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One of the things I absolutely despise about Microsoft Windows is it’s counter-intuitive interface. Perhaps this is because of my years as a Mac user, but I find it infuriating that simple things like dragging a file to Outlook doesn’t create a new e-mail with that file as an attachment (as Mail.app does on OSX). I have to open outlook, click ‘New’, then Attach, and then hunt again for the file. So much for a smooth workflow.
Don’t even get me started on dialogue boxes that prevent access to the application itself. Oh, you did. Setting up filters in Outlook is positively painful if I can’t check something in the e-mails: But you can’t, because the focus can’t be switched. So I have to close down the dialogue box, make a note/copy the details, and re-open the dialogue.
But most infuriating of all is “Explorer”. The default display format is just a list of filenames and an icon. I never find that useful for my generally technical purposes where I’m often looking to see the detail of the file, ie. date stamp or file size. I had, however, long ago resigned myself to having to change it every time I opened a new Explorer window. It was just “one of those things”.
Thankfully, however, I happened to vent about this to a developer, and he pointed out there is actually a way of setting it (Andrew earned his pay that day from my perspective, I can assure you!). Not particularly intuitively, oh no. Mac’s remember the last file view you used, which works wonders, and even have easy short-cuts (Mac-1 through 4) to change the view type. So, In Explorer, click ‘Tools’, then ‘Folder Options’, click the ‘View’ tab, and then ‘Apply to All Folders’. And relax. Quite why it’s under ‘Tools’, I know not, but then when have menu options ever been intuitive with Microsoft? It does affect your Control Panel view too, which is a pain, but bearable.
It’s a small thing, and perhaps well known to most heavy Windows users, but it’s one less annoyance for me, and I thought I’d share it. Still find it a painful OS to use, and quite why people continue to insist on struggling away with it at home, I know not. Computers shouldn’t be that difficult.
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January 30th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Calm down you fanboy you!
Yes, heavy Windows users know this one, and to be honest it took me just as long to learn this stuff on a Mac as it did in Windows. The learning curve for the Mac for basic stuff like this is as steep as it is in Windows, where the Mac wins (IMHO) is the top end of the learning curve, right on the edge between average joe and power user … and the Mac continues to be better as you approach uber-geek.
BTW, http://uneasysilence.com/how-to-osx-finder-style-for-windows-explorer/, is pretty good… I use it at home, lost without it.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Yes, I know, I’m a bit of a fanboy, and a bit of a power user too. I even have a t-shirt to prove it (”Mac OS X: I’ve upped my standards. Up Yours”). I should add it was a leaving present, not something I chose. But I do wear it
I’m not about to start queuing up for the latest stevie-goodness, or beating people up for their non-Mac decisions, but I can’t help but look at the success I had with moving my parents over to a Mac when looking at the Windows experience: They’re far from being an expert, but the “support calls” have dwindled to nothing since the switch. They can get on an do things they need to. “It Just Works”.
When people find out I’m a computer consultant, I’m exasperated by the “any idea how I do X” questions. “Buy a Mac; Life is far too short for you to be needing to worry about that” isn’t what they want to hear, but I’m baffled so many people don’t realise there is actually a choice. For most people, the software that comes bundled on the Mac is all they want. mail, and web access.
It took me a while to get used to a Mac too, but most of my problem was an ingrained Unix and Windows mindset. New or average joe’s shouldn’t need to care, it should just be intuitive. Largely it is, in my experience watching new users, on a Mac.
February 27th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Actually, (and I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Mac-user - started on one 20+ years ago, still loyal to the “true path”) there were always 2 things that I found I could do on a PC that I wished I could do on a Mac…
Right clicking - and the Mighty Mouse at last cured that + upped the ante
That parallel view thing in Windows Explorer - having one window with 2 parallel files open and drag’n'dropping between them. I know that you can do the same in the Mac Finder with 2 windows open and perhaps it’s only me, but I do find the Finder’s floating windows messy and try to avoid that bit as much as possible (pressing my Mighty Mouse ball to switch from one app to another) If you know it, the remote/local file view in Dreamweaver is the kind of thing I’d like. So please tell me that it’s possible and I’ve been missing a trick all along!