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From: CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu (Christopher Tate)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: give me solid facts: why is the mac better than MeSsy DOS/WINDOWS
Message-ID: <91058.234938CXT105@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: 28 Feb 91 04:49:38 GMT
References: <91.056.16:01:18@ira.uka.de> <12608@helios.TAMU.EDU>
 <1991Feb26.094426.15315@silvlis.com> <4160@gmdzi.gmd.de>
Distribution: comp
Organization: Penn State University
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(* Wolfgang Strobl says some non-trivial things about Windows for the PC
   being able to do the things that have been touted as major Macintosh
   strengths, such as the Clipboard metaphor. *)

Even though Windows may impose a Clipboard metaphor and related features
of the GUI on the PC world now, the Mac has been supporting and refining
that metaphor for what, 5 years?  7 years?  More?

Windows is *not* a mature GUI; it simply hasn't been used enough by
enough different people to have settled down yet.  By contrast, the
Macintosh world (and Apple in particular) have been doing serious
research into human interface questions for years.  That's why developers
have access to the Human Interface Notes -- so that there are definitive
answers to questions of "How should I present this concept to the user?"

Also:  granted that Windows can do these things; what about OS/2?  Or
is Windows supposed to be the new standard OS/GUI for MS-DOS machines?
I don't believe IBM would be very happy about that...

OS/2 has some features that are *really* nice for programming, such as
multithreading, and which aren't available on Macintoshes.  Yet.  But
I have yet to see a debate espousing OS/2 rather than Windows.  I'm
really not sure why that is ... is it the price?  Or does it have
failings in the GUI that exclude it from such discussions?

In essence, here are my feelings on the matter:  If you're interested in
doing computation-intensive stuff quickly, by all means get an IBM.
There's a lot better performance/price ratio available for such things
in the DOS world.  You're going to have to work around the user interface
(or the lack thereof), but you get what you pay for.

If you'd rather have a *comfortable* machine, go for the Mac.

-------
Christopher Tate                  | "Living in a fisheye lens, caught
                                  |  in the camera eye; I have no
cxt105@psuvm.psu.edu              |  heart to lie:  I can't pretend a
{...}!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!cxt105 |  stranger is a long-awaited friend."
cxt105@psuvm.bitnet               |              -- Rush, "Limelight"