From: u9147063@cs.uow.edu.au (Richard Barry Ling)
Subject: Re: Macintosh advocacy (really!)
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Wollongong University, Australia
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 08:52:09 GMT

bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman) writes:

> 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.

But of course!  The fact that there is only one button increases CPU
throughput by 10%, right?  More powerful?  hahah

Is the next step to eliminate the excess keys from the keyboard?  Surely if
the next generation of Macs had only a space bar, new users would be far
less confused.  I understand Apple does everything it can to un-confuse new
users, since they were obviously very confused to have bought a Mac in the
first place.

I notice that throughout the Mac's history a control key, cursor keys,
numeric keypad, an escape key and numerous function keys have been added.  I
wonder how long it will be before another mouse button comes into play.

> > 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. 

Like on the NeXT or Windows, but unlike on the Amiga where the right mouse
button plays a very specific and consistent role.  The right mouse button
saves one's hand a lot of trips to the keyboard.

> > 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.

There is; its disk DMA and pre-emptive multitasking appears to be
malfunctioning.  Thus, when the disk drive is going, everything stops.  The
mouse pointer moves in fits and starts.  I consulted Apple and asked if they
could service my machine to correct this, but they said they were unable to
fix this problem.

> > 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.

What an expensive waste of time, considering that they came up with the
wrong result, according to myself and every other Mac user I have talked to
with the exception of one.

> > 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.

If only they spent it on the right things.  It's nigh on ten years since the
Mac was developed and the most powerful 68040 Mac still can't format a
floppy in the background.

> > 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.

This seems to be an all-too-frequent excuse; why couldn't they simply get it
right at some stage during systems 1-6?

> -- 
> 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.

Richard Ling
u9147063@cs.uow.edu.au
#include <standard_disclaimer.h>