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From: akm@obelix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: give me solid facts: why is the mac better than MeSsy DOS/WINDOWS
Summary: don't be a bigot...
Message-ID: <1991Mar26.165101.10570@cs.uoregon.edu>
Date: 26 Mar 91 16:51:01 GMT
References: <1991Mar26.011127.28302@amd.com> <1991Mar26.063111.3133@cs.uoregon.edu> <me5G_sb91@cs.psu.edu>
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Organization: Department of Computer Science, University of Oregon
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In article <me5G_sb91@cs.psu.edu> melling@cs.psu.edu (Michael D Mellinger) writes:
>(in reply to my article...)
>   The Mac has had a long time to iron out its problems, give Windows
>   time... 
>
>Hasn't it been out since 1985?  How much time do you want?  Isn't the
>IBM community moving towards OS/2?  DOS weenies are the source of my
>frustation.  Too many stupid users who should own Macintoshes but
>trust those three letters: IBM.  Oh well, sooner or later their
>ignorance will hit them.

One of the things that I respect the Mac for is that it made
programmers aware that the needs and perceptions of the user are of
paramount importance. Calling users stupid does not show any respect
for them or their needs. If they trust IBM, then obviously there is
some need that they have that IBM satisfies, and you can't ignore
that. Also, if your role is to help users, if you believe they are
stupid, you can't satisfy that role.

Mac users calling DOS/Windows/OS/2 users weenies and vice versa is,
IMHO a waste of time, and it shows a level of almost religous bigotism
that is not productive. Much better that we learn from one another. I
use both Macs and PCs extensively and am aware that there are
advantages and problems with both systems/software platforms. And I
think that the argument that "the IBM community is supposed to be
moving towards OS/2" quite meaningless. A while back, the world was
supposed to be moving towards UNIX. There are people in my department
who would not use anything that can't support X-Windows, but we get
along fine realizing that our needs are different.

cheers,

kartik

-- 
Anant Kartik Mithal                                     akm@cs.uoregon.edu
Research Assistant, 					(503)346-4408 (msgs)
Department of Computer Science,                         (503)346-3989 (direct)
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1202