Date: Tue, 22 Jul 2003 18:43:08 -0700
Reply-To: Jim <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Jim <jrasite@EONI.COM>
Organization: http://wetwesties.org/
Subject: Re: It's a Beautiful Day in America!...
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
I was going to stay out of this, but.....
Most of the comments I've read here today preface with, "Personally I
don't use a Mac..." I'd offer that that's akin to saying, "Personally, I
don't drive..." when posting a criticism of or comments regarding
Vanagons on the Vanagon list. Drive a Mac for a year or two, THEN
experss your opinion.
<OPIN>
Personally, in my business I support both Windows and Mac systems. With
the release of XP and OS X, the operating systems are very similar in
'look and feel'. The advantage of the Microsoft product is the 95%
market penetration. The advantage of OS X is Apple's control of both
the hardware and the software. The disadvantage of Microsoft's product
is that it must run on an incredible variety of hardware configurations.
This leads to bloated software. The disadvantage of Apple's product is
5% market penetration. (Actually something like 3% these days...)
However, I can run nearly any Windows program (including the all
important ETKA) on my Mac. I don't think you can run iTunes, iMovie,
iPhoto or Safari on your Windows platform..... I work on both platforms,
and my home systems are Macs and Mac clones. Eventually, the open source
initiative may do them both in. (One can always hope. )
</OPIN>
But... The reason I had to write was to question the statement, "You
mean like Microsoft who wrote the first Apple operating system?"
Aristotle, cite your source... My research shows,
"DOS and ProDOS are operating systems designed by Apple Computer, Inc.
to run in the 8-bit Apple II line of computers. DOS was released for the
Apple II in the late 1970's and was later replaced with ProDOS. ProDOS
is much easier to use than DOS. Apple has always had an ease of use
philosophy. You can tell by reading their older Apple II DOS or ProDOS
manuals. They have always strived to make the computer experience as
humanistic as possible. DOS and ProDOS are text-line OS's and as such
are inherently harder to use than a GUI OS. Attempts to add a GUI to the
older 8-bit Apple II's (not withstanding the 16-bit IIgs) have all
pretty much fallen flat. The Apple II simply does not have the graphical
capabilities to support a convincing GUI. The Apple II, excluding the
later IIgs, is a text-line machine, take it or leave it. You might
expect that as a text-line machine, it would be hard to use and cryptic,
especially if you are familiar with text-line operating systems like
MSDOS. DOS and ProDOS were designed with as few keywords as possible. It
was designed to make the levels of abstraction as few as possible. These
OS's are simple, elegant, and fun to use. They do not tax the user with
multitudes of cryptic commands and hard to remember procedures. It is no
wonder that the company that produced these powerfully simple text-line
OS's eventually changed the world with the MacOS GUI."
<http://homepage.mac.com/vectronic/appleii/dos.html>
You might also take a look at
<http://www.chips.navy.mil/archives/02_fall/index2_files/briefhistory2.htm>
I'll shut up now.
Jim
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