Sonntag, 16. August 2009

Why the Windows 7 dock is awkward for the OS X user

So I have Windows 7 running since it came out for the academia on Friday. As a Mac user, I was quite interested to see what the new dock in Windows 7 would be like as it is obviously inspired by the OS X dock - no question about that. However, Microsoft somehow didn't manage to carry over the way the OS X dock is used. The result is unfortunately something slightly awkward. Nothing particulary bad or so, but just awkward if you have used the OS X dock before. Here it is:
  1. I keep on accidentally closing my apps. Why? Because I click the top-right "X". Yes, it used to be Windows behavior that the "X" closes an application. But now that we have the OS X-like dock, it becomes strange. In OS X, the X means that the Window is closed, but the app stays open in the dock. Not so in Windows, you have to minimize the application if it should stay in the dock. Sounds logical, but it isn't for the Mac user. While Microsoft adopted the dock idea, they didn't adopt the window management idea of OS X. I'm not quite sure yet whether this is just inconsistent or just unaccustomed for the Mac user. I will need a while to get used to that. Hopefully, someone will find a way to remap the upper-right "X" to minimize ;-)
  2. I was about to write that you can't close applications from the dock. Again this is something highly confusing what Microsoft did here. When you right-click the dock icon of an open app, in German you the choice "Fenster schliessen" or "Alle Fenster schliessen" which basically means "Close windows" and "Close all windows". I always expected this to mean that the Windows are minimized back to the dock, but no, it in fact means that the apps will be closed. Why don't you just write "Close application" in there rather than confusing the user with something happening to the windows? Oh yes, there might be an application that actually remaps the "X". I think this clearly demonstrates how inconsistent the window management in Windows is, i.e., closing Windows can mean anything from closing an application to minimizing of all windows.
Another thing is the interplay between the apps that use the systray. Quite often, there are applications that minimized to the systray when you close the window (also with the "X" button). Not if you have such an application now (like Pidgin or Thunderbird with the systray addon), you minimize the window and it is put back into the systray just as expected. However, the dock icon now marks the application as "not running". This is highly confusing. The mutual behavior between the dock and the systray is really everything but consistent with the new dock. As a result, i deatived the systray feature in most of my apps.

By the way, i highly dislike the window when you right-click a dock icon - it seems somehow temporary and unpolished. At first, i thought the new Windows 7 dock was a good idea. But it turns out, it causes more problems for me than it solves. Enough Windows 7 blasphemy - for now.