[DM-MUG] Re: Dmmug digest, Vol 1 #407 - 8 msgs
Ruth M.F. Tucker
dmmug@dmmug.org
Fri, 27 May 2005 14:54:45 -0500
--
Genealogy without documentation is "mythology".
IMHO, I feel that it is more inportant to teach students to use all
platforms, so they can move from one to the other easily. I have finally
become comfortable using Windows, although I still prefer my Mac, but it
took many quite a few years to reach that comfort level, since Macintosh was
the system of choice in education for many years.
I was an elementary teacher for many years, and started using computers with
my students (about 1985) back when the basic Apple was the most used. We
didn't even have regular monitors, but attached it to a small TV with some
type of adapter. Can't remember all the details.
Those were the days.
Ruth
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 12:32:57 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Richard Twohy <twohy2@yahoo.com>
> To: dmmug@dmmug.org
> Subject: [DM-MUG] NYT, 5-26: "Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh War"
> Reply-To: dmmug@dmmug.org
>
> Hey guys, 5-26-2005
>
> From today's New York Times,
> an article by David Pogue about US... and "THEM".
>
> Its "title" (below) intrigues me enuf -- to simply
> forward it directly to my DM Mac-Wizards, without
> reading it first. Hope the contents are actually
> worth anyone's time-!!
>
> Tx, for a "GRRREAT..." session at DM-MUG mtg Tuesday
> nite!
> --Richard Twohy
> ==================
>
> Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh War
>
> Last week, I wrote about some of the changes Microsoft
> has in store
> for the next version of Windows, which is slated for
> the end of 2006. Interestingly, very few of you
> responded to that column, probably because so much may
> change in the next 19 months.
>
> But a few of you fired off diatribes about how I'm
> either a Microsoft "shill" or an Apple "apologist" (or
> maybe it was the other way around). It's not just me,
> either; it's a running sardonic joke among tech
> columnists that you can't even USE the word "Apple" or
> "Microsoft" without getting hate mail from somebody or
> other.
>
> It's kind of amazing that various extremists could
> find the same column too pro-Microsoft AND too
> pro-Apple. But hey--that's the nature of ideological
> soldiers, whether they're in the conservative-liberal
> war, the evolutionist-creationist war or the
> Hummer-Prius war.
>
> The Mac-Windows war, though, is especially pointless,
> protracted, and winnerless. There will always be
> people on each side who are every bit as rabid and
> un-convincible as those in any other religious war.
>
> Still, I'd like to suggest, as a starting point of
> civility, a few pointers
> for participants in the O.S. war. Consider it one
> man's version of,
> "Can't we all just get along?"
>
> 1. Hate something for its failings, not for its
> success.
>
> It's totally fine to criticize something because of
> its flaws--to hate Windows because it's bloated and
> cryptic, for example, or the iPod because it's too
> easily scratched. But condemning something just
> because it's the dominant product is just sour grapes.
> Arguments along the lines of "I hate Bill Gates
> because he's rich" or "I hate the iPod because
> everyone has one" add nothing to the dialogue.
>
> 2. No condemning something until you've tried it.
>
> If everyone abided by this idea, about 95 percent of
> all the Windows-Macintosh diatribes would evaporate
> overnight. But here it is: If you haven't tried
> something, then you really have no basis to comment.
>
> 3. Execution matters.
>
> I'm so tired of reading discussions like this: Person
> A: "I love Mac OS X Tiger! That Spotlight thing is so
> cool: press a keystroke, type a few letters, and get
> an instantaneous listing every file, folder and
> program containing that text."
>
> Person B: "You pathetic loser! It's called hard-drive
> indexing, and Windows XP has had it from Day One." Of
> course, the truth is that Windows Indexing Service is
> to Spotlight as Thomas the Tank Engine is to a bullet
> train. In Indexing Service, you can't search with a
> single keystroke, the speed is nothing like
> Spotlight's, you can't search for metadata (115 kinds
> of secondary information, like music genre, Photoshop
> layer names, camera settings in digital photos, etc.),
> the index isn't updated in real time as you create or
> delete documents, and so on.
>
> It goes the other way, too. "I love how Windows XP
> lets me delete or rename files right in the Open or
> Save dialog boxes."
>
> "What's the big deal? On the Mac, we just switch to
> the desktop and delete or rename things there."
>
> Sorry, but that's just not as good as being able to do
> it within the dialog boxes.
>
> The bottom line: How well something works and how
> elegantly it's been built is also relevant to the
> "which is better" discussion.
>
> 4. Don't make grandiose purchasing plans by guessing
> on technology's future.
>
> This pointer is directed exclusively at Mac-bashers,
> particularly the ones on the nation's boards of
> education.
>
> If you decide to standardize on Windows across all
> schools, fine. But make sure you have legitimate
> reasons like economics or the need to run some
> Windows-only software suite.
>
> "We want the kids to learn what they'll one day use in
> the business world," however, is NOT a good reason. If
> you think you know what anyone will be using in 2020
> (when today's first graders will graduate from
> college), you must have a heck of a magical crystal
> ball.
>
> Truth is, by 2020, no operating system will look
> anything like it does today. By 2020, we may well be
> using holography or tablets or glorified cellphones
> instead of computers. Claiming to know what company's
> operating system today's kids will be using when they
> graduate college, or how that software will work, is
> nonsense.
>
> 5. Consider that they may have a point.
>
> Neither side's members should be allowed to cover
> their ears and sing "Blah blah blah!" at the top of
> their lungs when they hear an argument that could rock
> their worldview. As long as the points are factual,
> fair and substantive, you should consider them.
>
> Remember: Apple and Microsoft routinely play O.S.
> leapfrog and regularly adopt each other's feature
> ideas; eventually, aficionados in both camps will
> enjoy similar enhancements to the computing
> experience. As we carry on the never-ending debate,
> try to generate more light and less heat. Only then
> can we discover what aspects of system software are
> truly valuable, and thereby usher them into existence
> for everyone to enjoy.
>
> ========================
>
>
>
>
> Richard Judson Twohy
> PO Box 2233 Iowa City, Iowa 52244-2233
> Mobile: 319-621-5600 Res: 319-337-9011
> Our liberties we prize ~ Our rights we will maintain.
> Yup, it says it right there on the State Flag of Iowa!
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 18:16:11 -0500
> To: dmmug@dmmug.org
> From: Ray Bowler <rbowler@mail.mchsi.com>
> Subject: Re: [DM-MUG] NYT, 5-26: "Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh
> War"
> Reply-To: dmmug@dmmug.org
>
> Good article. Since these are principles I will ignore some of the
> issues which are important to me but in general the attitude is
> correct.
>
> The first one is very true. 20 years ago the two operating systems
> were completely different than they are now.
>
>
>
>> Hey guys, 5-26-2005
>>
>> Truth is, by 2020, no operating system will look
>> anything like it does today. By 2020, we may well be
>> using holography or tablets or glorified cellphones
>> instead of computers. Claiming to know what company's
>> operating system today's kids will be using when they
>> graduate college, or how that software will work, is
>> nonsense.
>
> This one is also very good. For years I used Windows at work and
> wanted something like their tool bar at the bottom of the window. I
> was thrilled when Apple adopted it and improved it with the Dock. I
> would also instance love being able to delete from the dialog box
> within an application without having to go to the desktop and delete
> it.
>
>> 5. Consider that they may have a point.
>>
>>
>> Remember: Apple and Microsoft routinely play O.S.
>> leapfrog and regularly adopt each other's feature
>> ideas; eventually, aficionados in both camps will
>> enjoy similar enhancements to the computing
>> experience. As we carry on the never-ending debate,
>> try to generate more light and less heat. Only then
>> can we discover what aspects of system software are
>> truly valuable, and thereby usher them into existence
>> for everyone to enjoy.
>
> --
> Ray
>
> Des Moines, IA Mac Users Group
> Fourth Tues of the month.
> See
>
> <WWW.DMMUG.ORG>
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 22:38:57 -0500
> To: dmmug@dmmug.org
> From: "Victoria L. Herring" <vlherring@herringlaw.com>
> Subject: Re: [DM-MUG] NYT, 5-26: "Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh
> War"
> Reply-To: dmmug@dmmug.org
>
>> I would also instance love being able to delete from the dialog
>> box within an application without having to go to the desktop and
>> delete it.
>
> I do this all the time with contextual menus...Control and click on
> item and 'Move to Trash', or else I may not understand.
> --
> Victoria L. Herring, Attorney, Civil Rights, Discrimination &
> Employment Law, <http://www.HerringLaw.com>; Travel research and
> planning, <http://www.JourneyZing.com>; Des Moines, Iowa,
> 515-255-4475.
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 4
> From: Chris Tyrrell <cdtyrrell@mchsi.com>
> Subject: Re: [DM-MUG] NYT, 5-26: "Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh
> War"
> Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 00:18:12 -0500
> To: dmmug@dmmug.org
> Reply-To: dmmug@dmmug.org
>
> On May 26, 2005, at 10:38 PM, Victoria L. Herring wrote:
>
>>> I would also instance love being able to delete from the dialog box
>>> within an application without having to go to the desktop and delete
>>> it.
>>
>> I do this all the time with contextual menus...Control and click on
>> item and 'Move to Trash', or else I may not understand.
>
> From within the standard open/save dialog in Windows, one can do all
> sorts of file manipulation that can't be done in an open/save dialog on
> a Mac. It's one of the few places where Windows "does it better".
>
> It also worth noting that, IMHO, too much is made of market share ratio
> as evidence of superiority. Of those 90-95% computers running Windows,
> how many were informed individual purchases? Far fewer than 90-95% to
> be sure. Some big company decides to standardize on Wintel, a decision
> made by a handful of people, and it represents tens of thousands of
> purchases. Nobody buys 10,000 Macs at once. Where would Ford and GM be
> without fleet sales?
>
>
> Cheers,
> Chris
>
>
> --__--__--
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 00:24:05 -0500
> To: dmmug@dmmug.org
> From: "Victoria L. Herring" <vlherring@herringlaw.com>
> Subject: Re: [DM-MUG] NYT, 5-26: "Ground Rules for the Windows-Macintosh
> War"
> Reply-To: dmmug@dmmug.org
>
>> On May 26, 2005, at 10:38 PM, Victoria L. Herring wrote:
>>
>>>> I would also instance love being able to delete from the dialog
>>>> box within an application without having to go to the desktop and
>>>> delete it.
>>>
>>> I do this all the time with contextual menus...Control and click on
>>> item and 'Move to Trash', or else I may not understand.
>>
>> From within the standard open/save dialog in Windows, one can do all
>> sorts of file manipulation that can't be done in an open/save dialog
>> on a Mac. It's one of the few places where Windows "does it better".
>
> I have Fruit Menu and Default Folder and between them there are lots
> of manipulations that work [in Tiger] but then I have no way to
> compare that to WIN machines so certainly am not saying it's
> better...works for me tho.
> --
> Victoria L. Herring, Attorney, Civil Rights, Discrimination &
> Employment Law, <http://www.HerringLaw.com>; Travel research and
> planning, <http://www.JourneyZing.com>; Des Moines, Iowa,
> 515-255-4475.
>
>
> --__--__--
>
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