Want a Windows 8 Start Button? Open source to the rescue!

Re: Mouse travel

"So I'm wondering is this a problem for frequent Mac users, something they'd like addressed even, or do you just get used to it?"

Actually, that menu is a lot easier to get at than the Windows ones: the pointer can't go beyond the edge of the screen at that point—unless you've deliberately rearranged a multi-monitor set up to do so. Which would be weird. That menu is, in effect, infinitely "tall" as a result, so you just fling the pointer in the general direction of the menu item you want and you're done.

On Windows, the menus are below the title bar, so you have to be a lot more precise.

(Incidentally, there are books on all this. It's a known science.)

One thing that Windows 8 is doing is playing catch-up with Apple's move away from the increasingly archaic WIMP system. The mouse is a particularly annoying peripheral: it's the biggest cause of RSI, for a start. Furthermore, the vast majority of traditional computers sold today are laptops, not desktops. Optimising the GUI for (multi-touch) trackpads makes a lot of sense in that context. Apple already offer their standalone Bluetooth trackpad with their iMacs now. Microsoft's "Surface" tablet keyboard cover also appears to include a trackpad below the keys (though it's not always obvious in the pictures).

For those who have a desktop computer, you can always buy a Wacom tablet that also supports multitouch gestures. Such gestures haven't been brilliantly supported on Windows 7, but Windows 8 seems to do a better job. (Apple's "Magic Trackpad"* isn't officially supported on Windows and is a bit pricey anyway. The Wacom alternative does more for roughly the same price.)

Kiss that plastic rodent goodbye, because it's not going to be around much longer. And good riddance, frankly.

* (You'd never have guessed Steve Jobs had a seat on Disney's board of directors.)

Re: Mouse travel

Also: OS X supports adding keyboard shortcuts to any menu item in any application as standard.

Power users therefore assign such shortcuts to commands they use most often and therefore hardly ever have to touch the mouse or trackpad anyway. (The user-defined shortcuts appear in the menus automatically—you don't even have to quite the application—and, yes, it'll work with Microsoft's apps too. It's a built-in feature of the Cocoa API; developers don't have to do anything to support it.)

When I use Windows, I find I prefer its CUA-derived keyboard support. I find [ALT]+F(ile) > O(pen) much easier to remember than seemingly arbitrary combinations of modifier keys and random letters for the more direct command shortcuts. The CUA system has the advantage of being (a) universal: any menu command can be accessed using this system, even if it lacks a direct shortcut; (b) consistent in every properly designed application, and (c), it's very easy to learn. Especially if your memory works best with spatial data.

This is one area where Apple did the right thing: their keyboards have had three modifier keys since the first Mac was launched. MS-DOS had just CTRL and ALT, while Windows 95 added that Windows Logo key. The latter has quite a few system-wide shortcuts linked to it that most people know nothing about, but I've never seen it used directly in applications, so it's basically wasted. Which is a shame, really.

It'll be interesting to see where Apple take this with OS XI. I suspect they'll ditch the ancient desktop metaphor entirely with that one. And Microsoft clearly want their developers to move towards Metro instead of the traditional desktop interface too.

Re: Mouse travel

"I was talking the other day with a Mac user about the awkward positioning of the app menu at the top of the screen instead of attached to application windows (as per Windows). "

That's been a real design flaw in the Mac OSs from way back, even as far back as the time Apple made otherwise great computers. And that's a long time ago now. I don't know why they haven't fixed it.

Re: Mouse travel

Indeed, to me, Mac user interfaces have never been logical and I absolutely hate the trend of other UIs copying them.

e.g. Windows 7 taskbar with lots of excessively large icons in view for no reasonc, Ubuntu and GNOME making themselves Mac-like by moving menus to the top, Ubuntu moving close button to left for no reason.

KDE FTW -- the only desktop UI that seems to innovate on common sense and logic rather than fashion!

Re: Mouse travel

It's always been there on the Mac. The Amiga, ST and loads of other GUI OSes put the menu at the top.

It's actually a lot easier to go to the top of the screen than it is to go to a menu which may vary slightly in location. You can slam the pointer to the stop of the screen and not miss as the mouse pointer stops when it reaches the edge of the screen.

Re: Excellent

"But why leave Win7 if there are features you miss in Win8?"

Good question. In Windows 8's defence it does IMO have some useful improvements. File Copy is far better implemented and even the ribbon style explorer is a step up on the IE-esque explorer in W7. But the metro UI and lack of start menu would annoy a lot of people.

I suppose if someone produced a reasonable start menu replacement it might just tip someone towards w8. I wouldn't be so convinced that the replacement was good until I used it for a long while though because MS would have polished the experience to a shiny point, not something that a few month old project is likely to replicate very well for a long time to come.

Re: Excellent

From my brief testing of the Windows 8 RC in a Parallels virtual machine, I wasn't able to do very much, but I could do it quite a bit quicker than in Windows 7 in a Parallels VM on the same MacBook. If I could get the Windows 8 performance improvements with a Windows 7 interface, then I would move to it.