Maximize Me?

When I only used PCs I would always maximize all of my windows. For some reason I couldn’t stand the fact that I could see my desktop or a windows in the background. Something was unsettling about it. But, when I got my PowerBook over a year ago that was all thrown out the window since maximize is a concept that OS X doesn’t know. So, I got used to it on my Mac and just accepted it. But, just now, I caught myself maximizing all of my windows on my work PC because it was driving me crazy, but if I was on my Mac having not all the windws covering up the screen real estate would be just fine. So strange, I don’t get it. What is it about OS X / Windows that makes me want to have my windows not maximized or maximized?