My CS 404 Thoughts

Today we watched the final installment of "Triumph of the Nerds." A few
things caught my mind as I learned some things about the history of the
graphical OS that I didn't know. When the Macintosh computer was introduced, a
graphical user interface was what most people wanted and needed, even if they
didn't know it. IBM was raking in the cash by selling its clunky PC, which was
what it had convinced business and personal users they needed. I had an Apple
IIgs at the time, and I remember how much easier it was to use when we got a
hard drive with the Mac OS. Computers are much easier to use today than the
were 15 years ago, but I am amazed by the number of irritating behaviors we put
up with in our computers because "that's the way they are." Then I realized
that Windows is exactly what IBM was back in the days of the PC and DOS: the
product that we have to have, despite its clunkiness. In stark contrast to
this, my brand new MacBook is incredibly easy to use. It does what I want and
stays out of my way. It's no wonder Steve Jobs said, "I always hear about how
people love their Macs..." because I sure do.