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It's weird, I've been on Linux for almost 20 years and Ubuntu as my main computer for 10 and for me it's the opposite. I find OSX has finally almost caught up t
by BenoitEssiambre 14y ago
It's weird, I've been on Linux for almost 20 years and Ubuntu as my main computer for 10 and for me it's the opposite. I find OSX has finally almost caught up to Linux with Mountain Lion.
It's crazy how many OSX features come from the unix world but in a delayed, better looking fashion.
The last missing major piece for OSX was good multiple workspace management, which came in the form of mission control and the touchpad gestures that makes it so efficient. I don't know if its any good with a mouse though.
Efficient multiple workspaces is a critical productivity feature for me. It's like having multiple monitors without having to carry a desk and a bunch of monitors with me all the time.
The previous OSX implementation called 'spaces' took too many actions to switch workspaces unless you had your hands on the keyboard and had setup shortcuts. This made OSX unusable to me.
Unfortunately, Ubuntu also regressed by getting rid of the single-click workspace switcher (which was working beautifully since like 1995) and doing a multi-workspace UI that resembles Lion's 'spaces'. However, I was able to remedy this by setting my middle mouse button to bring up the workspace switcher which is really fast.
The other Ubuntu regression which annoys me to no end and again is the same in OSX is that clicking on a dock icon when you are in a workspace and there is an instance of the app opened in another workspace makes you automatically jump to the other one instead of opening a new instance in the current workspace.
This assumes I separate applications on a per workspace basis which is stupid. I already have a dock to get access to different applications. Workspaces are used to separate projects or workflows.
Each workspace needs its own browser window that holds the tabs related to the project being worked on and also its own terminals and text editors. I don't want to be yanked out of a context because I tried opening an editor and there wasn't one already in the workspace.
Hopefully this is eventually fixed in both OSX and Ubuntu.
- dhimes 14y agoI've always just used ctrl-alt-arrow for ubuntu (and other nixes)- add a shift and the current window comes along for a ride. When did this break? (I'm still on 12.04 LTS)
- BenoitEssiambre 14y agoIf your hands are on the keyboard that's fine but I also need a good solution for when I am using the pointing device.
- bluedino 14y agoYou can swipe to a new space.
- zikzikzik 14y agoDo you regularly use the pointing device with both hands?
- iso8859-1 14y agoHow would you press Control-Alt-KeyLeft with less than both hands?
- robertfw 14y agoit's possible on my laptop keyboard as the alt/ctrl are right next to the arrow keys, but admittedly it's not a particularly natural or comfortable way to do it
- dragonwriter 14y agoOn a standard 104-key Windows-style keyboard (or the 101-key standard precursor, or anything with a generally similar layout), I'd use the right-side Ctrl, right-side Alt, and the Left arrow in the arrow key array (not the numeric pad). Should be pretty easy to one-hand even with fairly small hands.
- iso8859-1 14y agoFor e.g. VT switching, the right-side modifier keys won't work.
- jcastro 14y ago> The other Ubuntu regression which annoys me to no end and again is the same in OSX is that clicking on a dock icon when you are in a workspace and there is an instance of the app opened in another workspace makes you automatically jump to the other one instead of opening a new instance in the current workspace. If you middle click the icon it will open a new one instead of taking you to an existing one.
- BenoitEssiambre 14y agoI didn't know that. Thanks for the tip. However, since I set my middle button to go to the workspace switcher there's a conflict. I just tried it and it does open a new instance _and_ go to the switcher which is not great. Also most of the time if there is already an app window in the workspace, I would want it to be made visible not a new instance to be opened.
- th 14y agoYou can also hold down shift and click on the icon to open up a new window. Similarly if you use a keyboard shortcut to open your icons (like Win+1 to open the first icon) holding shift while pressing the shortcut will open a new window (Shift+Win+1 will open a new window for the first icon).