If only Apple and Microsoft would agree

Here's what I'd like the two Steves to do -- Steve Jobs, head of Apple, and Steve Ballmer, head of Microsoft -- to help make computing easier for all of us.

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Al Fasoldt's reviews and commentaries, continuously available online since 1983

If only Apple and Microsoft would agree

Feb. 13, 2011

By Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2011, Al Fasoldt
Copyright © 2011, The Post-Standard

   Wouldn't it be great if the world's biggest software companies could get their act together?
   Macs and Windows PCs are alike in so many ways, but different enough to drive you nuts sometimes. Here's what I'd like the two Steves to do -- Steve Jobs, head of Apple, and Steve Ballmer, head of Microsoft -- to help make computing easier for all of us.
   Steve Ballmer, here's what you should adopt from Apple:
   1. A revamped operating system. C'mon, all you Windows fanboys who think the Mac is immune to viruses only because the bad guys don't go after Macs. There are 50 million Macs out there -- plenty of targets, right? The real reason Macs are so much safer is that Apple redid the Mac operating system from a creaky old one to a new one -- and a safer one. Microsoft never did that with Windows, and let's be honest -- Windows is designed to be compatible with every program (and virus) written since the 1980s. Time to stop this crazy all-things-compatible attitude and come up with a totally new Windows.
   2. Programs you can hide. On a Mac, you press the Cmd key along with the H key and the program you were working with hides away. It's gone. Hiding means all traces of the program disappear (while it's still running) until you unhide it. It's cool. Windows can't do that.
   3. Disks that have names and not letters. What's up with a "C" drive? My Macs use names. C'mon, Microsoft.
   4. Time Machine. The Mac has the world's easiest to use backup system built in, called Time Machine. You have backups of everything repeated every hour. Windows has diddly squat. (Ever try to use the Windows backup program?)
   5. PDF all around. Anything on your Mac can be turned into a PDF. Is that a cool way to save a web page or what?
   Steve Jobs, here are five things Apple should adopt from Microsoft:
   1. Fast trash delete. The Mac empties the trash by counting up all the stuff you want to delete and then trundling off to get a cup of coffee or something. Windows goes whoosh and the trash is gone.
   2. Easy ways to do everything from the keyboard. Macheads will say you can do this already, but only if you face the west and plant six fingers from one hand on the keyboard. Windows is adorable in its Alt-key shortcuts, and it has many more.
   3. Customized colors. You can have any color scheme you want on a Mac as long as it's silver or blue. What kind of choice is that?
   4. A Windows key. Why not a have a key that pops open the Apple menu the way the Windows key opens the Start menu?
   5. For that matter, a Start menu. The Apple menu's a wimp. Macs ought to have programs in a single, big list just like Windows does.