HyperDock puts some Win7 in your OS X Dock

my mac os x 10.6.4 stopped working after installing this app so I had to remove it in safe mode.. :(

I love Windows 7s UI much more than previous. I never liked the Peek feature personally. I also love OSX and have since 10.4 when I came over from the windows world.

But the debate here is so freaking funny/sad.

If someone likes the Hyperdock functionality, then wth is wrong with that? Some like the hover-and-see more than click-hold to see a preview.

Geez people....

arguable the worst feature on windows 7.

haha gotta love these OS debates. everyone gets so mad.

1st: I recently switched to a mac and I do love it.

2nd: Windows 7 is a much better user experience.

windows haters should actually use it before they comment on it. Most of the mac lovers who get so angry about these things haven't even spent the time getting to know windows.

Thanks for this TUAW. Hyperdock is a great app for the casual end user like myself with an old Macbook. The snap feature is also wonderful, I'd been looking for a good Aero Snap-like feature that would make windows only half the screen. I'll definitely be considering buying this once it gets out of beta.

Doesn't work with Synergy KVM, by the way. You need to be using a mouse that's directly connected to your Mac or just the trackpad.

Took me a couple minutes of debugging to figure that one out.

I haven't used Win7 enough to know how useful the feature really is, but I don't agree that using a mouse makes anything more efficient. I think Expose is wonderful in that it lets me keep my fingers on the keyboard. I can, probably quicker than having to use a mouse to 'click' something in either OS, see all the windows, use the arrow key to navigate, and be on the screen that I want in no time.

"I find aeropeek in windows task bar to be quite jarring whenever i have to use windows. I hover over a bar item and all of a sudden thumbnails popup that i don't care about and when i move it over to choose one, all these random outlines of windows appear and keep changing when moving the mouse over those thumbnails, which is distracting .... "

I completely agree. I have to use W7 at work but I don't like aeropeek.

The main thing I want to bring to the table here is this: these GUI gimmicks look nice and all, but we should all know that the most efficient app switching/tab switching/window finding is with keyboard shortcuts. If you're faster with a mouse than you are with the keyboard, you're doing it wrong. OSX's Cmd-Tab app-switcher, Cmd-` window-switcher (within applications) and browser Tab-switching (assignable and different in Safari/Firefox/Chrome--unless you make it the same--which you should!) is easily the fastest way to navigate apps and windows.

If you like AeroSnap on Windows 7, check out SizeUp (I'm not affiliated, just in love). Shortcuts for moving windows to horizontal/verticle halves, quadrants, centering windows, "maximizing" windows, sending between multiple displays (I love this!), sending between spaces (but Spaces = not productive), and more.

"For example, it might have taken it eight years to bring the draggable reorder feature from OS X 10.0's Dock into the Windows Taskbar, but they got there in the end and I'm a happier user for it." Erm... you've been able to re-order items in the Windows Taskbar since Windows XP....

There's something many of you are missing with what Aero Peek actually does and why it's a better UI approach than dock expose. Windows 7 allows developers to not only display open windows in the hover state, apps can display tabs if they take full advantage of Aero Peek. Internet Explorer for instance displays all open tabs in the hover state which means you can visually pick which tab you want to switch to when reopening or bringing Internet Explorer to the forefront. OSX does not display tab content, only windows which means if you want to switch to a different tab in Safari you have to first open the app then pick from the text labels, not visual window states.

This brings us to the other important distinction between what OSX and Windows 7 do. The hover states in Windows 7 are actually instances of the windows, even if they are minimized. For instance, if I have a video playing (not a very practical example but it's easy to understand) and I minimize the window then hover over the thumbnail, I'll still see the video playing. Not only that but Windows is somewhat aware to the content in the app so a video or audio app might display controls for playing and pausing the media. Dock expose does neither. A video would still play in the background but OSX uses thumbnails and not actual instances of the app windows themselves so you would hear the audio but the video would be the last state prior to minimizing.

The biggest difference is with the tabs. This makes switching between apps to be quicker and visual, thus more intuitive, because you are seeing what you are switching to and not relying on simple text labels. By using hover states instead of a click and hold action, Windows 7 allows the user to hover over the individual "thumbnails" and bring them temporarily to the forefront, even if they are minimized. This way, even if the "thumbnail" is too small you can still see the content if you hover over the "thumbnail" for a second. Click the "thumbnail" and you commit to opening that window. It's a little more intuitive then Dock Expose all in all.