Yet Another Reason I love OS X

When running Windows and messages pop up to alert you of a IM, error, or program install its very annoying when you are in the middle trying to complete something. I have noticed in OS X that the dock will just keep kind of just barely show an icon moving to alert you instead of taking over your screen.

 

Windows 7 has something similar with the notification area in the task bar. Its up to the program developers to make use of it.

Many people actually don't like the bouncy item for IM. That is why growl is so popular in OSX.

 

Well, its just nice when using a program that you are concentrating on to not be interrupted by annoying windows popping up that you are required to respond to, so you can get back to the actual task you were trying to do.

 

Windows applications did seem to have a bad habit of jumping to the front of the screen and grabbing attention, something that--as far as I can tell--might not even be possible to do on Mac.

 

oh its very possible... just depends how the program decides to put up the alert.

 

At least Windows 7 seems to have toned those down quite a bit. Windows Vista was jus awful with the notifications. Install.exe is a program downloaded from the internet, are you sure you want to open it? Yes. Install.exe needs to access the hard drive, do you want to allow this access? Yes. Install.exe is going to install a program, do you want to proceed? Dammit, I said yes! Install.exe needs to access the internet to check for updates, do you want to do this? Yes!!!1!!eleven!!!

It seemed like Vista would give me at least three or four notifications brought to the front of everything so that I could just install a simple program. It even did that for Microsoft programs (Office 2007, Silverlight, etc.). All I wanted to do was install a program but I had to click through 1000 different screens giving the install package permission to actually install something. I know why Microsoft did this (too many people just clicking through to install stuff on XP and it turning out to be malware/virus/trojan content) but damn, it was annoying. I think Apple even made fun of it in one of their commercials.

Windows 7 has drastically cut down on this but I like that I haven't come across a single program in OS X that has taken over my entire display wanting me to click OK or Cancel when I am installing something. The only bad thing about the notifications jumping up and down in the bottom bar is that I tend to forget about them for a while.

 

One of the little things I love about OSX is scrolling a non-active window. Say you have a few windows open, moving the mouse over a non-active window will allow you to scroll up and down while still maintaining another active window. It's very handy.

 

That's also possible with Windows 7, just depends on the program and how it's written.

 

^^^

But that makes all the difference. In Windows 7, none of my programs or windows behave this way, whereas in OSX it's universal, app-independent.

 

No arguments from me, too bad the people writing the programs couldn't feature it throughout the Windows 7 UI. Sadly though it's not a must have feature for me.

 

I found Skype was giving all kinds of annoying notifications when I was watching video.

(I assume it can be turned of but still)

 

I love this feature, but sadly it doesn't work with Microsoft Office. Unless there's a hidden preference I'm not aware of that allows this feature.

 

Not sure what version of Office you're using but I have 2011 and scrolling on non-active windows works perfectly. I just tried it in Excel, Word and Outlook.

 

I too have 2011, and it doesn't do that feature. I don't remember messing with any settings (pretty much default), and know that if i saw an option for this, I'd take advantage of it in a heartbeat. Do you know how to enable it?

Also, is there anyway to have smooth scrolling in Office 2011? I've tried looking it up, but no luck. As of now, it is really jumpy (basically goes line by line of text, not in any increments).

*Edited*

Just noticed, it works fine in Excel, but not in Word. Which stinks because I use Word way more. Any idea?

 

Hmm, odd. I've never seen any radio button to enable it, it's always worked with every piece of software I have on my Mac that can be scrolled. Weird why it only works in Excel and not Word. As far as smooth scrolling, I can't tell one way or the other if it's working or not but my scrolling certainly isn't line by line text. All I did was install Office the usual way.

 

This works fine for me in word 2011. Not sure what the problem is.

Also, I have never seen an application work this way in windows. Rodster, can you elaborate on where you found this feature in windows?

Scrolling for me in word 2011 is a little bit "notchy", but not line-by-line.

 

Yeah, I just dug through the preferences and searched Word itself, and no help. I'm super jealous of your ability to inactive scroll. It's especially helpful for when i have 2 word documents open, side by side, and am comparing them. I too installed it normally (direct download link from Mac Office website). GRRR

 

Your install may have had something go corrupt as is possible with the other poster who is having trouble. I would use App Zapper or App Delete and fully remove office and then reinstall it and see if that fixes things.

 

When you press Fn + F9, then you can do it?

 

Isn't deleting the files using this in the finder delete everything?

 

Well, I figured it out. Due to whatever reason, I had Office check for updates every week, as is set on default. However, it chose not to check for updates for like 2 weeks, so I was still using 14.0.2. The newest version, 14.1.0, allows inactive scrolling. So, solved.

Stupid autoupdate.