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Issue #4
Letters
Excellent issue! Thanks!
Regarding the Y2K issue affecting pee-cee's, I always like to
tell my "Windoze" counterparts the following: You know, Apple may
not get everything right, but at least they knew the century was
going to end!
The dumbfounded look on their faces is priceless!!
Cheers!
Bob Pinkelman
Hello Brad,
You are totally right about Power Books and their amazing
qualities . . . I am a student and all I could afford was a PB 140,
but now I take notes with it in college, write my poetry, stories,
and essays, my web pages, e-mail, fight wars against it and love
the thing. My next computer will be a PPC PowerBook, but hopefully
a G 3 or G 4! It doesn't matter that it's an old black and white
Mac . . . it's still better than a Stink Pad or any other 'laptop'
from a Wintel maker!
I love the newsletter . . . and I might be interested in writing
something for it if you need filler...: )
yours,
James Dilworth
hi brad !
for me as one of the out-dying German mac-evangelists it was a
pleasure to read your first issue !
it was real great ! by the way I'm also "just" 23 years old....
;-)
I'm already looking forward to receiving your next issue !
great - just go on like you did !!!!
cu,
steve
(the one and only) macevangelist
germany
Brad,
A few comments on your "PC Users Point of View, Part III", from
a regular user of both Windows 95 (work) and the Mac OS (home).
> Macs vs. PCs
> Part III: A PC user's point of view
> By Snidely MacBash
> Rebuked by "Brad Harrison"
>
> #2 Ease of use
> Windows is in almost every way exactly like the Mac's OS, and
a user who is
> familiar with one may use the other with no introduction. I
know. I've done
> it.
Snidely is quite right in this assessment. It's true that to a
Windows user with only casual Mac experience, both systems seem
very similar, and a Windows user can quite easily figure out how to
run a Mac. But there are many subtle differences that add up to a
very different user experience when one works with both systems
over an extended period of time.
The fact is, Microsoft did copy the Mac user interface, but
either they really didn't understand some of it's finer points, or
they intentionally changed it enough to avoid legal problems. As a
result, the the two systems provide a very different user
experience Here are just a few of the differences.
- Under Windows 95, left click on the Recycle Bin and select
"Properties". Uncheck the "Warn me before emptying the Recycle Bin"
option. Put something in the Recycle Bin, left click on the Recycle
Bin, and chose "Empty Recycle Bin". A dialog box will pop up asking
you if you really want to empty the Recycle Bin! Why is that? (I
haven't had an opportunity to see if this has been fixed in Windows
98.) On the Mac, select the Trash, go the the File menu, and select
"Get Info". Uncheck the "Warn Before Emptying" option. Put
something in the Trash. Go to the Special menu and select "Empty
Trash". The trash will politely empty itself.
- Under Windows, drop a couple of folders full of files into the
Recycle Bin. Now double click on the Recycle Bin and take a peek at
what's in there. You will see all the files, but the folders are
gone! As an exercise, try recovering the files into their original
folders. On the Mac, drop a couple of folders full of files into
the Trash. Now double click on the Trash and take a peek at what's
in there. You will see the original two folders. If you wish you
can open the folders and see their contents and even drag
individual files out of them. Select one or both folders, and press
the [Apple][Y] key combination, or select "Put Away" from the File
menu. The folders and their contents will be returned, unharmed, to
their original locations.
- Under Window, drop a bunch of folders or file or both from a
floppy into the trash can. Now open the trash and look at what's
inside. Nothing! Your files are goners unless you want to go poking
around with same recovery tools. Try the same operation on a Mac
floppy. The files are still in the trash, waiting for salvage.
- Windows puts a Menu Bar in every window. When several windows
are open, the menus start eating up a lot of screen real estate. On
a small 15" monitor this can be quite annoying. In addition you can
never predict where a menu will be located without hunting for it.
On the Mac there is one Menu Bar at the top of the screen. The Menu
Bar is for the top (foreground) application. You can always find
the appropriate menu option because it will always be in the same
place. And without all the extra menus all over the place you have
more room on the screen to keep extra windows open.
- The Mac has four ways to close a window, and the four methods
always work the same in every application. Perhaps you can hold a
contest to see how many ways your Windows fans can find to close a
window. (Hint - There are at least 20!) In addition, the methods
vary from application to application, and there are subtle
differences in the operation of each that must be remembered. In
some cases close buttons that do very different things are located
right next to each other. One may close the currently open window,
the other shuts down(without warning) the running application! Do
you want to know how many times I accidentally exit Lotus Notes
(requiring a slow re-launch and login) when I really just wanted to
close an open window? Typically at least once a day. This is
usually accompanied by loud swearing at the brain-dead Windows
design.
Most Windows users get around this problem by choosing one or
two simple methods and using them all the time. But which methods
are best? And how do Windows users communicate when they all do
things differently?
This list only scratches the surface of the differences between
the two systems. And in almost every case, the Mac does it
better.
A good analogy is the difference between driving an old Chevy
Chevette and a new BMW. The Chevette owner may be quite satisfied
with his car, and may even claim there is no real difference
between it and BMW. The Chevette owner can even figure out how to
drive the BMW because "they are so much alike". But the regular BMW
driver understands the difference, as does the Mac driver.
If you want to really see the differences between the two
systems in mind numbing detail, check out the "Interface" articles
in David Every's MacKiDo
website. He has some terrific stuff in there.
John Kessler
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