Re: What has changed in the Apple world last 6 months?

[dev.null@personal.information.com]

Tom Zuchowski <tzuchow@attglobal.net> wrote:
> Reread my message. Resizing huge images may not be a common activity in most
> businesses, but big, high-resolution screens are a proven productivity
> enhancer. Anyone who has used Excel at 640x400 and then moved to a 1280x768
> desktop on a big CRT will know exactly what I am talking about. I can think
> of lots of similar examples. According to studies I have read about, savings
> of as much as an hour a day can be realized.

> Look, I love my Apple II's as much as the next guy. But I cannot see how a
> modern Apple II would look or behave significantly differently from a modern
> Macintosh.

I'm sorry, but I really must side with the anti-eye-candy camp.  Why?

First, I will gladly bring any study which compares Excel at 640x480 with
excell at 1280x768 into question (or anything which compares one program
to itself).  The only way such studies would hold weight is if you are
planning to use Excel in the first place.  Modern applications simply are
not designed to handle small screens.  If you look at a semi-modern word
processor on an SE/30 (or similar 9" screen) you will quickly notice that
there is space for about five lines of text.  Yes, that would produce a
huge productivity crunch.  Even on less crowded 14" screens, it is still
going to be a factor.

But move over to an Apple II (or reasonable Unix text editors, like vi),
and screen real estate becomes less important.  When was the last time
that AppleWorks or FrEd Writer restricted you to a puny five lines of
text, even though the display is capable of presenting far less text than
an SE/30 screen is?  Sure, maybe it can present less information than that
beautiful 17" monitor.  But, maybe, it is easier to read the monospaced
font.  (I certainly find it easier while dealing with numerical data.)

And perhaps it is easier working with less cluttered interfaces.  I
certainly think so, which is why I prefer to deal with Apple II's, old
Macintosh's and Unix.  Perhaps you can deal with all the distractions,
but I can not.  It may just explain why there is not a single graphical
element on my screen, while I write this out.

Byron.