Computers Should Work Like Us

I had a hell of a time getting this computer to do what I wanted it to do. If I remember correctly, the command I had to type to list the directory of a floppy disk was "PR6", which assumed that my floppy drive controller was plugged into slot 6 of the motherboard.

To run a program, I had to type RUN and then the filename, which was easy enough, unless the program was compiled into binary code, in which case I had to type BRUN.

I gave up using Apple DOS and switched to another OS that was designed especially for Pascal programming, called UDSC P-System. That OS worked a little differently from Apple's BASIC-Centered OS, which compiled and ran programs one line at a time. The P-System "precompiled" programs into a special format called "p-code", which was easier to interpret and therefore faster to run. The advantages of partially-compiled P-code over BASIC was not clear to me at the time, since I was just a lowly undergraduate more interested in dates than data. But today, the same idea is used in the ultra-hot Java language.

Halfway through college, I switched to an IBM PC AT. I was responsible for running a lab with 20 IBM ATs, and I remember being impressed that each of them had their own hard disk. I was less impressed when all of their hard disks failed, requiring replacements, in some cases, several times.

Then I met a professor who used a Macintosh, and my fate was sealed. He became my Thesis Advisor, and I started studying Psychology as well as Computer Science. I was in the newly-created field of Human Factors, also known as Automation Psychology, which dealt with the science of making computers easier for people to use.

The first Mac I used only had 128K of RAM, and it only had one floppy drive. This required constant swapping of disks, which led to extremely sore wrists. It also had a small screen, which was a bit of an inconvenience, and it had no colour or expansion slots.

Sore wrists aside, those early Macs were very cool. Especially cool was the fact that the screen could display a document exactly as it would come out of the printer - fonts, graphics, boldface and italics... That concept seemed radical at the time, but it made so much sense. We expect WYSIWYG display in everything now, but before the Mac came out, it was a foreign concept. So was the mouse.

The Toys

First computer: 1983 Franklin ACE 1000 (Apple II Clone). 64K RAM, 40 column display, 6502 processor, one floppy drive. Computer now used: Imac DV 400 MHz, 256 Meg RAM, 13 gig internal HD, 80 gig external HD. First on-line experience: Twilight Clone BBS, Cable Modem

Lotus used to be the most popular spreadsheet for the IBM PC, but I remember that it wouldn't print a spreadsheet in landscape mode. For that, you needed to spend about $50 on a special program called "Sideways". It seems almost unbelievable today to think about spending money on a program that does nothing except let you print spreadsheets in landscape mode. Why did we ever put up with stuff like that?

I think in the future, computers will get even easier to use. One thing that needs to go is the keyboard. Most of us who use computers are pretty good typists, but we only developed this skill because our computers required it of us. Computers should change for us, instead of requiring us to change for them.

Computers should get easier to use, but this won't happen if Microsoft is allowed to continue to be the sole owner of desktop operating systems and applications. If you don't believe me, take a look at Windows XP and Office XP.

If it weren't for the Apple Macintosh, Microsoft would never have developed Windows, and certainly not Windows 95. The MTV crowd may find it hard to believe, but it was only a few years ago that Apple was a real contender in the battle for the desktop PC market.

After years of turmoil that resulted in the ouster of Steve Jobs, Apple introduced the Mac II, which was the first truly capable business PC that used a GUI interface.

I doubt that Apple will ever regain the influence in the PC industry it once had. But its prime contribution has been to put forth the idea that computers should work like us, instead of requiring us to work like them. That's why their slogan was "The computer for the rest of us."

Hopefully, Apple will stay in business, at least to give Microsoft ideas that they can copy. As far as I'm concerned, I'll keep using Macs as long as Apple keeps making them.