Vratislav Holub The macOS operating system is quite popular among apple lovers. It combines a number of great functions and options, yet maintains an extremely simple user interface and is pleasant to work with. It is not for nothing that it is said that Macs are suitable, for example, for undemanding users. Although in recent years Apple has been trying to move the system for its apple computers somewhere, there are still areas in which it is several steps behind compared to its competition. So let's take a look at the shortcomings that are, on the contrary, a matter of course for Windows.
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Adam Kos Window layout
Have you ever thought that you would prefer to have one window on the left side and the other on the right? Of course, this option is not missing in macOS, but it has its shortcomings. In that case, the apple user must move to full screen mode, where he can only work with two selected programs. But if, for example, he just wanted to take a look at a third application, he has to go back to the desktop and therefore cannot see the work screen at all. In the case of the Windows operating system, however, it is completely different. In this respect, the system from Microsoft has a noticeable advantage. It allows its users not only to work with two applications, but also with four, or with three in various possible combinations.
The system itself already offers a function thanks to which individual windows can be excellently sorted and assigned to them a certain part of the entire screen. In this way, the user can focus on several windows at the same time and work comfortably even on one monitor. It is even better in the case of a wide-angle monitor with an aspect ratio of 21:9. In addition, in such a case, not a single application is in full-screen mode, and this entire desktop can be easily (and temporarily) covered with another program that you just need to peek into, for example.
Volume mixer
If I had to choose just one feature that is missing the most in macOS, I would definitely choose the volume mixer. For many users, it is clearly incomprehensible how something similar can still be found in the apple operating system, which is why it is necessary to turn to third-party solutions. But it doesn't have to be so perfect or free.
On the other hand, here we have Windows, which has been offering a volume mixer for many years. And it works absolutely flawlessly in it. Such a function will come in handy in situations where, for example, video conferencing software (Teams, Skype, Discord) is playing at the same time, as well as video from the browser and others. From time to time, it can happen that the individual layers "shout over each other", which can of course be solved by individual settings in the given programs, if they allow it. However, a much simpler option is to directly reach for the system mixer and adjust the volume with one tap.
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Pavel Jelic Better menu bar
Where Apple could continue to be inspired is undoubtedly in the approach to the menu bar. In Windows, users can choose which icons will be displayed on the panel all the time, and which will be accessed only after clicking the arrow, which will open the panel with the remaining icons. Apple could incorporate something similar in the case of macOS as well. If you have several tools open on your Mac that have their icon in the top menu bar, it can fill up quite quickly, which, admit it, doesn't look very good.
Windows 11
Better external display support
What Apple fans can envy Windows fans is the significantly better support for external displays. More than once, you must have come across a situation where, after disconnecting the monitor, the windows were completely scattered, which, for example, kept a larger size. Of course, this problem can be solved in a few seconds, but it is not very pleasant, especially when it happens again. Something like this is completely unknown to users of the Windows operating system.
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Yes, I agree. Golden Windows or even better Linux (i.e. Gnome) with its Window manager. It's really surprising that such basic things as e.g. work with Mac windows are absolutely not possible and not only that, there is really a lot that makes life unpleasant and elsewhere it is common that it is directly free and in the system. In order for the Mac to be at least somewhat user-usable and not the cesspool it is now, one has to reach for a bunch of utilities, mostly paid ones.
These embarrassments are important only for Windows users. If someone lacks it, they buy a simple supplement. MacOS definitely has countless more advantages over Win than Windows users would like to admit.
I have to laugh here. I work on Mac and PC with Wokny, and I have incomparably better work with windows on that Mac. Not by a little, but perhaps by several generations. Woks are completely blunt about this.
I agree, Wokna is a hundred years behind the monkeys and I have to look for accessories to make it a little bit like Mac.
Clickbait. Magnet solves the first problem, I didn't read any further
I guess.
Although I have Magnet myself, it is still a paid app. It doesn't cost a fortune (CZK 199), but it would be nice if macOS could do it on its own. Big enough for that.
How much is macOS with Magnet and how much is Windows? 😉
This is a waste of the author's time and even more so for the readers of this "article".
Although (or precisely because) I have been working on a Mac since 1990, when computers could not be imported to Czechoslovakia without a special permit (because they were embargoed by the US government), I do not miss any of these tragic shortcomings of macOS.
On the contrary, I would be able to pour out a much larger number of shortcomings that I see on windows in a moment. But unlike the author of the article, I have no ambition to convince everyone else that these are tragic flaws that should make Microsoft remake Windows in the image of macOS.
I have a Mac mini M1. The stupidest thing that is wrong with macOS is the scaling of the (external) display. The monitor with a resolution of 3440×1440 is almost unusable (everything is very small) and the OS does not have native scaling?!? Only allow changing the resolution and that's a disaster for the eyes.
Probably a newbie huh?
I have that problem too. So how do you set it up?
Remote access like in Win is fatally missing. Everything I've tried makes the graphics cry. In win, you can work remotely in such a way that you don't know the difference, in macOS only out of necessity. You can't watch the Mini from the MBP - only a maximum of HD resolution, which uses up to 70% of the monitor's surface, a limited color palette... Just unusable.
But mac os has it and it is directly included and it works many times better and easier.
No, he doesn't. For 2000 CZK, the Apple Remote Desktop application does it (maybe). Or x others, but all stupid.
Article more or less oh…. and the rest half-truths. The first drawback is solved by the Magnet application. You have more than enough options at once. I have never used a mixer on woks either. I don't know what the author has there, but even with the icons from iStat Menus, I'm barely 1/3 occupied. And support for external monitors on windows, that is better? What the hell? One of the many situations when I have an incredible desire to trample a Windows laptop is when I connect an external monitor and, God forbid, I want to set different image scaling, the comrades from Redmond haven't provided that yet... Don't be angry with me, but I use this every day and the golden macOS !!!
you are a moron..
you're more of a moron.
Totally agree wokna absolutely cannot work with multiple moniitors. And working with windows in windows is also terrible.
The mixer is great, especially when you're looking for why YouTube plays and the player doesn't, for me it's a useless piece of crap that only someone will appreciate and unnecessarily complicates work with sound, one volume control is enough, right? :D
Then there is the magnet and yes, some functions simply have to be paid for here and there ♂️ 🤷
the rest is crap that most Mac users don't care about, and if they do, they are still happy with its overall functionality, which in my opinion is still much better than the whole of WIN 11 with their copying of functions from macOS –> under the coat of arms, WIN11 is still confusing and over time breaking system 😂😂😂
Probably, both systems will never have all the functions the same. I started using Mac last year and from my point of view it is exactly as it should be. Control clearly in one place, I can always find what I need right away.
Working with windows when I select one application and add another to it is born from Windows asked for perfection. Switching desktops is much more usable on Mac OS. I also have a magnet, but I usually only use two anyway.
A volume mixer? Why do something simple when it can be complicated...
Turning on the computer is much faster, nothing hangs. You can just see with Mac that they are thinking about it and it is not a mismass of functions and ballast.
Somehow I don't understand why I should cry for a few crowns for some utility, when otherwise I have all of macOS for free, while Windows has to be paid for.
For the first "problem", I have Magnet, on the other hand, both almost adult children also have it, but neither of them use it, and they are fine with macOS windows. So it probably won't be that important.
All the other posts are off the mark, I don't want any of that on my mac. On the contrary, I remember very well how many years ago on Wdlich I struggled with the submerged sound control, which somehow did not happen and I mainly reset it myself.
The same with dozens of icons in the start list, which required incredible fiddling with the old system, ini files, registries and many restarts, and they also appeared again after a while.
The external Windows display broke every time I moved, because I had a dock at home, only a cable at the client's, and an iPad via the Duet app when traveling. Constantly fiddling with the settings and tuning the resolution was really annoying.
Sorry, but you really don't want that on a mac! I'm not an Apple fanatic, I probably had everything from Amiga to OS2 to many Windows. I have a 4th cat, 2 other children and we never discuss anything like that. It's quiet at home, my family just calls me and says something about Widlich.
Complete agreement! (btw. Amiga rules! ;)
"Therefore, it is not for nothing that Macs are said to be suitable, for example, for undemanding users."
I completely disagree with this statement. It is true that macOS is beautifully clear and even an inexperienced user can find in it basically anything they are looking for in a moment (which will never be possible to say about Windows), but just because of the prices of even the cheapest Macs, I would never recommend it to an "undemanding" user. Wokna will also serve this well for its purposes.
Now to the alleged shortcomings. Personally, I've used Windows all my life, later I added Linux, and my first Mac, and actually my first Apple product in general, didn't come into my hands until about 3 months ago. For the time being, as a developer, I have nothing but praise for macOS, and while using it, it never occurred to me that I was missing any function from Windows, or that some function was processed worse, rather, I am constantly complaining about something with Windows.
The window layout system is much more convenient for me personally, I would use the volume mixer at most once a year anyway, and it can often do more harm than good to Windows. I doubt I'll ever fill up the menu bar enough to make my life uncomfortable. Connecting to the monitor (and disconnecting) is seamless, while Windows is a nightmare in comparison.
In short, for me, macOS is designed much better for a smooth workflow compared to Windows. And even if someone is missing something, it's not such a problem to get utilities for some functions (which, from what I've tried, seem to me to be better processed than most Windows programs).
laws of wealth cz
I am a user of all operating systems. What is in the article are completely peripheral and unimportant things for me.
I'm missing one single thing: in Linux, you can set "Always on top" for any window, that is, the window is still visible when you click between other windows. If I don't know, isn't it possible to get this feature working on a mac in OsX?
I also work with WIN and MAC. But I miss one thing in the article. On a MAC (and I remember the DAVE client for 120 USD) working with network drives is much more difficult.
Complicated auto-login of network drives after startup, logging out of drives after restarting from sleep, and as a novelty, it happened to me twice that some files disappeared in the open network Finder. Story: I was working at night and more than once part of the files (higher tens) that were linked in an open application disappeared. What with this? Save and risk losing the links or did I delete them by mistake? No, definitely not. So I take the android phone, run Total Commander and connect to the network drive differently and luckily the files are there, so I don't have to hunt for anything from the backups. So I'm going to risk it and unmount all network drives in the Finder and remount them. OK, everything works as it should. But one must always be alert and improvise. Windows is more reliable in this regard.
I used to have problems with disks running under windows server, but that was many years ago. If the guest can do it, it is probably best to set the AFP protocol and mount the disks directly to an existing directory. Even better is to have those drives on some Linux network device, like a Synology NAS (or a regular raspberry). This way, I have several disks permanently connected, for example for Time Machine, and it's no problem.
Of course, I have everything under my Synology NAS...
Personally, I "miserably" miss the point of the article. I've been working on a Mac for 7 years and I consider every occasional entry into the Windows world a necessary evil. I only enter when I'm helping friends fix problems. I guess so.
I've been working on MacOS for years since the first unibody MacBookPRO. Unfortunately, MacOS basically carries a couple of disagreements from the original thinking of UNIX... But everything happens to be solved by third-party applications... Of course, mostly for a hefty extra fee... This is also determined by Apple's policy... Why would they add something to the system for better user work for free, when there are no birds in general, there are quite a lot of dinners... They make a quality foundation, and someone writes it for them and sells it on the AppStore, and they collect a small fee for it... And the sheep pay, so why wouldn't they do it... I personally missed it the most and it bothered me, that it was not possible to simply right-click on the desktop to create a file as a txt, etc., then automatically connect the network paths... In fact, everything can be solved by a third party... MacOS is a great system for the office, I personally, as a system engineer and sitar, cannot do without running woken in parallel (other Parralels is the biggest thief in the apple world).
This can be solved via AppleScript/Service. For me, e.g. Quick Look, Automator, Mission Controls, RenameMultipleFiles via Finder, etc. are priceless...
Sure, I can also draw it through XtraFinder or Automounter, but here we are talking about why the system simply can't do similar things, even if it's a hack... 😉 which will make life easier... 😂
What I named are all OS features, so no further investment. Automount without opening the finder window after restarting the system via apple script:
tell application "Finder"
mount volume "afp://user:pwd@xxxx"
end tell
I'll try to find somewhere how to create a text file via the context menu...
Another thing I really miss is something like RDP. Yes, VNC is in the basics, but there is no real usability to speak of...
Yeah, yeah, I was looking forward to the discussion under the article and it didn't disappoint. A lot of manure spread on Windows. :-D I'm really glad that I don't even have to touch Apples anymore. Both at work and at home.
The discussion is more valuable than the article itself. It reminds me a little of the discussion on root.cz. This is the moment when the author and editors should think that they are no longer keeping up with their readers. The flat "marketing student and lover of Indian food" is cool, and knowing about com writing is even better. So that the person is not a fool.
The view of the operating system will always be primarily subjective. What suits one may not suit another. :-) Thank you for the comment.
The author of the article apparently doesn't know how to use macOS or uses it briefly and just switched from Windows. None of what is written in the article is completely true. Personally, I have more of a problem with Windows, which I have to use for work and games, so a clumsy and limited system is just not visible. But it's subjective, everyone uses what they're used to and I've always been used to Mac, you can't get used to Windows, it's hell.