Hiya Peter, Yes, I'm back on the list after a long and busy absence and yes, I'm still working 'there!'
In my experience with students of various ages (including 20 years of working with 'mature' age students)I think the ease of use varies depending on past experience. If you grew up on a Mac, then that's what you're used to and vice versa for the PC platform. However, if you have NEVER used either, I believe the GUI and logical approach of the Mac platform is a much more 'user-friendly' environment for the beginner. In the past, I have been scolded by folk for 'spoiling them' on a Mac when their relative later went and 'upgraded' them to a PC (peppering them with the usual, "Most people use PCs" spiel - well, most people live in China, but I don't!). Personally, as a Mac user from day 1, I still find the PC platform crude and illogical (in a similar vein to my reluctance to waste my time with the majority of Microsoft products). A tool is only useful, if you can use it. My brothers on the other hand, PC users from day 1, love the look of my Macs to the extent that one of them jokingly desinged a desktop emulator! and seem to be pained by the ease with which I can produce high quality work. Oh.....did I just contribute to the diatribe?? Regards Phil Original Message: ----------------- From: Peter Hinchliffe [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2007 08:21:30 +0900 To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Mac versus Vista 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 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Unsubscribe - <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -------------------------------------------------------------------- myhosting.com - Premium Microsoft® Windows® and Linux web and application hosting - http://link.mail2web.com/myhosting
