Give them some credit.
As a long time computer user, and a web guy [:)], you can say I’ve pretty much used all operating systems and all kinds of software.
While I’m in no way an expert, much less am I proficient in all kinds of computing, I do know my way around operating systems and have some kind of programming knowledge. I’ve used most of the currently available software suites and office automation applications, have used graphic editors and tools, development environments and editors.
I do think, taking all in all, Microsoft’s managed to do something that most others haven’t. And that’s making the PC more novice friendly. Hence, spreading and enhancing their popularity.
I’ve long been involved in MS bashing, calling them names. Saying that their softwares have more holes than a self respecting piece of cottage cheese.
I’ve begun using Firefox extensively, though I still maintain that IE isn’t all that bad a browser. In fact, I like IE for what many call its deficiency. I like it for its flexibility. For its resilience. For the way it doesn’t expect too much from the user as well as the web-developer.
But I am digressing.
The point I want to make is, it’s owing to Microsoft that computer usage, and the net is so popular in India. It’s owing to Microsoft that I am blogging now.
I love the Mac. To death. I think it is the most versatile, most powerful operating system ever. But it just isn’t easy to use. It’s too powerful for a semi-literate computer user. It’s like handing a child a dagger. On the one hand, he revels in it’s uses. He can peel an apple (pun unintended) with it, or use it to scoop up some jam. But he can hurt himself just as easily. No. A Mac wouldn’t do for an average computer user.
I don’t like the Linux too much. I think it’s all well and good to promote free software and open source, but trusting an OS that’s got too many cooks isn’t my kind of computing heaven.
I haven’t used the BeOS, nor the others. Which brings me to the Windows.
Beginning with the 3.11 for Workgroup, and right up to Windows XP, I have seen it all. I’ve used, truth be told, abused them all. And they handled it well enough. True, the Mac would have handled it much better. The Linux would probably have thrown me out for abusing it so.
But I doubt if I would have had so much fun doing what I was doing in those two systems.
The other fact that most MS Bashers overlook is that the Microsoft is so economical, especially for users in India. The Mac is so beyond the aspiration of a normal, average user. The price tag alone is enough to send everyone scooting to the typewriter.
And so why not Linux. It’s free for god’s sake! I don’t know. On the face of it, Linux is free. And therefore, I think, you lose all involvement with it. If I were to use Linux only for sending mail and playing a game or two, I am not going to be too involved with it. I don’t own it, and so why do I care. Plus, one still doesn’t know whom to go to when one runs into trouble. And being the average user that one is, one just doesn’t know how to handle it.
On the other hand, a Windows is not so cheap as to ignore it, and costly enough to vest it with some kind of ownership. Some amount of involvement. And it’s perfect for what the average joe needs. A mail or two, A solitaire/freecell. A few movies. And Word.
And to add a little value, out comes Microsoft Office. Original, maybe not. Pathbreaking definitely. Word’s the default. An Excel is a generic. Powerpoint too.
And to back it all is a solid company. One whom I can call for help. With a whiz-kid looking ceo and all the money in the world, Microsoft came in as a Dark Knight.
He might not be the best of the examples of the software evangelist/computer guy. But Bill Gates definitely is the most visible, and most used example. Maybe, we all need to give them some credit.
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October 17th, 2004 at 9:47 am
Humm, your post is different from MS bashers. I don’t know why it is so popular and still people crib about it. And this attitude seems universal.
October 17th, 2004 at 12:22 pm
Amazing post.
Just what the world needed.
In spite of all teh open source hype.. I just love the windows .. and probably most of microsoft products.. its easy to get comfortable in it…..
Sathish
October 18th, 2004 at 3:03 am
I’m agnostic when it comes to operating systems for desktop use and I concur with your general point: non-constructive Microsoft-bashing is fashionable in many circles.
However, I strongly disagree with your assessment of Mac OS, especially with your assertion that a novice user is more likely to get hurt with OS X than with XP. I am curious: why do you think that’s the case?
Also, I would argue that it is a fairer comparison to contrast Microsoft support and Redhat (or Suse) support as opposed to a Microsoft supported Windows system vs. an unsupported Linux system.
October 18th, 2004 at 8:12 am
Perhaps you gotta try Lindows OS.
It is several times cheaper than Windows and much lesser risk than Linux.
You have a very very usable alternative for MS Office called Open Office. The power comes from the fact that you can directly convert the documents you create to PDF. You have shortcut keys for styling and formatting your document (F11) unlike Windows where u go to the stupid menu and click on Formatting to see the formatting. The saving grace of MS word is that it offers a Document Map.
Linux by default, is not for designers. But Linux I would say is defintely more than enough for the average joe. The Average Joe requires:
1. Word/excel/powerpoint
2. Internet Browser (flash/director embedded)
3. Games
4. Movie Player/music player.
5. Itunes (for music collections)
Linux has all these and excellent movie players which can by default play ANY type of movie without any codecs (it can even polay *.bin files!) and several alternatives for audio players. You have an awesome choice of browsers. You have an Open Office which is a one stop solution for ur office needs.
Linux can be made to look like a Mac, Solaris. That is the power of linux. It can morph into any OS it wants to look like (even windows!).
The only files that linux cant run are “*.exe” files.. but anyways why would the average joe want a .exe file?
Btw, you may love the Internet explorer, but you might just want to know that it is the most buggy browser in the world. You can download an IE theme for Firefox and feel as comfortable as you were in IE -with the added features of tabbed browsing, mouse gestures, RSS readers, Live Boomarks and most importantly popup blockers and an autoinstall detector which prevents sites from installing spyware to your computer!
October 18th, 2004 at 9:35 am
Divya: Woah! I see i’ve got you all bristled up!
Hang on, Hang on. All I said was, maybe, we need to give them some credit too. In that, they populairsed computer usage in India. Probably for selfish reasons, no doubt, but still, it’s owing to MS that we have 55 bloggers from Madras and 1093 from India.
I’ve got nothing against the Linux, and used to like it. Except, I think that because there isn’t a “company” for support (I could always call the people who installed it, but still), I don’t know whom to go to when I need help. I’ve used the Linux forums on the web and frankly, I couldnt make head or tail of it. My own mistake, no doubt, but still.
I like IE, but I use more of firefox now than anything else. I just like IE, like I mentioned, for its flexibility. It’s a browser that doesn’t expect too much from the coder and the user, and so, I am generally able to throw up a page the way I want it. Not to say that I don’t want to code properly. Sometimes, it’s better to know that no matter what happens, the information i want conveyed will get
conveyed.
I’ve got nothing personally against the Linux or the Mac. (Love the mac, can get by usng the Linux). In fact, at one point of time, I was a MS hater. Though I did love the spunk and their business sense.
The point of my entire post was that they should be given some amout of credit
October 18th, 2004 at 9:36 am
IU: Hi!
When I mentioned that a user might get hurt using a Mac, I wasn’t
comparing it with the XP. I was comparing it with the general windows environment. You must agree, the environment and the usability is so much easier in the Windows than in Mac.
Plus, the Mac has so much more features, and they all aren’t really useful to the average joe. That’s wastage of computing power. Not efficient.
On the other hand, a Windows 95-98 or even 2000 has just the right amount of features for the average user, and for an advanced user, there are always tweaks and service packs and extensions and apis available.
I also don’t like the Mac GUI. It kind of feels, after 3 years of
working on it, a little cluttered, and a little difficult to use.
Plus, there are no shortcuts apparent to access the menus.
Regarding support issues, I wanted to say that as Indians, (i’m
assuming you are one, if not, pardon me) we all lke to know that the people we are dealing with have some kind of history, they are dependable, solid and have a track-record. A microsoft has the right kind of pedigree. One of the earlier organisations, a strong organization, famous, half decent track-record and pretty serious about their jobs. Unlike the faceless, nameless backers of Linux. True, there is Redhat. There are the others. There was I think the Aryabhatta distribution. There are many. But they don’t “own” the operating system, and therefore, wouldnt be as involved as Microsoft.
Just my perception. And probably very wrong. Still, an opinion, and I am entitled to one.
October 18th, 2004 at 9:37 am
ALka: People crib, for it is true. MS has lots of holes in their
software. There are leaks and security issues. The browser is not the best available in terms of features.
ANd so, it’s easy to crib about them. But the point is, like i’ve
mentioned, inspite of all their holes, inspite of the problems, they popularised computer usage in India.
October 18th, 2004 at 9:51 am
Macro Wallpaper
October 18th, 2004 at 11:45 am
Hi Ravages,
> You must agree, the environment and the usability is so much
> easier in the Windows than in Mac.
Actually, I don’t. Ease of use is primarily a function of whether one uses Windows or OS X on a regular basis, imo.
> Plus, the Mac has so much more features, and they all aren’t
> really useful to the average joe. That’s wastage of computing
> power. Not efficient.
hmmm…I guess I don’t understand what you are saying here. Which features would you consider wasteful? As far as efficiency goes, I wouldn’t be worried in the least about the OS starving applications of computing resources. For most novice desktop users, the resources are sitting there idling away. [This holds even more so for most Mac users who can’t run their OS on underpowered $499 computers :)]
> I also don’t like the Mac GUI. It kind of feels, after 3 years
> of working on it, a little cluttered, and a little difficult to
> use. Plus, there are no shortcuts apparent to access the menus.
I’ve spoken to several people who have had similar reactions while switching between the two GUIs. shrug These reactions largely stem from personal choice issues which are tough to argue against. But, I don’t think they reflect on any general shortcoming in either OS.
Btw, never tell a Mac fan that MacOS lacks shortcuts unless you are willing to sit through an hour long demonstration. (I’m only half kidding here)
> Unlike the
> faceless, nameless backers of Linux.
> True, there is Redhat. But they don’t “own” the operating
> system, and therefore, wouldnt be as involved as Microsoft.
Aw c’mon, you didn’t really mean that did you—“faceless, nameless” seems a little harsh!
I disagree with the distinction you are trying to draw between Microsoft and Redhat. Redhat owns Redhat Linux in pretty much the same way as Microsoft owns Microsoft Windows. Whether the Linux kernel and apps were open source or not is irrelevant. Moreover, I have no reason to believe that Redhat is less invested in their product than Microsoft.
> microsoft has the right kind of pedigree. One of the earlier
> organisations, a strong organization, famous, half decent
> track-record and pretty serious about their jobs.
I would agree with strong (especially financially) and famous. The other criteria are debatable.
October 18th, 2004 at 11:59 am
I agree. Personal choices are what drives the difference. But i am
willing to learn all the shortcuts in the Mac. Can you help? Not
kidding
October 18th, 2004 at 12:49 pm
“I like IE, but I use more of firefox now than anything else. I just like IE, like I mentioned, for its flexibility. It’s a browser that doesn’t expect too much from the coder and the user, and so, i am generally able to throw up a page the way I want it. Not to say that I don’t want to code properly. Sometimes, it’s better to know that no matter what happens, the information i want conveyed will get conveyed.”
WHAT??
“flexibility” and IE? * me really horrified * since when? IE has always expected the users to be idiots who dont care about security, about spyware, about browsing experience. Firefox does not crash. IE DOES! all the time! and where the hell do I report it?
I really dont understand ur last sentence? Information gets conveyed in all mediums -does not matter if its IE or Firefox. Only thing I will miss in IE is its interface, coz i am used to that interface. But there is nothing else ever I wud regret switching. NO WAY! my mom uses Firefox/Opera. She doesnt seem to find anything difficult.
There used to be problems with real player and stuff, but please please please download the latest Firefox 1.0 preview release before u draw conclusions about firefox as a browser!
Btw, ravages, do you REALLY call the MS support? or the person who sold you the computer? So if there were ppl bundling linux with ur system AND taking ur calls for help would you not mind using linux?
Btw.. linux is technically a flavour of Unix so it is a close relative of Mac. So I guess now that “pedigree” has been established, you might warm up to it
I agre with “iu”, Average Joe generally gets fooled by the salesmen and buys much more than three generations of his family are ever going to use. I think a gmail account is enough for most applications he/she will use. In that sense, we dont need XP which is big and bloated with lots of useless stuff.
linux on the other hand is where u use COTS. U choose which stuff u wanna have. The tough part is in choosing and implementing those choices.
I am of course thankful to windows for accelerating the web adoption. But its not necessary that nobody else would have done that. Windows was innovative, but brash and not willing to be flexible. But with the rise of linux and Macs, MS seems to recognise quality over quantity and politeness over force.
October 19th, 2004 at 5:23 am
Sure .. I give MS some credit. I admit that many many many users find Linux too hard to use properly, particularly installing programs, console applications and the like .. but all that has changed a lot .. and will soon change more. If there were any MS products I like that would be the Office suite and maybe Windows 2000. The rest better be forgotten.
October 20th, 2004 at 5:50 am
> But i am willing to learn all the shortcuts in the Mac.
> Can you help? Not kidding
lol! I should have been clearer in my last posting. I am not one of the passionate Mac fans I was refering to. Rather, I have been on the receiving end of numerous demonstrations given by Macophiles.
As for shortcuts, http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=75459 is a pretty good official reference. Googling will probably get you others.
October 21st, 2004 at 8:44 am
Beginners on Macs get things done a lot faster than beginners on PCs. Windows users switching to the Mac experience get up and running faster than Mac users switching to Windows. Draw your own conclusions.
I can, and do give props to MS for making easy-to-use computing affordable for most of the world. And for realising that once people are hooked on to your interface, they’ll hate having to get used to any other.
October 24th, 2004 at 1:05 am
as someone who’s used both platforms, I’d hand it to the MAc overall. But I’ve exclusively used PC for the past four years. Why? Mac is too damn expensive for what you get.
October 31st, 2004 at 7:12 am
Hi!
Got to tis page thru a link on Aadisht’s page, and seems that am a bit late. However, I’d still like to make the point.
Our average Joe needs to type in a few letters, do a bit of juggling with numbers and maybe prepare a presentation once in a while – so what does he choose? Microsoft Office, of course. And the OS has to be Windows XP. Anyways, he doesn’t have much of a say here since these all are ‘pre-loaded’ onto his new machine by the neighbourhood vendor – all for a measly 200 INR - how cheap and affordable computing, isn’t it?
The truth remains that for most of the part, computing growth in India is being fuelled by pirated software, which does not enjoy the benefits of Microsoft technical support – the best they get is support by the dealer who comes and installs more pirated software onto the machines. If you were to add up the cost of the ‘basic’ software that are installed on your system the cost might work out to be more than the hardware cost itself!
IMO, the ‘average Joe’ pretty much learns on his own – probably get an office colleague to teach him some stuff or read up some books. And today, Linux/Mac have pretty much intutive interfaces which have similar learning curve to the MS ones. So there isn’t much contribution that either of OS make, or rather do not make, in terms of ease of usage etc.
Another crucial aspect why I have stopped using IE for about 3-4 years regularly now is the inherent lack of security. A quick glance thru this article http://isc.sans.org/diary.php?date=2004-07-23&isc=00ee9070d060393ec1a20ebfef2b48b7 would tell you how vulnerable our ‘average Joe’ is on the Internet – where things happen without his knowledge! And this is something where Open Source in general triumphs. Linux/Mac are fundamentally more secure OS’ and provide a better long term experience to the users. I have heard cases of a number of friends having to reinstall their OS, lose data etc., due to some malicious virus etc.
My 2 cents, wotever worth it is!