Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpcilzb!hpcea!twakeman
From: twakeman@hpcea.CE.HP.COM (Teriann Wakeman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Finder proposal: "Select by..."
Message-ID: <430063@hpcea.CE.HP.COM>
Date: 30 Nov 88 17:56:18 GMT
References: <2712@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu>
Organization: HP Corporate Engineering - Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 35

I can not believe that people are asking Apple to make the finder more UNIX
like. The beauty of the Mac is that it is user friendly, even to people
who are slightly computer phobic. My personal experience: 

 BEFORE 1984: I was a hardware engineer who thought it would come in handy
 to learn how to use one of those suddenly popular PCs. Id had a Fortran
 class back in the days of punched cards, & had in 1978 built a breadboard
 micro with 4K RAM, toggle switch input and nixi tube hex output. But every
 time I went into a computer store to "kick the tyres", I saw this
 incomprehensible, unfriendly prompt. The salesman would type some strange
 character sequences into the keyboard to make it do anything. I always
 walked off, somewhat intimidated by the beasti.

 1984 THE AGE OF ENLIGHTINMENT: I walked into a computer store to find a
 computer that smiled, welcomed me into its desktop, and had understandable
 pictures as well as plain english words. I could easily understand what it 
 could do and could easily make it do what I wanted to do. Soon I brought my
 new friend home & started learning about the computer that existed beyond
 ICs, traces and machine language.

I have come a long way since then. I wouldn't have learned as much as I 
have without my smiley toaster look-a-like friends. There are a lot of
people out there becoming computer literate on Macs who otherwise would
never make the transistion.

Before you ask for UNIX like commands, try to remember what it was like
when you were first exposed to cut commands, pipes, & such. How many of
you remember all the arguments that can follow a UNIX if command? Learning
UNIX is about as intuitive as learning how to assemble a chineese puzzle
when it is handed it to you unassembled.

For those power users who insist on a more UNIX like system, remember,
Apple has provided UNIX. All you need is tons of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

TeriAnn