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Boot, standby and start-up of programs
Windows 7 beats Vista into the dirt by booting in less than 30 seconds. This is a substantial improvement. Their standby times have also been improved drastically, and they have really optimised everything relating to boot and shut-down of their OS.
Snow Leopard has some more explicit promises, namely that their system has become twice as fast to get out of standby and 1.75 times faster to shut down.
Both systems have really upped themselves, and there is very little to criticise when it comes to the standard procedures between shut-down and start-up. This great, for waiting is something we users see as a waste of time.
One of the main uses of an OS is to start up applications. After that, its primary function becomes navigating between windows, and that is not particularly demanding. As such, it is interesting to see how both systems handle the application aspect.
Snow Leopard have improved their well-known doc system by combining it with something Apple calls Exposé while Windows 7 been changed radically from scratch. Some say they have learned from Apple while others say Apple were the first to borrow from Windows. Regardless of whether the chicken or the egg came first, the two allow themselves to be inspired by each other, which is something consumers like us can only be happy with.
Aesthetically, Snow Leopard has the most beautiful solution with the application icons presented on a slate on the Mac desktop while Windows 7 (still) uses a bar that runs along the entire desktop, as it has done since the dawn of time. They both pull a double shift as application launchers and task switchers.
They have both launched an almost identical function for this occasion.
When you have multiple windows open from the same application in Windows 7, you will see a stack of icons matching the number of open windows. When you hold the cursor over the application icon, you can see thumbnails of the open windows and thus quickly find the window you are looking for, regardless of how deep it is buried in the screen.
In Snow Leopard, you can click and hold down the mouse, causing it to show how many open windows you have and again a small thumbnail of each. You can also see which applications are running as marked by a discreet, white arrow besides the applications.
Here Windows 7 is slightly more advanced. First of all, you can – without clicking – see how many open windows you have within the given application. Such hints are not given by Snow Leopard. Furthermore, you can get a full preview of each window by scrolling through the thumbnails, making it easier to find which document you wanted.
Snow Leopard does not seem fully developed on this point. If you have a browser like Safari or Firefox (as opposed to Internet Explorer) running, you cannot see the different tabs you may have opened, whereas Windows 7 gifts each tab with its own thumbnail. Well done, Microsoft.
Furthermore, Windows 7 has implemented shortcuts for application functions. When you right-click the icons you will be able to use shortcuts from the applications without having to maximise them. Which exact functions are available depends on the individual application, but it is undoubtedly clever that you do not have to open up the program all the way.
Snow Leopard lacks this, but has another function that Windows 7 does not. It gives you the possibility to configure the edges of the display to certain functions, such display standby or visually removing the windows so you can see your desktop. This is really quite clever.
Furthermore, they have included something they call ”stacks”, which is basically a shortcut to a folder so you can visually open and navigate it without actually opening it. This makes it swift to get to the things you need, much quicker than going into and digging through the folders.
We will likely have to conclude Windows is slightly ahead of Snow Leopard with their taskbar functions, and while the dock in Snow Leopard is visually appealing, it lacks the same degree of functionality.
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in Hardware & Accessories by nyk001, 08-05-10 12:46