Aaah, Krevnik is spot on!
I'll make the case more provocatively, so the point is driven home.
Cromulent wrote:
I'm just interested to know why people do not want to use it who then complain that the GUI does not do what they want. Most if not all the complaints I read about tools such as Spotlight could be fixed if people just used the Terminal and Unix tools like Grep.
Answer: IT'S APPLE'S FAULT that users are not using the full power of OS X!
Welcome to design 101.
Power should not be hidden behind unintuitive and arbitrary tools. A well-designed UI combines simplicity, intuitiveness and power.
Which tool is better: tool "a" is equally powerful as tool "b", but in the case of "a" you can figure it out just by looking (intuitive), while tool "b" needs you to read and memorize a 500 page book. Remember, the power is equal - but the interface is vastly superior in tool "a" - so tool "a" is the better tool.
Welcome to evolution 101 and to economy 101.
We can't all be specialists in everything. Would you like to have to read and master a 500 page book to operate your DVD player, a 500 page book to master your computer, a 500 page book to master your microwave? No! That's why modern economy could develop when it took advantage of a basic evolutionary law. And it is a superior technology which can give you the power of a DVD, microwave, car, computer, application without demanding that you learn obsure commands, secret handshakes and arbitrary code.
The command line, in so far as it is not intuitive - is INFERIOR to an intuitive UI of equal power.
A good friend of mine is a Systems Administrator for a research facility. He'd often remark to me how "stupid" his computer users are. And I'd point out that the guys who use his computers and whom he calls stupid hold advanced degrees in physics and mathematics and are brilliant researchers. I say to him: it is YOUR TOOLS, you computer that has failed them. They are not stupid, your tool is stupid. One day computers will be so advanced, and SMART that they'll be as easy to use as a DVD player - they'll practically read our thoughts. Until then, computers are STUPID.
It's like the argument I often have with Europeans about stick shifts in cars. They tell me: "oh, stick gives you so much poweeeeer, controooool, automatic is stuuuupid." And I asnwer: then the problem is the automatic transmission is not far enough advanced. Today, the newest automatics are close to or superior to sticks - and way, way, way, way more convenient. Yet the stupid cult of the stick exists. Funny. Just as once a real man would start his car with a crank - none of this key business, lol. Except, the key is way better and nobody feels the urge to go out in the middle of the winter to crank up your car.
Think of what we are able to do because of better UI and automation - you could'nt possibly fly the advanced fighter jets today using manual methods. A computer does most of the flying - it increases your power. You can concentrate on flying, not fiddling with dials.
When operating a computer I want to concentrate on my work. I don't want to have to learn the CLI, or other medieval stupid crap. I want a modern UI that allows me to concentrate on work only - I don't want to have to remember anything - the less the better. The less the computer comes between me and my work the better. The best computer is the "invisible" computer. That's why folks have problems with their computers - because computers are often still too primitive and demand a lot of knowledge. I REGRET knowing as much as I already do about computers! I wish I did't have to know that you need to go through 12 stupid steps to accomplish something - I WANT THE UI to take care of it.
That my friend is the power of Apple - hide away the dirty, stupid, idiotic, unintuitve workings of the computer! This is what Apple always had over Microsoft! The computer gets out of the way and just lets you work - you don't have to remember obscure commands. "But my CLI is more pooooowerful!!!!! waaaaaaa!!!" In that case, the UI failed - get me the power of CLI with an intuitive UI.
I had an argument with a developer once. He told me the steep learning curve of his app was due to its power. BS! Any moderately talented programmer can design an app that's easy to learn and NOT powerful. Equally true, any moderately talented programmer can design an app that's powerful but hard to learn. But it takes a rare genius to design an app that's BOTH powerful and easy to learn/intuitive. And that's the promise of Apple. Many times Apple succeeds. Sometimes they fail. Like CLI.
So, if you find that people don't use the power of the computer, it's because it's badly designed. Don't bitch at users, get down and do a better job designing. That's how we climbed down from the trees and got out of caves.
