The switch between Android and iOS is more jarring. Once you get really used to Android, iOS seems very unintuitive by comparison.

You're not alone. I made the switch this year. Primarily for working on an iOS project. There are days I miss Windows quite a bit. For most things, animations are minimal. Things just pop up, switch gears, and do what you want almost instantly. Explorer is far better than Finder for most things, even if it's also substantially uglier.

Just for a simple example: I change to arbitrary folders frequently. Control-L in Explorer, type the path, and I'm there the second I hit return. Done. Finder has a similar method using Command-Shift-G. But not only is the shortcut more awkward but going to the path has a delay. Not a long one. But it's noticeable and annoying.

Oh well. Spotlight does seem to work better than 10/11's built-in search. So maybe it's a wash. Still miss Windows sometimes.

At any rate, I did make one change in MacOS which long term Mac users might find heretical. When using my external mechanical keyboard, I have Command mapped to the Control key. Control (which doesn't get used often) mapped to the Windows / Super key. Alt / Option is unchanged.

It's a bit amazing how much easier this made everything. Most of the usual keyboard shortcuts I had in Windows now map 1:1 on my Mac. Which is great for the muscle memory.

Cmd+Shift+G in finder lets you type a path and jump to it instantly.

I mentioned it above. It does. On my machine (M1) there's sometimes very brief pauses while typing the path. I assume it's doing some sort of validation. And then sometimes there's a brief pause after hitting return. Complete with spinner.

It's not a huge delay in either case. Just a few ms delay. Not really a big deal. But annoying because Explorer is instant and Finder is not.

"AltTab brings the power of Windows’s “alt-tab” window switcher to macOS."

brew install alt-tab

https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app

Not a user or the developer, but happened across this recently.

Just in case you're not aware, Command+` is a necessary secondary shortcut for use with Command+Tab.

Is there any way to disable this behaviour altogether? After almost a year of being forced to use MacOS at work, I still can't wrap my head around having two sets of window to switch between (inter-app level + intra-app level). I REALLY wish they included an option to just treat all the windows as top level!

Edit: found elsewhere on the thread this app that purports to fix it: https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/

There’s never gonna be a first party way to change this because macOS has always been “app-centric” whereas Windows has always been “window-centric”.

It’s two different takes on the desktop metaphor—same reason that apps (usually) remain running on macOS even once you’ve closed the last window, which is another difference that often annoys both sides when they have to use the other OS.

I’d love to hear what’s good about Windows Explorer. I used Windows for many years and never found it (edit: Explorer) satisfactory.