I am a Mac user. In fact, I don’t just use Macs but I write software for Macs as my chosen profession. I’ve been writing Mac software for over 17 years. The first computer I owned (well, parents owned it… first computer in my household that I had regular access to) was an Apple //e. I’ve been working with computers for over 30 years, and for the most part yes it’s been Apple-based. Sure I’ve used other computers and computing systems, but Apple computers and Macs are my mainstay.
Why do I prefer Macs? Because they are elegant, beautiful, “they just work”, there’s a familiarness in their use and design. Like any good tool, the tool should enable and enhance your ability to get work done and should not get in your way. This is the Mac User Experience. Granted, it’s not always perfect. Apple themselves have changed and refined the OS over the years, with some stumbles but some great strides too. Certainly you encounter 3rd party software that can be wonderful to use, and some that can be amazingly painful to use. Usually I’ve found the painful stuff is written by people who think they’re just writing software and don’t fully grok the notion of “user experience” and what that means and why it matters.
That’s why I write today.
I’ve been temporarily reassigned to another project within the company I work for. This particular piece of software exists on both Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows. For the most part, that it exists on Windows matters not to me. However, I was just given a couple bugs (I didn’t write them, but I get to fix them) to investigate that necessitate the use of Windows.
I haven’t had to run or really touch a Windows box in over 10 years. Oh sure from time to time I have, at a friend or relative’s house, but in general I just have no reason or need for it. Thankfully the company has copies of VMware Fusion and some pre-made “virtual disks” with Windows XP already installed. A few hours of file transfers later (the VPN is slow) and I was up and running with Windows on my MacBook Pro.
That’s where the pain started.
How in the world can you people use Windows? 🙂
Apparently the XP installs were fresh installs, so upon first login I get bombarded with questions. Little balloons popping up everywhere trying to be helpful but only serving to overwhelm me with a desire to put my fist through the screen. You close one and another one immediately pops up, again, and again, and again, and a-fucking-gain. Oh hey it noticed some sort of hardware, tho I don’t know what, and it’s trying to help me cope with it but doesn’t tell me what it wants to cope with. And the stream of dialogs and “helpful” things just keep coming like and endless parade.
MY GOD WILL YOU SHUT UP AND STOP TRYING TO BE SO FUCKING HELPFUL!
The thing is, I’m a computer savvy person so I understand a lot of what’s going on and why. But I step back and try to look at this experience from the angle of someone like my mother, and I just cringe. No wonder she has to take her computer into the shop so often. No wonder she spends so much time on the phone with tech support. What a nightmare! And all I’ve done so far is log into the machine!
Yes, I’ve been away from Windows that long. I wish it could have been longer.
The I run some installers and wow, talk about more unfriendly and bizarre designs. I know some of this is merely because it’s the devil I don’t know… because it’s “not Mac”. Ultimately however it’s not that. It’s about poor user interface and user experience considerations and design. Granted it is not easy to do, to make something so complex, so technical, into something that just anyone can use. But I do like to think Apple’s done a pretty fair job with that.
I just cannot see how people can use Windows and enjoy it. Most people have to use it because work requires it of them, and then they use it at home because it’s the devil they know. As well, I know most people just aren’t into computers as much as I am so it’s not something they think much about. Or the old stigma’s remain about Macs that keep them away. It’s all about inertia.
I have to use Windows for a little while to deal with this bug. Thankfully it’s only for a little while. 🙂
If you want to learn more about interface and user experience design, check out stuff from Bruce Tognazzini and Jef Raskin. In fact, here’s a great little article by Jef on Tog’s website, about “intuitive”.
Stuff From Hsoi 
Honestly, the few times I have tried to use friends’ Apple products in the past, the experience has been much the same, though for different reasons. We all get set into our own patterns, and my pattern includes turning off some of the stupidity of Windows at every fresh install I receive/get (along with jettisoning the trashware that invariably comes from manufacturers these days).
Now, the last time I used a Mac OS was more than a few years back, so maybe the lines of development have come a little closer than before (at least that is what I hear), but my more-recent experiences with Apple products in general, and Apple technical support, have convinced me never to buy one of their products ever again – when their hardware does not work with the software it was bundled with in the same box, we got problems. And when their tech support’s “solution” is to, and I quote, “get a Mac”, we are so done.
I don’t, I Linux.
I ran a Windows box for years and ultimately found it to be a pain in the ass for upkeep. When I switched to Ubuntu earlier this year, I finally found what I wanted. A system that was easy to work with, with a quasi-Windows, quasi-Mac format.
Unfortunately, you just can’t game without a Windows box. So, probably in the next 6 months, I will build or buy a gaming box that is a Windows box. I’ve already decided though, I’m running a dual desktop setup and the gaming machine will be dedicated to gaming and iTunes management (because Linux cannot do that well either, Banshee is ~okay~ not great).
All research and school related functions will be on the Linux box. Why? Because I’ve found that within my program, I sometimes have to integrate stuff from Windows and stuff from Mac, only Linux can seem to do it well.
In short, I think Windows sucks and I would run all Linux all the time, if I could game with it. Unfortunately, even the programs like WINE and PlayOnLinux still cannot effectively run Windows based games worry and trouble free.
-Rob