Wow, memories ! I was the OP a few months ago for some of the same reasons he listed his woes. But now.. I'm a lot more in tune with how OS X works, compared to Linux (or Windows which I haven't used for about 3+years).
And every let's say.. month (because day isn't realistic) I learn a few new little things which help me along. I spend more time being productive with OS X, than I ever did with Linux (because with Linux, I was always looking for THE program which worked without having to hack this or that.. ) or with Windows for that matter (because most of my time in Windows was spent doing spyware-adware-virus scans etc).
Hang in there.. have patience, TRUST ME. I was a raving (and ranting) idiot when I joined this forum because I thought that everything should work the way that Linux does... And to be honest, there are still things which I think work better for certain situations in Linux, but when you simply learn how to deal w/the differences, you will start working, and stop nitpicking the things you thought were stupid.
One of the first things I learned which made my life in OS X SO much easier was this simple trick to switch between apps:
cmd+tab+option (alt). While holding down cmd (never take your finger off of it) you can toggle between apps to either quit them, or switch to them. To switch to them, hold cmd, press tab until you get to the desired app, then while still holding cmd, let go of tab and hit the option key (alt) and THEN let go of the cmd key. Now you don't have to go down to the dock anymore. And to quit any app, just cmd tab and hit q while on said app, and it quits.
Next: Be SURE to set up expose and screen corners from preferences. You can do this to your liking. My wife hates the way my side of it is set up, but that's because she doesn't multi-task. She accidentally drags the cursor into a corner and all 4 screens will pop up, and she gets frustrated
(that's when I tell er' to sign into her user account and leave mine alone)
While I'm kind of with you on the whole screen maximizing thing, it's not the end of the world. The screen should retain its size after you drag the corner out and re size it manually. I have my corners set up so that when I drag the mouse cursor to the bottom right corner of my screen, any app which is sitting on the desktop (re; not minimized to the dock) will become apparent, and I can then click on whatever app I want to work with. It's kind of like alt_tabbing or like the above method I use, but altered a bit differently. I use both depending on the situation.
As far as closing apps when hitting the rex "x" goes.. I never understood the logic either. Some people say that because the actual app is still open, it doesn't take as long to open a new window, opposed to if the app were quit. I haven't really seen any proof that this claim is true. I honestly think that it's just Apple's way of "being different" and putting a patent on something just for the sake of not being Windows. That said, it's no big deal really. It doesn't hurt anything. I always cmd+q my programs when I'm really done anyway.
Oh, and to open a new window with an already open app (this goes for finder windows too) just click on cmd+n (the n stands for new). So if you've clicked on your desktop and then click cmd+n a finder window opens. And I believe that you can set finder to open to which ever default directory you choose. So this technique goes for any app which you currently have open.
For instance, say I close my main Firefox window, (I hate Safari. It is NOT faster than FF for me) while the window may be closed, I'll still see the menu tab up on top. (And if it's not there, remember to cmd+tab until you get to the app, then hit alt and let go of cmd, now it's there) So now I just hit cmd+n and a new window opens. It's like this for any program you've got open.
Keyboard shortcuts are your friend. I forget where, and hope that someone posts it here, but, there area list of keyboard shortcuts somewhere. SO many keyboard shortcut commands, which make things so much faster to do.
On to photography:
I dabble in photography too, and the first thing you should do is forget the name iPhoto. It was not made for photographers. It was made for very casual use and NOT for heavy volumes of photos. Ditch it, right now.
I've played with Aperture (2), as well as Lightroom 2, Bridge and Photoshop. After a short period of time, I knew that I didn't like Aperture because it was slow and kludgy. It also has other issues as far as RAW converting and things, but that's another story.
I like Lightroom 2 for its DAM capabilities (Digital asset management)
wikipedia on DAM. It's able to organize and edit photos with the ACR engine and integrates with PS very well. HOWEVER.. I actually like Adobe Bridge a LOT more than Lightroom 2 for organization. And Bridge comes with ACR (Adobe Camera RAW) where you do your initial editing until it's ready for final touch up's and printing in Photo Shop.
The thing about Lightroom though, is that since ACR is built into it, you don't have to open a separate module, like you do with Bridge. But on the other hand, opening a pic in ACR from bridge is as simple as cmd+r and takes 1 second. I also believe that the actual ACR module has a few more options opposed to the integrated engine which is used in Lightroom.
I also reeeeally like the sorting filters that Bridge uses. Lightroom enables you to look for photos based on certain filters as well, such as aperture, shutter speed, date, ISO rating and the lens you used.. BUT.. Bridge has more of these kinds of filters, and the one missing one in LR, which I'd love to see, is sorting by focal length. You can actually add this filter manually I believe, but it's something that seems to be a very extensive and not even fully operational process.
I'm still assessing these programs and trying to figure out which software combination is best for my workflow preferences, but tend to use Bridge and ACR a lot.
There's a LOT to learn. I've been in your shoes and understand the frustration. Ask my wife how many times I've almost thrown the MBP out our window, screaming like a lunatic "WHY WON'T THIS ****ED THING WORK RIGHT !" ( "right" meaning the way I was used to it working) There's a learning curve with every thing, and nothing is perfect. Also remember that in a perfect world, things would work exactly as you see them working in your head, but this isn't reality. We DO have to admit that there are compromises we need to make in order move forward rather than wonder why all the time, and remain stagnant.
And while I can fully appreciate the following:
I asked very similar questions as you when I switched and got the same zen-like responses "let go of window's ways and your Mac will set you free".
No one wants to admit that there are functions in Windows (at least XP, don't know about Vista) that are superior over Macs. Why not be able to readily maximize your window? Why not include a backspace key?? Why not close programs when you select the close button? Why is finder so unintuitive?
you should ignore the sarcastic "zen-like" remarks, and focus on the fact that it's not that there are functions in Windows or Linux which are superior to the way some things function in OS X, but that they operate differently and you just have to LEARN the why's, how's, what's etc.. etc..
I'm sure I could go on and on, but I won't. Ron and Fez are on and I have to get ready to go out and shoot with my 50mm. (Um.. f1.8 Nikkor lens that is.. don't call the cops !
)
Doug
