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Monday, 1 July 2002 |
There is definitely a cult of machismo associated with using Windows computers.
Bump into a cluster of true believers at a trade show discussing their recent exploits editing registries, reinstalling Windows, and hacking the BIOS, mention you don’t have to do any of that ’cos you use Macs, and there will be a chorus of titters accompanied by smirks and eyes rolling heavenwards.
Sometimes they’ll spit back that Macs are for wimps because they come with a one-button mouse. Or that Macs are for wimps because the latest models no longer come with floppy drives. This incident really happened by the way.
Let’s set the macho posturing aside and examine these assertions in the clear light of the truth.
The Macho Mouse
The mouse that Apple provides free with each computer is an optical one-button mouse. It is designed in such a way that you can grip it from any angle.
Using a conventional mouse, no matter how well designed, is the surest path to developing RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury), also known as CTS (Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). Users of two- or three-button mice are more prone again to developing these diseases.
How can you tell? Simply sit at your computer in the usual way, place your right hand on the mouse in the usual position—poised and ready to right-click. Concentrate all your attention on the sensations in your hand, wrist, lower and upper arm, and shoulder. Feel anything? Click and right-click a few times. Concentrate again. Feel any unpleasant sensations? What about in your wrist and around the base of your thumb?
In the course of a full working day you are continuously stressing all parts of your preferred arm. Over the course of a year you’ll have done it countless times. The pain that many office workers report stems from holding their right limbs (or left as appropriate) in this unnatural position and constantly firing and retracting certain fibres within it.
However, try using one of the many non-mouse alternatives—trackballs with 2 to 8 buttons or art pens with tablets, and notice they place less strain in the same places. Apple provides the best mouse they can, but encourages you to buy the mouse or mouse alternative you prefer. Plug in to a USB slot, and play.
Currently I use an art tablet, and trackballs with 2 or 4 buttons. Choice and good health—what is so wimpy about that?
The Macho Floppy
[To be continued...]
5:47:03 PM 
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And on Robert X. Cringeley’s article about Palladium.
Dave has a far wiser head than I when it comes to technical matters such as this. He knows what he is talking about—he has often worked closely with Microsoft in the past on creating new industry standards, is a Friend of Bill, and has good insight into the firm and its mindset. So he is not being paranoid, over-dramatic or needlessly sensationalizing when he writes this:
“There’s no doubt that Cringe has the story. The key word is foreclosure. That’s what MS is doing with everything we hold dear. Their partners: the entertainment industry and the Bush administration each get something. MS gets to retain and develop their OS monopoly. This was the deal that the US govt made with MS…
… refuse to buy any new computers until this madness stops. Or welcome to the Gestapo of the Future—the World Wide Thought Control Center, brought to you by Disney, Ashcroft and Gates. ”
Dave Winer is referring to Windows + Intel—known as Wintel—computers there, not Macintosh or Linux computers. They’re safe from direct predation by Microsoft.
7:00:51 AM
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© Copyright 2002 Karl-Peter Gottschalk.
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