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For years, the Macintosh world has lived under the assumption that Vista's look is crap and Mac OS X rocks. Everything on the Mac side screams quality and reliability, elegance and composure, style and attitude. Compared to our elegance, unique style and peaceful workflow, Vista's bumpy, bright, tawdry interface does not stand a chance. Or does it?
Vista's interface is without doubt as inelegant as it goes. The colors don't work together, the effects aren't subtle and there seems to be one set of interface rules per application on the system. The whole interaction with the OS lacks continuity. To us Mac users, it is deeply unsatisfying. We crave guidelines, subtly shaded icons and a clear hierarchy between menus, windows and widgets.
Yet, I have to hand it to Microsoft. Every little drop of that legendary cheapitude makes Vista easier to get into for the average user. How so? By constantly providing positive reinforcement.
New users are either afraid of computers or bored by them. They do not understand any of the metaphors we use – desktop, files, folders – and do not want to. The difference between a push down button, a toggle and a pop-up menu is among the subtleties they never want to bother about.
Therefore, they want to be constantly re-assured that they are making the right choice and that this choice can be reverted easily. Much like the proverbial goldfish swimming around the tank, the average user starts fresh every morning: since they don't understand the logic, they can only hope it will work. That's plug and pray.
Here, Vista's start menu is brilliant: it shoves 99% of what you may want to do in one single menu, allowing users to immediately "get into" their tasks. Calling it "Start" in the old days was a very good move in that it clearly told users to "start here."
From that menu, Vista will open a sort of window-meets-web-page, filled with buttons and icons, that clearly tells the user, in plain English, what to do. There is even a little colorful shield icon next to some links to suggest some kind of big security system is protecting the computer. When clicked, these links cause a playful cursor to appear and a big reaction – screen dimming. A strange, awkwardly worded dialog will pop up but that does not matter: there is a big button in there to proceed, which the user can now click, safe in the knowledge the computer is doing some thinking for them. Then, the appropriate window will load, with buttons bigger and brighter than the last one.
Yayy! The average user feels like a real computer user now: look at how the big machine reacts to his every whim.
Silly? Utterly so. Yet, the path continues all the way until the task is complete, throwing in delightful affirmative statements every few seconds. At the end of the day, the user has spent twenty minutes to do what he needed to do, did not understand a single thing that has gone on but has the feeling he has done something.
Even XP's most ridiculed "new hardware" dialogs where a way to reassure the user the new keyboard or new mouse were plugged in correctly. They were perfectly useless but they immediately lifted a weight from the user's shoulders: yes, they had put the right plug in the right socket and they were doing the right thing.
Compared to that, Mac OS X makes the experience much more frustrating. Performing a simple task such as changing the Desktop background requires the user to understand the Desktop is part of the System, that changing a desktop picture is a preference, then find the System Preferences application, then the Desktop & Screen Saver pane. This generally involves realizing the Apple is a menu or that clicking the blue smiling rectangle in that system tray causes a new window to appear. With no knowledge of the concept of Finder and of its rich visual history, that blue rectangle makes absolutely no immediate sense.
Once you know what to do, it's much simpler, much shorter and much more logical. It's also devoid of cheesy effects and rigorously elegant. Yet, there are many obstacles to be overcome: knowing where to start, how to cause the proper pane to appear, clicking on the right widgets, etc. At no point does Mac OS X pat you on the back or tell you how much of a man you are now: it just does its thing.
The beauty of the Mac shows when something goes wrong or the user wants to try something new. Then, its logic and elegance empower the user to try new things and find the solution by themselves.
Vista, in those instances, works against the user because it has no clear logic to it. That is why Windows users so often rely on IT guys to "fix the PC." Apple's recent wins in the industry clearly show that users appreciate that empowerment and are more than willing to learn how to do new things with their machines if given an OS that is actually logical enough to be learnt when it is not your job. Computers will always, some day, go horribly wrong, and the Mac will clearly win in these cases. Also, comparing the underpinnings of both platforms opens whole new levels of discussion: we are only considering interfaces here but the reliability of the underpinnings undeniably matters in the long run.
I am certainly not arguing that Apple should imitate Microsoft or model its interfaces after Vista's. However, experience clearly shows that logic and elegance are not always the best counselors when it comes to channeling people into action. For years, we have thought that Microsoft attempted to copy Apple and failed miserably. In some ways, I believe they copied Apple and made a conscious choice to favor immediate action over long-term empowerment, thus creating the much maligned Start menu and Wizards. This was a horrible move as far as computer education is concerned but it made a lot of business sense, considering users buy computers on impulse.
On a side note… Before I come across as a big computer snob looking down at the average user, let me add that I am very much of an average user in a great many areas of my life. I use planes on a very regular basis but I could not fly one to save my life. I couldn't repair an elevator or drive a subway train either. There are all areas of our life where we are content to be "average users" and there certainly is nothing wrong with that.
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Comments (12)
Read More Entries by FJ de Kermadec.
(...)
As for a new user wanting to change their desktop picture? I don't see that happening until much later in their uptake so I
don't see why you brought that up. Leo(pard) FINALLY has a decent help system too so it's very easy to discover. It's worked
well for me when I've used it but that doesn't say much for a newbie. XP has trounced OSX up until now. Don't you think with
that help menu staring you in the face that new and avg users will try that if they don't know how to change the desktop pic?
Time for a longitudinal study.
As for the new user and the Authorization dialog, I can really see how that helps a newbie for a short while. Then, as you
pointed out since there's no explanation, they will develop a reflex and click authorize and its value is gone. MS reeeeeally
needed to figure out a means to replicate the lock on OS X as it's obvious and far less intrusive. I have to turn that damn
vista authorization off as soon as the dialog pops up as it quickly becomes torture.
As to comments, Sherlock died with Leo. Gone. Spotlight seems to make perfect sense (and if you learn that the menu bar is
called a menu bar, why wouldn't you click on anything in there expecting a menu?).
Apple abandoned the spatial finder with 10.0 public beta and slapped in a poor simulation with the first release that remains
today. I can't say I miss holding down option every time I had to navigate somewhere (though I was FAST doing it). I've moved
on to columns (with an occasional change to list view). With Terabyte drives --and the data they store-- becoming affordable,
we're going to be using the Finder less and less. Witness all the repositories like iPhoto and iTunes that make it
unnecessary.
Battino should have actually helped the poor windows user and locked the task bar.
Snafu, why oh why are you teaching newbies the tiered Library? Don't you think that's an advanced concept? If you're the sole
user on a Mac, how much does it matter that a newbie know about user accounts?
Looks like my comment was too long and dropped into the bit bucket. I don't see anything about moderation so here goes again....
___
I don't see much point in comparing GUIs of past operating systems (win/mac) unless it's relevant to the current ones.
(Sadly, it seems Linux (Ubuntu and from what I've read, the rest, are clones of win and don't break new grounds.) So, to say
that the Vista "Start" orb makes any sense to a newbie is utterly insane. And, Apple (NeXT) tried killing the Apple menu in
the public beta but there was much caterwauling until they put it back. Considering the default install has the dock
populated with lots of useful tools and tooltips (ick, IMO) tell you what their names are, I cannot see how it's all
that bad.
Very interesting insight into the hand holding vs self discovery.
As for the look & feel, I've only used Home Basic so I'm not sure if that counts but my impression is that although
everything looks pretty, it's still very much a warmed over XP. There's lipstick on that pig. I'm using that pig, XP,
to type this and am a power user in both. There's tons of UI errors in XP starting with the task bar. I am forever hunting
for task's buttons. Hate that. Alt-tab is useful until you have lots of tasks whereas the app focused Cmd-tab is far
better as the list of choices is smaller. Tons more peeves but I'll spare you but one: My Classic Mac OS days created a very
sloppy user out of me. Casual clicker and very casual with the keyboard. Undo is always there on a Mac. Alas, why oh why does
pressing a modifier key on windows then releasing it actually do something unless it's ctrl? At least with XP the damn winkey
doesn't steal focus like NT did. Who thought that alt (release) F then W then F was a suitable means to tell XP that you want
a new folder in the current window? GAG. Oh, here's an OS X peeve: Apple should have NEVER allowed ANY app to steal focus
from another app and foreground itself. Evil! At least it only happens on occasion whereas it's constant in XP. Of course,
all these peeves still exist in VistaHB.
Yes, Apple used to offer the tours/initial training. Now that the majority of the US population has used or seen a GUI of
some sort, I question the value of producing a tour. Besides, isn't that what the Apple store is for (where most
new-to-the-Mac people start)? How many people far from one are actually buying a Mac and are newbies?
(...)
I don't see much point in comparing GUIs of past operating systems (win/mac) unless it's relevant to the current ones. (Sadly, it seems Linux (Ubuntu and from what I've read, the rest, are clones of win and don't break new grounds.) So, to say that the Vista "Start" orb makes any sense to a newbie is utterly insane. And, Apple (NeXT) tried killing the Apple menu in the public beta but there was much caterwauling until they put it back. Considering the default install has the dock populated with lots of useful tools and tooltips (ick, IMO) tell you what their names are, I cannot see how it's all that bad.
Very interesting insight into the hand holding vs self discovery.
As for the look & feel, I've only used Home Basic so I'm not sure if that counts but my impression is that although everything looks pretty, it's still very much a warmed over XP. There's lipstick on that pig. I'm using that pig, XP, to type this and am a power user in both. There's tons of UI errors in XP starting with the task bar. I am forever hunting for task's buttons. Hate that. Alt-tab is useful until you have lots of tasks whereas the app focused Cmd-tab is far better as the list of choices is smaller. Tons more peeves but I'll spare you but one: My Classic Mac OS days created a very sloppy user out of me. Casual clicker and very casual with the keyboard. Undo is always there on a Mac. Alas, why oh why does pressing a modifier key on windows then releasing it actually do something unless it's ctrl? At least with XP the damn winkey doesn't steal focus like NT did. Who thought that alt (release) F then W then F was a suitable means to tell XP that you want a new folder in the current window? GAG. Oh, here's an OS X peeve: Apple should have NEVER allowed ANY app to steal focus from another app and foreground itself. Evil! At least it only happens on occasion whereas it's constant in XP. Of course, all these peeves still exist in VistaHB.
Yes, Apple used to offer the tours/initial training. Now that the majority of the US population has used or seen a GUI of some sort, I question the value of producing a tour. Besides, isn't that what the Apple store is for (where most new-to-the-Mac people start)? How many people far from one are actually buying a Mac and are newbies?
As for a new user wanting to change their desktop picture? I don't see that happening until much later in their uptake so I don't see why you brought that up. Leo(pard) FINALLY has a decent help system too so it's very easy to discover. It's worked well for me when I've used it but that doesn't say much for a newbie. XP has trounced OSX up until now. Don't you think with that help menu staring you in the face that new and avg users will try that if they don't know how to change the desktop pic? Time for a longitudinal study.
As for the new user and the Authorization dialog, I can really see how that helps a newbie for a short while. Then, as you pointed out since there's no explanation, they will develop a reflex and click authorize and its value is gone. MS reeeeeally needed to figure out a means to replicate the lock on OS X as it's obvious and far less intrusive. I have to turn that damn vista authorization off as soon as the dialog pops up as it quickly becomes torture.
As to comments, Sherlock died with Leo. Gone. Spotlight seems to make perfect sense (and if you learn that the menu bar is called a menu bar, why wouldn't you click on anything in there expecting a menu?).
Apple abandoned the spatial finder with 10.0 public beta and slapped in a poor simulation with the first release that remains today. I can't say I miss holding down option every time I had to navigate somewhere (though I was FAST doing it). I've moved on to columns (with an occasional change to list view). With Terabyte drives --and the data they store-- becoming affordable, we're going to be using the Finder less and less. Witness all the repositories like iPhoto and iTunes that make it unnecessary.
Battino should have actually helped the poor windows user and locked the task bar.
Snafu, why oh why are you teaching newbies the tiered Library? Don't you think that's an advanced concept? If you're the sole user on a Mac, how much does it matter that a newbie know about user accounts?
"Here, Vista's start menu is brilliant: it shoves 99% of what you may want to do in one single menu, allowing users to immediately "get into" their tasks. Calling it "Start" in the old days was a very good move in that it clearly told users to "start here.""
and
"This generally involves realizing the Apple is a menu"
As opposed to realizing that the Start button is a menu? i say button because it does not look like a menu. Of course all total newbies will have no clue: Vista and Xp start with a picture on the desktop and a start button on the bottom left. There is nothing obvious about this, nor it is obvious that the button is a menu or that it does anything else than start or stop the computer. the menu itself is crowded and to change things you need to go to the cotrol panel - why this is easier than system i dont know ( it is a mac term, though, from pre-OS X).
This article assumes the non-obvious is obvious.
As a long time Mac User, I find that having to teach someone Mac OS X from scratch is a rather complicated task. OS X is a complex system (user accounts, three Library levels, some obtrusive Unix underpinnings, the whole oh so Zen UI thing, etc.). The search-based help system (as soon as you try to go deeper that the usually flimsy index it goes search results-crazy) doesn't help novices (nor powerusers) that much, and it is a shame that, while old critters such as the Mac Classic or the LC had these nifty UI learning apps, now in the era of übermultimedia personal computers we don't get a simple intro movie or DVD. Why, a simple printed manual would do.
By the way, an interesting link: the Windows Vista GUI guidelines.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511258.aspx
Right clicking on the OSX Finder desktop brings up a Change Desktop Picture prompt if that's any help.
I have nothing against Vista as far as how easy it is to use. After using WinXP Pro for some time, I was able to step up to Vista without a problem. Whether it's harder to figure out Tiger or Leopard as opposed to Vista, I can't really tell. They all seem relatively easy to use after you play with them for a while. They sure beat using a command line structure such as DOS.
Vista's main drawback is that it uses too much system resources. The interface seems fine to me.
I'm a Mac user so I'm used to OSX and whatever quirks it has. I never used Sherlock and I don't even use Spotlight. I still continue to use Command-F after all these years.
@David Battino
I'm pretty sure that Sherlock wasn't required for simple hard disk searches by file name, as there was always a simple Find command in the File menu.
Sherlock was last decade's program for searching by content and other file attributes. It also could search the web for products, movies, airline flights and numerous other things. I can't that say that I was ever enamored with the idea of unifying all searches in a single application. Needless to say, searching for files has improved on today's Macs.
In OS-X, fast hard disk searching is initiated by clicking the big blue magnifying glass at the right-hand side of the menu bar. Every file whose name (or content) contains the entered search terms will be listed, with the selection narrowed dynamically as additional letters are typed.
If you want to search using multiple criteria such as creation date, and file type, there is still a "Find..." item the Finder's File menu.
Wow. Are all Mac users as condescending as you?
I have to respectfully disagree with this from a usability standpoint.
Alan Cooper talks about "the law of perpetual intermediates." It basically says, people are neither beginners or experts at something for great lengths of time. If you are a beginner, you struggle at first but you really want to reach a level of normal competency - and most people do so without a problem. You don't stay an expert for long either unless you really work at it, otherwise things change over time and your out of date knowledge returns you to intermediate stage.
Because of this, with the exception of walk up kiosks and other "you're a beginner using this and you will never use it again" applications, interfaces should be aimed towards intermediate users. If you constantly coddle beginners, when they move to the intermediate stage these coddlings (pop up dialogs constantly asking "Are you sure?") will quickly become annoying. More importantly people start to click them by reflex, without thinking about what they're agreeing to, and may do things they don't want. The coddling elements can actually become dangerous.
My 2 cents.
-Trout
You've hit upon something interesting... a good observation!
One thing that Apple needs to do is to resurrect its tours!
All Macs in the old days came with Tour disks that guided the user on an exploration of the operating system and basic operations. You may remember some of these-- a dove flying through a city, a magician with a rabbit jumping out of a hat, etc.
Work through the tours, which were fun, whimsical, and engaging and by the end of it, you were a master of basic OS and personal computer operations.
Apple desperately needs to bring those back. I've watched novice users struggle with the Mac and while it is a wonderfully elegant system, any OS can be hard to learn. Now, given all those switchers from Windows, there should a different tour for them (or perhaps not!) that would teach them how to transfer some of their skills.
In any event, good post!
(By the way, am I only the one? Those Captchas never work! Are they actually identity thiefs or web monitors? Sometimes I think it's me misperceiving very difficult to read strings; but today it was clearly kzsjrp and it did NOT work! At least your site keeps one's text. I've been on some where my unsaved brilliant :) posts vanish when I return to the original screen! Of course, I finally got this to work and then I was taken to a screen showing my text but without any buttons to submit! Something's gone wrong here!)
By George, I think he's got it! I've been playing with Vista the past couple of days, now that I have one (1) customer who's using it. It's not easy, but if you put yourself in the mindset of someone who knows noting about computers AND NEVER WILL, the interface begins to make sense.
What an odd inversion. MS has embraced the fact that their system is essentially unlearnable, and provides the tools to discover each task, each time, anew. An audience of retrograde amnesiacs. Compare that to the DOS roots, where you had no chance UNLESS every task was memorized.
Apple, on the other hand - once the king of intuitive interfaces, it has moved more towards a learned one. Witness Leopard, with the partial abandonment of the spatial Finder.
I'm reminded of the time I worked in an office of DJs who'd rarely had to use computers. One guy kept accidentally stretching his Windows task bar up until it covered half the screen. This would happen every few days. I'd hear cursing behind me, and then I'd go help him sort it out.
But the thing that struck me was when a Windows user tried to find something on one of our Macs. After poking around for a while, she asked, "Where's Find?"
"Oh," I answered. "Find is called 'Sherlock' on the Mac. Makes no sense to me either."