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Ever since I purchased my first Mac a few months back, I have slowly been finding myself appreciating the simple nature of the Macintosh operating system. I have also found myself becoming more and more frustrated with Windows (I use Windows at work). In particular, there are three main items that make using a Macintosh just a bit easier than using Windows.

1. Focus:
   In the year I have been using my Mac, I cannot recall a single time when an application has ever stolen the focus of my machine. On Windows, applications steal focus about once a day. If you are not familiar with what I am talking about, think about how many times you have been writing a Word document only to have Internet Explorer jump into focus to warn you that a download is done, or a secure connection is expiring, or a page cannot load. This type of focus theft often results in lost productivity as key strokes are lost in the transition and you have to reread what was written and determine what went missing.

   On my Macintosh, this attention theft has yet to happen. Firefox (or Safari) never jumps in front of Word to warn me about a page not loading. In fact, no application ever steals focus to warn me about anything. The closest my Macintosh has come is to have the applications icon bounce around at the bottom of the screen. This can be a bit distracting, but it never steals key strokes or causes me to lose my focus.

2. Shortcuts:
   Other than your basic shortcuts for Copy/Paste/Cut, I was never a big fan of shortcut keys on Windows. Now I am beginning to understand why; they lack consistency. With my Macintosh, I can quit any application with Apple-Q. If I want to close just the in-focus window but not the entire application, Apple-W will accomplish that. Need to minimize the window, just hit Apple-M and it is done. And those shortcuts are consistent across all applications. Of course some applications have app specific shortcuts, but the basics are always the same.

   On Windows, it does not always work so cleanly. So while you hit Alt-F-C to quit Windows Explorer, you need to hit Alt-F-X to quit Internet Explorer. From my experience, most programs alternate between Alt-F-C and Alt-F-X, but the level of effort required to memorize which apps use which shortcuts typically leads to frustration and abandonment of shortcuts entirely. The end result is that more time is spent navigating the mouse through the necessary menu items than is truly warranted.

3. Shortcuts without Focus:
   The only feature I have found more useful than the above two mentioned, is the combination of the two. On both Windows and Mac you can change which program you are focused on by either hitting Alt-Tab (Windows) or Apple-Tab (Macintosh). The difference, on Macintosh you can hit Apple-Tab to change the focus, and then before letting go of the Apple key, hit Q to Quit the application. You never have to look at the actual application to close out of it. I will refrain from giving specifics, but I am sure you can think of a few instances when this ability could come in, handy.

So there you have it. Three little time-saving features that the Macintosh has, that Windows simply lacks. Can you think of some additional ones?