Features Microsoft should implement from Mac OS into Windows
Preface: I just wanted to give some context of my experience with both OS’s. I used to own a Windows Computer until December 2017 when I decided to switch over to the Macbook Pro. I still interact with Windows frequently with a lot of my school work having to be done on a Windows Machine and my Macbook Pro being dual-booted with both Windows and Mac OS. Although my preference is Mac OS, the features I have in this article are meant to be useful for both Mac users thinking to make the jump to Windows and Windows users currently using the platform. Some of these features may already be in development but these are just my suggestions based on public knowledge. This article was made with the versions of Windows 10 and Mac available on Jan 10, 2019 in mind. With all of that said I hope you enjoy the article.
- Add more cross platform integration with Mobile Devices
With the recent news that Microsoft is ending its support for Windows Phone, I think that it is time for Windows to go all in and try making the experience of the Android user with Windows similar to one of an iPhone User with a Mac. Given that Apple is unlikely to allow Microsoft to build any of that type of functionality in iPhone, Android is the only platform where Microsoft can try achieving this.
It seems like they have recognized the need for this as well with them recently releasing the Your Phone App. Although a step in the right direction, the functionality it offers pales in comparison to the functionality Apple’s Continuity offers right now. Right now, the Your Phone app only offers the ability to respond to simple text messages and access photos on your Android device.
This is a good start but is nowhere near getting the cross functionality that Apple has established. One big feature that is missing is the ability to place and receive phone calls through your laptop and tablets. This feature must be added into their application if they are to challenge the ecosystem that Apple has made. Other smaller features that Microsoft should implement is the Smart Wifi tethering and NFC integration. Smart Wifi tethering essentially allows users to easily tether their laptops with their phone’s personal hotspot and login to Wifi SSID’s already authenticated by the Android phone with one tap. This is a very useful feature and should not be so hard to implement into the current application. Aside from this, Microsoft needs to find a way of challenging Airdrop for easy file transfer. My solution would include NFC, which is already Android’s answer to data transfer between devices. Of course this will require Microsoft to push manufacturers to include NFC chips in their laptops but I believe this push will be warranted especially given the functionality it offers Windows and Android users.
2. Change Windows Search to be more like Mac OS Spotlight
Spotlight search is hands down one of the most useful features that Apple has implemented in Mac OS as a simple shortcut command + space gives you the ability to search your entire laptop and the web with the key words you feed it. It works pretty well and is a daily go to for a majority of Mac users.
In comparison Windows Search seems to be a cluttered mess with a lot of the results not necessarily being relevant and being hidden in sub folders rather than organized in one page. This is furthered by the face that it seems to miss alot of files that you are searching for and instead gives back internet results. Another difference is Spotlight can search for the keyword you input within your files as well and will return it as a result while Windows Search can only returns files whose name includes the keyword.
I believe one reason for this is because of the way indexing in APFS (Apple File System) differs to NTFS(New Technology File System) and Microsoft will have to find a way to work around this. One personal problem I have is with Windows search being in the corner making it harder to see results while Spotlight is in the middle of the screen. This might just be a UI preference but it seems like Microsoft realizes it too with a report coming out of them testing Windows search in the centre instead. I think it would really benefit users to see a similar implementation of Spotlight in Windows.
3. STOP AUTOMATIC WINDOWS UPDATE
This is one of the biggest reasons I switched to Mac from a Windows and is definitely an issue that even the biggest Windows fans hate. Getting an automatic Windows update and then having to wait till it’s over is one of the most frustrating things I have ever gone through as a consumer. It is surprising that even with so much backlash even in 2019 this still exists! I understand that there has to be trade offs between user experience and security but in my opinion this trade off is way too high in this case. There are many cases about users losing all of their information on a file they were working on because Windows 10 started an automatic update. It is so problematic to the point that a quick google search will net thousands of articles detailing work arounds on turning off Windows Update. Professional users are most affected as even if they save, they can lose some data because of their heavy applications not being able to quit properly. I believe that there exists a much better system where both users are made to get updates for security but their data is not possibly corrupted in the process.
4. Add features such as Quick Look and Picture in Picture
I cannot tell you how many times I have forgot that Windows does not have Quick Look and have just sat there repeatedly tapping on my space bar waiting for the quick preview of the file to come up. Quick Look is so useful on Mac OS and is definitely a feature that should be considered to be added to Windows.
I cannot tell you how much time I have saved from this simple feature and urge Microsoft to build something similar in their next update.
Picture in Picture is also very useful with the ability of seeing your video while on other programs being very convenient. On Windows, you have to play around with the tabs to overlay video on top of other programs or download Chrome for the picture in picture functionality.
The Chrome implementation on Windows is not bad however having it in built to the OS would be much less taxing to the system resources.
5. Simplify the Experience
Right now I feel as if the start menu is too cluttered and has too many tiles being irrelevant and unnecessary. Microsoft has taken big steps in Windows 10 compared to Windows 8 in this regard but there is still room for improvement.
98% of users will probably never use tiles such as Asphalt 8, Minecraft and Bejewelled and having them as default tile seems to just creat a cluttered experience. One legacy issue that Windows has had is bloatware and I hope this will be addressed in future versions. I understand that Microsoft cuts a deal with laptop manufacturers to let them do so but it has seriously hurt the reputation of their product.
Another feature that I believe should be implemented is a keyboard shortcut for the snipping tool like Mac has. (Edit: Seems like Windows does have this functionality by doing Cmd+Shift+S as Gerald pointed down below.Thanks for pointing that out.) Right now if you want to screenshot your entire screen into a file on your desktop, you must first click the print screen key, open an application like Paint, paste the image into Paint and then save it to your desired location. On Mac you do all of that with one keyboard shortcut of Command + Shift + 3. Similarly if you want to only save part of your screen onto a file on your desktop in Windows you must first open the snipping tool application, choose the desired part of the screen you want to capture and then save it onto your desktop. On Mac it is as a simple keyboard shortcut Command + Shift +4 to do it. Small things like this will add up and can be a great addition for the next version of Windows.
One big difference I think Microsoft should at least take a look at is the way Windows handles installation/unistallation of programs. In Windows, you must install the program using an installer and then uninstall by going through command prompt. This same thing on Mac is as simple as dragging and dropping into your application folder or dropping the application into your trash folder. Now I am not saying that Microsoft should copy Mac’s implementation but I believe that they should try to see if there is a better way of implementing the install and uninstall processes to be more user friendly.
6. Make Settings More Centralized
Right now on Windows, there are 3 different settings menus that you have to go through to make changes. This not only complicates the UI unnecessarily, but really seems to offer no benefits to the end user.
These different sub menus should at least be unified in one central menu as making any change currently requires you to go through all 3 to locate where you can change the setting. On Mac, there is one menu called System Preferences and all system changes you want to make are made there. Each submenu will have its own variety of settings but at least all of it is in one centralized location. I believe it should really be that simple to avoid confusion.
7. Make the Default Programs that the OS comes with more useful
Right now it seems like the programs that comes with a default Windows 10 PC are ignored with a lot of users downloading third party software instead. I believe this speaks to the quality and functionality these programs and in the future I want to see them imporve. Microsoft has definitely taken steps in improving some their default apps (ie. Edge compared to Internet Explorer) but for many users these apps are basic versions of the programs they would rather use. Mac on the other hand comes out of the box with a variety of enticing applications and sees a lot of them continually used by their users. Mail, Calendar, Safari and iTunes have a far better reception than their Microsoft counterparts. To add to this Mac also offers Pages, Numbers,Keynote, GarageBand and iMovie for free while Office apps behind a pay wall thus giving Mac users the advantage of having productivity software without having to pay.
Now of course, I understand that Microsoft makes a lot of money from people buying their Office Software but then they should at least include some software like Preview out of the box where their users can have a good experience opening documents and PDF’s. Right now without downloading Adobe Reader, PDF’s open in Microsoft Edge which is just a web browser compared to the fully robust PDF viewing software that is Preview. Some of you may argue that Apple only includes this because of the high cost of their devices but I still believe that Microsoft should improve the quality of their default applications in the next iteration of Windows
9. Fix Bugs and reduce the amount of glitches and crashes
One of the most frustrating things for me when I was on Windows was the amount of bugs, glitches and crashes I ran into. I understand that there are a lot of devices that Microsoft has to support and thus each may run into issues dependent on the hardware but there has to be more of a push on manufacturers to make better driver software. Android also has a variety of devices its supports and in my experience is more stable than a copy of Windows. Now I understand that Android is a mobile OS compared to Windows being a full desktop OS but Microsoft still hast to improve the quality of their testing in the next version. Microsoft has seem to be struggling with their quality checks since Windows XP and I hope to see it improve in the future. Windows 10 was a very good step in the right direction but Microsoft still has a way to go in this area.
10. Automatic Dark Mode based on time
This is a feature I would actually like to see in both Mac OS and Windows as it seems like a reasonable feature that they should have included to with dark mode to begin with. It is pretty surprising that neither already has it and I hope that the next update for both includes this. Right now I have to get third party extensions in order to deal with this.
I hope the features I talked about didn’t seem like a criticism of the operating system as it was just meant to be a few suggestions of features I would like to see in the platform! Do not think that I only support Mac as I definitely recognize some clear advantages that Windows has over Mac. This article was just meant to showcase some of the features that I think Microsoft should try implementing in their next iteration of Windows given how useful they are to Mac OS users. I might do another one on what I feel Apple should add in their next update of Mac OS.
I hope you enjoyed reading this article and will stay tuned for more articles coming in the future! Please let me know if I may have forgotten a feature or you disagree with something I have said.
I started a Podcast! You can check it out using the links in the article below!
Please check out more great content by Waterloo students at uWaterloo Voice, a publication dedicated to showcasing articles by uWaterloo students and alumni:
If you want to reach out, do not hesitate to connect with me on Linkedin. Here is a link to my profile:
Thanks for reading,
Daivik Goel
