So, after using OS X a bit more often at school...

[murderslastcrow]

Man, compared to AWN, the dock in OS X is remarkably underfeatured! D: It's depressing.

And the fade effects are just too slow. I can't seem to figure out how to change the speed settings on those effects, since I'm sure the genie and fades are that slow for the sake of prettiness, not functionality.

Also, you can't autohide the top panel, so far as I can tell. I'm sure you can do all this with third party plugins, but... oich.

And no intellihide so far as I can see. And the dock just comes up WAY TOO SLOW. It's all so slow feeling. T^T I don't care about you showing off your ultra-smooth FPS. Do the effect and do it in less than a second, please.

Anyway, enough whining. :3 GTK really needs to include rounded edges on the tips of menus like OS X does, although there is a certain charm to rectangular drop-downs. I hope Gnome3 comes with this.

I like that OS X tries to be different, but sometimes it feels over-embellished. Or maybe I'm just too used to Compiz and Gnome.

What do you Mac/Linux users think about the differences and some things you think could be improved in both? (of course, since KDE 4 is utterly perfect, we probably won't end up talking about anything but Gnome *cough*)

[Roasted]

I too find Mac's dock to be extremely lackluster in almost every regard of functionality.

Not to bash on Mac, but I really find myself limited in a lot of areas when I use my Mac. In fact, I wonder why I ever got it.

Oh yeah. It was free. I almost forgot.

[Starlight]

There are some good things about Mac... one thing I've noticed is that programs generally look much better than on Linux. It's easy to see that when you look at screenshots of any multiplatform software... the Mac versions almost always look really nice, while Linux (and often Windows) versions are just average...

[ssj6akshat]

2 Things I hate about Macs-
1)Overpriced(Might be a non-isue for some)
2)Uncustomizeable(have to install a trird party tool just to change theme)

Otherwise Fine.

[Dharmachakra]

1)Overpriced(Might be a non-isue for some)

At least in the 13" laptop area, this is becoming less and less true.

[Xianath]

Apple products' look and feel are based on three decades of usability experience. They've shown in various studies how their design decisions positively impact productivity. These include things that make it easier for the user to do a task (the bar at the top), as well as things that make it harder for the user to screw up (such as intentionally slowing down certain effects). The "Apple Human Interface Guidelines" is THE source of all modern UI developments, including GNOME (which follows it quite closely), Windows (which ripped it off then tried to catch up) and KDE (which tried to fix what Windows broke).

One of the main arguments in the eternal G vs. K flame war is UI configurability. Ironically, GNOME supporters are those who are in favor of limiting the user's choice so the overall familiarity and cohesion is preserved, while KDE supporters maintain that the user should be allowed to tweak their desktop as they see fit, since it's theirs to begin with. IMHO the very reason Canonical chose to back GNOME was this particular design decision as it tilted the scales towards user-friendliness.

Oh, and just so you know -- of those who are still in this market, Macs (actually Lisa before that) were there first. It's everyone else who "tries to be different"

[-grubby]

Man, compared to AWN, the dock in OS X is remarkably underfeatured! D: It's depressing.

Man, compared to the Dock, AWN is just remarkably crashy!

And the fade effects are just too slow. I can't seem to figure out how to change the speed settings on those effects, since I'm sure the genie and fades are that slow for the sake of prettiness, not functionality.

They seem pretty fast to me, and the genie effect should last under a second unless you're holding shift.

And the dock just comes up WAY TOO SLOW. It's all so slow feeling. T^T I don't care about you showing off your ultra-smooth FPS. Do the effect and do it in less than a second, please.

Again, mine seems fine...

[ppcprisoner]

Well, as a life-long Mac OS user (yes, that includes 7, 8, and 9. But honestly I find the Mac OS X dock to be very refreshing. If you don't know already, you can simply go into System Preferences and change this. Turn off genie and the ever-loathe'd magnification feature. I keep mine on the left side of the screen and only really use it for launching Terminal.app (and then on to invoking xinit, wmaker,etc.) My biggest gripe though is the desktop switcher (if they really wanted to cash in on this, they'd integrate the iPad as an input/output device for window switching, desktop switching, media streaming, and the dock. It would save a lot of space, please the fanboys, and draw in revenue, oh, and above all else, look pretty. All the things that Apple cares about, except for the first). But yeah, the Aqua interface isn't very different from GNOME, if you were a lifelong KDE or windows users it may be a bit more shocking.

[murderslastcrow]

Yeah, it's probably a really easy to tweak setting (the speed of the effects). I've never had AWN crash. I've had Docky crash tons, though. However, I've never, ever heard of the Dock in OS X crashing, so there you go. XD

I'm not saying I hate it, it just feels sluggish. It's just like... it's a really fast computer, and I like little effects, but when the duration is a whole second instead of a portion, I feel like I'm losing minutes of time I could use more productively. But yes, there are many improvements to be found in OS X that Gnome has followed well.

I kinda' noticed today that the top panel in Gnome is very similar to the title-bar/menu-bar of most programs. Kinda' surprised it took me so long to notice, but it certainly adds a lot to the consistency of the interface.

I wonder how I'll deal with Gnome 3. So far as I'm concerned, the desktop as it is feels perfect. Zeitgeist will be a great additional functionality, though. Hopefully it makes integrating all of our applications with each other a snap.

Do you guys see OS X's design or layout changing much at all in the next 10 years? I feel like, all of the elements and looks you can get from a computer are already present (desktop icons, docks, panels, drop-down lists, consolidated menus, circular application menus, Gnome-DO) in Linux. I think we may have reached a sort of... I dunno', feature threshold.

Of course, that's the same B.S. they were spouting about not needing more than 48 KB of RAM back in the 80s. I'm sure, as peoples' needs change, so will their desktops.

[KiwiNZ]

Yeah, it's probably a really easy to tweak setting (the speed of the effects). I've never had AWN crash. I've had Docky crash tons, though. However, I've never, ever heard of the Dock in OS X crashing, so there you go. XD

I'm not saying I hate it, it just feels sluggish. It's just like... it's a really fast computer, and I like little effects, but when the duration is a whole second instead of a portion, I feel like I'm losing minutes of time I could use more productively. But yes, there are many improvements to be found in OS X that Gnome has followed well.

I kinda' noticed today that the top panel in Gnome is very similar to the title-bar/menu-bar of most programs. Kinda' surprised it took me so long to notice, but it certainly adds a lot to the consistency of the interface.

I wonder how I'll deal with Gnome 3. So far as I'm concerned, the desktop as it is feels perfect. Zeitgeist will be a great additional functionality, though. Hopefully it makes integrating all of our applications with each other a snap.

Do you guys see OS X's design or layout changing much at all in the next 10 years? I feel like, all of the elements and looks you can get from a computer are already present (desktop icons, docks, panels, drop-down lists, consolidated menus, circular application menus, Gnome-DO) in Linux. I think we may have reached a sort of... I dunno', feature threshold.

Of course, that's the same B.S. they were spouting about not needing more than 48 KB of RAM back in the 80s. I'm sure, as peoples' needs change, so will their desktops.

I believe the next Mac OS will be a lot different more inline with the iPhone OS.