Wait a minute!

Now, some of you will know that I’m no fan of Apple fanboys, (or fanboys in general), but Apple does get it right when it comes to usability - people generally find Macs easier to use, and more intuitive. While their current line of commercials (”Hello, I’m a Mac…”) may be annoying, they are in general correct for the majority of users who just want to “get things done”. This can be further seen in the success of the iPod - its control interface is second to none.

What’s wrong with the UI in Windows?

There’s nothing wrong with the UI in Windows - it works just fine for me, and I don’t find that it gets in the way when I’m trying to get things done. But, for some people, such things aren’t so intuitive, perhaps because they don’t live and breath computers like I do.

The quick launch bar that comes with Windows is okay, and so is the Start Menu - but an application Dock is bigger, more visible and thus is quicker to use for the average user, such as my Mom. (Though some would disagree)

The choices

It turns out there’s a lot of other people who also want a Dock like Apple’s in Windows, since there are a plethora of programs out there that accomplish this. The top three I found were MobyDock, RocketDock and Y’z Dock. I only had time to try out the first two, and there were many more that I didn’t bother to look at, but I was impressed.

Both programs support easy drag and drop operations, so you can add programs to the dock simply by dragging an existing shortcut onto it; removing the icons from the dock is just as easy. They can also be positioned virtually anywhere on the screen, with offsets from top/bottom/left/right being allowed. They also feature the nice “zoom” animations as featured on Apple’s version, and have a small memory footprint.

They’re also devoid of any confusing jumble of messy configuration dialogs - the settings pages are very simple and straightforward, and the apps “just work”, so you probably won’t need to even touch the configuration pages. This is the way software should work, at least software intended to be used by the masses. Too often, software comes with too many options pages, making configuration both confusing and tedious. Usability testing should be done to find out what’s intuitive, instead of making a bunch of cryptic settings.

Out of the two, MobyDock probably offered more features than RocketDock, offering built-in widgets for Weather, Screenshots and a Clock. However, it also seemed to be a bit buggy, as it crashed a few times, so I’ll be using RocketDock since it’s for the parents’ computer, and they don’t need to deal with that. MobyDock also seems to have stalled in development, with the latest version being put out way back on November 18th, 2003 - by contrast RocketDock still appears to be continually updated.

Kudos to the developers of these programs for not only making a useful piece of software, but also for making them freely availabe.

Before we begin…

Let just say, firstly, that I have no ill feelings toward Apple or any of their users. I don’t personally own a Mac, and my total time usage of Macs during the past few years is probably somewhere in the lower double-digits in terms of hours. However, I don’t think that Macs are “inferior”, nor do I think that PCs are necessarily superior. I have, however, found it interesting how Macs are very popular among those in graphic design or similar industries and believe Apple has done a lot to make computing more friendly to the masses. Additionally, it has been the many Mac users who are the designers and developers who have done a lot to make the web more friendly and usable.

However, I have found that certain Apple users tend to be very hardcore about the ages-old Mac vs. PC debate, almost to the point of zealotry. Some of these people hate Windows, it seems, and argue with a zest that is second only to political and religious debates. This is entirely beyond me - but perhaps that’s because the debate goes back to before I started using the Internet. However, in general, I’ve not seen PC users debate with the same vigour. Some will say this is because Macs are so good that their owners learn to really love them rather than pull their hair out over some problem with Windows; or perhaps many Mac users have “converted” over after experiencing this with Windows.

If you make it, they will buy

However, while I could understand defending one’s choice in computers, I’ll never understand some Apple user’s pure fanaticism for anything the company releases. I am, of course, referring to some of the mice Apple releases. I won’t bother to talk about the hockey puck that once came with the iMac (even Apple users agreed that it sucked), but rather focus on more recent releases, such as today’s Wireless Mighty Mouse. Featuring laser tracking and Bluetooth connectivity, it’s certainly no slouch when it comes to technology; however, this is neither first nor only mouse to offer these options. Logitech has had a cordless laser desktop combo for Mac for sometime, a Bluetooth mouse, and their first laser and cordless mouse was released almost 2 years ago.

But, you need only to read the comments in the Engadget article to find Apple fanboys (and I use this term very specifically, not to mean all Mac users) rigorously defending against every fact thrown their way. Other wireless mice before this one? Wait, those weren’t truly wireless because you had to plug in a receiver to the back of the PC! The Mighty Mouse doesn’t require that because it uses Bluetooth! You’ll never have to lug around a heavy, 10-gram USB micro-receiver anymore! I bet you Mighty Mouse users are laughing their heads off at all the losers who are going to tire themselves out doing that.

Nevermind that there is already a Bluetooth mouse out there that doesn’t require a receiver - but hey, it wasn’t made by Apple, and hence, doesn’t have the official blessing - thus it’s not worthy of such a coronation like the Mighty Mouse.

What about the high price? Nevermind that either. Since Apple is apparently comparable to the likes of “Louis Vuitton, Gucci, or Ferrari”, you should be happily forking over your hard-earned dough to Apple, confident that it’s going to pay their workers to continue making such a fine product of pure design.

And, you have got to love this review:

I just got the mouse yesterday. I love it! I wouldn’t exactly say that it’s worth every penny… but if your able to afford a mac in general, then your probably willing enough to fork up the cash for their random accessories as well.

I find that the right click doesn’t always work perfect, but overall it’s pretty sweet.

Who cares that right click doesn’t work - it doesn’t have to, since it’s made by Apple. Also, who cares about all the other mice out there that have many more additional buttons - what can you possible use them for, besides back/forward, switching applications, volume up/down, or the many other additional functions they could do in games. That’s such a small list the idea of more buttons doesn’t even make sense.

Back to reality…

With some of the comments over there, you’d think that these supposed fanboys were agent provacateurs, planted by the anti-Apple movement in order to weaken or undermine the Apple position. After all, some of the statements were fairly over-the-top.

I was never sold on the original Mighty Mouse, and I don’t think I ever will be. The idea of the whole mouse being a button is just too weird, (and not in a good, “Think Different” kind of way) and as you can see above, it creates usability issues. I’m all for good design, but I think the Mighty Mouse places too much emphasis on this over functionality - and I don’t think the Mighty Mouse looks that great. It will, however, sell just as good as the original did, and maybe more, since it is better than the original after all.

I don’t think the new Mighty Mouse is a bad mouse; I just think that there’s already better options out there. However, as I mentioned, I don’t use Macs, so my opinion may be considered by some to be completely invalid, and, that’s okay with me.

And, I don’t think Apple is a bad company. Though I linked to their story above about the conditions in an iPod factory, Apple is not the only company doing this. The fact is, many companies contract out manufacturing jobs to companies in China, which are the ones who own and operates these factories with poor working conditions. Apple is far from the only company that may engage in this activity. In fact, I think Apple has done a lot of good things such as making the iPods, and the iTunes website, and I think they’ve been a good balance against the juggernaut that is Microsoft in the desktop OS arena.

And lastly, I don’t dislike Mac users at all. I dislike the opinions of fanboys who seemingly praise everything that goes with their line of thinking and criticize anything that dares to deviate. Fanboys exist in the PC world too, and are perhaps even more vehement.