This article is part 1 of an ongoing series of articles on this site comparing Apple Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" to Red Hat Linux Fedora Core 4 (FC4).  The point of this comparison is not to say that one OS or the other is "better" but rather to point out the differences and indicate where an artist who previously used Mac OS X 10.4 would find Linux to be easier, harder, or the same to use as the Mac.  See the introduction article for more information and links to the other articles in the series.   Although the focus of this series  is on the needs of designers, artists, and content creators, the content should be relevant to any number of Mac users or Linux users.

Note: Since this article had been getting some bad ratings from readers, I decided to spruce it up a bit more and cover the various GUIs in a bit more detail.  If you've been here before and see that this article is different, you will hopefully find it better than before.

This series begins with a look at the Mac OS X and Linux desktops. 

OS X Desktop

Let's start with a screen shot of the Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" desktop:

Examining this screen capture from the top-left corner clockwise around the screen, the following interface components can be identified:

• Apple Menu:  This menu provides access to "About this Mac" (which displays OS version, processor model, total RAM, startup disk name), Software Update (to update the OS and bundled applications), a link to Apple's "Get Mac Software" page, System Preferences (to be discussed in more detail later in the series), Dock preferences, Locations (network configurations for different locations), Recent Items, Force Quit (to kill applications which won't go quietly), Sleep, Restart, Shut Down, and Log Out.
  
• Application Menu Bar: For the currently active application, this bar provides the standard File, Edit, etc., menus that (in other operating systems) would normally appear at the top of an application's window.
  
• Volume Control: Adjusts system volume.
  
• Date/Time Display:  Shows the current date and time.
  
• Spotlight Search Button:  Allows the user to perform searches using Apple's Spotlight technology.
  
• Icons for Mounted Volumes (Disks): The icon provides access to the contents of disk volumes on the system or connected via the network.  Local disks will have a hard disk icon as shown here.  Network volumes will look like folders with a stylized sphere in the middle.
  
• Dock:  This is kind of a "frequently used applications" bar.  I'd equate it to Windows' "quick launch" toolbar.  Click an icon here and the application can be launched, quit, minimized, etc.
  
• Application Window: The basic features of an application window include the three buttons in the upper left corner, which are close (the red button), minimize to the Dock (yellow), and maximize (green).  Application or document names appear in the title bar across the top of the window.  As can be seen below the title bar, some application windows include drop-down lists and other graphical user interface elements such as checkboxes, radio buttons, tabs, and the like.
  
• Finder Window: This is the OS X file browsing application, equivalent to Windows' Explorer, Linux Gnome's Nautilus, and KDE's Konqueror.  It allows the user to navigate through the filesystem and perform basic file manipulation tasks (like deleting files, duplicating them, renaming them, moving them, copying them, etc.).  This will be covered in more detail later in the series.
  

Until recently, OS X offered only a single-button mouse.  With an optional two-button scroll mouse, OS X would provide additional functionality automatically.  For example, a right-click will often bring up a context menu that provides additional functionality for an object.  The scroll device will allow document windows to scroll up and down.  A single left-click selects an item and a double left-click launches an application or opens a document file in an application.

Not visible from a static screen shot are the "animated" features of the OS X GUI.  For example, if an application in the Dock wants to get the user's attention, it will blink or appear to jump up and down.  When a window is minimized, an animation will show it disappearing into its Dock icon.  When a Finder window is opened, it will rise up from the icon on the desktop.

A certain amount of visual customization is possible as well.  The desktop background image can be changed to any of a variety of provided images, button colors can be changed, the color of highlighting in text editing can be adjusted, scroll arrow placement and functionality can be altered, screen savers can be changed, and the Dock's size, magnification, position, and effects can be adjusted along with some other parameters.  Still, the basic GUI always looks more or less like it does in the screen shot above.

The Red Hat FC4 Gnome Desktop

Below is an example of the Red Hat Linux Fedora Core 4 desktop with the Gnome interface:

Examining this desktop from the upper left corner, going clockwise around the screen, we see the following features:

• Applications Menu: Provides access to Accessories, Games, Graphics tools, Internet applications, Office software, Programming tools, Sound and Video tools, and System Tools.  Also provides the user the ability to run any application not explicitly listed in the Applications menu.
  
• Places Menu:  Provides direct access to the user's Home folder, desktop, the "Computer" icon, starts a Search for Files, Connects to a network server, and displays recently-used documents.
  
• Desktop Menu: Provides access to system preferences, system settings, help, screen locking, and log out functionality. 
  
• Launcher Icons: Similar to the OS X Dock, this feature allows the user to launch a web browser, email client, office productivity applications, etc., by simply clicking on an icon.  Additional applications can be added to this panel, just as they can to the OS X Dock.
  
• Reminder Icons: Similar to the system tray in Microsoft Windows, this area of the desktop allows software to display an up-to-date status (e.g., the Red Hat Network Update software indicating that critical updates are available), reminders or warnings (e.g., a disconnected network cable), etc.
  
• Date/Time Display: Provides the current date and time.
  
• Computer Icon: Provides access to the Nautilus file browser and access to all mounted file systems, as well as to a network browser.
  
• Home Directory/Folder Icon: Provides access to the files in the current user's home directory.
  
• Trash Can: Allows the user to trash/delete files no longer of interest.
  
• Panel bar with Virtual Desktop Switcher: Each currently opened application displays a button in this bar, allowing the user to minimize, maximize, quit, etc., that application.  By clicking on one of the gray virtual desktop boxes, the user can switch from the currently-displayed workspace to another one, effectively the same as having additional monitors on the computer.
  
• Show Desktop Button: Allows the user to instantly minimize all the currently opened windows in the workspace to make the desktop visible.
• Application Window: The icons in the upper right corner of the window allow (in order) the window to be minimized, maximized, or closed.  As with the OS X interface, application windows may display drop-down lists, icons, buttons, tabs, and other common GUI interface elements.
  
• Nautilus File Browser: Allows the user to navigate through the available disk volumes on the system to manipulate files and directories.  (The Nautilus file browser will be examined in more detail in a future installment of this series of articles.)
  
  

Conclusion

The exact visual appearance of the OS X GUI and the Spotlight search feature are not available through Linux's Gnome and KDE desktops.  Arguably, neither KDE nor Gnome include an equivalent of the Mac OS X Dock.  However, the taskbar and quick launch buttons in both of those GUIs provide all the same functionality of the OS X Dock and for the purposes of this article are functional equivalents.  If a more exact match is needed, there are (not included with Linux) already clones of the OS X Dock available for KDE and probably also Gnome.

Where Linux gains a definite advantage here is in screen "real estate".  Because it supports multiple virtual desktops "out of the box", Linux provides users with the benefit of having four monitors installed without having to invest in the actual hardware.  By switching from one virtual desktop to another, a Linux user can keep more applications "visible" at one time than a Mac user can.  This is a significant improvement over the Mac's single-desktop design.

OS X's only advantages here are its "eye candy" and Spotlight.  Over the long run, users tend to ignore the eye candy, so that is less of an advantage than it might at first appear.  Spotlight, while quite useful, is nothing that it would be impossible for Linux to eventually incorporate (and/or improve upon).  The Spotlight capability is something more or less "lifted" from Microsoft's plans for XP and Vista (it just hasn't materialized from Redmond yet).

Unless a designer is making extensive use of Spotlight, it would be hard to argue that the UNIX GUI doesn't offer the functionality needed... especially since it does include search functionality that encompasses most of what Spotlight offers.

Related Blogs:

• Boot an Intel Mac into Windows XP, with Apple's Blessing?
• Mac OS X "Tiger" vs. Linux, Part 10 - System Preferences
• Mac OS X "Tiger" vs. Linux, Part 12 - Application Install/Mgmt.
• Mac OS X "Tiger" vs. Linux, Part 13 - Spotlight vs. Linux Search
• Mac OS X "Tiger" vs. Linux, Part 14 - Conclusion

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