8 ms·
Now, now. You can't claim that they aren't similar, because the concept here is unifying both launchers and task lists, which was what distinguished docks from
by whateverer 14y ago
Now, now. You can't claim that they aren't similar, because the concept here is unifying both launchers and task lists, which was what distinguished docks from task bars before.
They have different features, yes. Their animations are very different, that's actually where most of the differences lie, yes. But now, as far as task/window management goes, they are pretty much the same thing.
I wouldn't hesitate to call Gnome Shell's activity bar thingy a dock, for one, even though it wouldn't matter; the dock doesn't have the same prominence that environment as in Windows or Mac OS X.
Still, I don't see the problem with them retaining their traditional name for their UI element, given that the new taskbar was still an evolution from the previous one.
Now, with respect to the interaction, MS is mostly following the trend here, as most are converging towards search for launching, and with the reduced task management of smart phones, I would expect that developers would now be encouraged to make their apps save and restore their states without the user's intervention, and thus applications where you actually have to do the clean up, save, close, start, open, repeat cycle would also become rarer, so that those session-restore features that some DEs have would actually start to be used, further downplaying the actual launching of applications.
- WayneDB 14y agoClaiming that Microsoft blatantly copied "pinned items" is a gross over-simplification though. So is claiming that "they are pretty much the same thing". They're not. And I am correct in saying that Windows had a Taskbar before Apple had a Dock because Apple didn't own NeXTSTEP when the Dock was released.
- flatline3 14y ago> And I am correct in saying that Windows had a Taskbar before Apple had a Dock because Apple didn't own NeXTSTEP when the Dock was released. Given Apple's history, that's a stretch. Modern Apple is essentially NeXT. They 'acquired' NeXT, but internally and politically, it was practically the other way around. Apple owns NeXT, including previous inventions.
- WayneDB 14y agoThat's absurd. Let's go back in time to 1995...NeXT and Apple are two separate companies. NeXT had a Dock. Windows had a Taskbar. Apple had neither. Stop trying to change history to suit your fanboy-dom. (Also, as gouranga mentioned below...RISC OS had them both before NeXT or Win95 anyway.)
- whateverer 14y agoI only see one person throwing a fit over a product comparison here.
- WayneDB 14y agoSo, disagreeing and showing facts is throwing a fit?
- mistercow 14y ago>And I am correct in saying that Windows had a Taskbar before Apple had a Dock because Apple didn't own NeXTSTEP when the Dock was released. Only technically. As I mentioned in my other comment, System 7.5 had the Launcher, which was years before Microsoft introduced the Quick Launch toolbar in Windows 98.