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From: whh@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor (Why any metaphor?)
Keywords: desktop metaphor, graphical interfaces, computing environments
Message-ID: <22622@pbhya.PacBell.COM>
Date: 29 Dec 88 19:04:29 GMT
References: <850@mtfmi.att.com> <673@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> <1489@umbc3.UMD.EDU> <66401@ti-csl.CSNET>
Organization: Pacific * Bell, Oakland, CA
Lines: 44

In article <66401@ti-csl.CSNET>, holland@m2.csc.ti.com (Fred Hollander) writes:
> In article <22616@pbhya.PacBell.COM> whh@pbhya.PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt) writes:
> 
> Typical Mac Word Processor:
> 
>         Find:   word    Replace With:   new-word
> 
> vi:
> 
>         ^[:.,$s/word/new-word/g
> 
> Can you tell which one is more intuitive?  Now, don't get me wrong.  I've used
> vi since college and never had any problem with it, but I would never had
> gotten started without a manual or a reference.  Simple yes.  Powerful yes.
> Intuitive %$#@ no! I agree that UNIX is easy to use, ONCE YOU KNOW HOW!  My
> four year old can use my Mac without help.  Don't tell me you son just sat
> down and figured out vi (and NROFF!??).

I never claimed vi was intuitive, just tha the Mac isn't--at least for me.
As for the example--first you have to specify where the 'find' is to be found
and then how you tell it what to find.  Next you have to figure out how the
replacement is to to be done--including indicating that, indeed, the right
occurence has been found.  Not also, that your vi example is a good deal
more general than your Mac example.  You have, after all, specified a global
search.  (Not the way I'd do it, but a global none the less.)  It is not
at all clear that the Mac example is doing that.  It *appears* that a closer
correspondence would be:

  ^[/oldwordcwneword^[

No he had help.  But then, the first time he encountered a Mac (before he
learned vi) he needed help, too.

Almost ANY system is easy to use once you know how.  The fallacy of the Mac
is the assumption that an easy initial learning-curve equates to ease of
long-term use and power.  (I feel the similarly about menu-driven systems--
I don't know why they are considered "user friendly."  They should be
termed "novice friendly--experienced hostile.")

=========================================================================
  Hal Heydt                             |    "Hafnium plus Holmium is
  Analyst, Pacific*Bell                 |     one-point-five, I think."
  415-645-7708                          |       --Dr. Jane Robinson
  {att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!pbhya!whh