OK. I have no delusions that I will settle this matter once and for all for everybody, but I thought I would throw a bone out and address a frequent comment that gets blithely bandied about when some people take a look at Ground Control for the first time (mostly from Digg). It is usually uttered by the “hardcore” Mac fanatic or the ex-Windows switcher who is still going to regular scream-therapy sessions to “work out” his inner blue-screen of death nightmares.
Typically, the comments go something like this, “OMG! That totally reeks of Windows!” or, “that totally reminds me of Vista” The thought behind it is, because it is associated with Microsoft therefore it must be inherently evil, horrible and avoided at all possible costs. What a bunch of mindless, Kool-Aid™ drinking poppycock! And I own stock in Apple Kool-Aid™.
I am as much of an Apple evangelist as any other Machead I’ve met and I truly believe that OS X is a superior platform to Windows and that most people will eventually come to that realization too. But, that doesn’t mean that Microsoft is not capable of coming up with good ideas on occasion that Apple just didn’t think of. Sure, Microsoft may have been initially inspired by carefully picking apart the Mac OS to see what they could copy and get away with, and what they needed to do to try to make Windows look somewhat different than a Mac. But, as most that are in the design profession realize, it is not uncommon to be completely devoid of ideas for a particular concept yourself, but as soon as someone else presents their solution, all of a sudden, your mind bursts forth with fresh, new ideas–most not even closely related to what was presented, you just needed a fresh perspective to kick-start your creative process. There are smart people at Microsoft capable of coming up with at least a somewhat creative idea. Believe it or not, there are also many ex-Apple employees working in Redmond and are contributing their Apple experience to the Redmond team (gasp!).
Ground Control is all about the user experience and having the resources you need at your fingertips to get your job done. OK, so you don’t mind pressing F12 and going off into a parallel universe for a moment to get your widget fix. So you don’t mind firing up iCal to check your To Do list. But, does it offend your senses so deeply that you can’t bear to look upon a bar that runs along the bottom of your Mac’s screen and provides all that functionality and more because it “reminds you of the Windows task bar”? Because of that unfortunate coincidence, the idea is disqualified from any further consideration? Ouch!
The point I am trying to make is that there is only so many places on a screen to put information like this. With the main menu taking up the top, that leaves three other sides. Obviously, your horizontal side is going to have the real estate advantage in that it will intrude into the rest of the workspace the least. But there are advantages to having a sidebar version (which also falls under Vista comparison attack). Therefore, I have incorporated both into Ground Control.
Besides the added functionality of Ground Control and Mac-zealot rants aside, one of the benefits of being similar to Windows and Vista, is that Ground Control has the potential to appeal to a large segment of potential switchers that will see in Ground Control something familiar but with far more functionality than what Microsoft has ever offered to them.
So, all that is to say, please don’t be too quick to see a bar at the bottom of the screen and throw the baby out with the bath water. Show some mental acumen and at least pretend to entertain the merits of the solution rather than just knee-jerk react and bias yourself against an app that has the potential to revolutionize the way you work. It’s the way we have wanted to work ever since we first heard about the Dock, Dashboard and Task Bar but were disappointed that they didn’t deliver and change our lives like we were hoping.
There. I just had to get that off my chest. Now back to the drawing board.
