expose on windows?

[robertcloud]

Hi, I use macs but I also have pcs with windows xp. Is there anything like the panther expose feature that can be had in Windows xp?

Expose is a feature that allows the windows to be easily managed and display the desktop etc...

That is really the only reason I still use macs and I'd like to know if WinXP has anything like it.

Thanks alot

 

[kylef]

I'm not familiar with the Mac, but is this task switcher similar to what you are referring to?

 

[robertcloud]

thats pretty nice

but is there anything like this?
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: robertcloud
thats pretty nice

but is there anything like this?
http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/expose/

Not really. There was an attempt once at a program to try somthing liek that I *think* but it never really worked very well, and would crash often..

Thats just another big selling point of OS/X.

The closest of anything I know is similar to what kylef showed. Here is a similar one direct from Microsoft, here. (Alt-Tab Replacement).

 

[stash]

You'll probably have to wait for Longhorn to see something similar...then again, maybe you'll have to wait longer.

 

[kylef]

Type the F10 key, and Exposé instantly tiles all of your open Photoshop windows while causing all of the open windows of other applications to fade to a delightful shade of grey. The clutter cleared, you can easily find the document you need.

That's just funny. A "delightful" shade of grey. Apple takes this artistic design stuff way too seriously. I wonder how many artists they employed to pick the shade of grey?

And honestly... with a PC you can easily afford two displays, giving you twice the desktop area to "un-clutter" your open windows. With Dual-mon, and some kind of Alt-tab replacement... your productivity in Windows should be more than a match for OS-X.

 

[BobL]

It's easy to say that if you've never used it, but I promise you kylef, if you spent any time with a mac using expose, you'd sorely miss it when you were on a windows box.

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: BobL
It's easy to say that if you've never used it, but I promise you kylef, if you spent any time with a mac using expose, you'd sorely miss it when you were on a windows box.

Yup. Its a really nice feature.


Plus not everyone CAN afford a second monitor.. theres not only the price but space issue.

 

[earthman]

I thought that's what the taskbar was for, so you could just click the window you want.

 

[QMaze]

Yes Longhorn is apparently trying to copy that feature, it is a nice feature.

 

[kylef]

OK, I tried it out... and while it is visually appealing, it is WAY too slow as a means for task switching, IMHO.

And, frankly, isn't it unnecessary? How cluttered does one's desktop get? I have 12 application windows open right now, but I am only looking at two of them. If I want to get to another one, I either Alt-Tab to it (showing me a picture of each app), or I click on the taskbar. It's just not that difficult to do.

Now that I've used it, I think Expose fits quite squarely in the corner of "eye candy."

 

[caledai]

Mac has task switching. Apple Tab works the same way. Expose is eye candy only if you do not remember the name of the document you are working on. MS Word doesn't have tabs. It seperates everything, andyou can see the document easily. there is a program that allows multiple desktops like linux on windows however. its called altdesk.

 

[dawks]

Originally posted by: kylef
OK, I tried it out... and while it is visually appealing, it is WAY too slow as a means for task switching, IMHO.

And, frankly, isn't it unnecessary? How cluttered does one's desktop get? I have 12 application windows open right now, but I am only looking at two of them. If I want to get to another one, I either Alt-Tab to it (showing me a picture of each app), or I click on the taskbar. It's just not that difficult to do.

Now that I've used it, I think Expose fits quite squarely in the corner of "eye candy."

Its much easier to get a preview of 20 windows on the screen and simply click the one you want then to ALT+TAB between them all. Not to mention you can do it within a single application too, so for those with 25-30 images open in Photoshop, it can really speed things up (you can CTRL+Tab between images on windows, but theres no 'preview' option).

The Fast User Switching feature is mostly Eye Candy, but impressive Eye Candy at that

 

[NightCrawler]

This what he is looking for: http://www.oxygen-inc.com/premium/InsaniSoft/iEx.htm

 

[NightCrawler]

http://www.entbloess.com/index.php?page=home

http://www.winplosion.com/overview.html


Shareware apps that do the expose thing.

 

[timswim78]

How about Linux? Do KDE or GNOME have features like this?