Windows Vista: User-Friendly at all?

Well, to be fair he wasn't exactly racing. Looks like he was giving a leisurely tour. However, there were more steps involved. The fascinating thing about this for me when trying to duplicate his search was that I never realized we had a "keyword" parameter in our search. I always just added something in the spotlight comments field.

Using Mac Help for "keyword" only brings up filetype info. What are Mac keywords and what determines the preset list that is already there? You've given me my "Dig deeper into my OS" project for the day. :)

Wow, great comparison. I hope for Vista's sake that most other things are simpler (I'll assume they will be)

Using Mac Help for "keyword" only brings up filetype info. What are Mac keywords and what determines the preset list that is already there? You've given me my "Dig deeper into my OS" project for the day. :)

This is a great way to organize your files. There is an Automator script that will automatically populate your Spotlight comments field with tags. (or keywords if you will). Or if you're a Quicksilver user, you can use this tip. These techniques have changed the way I access files. If used correctly, you'll find that organizing data with the traditional file/folder hierarchy becomes a bit obsolete :) (opinion alert!!)

Hmm where have I seen that feature before.... Oh I remember I'm looking at it right now on my MAC. And where have I seen that magnifying glass icon before.... again my Mac. He was going pretty slow in that video compared to yours, but still after you enter the criteria on Vista you have to click search again on mac it's live updating. And another thing unless you know what you're doing are you really going to look in the "organize" menu to look for the save option, on mac the save option is right in front of you on a big button marked oddly enough: save. What a concept.

Are we really going to give Apple credit for inventing the use of the Magnifying Glass for a search icon?

Correct me if I'm wrong but there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of difference here besides Paul taking his time and your going through it like a bat out of hell. He's showing off what looks like to me a more powerful tool. Though in fairness that may be because of the fact that you went through it so fast and didn't take the time to show off finder, and I don't know a whole lot about OS X besides using it on occasion, much like yourself with Vista I would assume. This is exactly the reason why you make a video slow and show all the possible options. Imagine someone at an apple store doing one of their little training sessions like that! Oh how confused the soccer mom with her first mac would be!

Steps could have been saved by his simply typing the search into the default search dialog in the start menu, or the search in the sidebar, which would have made the search UI pop up regardless of opening it first. Much like your one click to finder.

Another thing is Paul took the time to find a path to desktop when saving (as well as changing the default name of the search which wasn't needed on OS X because there was no default), which you didn't, so in effect you would need more steps each time you open the folder than he does on Vista, correct? "Click Finder > Click Smart folder", rather than "Click Smart Folder". Would this not bode well for the OS X UI?

The organize menu for save is a little odd, but for windows users intuitive, we are used to the file menu being there and using it for save. It also allows for more options without pointless menu clutter. Something I don't necessarily disagree with. Live Updating would be a nice option as well.

I don't mean to come off snippy in this, but honestly it just appears to be Vista bashing, which I don't understand. It's something I've never understood about Mac and Linux users, or Windows users that do the opposite. We all have to use these tools daily. Why not just point out what could be done better and be done with it, not comparing the two as though it were a huge os pissing contest that we are all afraid we may lose?

I would have enjoyed your post considerably more if you would have taken the time to mention exactly how you thought the interface should be improved, how microsoft could simplify the steps and still maintain the power of the application within the windows framework... but that is likely asking too much.

Bane you make some great commenst and I agree with you. I never really got the whole bash Apple/Microsoft/Linux. I mean we are all consumers and shouldn't we all be focused on getting the best product for ourselves not nitpicking the competition?

Also I don't get why people bash Microsoft for using ideas that Apple has. I mean Apple didn't invent their ideas. They took it from the tech world just like Microsoft is doing now but just putting their own spin on it. I mean that's the whole way to advance technology. You see what works well somewhere else and expand on it. Seriously, if this whole situation was reversed and Apple was the one playing catch-up I'm sure everyone would be applauding it.

Oh, I don't think anyone would be applauding if Apple was playing catch up. ;) It hasn't been that long since the news agencies always had the words "beleaguered" in the same sentence as "Apple".

Personally, I'm happy to see Windows become more Mac like. That way I can actually use it to be productive when I need to be on my PC. ;)

Seriously, if this whole situation was reversed and Apple was the one playing catch-up I'm sure everyone would be applauding it.

Not me, Apple is playing catch-up in a lot of areas. My biggest complaint is their Office suite offerings. What happened to AppleWorks? iWork seems incomplete. Apple is behind in the computer gaming front as well. Are they serious about courting developers? Who knows. I understand your concern about the vocal Apple fanatics who think Apple can do no wrong, but keep in there are those of us who know about their shortcomings.

Regarding Microsoft, it easy to pick on them when they claim to innovate for the future, yet seem to be stagnating. By "copying" Mac OS X, it leaves a bad taste of the mouths of those who want to see something fresh from Microsoft. There's nothing wrong with wanting something new. Apple made Unix a desktop operating system for the first time in history and people like that kind of stuff. When Microsoft spends 3-4 years developing an OS that resembles it, people talk. It's natural. But I digress, Microsoft has been disappointing lately on the OS front. I wish they would get the same people who worked on the XBox360 blade system to give them some fresh ideas on Vista.

Oh I know there are two sides to everything but it's just annoying when Apple seems to be able to get away with murder. I mean I'm not saying Microsoft is any good but just the bashing on both products does get tiresome after while to the point where I just look at things from a consumer standpoint instead of who is my favorite company.