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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!wayback!atux01!jlc
From: jlc@atux01.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MacUser Hypercard coverage (now Hypercard user interface)
Message-ID: <592@atux01.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 2-Dec-87 11:15:16 EST
Article-I.D.: atux01.592
Posted: Wed Dec  2 11:15:16 1987
Date-Received: Sun, 6-Dec-87 13:45:57 EST
References: <34557@sun.uucp> <7469@eddie.MIT.EDU> <34647@sun.uucp>
Organization: AT&T CSEd/CET, Piscataway, N.J.
Lines: 48
Summary: Hypercard and Mac non-conformity

In article <34647@sun.uucp>, cramer%clem@Sun.COM (Sam Cramer) writes:
> Chuq and Zigurd write defending Hypercard against attack on inconsistent
> user interface grounds.  I beg to differ.
> 
> I find the non-standard user interface of Hypercard most distressing.  The
> strongest point of the Macintosh is its simple and consistent user interface.
> I feel comfortable recommending the Mac to people who have not used computers
> before because I know it will take them very little time to learn the basics
> of almost every application available.  Hypercard changes all that.  How
> many people who first fired up Hypercard tried to double-click on a button?
> A bit confusing, no?
> 
> The non-standard interface of Hypercard is a giant step backward.  Hypercard
> is a great application, with a lousy user interface - lousy because it is
> not consistent with the vast majority of Mac applications.  I'm amazed
> that it made it out in its current form.  While the MacUser criticism is
> overstated, the basic point is valid: Hypercard does not conform to the
> Mac user interface.
> 
> Sam Cramer	{cbosgd,decwrl,hplabs,seismo,ucbvax}!sun!cramer  cramer@sun.com

I must disagree with the above.  Having only been a Mac user since March of
1987 (an SE), I do not feel any great confusion with using Hypercard (HC).
In fact, it is even more user-friendly (on a purely USER basis) than the 
standard Mac interface.  I think that what is happening for some Mac users
that have been using Macs for a while is that they are suffering from a
resistance to change.  Everyone likes the old and familiar, few people like
the new and the untried.  I think that is the case here.

Actually, we should all be glad for such a development as HC.  It shows that
the Mac is evolving, and evolving quickly.  Evolution is essential for
survival as we know it, whether in the natural world, or the business world.
It is a way of adapting to a changing environment and ensures one's survival.
In the past 3-4 years, Apple (and the Mac particularly) have been evolving in
a very rapid and noticeable way.  Unfortunately, some users have not been able
to adapt as quickly.

My question is this:  If the Mac can evolve and adapt, and that assures its
survival, where does that leave Mac users who cannot, or will not, adapt to
new user environments such as Hypercard?

"The trouble is not in our stars, dear Brutus, but in ourselves!"

						- William Shakespeare



						Jim Collymore