If you are switching to Mac, you’ll be impressed by Aqua. It’s the Graphic User Interface (GUI). Whereas Windows is all about applications, Mac is all about User Interface. The User is King or Queen in MacWorld, and everything about owning and using a Mac is directed toward the user’s experience.

Aqua is the overall look and feel of the user interface—the bright colors, layers, animation, transparencies, and the way programs are launched and used. The Mac OS X environment is very user-friendly and is designed to make life easy for Mac converts.

Everything about the GUI is customizable, including Aqua itself. If bright colors bug you, you can switch to the metallic gray-scale look of Graphite instead. The major components of the user interface are your Desktop, the Dock, Finder and the Menu Bar.

Desktop

Just like with Windows, the Desktop is your workspace. You work on documents, open files, search the internet—whatever you do, you do it on your Desktop. You can customize your desktop by going to System Preferences and choosing the options you want. You can also add widgets, using the Dashboard, customize your icons, and rearrange your desktop to suit you. It’s your workspace, and you can make it look like whatever you want it to.

Dock

The Dock is a transparent bar at the bottom of the screen that contains icons of the things you use most frequently. It comes pre-loaded with icons for the programs the Mac people think you will be using, but it is just as customizable as everything else.

The left side of the Dock contains applications; the right side contains the trash bin and documents. A bar separates the two. You can remove any icon from the Doc except the trash bin and Finder. You can add items to your Dock by dragging and dropping them there, and you remove them by dragging them off. (When you drag an icon off of the Dock, it disappears in a little puff of smoke. Very cute.)

If you don’t like your Dock at the bottom of your Desktop, you can move it to either side. You can also control the size of the Dock, or you can make it hide when it’s not in use.

Finder

Finder is your default file. It is similar to Explorer in Windows. You use it to search for and access applications, programs and files. Spotlight is a supplement to finder that works like a combination powerful search utility/queryable database.

Menu Bar

Mac only has one menu bar displayed at any one time, and it is at the top of your Desktop. It is an interactive Menu Bar that changes dynamically to reflect the application you are currently using. The Menu Bar always displays the name and menu options for the application that is currently running. If you have several applications open, the Menu Bar changes as you tab between them.

Macs are designed for Users. They are dynamic, organic and intuitive. As you work with your new Mac, it will become more and more individualized, more customized, more your Mac. If you have several Users on the same machine, each User’s account is customized for him or her. You’re going to love the way the GUI looks and works for you.