From: derosa@rtsg.mot.com (John DeRosa)
Subject: What I *LIKE* (and didn't) about MS-DOS & Windows
Reply-To: motcid!derosa@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 21:08:24 GMT

Wait! Whoa! Before the flame wars begin, I must
tell you that I am an UNABASHED, Died-in-the-wool,
first class, FOREVER and ever God-Blessed
Macintosh fanatic (and system administrator).  

In fact I like them a lot......

BUT....I had my first chance to install Windows on 
a Messy-DOS computer made by a very third party 
source (Lucky Computers).  There were several things
that impressed me (and didn't) with this computer
and Windows in particular.

Likes
=====
1) Windows comes with some applications!!!  A Word
processor!!!  A painting tool!!!  While they are not
exactly MS Word or MacDraw, they suffice and get the 
average user off the ground.  Apple...bundle something
already!

2) Easy to use!!  IT was a real no brainer to start
to use it.  Of course it is easy to use because everywhere
you turn, you run into Mac-like menus, dialog boxes and 
mouse movements.  It is so similar that Apple should file
suit (or at least win a suit .... ).

3) Fast!! The price of the system is in line with a LCII
with RGB monitor (after the price reductions) but it runs
rings around the LCII in terms of apparent performance.
Don't talk to me about the Mac having more to do, the only
thing that counts is how the user perceives his computer 
is working.  I precieve that this 386 25mhz clone was FASTER.
Windows open faster, words scroll faster, documents print
faster.

Dis-Likes
=========
1) At least on this computer, Windows was not pre-installed
and the manuals were very bad.  By comparison, Macintosh
manuals are the picture of friendliness and "hold me by 
my hand".  The manual that came with 
the computer was bad, the manual that came with the mouse
was pitiful, the manual that came with Windows was awful.  Why?
because this was a CHEAP computer (near the bottom of the heap) and 
the manuals are vague and don't let you know which steps to 
follow when.  The Windows that came with the computer was MS 
Windows but it was published by another company.  I guess
MS was overwhelmed with Windows 5.0 and had to second 
source themselves.

2) Things go BOOM in the night....the floppy controller dies,
the mouse driver disappears off the face of the earth (have
you ever tried to run Windows {or MacOS} without a MOUSE?), the 
installation of fonts takes a degree in Astro-Physics, autoexec.bat
and config.sys go bye-bye, etc, etc.

3) The GUI, while it is very Mac like in some respects, really sucks.
I was left with an odd feeling of "crudeness" and sharp corners.  It
is like the difference between the fit and finish of a Chevy Cavalier and
a Mercedes Benz.  Yes, they both can drive but everything just feels 
more "comfortable" and polished on the high end machine.

Editorial
=========
I suppose that if you purchase a "good" clone from a name
brand manufacturer, problems like these would be non-existant and
all that would be left is my likes and #3 on the dislikes but
this is a comparison of like priced machines. 

The problem as I see it is that the average comsummer (in this case
my next door neighbor) buys a computer as if it is a car or a TV.
With a car, it doesn't matter if you pay $100,000 or $400, they
both can be driven with little or no training.  Manual?  There is 
no need unless you need to change the time on the clock.

But a computer....now that is a different story.  This is the 
world's most complicated appliance because it is a Machine that
can do ANYTHING!  The average user MUST BE HELD BY THE HAND and
simplicity of use is EVERYTHING.  What you get for the extra money
for the Macintosh is being HELD BY THE HAND by the Operating System!

I took my neighbor over to my Macintosh to show him how the 
other side lives.  Now you must understand that this guy knows
nothing about computers.  Quote "what does DIR mean?".  When I sat
him down in front of the desktop he asked "what do I do?".  I
told him, "what seems logical to do?".  Time and again his logic
solved whatever problem was facing him.  "How do I print?", "How
do I scroll?", "How do I edit text?".

I wonder, can he return his computer in trade for a toaster?

Comments?

Last Note:  In the three applications that I tried to use in Windows,
one used the delete key and the erase key for the same function,
the second used the delete key to delete in front of the cursor and the
erase key to delete behind the cursor and the third did just 
the opposite.  Consistancy of interface???  No Way!!!
-- 
=  Enjoy!          John DeRosa, Motorola, Inc, ESMR Development  =
=  thanks          derosa@ssd.comm.mot.com                       =
=  a 10^6          N1111@applelink.apple.com                     =
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy