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Originally Posted by winkydink
I'm a *NIX user. I have been for 20 years. I use the 'vi' editor, as for the first several years, it was the only one I was exposed to (barring more primitive ones). I would love to learn the 'emacs' editor, but I lack the necessary time to devote to making the switch.
Anyway, to also angle at the subject from the Un*x side of the fence, over the past 10 or so months I've been coming to the conclusion that the Aqua interface on the Powerbook is "neither here nor there." I was hoping for NeXTstep with some concessions to pre-OS X users, but the elegance just isn't there. (Point-to-focus is impossible?) I daily use Windows, OpenLook under Solaris, and OS X. That the Sun interface is the least aggravating is a bummer. |
Originally Posted by pgalore
This is another issue that I didn't even really bring up.. if the OS is so easy to use, why should I need to have to spend a significant amount of time (that I don't have) modifying it to suit my needs? Why should I have to read a book about "switching" to sell me to the idea?
Here's another couple of things I noticed that were missing, over the brief weekend: the keyboard has a "delete" key, that is really a backspace key on a PC, and no "forward delete" key (which is really the "delete" key) on a PC. And, there is no "home" key. Maybe those are things that I can modify or use some kind of shift "apple" key for, but frankly, who has time to learn all of these things? fn+cursor keys = home/end/pageup/pagedown. and if you look at those keys you will see home/end/pageup/pagedown written on them in a color that matches the fn key. space is limited on a laptop keyboard, so lesser used keys need a modifier key. however, you can always plug in a full sized usb keyboard (and it need not be from apple). I am still in the 14 day grace period, so I should have any trouble returning it... I hope! |
Originally Posted by Wheezer
I was hoping for NeXTstep with some concessions to pre-OS X users, but the elegance just isn't there. (Point-to-focus is impossible?) I daily use Windows, OpenLook under Solaris, and OS X. That the Sun interface is the least aggravating is a bummer.
it gets even more interesting when you are using an application and move the mouse to the menubar to select something, and in doing so, move it across several other application windows. then what happens? |
Originally Posted by pdxer
it is not that it is impossible (there are some utilities that can add it), but that it is fundamentally incompatible with the single menubar at the top of the screen. if you had focus-follows-mouse, the menubar would need to change depending on which application owned the window to which you pointed.
[Edited to add: The dock could be used to control the menu bar. I just want non-autoraising talk to the window of choice.] |
If it takes a month to get used to the Mac then it's no wonder that it's not much of a success.
(please note: Apple user baiting here ;) ) |
This is what ultimately put me off buying Mac. Yes, they are nice. Yes, I know a Windows user who switched and is very happy. Yes, I know its just supposed to work but and for most people I'm sure it does but......... When you give something that is designed "just to work" (case in point, me and a Blackberry over the last weekend) to someone who is used to "creatively coercing things to work exactly how he wants it", sparks wlll fly.
I once had a really bad time with a Mac at a Cyber Cafe in Suva and it was fortunately just so obvious to the owners of the place. |
The unfortunate fact is that any modern operating system has to do complex things with a complex piece of machinery. You can't control a 777 with the user interface of a tricycle.
Therefore, no matter how much simpler and intuitive the Mac interface may be than Windows, someone whose mental model of the world matches that of Windows cannot switch in a weekend. This has little to do with making the computer work and everything to do with adjusting his/her mindset to the differences - things like default window behavior, for example. Neither is inherently better or worse, but if your entire background tells you that it should do A and it does B, it feels wrong. Same for the "real" Delete key. Did God, however one may conceive of him/her, ordain what the Delete key should be? If not, there is no such thing as a "real" Delete key. What the post that mentioned this key means, if we think about it, is that the poster is used to one kind of Delete key. To him/her, that kind is "real." Any other kind is not. That's not a technology issue. It's a mind-set issue. That's the value of the books on switching. They alert you to the subconscious speed bumps. I don't know how many people here remember switching from character-based to GUI word processors, but I watched people do it. With the character-based ones, you'd say "italicize," then use the arrow keys to tell it what to italicize. With the GUI kind, italicizing existing text works the other way around: first you select what you want in italics, then and only then do you say "italicize." If you try to do it the way you're used to, you get frustrated. Neither approach is inherently better than the other, but the mind-sets are 180 degrees apart. So I'd say, if there's any objective reason to switch, to give it time. You didn't get used to Windows in a day or a week. Getting unused to it and getting used to anything else - different, regardless of whether better or worse - will take time too. (Truth in advertising: I use both, prefer Mac.) |
I recently ditched all my PC junk for a 17" G4 Powerbook. Best thing I have done in a long long time. :) ^
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