18 Features Windows Should Have (but Doesn't) ... Or Does It?

Sometimes life hands you a gimme. This horrible article--18 Features Windows Should Have (but Doesn't)--is such a gimme. The reason? The guy who wrote it apparently knows absolutely nothing about Windows, doesn't realize that virtually everything listed here can be downloaded for free, and/or feels free to list Mac OS X features that shipped since the most recent Windows version.

Yep, it's a disaster.

Here's the full list, with just a few comments.

Expose is just next-generation window switching. Yawn.

Actually, this has been built into Windows forever, it's just that Microsoft never felt the need to build a UI to access it. With Windows XP, you can download a free PowerToy to expose this feature.

Even the Mac doesn't support this feature ... Unless you pay Apple $99 a year for .Mac.

You mean something like this free Microsoft utility?

Actually, this was copied from a Windows feature called "Volume Shadow Copy" that debuted in 2003. Apple just put a pretty UI on it.

There are so many free ISO utilities out there, this one isn't even worth discussing. That said, how many normal human beings ever run into ISOs? Really?

Yes, he just said Windows needed "stickies" and "podcast capture." You know, for those 17 guys that would use either feature.

I guess I'd argue that Microsoft's Windows Marketplace pretty much covers this, especially the amazing (and under-reported) Digital Locker feature.

Dude. You did not just list a single graphical effect as a feature Windows lacks. Oh yes you did.

The most horrible feature ever foisted on Mac OS X users. Look: It holds permanent shortcuts and links to currently running programs and some other stuff. It's a UI disaster. And please, Dear God, someone please bring up the fact that Windows users click a Start button to shutdown their computer. Please.

Again, spare me. We can take screenshots of the screen and of particular windows. There's a Snipping Tool in Vista. and a million free utilities. Moving on.

Only the very newest Mac notebooks support this and only in a very limited fashion. Moving on.

Because the file browser doesn't move slowly enough already.

It's been there for over a decade. Microsoft stopped installing it by default because of security reasons. Maybe Apple should follow suit.

In NT from day one. Dropped due to lack of interest and shipping separately.

No offense, but this is an age-old debate between Windows and Mac UIs. No one cares anymore. They're just different.

Actually, this would be cool. And actually, it's happening already. In fact, Microsoft SoftGrid basically delivers pre-packaged applications in exactly this fashion, currently only to desktop PCs in businesses, but I could see its use broadening in Windows 7 and beyond to meet compatibility needs as Windows drops more and more legacy technologies. By the way, SoftGrid also gets rid of DLL Hell: You can do things like run multiple versions of Word (97, 2000, XP, 2003, 2007) simultaneous on the same desktop.

So... That's right. He's made a list of his favorite Mac OS X Leopard features. All 300, excuse me, 18 of them.

Spare me.

Thanks Lee.