From: rob@hobbes.cuc.ab.CA (Rob Parkhill)
Subject: Re: Macintosh advocacy (really!)
Organization: The Ohio State University Department of Computer and Information Science
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 11:52:40 GMT

bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman) writes:
>In article <1992Oct29.051139.11315@cs.uow.edu.au>, u9147063@cs.uow.edu.au (Richard Barry Ling) writes:
>> 

>> The Mac only has one button, which cripples. 

>
>Wrong. It enables. Having only one button is a FEATURE. It makes the mouse
>much easier to use because it completely eliminates the confusion over which
>button to press.
>
>The Mac is MORE POWERFUL because it has only one button. Less IS more.
>
>> It would be so easy to introduce another mouse button; it could just remain 

>> unused as software is written for it. 

>
>Like on the NeXT or Windows, where extra buttons are simply undefined -- it
>is up to the applications to use them as they see fit. Hence, applications
>either a) don't use them or b) use them in inconsistant ways hence, c) users
>don't use them.

In NeXTSTEP, the second mouse button can be enabled to bring up the menu
under the pointer wherever you are on the screen.  It even lets you switch the 

buttons for left or right handed use.  But for a long time, I've heard the NeXT 

mouse referred to as a 2-button 1-button mouse :-) I havn't actually seen (used)
a program that actually defines the 2nd mouse button in NeXTSTEP
(Unlike X... ICK!... now if you hold down the middle button, while tapping the 3rd 

and pressing the shift key, you can ....)

>
>> The mac seems incapable of working in real time. I often get frustrated
>> holding down the button on the menu bar waiting for a Mac to produce a menu,
>> often waiting for many seconds if it is busy with screen update or some
>> processor-intensive work. 

>
>Sounds like there is something functionally wrong with your Mac. Perhaps
>you ought to take it in for servicing.
>
>> 9. The Mac trashcan sucks. If I move files into the trashcan and then copy
>>    files with the same name into the folder that held the previous files,
>>    the files get automatically sent to the trashcan. 

>
>Not under System 7.
>
>>    Plus the trashcan gets
>>    emptied automatically, sometimes when you don't want it to. 

>
>Not under System 7.
>
>> 8. The Amiga's autosizing scroll bars are much nicer and more intuitive to
>>    use than the Mac's thumbnail scroll bars. I can never tell how much of
>>    the document I am viewing or exactly where in the document I'm at with
>>    the Mac scroll bars.
>
>Apple studied the use of proportional scroll bars. They found that they
>were NOT intuitive. They confused users. They did this through expensive
>user testing, not some survey of technogeeks.

Not intuitive!? That's one of the best things to do to a scroll bar! When I'm using 

the browser I can immediately tell approx. how many files are in the folder just
by taking a quick glance at the scroll bar. Mind you, the proportional scroll-bars 

in X are horrible (mainly due to the 3-button mouse), but if implemeted well (like 

in NeXTSTEP), the proportional scroll bars are LOADS better than  

un-proportional ones.

>
>> 5. SW doesn't break every time the OS gets upgraded. 

>
>Same on the Mac. My software didn't break when the OS got upgraded. Indeed,
>the SECOND version of Smartcom II that ever shipped (summer of '85) works
>under System 7.
>
>>    Commodore puts more
>>    effort into making their OS upgrades compatible with existing SW than any
>>    company I know of. 

>
>Apple does MILLIONS OF DOLLARS of testing. I suspect Apple spends more on
>testing then Commodore makes yearly.
>
>> 3. You can only have fixed number of files open at any time on the Mac. When
>>    they designed the Mac OS someone said "Gee, I can't see why anyone would
>>    ever want more than ten files open at once." so they fixed the file table
>>    size. 

>
>This is not an issue with System 7.
>
>> 1. Didn't have to install Microsoft Word on my Amiga. :)
>
>I don't have it installed in any of the three Macs I own.

---
Rob Parkhill
rob@hobbes.cuc.ab.ca
(NeXTmail preferred!)