macos - What exactly does the little green "+" button do in Mac OS X?

OK, I must admit that I am from the Windows world and started using Leopard not for long.

One really annoying thing when using my shiny new OS is that I can't predict what exact behavior it brings when I hit that little green "+" button on any open window. Some people told me it's "Maximize"... some says, it's "Max and Restore".

Sometimes, it does maximize a window, but NOT ALWAYS, if you know what I am saying. It's driving me mad...

NB: For a Leopard beginner, this is NOT user friendly.

Answer

I hate the default behavior of that button... To make the green buttom actually maximize the window, try either RightZoom or Stoplight.