My very first computer was an Apple II C, which was made back before "Mac" existed. With that exception I had been a PC user until 2008 when I got my 24" iMac. I was immediately impressed with the difference and can't imagine going back to a PC. After three hearty years of use, however, there are still some things that Windows got right which bug me about my Mac. In no particular order:
- Lack of games
3D RTS and FPS games in particular are severely lacking for the Mac. The one exception is the new StarCraft which was created with a native OS X version. Others though, if not missing entirely, offer only slow-performing or buggy ports. - Glaring file management deficiencies
If you want to move files around you can't cut and paste them. You navigate to the first folder, open a new window, navigate to another folder, drag and drop the files. Alternatively you drag the file, hovering over the directories you want to enter as you go. But while trying to hold down left click and move your mouse all over the place don't accidentally let go! You could drop your file in some unknown location. Apple users who have never used PC have some ridiculous half-baked defense for how this cut is different from text cut and paste because if the clipboard is overwritten, the file doesn't disappear. It doesn't matter. Having to go through these ridiculous hoops every time you want to move a file is not worth it. This, as well as other more minor issues with Finder can be solved with a third-party add-on called TotalFinder.
Second, there is no file management from file browse windows in applications. Often you need to rename, move, or delete a file as part of the file opening process. It could easily be included as it's obviously using the same Finder source, but Apple disabled it on purpose deciding you don't need that functionality there. Well guess what, I do. And it's incredibly annoying.
Of less significance is the missing "Last opened" column in Finder's list view. It's in the options dialog but bizarrely greyed out. The attribute shows once the file is clicked on in Column view, but forget sorting your files by this attribute. No one knows how to fix it and no one knows why it works this way. - No uninstall
This one is pretty crazy. Windows has an actual install/uninstall feature for your applications. While installing applications on Mac is more simple than Windows, uninstall doesn't exist at all! When you run an application you've installed on your Mac (like Windows) they require files in various places all over your filesystem. Windows applications come with uninstallers that neatly remove these files. In OS X, you delete the main application with no way to know which random and now useless files that application has left scattered all over your hard drive. There are third-party applications to fix this problem, such as AppZapper, but it's crazy that OS X doesn't have that functionality built in. - Home and end keys don't work right
Home and end should take you to the beginning and end of a line of text. That's how it works in Linux, BSD, Windows, and every other operating system I've ever used except for OS X. As a programmer this is especially annoying. On OS X, Home and End take you to the beginning and end of a document, but only sometimes! It actually varies across different applications. As a Unix user I was comfortable changing the backend key binding configuration file, but most applications ignore those settings, OS X doesn't enforce them, and once again you're left to third party applications to fix this issue, such as DoubleCommand. - No wireless keyboard with number pad
Programmers, accountants, and several other professions need to be able to type in numbers easily, especially in concentration for particular tasks. Well if you find yourself in that class of users, you can forget having the convenience of a wireless keyboard because Apple decided the two shouldn't go together. - No cursor customization
For many things in OS X, Apple decided how things should work for you, and whether you agree with their decision or not, there's no way to change it even with advanced or under the hood settings. Included in this list is your cursor. In Windows customizing your cursor is a nice, and easy to make, personalization. In Mac, you can forget it. The only customization you're permitted is the size of your cursor for accessibility's sake, but let's hope your poor vision keeps you from realizing that the increased cursor size makes the pointer highly pixelated and therefore ugly with no anti-aliasing around the edges. - Inadequate brightness controls
On many Mac monitors including my iMac, the lowest brightness setting is extremely bright. If you've ever had to start your computer in a dark room to use it for the first time, prepare to squint for 10 minutes in discomfort while your eyes adjust. Here again, users must resort to third party tools to resolve this such as DarkAdapted. - Inconsistent file extension handling
Sometimes, they show, sometimes they don't show, sometimes you can edit them and sometimes you can't. Sometimes they play a role in determining what application can open the file and sometimes they don't. You can hide the extension manually for one filetype but not for all in that filetype. It's all very messy whereas in Windows it's very consistent. - No defrag
The myth that Mac hard drives don't need to be defragmented is rooted in the OS's ability to prevent fragmentation when dealing with files under 20 MB. However, many users often add and remove large movie, audio, or application files that are over this size. They cause fragmenting of the file system just like in Windows, only windows comes with a utility to defrag your drive while on a Mac you need to buy one third party, such as iDefrag, for $30. Optionally you can choose not to defrag your drive, in which case your computer will become slower the longer you own it as application and other large files you use gradually have to traverse your hard drive for longer and longer periods of time to execute. - Pomp
Steve Jobs, Apple, and Mac users on the whole have some kind of weird and unwarranted superiority complex which is a major turn off to the brand. I find that most aspects of the machines are superior to most PCs I've owned, but that doesn't mean Apple is God's gift to the Earth and anything that's not Apple is a steaming pile of garbage. Once when buying an iMac the Apple employee actually told me "congratulations" instead of thank you. I almost returned the machine on the spot. Unfortunately there are no third-party tools that can depomp the Apple culture.
This isn't an exhaustive wishlist, of course. There are many other things like being able to set Finder to search system files by default and the sluggishness of Spotlight as an application launcher that I wish were different. These items are a subset of my overall list which I find the most offensive and not only to me but to Mac users in general, save perhaps the last item which Mac users in general help to create.
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