Mac Dock and Windows Taskbar OverviewThe Dock in OS X Leopard is a bar of icons that sits at the bottom or side of the screen, and employs a 3D perspective. The Dock is a prominent feature of OS X. It is also a prominent feature of Mac OS X's predecessors NeXTSTEP and OPENSTEP operating systems.
It is primarily a way to launch and switch between running applications. It not only provides easy access to applications, but allows the user to organize them to their taste within the Dock.
Any file or app can be attached to the Dock. It can hold any number of items and resize them dynamically to fit while using magnification to clarify smaller resized items.
Windows Taskbar is an application desktop bar where users can use the bar to launch and switch between running applications. Microsoft introduced the Windows Taskbar as one of its features from Windows 95, and it has been a prominent feature of all the Windows releases thereafter.
Similar to the dock, any file or app can be attached to the taskbar. The Windows Taskbar position can be changed to either left, right, top or bottom and also the height of the taskbar can be resized. Users can also lock/unlock the position of the taskbar.
Evolution of the Mac Dock and Windows Taskbar
It is always interesting to see how things looked, back in the earlier versions and how things have changed now. So, lets go back in time and see how the dock and taskbar looked in their earlier releases
Evolution of the dock
Cheetah (released on March 24, 2001)
Puma (released on September 25, 2001)
Jaguar (released on August 24th, 2002)
Panther (released on October 24, 2003)
Tiger (released on April 29, 2005)
Evolution of the Windows Taskbar
Windows 95 (released on August 24, 1995)
Windows 98 (released on June 25, 1998)
Windows Me (released on September 14, 2000)
Windows XP (released on October 25, 2001)
Windows Vista (released on January 30, 2007)
And here is how they look today!
In Mac OS X Leopard
In Windows 7
Indeed that's an impressive change!
In the coming weeks, Neowin will be comparing the various features of the Mac OS X Dock and Windows 7 Superbar . However, this series will not conclude on which is better, rather explore and compare the options available with the Dock and Superbar.
*Image Credits: Wikipedia
*Neowin User Christian Szabo also contributed to this article
I couldn't agree more. Without the new taskbar, I certainly wouldn't think Windows 7 is that much of a vast improvement. The new taskbar, alone, though, makes Windows 7 so much tidier and much less cluttered than any previous Windows version.
However, there are some differences. The taskbar includes the dock's functionality, as well as the file bar (the bar at the top of the screen that contains the clock and can act as a system tray of sorts - I don't know what it's officially called). That bar doesn't disappear on Mac OS X, nor would I want it to. Additionally, I generally don't minimize programs or open documents on Mac OS X thanks to expose, which makes it very quick and easy to switch over to a document. There's also the option to hotcorner or hotkey "show desktop" - a feature that I've found incredibly useful, even though I've known about but never used the "show desktop" shortcut that's been on Windows for years now.
Which is all to say that there's a difference in workflow, the purpose of each, and the way that information is presented by the OS, even though they're often compared directly. I'm guessing that the review will cover some of what I've written.
I couldn't agree more. Without the new taskbar, I certainly wouldn't think Windows 7 is that much of a vast improvement. The new taskbar, alone, though, makes Windows 7 so much tidier and much less cluttered than any previous Windows version.
It's so good that I have no more desktop icons =P
instead of starting your Windows history trace at win95, why don't you go back to win3.1 and see the Superbar's proper predecessor.
Last edited by CalumJR on 24 Feb 2009 - 12:33
ref:
http://pages.prodigy.net/michaln/history/o...p/warp_desk.gif
I really cannot wait 'till I start using Windows 7.
I can't stand the way Mac OS X manages open Windows.
Windows 7 taskbar now offers more functionality than the Mac dock !
stop comparing Superbar with dock
stop comparing Superbar with dock
I don't really see much comparison, in this article, I see the author has just outlined the evolution of the two main user interface elements of each operating system.
MS didnt change much until XP, then Vista, and now Windows 7. I used to use the Win9x classic look for a looong time.
i'm glad i'm not the only one who looked at each one and thought to myself that they all basically look the same, i guess except for the current one that changed the perspective of the background to be more 3d.
But this is not to say that OS X couldn't use some of the new features in the SuperBar. Maybe Apple will be the next to copy a few features there.
Most of the GUI in OSX has been the same since OSX came out. Looks like they are scared of changing.
windows 7
vista
Last edited by artfuldodga on 24 Feb 2009 - 17:03
I equate this to the other comments about how the Mac OS X dock doesn't look too much different than the previous versions. Being a person who has probably tried the Mac OS X dock across the different version, surely you can appreciate the fact that their are functionality changes that may not be reflected in the cosmetics of the Mac OS X dock.
Similarly, the functionality changes for the Windows 7 superbar a quite substantial...even though it may not look that different to you. I recommend you try it out as it is very neat.
In any matter, I'm not sure which I like better, they both work well. I personally don't mind myself, I just like them if they do what they are supposed to... launch programs
All things I think that Microsoft is try to play catch up to Apple in some ways.
I have use both Macs and Windows of and on and I still find that in the long run windows is a better for easy of use. up to windows 7 beta.
I fell that windows 7 may be going the wrong way.
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