Posted on 05/01/2008 5:11:26 PM PDT by Swordmaker
The principle issue with addressing these items is that the underlying "guts" of Windows does not lend itself to making the sort of fundamental changes needed in order to add these features. Perhaps the days of Windows being the "only" OS used by business are coming to an end...
To capture just the active window/dialog box instead of the entire screen, press Alt-PrintScreen.
Where it goes from there, however, is another matter entirely. It's up to you to open up Paint or another image editor, paste the captured screen into the app window, and then save it. What a pain.
If you're taking many screenshots at one time, do this:
1. Open a blank Word/OpenOffice doc.
2. After doing Alt-PrintScreen to capture a window, CTRL-V in the doc to paste the screenshot.
3. After capturing all the screenshots, save the doc.
4. Save it again as an HTML file.
Each screenshot in the HTML file is named and saved automatically as a separate JPG. (Word also saves each image as a PNG).
This method is much faster than plopping each screenshot into an image editor as you capture it, and then naming/saving separately.
Later, you can use an image editor if you need to.
Here’s a better option. Command-3 on a Mac and the screenshot is saved to your desktop in PNG format.
Window’s idea of screenshots is so horrible, I’d rather use Remote Desktop, VirtualPC or VMWare on a Mac and then take my screenshots that way.
Thanks, I’ll check it out.
Even though I'm a Linux fan, I will give Apple and OS-X this. They are dirt simple to use. I got my (barely) computer literate mother-in-law set up with a Mac Book laptop and haven't heard from her since. (4+ months now) I used to be her PC support line, and hear from her a couple of times a month. When I got her set up, I managed to install a wireless access point on her network, connect the Mac to it (secure mode too!), download and install X11 libs and OpenOffice, and connect to her PC based printer. All that in less than an hour, never having touched a Mac before. Note, at least 15 min of that was spent convincing Win/XP on her old desktop to share its printer.
In lieu of all those features, I would settle for the abolishment of the Start Menu.
Meanwhile, I run Kubuntu 8.04 on a 2000 - 2001 vintage IBM ThinkPad. 800 MHz Pentium-III, 192 MB of memory, and 20 GB of disk. Yes, it is a little slow, but it is usable. It was originally a Win98 machine. It has been host to several Linux distros. I don't think XP would even install on it. Vista, not even funny. Latest version of Ubuntu/Kubuntu? 30 min and it's up and running...
ping to me for later
The college where I work forced us to Office 2007, despite much wailing and gnashing of teeth from the end users, but still has no plans to move to Vista from XP. The IT guys would outlaw Macs on campus if they could, but the photography and graphics arts people have held firm.
From everything I've picked up, the Windows OS is starting to collapse under it's own weight. I know my year old PC at the office is slower than my six year old iMac G4. I also notice little bugs in Windows that I don't find in Mac apps. For example, in Word 2007, I have five documents that I print out for incoming students. All I do is open, print and close them. Two of the documents ask if I want to save them every time, even though I've made no changes. It's a little annoyance, no big deal, but it takes my attention from the student, and I have to go back to the pc and make a pointless mouse click because some stray bit of code in the Word document has produced a flaw. I've done "Save As", copied all the text to a new document and saved it, and it still pops up the little screen asking me if I want to save the changes. The three other Word documents don't do it. It's just one of those annoying little "do another mouse click for no particular reason" things that infests Windows.
I agree with you about Linux as a desktop. Some flavors may be okay, but over all, most Linux desktops require much more personal tweaking. Can't speak to the server side. All I'm running is a four computer wireless, which is pretty seamless.
As to development tools, most of the business applications I've seen seriously suck eggs from a user standpoint. In our system "Datatel" for tracking grades, I have seven classes for which I have to enter grades. Instead of being able to navigate to the "class" menu once, then select a class and enter the grades, I have to go to the Main Menu, select grading, enter the semester, select the class and enter grades. When I enter the grades it kicks me back to the main menu, where I select "grading", enter the term again, etc. For seven classes, it's probably fifty or sixty "make a selection and click the mouse for no particular reason" moments. Your point about the development tools for Microsoft is part of my biggest point about both MS and IT departments. They really don't give a flip about the end user. Poorly designed counter-intuitive applications rule because the IT department wants convenient development tools, and can force a lousy product on the end user.
Gee I would never have known that from teching support calls from Mac users. All had great trouble with basic operations.
If it's part of the OS, as it is in OS X, then any application can create a PDF file. Leaving it to the application is a hit-or-miss proposition.
On a Mac you can capture the screen, capture an active or inactive window (even one that is mostly obscured by other windows), and capture multiple windows or a small section of a window or the desktop. You do not have to save them, they are all saved automatically. All of these captures become individual graphic files on the Desktop.
If you're taking many screenshots at one time, do this:
As mentioned above, you don't have to do any of that on a Mac. Just take as many captures as you want. and they are saved to the desktop. You can file them later, convert them to other formats, whatever.
That list is rubbish.
What Windows users need is:
1. seamless backwards compatibility (especially corporate users who run software written inside their own company specifically for their jobs)
2. no Registry. The Windows Registry paradigm can only *stop* a program from running...a very bad way to do business (OK, the registry file should exist to maintain backwards compatibility, but that’s it).
3. the OS *is* a firewall. Probes of ports and external signals should be logged, but only allowed when a user tells the OS via a dedicated background screen (pop-up message box “OK” clicking should banned)
4. You don’t click “Start” to shut down your OS. That’s just stupid; it makes Redmond look like a bunch of stoned college kids
5. Right clicks on *anything* should allow you to see and **change** all properties (not just listed properties...all properties down to the deepest code level) and those changes should be persistent even through reboots
6. the task bar should have a Google search window (hey, Microsoft didn’t want you to have a Microsoft search window, so Google must be a better suggestion to them)
7. Pop-Ups and message boxes (e.g. click “OK” to continue) should be banned or at least changed to have a timer that self-clicks “OK” after a pre-set amount of time so that no user is compelled to baby-sit a PC during a reboot or installation
8. the user should be able to kill every process and service, even if doing so corrupts the hard drive and turns off the power to widows and orphans
9. software installations and upgrades should be banned from forcing the user to reboot in order to use the new service
10. the user should have the option to request a “max performance” review in which the OS shows how much performance can be gained, and how many “unused/non-mandatory” services/dlls can/must be turned off (or set to a priority so low that they consume less than 1/1000th of CPU time), such that a single program is given full PC power with as little OS overhead as possible...via 1-click
Windows, always doing it the painful way. On the Mac:
Command-Shift-3: Screen shot is saved to a PNG on your desktop
Command-Shift-4: You get a crosshairs showing screen coordinates. Drag what you want captured and it becomes a PNG on your desktop.
Spacebar after previous: Toggles between crosshairs and a camera cursor with which any window you click on (even if it's not in the foreground) becomes a PNG on your desktop.
Adding Control to those puts it in the clipboard instead.
I KNOW that!
I was explaining an easier method for any PC users who might be reading this thread, which the author of the article wasn’t aware of. I’m not defending PCs against Macs.
I had some problems going from Windows and Linux to Mac. All the operating systems are different and you have to approach each with a different mindset.
Learning an operating system is like learning a new language. In many cases, it is like being dropped into a foreign country and being expected to deal with the tasks of daily life. It’s simple once you learn the language and culture, but if you don’t make an effort to learn the language, the simplest things are puzzling.
Actually I saw some great utilities on there, especially the "Time Machine" feature from Apple. Windows users have to use 3rd party tools like Symantec Ghost/LSR or Acronis True Image to get good snapshots like that. Apple is beating Microsoft at it's own game - intergrating as many features as possible into the core O/S package, which is what most users want. This also helps overcome Apple's lesser compatibility with commercial off the shelf software, they just build it all and package it with their systems.
Are you kidding? Backup and Restore in Vista performs the exact function you provide, and best of all it’s in VHD format so you can mount it.
Unless they are Windoze converts, I doubt that. Of course there is an older generation that are brand new users, they require a little hand holding.
Mac Users groups abound, where any one can get free help.
Windoze experts charge a fee.
Actually Preview does this a lot easier, just use the "grab" feature. Grab as many window, or selections as you want then drag and drop from the side window.
"Preview" is a Mac OS X freebie.
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