My first computer was one of those lovely old grey square Apple Classics, but since then it’s been Windows all the way from 3.1 right through to Windows 7. Recently I’ve decided to make the switch to Mac again, partly because the Powerbook is a great looking machine and I was curious to see what the fuss is about. I know Windows very well and consider myself a pretty advanced user, getting under the hood a fair bit to make it sing and dance how I like.

I’m going to write a series of posts about my experiences in making the switch. Little tricks and apps I’ve found that have made things easier on OSX coming from a Windows background. I’m by no means finding using OSX a pleasurable experience at this stage, but hopefully I will come around to it.

What windows to I have open?

I love the Windows Task bar and often have 20-30 windows open at any given time. It suits how I work, for example at the moment I’m entering expenses, sending three emails and writing this blog post, along with handling several support tickets with my hosting provider and various other task. All of these things I can see in the taskbar and can flick easily from one to another.

OSX tries to address this using “Expose” where you drag the mouse to a hot spot and it reveals all the open windows. Unfortunately I like to be able to see the windows all at one time, so this is a problem for me.

I’ve found something Aero Peek that brings the “peek” functionality from Window to the OSX dock.

The search continues for something to actually show all the windows I have open rather than requiring some action to reveal them.