Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!olivej!tonyb
From: tonyb@olivej.olivetti.com (Anthony M. Brich)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: Does everybody hate Windows?
Summary: Confessions of a happy Windows user
Keywords: Windows, success, hate, Microsoft=devil, Microsoft=god
Message-ID: <49320@olivea.atc.olivetti.com>
Date: 30 Aug 90 02:44:35 GMT
References: <1990Aug27.204452.9786@tc.fluke.COM>
Sender: news@olivea.atc.olivetti.com
Distribution: na
Lines: 128

In article <1990Aug27.204452.9786@tc.fluke.COM>, sota@tc.fluke.COM (Bruce White) writes:
> From reading this newsgroup, one could conclude that there are so many
> problems associated with installing and running Windows, that everybody hates
> it.  Yet the popular press shows Microsoft selling godzillions of copies.
> Since so many people are buying it, some of them must like it.
> 
> How about some postings from people who use, and like, Windows.  Tell us what
> you use it for, why you like it, whether you use it with non-Windows Apps, what

Okay.  I admit to liking Windows, even, given to hyperbole (as I  am),
of  loving  Windows.  Perhpas  not  a  fashionable  stance,  but ...

I run Windows quite successfully (i.e., with  few  crashes,  at  least
lately,   and  infrequent  unrecoverable  application  errors)  on  an
Olivetti M300 --- a 16Mhz 386sx with 4mbs RAM, an 80 mb HDU, superVGA,
5  1/4"  and  3  1/2" floppies, Ethernet card, and dedicated QMS PS810
Postscript printer.  Flawless configuration,  in  my  opinion  (oh,  I
could  use  more  RAM, but one can ALWAYS use more RAM, right?  And my
hard disk could be bigger,  but  they  can  ALWAYS  be  bigger,  can't
they?).  Nice tight little footprint, pretty gray box, solid blacks in
the monitor, punchy keyboard, enough speed for my purposes, and
reliable so far.

I had tried Win386 --- hated it.  The  Dick  Tracy  colors,  the  flat
screen, the pathetic MS-DOS executive --- good enough for a prototype,
maybe, but not good enough to use.  Ugh.  I tried to use Win386 as  it
was  advertised, bascially the same way I use Windows now, as a multi-
tasking shell, but Win386 couldn't cut it, I gave up, and three months
later,  along  came  my  first  beta  version  of Win 3.0.  There's no
turning back.  The minute I saw Windows 3.0, in BETA release  here  at
Olivetti,  it  was  love  at first sight: the dazzling tasteful colors
(well-suited  to  the  tasteful  palette  of  Olivetti's   by-Italians
offices),  the  clever  little 3D buttons, the convincing multi-tasking
affect, all conspired to seduce me into the Windows world.

Why do I find Windows so irresistible?  Arguably, the most important
feature is the convicning multi-tasking.  I can keep several busy
applications running all day long, which I do, and while I'm pasting a
big clump of text into vi on UNIX, I can be working on a Winword
document and running a Terminal session with another UNIX session,
keeping my place in my todo list and won't be bothered if someone
shows up with a last-minute request for a vendor's phone number.  

As you might gather, I use several applications routinely during my day, and
several of the Windows accessories, and a few DOS programs, most
importantly, my FTP Software's PC/TCP software to connect to UNIX for
EMail, news, etc.  My Program  Manager  has  an  Agenda  group,  which
contains a Write icon for my ToDo List, a Cardfile icon for my Rolodex
file (66 cards and counting), a DOS icon for my Ethernet connection to
UNIX,  a calendar icon for my calendar.  My System group contains most
of what used to be in Main, my Tools group most of what used to be  in
Accessories,  an  IS  Tools group contains the icons I culled from the
previous two groups, and my Applications group contains all my 
applications  (Winword,  Project,  Powerpoint,  Excel).  Everything is
within easy reach of the mouse, on a  pleasant  background  of  forest
green.

I  can  keep  everything  I need up and running,  switching  between
applications  as demanded by my rather frenetic life here at Olivetti:
in the middle of creating an EMail message, a colleague will  drop  by
with  a  request for a change in a manual, someone elese will chime in
with a request for a vendor phone number, a client will call for  help
with  an  Excel  macro.  I  can keep my EMail alive in the background,
task list over to the  Program  Manager  to  launch  Winword  and  the
technical  manual  file,  open my Cardfile Rolodex, and update my todo
list, almost all at the same time!  As fast as I can, I fulfill the
requests, and send the requestors off with what they need, to return
to my EMail --- quickly.  If I could multi-task  as  well  as  Windows
fakes  it,  I'd  be incredible.  The only thing limiting my ability to
address all those requests is my own human single-tasking limitations.

And though I hated the idea of Winword (for that matter, I hated the
too-cute MacWord, always favoring the leaner, meaner Word for the PC),
I have learned to like it very much, especially for putting together a
quick table for a report on class schedules, or a summary of system
configurations in a client department.  Simple tables, to be sure, and
with Winword, simple to produce.  Fast.  I also use Write as a
pared-down version of Winword, for fast text entry, final formatting
to be completed in Winword, cutting and pasting between applications,
or using Winword's filters.  In fact, a colleague was here today, we
discussed a new lab policy, and I turned to my computer, opened a new
Winword file, and in five minutes, we had publishable text,
attractively formatted.  I relied heavily on the ribbon and the ruler,
the pull-down menus, to produce a document which will have immediate
impact on our users.  And it was fast!

As short of attention span as I am, Windows lets me run circles around
my desktop, attending to portions of many tasks when so inspired,
finishing all up by the end of a day.  It's the way I work.
Especially since everything I do is related:  I do Windows training,
user support, technical writing --- all user service kinds of things.
And idea for a lab policy document could have impact on a lab
schedule, which in turn will have impact on users which must be
notified ... you get the picture.  Windows lets me accomplish all of
the above without the tedious exiting and launching of applications,
except when I want to shut 'em down to concentrate on a single task
for a while.

Hmm. I wonder if this makes sense.  In a way, Windows is bad for a
disciplined mind:  you can jump around on whim, instead of being
forced to attend to a single application.  Doesn't make for good
linear thinking, you know?  And probably that's why I like Windows.

The other advantages of Windows, most importantly memory management,
are pretty transparent for me, and not such a huge issue because I
don't work with large files too often.  

Finally, from an aesthetic viewpoint, I am pleased with Microsoft's
achievement.  A few dialog boxes and message boxes could probably be
placed a little better and organized more effectively, but on the
whole, I think Windows is a piece of good work.

It's probably not for everyone --- (just the enlightened ;!> )  If you're
willing to invest some time learning a radically different approach to
PC interfaces, you'll probable at least be intrigued by Windows.  It
has its flaws, most all well documented in this newsgroup and, to
lesser extent, in the press.  But on the whole, I am quite happy with
the accomplishment and look forward to new releases.  For the first
time in my life, I'm even thinking about programming:  it would be
gratifying indeed to build an application with a face as pretty as
Windows can make it.


Okay, enough.  You get the idea.  If I gush a little over Windows,
forgive me.  It's just that it makes life pretty easy around here
these days.  

Tony Brich