8/10/2023 0 Comments Reikey mac review![]() Everything is very pretty, but prettiness is no solution to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. (From what I read, the new mouse is no better - and more expensive.) Apple is lauded for its design, but, in fact, from a usability and ergonomic perspective it is miles behind the times. But Apple is not renowned for the usability of its input devices - the new keyboard for the iMac is a dreadful, stripped-down laptop keyboard, with no number pad and other missing keys, and the wonderfully mis-named Mighty Mouse, is an ergonomic disaster zone. ![]() The keyboard arrangement is also idiosyncratic - in Windows Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V are easy to hit, because the Ctrl key is under the little finger of the left hand and C and V are under the index finger, while in OS X you have to use your thumb for the Cmd key (the equivalent of Ctrl in many cases) and your index finger for C or V - messy. In some respects it is inferior: for example, it makes sense in a directory structure to have the sub-folders precede (or follow, depending upon your fancy) the individual files in a folder, but you can't do that in 'Finder' (the equivalent of Explorer in Wisdows) for OS X: you can arrange them by name, or by type, date created, etc., but you can't get the sub-folders at the top. So I switched, but I would not say that OS X is markedly superior to Windows XP in terms of the interface presented to the user. I gave up Windows as my main operating system because I got fed up with the constant updating (necessary, I agree, but still a pain) and with the constant crashing of individual programs - even now, in OS X mode, the only programs that crash are those in Microsoft Office for the Mac. ![]() It's not clear why this should be so: I use an iMac with VMFusion which allows me to use both Windows (XP) and OS X and, in the course of a day, I switch from one to the other without problems, apart from an occasional fumble with the fingers - the Control key is different in both. And, of course, there are the same claims for one or other of the numerous variants of Linux. Particular hype surrounds the Apple operating system OS X (itself a variant of Unix), with the Mac aficiondos claiming it to be the best thing since Ada Lovelace and the rest of the personal computing world being quietly (sometimes) indifferent. I've used a variety of PC operating systems since about 1985 and none of them has posed any particular problems that made them unusable. Why then, is there so much bizarre conflict over which one is 'best'? Any user gets to cope with whatever they use. All we see is the interface, unless you are a real geek with a bare Unix machine in which case this review is not for you! All operating systems do essentially the same thing: they manage the processor, internal memory, external memory, input and output devices and, what we see on the screen. £11.50 $14.00įrom the point of view of the computer user, one operating system is pretty much like any other - hidden from the user. Pocket guide Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, Inc., 2009.
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