/dev/null/kevin

Proving that you're never too old to learn, or too young to teach, my four year old daughter taught her grandparents how to use a computer.  Granted it was a Mac Book Pro, but Ang Ang was a pro in no time.

Here are some photos and a short video of them in action:

Here a few of the results (they took dozens):

Yes, Steve Jobs, they are available for your next marketing campaign.

Many years ago I had a Mac: a Macintosh Classic that replaced my Apple II in my final years in college.  It was good to me for many years but due to a series of inherited computers, I transitioned to the PC.  However, like Watt and Rama before me, the opportunity to get a MacBook Pro presented itself so took it.   Last Wednesday I received my MBP just in time for it to be obsolete next week.  Anyway, I read Joe and Rama's blogs and tried to learn from their experience.  For the most part, I really love the Mac, but I still have a few issues that I hope some Mac enthusiasts can help with.

Mouseless Operations

The one thing that Windows has always done better than MacOS (and Solaris) has been mouseless operations.  Since a mouse was optional for the original versions of Windows you can do almost anything without the mouse.  MacOS has pretty good mouseless operation, but there are two problems.  The first is just a learning curve.  Apple likes to brag about its simplistic and intuitive interface.  All they really did, however, was move the complexity from the mouse to the keyboard.  I have to teach my left hand a whole series of keyboard chords using the SHIFT, OPTION, CONTROL, COMMAND keys.  The MacBook adds the "Fn" (FUNCTION) key to this as well.  This wouldn't be too bad, but there is a lack on consistency.

Also, not all authors add Command-Key shortcuts to their programs.  After having to go up to the menu bar a few too many times I figured out a couple of things.  The first was Control-F2 (Fn-Control-F2 on a MacBook) to access the menu bar.  This was okay, but not optimal.  The second thing I tried was customer keyboard accelerators.  This seemed like the perfect solution, but there was a problem (bug?).  For some reason the customized keyboard accelerators don't work unless you click on the menu bar once.  Not a huge problem, but it seems strange.

Also, not all applications come back when I use Command-TAB to cycle through them.  There's a difference between Hide (Command-H) and Minimize (Command-M and the yellow window frame button).   Animation aside, a minimized application will not redisplay with Command-TAB.  I must grab the mouse and click on its icon in the dock.  A hidden application will reappear with Command-TAB.  Thus, I must always use Command-H to hide windows now.  Is there a way of reprogramming the yellow button to hide?  Why doesn't a minimized window reappear?  Why isn't there an UN-minimize keyboard shortcut?

The Mac Way

When I ask "Can do I do this on the Mac?" the answer is almost always  "yes, if you know where look."  Sadly, there are a few things that you can't change and the reason is usually "that's just the Mac Way."  It's these differences that usually cause most of the "Mac vs. PC" religious debates.  BTW, if any reader knows how to do some of these things, I will happily admit to being wrong.

• The Menu Bar- I realize that the context-sensitive menu bar has been part of MacOS since the beginning, but there is a lot to be said for each window having its own menu bar.  You'd think that with every other OS working that way that MacOS would at least make it an option.


• Windowless Applications- Maybe I'm expecting too much, but when I quit an application I expect it to quit.  But that red X on the window just quits the window, not the application, even if it's the last window.  Command-Q has become my new best friend.


• Application vs. Window Switching- Command-TAB lets me switch between applications, but there is no standard way of switching between windows within an application (mouselessly, anyway).  Some applications (like terminal) do support it, but it's on an application by application basis.  The result is that if I need to find the composewindow of Thunderbird vs. the main window, I'm going to have to use the mouse.  Maybe this belongs in the Mouseless Operations section above, but it's born of the Mac Way.  Update: Thanks to Craig for the Command-` tip.  File this under "if you know where to look."  I actually knew where to look,  but missed it.
  


• I Know What You Want - A few of the bundled Mac applications, like iPhoto and iTunes, have an annoying habit of making me conform to their wishes - specifically, organizing things the Mac Way.  For example, iPhoto is a nice program to view and edit your photos.  But what it doesn't tell you is that it saves the original file for every file you edit and every file that it automatically rotated for you. 
  

iTunes also (by default) uses extra space when it copies any new songs into the iTunes folder.  Also (by default), it organizes my files the way it wants to.  I don't mind having the option to organize the files, but there was no choice on how it organized them.  Apple's choice of Artist-Album-File seems logical, until you get an album with more than one artist on it.  Now my single album is scattered all over the place.  Also, some musicians/record companies list everyone, and their mother, in the artist field generating huge directory names.  This is in line with my earlier findings in that iTunes is a great player, but a poor organizer, whereas Yahoo!'s Musicmatch's Jukebox is a mediocre player, but a great organizer.

So, despite these complaints, I do like the Mac.  I'm still waiting for my parallels license so I can run Windows and Solaris apps, but I'm doing pretty well being able to do almost anything thing I need to do on the Mac.  While many of the bundled applications are too simple for my needs (like iMovie) they are better than what is bundled with most PCs.  I had a lot of fun playing with Garage Band because there is nothing like it bundles with PCs and I haven't had need for a good sequencing/mixing application.

I leave you with my lame, 30 second, composition on Garage Band:  The intro to Ozzy Ozbourne's Iron Man.

Tags: mac | macbook | macintosh