New perspectives on Macintosh [from INFO-MCIRO]

[Info-Mac]

Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 UW 5/3/83; site uw-beaver
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!houxm!houxz!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!info-mac
From: info-mac@uw-beaver (info-mac)
Newsgroups: fa.info-mac
Subject: New perspectives on Macintosh [from INFO-MCIRO]
Message-ID:
Date: Sat, 7-Jul-84 03:44:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: uw-beaver>.1131
Posted: Sat Jul 7 03:44:27 1984
Date-Received: Sun, 8-Jul-84 00:44:46 EDT
Sender: daemon@uw-beave
Organization: U of Washington Computer Science
Lines: 59

From: Jerry E. Pournelle
Oddly enough I had not read Phil's editorial.
Interestingly: our new Mac has the "Programmers switch" as an
external plastic unprotectexd add-on that can be h it by putting
a book against the side of the Mac; maybe it would have been
better to be inside? But recessed or protected might be better.
I have second drive for Mac now. In some ways it is
very nice, but like a lot of the Mac stuff (such as the
calculator) the conception is far better than the execution: for
reasons I do not know, to copy ALL FILES from one disk to
another requires that you, in the middle of the copy operation,
insert the system disk on which you booted the mac into the main
drive. If there is a reason for this nonsense (means that you
cannot set up a copy operations and go away) I do not know it.
Printing: it can't just ask if you are ready to print.
No, it must trundle a while THEN ask, meaning that you cannot
set things up to print and go away while it saves onto the
memory image or whatever it does before it prints; you must wait
and tell it you really mean it. Why is this?
That darned Mac is the most frustrating thing -- like
the old VULCAN data base program, "Infuriatingly excellent"?
It's great to play with, but when you try to DO something with
it--I have been using it to answer mail, and YES, I DO like to
pput fried eggs in letters. But a 100 word letter takes about 8
minutes from invoking Macwrite to sealing the envelope. This is
excessive; and the time was not taken in writing the letter whch
took about 45 seconds. Most of the time is spent simply
waiting.
"Page Breaks" for instance are not form feeds, but a
signal to insert spaces to the end of the 8 1/2 by 11 page (or a
couple of other page lengths). I want to use 8" notepaper; why
must it insist on telling me the paper lentghts it allows?
If this is user friendly--
Think T ank is great on the Mac. So is Millionaire.
But Think Tank has the problem of how do you get the outlines
OUT of the machine to a real text processor with spelling
checking and such like?
I now have a table covered with:
keypad
mouse
second drive
keyboard
mac
and we are obviusly going to have to use a hard disk if this is
to be fast enough for any really useful work.

The conception was great. The idea of a machine that deviated
from the main trend is all right IF there's no attempt to
isolate the user from the rest of the computer community ( I
fear there was, here, but perhaps I'm wrong). The execution
leavs a LOT to be desired as a practical working device for
som,eone who simply wants to write articles (no full screen
length) do spread sheets (slow) and get his taxes done.
Sigh.
The little bugger is fun to play with, and Think Tank
really flies on it. They seem to have managed to get in with
the icons; their disk even boots from turning the machine on.
How did they manage that?