I thought it was a bug-infested nightmare that required AV software? At least that's been a common theme in many threads here...
Windows7's copy of the OSX Dock
Well, the Windows Taskbar has been around since 1995, well before OSX. The Win7 functionality is what you had in WinXP, with the addition of the Aero Peek; all other functionality is essentially what existed for a decade or so (Windows XP).
Additionally, my understanding is that the OSX Dock is predominantly for quick launching applications (like on the original NeXT Step OS), where the Windows Taskbar is predominantly to show you what is running. Yes, the OSX Dock has a little blue glow for any given application that is running, but only for the application, not individual documents.
On the other hand, the Win7 Taskbar serves a different purpose: quickly locate what is running. It is well-defined; the center section is running applications only, the stuff on the right is status, and the left side is your menu and any pinned applications you choose to add (none, if you like). It simplifies the grouping (left to right): what you can run, what is running, what is the status of running processes/the system.
I'd say they are radically different in operation, not even close to each other. How that's a copy, I'm not sure...
AeroPeek is a poor substitute for Quicklook on the Mac
I personally like Aero Peek, it pops up in about 1 second on my machine, and then is instant as I move from group to group. But if you don't like it, it's simply right click on the Taskbar, select Properties then uncheck "Use Aero Peek", but I like it. When I have 4 or 5 open files I can use Aero Peek to hover over the group on the Taskbar and then easily select the document I want. VERY handy for popping between PDFs or open drawings.
And that is a big difference from Quicklook; I thought Quicklook was only for files, not running applications. So you can take a quick preview of files before you open them. Note that Windows XP - back in 2003 - introduced the file preview which does the same thing as Quicklook (and which was introduced in 2007).
I use the preview a lot, it previews even my Alibre 3D CAD file drawings and JPGs (something Quicklook doesn't do), making it easy to quickly scan through dozens of files and find exactly what I want.
workers are complaining about the difficulty in even finding the URL entry window in Internet Explorer
I agree about IE8; it's why I run Firefox. Of course, even Firefox and Safari start with the focus not on the URL field but the first field in your web page, so that you have to manually shift focus to the URL field. So errors with entering addresses in the page are more a result of the operation of browsers, I think, than strictly UI.
But you can install and run any browser you like; you're not stuck with IE8 if you don't like it. Why don't you have your clients use a different browser?
Someone needs to educate you about Windows7, then. ;^)>
Well, the Windows Taskbar has been around since 1995, well before OSX. The Win7 functionality is what you had in WinXP, with the addition of the Aero Peek; all other functionality is essentially what existed for a decade or so (Windows XP).
I am well familiar with the Windows Taskbar and when it appeared... don't try to educate me on what I train people about daily. However Windows has tried to add the functionality of the OSX Dock to that task bar and done a poor job of it. Your understanding of the Mac dock is a poor understanding... you don't use it. Part of the failing of the Windows Taskbar is trying to be all things... including holding every open doc. We CAN put docs there if we so choose on the OSX Dock but I can think of no reason to do so. I find, and many previous WindowsXP users find, that it stacks too many processes.
Your understanding of Quicklook is apparently limited as well, Puget... which your claim that Quicklook doesn't allow looking at JPGs tells me. Quicklook allows you to not only look at files, but to display them full size as well... for example it will play any movie (in a window or full screen), play any music or sound file, open and allow you to scan through all pages of any document or PDF file, look at any graphic file, to easily find what you are looking for, all without opening the associated application that created that file, so long as there is a Quicklook plugin for that file format (and there are for most).
For seeking out a particular graphic, it allows me to flip through all the graphics in a folder to find the specific one for which I am looking even though I don't know it's name. I can page through a PDF to find a specific line, if necessary without opening it... all from the Finder, or from an open file requestor.
I agree about IE8; it's why I run Firefox. Of course, even Firefox and Safari start with the focus not on the URL field but the first field in your web page, so that you have to manually shift focus to the URL field. So errors with entering addresses in the page are more a result of the operation of browsers, I think, than strictly UI.
That is not my call. With Windows, when I can, I do recommend Firefox. But several of my clients tell me that they have to run IE... and I have tried to get them to use FireFox. However, they insist that they want Internet Explorer because their online suppliers tell them they must. So, who am I to argue. Even when the focus is on the URL address bar, it is STILL almost invisible. That is a UI design choice made by someone at Microsoft.
To make matters worse, the Dell computers they purchased came with FIVE pre-installed toolbars, all of which have input windows that make finding the almost invisible URL tool bar that much more difficult. The first thing I did was disable four of the five... I left the BING tool bar. (there wasn't too much window space left to actually VIEW the internet after Dell got through with adding things to Internet Explorer!)
Apple made the same stupid transparency decision back in Mac OSX.1... and changed away from it to everyone's relief in OSX.2. There are glaring problems with AERO's transparency that I think will be vastly toned down as people get bored with the "Gee, Whiz, that's neat!" look to their desk tops... just as the Mac users did very quickly with OSX.1. Functionaly changes appearance when appearance gets in the way of function... and it should.