Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!rutgers!bellcore!tness7!ninja!cpe!hal6000!trsvax!johnm
From: johnm@trsvax.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: More John Dvorak comments
Message-ID: <216100053@trsvax>
Date: 3 Sep 88 19:52:00 GMT
References: <6414@chinet.UUCP>
Lines: 40
Nf-ID: #R:chinet.UUCP:6414:trsvax:216100053:000:2212
Nf-From: trsvax.UUCP!johnm    Sep  3 14:52:00 1988


>   OK everyone, how about we stop Mac Bashing. I am a programmer who works
>with both machines, and I think that the comments made above are pretty
>biased. On the Mac, you dont need a command line. If you want to open document
>Y created with program x, you point to the icon of the document and open it.
>The program that created it is automatically invoked. You dont need a command
>line; the operating system takes care of it.

I think people can certainly be critical of the Macintosh and its interface 
without being labeled "bashers" immediately.  While the nature of the original
comment about the Mac was belittling (sp?) the person who was astonished that
you cannot even get a command line echoes my own sentiments exactly.

A user interface that concentrates solely on pictographs and menus badly
constrains the power user and certainly hinders the intermediate level user.

A few examples are in order to justify this statement:

1) Without a command line you lack even the most basic ability to do wildcards.
This time saving feature comes in very handy when a particular directory (or
"folder" if you prefer) contains 20+ files and cannot thus be shown all in one
window at a time.  A Mac user will go around in a multi-select/deleting frenzy
where any command line user will simply say DEL *.C or RM *.c, etc.

2) Where is your ability to do filters on the Macintosh?  Each filter must be
a separate program complete with interface (slowing down the speed at which
they are produced) and capabilities like redirection of input/output through
filters is, as Monty Python says, "right-out".

3) Environment variables, script files (which are NOT equivalent to files 
describing a series of mouse clicks and key presses), and programming 
environments all suffer under the Macintosh environment.

In my opinion (and that's all it is), the direction that both Open Look and the
Amiga took is the correct one.  Give the user a graphical interface that will
make learning easy, make execution of simple commands effortless, and get the
hell out of the way when a command line is wanted.

John Munsch
"People don't just go around wantonly displaying scientific data."
						-- Posting in comp.graphics