These are things that, as a Mac User you know are there, and dread them coming back to haunt you. You have seen the light and have carried much water for Jobs & Co. convincing the great unwashed that the thing they need to do, the ONE thing that will make their computing life more complete, is to switch to a Macintosh.
Having done so, said unwashed person comes to you a couple of weeks after getting their Mac Pro/iMac and says agitatedly....
Where is the right click? Well you say, if you just hold down the Control button when you click that will bring up the same menu functionality... WHAT. ADD A RIGHT CLICK the single mouse click thing was tired in 1994, now it's just stupid.
There is no Print Screen button on the keyboard. How do I Make a screen print? Your friend asks. Well, you can give them this list, but be careful, because Macs support many different image types that are often not supported on the PC. Nothing worse than Opening up a presentation on a PC and having none of the images you worked so hard to steal/find be there. Damn you Tiff.
Why can't I play video? Oh you can just not WMV video. without downloading. Flip 4 Mac ignore ALL the adds and get the FREE one. This functionality should exist out of the box, really.
Why cant I Control-C/V/B/X/Z? Oh you can you just have to scrunch up your pinky and use the command button instead. WHAT? The Mac is not Windows and this little penance will remind you how lucky you are to have such a wonderful machine.
Here's an Idea, how about a Switchers panel on the Systems Preferences panel that will let you customize some of these "features" so that people can work in an environment that is comfortable for them. That way the people that we convince that the Mac really is a better computing environment won't want to beat us unmercifully (as often, I really am a slacker) .
11 comments:
I am not sure why you think the right-mouse click is alien on a Mac. If you buy a desktop the mouse has a right-click built in. Just turn it on in the System Prefs>Keyboard and Mouse. If you have a laptop, again, turn it on in the above prefs and you can two-finger the track pad to make it work. No Control key required. Been around since OS X. Why such a big deal?
Sounds like you are making up invalid reasons to support your personal dislike of Macs.
Each of your reasons don't hold up in reality:
1) The Mac mouse (Mighty Mouse) that comes with every Mac is NOT a single-button mouse. It has left & right click buttons, 2 side buttons, and a scroll-ball that also can be clicked. Each of these buttons can be configured the way you want. In addition, you can use any USB mouse (yes, even Microsoft mice) which also have right-click enabled by default, or you can configure all buttons the way you want.
2) Macs offer many more screen capture options than just "Print Screen". If you think having more choice and control over what and how you capture screenshots is a bad thing, then you are in the minority.
3) WMV is a Microsoft proprietary video container. Macs support all open source and Quicktime video formats out of the box, just as Windows doesn't support Quicktime and some open source formats out of the box. Both operating systems require free downloads to handle other formats. But Macs have wider support than Windows, and it's easier to add new formats.
4) When Windows came out AFTER the Mac, Microsoft obviously couldn't copy the Command key or they would have been in legal hot water. So they used the Control key for commands and created a Windows key for other commands. On a Mac, the Command key does just that, and the Control key is one of the modifier keys that can be combined to configure commands. This provides more options, and makes things more consistent and less confusing than in Windows. If you feel logic and consistency are negatives, then again your are in a small minority.
There are people who will always be stuck in a Windows world, because any change (even for the better) is a frightening thing.
Sounds like you are making up invalid reasons to support your personal dislike of Macs.
Each of your reasons don't hold up in reality:
1) The Mac mouse (Mighty Mouse) that comes with every Mac is NOT a single-button mouse. It has left & right click buttons, 2 side buttons, and a scroll-ball that also can be clicked. Each of these buttons can be configured the way you want. In addition, you can use any USB mouse (yes, even Microsoft mice) which also have right-click enabled by default, or you can configure all buttons the way you want.
2) Macs offer many more screen capture options than just "Print Screen". If you think having more choice and control over what and how you capture screenshots is a bad thing, then you are in the minority.
3) WMV is a Microsoft proprietary video container. Macs support all open source and Quicktime video formats out of the box, just as Windows doesn't support Quicktime and some open source formats out of the box. Both operating systems require free downloads to handle other formats. But Macs have wider support than Windows, and it's easier to add new formats.
4) When Windows came out AFTER the Mac, Microsoft obviously couldn't copy the Command key or they would have been in legal hot water. So they used the Control key for commands and created a Windows key for other commands. On a Mac, the Command key does just that, and the Control key is one of the modifier keys that can be combined to configure commands. This provides more options, and makes things more consistent and less confusing than in Windows. If you feel logic and consistency are negatives, then again your are in a small minority.
There are people who will always be stuck in a Windows world, because any change (even for the better) is a frightening thing.
Thank you for your input.
I used a laptop on purpose. 1 button. And for a switched multitouch is even more foreign. The reason it bugs me is that it is this vestage of a 15 year old pissing contest that Boone even cares about anymore. The software supports right click but the hardware only has one button.
Hi bnvested,
Multi-touch may be "even more foreign," but when I use my Toshiba laptop (or other PC laptops) I almost always have the trackpad set up to allow "tap to select." When I discovered on my friend's mac laptop that he could not only "tap to select" but also right click with a double-finger tap and scroll with a two-fingered drag, I didn't think "how foreign," I though, "How COOL!".
On a laptop (MacBook/MacBook Pro) the single button is replaced with the trackpad. Tap with 1 finger for click, 2 fingers for Control/click aka right button click, drag 2 fingers up/down/left/right for scrolling.
Personally I use the above plus a 2-button & scroll wheel button Logitec Bluetooth mouse. I have the left & right buttons reversed to minimise RSI.
Apple coined the term the rest of us as a way of referring to people who were less technically inclined and who avoided using computers because of the steep learning curve required.
In 1984, Apple introduced the Mac as a computer for the rest of us that was easier to learn and more fun to use than the computers of the day. In this they were quite successful. Due to Apple's incompetence in drafting a licensing contract which protected it's intellectual property, Microsoft was able to withstand a lawsuit after having applied many of the Mac's innovations to Windows. However there are still some minor differences, as you have noted.
One of the reasons Macs are easy to use is that Apple deliberately restricts configurability and options. This is actually a good thing. Please don't ask Mac users to deal with a bunch of preference controls that make our Macs behave like Windows.
You will soon learn to adapt (as many Mac owners have had adapt to when forced to use Windows in their workplaces)
When in Rome...
Somehow almost everyone missed the point of this post. BnVested isn't being critical for the sake of being critical. He's ponting out thing that will invariably confuse and annoy non-technical people switching from Windows.
The mouse is the best example. Yes, you can configure it, but how many Windows users would know to look for that? On a PC, right-click "just works."
As a long-time Mac user -- I have never owned a PC -- I found working on Windows just as annoying because of the diferences in how each OS handles things.
On a Mac less is more. And more is more.
@ Dave Zeiler
"Somehow almost everyone missed the point of this post. BnVested isn't being critical for the sake of being critical. He's ponting out thing that will invariably confuse and annoy non-technical people switching from Windows."
I'm sure that if Apple made Mac OS X behave exactly like Windows, the problem for switchers would be solved. Unfortunately, we longtime Mac users would pay the price.
Apple seems to be gaining marketshare despite OS X's differences, thank you. I see no compelling reason for them to pollute the Mac experience with the stink of Windows.
Anyone capable of learning to use Windows can certainly learn to use a Mac. They have already passed the trial by fire.
The Mac's built-in help system contains a wealth of information. A web search will turn up numerous guides for switchers pointing out the subtle differences, tricks and techniques. There are many good OS X books available as well. Much can be learned just be examining the various preferences panels.
If people aren't prepared to adjust to a new OS, perhaps they should stick with what they are most comfortable.
Unlike some zealots who want to convert everyone to the Mac, I'm fine if not everyone wants to switch. As long as the user base is sufficient to keep Apple in business and attract Mac developers, that's good enough for me.
Apple's rationale for the one-button mouse was that having just one button meant that the user could never click the wrong button. New computer users are initially quite confused by two button mice. After all, it's hard enough for them to learn just to control the cursor, let alone to remember which button does what. Experienced users have long forgotten the trauma of adjusting to this.
While Apple does support two button mice (and has for years), it considers right-click context menus as a power-user's shortcut. Apple's developer guidelines have stressed that right-click menus should never be the only way to access a particular feature.
The question is: Should Apple place the needs of the switcher, who already understands right-clicking, above that of the new user who is better off without it (at least initially)?
I haven't used a new Mac fresh out of the box in years, so I don't know if right-clicking doesn't work by default. But if, in fact, Apple requires users to manually enable the right-click, then I agree that perhaps something could be done to better accommodate switchers.
In my opinion, a reasonable solution would be for a fresh user account (one in which the Mouse Preferences panel has never been viewed) to respond to a right-click by presenting a modal dialog along the lines of:
"Both mouse buttons are currently set to initiate as primary buttons. Using the Mouse Preferences panel, you can configure either of the mouse buttons as a "secondary button" which displays a contextual menu when clicked."
The dialog would offer the following choices:
"Open Mouse Preferences"
"Set right mouse button as the secondary button."
"Cancel"
Once the user has seen this dialog, they should never see it again, as presumably they should now be aware of how to configure the mouse.
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