I’m not a “Vista Hater” (I actualy have certification in Vista Configuration), but I see no personal need to switch. XP does everything I need it to do and does it pretty well. Vista is not up to speed with XP in a few areas, and to me is mostly just eye candy. The so called features can easily be duplicated if you want through third party apps.

Personally, I wish Windows wouldn’t change the UI. I’m happy with the classic view, with my Rainy Days theme (that color is just soothing to me), my clasic folders and control panel, etc. I have to agree with a previous poster that it seems to require more mouse clicks to get the same tasks accomplished with each new addition of Windows.

I’ve despised the “category” approach that Windows has taken ever since it first appeared. I have to first decide what I want to do, then I have to decide in what category Microsoft has decided to put what I want to do (and it not always that intuitive). Classically, I know what I want to do, I open the menu, and READ from it to find what it is I want to do. No guessing. No endless clicking trying to find what I want or having to remember where something is hidden.

I’m currently beta testing Windows 7 and am already disappointed that classic folders and the classic start menu are missing. I’ve only been playing with it for a short while, but I see nothing so compelling that would make me want to switch from XP. I’ve discovered a couple of handy features, but nothing that would make me want to shell out a large amount of money.

I have also found one thing that really concerns me. The Software Protection Service. Microsoft is treating me like a criminal and is using my resources (to run the service). The explanation says that it applies to Windows and Windows programs (I’ve always been offended that I have to continually prove to Microsoft that I’ve purchased their software), but I can see this being extended to any and all apps.

I’ve rambled long enough. I’ll end by saying that I wish Microsoft would make the Windows operating system modular. I should be able to install just the core operating system–without all the integrated apps like IE, and mail, etc, etc. therby letting me choose the apps I want without having to have duplicate apps on my system.

Scott

And although my ‘massively unusable’ comment is a bit dramatic, the points still are true — It is a nightmare juggling more than a few windows on my Vista system compared to on Linux and Mac OS X. The taskbar as an application manager is absolutely painful to use compared to dock solutions. On a mac or linux dock, if you want to use an application, you make a simple click on the icon that is always and unobtrusively in front of you. Whether it is already open or hasn’t opened yet is irrelevant — it’s just there. On the Windows taskbar, you have to hunt through a hidden menu on the bottom left of your screen to find the application you want — how is that intuitive at all? At best, it’s two clicks just to get to the application, and more typically it’s several.

Once it is open, the application gets it’s own space on the taskbar. Well, sometimes. Sometimes it minimizes to the system tray, or sometimes it is hidden. Also, it’s place on the taskbar is never the same — the more windows are open, the more your taskbar becomes crowded and applications move to accommodate. So if you have a lot of windows open, instead of clicking in the same uniform place on your dock, you are hunting through a crammed list of applications presented in a long horizontal list represented by tiny icons and cut-off titles.

This would be much more manageable if Windows had some kind of easy window-switcher. (No, Flip3d doesn’t count.) Alt-tab just puts this long list in front of you for you to manually switch to. On OS X, you can have all of the live windows neatly laid out in front of you in grid-style for you to pick. In Linux, you make a certain mouse gesture and all your windows are laid out in front of you.

Although not ‘massively unusable’, this is a pretty huge difference in usability when dealing with a lot of windows.

In terms of multi-monitor support, I’m not sure if OS X has any advantages. I don’t think stating that Windows is better because of 3rd parties is valid in a discussion about the OS itself, though. OS X is just as potentially extensible.

Good engineering is defined by what you can take away and still retain all functionality — I would argue that the OS X and Linux docks get pretty close to the lowest level of simplicity and elegance. Thus, my argument — OS X doesn’t really need to superficially change to stay relevant. Again, their interface innovations occur in things that can’t easily be shown in a screenshot of an empty desktop. I’m also not preaching that the UIs of OS X + Compiz are the way to go and that Microsoft should copy the competition — but if they don’t, they sure needs to think up something better.

You’re argument is a bit sparse, you are saying OS X hasn’t changed much because it hasn’t had to, millions of people have been using Windows since way before Windows 95, so why does it “have to?” I dare say dual monitor support is stronger on Windows because 3rd parties make it possible to do things you can never do on a Mac, can you say mirror and stretch? I can…goood. What is it that OS X does so well with Multiple monitors? You can add one, check.

Windows still uses roughly the same user interface innovations made in Windows 95, and is massively unusable compared to the advanced windows managers available on OS X or Compiz on Linux. It’s not that anybody is expecting Windows 7 to look drastically different just because it’s new, it’s that everybody is expecting Windows 7 to look different because after 6 years of development, Vista STILL just looks like Windows 95/NT/98/2000/ME/XP with a different skin. Flip3d is a complete joke, there isn’t any support for virtual desktops, and multi-monitor support is still lackluster at best. I’m excited about the rumors of a dock-like window manager and advanced touch-based user interface integration in Windows 7, but am also very hesitant since Microsoft has a decade+ history of completely missing the point.