CompuServe Messages

Those are really good points … but I think you carry the analogy too far. I think that, if you become enamored with a system, FOR WHATEVER REASON, you will become more of a "power user" in it. In the two years I've had this Mac I've learned more about how computers work – all computers – than I learned in all the years previous. When I was on MS-DOS and UNIX I stayed logged on as little as I could. With my Mac, it was the other way round. It's all a matter of visualiztion, I think. Some people find it easy to "internalize" their environments, i.e. their file structure, directories, etc.. Some don't. I don't. It always hurt my brain to try to visualize the Banyan tree that was my UNIX login. On the Mac, I don't have to. I can see it. I can see it! When I need to access a file I can step my way there, instead of having to know its exact location! How I got by in UNIX and MS-DOS, I have no idea. As I recall, it involved a lot of scribbed notes. I would also mention this; If I pulled a Macintosh System, plain and simple, out of the box, stuck it on my machine, and turned it on, I wouldn't care much for it at all, now. But because I like the interface, I've seen fit to ruthlessly customize it. And now I am a power user (by some standards). Steve, I'll bet if you sat down to a virgin OS, you would find yourself handicapped in your work. But you're not. You've written scripts, created files, installed utilities, and done a thousand other little things to make your workplace work for you. I think that will happen on any system. But you shouldn't judge a bare Macintosh against your system. Judge it against a bare Amiga system. Or judge mine against yours. Don.