On 7/13/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Thank you for clearing this up. Both you and Peter make an excellent case > for the attributes Windows held over the Mac.
In some cases, holds still. But I at least am not saying 1 is overall "better" than the other. Both have strengths, both weaknesses. > But the Mac applications were by far superior in > those days to any I used under Windows so you wouldn't find me caught dead > using them, even if I could use the tab key to move around them. Hmmm. It's changing now - the superior OS X development tools are winning out, as I have hoped and tentatively predicted they might, ever since Apple chose NeXT over Be. There isa wealth of new & innovative software for OS X now, more than on any other platform. I just wish it were all Free. But back in the day, TBH, I don't think there was a lot to choose. Pagemaker was Pagemaker, Excel Excel, on Mac or Windows. Same with Word, Works, or any other killer GUI apps. Some started on the Mac - mosty, to be fair - & some on Windows, but really, it made little odds. The Mac showed the way but the actual /apps/ were much the same on both. I didn't own a Mac 'til '96 or so and didn't use it routinely full-time until OS X. Classic was lovely, clean and elegant and stylish and simple, but it was too unstable, too unreliable and didn't multitask well enough to be my main OS, ever. Sad but there you go. Back then, it was Acorn RISC OS then OS/2 then Win95 then WinNT for me. By this century, Linux has got good enough to use full-time, and then OS X came along and did the same thing comprehensively better. > Frankly, I > prefer being able to take my hands off the keyboard every now and then. I think you misunderstand. Neither Peter nor I is saying that using the keyboard is /better/ or to be preferred. (I hope I am not putting words in his mouth here.) We just like having the choice. For me, I drive Windows about 2/3 by mouse and about 1/3 by keyboard - back in the Win3 interface days, on NT 3.51, a lovely OS, it was 1/4 mouse and 3/4 K/B for me. But I find using /both together/ to be faster and more convenient than either alone. GNOME today gets close to Windows, but every other GUI other than Windows compels me to use the mouse most of the time with the odd keyboard shortcut to help. It's not a matter of occasional keyboard shortcuts. The idea is that *everything* should have a keyboard command as well as a mouse one, and the user decides for themselves which they prefer to use for what. > One quick anecdote has to do with my taking a computer literacy test > for a job. [...] A really badly-designed test, then. They used to be very common, even from MS itself. > That to me is Windows thinking in a nutshell. Just like > DOS, it forces you to operate the way it does, not the way which is most > convenient for you. I have to say that I disgree. E.g.: to inspect the system properties on Windows. - right-click "My Computer" & pick Properties from the context menu - go into Control Panel & pick System - press Windows-Break 3 different routes. All logical in their own way. Depends how you learn to use it: as a right-button-clicker, as a single-mouse-button type, or as a keyboard freak. The Explorer interface is loaded with this. There are typically 2 or 3 ways to do anything. You choose your favourite. Too many OSs impose One True Way or nothing. -- Liam Proven Home: http://welcome.to/liamsweb * Blog: http://lproven.livejournal.com AOL, Yahoo UK: liamproven * ICQ: 73187508 * MSN: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Compact Macs is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/>. Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> Compact Macs list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/compact.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[email protected]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive:<http://www.mail-archive.com/compact.macs%40mail.maclaunch.com/> --------------------------------------------------------------- iPod Accessories for Less at 1-800-iPOD.COM Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal www.1800ipod.com ---------------------------------------------------------------
