It hasn't been more than a few days since the official release of Windows 7 and i have been pondering on what are those things that prevent me from being as excited about the new Microsoft operating system as everyone else out there seems to be. I know i'm not a Windows hater and i know for sure that i'm not an Apple fanboy. So why is this happening?
Let me start this by saying that Windows 7 is an amazing operating system. I tried it in its beta stages, i had it in its RC [ release candidate ] status and i will be getting it when it's officially out in the stores. Even in its RC stage it was far more stable than Vista ever was to me – and yes i know that lots of the bad stuff happening with Vista wasn't Microsoft's fault – and with those little tweaks that made it a true productivity boost for regular and power users in the same time. So the questions remains.... why does this feel like another glass of the same mediocre wine you'd have at your local restaurant?
Well as i kept diving deeper and deeper into the brainstorm that it is a geek's thoughts, i realized that maybe it wasn't something wrong with Windows 7 whatsoever. Maybe it was just that i got too used to using OSX as my primary operating systems. Maybe there are certain things about it that have become so important to me that i'm not willing to re-switch to Microsoft and Windows 7 as my primary OS. And suddenly a light bulb lit over my head! So here are the things that make OSX irreplaceable in my opinion.
1] Expose. Whether you're using the 4 fingers gesture on an Apple laptop or a key stroke on an Apple desktop keyboard, expose is one of the two genius features in OSX. It's a productivity boost and for sure far more intuitive than having to scroll through your applications windows using the cmd+tab,alt+tab or win+tab way. Some ask me, is it really that important? Well, try having 20 apps running all the time, with multiple windows open for each one of them and compare the user experience using expose and any other navigation method around those.
2] Spaces. This is the second genius feature of OSX! Simple as that! Spaces you're all familiar with and there's no need for me to say how important that little app is for organizing your work. For those of you that have been living under a rock all that time, Spaces is a little up which with just a key stroke allows you to have multiple desktops. You can assign certain applications to open by default in one of those desktops and in combination with Expose, which works even when you're in Spaces mode, you can throw apps here and there without any problems whatsoever. Sure there are applications out there for Windows that will allow you to do the same thing... but that's the thing. Expose and Spaces are native to Apple's OSX and unless Windows comes up with something similar to them native to the operating system i will never even consider going back to it as my primary OS.
3] Time Machine. Well not much to say here either. Time machine is another amazing application native to OSX, which allows you to automatically back things up and if something gets lost you can simply “ go back in time “ and retrieve it. Combine this with faster and faster upload speeds and i can see the need for hardware back up for regular users being perished in the years to come.
4] Leopard's mail application. Simply put epic! I've linked 6 accounts already all in one clean and intuitive desktop client. I've organized folders for everything and i've never done all that so easily. Combined with my .me subscription is by far the thing i use the most everyday whether i'm in house using my computer or out on the streets using my iphone.
5] No freaking registry.... and i will say no more. Everyone that has been involved with computers and Windows knows what i'm talking about, and for those of you out there that don't ... well , let's just say that i don't want to be the one who talks about it for the first time giving you nightmares for the rest of you lives. I sincerely wish that you never have to deal with it because things can get ugly... and i mean, really ugly!
Anyway, those are the things that i appreciate the most about Apple's OSX ... if you feel that i've left something out feel free to submit your own list or even name some of Windows features that you feel are holding you to using it as your primary OS .
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