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From: bryce@COGSCI.BERKELEY.EDU (Bryce Nesbitt)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Mac Multitasking? (Silly expletive deleted)
Message-ID: <8708231912.AA03081@cogsci.berkeley.edu>
Date: Sun, 23-Aug-87 15:12:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: cogsci.8708231912.AA03081
Posted: Sun Aug 23 15:12:27 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 23-Aug-87 23:49:30 EDT
References: <8708200011.AA09857@cogsci.berkeley.edu> <2237@cbmvax.UUCP>
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: Institute of Cognitive Studies, UC Berkeley
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[If mac owners want to read this they will need to come to this group]

In article <2237@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) writes:
>In article <> I wrote:
>> You are correct that Apple has done much more than Commodore-Amiga to bring
>> the average human into the ranks of computer user, however the point you
>> decided to pick upon is not valid.  Multitasking properly applied helps
>> people get things done simply and effectively.
>
>There are more C64/C128 machines out there (over 7 million, last I heard)
>than Apple IIs (4-5 million), Macs (1 million), and Amigas (300-400K).  So
>who's brought the average Joe to become a computer user?

Well, I did say "Commodore-Amiga", so I tried to restrict the comparison to
the Amiga.  The point I wanted to make was that Apple has put a *lot* of
research, care, and effort into bringing into the ranks of computer user
people like my mother; scared to go much byond the power switch.

[For quite a while she even had trouble with the power switch... fear of
breaking it, or getting shocked or creating eplosions of sparks like in the
movies.]

I have a lot of respect for a company that places raw beginners into a room
to sweat out the use of their new computers; the interviews and video tape
have great value in pointing out details that and experienced hacker would
*never* have considered a problem.

Don't take this as unqualified praise of the Macintosh.  I have one sitting
not two meters from me... but I chose the Amiga as my primary machine.	The
Amiga operating system has a lot of rough edges, it lacks the spit-and-
polish that went into the Mac.	The Mac is, however, crippled by what I
consider some really dumb decisions made at the start.	It's this wonderful
house build on a rusty metal foundation.  The Amiga is an uncompleted house
sitting on a good foundation.  Which one is easier to fix?

------------------------------
[On that power switch issue... How come nobody puts power switches where
they belong?  The power switch is often accesed, and should be placed in a
recessed indent *on the front of the machine*.	Even television makers have
figured this one out.  Even Apple did not (at first :-).  Lesson one for a
prospective Mac user is to reach back, way back... yet not be scared of
"touching" or "breaking" all the cables.  The A1000's switch was close...
but I still need to shove books out of the way.] 

[Power-down is another sticky issue.  Again it is a point where a beginning
user is unjustly afraid of breaking something, and an advanced user is
*justly* afraid.  Some like the idea of a hardware interlock, others get by
with a "shutdown" command or option.]


>     "God, I wish I was sailing again" -Jimmy Buffett, Dave Haynie
"Windsurfing"


|\ /|  . Ack! (NAK, EOT, SOH)
{o O} . 
( " )	bryce@cogsci.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!cogsci!bryce
  U	"Success leads to stagnation; stagnation leads to failure."