I just got a Mac. I’ve been using it almost non-stop since I got it. However, from time to time, I have to use my wifes Windows XP machine to fix something, or to get a new program installed for her. I also have to use a Windows machine at work, and I’ve noticed a few things.

Mainly, my thumb rests on the ALT key. On a Windows machine, I normally use the mouse a lot. You kind of have to. However, I’ve gotten used to certain short keys. The Apple Key (Command, Apple, whatever you want to call it) is used in almost all shortcut keys. It rests between the ALT (Option on a Mac) key and the Space Bar.On a Windows machine, this is the ALT key. I’ve noticed my thumb is there, all the time.

I try to close tabs in Firefox with ALT+W, which doesn’t work. It’s CTRL+W. I try to exit a program using ALT+Q, when it should be CTRL+Q. I thought going to a Mac would be a difficult switch. It’s not really. It was more of a change going to Linux from Windows. They use a lot of the same shortcut keys, but I never really used them, even on a laptop.

With that being said, there are some programs on Mac that I wish had a Windows equivalent. Quicksilver being the main one. Quicksilver is kind of like doing Start -> Run -> and typing in the path to the program you want to launch. However, all you need to do is type the NAME of the program you want to launch.

If I want to run Camino (My browser of choice on a Mac), I just do SHIFT+COMMAND+Space Bar and I get a dialog window. I type in part of the name (Cam) and it will know I want to launch Camino. I can use it for Audium (Messenger program of choice), iTunes, or anything, and it just works. When I ran Linux, I used the GNOME desktop, or more recently, OpenBox. GNOME has the gnome-application-launcher (I think that is what it’s called) which defaults on ALT+F2. Windows, to my knowledge, doesn’t have this built in. Sure, you can do WINDOWS Key + R to bring up the run dialog, but it’s not the same by any means. Quicksilver has auto completion of application names. So did the GNOME program.

I honestly don’t know how I survived for so long without Quicksilver or any of type of application launcher. I know that I don’t plan on going back to Windows any time soon, but Linux is still an option for me. Not sure how the PowerPC ports of my distro of choice (Arch Linux) is, but that is another story to be told at a later time. Got to find my restore disks before I try messing around with Linux on PPC.