Re: hey Simon et al

[mjmahon@aol.com (Michael J. Mahon)]

Simon Williams wrote:

<snip>

>BTW, Macs are apparently "easy to use" only if you've never used another
>OS... I've got friends who can strip a PC to bits and rebuild it
>blind-folded, but can't seem to get a handle on the Mac's "weird"
>desktop... though I have similar problems with Windows -- I'm sure it's
>designed for lefties ;-)

The thing that Macs do that drives me crazy is having a non-filename
type for files.

I am accustomed to being able to 1) change a file's apparent type by
just renaming it,  2) being able to open pretty much any file with
any "simple" application (like a text editor), and 3) being able to send
a file to many different applications with a single right-click, select,
release operation.

The Mac's insistence that it knows what to do with a file better
than I do causes me considerable frustration (that and the fact
that it can't resist "forking up" every file it sees).

For example, I use a lot of .jpg files, and I use about half a dozen
applications to open them depending on what I plan to do at the
moment.  So I associate the type for double-clicking with my 
quick file viewer, and use right-click, Send to... to fire up most
of the other apps.  I'm sure there's a way to do this on a Mac,
but the single mouse button and the patronizing OS really slow
me down.

I used to think that the Mac had a real advantage in the transparency
of its software install operation, with simple preference files, etc.,
but lately it seems to be a muddy as the PC in terms of software
installs changing nonobvious things in nonobvious places that are
hard to undo with an uninstall.

I suppose it's all what you're used to...

-michael

Check out amazing quality sound for 8-bit Apples on my
Home page:  http://members.aol.com/MJMahon/