[SamReidHughes]

Here are several reasons why they might look more polished:

1. Their font anti-aliasing algorithms are different.

2. Macs are less bumpy. Windows windows have draggable edges on all four sides. Windows toolbars were originally designed to be bumps. Now in Windows 7 the more polished looking toolbars look like a bunch of hills. Windows in Windows have their own menu bars, too. You can't just take an app designed to use draggable toolbars, remove the lines dividing toolbars, and have it work. So the APIs are different because of decisions made long ago.

3. Making an app pretty is more deeply ingrained into the development culture on the Mac side.

4. Windows applications just have more text, and fewer icons. There is always more text on the screen than a Mac would have. The desktop has the application name under each icon. They put shortcut arrows on icons.

5. Windows is skinnable.

6. Apple sacrifices utility in favor of being shiny.

[jrubyer]

>>Making an app pretty is more deeply ingrained into the development culture on the Mac side.

This is actually my question, why is it like this? Any reasons behind it?

[jason_slack]

I think that it really has to do with Steve Jobs really thinking that other products are ugly and not refined. He has this deep inside of him. I recall when he bought the Jackling House in Woodside, CA he only had an expensive Bose stereo system and a BMW motorcycle inside because he felt he could not find products he liked. He slept on a mattress on the floor even.

To this day, he doesn't put a plate on his Mercedes because he thinks the font is ugly.