Click
here for Computer help for teachers Click here to read my reviews of a few PCs and Macs, which have gone though my lab
There seems to be a "Holy War" going on with these
two formats. After searching the 'Net for info on this topic, I found
many thousands of sites that were either ANTI-WONDOWZZZ or ANTI-MAC.
Well the truth is no one needs to waste their time telling a Ford driver
that he should be driving a Chevy. The same advice goes with computer
users. Operating Systems have come a long way since Windows 3.1 and
Mac 5. No product ever stays the same, but continues to grow and
become more user friendly. It seems that many of those Nay sayers
are comparing the Operating Systems of yester-year.
The OSers of today are so many times better and
so much more alike that if anyone said that Mac 8.5.1 was better than Win
95 (OSR2), they would have a very hard task on their hands! Take the issue
'ease of use,' for example, both allow fast printing of documents by simply
dragging and dropping the document icon into the printer Icon on the desktop,
both allow easy access to open multiple programs at once, and both take
only seconds to boot up on newer machines. I am lucky enough to have
my own computer business and work with both types of computers. Just
last week, I had a G3/266 (like a true P-II 350, for those Intel fans)
in my lab with the Mac 8.5.1 OS on it. After a few clicks, I was
already learning that this OS is very much like Win95 (OSR2). I have
included a few screen shots to prove my point.
In this first set of screen shots, we see the desktops of a Win95(OSR2)
and a Mac OS8
The Icons are the same because I use my own Icon Set with any computer
that I build.
Note that they both use a taskbar and pull-down-menus or pull-up-menus.
Click and Drag are used in both.
Both have a program to handle deleted documents. "Recycle Bin"
in Win95. "Trash" in Mac OS.
Both use a clock on their "task bars" and allow for multiple programs
to be viewed at once.
This next set of screen shots shows how most users access their main
programs.
In Win95(OSR2), users click
on the "Start key" and a menu pulls down, showing the programs the user
may click on and use. This menu also has "other programs," "favorites,"
"documents," "desktop settings," "find," "help," "run (to run new programs,
not found in this menu)," and "shut down." To add a program Icon
or "shortcut" to this menu, a user needs only to click on the program,
drag it to the start key and drop it there. Win95(OSR2) does the
rest by adding the Icon and shortcut. Later the user may edit the
shortcut or the Icon. To add a new Icon to the Desktop, a user needs
to click on "settings," "Taskbar," and add new program. If the user
is installing new software, the Icons and shortcuts are added automatically.
To remove an Icon, just drag it to the "Recycle Bin." When the user needs
to empty the "Recycle Bin" she needs to just click on it and select "empty"
to wipe out those files from the Hard Drive.
In this Mac OS 8 shot, users
can click on the Apple and a menu pulls down, showing the programs the
user may click on and use. The Mac Menu also has "About this Macintosh"
which the user can use to see how much of the computer's resources are
being used. The "control panel" in the Mac is used to add and edit the
shortcuts displayed on this pull-down-menu. "desktop icons" allow
the user to edit the desktop icons, of course! Below this level of
the menu, the user finds her programs. The last level is for recent
documents and applications. The other pull downs on the Mac bar include
"File," "Edit," "View," "Special," and "Help" these allow the user
to open, copy, paste, and edit her files. Also, the user may change her
desktop view, empty the trash, shut down, or find help.
Program Appearance, while running and switching between programs.
In Windows 95(OSR2) Note that the active programs are placed on the
task bar.
In Mac OS8, Note that the active programs are placed in the little
monitor at the end of the Mac task bar.
Here are the "About This Computer" windows from both OSers.
Here are the HELP WINDOWS from each OS
Note: that both help OSers have searchable help windows with sep-by-step procedures.
Lets carry on to the next step, allowing WinIntel PCs to communicate with Macs and visa versa.
In many homes, businesses, and schools both computer formats are used side by side. My mission is to allow these two formats to work together, share data, and make life easier for their users. One way would be to convert the Macs into windows machines, but this is costly and requires new hardware. What I have found is that is is easy to convert a Windows PC into a Mac machine by installing one to three free software packs avaliable over the 'Net. These programs allow the WinIntel Pc to write, read and edit Mac disks and adobt a Mac OS 8 desktop complete with its features, mouse pointers, sounds, backgrounds, and icons. To find out more about these free programs CLICK HERE.
