Mission Control is probably the most useful method, because it actually brings selected applications on screen (the minimum functionality you would expect).
Both of the above patterns work better in Windows, and have worked better for decades, and Apple designers should be a little ashamed of that. The Dock has the same issue with letting you click on an app, and then not bringing that app on screen, or telling me why it's ignoring my command. And whatever that perfectly good reason is, there is an even more perfectly good reason to make it work the way users expect.
I am sure 'real mac users' get it, and I'm happy for them, but poor benighted souls like me just wonder why their $2500 computer isn't doing what they're telling it to. Is it ignoring me because the app is minimized? Did it send it to another desktop? I have no idea! It must be deterministic, but I'll be damned if I can figure it out. Over the years, Apple has implemented inadequate window management in MacOS in a number of ways, empowering the user by giving them the choice of which method to be frustrated by.įor example, the CMD+Tab task switcher seems natural, but it has an issue where you can select an app and it does absolutely nothing, which is both infuriating and incomprehensible.
