On 31/01/2007, at 11:17 PM, Reg Whitely wrote:
On 31 Jan 2007, at 10:12am, Paul Weaver wrote:
It's actually quite difficult for most people to become a Mac user
compared to a PC.
Why?
Reg
This is a question which is worth a whole discussion group all by
itself (and there are already many such in existence). One of my
clients runs an all-Mac environment, with frequent coming and going
of new staff. Almost invariably, new staff have had little or no
meaningful exposure to the Mac platform, and have been raised to
believe that Windows is the One True Way . They desperately seek out,
and confine themselves to, any Microsoft software they can find, and
live in fear and confusion, never recovering from the lack of a Start
button, a networked "S: Drive", or a second Mouse button.
I'm going to stop now in case this turns into a massive diatribe, but
I think it's true that many Windows users do find it difficult to
change to the Mac, simply because the things they expect to find are
not where they "should be". For many, the Dock is confusing, until
they are shown what it is actually for; Exposé is just too weird and
annoying; one person I know decries the Cube effect when swapping
between User Accounts as being "too Mac-like".
Fundamentally, the Mac doesn't work like Windows, so it's too hard.
Fortunately, those who do make the paradigm shift tend to come out of
it richer for it and begin to see the light, but these tend to be the
lateral thinkers. Paul does have a point, but it has nothing to to
with inherent ease of use in either Mac OS or Windows: it's a
cultural thing.
The interesting thing to me is that (in my observation, at least) Mac
users tend to have far less trouble using Windows (once they figure
out that crazy Start Button thingy). Perhaps Mac users tend to think
more laterally by nature... :-)
--
Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services
FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer
Perth, Western Australia
Phone (618) 9332 6482 Fax (618) 9332 0913
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Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to.
