Aqua
The inviting, beautiful graphical user interface (GUI) to Mac OS X is called Aqua. One of Apple’s slogans is to 'Think Different', a slogan that really applies to Aqua. When one sees the Aqua interface for the first time, they’ll notice the smooth look, vibrant colors, and clean icons. Aqua is appealing as it implements very cool visual effects such as transparency, reflections, and shadows all designed to help the end user see how things are working in OS X. Aqua’s interface controls are more sophisticated than any other operating system thanks to the Quartz Compositor, the advanced graphics processing technology. Quartz Compositor was extended in OS X 10.2 Jaguar to what was termed Quartz Extreme. In OS X 10.4 Tiger, Apple released Quartz Extreme 2D, a more advanced graphics engine. Both Quartz Extreme 2D and Quartz Extreme use OpenGL in conjunction with graphics cards to render windows as textures through the Aqua interface. This allows graphics to be processed faster and takes processing load off of the CPU. Your CPU can then concentrate on processing tasks associated with applications and the OS itself. You can read a more advanced write-up of Quartz Extreme 2D on Apple’s web site
Although Windows switchers will have to devote time to learning Mac OS X, the process will be streamlined because the OS X environment will be relatively familiar. You’ll find a desktop, windows, folders, menus, keyboard shortcuts, and navigating around the system will be straight forward. In fact, most switchers will appreciate the ease of use and simplicity of OS X. Aqua include s the following 'major' components that all work together to help the end navigate, stay organized, and work productively:
The Dock is used to allow you the end user to easily access the most frequently used applications, folders, and minimized windows. With the default blue OS X theme, Windows have red, yellow, and green droplet-like buttons in the upper-left corner. Red closes the window, yellow minimizes the window to the dock, green minimizes and maximizes the window size. Just put the mouse over the buttons and you’ll see symbols. Hover over red and you’ll see an ‘x’, hover over yellow to see a ‘-‘, hover over green to see a ‘+’