Letters to the Editor
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Is Mac easier?
I always assumed that Macs were easier to use and never, ever crashed. That's what everyone said, and I never used one, so what did I know?
Well, I was staying with a friend who had her IBook networked to the wireless. She'd forgotten the WEP key so I couldn't get on the wireless on my Dell notebook. (Okay, no jokes about how this Mac user managed to forget her WEP key, and in fact, had no idea there was even a WEP key on her router. She is a very nice person who had someone else set up her network.) Anyway, she let me use her Ibook to check my email. It seemed very slow to get to my email website, so of course, I decided I'd open another browser window and see what was going on in the world.
I couldn't figure out how to do that. How do you open another window? Now all that means is that there's nothing particularly intuitive about working a computer-- you just learn how to do your basic tasks on your own PC, and I know how to return to the desktop and click on Firefox on my own PC. But it's not like with the Mac, it just came to me looking at that. My friend mentioned the (hidden) ribbon of icons and showed me how to mouse to that, and up pops Safari (and pops down right away-- but eventually I clicked on it). "What are you doing?" she said worriedly.
"Oh, just bringing up another browser to check Salon," says I.
"You can't do that!" she cried. "You're getting your email!" (Yes, a minute had passed, and my email site was still loading-- let's just say that takes much less time on my own system, but I don't know, maybe it's just... I don't know. Maybe I was doing it wrong.)
"But I'm just going to bring up another window!" I promised, but she got so upset that I said, okay, okay, show me how to close that window. She pointed to something in the corner, and I clicked on that, and when nothing happened, I clicked again.
You know, Windows users are SO impatient.
The uncrashable computer crashed. No joke. It froze and had to be rebooted.
She stared at the blank screen, and then at me. "You broke it!" she cried. "I told you not to open another window!"
Okay. First, perhaps one reason Mac people can say that their machines never crash is because _i_ don't have one. I think I can crash anything.
Second, she actually thought you could only have one window open at a time. I'm not saying she is dumb (has a PhD, etc), but... huh? Right now I have 12 Firefox windows open, 4 IEs, 7 Word Perfect windows, and my calendar. (This might be why I crash my PC so much. :) It's true-- all I did was click TWICE on a second window and it crashed.
Can it be that Mac users just don't USE their computer so much? I mean, she thinks Macs are wonderful. But if she's reading her email, she doesn't also have a Word document up and a FreeCell game going while she's also conducting an AIM chat and checking the stock market quotes. She just checks her email, closes that, opens a Word doc. No ADD there. She's not going to get impatient waiting for something to load and switch to something else. She actually didn't even know that was possible.
Anyway, I think what you use is what feels right to you. But I sure didn't get any sense that Mac would be better for ME. It might even be worse, given my tendency to do 5 things at once. Am I missing some great advantage to Macs, given that I don't work in graphics? Like I said, 5 minutes on her machine, and I crashed it, so telling me that Macs never crash won't work. :)
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Hey Lister
Coming from 20+ years in the PC world, I understand how hard the transition to Mac can be.
You want to open second browser window?
Fine, go to the Safari menu bar (top of the screen) and choose "File/New Window".
Or
Command-N for a new window
Or
Right click the Safari Icon on the dock and select, yeah, you guessed it, "New Window".
What is so tough about that?
~gtd
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Hearty thanks to all those posters...
1) ...who don't buy a new computer every year--or upgrade to a new software version every time one comes out.
2) ...who find various uses for their old ones instead of dismissing them as obsolete...
3)...who noted that a Mac is not cost-efficient when you take in account having to replace/find software comparable to what one uses on one's PC...
4)...who don't have tons of discretionary income or time laying around to waste trying to get a "resale-value" Apple.
Honest to God, I was beginning to feel like the tech equivalent of the poor money-using folks in Visa commercials--the only person who refuses/can't afford to do shiny-happy-expensive upgrades every year...or change computers just for the hell of it without taking neccessary functions I need in account. Whew--I _am_ a worthy citizen after all!! :)
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And Apple has made it all too plain they don't care about low-income users...
...or being cost-efficient by coming up with crap like the Apple mini, which is not only unworkable in terms of current memory demands, but un-upgradable, to boot. If that company is so derned innovative, why isn't it trying to make a cutting-edge computer everyone can afford?
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Not why I bought a Mac
The reason I bought a Mac was that it was the only system that I know of that both:
1) Runs real MS Office so I can exchange spreadsheets and word docs with others *completely* transparently.
2) Has Unix (TM) inside.
3) Has no *other* MS software (MS sofware is ludicrously open to Trojan horses) :-)
I've played with Linux as a desktop OS, although it was a few years ago, and it was painful -- the UI was pretty ugly, it was a pain to set up, and I never convinced myself that I was running the best drivers for my graphics card. It may well be better these days, but there's still no Office for Linux.
But there's no doubt in my mind that I paid something significant, at least 25% more, for the luxury of getting exactly what I wanted.
BTW one reason I suspect Macs hold their value better is that, really, you're paying partly for a software release that includes Unix and allows you to run Office, and software holds its value much better than hardware.