Windows.. it's like coming home! 3389

I suppose because they knew they could get away with it. Let's face it, the current Mac userbase is not likely to be averse to quick transitions or dependent on crucial older applications that they must maintain compatibility with. If they were, they'd probably already have left the platform.

A slow transition would not have done an awful lot to appease the current userbase, and would have delayed Apple's ability to start offering more compelling products to the vast hordes of non-Mac users.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this was all planned from the start, as such. But it was cleary *a* plan that has been kept under consideration all this time.

I've no access to the workings of Jobs' mind or any of the other major decision makers at Apple, but it wouldn't surprise me if all along some or all of them regarded a change to x86 as a question of when, not if.

Aha, and here's me after using this for many months and failing to notice this. Thanks.

You need to click on any of the shortcuts you've dragged to the sidebar in the Finder window, just like you have to click on one of the pre- defined shortcuts in the Start menu.

This is a fair point.

I wouldn't use the Finder as a launcher either, but it is a useful alternative to the folder shortcuts in the Start menu. Not perfect, mind.

I was thinking more of not wasting more screen space with another list of programs that can be launched, as opposed to the list of programs that have already been launched. As I'm sure you've gathered by now, I think the way the Dock doesn't differentiate between launching and switching applications makes both faster.