[Tfug] Waste-Not Warehouse - was(Computer Recycling)

[Sam Hart]

> I'd love to hear in what ways Mac OS gets in her way - particular classic
> Mac OS.  OS X is a bit flashy, and I could see how people might feel that
> way.  Classic on the other hand was the perfect example of a get out of
> your way OS.  Too bad it didn't stay in the way enough to keep an app from
> crashing your system :)

I haven't really delved that much into what she disliked about it. She was 
given an iMac in her classroom and dispised the thing. I think it had to 
do with the fact that it got so much out of her way that she had no idea 
what was running and was constantly running out of memory when running 
programs (you know how closing down the windows doesn't exactly exit the 
programs?)

If you want to ask her directly, ask me off list and I'll give her your 
addy.

> > I installed them with Red Hat 6.2, set them up each with an account (yes,
> > I was cruel and made my own parents learn passwords), and configured the
> > system to use their ISP and do this and that and the other. I set them up
> > to use KDE 1.x and Kmail for email. It was a liberating experience for
> > them, because they could do the things they /really/ wanted with their
> > computer (simple word processing, put images of grandkids up for their
> > backgrounds, browse the web, send email) without worrying about breaking
> > anything.
> 
> To be fair you could do this with Win2K or XP or even a Mac.  Although not
> in 1999.

Not really. I currently maintain many Win2k and XP boxen for the Physics 
dept. All my users are non-priv. and my systems are fairly secure. Between 
active desktop nightmares and email viri, it's a constant struggle to 
keep these damned things going.

> Now thats nuts.  Aqua, while a step back from the consistency of the
> classic Mac OS is still leagues ahead of any of the Linux UIs in terms of
> consistency.  Sure, you can customize the heck out of your GUI of choice
> on Linux, but the behaviors across applications just aren't as consistent.

Consistency is something that only people like us are interested in. Trust 
me, a neophyte couldn't care less whether the widgets are different 
colors, the menus are different, etc. For non-technical people it almost 
always comes down to memorization of patterns (click here, type this, 
click here, etc). For them, doing something is more like incantation of 
some magic spell than logically thinking "I know I can save under 
File->Save".

I agree consistency is what's hurting adoption of more technically minded 
people familier with some other interface... but for neophytes it doesn't 
enter into it.

> Still, for basic uses - word processing, web browsing, etc. Linux is "good
> enough" on the desktop for a lot of people.  The punditry of it needing "a
> few more years" (Ive been hearing that for how long?) just isn't true.
> You don't need a terrific amount of consistency if you are only learning 3
> apps anyway.

And see, that's all that most people ever use their computers for. Even in 
business environments it's the same (do you know how small the percentage 
is of people in Physics Dept. that use their Office suites for more than 
just simple word processing?)

> > For example, while my parents easily learned KDE, for my students at
> > Intel several years back (all with PhDs in comp sci and years worth of
> > Windows experience), KDE was like learning a different language.
> 
> Yea, sometimes the engineering students whine when you make them use Unix.
> Probably the biggest casualty of Microsoft's market dominance is the
> difficulty in getting people to learn something new on a computer.

I think it's more of a mental blockage. The same reason why I can't force 
myself to learn E&M, even though I've taken other Physics courses for 
years ;-)

-- 
Sam Hart
University/Work addr. <hart at physics.arizona.edu>
Personal addr. <criswell at geekcomix.com>
Alternative <criswell at tux4kids.net>
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