The other thing I keep noticing about Vista's UI is how many times things just seem to be changed seemingly for no reason beyond "new version, gotta change stuff." You may have noticed in the first image in this article that "My Computer" has changed to just "Computer." I'm not sure what was served by this change, but there it is. There are a lot of things within Vista like this, where you just wonder, "why?"
This kind of "change for change's sake" is all over Vista. The window controls in Vista are smaller and flatter than in XP, and unlike XP, don't reach all the way to the top of the window anymore. Now, Mac OS X's window controls have never completely covered their part of the window title bar, but they've had the same basic appearance and behavior since 2001. So while a bigger target is always nicer, Apple has covered its bases nicely by not changing the control appearance with every OS release, something Microsoft can't claim.
Although it doesn't take long to get used to the new UI, why change such basic UI controls? I know it seems a minor thing, but if you have to go between XP and Vista, as might happen if your work and home computers have different OS versions, this is the kind of thing that just trips you up a dozen different ways. Mac OS X doesn't do that, and if I had to guess, I'd say because there's no reason for it.
Now, What Does This Do Again?
I've also been struck by how, even with all the notifications I get in Vista, how annoying it is to find basic information. For example, in Windows XP you have a control panel called "Add or Remove Programs." While not elegant, it is clear. You know what that control panel's functionality is, no guessing. It adds and removes programs. The Vista version? "Programs and Features." Huh? What does that do? Well, you don't know from the name, other than it has something to do with well, programs and features. When you think about it, that rather covers the entire OS and everything you'd do on a computer. Yet "Add Hardware" is the same on both versions. In Windows XP, you set your display options using the "Display" control panel. That's nice and clear. Vista? It's buried in "Personalization." Because when I want to change my monitor resolution, that's exactly what pops into my head as an experienced Windows user: Personalization. Yet mouse settings, which look to have been rolled into "Personalization," still have their own separate entry.
What about Mac OS X? Well, it's pretty obvious. "Displays" and "Keyboard and Mouse." The last major change to those was in the 10.2/10.3 timeframe when "Keyboard" and "Mouse" were merged. Even with that, you still have a pretty good chance of guessing which pane lets you control your mouse settings. When it comes to which preferences do what, Apple has a definite lead in making the name accurately represent the function.
In a similar example, I wasn't sure why Word 2007's "Office Menu" button was throbbing bright orange in a new blank document, but it really wanted my attention. The reason why? To tell me what it did. Well, if the button has to do the electronic equivalent of jumping up and down and waving its hand so it can tell me what it does, then that's a sign that its function is perhaps not obvious enough.
Another UI annoyance, and one I had hoped that Microsoft would have improved, is the hoops you have to jump through to get basic information from the OS. For example, if you're having a network problem, and your help desk wants to know your IP address, how do you go about finding it? Well, with Mac OS X, it's about three or so clicks at most. Click on the Apple menu, click on "System Preferences," click on "Network" and you get all the information you need.
If I needed to find out the IP address being used by my AirPort connection, double-clicking on "AirPort" and selecting the "TCP/IP" tab gives me my answer.
So from start to finish, you can find the IP address of every active interface on my OS X laptop within six clicks of the mouse.
What's it like on Windows? Not so nice. I can get to the "Network and Sharing Center" in three clicks, but I don't actually know what my IP address is at that point, on any interface. I can see icons for my computer, my network and the Internet, but clicking on them opens up the Computers, Network and Web browser windows, respectively. I can click on "View Status" for my connection, but that just tells me what kind of IPv4/IPv6 connectivity I have, the media state, how long I've been on the network, my speed and how many bytes I've had in and out.
To get my IP address, I have to click "Details," which finally gives me the information. Now, why I can't just see that without having to burrow into two separate dialog boxes outside of the control panel, I don't know, but I do know that Mac OS X gives me this basic information in a nicer, tidier fashion. Even allowing for the extra clicks to get my AirPort address, it's all contained in the same window. Clean, neat and tidy. While networking is one of the easiest UI targets in Vista, this insistence on making you burrow and dig to get basic information is a repeated theme of Vista, one that Mac OS X doesn't make you deal with.
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