B. Mann Consulting

I noticed this first in System Preferences. Pre-Panther, you could close the System Preferences and it would remain "open" -- the application continued running, you could select any individual control panel from the View drop down menu.

Now, closing the System Preferences window causes the entire application to quite. Whhaaat? This is very un-Mac-like. It probably makes sense to Windows switchers, that are used to apps living in a window and being tied to it. On the Mac, the rule has always been "if the app has a menu bar, you can close all the windows but it won't quit the app until you select quit/Command-Q".

So what about other apps? Address Book is a prime example. Close the window, the app doesn't quit. Inconsistency is bad...

So here's my suggestion for System Preferences: make it a "faceless" app -- it doesn't show a menu bar, and doesn't show up in the dock. However, have the option to stick an icon in the menu bar that gives you drop-down access to any control panel setting. Closing the window will "quit" the app -- no menu bar, it's all good.