laba-1aj@web-4a.berkeley.edu (John Kawakami) (10/23/89)
In article <8910210938.AA01163@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU> 01659@AECLCR.BITNET (Greg Csullog) writes: > >A survey has shown that in business, the average number of applications >used by PC users is 1, the average by Mac users is 4. Why? Learning one >PC appl does not tell you anything about the next. Learning one Mac appl >or one GEM appl totally prepares you for the next ones. Sorry PC users, >speed of processing is not the only determinant of productivity! I think it's finally sinking in to the big micro computer software developers that there is much to be said for standards and regular interfaces. Programs should be written to act alike. Unfortunately, this did not happened in the MS-DOS world since there were no written standards for user interfaces. This is where Apple had an edge. It's not that the programs were intrinsically easy to use; it's just that for the most part, the programs all seemed to be born of the same mother and acted similarly. Unix users see this too. Even though unix is supposed to be a user hostile environment, there are some de-facto standards regarding command line args and key bindings that make using the programs fairly easy to remember. More, on a divergent topic: The only nice looking interface environment for micros is the Mac's. All others are ugly poseurs. The thing that gets my goat is that for very little money (~$10000) Atari, Commodore, and Microsoft could all have had beautiful graphics and nice fonts for their windowing environments. Now you (John/Jane Q. Tightcode) might be saying "the graphics aren't as important as the speed." Well, I have some news for you: you are wrong. The graphics are the user's view of the machine. They determine how valuable the machine is to the user. I don't doubt that the Mac's good looks make user think that the $2K she/he just threw down for a Plus was actually worth it. (We can laugh at how much Mac buyers are overcharged, but the buyers are satisfied. If there are luxury cars, why not luxury computers.) & John Kawakami & laba-1aj@web.berkeley.edu & Live each day as if it were your first
dnewton@carroll1.UUCP (Dave 'C is cool, but what about LOGO?' Newton) (10/24/89)
In article <1989Oct23.073225.10313@agate.berkeley.edu> laba-1aj@web-4a.UUCP (John Kawakami) writes: >The only nice looking interface environment for micros is the Mac's. Do you consider the NeXT a micro, seeing as how it's a ton cheaper than a Compaq 386/33? I think the NeXT _interface_ blows the Mac's away. >Now you (John/Jane Q. Tightcode) might be saying "the graphics aren't >as important as the speed." Well, I have some news for you: you are >wrong. The graphics are the user's view of the machine. They determine >how valuable the machine is to the user. I don't doubt that the Mac's >good looks make user think that the $2K she/he just threw down for a >Plus was actually worth it. (We can laugh at how much Mac buyers are >overcharged, but the buyers are satisfied. This is pretty sad. Great, I got a Mac Plus with its _wonderous_ user interface. Unfortunately, it takes a lifetime to re-calc a spreadsheet, find things, etc. good grief, a little 8-MHz 68000 simply can't handle the interface alone, let alone any applications. I wouldn't buy a Mac (at least not a little one) if my life depended on it. A IIx approaches, a IIci is the slowest one I'd buy. But it's kinda expensive. Graphic capability _does_ _not_ determine the usefullness of the machine. If this was true, I guess IBM wouldn't even have a machine now, would they? It took them up til now to come up with a reasonable graphics standard that's outdated. But you'll note the machine is still used a little. I guess the old Altair-8800 wasn't useful, 'cuz the only graphics it had were a bunch o' little red lights. Forget that it was extremely important in bringing computers to people. The old Apple ][, forget it. No graphics to speak of. (Unmatched in its time of course, but ignore that for now.) And _please_ forget nearly every straight Unix box _ever_ created, 'cuz most Unix stuff doesn't have too many graphics. Now that I think about it, I guess you're right. Sorry. (Sarcasm.) >& Live each day as if it were your first If I did that, I'd be screaming, getting spanked by someone in white, vomiting Pablum, belching, and sleeping all the time. Hey wait a minnit... -- David L. Newton | uunet!marque!carroll1!dnewton | The Raging Apostle-- (414) 524-7343 (work) | dnewton@carroll1.cc.edu | for the future-- (414) 524-6809 (home) | 100 NE Ave, Waukesha WI 53186 | for the world. "