"Win or lose"? or Win=lose?
My mother, mentioned earlier, is virginal when it
comes to computers. She has no clue how to start the machine or what to do with
it when if it's running. She knows what an email is but refuses to type on the
keyboard. She's soooo reluctant to try. How did I learn it? By trying. Trial and
error is the only way to learn fast. When the basics of operating the technical
device are understood, you can read the instruction manual for details. That
worked with tape recorders, with video cameras, with still cameras, with macs,
with Windows PC's.... stop. The last one is critical.
It can - in theory - work with a MS loaded PC, if the following rules apply:
System must be pre-installed. New virginal user will be too insecure to be able to configure anything.
User must be talented and willing to endure trial and error, where error is immediatly and unfairly punished by angry crashes and creeeeping start ups, saying "the computer was not shut down properly..."
User must have the soul, spirit and patience of a shaolin or tibetan monk. He must be able to accept random error messages of arbitrary character, and must never ever scrutinise, for he will get no answer nor an explanation.
You get the idea.
It can - in theory - work with a MS loaded PC, if the following rules apply:
System must be pre-installed. New virginal user will be too insecure to be able to configure anything.
User must be talented and willing to endure trial and error, where error is immediatly and unfairly punished by angry crashes and creeeeping start ups, saying "the computer was not shut down properly..."
User must have the soul, spirit and patience of a shaolin or tibetan monk. He must be able to accept random error messages of arbitrary character, and must never ever scrutinise, for he will get no answer nor an explanation.
You get the idea.
Although my mother is nearly painfully denying all
computer use, she is in a very fortunate situation. She expresses a little
interest, somewhere hidden, and she has both ways in front of her. She is not
occupied by cliches about Mac or PCs running Windows or Linux, because she has
absolutely no idea about any of them.
If you teach her the mac, she'll like it and understand it. If you teach her how to deal with windows, she'll like it and understand it. One way will take longer. One way will look nicer. One way will be filled with waiting and irrational break downs. One way will coax her into "just lovin' it" while serving with obligingness and reliability. Hmmmm. Pick what YOU would like to have, as today the price difference is only small, and the designs are convincingly nifty and slick on Apple's side. The excuses that applications don't exist on both platforms and that files can't be opened don't apply anymore. Most apps exist for both platforms, including a wide range of games, basically, shifting files both ways works well.
If you're, like her, not prejudiced yet, it's most likely the persons around you and their computer resources determining the nature of your first contact. I think she should learn how to handle both of them - in the end, most PCs you find in the daily work life are running Windows.
A friend of mine was wondering why people succumb to Windows in the first place. If you read the earlier entry, you know how it was for me. I didn't know better, and it seemed to be the right thing to go for. It worked, and I didn't know that it could have been better. I thought it had to be that way. I accepted the flaws and handicaps, because it did work in some way. The cliches did the rest. And finally - I didn't care enough. I didn't even surf the web! I just wanted to play some DOS games and write a document, and print it. Yay! My brother was the only one who was able to configure the box, he knew everything or at least enough to make it work and keep it working. He's still anti-mac today, I think.
Like in our case, one person knows the secret way to bring life into that box, and all others follow blindly - acceptance and not-better-knowing - they simply have no chance to judge if it's good or bad.
Or, like in many cases earlier, a child started the run for a computer. If everyone else had Windows, you'd go for it too as a parent - you didn't know better, or you were overburdened with the choice - then you'd grab a package, mostly windows included, no set up needed. Simple enough. The rough time came with the manual. I remember pages of pages with paths and commands, and I know we spent many happy hours typing in one after the other, because we didn't know what to do.
Okay, now I have an iBook, I'm wireless online, I know most lifesaving things about my computer. I know where all the preferences live, how to extract flash animations out of the temporary IE files, and many things . It is more transparent to understand, and thus user friendly. As I mentioned before, I'm not a specialist with computers. Terminal is still not my friend. Thus, Linux with the doggy penguin is not my friend yet. But I kind of master my little computer world and feel happy enough.
I understand why Mac users rarely convert to Win PCs - they're happy already. Of course they also have the same number of prejudices against PC's as Windows users have against them! Which movie was it... the ninth gate? where the only specialist online, who knew something rare but exotic, was a fat guy in a hawaiian shirt in front of a mac? Hmm.
I know of some who re-converted to PCs partly, because they needed too - for work. Either the programs really need windows, or all your co-workers use windows and the company's computers at your work place are Windows PCs.
Anyone has another opinion or idea why some people get the mac-craze or become gates-worshippers? Tell me, please!
If you teach her the mac, she'll like it and understand it. If you teach her how to deal with windows, she'll like it and understand it. One way will take longer. One way will look nicer. One way will be filled with waiting and irrational break downs. One way will coax her into "just lovin' it" while serving with obligingness and reliability. Hmmmm. Pick what YOU would like to have, as today the price difference is only small, and the designs are convincingly nifty and slick on Apple's side. The excuses that applications don't exist on both platforms and that files can't be opened don't apply anymore. Most apps exist for both platforms, including a wide range of games, basically, shifting files both ways works well.
If you're, like her, not prejudiced yet, it's most likely the persons around you and their computer resources determining the nature of your first contact. I think she should learn how to handle both of them - in the end, most PCs you find in the daily work life are running Windows.
A friend of mine was wondering why people succumb to Windows in the first place. If you read the earlier entry, you know how it was for me. I didn't know better, and it seemed to be the right thing to go for. It worked, and I didn't know that it could have been better. I thought it had to be that way. I accepted the flaws and handicaps, because it did work in some way. The cliches did the rest. And finally - I didn't care enough. I didn't even surf the web! I just wanted to play some DOS games and write a document, and print it. Yay! My brother was the only one who was able to configure the box, he knew everything or at least enough to make it work and keep it working. He's still anti-mac today, I think.
Like in our case, one person knows the secret way to bring life into that box, and all others follow blindly - acceptance and not-better-knowing - they simply have no chance to judge if it's good or bad.
Or, like in many cases earlier, a child started the run for a computer. If everyone else had Windows, you'd go for it too as a parent - you didn't know better, or you were overburdened with the choice - then you'd grab a package, mostly windows included, no set up needed. Simple enough. The rough time came with the manual. I remember pages of pages with paths and commands, and I know we spent many happy hours typing in one after the other, because we didn't know what to do.
Okay, now I have an iBook, I'm wireless online, I know most lifesaving things about my computer. I know where all the preferences live, how to extract flash animations out of the temporary IE files, and many things . It is more transparent to understand, and thus user friendly. As I mentioned before, I'm not a specialist with computers. Terminal is still not my friend. Thus, Linux with the doggy penguin is not my friend yet. But I kind of master my little computer world and feel happy enough.
I understand why Mac users rarely convert to Win PCs - they're happy already. Of course they also have the same number of prejudices against PC's as Windows users have against them! Which movie was it... the ninth gate? where the only specialist online, who knew something rare but exotic, was a fat guy in a hawaiian shirt in front of a mac? Hmm.
I know of some who re-converted to PCs partly, because they needed too - for work. Either the programs really need windows, or all your co-workers use windows and the company's computers at your work place are Windows PCs.
Anyone has another opinion or idea why some people get the mac-craze or become gates-worshippers? Tell me, please!
Posted: Fr - Januar 9, 2004 at 03:44 Uhr
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Published On: Okt 16, 2004 02:17 Uhr
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