's best.