terminal - nice version of shutdown -h?

[MuGeN]

does anyone know of a "nicer" terminal command than shutdown -h?

if i need to switch off a computer, usually a mac, remotely, i use sudo shutdown -h now...

however, this really does just switch off the computer there and then as opposed to nicely shutting off individual programs first like a normal local shutdown...

is there a different command for this? or maybe a modifier for the shutdown command? (although i can't see one in the man shutdown page)

any ideas?

 

[MuGeN]

so if shutdown -h now which I have been using is in fact nice, why doesn't the system shut down this way as the norm? if i'm running say 10 apps shutting down takes quite a while the normal way, where as the terminal command just... does it, there and then.

what is the technical advantage to the way the system does it via the normal route, is it just simply nicer still?