[opendtv] Re: News: Macintosh and iPod Drive Apple
- From: "John Willkie" <johnwillkie@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 6 May 2007 02:47:33 -0700
I would have severe reservations about “workers being more efficient on
Macs.” First, I note the word efficient. Generally, one thinks about
workers being more productive, not more efficient.
And, I need to point out for about the 10th time on this list that I am a
relatively fast typist. (My last typing test on a machine I had never used
before, using a standard script on a keyboard I had never used before,
without any warm-up, was 73 words per minute with zero errors. I should
have done better: I’ve been measured by others at 88 words per minute after
corrections.
As any fast typist knows, Macs are for slow-typing idiots or people who want
to seem cool and make bad videos with bundled software. One needs to use
the mouse (still! More than 20 years later) to do some common typing tasks,
which severely cuts down speed, and thereby, productivity. In many cases,
there is only one badly-thought out way to do common tasks.
With Windows – from version 1.0, by the way – there were at least two, and
in many cases, three ways to perform common tasks like entering a soft
carriage return. With Windows 3.0, there were three ways to perform common
tasks.
Try this task. Start to type a sentence on the Mac. Then, underline the
last word you typed before moving on to the next word. I can do that on a
PC with two separate key combinations. (It\s cheating to use Microsoft Word
on the Mac for this: I\m talking about a feature built into PCs.) My
fingers never leave the alphabetic keys. Last time I tried a Mac, I could
only do this by taking my fingers off the keys and attacking the mouse
twice.
Try another not-so-common task. Enter a keycode (like that for ascii 129)
into a Mac. With a PC, it’s five keys. It was four before they embraced
Unicode.
I frankly don’t care what type of computer people use (although I refuse to
use emacs on any computer). I only care that they are happy with their
choice, and to the extent I need to interface to their computer, I do
nothing other than copy files. And, I lose not a bit of content in the
process. In the last 16 years, Macs have finally been able to do this.
Most of the time.
If I were working on an hourly basis as a typist, I wouldn’t have any
problem with a Mac. If I were being paid by the job or by the unit
completed, I’d only use a PC.
So, you don’t understand, Dave that time is money is only half the phrase,
and that the other half is money is time?
Please, continue to convince yourself that in laptops Macs are superior. I
will only agree that their prices are 3x what a run-of-the mill laptop
costs.
Don’t you just love the emperor’s new clothes?
John Willkie
_____
From: opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:opendtv-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Dave Bittner
Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 7:06 PM
To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [opendtv] Re: News: Macintosh and iPod Drive Apple
On May 6, 2007, at Sunday, May 6, 20072:33 AM, John Willkie wrote:
However, the argument tends to fall apart, since Macs are found most often
in environments where “time has no value” like at home. In environments
where time has money, like business, Macs have only significant penetration
in a few niches.
Oh come on, John. PCs don't dominate businesses because "time is money",
they dominate because they've been historically cheaper to buy, and that's
what matters to bean-counters. Study after study has shown that workers are
more efficient on Macs, and that Macs last longer without needing upgrades,
making them a better value in the long run. But bean-counters rarely care
about the long run; they want to impress the boss with how much money they
saved this quarter.
There is a noticeable shift occurring, most visibly with laptops. Superior
resistance to spyware, attractive industrial design, effective marketing
(including the iPod family connection) and an overall "coolness" factor are
making more and more people take a serious look at Macs.
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