Well, I tried what u suggested: alt+green button, but it doesn't do what I want it to do in:
Word:mac (the latest one)
Firefox
It does expand and shrink the window, but not fully to the edge of the screen - bottom, left and right, and to the application bar at the top - thus maximizing completely. In fact, I didn't find any difference between pressing the green button with the option/alt key held down or not. :/
Re: windows vs. mac:
Things like this are incredibly simple in windows - and are not color coded, but have symbolic icons that indicate what they do (small box = minimize; large box = maximize). Another thing that irritates me about mac is that windows gives a user far more control over the mouse, i.e. sensitivity vs. speed. And, the Dock options are way too limited, too. Can't put it into a corner? Can't integrate it with the application bar at the top? Can't customize how the time/date is displayed but for analog or digital (would be nice to have the date displayed). Granted, most of my criticisms might seem Windows-centric, but I get the impression that Apple is keeping itself distinct from Windows at the expensive of fundamental functionality/useability, because some of these things, unless I'm not finding these options, could not possibly have simply been overlooked.
On the good side, I like the modular approach to managing programs, and this little iBook seems far better hardware-wize, than any comperable PC, even one's twice as expensive.