switchers - top 5 things you don't miss!

eric


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well, i still have to work with XP for 36 - 48 hours a week at work, so there are things that crop up occasionally that i think to myself "at least my mac doesn't do THAT!" of course windows does lots of things very well and there are a couple of things it does do that i miss (multiple file rename in explorer!). but those things aren't what this is about...

what are your top 5 windows annoyances that you are thankful for not having to deal with while using a mac?


mine:
- windows wants so much for my default font to be "new times roman". i hate new times roman. and despite my best efforts to make everything default to arial, it still creeps in somehow...

- the little task bar notification area. never really works the way you want it to - so annoying!

- i know it's not stock with windows, but it is with office... outlook is one of the most bloated, over-complicated tools i've ever seen.

- add remove programs. need i say more?

- of course... BSOD


dishonorable mention - windows live update. feh!
 
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haha

1. times new roman

2. explorer crashes and fails

3. ui is ugly

4. takes to long to boot. osx boots so quick and soon as you see the finder your ready to go. in windows you have to wait till the hour glass goes away.

5. bsod haha
 
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The five things I prefer/do not miss when comparing Mac OSX to Windows are:

1. Fast boot up times, I can cold boot my Mac and be surfing online within 12 seconds flat that it is never a chore to turn it on if I want to check something out quickly.

2. If I am in a rush, I can close the lid on my Powerbook and I know when I open the lid again, the screen is immediately there waiting, just as it was when I left it.

3. Not having to install so many third party programs for upkeep such as an anti-virus, a seperate firewall, an adware checker, a spyware checker, a registry cleaner etc - on the Mac I just use OnyX and it does everything I want.

4. Not having to spend valuable computing time (and it is valuable to me as I have to spend 95 per cent of my life in bed) running such third party programs, along with waiting forever for scandisc and defragment to finish.

5. If I need to do a fresh install (only ever done one once), it is not time consuming adding drivers, then hundreds of updates, then program updates then installing those third party programs you need etc.....Just a fresh install from the discs and software update does the trick nicely, and takes only an hour or two instead of a day or two!

Just to balance things out, I will list five things I miss in OSX that is available in Windows:

1. Printer settings and similar, there are so many more options in Windows - such as when printing a photo out, I can configure many more settings than I can in OSX.

2. Limited upgradability - can't change the graphics card in many systems, nor the processor/motherboard etc.

3. Lack of a powered amp for microphone's requiring me to purchase either a USB microphone or iMic when I have just spent the best part of £1500 on a Powerbook which I think is totally unfair.

4. Lack of standard USB webcam support for such programs as MSN/ichat. I do not want to spend £100 on isight, and to get a standard webcam working is difficult, then to get it working in ichat or MSN requires more messing around/more programs.

5. For some reason, I am not sure why, the Internet it slightly more responsive and faster on the Windows machine - only slightly though.
 
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1. "New Update Ready to Install!!!!" every 30 minutes.
2. "New USB Device Found", "New USB Mouse Found!!!", "New Mouse Ready to Use!!!!!!" everytime I boot.
3. "Yer computer may be at a security risk!!!!!!!" every 30 minutes.
4. "You are about to send personal information over ten intarwebz, if u r a tard, don't do this." every 5 minutes.
5. BSOD.
 
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1. "This program is not responding"
2. The stupid start-up and turn-off noises. (They spent 18 months perfecting these for Vista.)
3. Start menu
4. The down time during boot.
5. Me having to dish out $270 to Bill for my OS.
 
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1. "New Update Ready to Install!!!!" every 30 minutes.
2. "New USB Device Found", "New USB Mouse Found!!!", "New Mouse Ready to Use!!!!!!" everytime I boot.
3. "Yer computer may be at a security risk!!!!!!!" every 30 minutes.
4. "You are about to send personal information over ten intarwebz, if u r a tard, don't do this." every 5 minutes.

I can fix all of that for you in about 5 minutes :)

I've only had mine for a couple weeks, so I don't have a full 5:

1. Mac has faster startup/shutdown
2. Better looking GUI (from XP)
3. constant system updates. (always thought it was funny that I got updates ready to install when I wasn't even connected to the internet?!?)

and on balance:

1. I actually miss start menu and taskbar (which I had dock-like frequently used program incon in)
2. lack of upgradability (revently felt like I would like more video RAM, but can't just go get it)
3. Outlook!! I know that's probably a shocker, but I'm very good at using it, have to use it very heavily at work, and between email, contacts, calendar, tasks, scheduling, file sharing, "outlook today", and above all-syncing all of that with my PDA, I not only miss it, but I can't function without it! (despite popular belief, those functions are all well-integrated together as well as with other Office programs if you know what you're doing)
 
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3. Outlook!! I know that's probably a shocker, but I'm very good at using it, have to use it very heavily at work, and between email, contacts, calendar, tasks, scheduling, file sharing, "outlook today", and above all-syncing all of that with my PDA, I not only miss it, but I can't function without it! (despite popular belief, those functions are all well-integrated together as well as with other Office programs if you know what you're doing)

If I ever had to use Outlook, I would probably jump into moving traffic. :D
 
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1} boot time is much faster on OSX
2} my mac does not freeze every 2 hours
3} never had a virus
4} no blue screen of death
5} no need for a "right click"

PS I am not a switcher but I do have to deal with a PC 50+ hours a week. BLAH!
 
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I'm just curious if those who can't stand Outlook have really,really used it; as in business use, and really, really learned how to use it well. I know most people I work with have no idea how I do the things I do; such as simple things like dragging a file into an open email and sending it to them, or advanced scheduling functions with file-sharing attachments.

I imagine this can all be done with Mac also, just haven't learned yet.
 
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At work they use PC's so I have no choice but to use them and be annoyed by them. At home I use Macs.

but you siad you are not a switcher
 
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eric

eric


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i am forced to use outlook - really use outlook - mail, attachments, calendars, appointements, meetings, reminders, etc.
have had to do so at work for years and years.

can't stand it. not sure what a company this size (tens of thousands of poeple) could even hope to use in it's place, but that doesn't mean i have to like it...
icon12.gif
 
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I'm just curious if those who can't stand Outlook have really,really used it; as in business use, and really, really learned how to use it well. I know most people I work with have no idea how I do the things I do; such as simple things like dragging a file into an open email and sending it to them, or advanced scheduling functions with file-sharing attachments.

I imagine this can all be done with Mac also, just haven't learned yet.

Outlook is one ugly program. But I do miss it dearly. From organizing email in folders Under mailboxes, to separate colors for different appointment catagories without having separate calendars. The to do systems was pretty nices as well. It also synced well with my TX (not catagories for some reason, sucked) Spent some time with entourage and almost killed myself.

I've set up ical, and mail to manage things but would love an inexpensive total management system. Email, calendar, todo, lite project management, and time tracker.

bone
 
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i am forced to use outlook - really use outlook - mail, attachments, calendars, appointements, meetings, reminders, etc.
have had to do so at work for years and years.

can't stand it. not sure what a company this size (tens of thousands of poeple) could even hope to use in it's place, but that doesn't mean i have to like it...
icon12.gif

Lotus Notes...

Although that's not without it's problems and sometimes I hanker after the relative simplicity and intuitiveness of Outlook over the Notes client, but I believe Notes is actually better suited to large corparate's.

Anyway, on to my list of things I don't miss about XP:

1. New Updates are available (Every second Tuesday or whatever it is).
2. Bootup Time (although XP is quicker than my Windows Mobile 5 Device!!).
3. Rubbish Icons! (I love icons on the Mac... Really pretty!).
4. Anti Virus Updates every other day.

Now for things I DO miss abotu XP:

1. Right Click. Why make apps that need you to CTRL+Click if you're not meant to have to have a right-click??? Therefore, I conclude that this Macbook should have 2 buttons. I find the OS X experience much better when using my Mighty Mouse.
2. Being able to view file size and details in Explorer and be able to sort by file size, modified date etc. If you CAN do this in Finder, could someone please tell me how?
3. In some ways the Task Bar. Probably because I'm so used to using it for switching between apps.
4. Video Memory! (Need I say more - OK... 64MB is rubbish nowadays. Why is this?).

There you go... 4/4 so far :bushman:
 
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For view option in Finder, just click view on the top bar and then go to arrange by. Or right click on Finder window and click show view options and tick keep arrange by: bla bla bla...
 
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I have been a windows user for like 10 years and have never seen or encounted the blue screen of death?
 
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eric

eric


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it's not hard to avoid the blue screen of death.

just follow these simple rules.

1) never install any software or firmware other than, or maybe even including what came with your computer.
2) don't run an early version of any MS operating system.
3) don't install any hardware.
4) don't let any hardware fail, especially memory and video and sound and networking cards.


now sure, you may do any of the following and still never see the bsod, and i may be being just a bit facetious here. but you're certainly increasing your odds with any action in the above catagories.
 
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Things I don't miss:

1: The fan noise
2: It going wrong as soon as I leave for a week away working so my Mrs can't use it
3: Taking ages to start up
4: Taking ages to shut down (along with aps that won't close before shutting down)
5: firewalls, antivirus, software updates, constant user intervention required to keep the thing running.


Things I do miss:

1: Restore things from trash back to where it came from
2: Just being able to see shared pc drives without having to connect to the server etc. first!
3: Not realy knowing where everything gets saved, I like to know where my stuff is

I don't miss much about my pc, I still use them all day at work, its nice to get home and onto the mac.

I also like that my Mrs has been able to get using the mac with no problems whatsoever so far.
 

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