It's All Geek to Me!

#4: hold down command-option-escape and you'll get a list of running apps. You can select the one you want to force-quit.

#2: Try Exposé.

#5: Go to the Finder, select "Mac Help" from the Help Menu.

Search on "shortcuts."

Voilà! More info on keyboard shortcuts that you'll know what to do with. Lots of customising possibilities too.

Hi Pascale, thanks for the keyboard-related tips! I just wish they were more visible so people can pick them up more easily. Having said that, I should say that Mac Help actually does help, unlike my prior experiences with Windows online help.

#2: Better yet, get a Logitech mouse (MX 1000 for example) that has programmable buttons. Sure it might cost a lot more than your average mouse, but you can quickly set it up so that your mouse activates all the nifty expose features. Ever since I did that - I will NEVER go back to anything else.

#1: This is really more a matter of what you're used to than better/worse. Windows uses a window-centric application model -- every window is an instance of that application. (In fact, every window has its own menus.) Mac OS X uses an application-centric model -- a single application can have multiple windows open, but all are in the same application instance. Under the Mac OS X model, it doesn't make sense to quit the application by closing a window. (The exceptions to this are applications that can have only a single window open; for example, System Preferences.)

#2: Check out Witch: http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2005/02/witch/index.php

#4: Choose "Force Quit" from the Apple Menu. Press Command+Option+Escape. Both bring up the equivalent to Windows' Task Manager. There's also Activity Monitor (in /Applications/Utilities). Terminal is the last place you need to be ;-)

#5: As you mentioned, this is mainly the fault of application developers. But you can easily assign your own shortcuts to any menu item using the Keyboard & Mouse pane of System Preferences. You can also navigate any menu by pressing Control+F2 and then using the arrow keys; not quite the same as Windows, but it's an option. As for Delete, I don't follow here; on my keyboards, the two Delete keys perform different actions: backward delete and forward delete.

Hope these help ;-)

#1: As a Mac user for over twenty years, it always boggles my mind that Windows users actually like the applications quitting when the windows close. This behavior is a bug (more precisely a design flaw) and not a feature, and cuts down the responsiveness of the system.

Let's say that I need to edit a series of documents. Open a document, wait for the program to launch, close the document, open another document in the same program, wait for the program to launch, on and on forever.

Leaving applications open gives me much quicker response. And if the application isn't doing anything, it doesn't actually take up significant resources. The Mac design is much much better.

#3 I don't understand what you are saying. Either 'control click' or use a multi-button mouse and context menus are available everywhere, generally with more function than on Windows. For example, select a word, 'control click' and you get the option to look up in the built-in dictionary, or, if it is a URL, to go to the link in your default browser.

#2. You can navigate among open windows by using command+` (the key directly above the tab key) while you are in one of the windows that is open. So, command + tab to move to an open application, then command + ` , you can move to open windows within that application. In addition, as previously use Exposé, f9, and you will see all open windows in all applications that are open.

Recent switched to mac myself.

Since others have addressed the points you made in #1,2,4,and 5 otherwise, I won't comment on those issues which all have various solutions.
On comment #3, I just wanted to point out that there are a number of solutions.
(1) Use Quicksilver. you select the item on your desktop or on finder, activate quicksilver, and then hit command-G to bring the item you selected on the desktop to be your "Action" item. Then tab to the next window and type in mail or compose and tab to find your addressee. Voila! It sounds convoluted but once you start using Quicksilver you may find it's faster than even using context menus.

(2) The second solution is to write an automator workflow to e-mail the selected object and save it as a finder plugin. see: http://www.apple.com/macosx/tips/
You can then add a workflow to e-mail the object of your desire to someone to your Finder context menu!

#1, #2 This is by design. Mac OS X (and its NeXT predecessor) use a "Window per document" mentality (although tabs have strayed from that) rather than the "Window is an application instance" mentality that MS-Windows uses. Having used both systems extensively, I personally prefer Mac OS X philosophy here. If I want to quit an app, hey, CMD-q is right next to CMD-w. But I often leave apps running for days or weeks. "Consuming resources" is limited to VM. Well-behaved Mac OS X apps with no open windows should consume little memory and almost no CPU (save for Services). I don't want to pay the load-time penalty of relaunching the app, if I'm finished with one document and wish to start another. Also note that applications can provide "Services" (see the Services menu) to all other running apps.

#2 I like the fact that I can use CMD-Tab to switch between apps and CMD-` to switch between windows owned by the foreground app. Because Mac OS X is so stable, I often have many running applications, some with dozens of windows opened. Apple is pushing this method of organization even furthur with "Spaces" (Virtual Desktops). 80% of the time, I am focused on running a single app, and if I need to view another window, it usually belongs to that app. I don't want to have to ALT-Tab through a hundred windows belonging to other apps, trying to find the one I need. In the case where I want to move data between apps, I find it convenient to use CMD-Tab to switch between them, maintaining the key window in each app. Again, having used both systems extensively, I like the hierarchical organization provided by Mac OS X. I also like that it is not so rigid - tabbed interfaces, virtual desktops, and Exposé all provide alternative ways to navigate through the windows. One thing I DO NOT like, however, is the fact that CMD-` does not cycle through minimized windows.

#3 Huh? Mac OS X has context menus everywhere. Many of the UI components are system-wide, so you will see the same context menu for that component no matter where it appears. I do think that the "Services" menu should be more available via context menus.

#4 In addition to the previously described mechanisms to kill an app, there is also "/Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor.app".

#5 Using a poorly behaved Microsoft app to describe inconsistent keyboard behaviour is meaningless. One of the defining attributes of NeXTstep was the nearly absolute consistency of keyboard shortcuts and window controls across applications [to the point where it was sometimes painful]. When Apple adapted NeXTstep into Mac OS X, it was a bit more flexible in the matter. This was made worse by the need compatible with old Mac OS apps - even those dragged kicking and screaming into the OS X world (like MS Word). All Mac OS X Cocoa based apps that use the Application and Text frameworks inherit a consistent set of keyboard short cuts. Apps that use the system open/save/print panels also show consistent behaviour. MS Office for the mac falls down on both counts.

I do admit that most Mac OS X apps and system utilities are much more difficult to navigate without using the mouse (unless you turn on Accessability features - which have too many downsides for those of us that are not disabled). Windows does do this better. One thing I love: anything that uses the Cocoa Text object inherits emacs key bindings.

#5. The keyboard shortcut for Print Preview on Word 2004 for Mac should be Command (the Apple key) + F2. Did you try that? Also I think that Function-Delete on notebooks will behave like the Windows delete key. And there is a forward delete key on (desktop) keyboards, north of the arrow keys, next to the end key. :-)

http://www.spymac.com/upload/news/2005/09/27/m3261_Apple%20keyboard.jpg

"4. Kill a misbehaving application. The only way seems to be by choosing Force Quit from the context menu of a window's icon in the dock. But wait -- what happens if an application has no windows (see #1)?"

Even if it has no open windows, a running .app application still has an icon in the dock. When you launch an application on Mac OS X, that applications icon is added to the dock (if it was not already there). I do believe that Apple did screw up the Dock severely in Mac OS X - it tries to roll the NeXT Dock, Shelf and Miniwindow areas into one thing and just seems awkward. Although I just tend to use the Mac OS X Dock the same way I did in NeXTstep and ignore the broken bits. I am annoyed by the inconsistent behaviour of docked Java app icons.

And don't forget utilities like QuicKeys which, among other things, will let you assign events to keystokes. Since the Control key is rarely used by Mac applications, I generally use those per application to remap keystrokes and perform macros. I use F Keys to do the same thing but globally across all applications.

To quit:
You say you're a keyboard freak. Instead of hitting Ctrl-W, then, to close individual windows in an application, press Ctrl-Q to quit the whole application.

Or Ctrl-Tab through your applications, and when the application you want to quit is highlighted, simply hit "Q." That's it.

To switch windows, this does require a touch of mousing but is infinitely better than Alt-Tabbing on Windows if you have many windows open:
Assign a hot corner for Expose or use your F-keys: F9 or F10. Then use Tab to switch between seeing the actual windows in each alternating application. To me, when I might have 10 Keynote documents open, beeing able to see each one if better then trying to surmise what's what with Alt-Tab.

[Sidenote: a better article might have been "how do I do this stuff?" not "I get so frustrated because Mac doesn't do this stuff." I'd be willing to guess Mac users see these articles all the time and all think the same thing: perhaps the author should explore how to do stuff before making these blanket conclusions that they can't be done.]

I'm an idiot--I meant to say Command-W, Command-Q, and Command-Tab, not Control. Whoops!

#1 - Personal preference is a funny thing. I don't like it that an application closes when I close its window in windows. Sometimes I want to open another document after I close the current one. If I click the wrong "X" I end up closing the whole program. I also dislike having the menu on the window instead of the menu bar. The menu bar is much better for muscle memory, and a quick glance at the menu bar can instantly tell you what the "active" application is if you have a bunch of windows open.

#2 - Again, I am always annoyed by MS Windows' behavior with alt-tab. I'll have a MS Access project open and want to switch to an email I was working on. I hit alt-tab and I see 11 different choices, and the icons don't immediately tell me which one I want. With the Mac, I hit cmd-tab and I can quickly get to the application I want. Then I can cmd-` to get to the window I want. I don't think cmd-` is clunky because it's right next to the tab, q, and w keys which I'm always using for keyboard-based window management.

#5 - I'm pretty sure the basic Apple keyboard that comes with desktop models comes with a windows-style delete key - it's called a delete key but has a little arrow on it. My powerbook doesn't have the forward delete key though.

I forgot something!

#4 - In windows, people tend to know about ctrl-alt-delete (gee I wonder why...) which brings up a dialog box from which you can select the task manager. The Mac equivalent is cmd-alt-esc which immediately brings up a window allowing you to force quit an app. Also, if you add shift to the above key combo, you can force-quit the frontmost application if it's a full-screen game that crashes and the force quit screen won't show up.

1. I really like the way OS X leaves an application running till you explicitly quit it. I usually have close to a dozen applications running though only a few will have open windows. When I need an application it is immediately available.

4. To kill an application you can
a. Us command - option - esc to bring up a dialog for this.
b. You can launch Activity Monitor and use this to quit an application.
c. In the dock if you option-click on an icon for a running application you bring up a popup menu which includes an option to force quit. This is really useful for those times when you accidentally launch an application and don't want to wait for it to fully launch before quitting it. (Thanks to David Pogue for that hint.)

Welcome to the Apple side. I've learned to cope with several issues of this type over the past several months. Like you said, it'll happen with time. Soon, you'll forget you ever had your own unique ideas about usability.

There are two basic types of applications: utility and document based. On a Mac you'll notice that document based programs, programs that allow you to do things without a window open, or more generally allow you to create a new document, do not quit when all windows are closed. Utility programs, which have no function when the window is closed, typically quit when the window is closed.

I have to agree with the original poster, unfortunately. Apple's "application-centric" design vs. "Window-centric", while arguably superior from a purely technical standpoint, doesn't feel logical to many people who started out with Windows or other GUIs.

Like the one-button mouse, this is one of those "quirks" Apple has stubbornly hung onto all these years. Probably at least partially in an attempt to prove they're really "thinking different" and so forth.

Most people who sit down in front of a computer and launch applications think of the "program" as the stuff going on inside the window(s) they're working in. To them, closing all of those windows up equates to being done with the application. Apple insists on making all windows "subsets" of applications, rather than the app itself "happening" inside a "main window".

Apple's way encourages users to leave apps running in the background, idling, until they're needed. Windows users are more likely to develop the opposite habit, closing out of all applications you're not needing at a given point in time. I tend to prefer the habits Windows encourages there.

I got my first Mac 4 years ago, and had many of the same gripes. As you say, you get used to it over time and see that the Mac isn't really incapable of things or doing them wrong, it's just doing them differently. My solutions:

1. As people have pointed out, this is just a difference in thinking I've learned to appreciate. It now frustrates me in Windows that I have to reload Firefox just because I closed the window. BTW, the first keyboard shortcut to burn into your brain is Cmd-Q. I do wish the Dock made it more obvious what programs are actually running though (maybe grayscale the ones that aren't?)

2. I like the flexibility to switch either apps or windows. Plus, Expose is your friend.

3. I'm not sure where you're going with this either, contextual menus were a big thing in OS X (you're lucky you're not stuck on OS 9 at work). You may want to try dragging/dropping things around though, the Mac is big on this. Replace your right-drag habit with Opt-drag (copy) and Cmd-Opt-drag (create shortcut).

4. Grandma can use Cmd-Opt-Esc, or the Dock, even if there's no windows. I prefer to leave Activity Monitor running because it not only provides a fast way to kill any process, but it can also provide useful info in its Dock icon. I like having the memory pie graph there.

5. This drove me insane, and sometimes still does. In Tiger you can turn on full keyboard access for all controls in the Keyboard/Mouse preferences under the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. It's a little odd though, since the default blue button in a dialog responds to the enter key, while the glowing button you select by tabbing responds to the space bar. It's something they really need to tighten up. For every thing else, you just need to relearn habits. I hardly have to touch the mouse anymore unless the app writer didn't see fit to provide a shortcut (their problem).

I've switched back (and forth) in both directions a few times over the years, usually more because of laptop hardware than OS features or behavior.

In 1993 I switched from Windows to the Mac because where Windows laptops were clunky things with clip-on mice and no sound, the PowerBook was (and remains) a thing of beauty with outstanding ergonomics and glorious stereo sound.

In 1998 I moved from Mac to Windows because Apple just wouldn't sell me an active matrix laptop for less than $2800, and only had the passive matrix cacheless G3 "Mainstreet" model for under $2000.

In 2003 I switched back to Mac when the original 12" PowerBook's heat issues were fixed with "Rev B" and Windows was being overrun with spayware and adware that the typical protection products were powerless to stop.

Now I'm back on Windows as Apple no longer has a laptop under 5 lbs and after trying the MacBook and going through three defective units (90+ Celsius, random shutdowns, washed-out screens, etc.) I won't try a fourth.

My point is that while Windows and Mac OS X behave differently as the article correctly points out, the differences are not earth-shattering and are very easily adapted to. When I sit down at one of the Macs in my office or home, I have no trouble whatsoever doing things the Macintosh way. When I power up my 2.7 lb ThinkPad, I have no issues whatsoever getting my work done in Windows.

What impresses me is not how different the two systems are, but how much they have converged over the years. Back in 1993 it was a real learning experience to make the switch in either direction, and thats before looking at the applications themselves, which also behaved radically differently on the two platforms. Just getting PC documents to a Mac or Mac documents onto a PC required add-on software both for the disk format and the file format.

We have it very easy today. Thunmb drives move back and forth with ease, documents usually don't even require import converters when opened on the same app in the other platform, and of course keyboard shortcuts usually only require substituting command for control. Yeah, Expose is prettier, but Alt-Tab gets the job done just fine.

#1 - You aren't "closing all the windows" because the Menu Bar, which is separate from windows (instead of every window having it's own Menu Bar as in Windows) is still open. It's pretty simple to understand. Just stop closing all your windows, and instead quit the program. They're not going to change 22 years of Mac behavior because you refuse to get used to it.

"#5 - I'm pretty sure the basic Apple keyboard that comes with desktop models comes with a windows-style delete key - it's called a delete key but has a little arrow on it. My powerbook doesn't have the forward delete key though."

fn-delete is forward delete on the laptops. For Cocoa-based apps, Ctrl-d is forward delete.

Brett Johnson: "I do think that the "Services" menu should be more available via context menus."

See ICeCoffEE [http://web.sabi.net/nriley/software], also Macworld review [http://www.macworld.com/weblogs/macgems/2005/12/icecoffee/index.php] of same.

As an 18-year Mac user who's never used Windows, I agree with most of the comments above:

(1) Complainers who haven't taken the trouble to find out if Mac OS (which can't be learned in an afternoon -- and after 18 years, and 12 years as a professional Mac consultant, I'm still learning ) will do what they want before complaining that it won't, don't impress.

And (2) The logical extension of the "Mac OS ought to do it like everyone else" complaint (re windows-based vs. application-based apps) would have us all simply switch to Windows. No thanks. I have my complaints about the Mac OS, but they're not based on "everyone else does it different." Everyone else eats junk food, too, but that doesn't make it smarter, or give me any reason to follow the herd. If the Mac doesn't do it the way you like, you *do* (thank Wiener) have choices. I've made mine.

I didn't read all of the comments, so some people may have said this already. I agree there are some things wrong with the Mac, but none of them are listed above. This person apparently just doesnt know what he is talking about, and it really bugs me when people post on things they haven't bothered to find out for themselves. First off, of COURSE there is a way to tell what apps you have open: press command+tab and you can view them to your hearts content. Second, expose lets you easily move through the windows of an application much easier than on a PC. Third, to the complaints about "No easy way to kill apps": its called command+option+Esc. Not only does it let you quit apps, it will work even if the finder and every app on the computer has crashed, and it works EVERY TIME, something that PCs fail to do much of the time. I have yet to see force quit on the mac fail to work. Fourth, the complaint about no good keyboard shortcuts is BS: there is an entire section in the Preferences panel that lets you configure practically any action that can be performed to a certain key combination. I know I sometimes go DAYS without even touching my mouse because of the ease of these shortcuts. Next, about the one-click mouse problem, and it always bugs me when people complain this: YES, the default mouse that comes with the Mac is a crappy piece of hardware. So what? Shell out another 35 bucks to buy a 3 click mouse. It's not like Mac software isnt compatible with it, its just that Apple figures if you really care enough about having a good mouse, you will buy one. And saying that the context menu that pops up is always the same illuminates a simple lack of testing, because it is clear that the menu contains different items depending on where it is clicked, and in fact has some EXTREMELY helpful options that the Windows menu does not (eg Show Package Contents).

I would respond more but i am getting frustrated with this authors apparent inability to check up on his 'theories' before stating them for the public, so I will end with this: In 3 years with a Mac running OS X, i have had it crash once. 2 months ago i got a PC, and have already lost count of the number of times i have had to restart it due to some inexplicable crash.

About the one-button mouse. I used windows 3.1 and 95 with a two-button mouse until my fingers started going numb, along about 1997. Then I happened to try a Mac at school, mainly out of desperation, because I figured the one-button mouse would let me click with all my fingers at once. This solved my problem, and I began to really get interested in the Mac, which I found to be something like 10 times easier to use - no more looking up everything in a geek book that I'd learned a few weeks before, etc. And the Mac was and still is much more practical to keep up and running on the net, or up and running, period.

Later I read that Apple _deliberately chose_ the one-button mouse because their research showed it to be much easier on the hands, and they didn't want to be sued. All I can say is, they had better not ever quit making a one-button mouse, or there will be trouble among the die-hard user base. I shudder when I see somebody using a mouse with more than one button.