Great fun...

Something I can’t help but enjoy, is when someone on a Mac or running Linux has temporary difficulty accomplishing something. I’m basically a Windows user. I ran Linux in college (though Kris pretty quickly became the sysadmin for our machines), but Windows always paid the bills. At work now, more and more people are getting Macs. They are really slick, and I’d love to have a Bash shell again for sure. But we don’t need a new machine and Macs are expensive anyway. So I have to endure lots of philosophy about how easy the Mac is, and why would anyone use anything else, etc.

Now I know about the vaunted ease of use. But it’s surprising how much someone using a Mac looks like someone using a PC. They still get confused or lost in the wrong folder. They still try to save something as a PDF, but there is no such option. The shortcut key doesn’t work as expected, and the long path has to be taken.

That’s the right time to casually say, “Wow, on Windows that’s a lot easier. Funny...” or “Huh. I thought the Mac would be easier to use.” Or, “That’s a very cute animation! I wish my computer had such bells and whistles!” Once Danno chased me out of his office after some of this. I must have struck a nerve :-).