I actually find the Mac menu approach much more cumbersome, for two reasons:

1) I use big pixel count screens (1900x1200 on the machine I'm at right now) and I configure my mouse for accurate control (relatively low speed, acceleration disabled) which means that moving to the top of the screen completely wipes out the benefits offered by fits law - it's too slow.

2) No mnemonics.  With the Mac, either you learn the cryptic shortcuts, or you use the mouse.  But in Windows, I do almost all my menu navigation from the keyboard - Alt-F for the File menu and so on.

That second one is the biggie.  I know that it is possible to drive a Mac menu from the keyboard, but it 'works' in that "We made this work in order to pass the legal minimum accessiblity requirements" way.  Compare this to Windows, where the mnemonic-driven use of the user interface is something you would actually use out of choice.

Apple seem to regard mouse operation and shortcuts to be the only two worthwhile modes.  Apple are wrong.  This is the single most frustrating experience for any competent Windows user trying to move to a Mac, IMO.


Mouse acceleration has a lot to answer for...  I've watched an incredible number of people struggle to hit targets on screen entirely because mouse acceleration makes it almost impossible to accurately position the pointer.  The defaults on both the Mac and Windows seem like they were chosen specifically to make it almost impossible to hit targets with ease.

Turn off mouse acceleration, and all of a sudden, these targets the UI designers are so keen to tell us are so difficult to hit become a breeze to aim at.

You've got to love the irony of the current name for mouse acceleration in Windows.  It's enabled by checking the "Enhance pointer precision" checkbox - that exactly the opposite of what mouse acceleration actually does!