Hi Robin, No wonder she freaked out! The actual inventor at PARC said only a couple of years ago that it was insane to have incorporated that device for the purpose.
Actually, "what you are used to" has no relevance in the first approach to computers. There is no usable "referential experience"......... except intelligence and that is pretty useless where using tinboxes and programs are concerned for the most part. The Managing Director of Osborne Computers told me ( before many of our correspondents here were born, much less working) that my "invention" of the "menu" was going to make it possible for *anyone* to accept and use the microcomputer. I "wrote" it in ASCII and created batch files. It made the Microcomputer accessible/usable for my staff. It was intelligence-oriented. Some actions involved up to thirty letters in input. But not for the staff. This is what it looked like from memory: +------------------------------------+ 1. Write a Letter 2. Add to Accounts 3. Telephone connect 4. HOW TO HELP 5. Save work to Floppy Disk 9. DANGER: Out to DOS +--------------------------------------+ The "Menus" simply cascaded never with more than 5 options. Easy? Even today, we still don't need pretty pikkies and animations - although the kids that "design" frontends love them - it replaces their cartoon lunchboxes...... :-) All we REALLY need are ...... simple English Menus. Cheers, John ----- Original Message ----- From: Robin Turner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Tuesday, March 12, 2002 10:13 PM Subject: Re: [newbie] Any First Go success stories ? > On Tuesday 12 March 2002 11:00, john rigby wrote: > > WITHOUT RESORTING TO ARCANE COMMAND LINE > > APPROACHES. > > How things have changed. I remember, back in 1991 or 1992, teaching > our secretary how to use a computer. Typing was no problem, it was > the mouse that freaked her out - I had to put her hand on the mouse > then put my hand on hers and move it around (it looked pretty > incriminating!). > > Whether the GUI or the command line is easier depends on (a) what > you're used to and (b) what exactly you're trying to do. If you want > to open a program, clicking on an icon is easier. If you want to > find out the status of files in a directory, typing "ll" is easier. > There's nothing inherently arcane about either of them. > > Robin >
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