From: Gavin Adams <gavin.adams@lso.mts.dec.com>
Subject: Re: PC and Mac OEs (was Re: 1 Thing Windows can do but OS/2
     can't.)
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
X-Useragent: Nuntius v1.1.1d1
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 19:47:25 GMT



In article <bynm91f@lynx.unm.edu> The Myth, jfreter@triton.unm.edu writes:
>In article <1992Jul29.091555.19260@cs.hw.ac.uk> neilp@cs.hw.ac.uk (Neil 
>Postlethwaite) writes:
>>
>>Colour. Unless colour is used sparingly it destroys the interaction of
>>the desktop. I know this, I DO HCI !!
>
>Why is the command/menu bar stuck at the top of the screen?  Why is it so
>drab looking?  Why can't you open the menu bar with the touch of a key
>(like the alt-key in Windows) and keep the menus open so that you can
read
>them?  Why do most mice on public access Macs seem to not work well after
>a limited time when after the same time, the mice on pc's, Suns, X's, and
>Sparcs still work flawlessly?
>

The Menu bar on the Mac is at the top of the screen so the mouse doesn't
go past it.  HCI studies demonstrated that having a barrier above the
menu decreased the amount of "missed hits."  Of course, I think this
study was done when 9" monitor setups.

SPARC mice work flawlessly?  Are we talking about those nice IR ones that
I can't stand the feel of? :)  

>>
>>Why do you hold your Windows apps in Program manager and not in the
filer
>>like any other GUI. Becasue Windows is so bloody dumb, it needs info on
the
>>files before it executes them so it doesn't wipe the machine out. Any
>
>I like it that way because most of my work is not editing existing files
but
>is useful for creating new ones.  If I do need to edit a file, I usually
>launch the app by clicking on the file in the fileman, by launching the
app
>and opening the file, or by editing the properties of the app to
automagically
>load the file.  Very simple to do.

Unless you have a .DOC file that is ASCII text.  And another .DOC file
that is DECwrite or some other word processor.  Having files associated
with a Creator/File Type is very nice.  What do you do when you move a
bunch of Windows programs from one directory to another?  Edit the
properties so they run?

>>Don't give me Mac desktop is butt ugly ...........
>>
>>Windows looks like someone has eaten a technicolour lunch, drank some
>>blackcurrent juice and barfed all over the monitor. It is TOO colourful
>>
>>I agree about the fact the single button on a Mac mouse IS a pain.
Though
>>stop for a minute. How many of your Windows applications use the right
>>mouse (count them NOW !!).
>
>Either 7 or eight, have to count.  In DOS apps, just about every program
I
>have that is mouse aware uses both (or all three if you have a threee
button
>mouse).
>

I like one mouse button.  For those instances where a modifier can be
used (popup menus, etc.) the ALT or CTRL key could be used.  Multiple
mouse buttons are counter-intuitive unless they *stringently* adhere to a
style guide.  Example: I use an X Windows terminal emulator where in one
version the middle MB entered selected text.  In the next version it was
the right MB.  Go figure!

>>
>>Keyboard shortcuts. Have you used a Mac recently. I think your memory is
>
>Used one yesterday.  Some of the people I work with are so mentally
deficient 
>that they think it is worthwhile to work on a mac.  Sure you can make
short-
>cuts, but not all apps have them built-in or standardized.  But you can't
>open a menu bar with the touch of the keyboard, scroll through the
options,
>and learn which features are included in app.

Why scroll through a menu to learn about an app's features?  Menus are
there TO GET WORK DONE.  Use on-line help for a list of topics/features.

>>the Mac. Many of the shortcuts are different to Word for Windows. Does
MS
>>have a clue about look and feel !?).
>
>Yes, M.S. has a clue about look and feel.  They saw what people like
about
>macs and the many things that they dislike.  They kept the features that 
>people like, and added many more that people want.  People don't want 
>dialog boxes that have plain rounded-corner rectangular buttons.  They
>really don't look like buttons at all. Instead, they want buttons that
look
>like buttons.

Doesn't MS also use common code for both Windows and the Macintosh?  If
MS doesn't follow Apple's Style Guide, who's the one at fault?

>We can go on forever listing all the problems with macs, but why waste
the 
>bandwidth on already known and proven failures?  People use Windows/OS 2
>because they contain all the good parts of a mac's GUI without all the
>ugly, tedious parts.
>

People use Windows/OS/2/Mac becuase they don't know any better. 
Actually, it's probably because they became comfortable with one GUI, and
like most humans, *hate* change.  Selah.

--- Gavin
Gone Fission.          Visualize Whirled Peas!
Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.advocacy