Don't understand OSX

I went into an apple store a few days ago, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to use the mac.

I'm used to all my programs being in the start menu and all the programs that are open being down on the taskbar.

On OSX there's that bar that goes across the whole bottom. I'm not sure if those are all the programs on the computer, probably not, but i couldn't find any other programs. Also I had no idea what programs were currently open.

I'd say Vista is pretty intuitive compared to that. Start....where you begin. What's running....the taskbar.

Cmon apple fanboys, argue that.

there is a little arrow on the bottom of the application in the bar on the bottom. that shows that the program is running. and there are more programs in the applications folder which is in the hard drive icon thing on the desktop.

i find OS X a lot easier than OS 9. it was a really big jump for mac at the time when they updated system software. of course i grew up using macs yet im a pro at windows, i like XP better than vista though. i use both windows and mac often.

seriously, no fanboy war please. they are both good operating systems and they both have their Ups and Downs. i like them both equally

I like icons on my desktop. A start menu with all my programs. And a taskbar.

The Dock (the bit at the bottom with the application icons) can be customised to add in all the apps you want for quick start up. Just drag the app's icon onto the dock and it will stay there. Move it about left and right if you want to reorder.

If you like 'em on your desktop, then put them there or use aliases/shortcuts (press the command/apple key and the alt key together and drag the app icon to create a short cut, or right click > create alias) to point to them. I'd suggest leaving all apps in the applications folder and using aliases as some may not work properly if elsewhere.

If you want something to resemble the start bar you could always put all the aliases of your choice into a folder and drag the folder into the right hand part of the dock (separated by the thin line). The folder will sit there. Just click and hold on it for a wee while and the contents will pop up, a bit like the start menu (kind of) with hierarchical menu structures. I pop my hard disk icon there so I can navigate through it without too much clicking

It's not quite the same but it's a suitable way of working if you really can't adapt to the ways of OS X or want things a little how you like them.

Hope it helps.

I wish you could customise the apple menu though, like you could in the older mac OS's.