Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!watmath!iuvax!bsu-cs!mithomas From: mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu (Michael Thomas Niehaus) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Mac vs. PC -- Shut Up Already! Message-ID: <10566@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> Date: 13 Jan 90 17:23:15 GMT References: <2925@optilink.UUCP> <867@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM> <10560@bsu-cs.bsu.edu> <6388@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> Reply-To: mithomas@bsu-cs.UUCP (Michael Thomas Niehaus) Organization: CS Dept, Ball St U, Muncie, Indiana Lines: 59 Piper Keairnes (ar4@mentor.cc.purdue.edu) writes: > We have a lab with both Mac II's and Zenith 286's. As far as hardware is > concerned, the systems are comparable. When the lab is busy, the Macs are > generally full and there are a few users on the Zeniths. For the most part, > old users, familiar with the lab, tend to use one machine OR the other > BUT NOT BOTH. Newcomers come in to work on a Mac, find that they are full, and > ask if the Zeniths have the needed software for the job. Sometimes they will > grumble as they head off to type out a resume on the Zenith. Here at Ball State, we have 20 computer labs that can be used by anyone. Three of these are all MS-DOS machines, and 6 of these are all Mac labs. Three others have VT320/240 terminals only. The rest are hybrid rooms. As for actual number of machines, PCs account for 40% of the total, Macintoshes account for 30% of the total, and terminals account for almost the entire other 30%. Now here's the good part: Any lab that has Macintoshes has a little sign that they keep handy: "All Macintoshes are in Use." So many people want to use Macs that it is standard to see waiting lists for machines with 20 to 30 people on them (during prime hours). I have waited for *4 hours* on a Saturday afternoon a couple of times, just to print out a research paper (since I have my own Mac). Now for the MS-DOS labs: Utilization averages about 30-40% (compared to 70-90% for Mac labs). The only time one of these labs fills up is when a prof brings a class in for hands-on work. And lastly (for reference), utilization of the terminals is about 50-90%, depending on how far we are into the semester. I am amazed that people will wait that long to use a Mac, even when there are terminals (for WPS-PLUS) and PCs (for WordPerfect) sitting right next to them. If it weren't for the College of Business here, I don't think they would buy any more MS-DOS machines for computer labs. > One thing that I LIKE about the IBM world is that the computers are so much > easier to program! On the Mac, geez... I guess in order to make Mac users' > lives easier, the Mac had to make the programmers' job harder. Definitely. But I guess that is a better place to put the work. I would much rather put in the work to make the program easy to use. Recently I developed a new mail shell for VMS. The first version that I created had all kinds of features (used real names instead of user names, allowed signature files, etc.). But the interface wasn't very polished, and the program wasn't used. So I spent a weekend giving the program hierarchical menus, windows, no more command line, etc. Everything was done using the arrow keys, Escape key, Delete key, and Insert key (except for when you entered the actual information). The underlying program remained the same. Only with this new interface did the program start to be used. (The scary thing is that this program now has an event loop...) -Michael -- Michael Niehaus UUCP: !{iuvax,pur-ee}!bsu-cs!mithomas Apple Student Rep ARPA: mithomas@bsu-cs.bsu.edu Ball State University AppleLink: ST0374 (from UUCP: st0374@applelink.apple.com)