For quick, smart takes on the news you'll be talking about, check out InfoWorld TechBrief -- subscribe today. My colleague Woody Leonhard has reviewed the final version of Windows 8. Here, I highlight the key differences, strengths, and weaknesses of the two OSes, both of which I've been using since their first betas were released, organized by the InfoWorld Test Center's key scoring categories for desktop operating systems.
Apple defined the graphical user interface as we know it today, and despite nearly 30 years of changes, the core metaphors remain unchanged. That consistency makes it easy to use each new version of OS X, and Mavericks is no exception. Yet the OS has expanded to support touch gestures in a very natural way, via touch mice and touchpads. Also, Apple's slew of helper utilities -- such as the Quick Look preview facility, the Notification Center, the embedded sharing capabilities, and the Spotlight search tool -- do what Apple does best: offer sophisticated capabilities that users can discover as needed, rather than face a steep learning curve to get started.
The Dock and the persistent menu bar also simplify app access, while the full-screen mode introduced in OS X Lion lets users stay focused when they want to be, yet have quick access to the rest of the OS as desired. It's a bit like being forced to walk through a maze when you actually want to get somewhere as directly as possible. The Windows Desktop part is the Windows 7 you know and probably love.
The good news in Windows 8. Still, you can be popped into the Metro environment unexpectedly by double-clicking a file and finding it opens a Metro app instead of a traditional Windows one. Microsoft wants people to switch to Metro, so it has set the default core apps such as email and media players to be the Metro versions.
Also, the Start menu remains missing in Windows 8. Microsoft has brought back the Start button, but all it does is switch you between Metro and the Windows Desktop -- as if you pressed the Windows key. Clearly, Microsoft doesn't get why users are so frustrated. To get the handy Power User menu, you now right-click that Start button, or you can continue to use the Windows-X shortcut. Just as Metro works nicely via touch and poorly via traditional input methods, Windows Desktop works well via traditional input methods and poorly via touch -- Windows 8.
Icons and menus are often too small to read on a tablet screen, as well as too hard to touch or tap reliably. Plus, touch equivalents for common actions such as right-clicking do not work reliably in the Windows Desktop. Ultimately, you're switching between two different computers that share a file system and a few core services, and each computer is optimized for a different set of input methods.
For most users, Windows 8. Over the years, Apple has made OS X much more than an operating system. If you buy a new Mac, you also get the very capable iPhoto, GarageBand, and iMovie apps for media manipulation and creation.
For many users, these apps are all they need. Beyond the assortment of moderately to highly capable apps, OS X has exceptional support for human languages and for people with various kinds of disabilities. Windows 8 offers less than OS X across the board, partly because Microsoft wants people to buy or subscribe to its pricey Office suite, so tools such as WordPad and the Mail app in Metro provide only a subset of OS X's counterparts.
You can of course pay extra for Microsoft Outlook in the Windows Desktop to get a full email client for Windows. Some of the Metro apps in Windows 8. For example, the Camera app now supports panoramic shooting and the Photos app allows for basic image manipulation such as cropping and color shifting, both like recent iOS and Android editions.
Metro's Weather app is the most compelling of the Metro apps and OS X has no built-in equivalent , and the Sports app remains a nicely customizable gateway to your favorite sports content. Also new to Windows 8. The new Calculator app is very much like OS X's ancient version. Microsoft seems to be throwing widgets into Metro to increase the list of features, rather than creating a suite of compelling apps. If you're willing to spend the money, you can manage Windows 8 PCs every which way from Sunday using tools such as Microsoft's System Center.
Remote installation, policy enforcement, application monitoring, software updating, and so forth are all available. OS X Mavericks provides similar capabilities through its use of managed client profiles -- enforcing use of disk encryption is a new capability in this version -- through OS X Server. We continue to like appreciate the Bing News, Travel, Finance and Sports apps, with their sleek panoramic designs and customizable interfaces.
You can also pin favorite items to your Start screen, as we did with the New York Yankees. Creative types will dig the new Fresh Paint app for Windows 8, which includes oil paints, graphic pencils and watercolors and lets you paint via touch, stylus or dedicated drawing tablet.
The hands-free mode lets you wave your hand through recipe steps a smart idea but on our Yoga 11s the gestures were inconsistent. You can literally point to where it hurts. Although it was not available on our preview build, a new Mail app borrows liberally in a good way from Outlook. A power pane on the left side lets you filter mail by important contacts, while separate newsletter and social update views minimize clutter.
We also like the ability to view image attachments in split-screen mode with the Photo app. Speaking of the Photos app, you can now auto-fix and fine tune photos with a few taps. In addition to a cleaner design, the Calendar app now offers an Event Inspector feature that will autocomplete meeting locations as you type; the app will show the cross-street on a mini map and even the weather forecast for that appointment time.
The Windows 8. We also like that points of interest include Yelp ratings and photos. However, while Apple's Maps app looks better and is easier to use, only the Bing Maps app includes transit directions.
Although we prefer Apple's Calendar app to Microsoft's, Windows 8. From Microsoft: Microsoft recently passed the , app milestone for the Windows Store, and the company claims that the majority of top iPad and Android apps will be available for Windows 8. Those will include Facebook and Flipboard. The Windows Store in Windows 8.
Microsoft also cut down on the need to scroll by letting you see all categories by right-clicking or swiping in from the top of the screen. However, the Windows Store continues to stock only Modern-style apps and not desktop apps, which results in a fragmented downloading and shopping experience. But this face-off is between Windows 8.
The Mac App Store stocks thousands of choices, ranging from photo editing apps and social networking tools to games. Apple's store also presents more information on the screen at once, making it easier to find what you're looking for. We appreciate the easy access to Top Charts and Categories at the top of the screen.
The Mac App Store can now update your apps automatically, similar to Windows 8. A revamped sidebar accessed via the Bookmark button near the top-left corner of the screen includes not just your bookmarks and Reading List, but also a new Shared Links feature that shows what your Twitter and LinkedIn contacts are posting.
The new Top Sites page displays all the sites you visit most in a neat grid, and you can reorder them with a drag and drop. Those who like to add articles to their reading list will be pleased to learn that you can now keep scrolling through the pages when you reach the end of a story.
In Windows 8. You now have unlimited tabs before it was 10 and you can now snap two webpages side by side. If a given website supports the feature, you can pin your favorite sites to your Start screen as a Live Tile, which updates with new photos and headlines. Sticking a start menu icon in Windows 8. Upgrades to point releases have long been complimentary for for-cost operating systems, but moving to full releases has usually been attached to a dollar figure.
This was true for just about every monetized OS out there. Now, it's a different ballgame. The upgrade from Mac OS X As far as iWork goes, I must agree to a point. I don't think it was truly desperation, but an effort to gain mind share about these applications.
The iWork suite is more than capable of providing for all the word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation needs of the vast majority of Mac owners.
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