From: bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: MACS COST TOO MUCH (NOT!)
Date: 12 Sep 92 12:34:22 EDT
Followup-To: 922 <ajross.references:  <jochenw.716212015@ikki>

Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA

In article <jochenw.716212015@ikki>, jochenw@ikki.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Jochen Wolters) writes:
> 
>>Yes, I can.  All I need to do is sit down with a user and a stopwatch.
> 
>   This might in fact be true if that user has never used the machine
> in question before. But as soon as you got used to whatever interface
> you are using, it depends on what you got used to, right? 

No. What you are dealing with here are preconceived notions as to how to
perform a task. It isn't a matter of "getting used to" something, it is
more of a matter of being able to address a problem using a new paradigm.
This difficulty may center more around the personality type of the user than
the particular aspects of a given graphic UI. 

> If, for
> example, a die-hard UNIX user would sit down at a Mac he'd have to
> actually think about what he has to do to, say, copy a file. He
> cannot use "instinctive" actions that would come naturally when using
> a CLI.

Wrong. A) CLIs are not "instinctive." (For that matter, neither are graphic
UIs) The response to CLIs is a learned response, and a high-level cognitive
function. The user has to consider what he wants to do, then formulate that
idea into a strict lexical form -- a string of commands.

B) Graphic UIs are based on a lower level cognitive function. This is something
that you learn from the time you are about 1 year old. You grasp this thing
and move it over there. Even the most ardent CLI user knows how to perform
this action. All we have to do is a bit of conditioning for the CLI user to
tap this learnig when he is in front of a computer. That is probably something
he isn't used to. (Perhaps it would be easier if he didn't think of it as
a computer)

>   I do agree that a GUI may be superior over (word?) a CLI for a beginner.

Uh, but isn't the ardent CLI user a beginner with a Graphic UI? Why isn't
it easier for him, too?

I've seen this statement repeated several times -- "UIs are OK for beginners."
The subsequent statement is never fully expressed: "But real computer users
use a CLI." That seems to be implied here. 

I don't buy it. What is easy for the beginner is also easy for the experienced
user. The fact that a good graphic UI relies only on low-level cognitive
functions allows the user to concentrate on what he is trying to do, rather
than concentrate on how to use the computer. The fact that he is using a
computer sorta disappears. 

> But what do you do if s/he doesn't like the look and feel? He might never
> find out about that ease of use and consistency of the interface, if
> he doesn't want to use it due to simply feeling uncomfortable. 

Interesting hypothesis. Can you cite a single documented case where someone
couldn't use a graphic UI because they felt uncomfortable? The Mac UI, for
example, is rather neutral. Indeed, it is almost boring. If you walk into
a beige room, you aren't likely to be as uncomfortable as if you walked into
a shocking pink, orange or blinding white one. Hence the neutrality of the
stock Mac interface.

Consider further all the Utilities that offer "interior decorating" for the
Mac interface. You can personalise the interface so you feel more comfortable.

I think theres considerably more latitude in making a user feel comfortable
with the user interface with a graphic UI as opposed to a CLI.

>>And let me add, once again, that the Macintosh does not have
>>a GUI.  It simply has an interface.  Real computers do not
>>need three-letter acronyms just to make simple things sound
>>IMPORTANT.
> 
>   Every computer has an interface. The acronym GUI doesn't 
> have anything to do with importace, it just points out that
> we're dealing with a GRAPHICAL interface in contrast to a
> simple TEXT driven one. That's all. Strange, though, that you
> put so much energy in arguments that appear to be rather
> uninteresting...

Before Windows 3.0, we never heard the term GUI. The Macintosh simply had
an "interface". The Mac was out for SEVEN YEARS before Windows 3 came along.
I object to the term GUI myself. I tend to drop the "G" simply because it is
redundant. 

-- 
Bill Coleman, AA4LR                ! CIS: 76067,2327    AppleLink: D1958
Principal Software Engineer        ! Packet Radio: AA4LR @ W4QO
Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc. ! UUCP: uunet!hayes!bcoleman
POB 105203 Atlanta, GA 30348 USA   ! Internet: bcoleman%hayes@uunet.uu.net
Disclaimer: "My employer doesn't pay me to have opinions."
Quote: "The same light shines on vineyards that makes deserts." -Steve Hackett.