irrational gripes

Recently I have occasion to have a couple of people tell me why they “hate the Mac.”

1. “The mouse only has one button.”

This, from one of the tech support staff, the kind who might be expected to know about computers in general. So I showed him that a. the second mouse button works just fine, even in Apple’s applications (like the Finder) and b. that even the scroll wheel works. The real beef is that Apple only *sells* one button mice, not that they don’t support them. Mine is still in the shrinkwrap is came in.

Same guy told me he found UNIX/Linux limiting, but come to find out he’s never really used either. He also bragged that he had $3000 to spend on whatever system he wanted and was proud that he didn’t buy a PowerBook, choosing instead a Dell.

2. “You have to drag the CD icon to the Trash can to eject it.”

OK, fair enough. But not for about two and a half years, if you’re an OS X user. Same user tells me she can eject a mounted disk by pushing the button and ejecting the media: as far as I know, that’s a sure way to confuse *any* operating system. I didn’t bother to ask if it was equally annoying to remind Windows that you just shoved a floppy or CD into its guts and would it please now acknowledge the fact?

There are people who find Windows more productive, but I generally find their work is pretty narrowly defined. I never get jobs like that: even my current indenture is too broad for Windows to encompass. Essentially, a networked typing station would suffice for most people.