Apple launched MacOS 26 Tahoe this year, featuring the company’s most attractive visual UI design yet, greater cross-device compatibility, and Apple Intelligence features that significantly improve productivity. However, not all the features were completely new; In fact, some of them were already available in Windows (some for several years).
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One thing Apple does well is provide a clean, attractive UI, and the latest “Liquid Glass” design theme undeniably looks good. But Windows beats Apple in these four features, even though they are new to the Mac.
1. Window Tiling
One thing that MacOS can learn from Windows is its window management. Apple has introduced native enhancements to window snapping relatively recently, with MacOS Sequoia getting a broader set of window arrangement options last year, and the iPad now getting it in iPadOS 26.
For example, if you prefer to put Slack in a separate window tile next to your browser, you can do so in MacOS by clicking and dragging the window to a different part of the screen to position it. There are a few other ways to do this, including specifying the position from the window dropdown menu in the app itself.
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However, Windows’ approach is arguably better. Simply dragging a window to the top of the screen activates a grid preview, allowing you to select from different positions, which has been the case for years now.
2. Game App
Apple introduced Game Mode with the release of macOS Sonoma in September 2023, and at WWDC this year, we got a new Games app for MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS 26. It’s like a recharged Game Center, which acts as a unified gaming hub and launcher across all devices.
The Games app has a dedicated tab for Apple Arcade, as well as a Library tab that displays all games downloaded from the App Store. The “Play Together” tab shows what your friends are playing with a combined score, and it supports additional social features like messaging and invites.
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However, Windows 11 remains the reigning champion when it comes to gaming. Not only are most games optimized for Windows, but so are most of the apps that gamers use on a daily basis, such as Discord and Steam. Apple’s new games app will compete directly with these platforms, which will be hard to do as they have accumulated dedicated users over the years.
3. Live translation
Apple announced some new real-time translation features for macOS 26, including live captions in the Messages app and FaceTime. These translations are driven by an on-device model for added security, which is a great feature, but similar functionality also came out in CoPilot+ PC for Windows last year.
The Windows version allows real-time translation in over 40 languages across all apps and video platforms, including Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Chrome or Netflix, and works on one device, so you can go completely offline.
4. Customized Folder Icons
MacOS 26 comes with all kinds of visual customization options, including the ability to change the appearance of folder and file icons in the Finder. If you’re tired of the blue folder icon you have on your Mac, you can now customize it to pink, green, or add emojis to it (I’m open to possibilities here).
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But this is nothing new for Windows. In fact, many of the customizable icon sprites you can set for folder or file icons in Windows date back several decades, to Windows 3.1. Although it’s not something most users interact with on a daily basis, it’s an integral part of Windows’ functionality.
