peters@sahiways.gov.au (12/19/89)
In article <33269@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU>, kipnis@janus.Berkeley.EDU (Gary Kipnis) writes: > Please give a single example of what you can do faster on a mac than on a pc. > Do you call if faster clicking on the 'disk eject' icon and waiting forever > for the machine to eject your floppy. Do you call if faster clicking > the mouse ten times just to get from one directory to another. There > probably ISN'T a single command that you can perform faster with a mac than > pc. Ouch. What this Gary doesn't seem to realise (and I _won't_ get nasty and say things viz. levels of intelligence) is that most people prefer a GUI over a CLI because there is more often than not more than one way of accomplishing a task. The (now looking rather dated) Macintosh GUI was developed with this in mind, and it also appears / appeared polished due to the presence of a graphic designer on the original design team. Can't say the same for most other GUIs. Also, the Mac's system architecture allows users to tweak the GUI to their liking by adding INITs and the like. No other GUI can do this so easily and transparently. The clincher about which is faster (GUI vs. CLI) shouldn't be based upon a task-by-task rating, but on an overall view. The Mac is 'faster' than a CLI based machine because of a strong adherence to interface guidlines across almost all applications; learn one application thoroughly and you've learned how to run 90% of all other applications just as thoroughly. Productivity is therefore increased, hence the 'faster' claim. I own a Mac. I'm an Apple techie. I also work with IBM's, VAXes and (ecch) Wangs. I'm also a full IBM tech, Compaq tech and Toshiba tech. I've been Prez of a Mac user group, and Vice Prez of a local DOS user group. I like to think I know what I'm talking about; at least I keep an open mind. I've spent about 80% of my logged computer time on machines with a CLI, but I bought a Mac. Why? Because I'm more productive with one. Geoff Peters
don@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Donald R Lloyd) (01/08/90)
> >Also, the Mac's system architecture allows users to tweak the GUI to their >liking by adding INITs and the like. No other GUI can do this so easily and >transparently. > > When I boot up my system, I modify the GUI by adding a mouse accelerator, screen blanker, and sometimes a custom menu-bar in addition to the standard ones. If I'm in the mood, I can add a color backdrop, change the screen setup, or add any number of clocks, iconified windows, etc. Easily. Transparently. I do this on my Amiga at home and, at times, on the Suns I use at school. All it takes is an extra line or two in my startup-sequence (Amiga) or .login (sun). I may well be wrong about this but I was under the impression that the Mac was actually very difficult to do things like this with because of a rather strict OS and lack of things like batch files. The Mac definitely has the edge on Ami for the power of its GUI, as well as the very standardized user interface. Version 1.4 of the Amiga OS will (hopefully!) solve some of the weaknesses of the current workbench, and the inclusion of a standard 'asl.library' shared library containing code for menus, requesters, etc, will introduce a set of standard menu/requester/etc items to help make things more standardized. (Programmers will not be _required_ to use asl.library, but their lives will be a helluvalot easier if they do :-) I'm just depressed that the other day I saw a complete A2500 system on sale for the same price I paid for my 2000 system only a few months ago... :-( -- Gibberish .sig for sale or lease. is spoken Contact don@vax1.acs.udel.edu for more information. here. DISCLAIMER: It's all YOUR fault.
lsr@Apple.COM (Larry Rosenstein) (01/09/90)
In article <5444@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> don@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Donald R Lloyd) writes: > When I boot up my system, I modify the GUI by adding a mouse accelerator, >screen blanker, and sometimes a custom menu-bar in addition to the standard >ones. If I'm in the mood, I can add a color backdrop, change the screen >setup, or add any number of clocks, iconified windows, etc. > Easily. > Transparently. There are INITs to do all of those things on the Macintosh. >school. All it takes is an extra line or two in my startup-sequence (Amiga) >or .login (sun). All it takes is to drop the desired files on to your hard disk and reboot. No start up scripts! -- Larry Rosenstein, Object Specialist Apple Computer, Inc. 20525 Mariani Ave, MS 46-B Cupertino, CA 95014 AppleLink:Rosenstein1 domain:lsr@Apple.COM UUCP:{sun,voder,nsc,decwrl}!apple!lsr
daveh@cbmvax.commodore.com (Dave Haynie) (01/09/90)
in article <848@sahiways.gov.au>, peters@sahiways.gov.au says: > Xref: cbmvax comp.sys.amiga:49427 comp.sys.ibm.pc:45967 comp.sys.mac:49090 > Also, the Mac's system architecture allows users to tweak the GUI to their > liking by adding INITs and the like. No other GUI can do this so easily and > transparently. Ah, someone in the know about that stuff. I use a Mac in our lab, a color Mac. For speed reasons, I run a 2 color screen. However, I don't want black and white, I'd prefer dark blue and light blue just like I have on the Amigas sitting next to the Mac. So far, I haven't found any way to do this; it's certainly not yet quick and easy. Any help would be MUCH appreciated. > Geoff Peters -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga (Systems Engineering) "The Crew That Never Rests" {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh PLINK: hazy BIX: hazy Too much of everything is just enough
benjamin@i-core.UUCP (Benjamin F. Kuo) (01/12/90)
There is no way from the Finder and System, but I bet you could hack out an INIT to do the same thing... (Falcon only runs in 2 colors on the Mac II, but guess what -- it occasionally goes through color fits and turns the black/white into light blue/white, or red/white, or black/white, or any other combination therof...) If a program can do it unintentionally, I'm sure you could do it on purpose. --