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Ever since Windows 11 MS really seems to be keen on making the taskbar more docklike… this is another step in that direction (OS X has had force quit in its doc

Ever since Windows 11 MS really seems to be keen on making the taskbar more docklike… this is another step in that direction (OS X has had force quit in its dock icon context menus for something like 20 years at this point). I don’t particularly mind because I’ve never been fully sold on the Win9X style desktop paradigm, but I think MS may be making a mistake by cherry-picking bits of macOS UX and removing them from the context that makes them work. It’s probably not a recipe that’s likely to please longtime Windows users.

dist-epoch 3y ago
> MS really seems to be keen on making the taskbar more docklike I don't think the docklike push comes from the top. I bet all UI designers at MS use Macs, and probably think they are superior to Windows.
- Aardwolf 3y ago
  Macs don't even support alt+tab to tab between different windows as a stack correctly, this can never be superior. NOTE: I don't use windows but linux, with desktops that are windows-like.
  - princevegeta89 3y ago
    In my case, to get alt+tab to work correctly on Mac, there is a program called AltTab, it is amazing and lets us achieve Windows-like alt-tab behavior
    - maleldil 3y ago
      "Work correctly" is strong. They're different philosophies, and not everyone agrees that window-oriented switching is better than application-oriented. Your sibling comment prefers macOS's behaviour, and so do I. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I find Windows annoying when I have to use it.
  - kitsunesoba 3y ago
    I think that's a matter of one's workflow and what they're used to. On Windows and winlike desktops, the lack of logical grouping of windows by application (outside of maybe combining taskbar buttons) drives me crazy, and I find that alt-tab switching windows instead of apps becomes unusable past ~5 windows open.
    - thelopa 3y ago
      I’ve used Mac’s at my job for about 10 years + a few years of personal use before that. I’ve had ample time to get used to the Mac workflow. macOS’s approach only works nicely if you expect to have one simultaneous task per app OR you don’t expect to switch between apps. Once you have multiple simultaneous tasks in multiple apps, it becomes really cumbersome to use command tab. My job tends to involve exactly the pattern of window switching that macOS isn’t made for.
      - kitsunesoba 3y ago
        I've been using two monitors for a long time at this point, which might be part of why the macOS workflow works for me. I make heavy usage of virtual desktops, with "primary" apps going on desktops on the main monitor and secondary/auxiliary apps going on the secondary monitor. With this I can mix and match entire sets of windows very quickly and efficiently and very rarely manually manage windows.
JohnFen 3y ago
I dislike Apple's dock entirely, and think bringing it to Windows (whether cherry-picked aspects or just the whole hog) would be very irritating.
babypuncher 3y ago
I don't think Microsoft's motivations are to be more Mac-like, more likely convergent design driven by their desire to sell Windows on a variety of different device form factors. Something I noticed immediately when using Windows 11 was how much more comfortable the centered taskbar actually is on wide screens. I had used macOS before, but only on laptops where the smaller screen size (and larger proportions of macOS's dock) made this benefit less apparent. I ended up replicating this style in my KDE setups. It seems to me that the age of 32" wide monitors, corners aren't nearly as important as they were back when we were all looking at 9" 512x342 screens.

dist-epoch 3y ago

> MS really seems to be keen on making the taskbar more docklike I don't think the docklike push comes from the top. I bet all UI designers at MS use Macs, and probably think they are superior to Windows.

Aardwolf 3y ago
Macs don't even support alt+tab to tab between different windows as a stack correctly, this can never be superior. NOTE: I don't use windows but linux, with desktops that are windows-like.
- princevegeta89 3y ago
  In my case, to get alt+tab to work correctly on Mac, there is a program called AltTab, it is amazing and lets us achieve Windows-like alt-tab behavior
  - maleldil 3y ago
    "Work correctly" is strong. They're different philosophies, and not everyone agrees that window-oriented switching is better than application-oriented. Your sibling comment prefers macOS's behaviour, and so do I. It took me a while to get used to it, but now I find Windows annoying when I have to use it.
- kitsunesoba 3y ago
  I think that's a matter of one's workflow and what they're used to. On Windows and winlike desktops, the lack of logical grouping of windows by application (outside of maybe combining taskbar buttons) drives me crazy, and I find that alt-tab switching windows instead of apps becomes unusable past ~5 windows open.
  - thelopa 3y ago
    I’ve used Mac’s at my job for about 10 years + a few years of personal use before that. I’ve had ample time to get used to the Mac workflow. macOS’s approach only works nicely if you expect to have one simultaneous task per app OR you don’t expect to switch between apps. Once you have multiple simultaneous tasks in multiple apps, it becomes really cumbersome to use command tab. My job tends to involve exactly the pattern of window switching that macOS isn’t made for.
    - kitsunesoba 3y ago
      I've been using two monitors for a long time at this point, which might be part of why the macOS workflow works for me. I make heavy usage of virtual desktops, with "primary" apps going on desktops on the main monitor and secondary/auxiliary apps going on the secondary monitor. With this I can mix and match entire sets of windows very quickly and efficiently and very rarely manually manage windows.

JohnFen 3y ago

I dislike Apple's dock entirely, and think bringing it to Windows (whether cherry-picked aspects or just the whole hog) would be very irritating.

babypuncher 3y ago

I don't think Microsoft's motivations are to be more Mac-like, more likely convergent design driven by their desire to sell Windows on a variety of different device form factors. Something I noticed immediately when using Windows 11 was how much more comfortable the centered taskbar actually is on wide screens. I had used macOS before, but only on laptops where the smaller screen size (and larger proportions of macOS's dock) made this benefit less apparent. I ended up replicating this style in my KDE setups. It seems to me that the age of 32" wide monitors, corners aren't nearly as important as they were back when we were all looking at 9" 512x342 screens.