@The ho hum nick
The Expose clone I refer to in Vista is Flip 3d. It's not a perfect comparison, since they took different approaches in the presentation, but they both serve the same function - display smaller versions of the open windows so that users can easily pick the one they are trying to get to.
As for comparing 10.3 to 10.4 feature additions to an XP service pack, here's Microsoft's page on what was added in SP2 - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/features.mspx There's nothing wrong with what MS added, and in fact I think it was an excellent service pack, but it was just that - a service pack. It fixed IE problems, improved the firewall and its associated default settings, added in some new drivers, and rolled up some patches. It did exactly what a good service pack is supposed to do - fix things that were broken. The 10.4 upgrade added new features like Expose, Spotlight, Dashboard, smart folders, video chat, grid capabilities, Core Image/Video, and Automator, plus it fixed things - much like what Vista is doing above XP now. It did exactly what a new version of the OS is supposed to do - fix things and add new things.
Everything else in our back and forth is just opinions about what "should have been" in old versions (there's plenty that could be said about both platforms), the relative merits of certain features (again, applies to both camps), and whether going from some old version to another was "worth it" (ditto). Since my goal here was to inform someone about the Apple versioning scheme, not get sucked into a debate which OS is "better" (an exercise in futility), I'm going to get back to coding now!
The Expose clone I refer to in Vista is Flip 3d. It's not a perfect comparison, since they took different approaches in the presentation, but they both serve the same function - display smaller versions of the open windows so that users can easily pick the one they are trying to get to.
As for comparing 10.3 to 10.4 feature additions to an XP service pack, here's Microsoft's page on what was added in SP2 - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/features.mspx There's nothing wrong with what MS added, and in fact I think it was an excellent service pack, but it was just that - a service pack. It fixed IE problems, improved the firewall and its associated default settings, added in some new drivers, and rolled up some patches. It did exactly what a good service pack is supposed to do - fix things that were broken. The 10.4 upgrade added new features like Expose, Spotlight, Dashboard, smart folders, video chat, grid capabilities, Core Image/Video, and Automator, plus it fixed things - much like what Vista is doing above XP now. It did exactly what a new version of the OS is supposed to do - fix things and add new things.
Everything else in our back and forth is just opinions about what "should have been" in old versions (there's plenty that could be said about both platforms), the relative merits of certain features (again, applies to both camps), and whether going from some old version to another was "worth it" (ditto). Since my goal here was to inform someone about the Apple versioning scheme, not get sucked into a debate which OS is "better" (an exercise in futility), I'm going to get back to coding now!