Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Intuitive...
Message-ID: <15029@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 19 Sep 90 15:19:05 GMT
References: <1990Sep18.171043@miguel.llnl.gov>
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 44

In article <1990Sep18.171043@miguel.llnl.gov> macq@miguel.llnl.gov (Don MacQueen) writes:
>Well, actually, I don't believe the Mac is used intuitively at all. 
>It's just that many things we want to do with it are easy to remember,
>or analagous to something that is easy to remember.
>
>Cheers
>Don MacQueen
>macq@miguel.llnl.gov


I absolutely agree that the Mac is not "intuitive".

My first exposure to the Macintosh came in 1984, when I and my family
were staying with some friends in Austin, in order to attend the AAAI
Conference there.  Our friends had a Macintosh, but my son and eldest
daughter hogged the machine every evening, so I didn't have a chance
at it.  Instead, I tried to figure out how to use MacWrite by reading
the documentation.  Intuitive?  Jeez!  I couldn't even find the damn
Insert command!  My son (then 5 years old) had to help me get started.

Now, of course, we've had our own Mac for almost six years, and it's
all perfectly obvious.  I can't imagine anyone being confused by
it--in particular, I can't figure out what's wrong with my UNIX and
DOS-using friends, when they try to use it.

What the Mac is, is:

(1)  Very easy to learn.  (But you GOTTA learn!)

(2)  Very uniform and consistent in its operation.  This is a point
whose importance cannot be communicated to the UNIX or DOS user with a
casual acquaintance with the Macintosh; they may understand
intellectually, but they don't grok.

I think there is a place for the word "intuitive" when discussing Mac
interfaces.  However, it should be restricted to mean "obvious to a
Mac user, or trivial for such a user to figure out."  I do not believe
this word should be used to a non-Mac-user; to the non-Mac person, the
interface is quite clearly NOT intuitive, and claiming that it is only
poisons the well for any other claims one might make.
-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)
-- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA  19301
-- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable.
< You can put a mouse on an IBM.  And you can put a radio on a motorcycle. >