I used to defend Windows to the end.

Even though I recognized the open source ideals of Linux and FreeBSD way back in high school, I was forced to use Windows because the app ecosystem (before that was a trendy phrase) was simply so much better on Windows. There were inexpensive apps for authoring DVDs (DVD Lab!), fantastic audio library software (Winamp + AlbumList!), several good video editing programs at various price levels (Premiere! Vegas! My first film was edited in Pinnacle Studio…), and of course, the essential Adobe Creative Suite. That last one was also available on OSX, of course.

Winamp is such a good program, we still use it for our offline music listening when we have cabin trips.

OSX has long been viable for creating lots of things. But in order to use OSX, you needed a Mac. As a hobbyist system builder who recognized the bang for the buck one got with their own custom desktop, there was no chance in hell I would buy a Mac for many years, with their insanely expensive prices.

Not to mention the fact that OSX, in my mind, was a very inferior operating system — at least when I started knowing people who used them, around 2004. The window management seemed clunky and not intuitive. Seemingly obvious system-level features like being able to expand windows from more than one corner were MIA. I couldn’t stand the context-sensitive navigation toolbars. Gaming support was pathetic. And don’t get me started on the beloved iTunes.

Goddamn, I gotta move my cursor to this one stupid corner. Which means I probably have to grab the title bar to move the window somewhere else onscreen as well to get this where I want it. Argh!

A lot of that has been rectified in the decade that followed. Steam blew open gaming opportunities in many ways. Refinements to the dock and window management started to make it more appealing. When they finally let me resize windows from any side I wanted, I actually felt comfortable using this operating system. (I still maintain that iTunes is a terrible piece of software, but whatever.)

Thing is, they didn’t stop there. When I started regularly using a Macbook Pro for work around 2011, I started noticing lots of nuances that actually… were really nice. Especially compared to Windows. The free OS updates are very appealing to me. Even though they don’t usually carry a bevy of new features, the annual updates are painless and introduce some nice polish.

Let’s talk file explorers.

This (Finder) is a great file explorer.

I’ve got a sidebar that’s almost totally customizable, from text size to turning on or off categories like Devices and Tags. There are no folders that I can’t get rid of, only what I want.

I’ve got several options for views. Thumbnails, tree-style list, and my favorite by far, columns. (Forget cover flow.) Column view is like a super breadcrumb explorer. It just gives you so much context and makes it so easy to move files and folders around. An inspector panel pops up only when needed so as not to waste space, and — my god — hitting spacebar opens up a super effective preview window.

Dat preview window.

Not only is it fast as shit (and I’m sorry, Microsoft, but your new Photo viewing app is the very definition of slow as shit), it previews formats that Windows makes no attempt at processing, like Adobe Illustrator files. You can use the arrow keys to move thru files, and that file you are viewing is selected when you close the preview window.

In Windows, there is no full-screen preview window. Previewing files in Windows drives me crazy. I shoot a ton of pictures. I often flip thru them with the arrow keys, and to do that in Windows, I have to open the Windows Photo Viewer (because seriously, eff that new Photos app). Sure, it’s pretty good at flipping thru them with the arrow keys, but when I find one I want, I have to take note of the file name. When I close the photo viewer, that file is not already selected in the explorer. Of course it isn’t. So I have to scroll and manually find that file.

In OSX, it’s already selected. I don’t have to give a damn what the file name is.

And in Windows, if it’s Illustrator files I’m looking at, I have to open each dang one individually.

It’s stuff like that.

Here’s another example. Renaming files.

Yes, for a long time in OSX, renaming files was a pain in the ass. The Enter key (strangely) allows you to rename one at a time, but there was no such thing as a mass rename. You either had to do everything one by one (ugh) or install an app specifically for renaming files en masse (also ugh). At least Windows had a rudimentary (if somewhat hidden) mass rename feature.

Well, it seems like when Apple finally gets around to fixing an issue, they fix the hell out of it. Here’s the new (since Yosemite, I believe) renaming tool, built right into the file explorer:

It has a ton of options. It’s incredible. I use it all the time.

I know this feature is pretty new, and it’s not necessarily fair to complain about Windows not having it yet. But the thing is, I think it will be a long time before we ever see stuff like this in Windows. I don’t know if it’s because Microsoft doesn’t want to appear like they are copying Apple (even though all of these giant tech companies blatantly do it all the time), or if there’s not enough demand, or if they are honestly incapable of implementing stuff like this. Maybe things will change now that Windows 10 is on something of a regular update cycle, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

The Windows file manager has hardly changed in over a decade. In fact, I’d argue it’s kind of become worse.

There is absolutely zero contrast between the sidebar and the main viewing area. The ribbon (and honestly, I liked the ribbon when they introduced it in Office) has no place here, with a plethora of features exposed that are really unnecessary. Things like the size of thumbnails were once configured with an intuitive slider; now, views are contained in a stupid box. It’s not like there are any new views (certainly no column view). It’s not like we care about the names of these views.

Why have the only customizable part of the UI, the quick access toolbar, be the smallest part, and with such limited options? Why does the settings screen still look like it’s from Windows 3.1? Why are there three different ways to get to it? And why is the only setting I actually care about, turning file extensions on, still hidden in there? (Actually, I just noticed after posting this screenshot that it’s also an option in the ribbon.)

Why can’t I get rid of these stupid, permanent folders in the sidebar? Why is the default view this terrible library thing? Why aren’t there tabs? Why do I have to right-click to Open With, when that used to be exposed in a nifty context-sensitive toolbar in Windows Vista?

Vista’s file explorer, believe it or not, was actually a lot better than this.

Despite all the hubbub over Microsoft introducing a new and improved start menu and all kinds of touch-friendly new apps, where’s the work on the file manager? It’s like they’re scared to touch it. At all. They crudely slapped a ribbon onto it in Windows 8 and called it a day. (Or a decade.) We’re not going to see any improvements to this file manager because if anything, Microsoft will release a touch-friendly new app for browsing files instead of fixing this one.

It’s kind of amazing they don’t actually have something like that already, considering their obsession with giant touch-based buttons (and terrible iconography. Seriously, why do all app icons have to be thin white lines on a single colored square? It’s not cute and it’s not pragmatic!). Honestly, besides the new start menu, it seems like all of MS’s attention has been on bringing their new touch-friendly apps to the forefront. And I haven’t yet found one that is more useful than its website counterpart, third party or first party. I don’t particularly like the design aesthetic, and it seems wildly inconsistent from app to app. It’s no Material Design, that’s for sure.

Hey, at least these apps I’ll never use can be moved around the screen as real windows now!

It took ages for them to incorporate most of the control panel settings into a new settings menu, and it still isn’t done (or all that great). Alt+Tab displays these terrible tiny thumbnails in the middle of the screen — the only new thing about it is a slick new animation. It’s not as good as Apple’s Exposé or the OSX Alt+Tab, which shows huge vector icons and makes immediate intuitive sense. I’m not a fan of the system fonts. Customization, actually, is about zilch compared to previous versions of Windows, despite Microsoft’s mantra of more personal computing.

If Windows 10 wasn’t mostly free, I think there would be a lot more negative criticisms out there. Yes, the start menu’s back. I get it.

They updated the calculator, I’ll give them that. And window snapping saw some nice improvements.

So much of what I do on a computer nowadays happens in the web browser, and that’s pretty system agnostic. But when it comes to system-level stuff like file management, that’s where I need the operating system to have my back, cooperate, and hopefully introduce new things that help me out. Windows has been dropping the ball in this area for the last decade.

Do you agree? Can we start a “Pimp the Windows File Explorer already, Microsoft” campaign now?

* * *

But seriously, fuck iTunes.

This happened while writing this article. I WASN’T EVEN PLAYING ANY MUSIC!

I don’t ever promote my Twitter account, but if you’re into stuff like this —exquisite rants about tech stuff — this is the kind of thing I tweet about. @Toupee. Oops, I promoted it.