Mac OS X and user friendliness

Phil St. Romain · 05-22-2002, 07:16 PM

Some of you are going to love these stories.

A few weeks ago, I set up my sister-in-law with a used iBook, OS X as her default OS, and the five apps she would be using on the Dock. She learned the basics quickly and was sending email, surfing the net, and cranking out word-processing documents in no time--this from a woman who'd never really done much with computers.

Last weekend when she visited us, she and my daughter were doing a variety of things on my daughter's Bondi Blue iMac, which still runs OS 9.1. My sister-in-law watched my daughter work for awhile, then had a turn doing something. She clicked around a bit, asked about the Finder, where the home folder was, and then remarked, "This is so user-unfriendly!"

----------

At work, we're replacing a number of work stations running W 95 with XP. And, you guessed it, the comments again are along the lines of "this is so different," "where's my stuff," and even: "this is the most user-unfriendly computer on the planet."

----------

Gui principles aside, it seems that for most people, what is user-friendly is what they're already familiar with. I even know a woman who's still using DOS instead of Windows because she knows DOS and Windows "is too hard to learn." Go figure that one.

So when you hear veteran Mac users saying OS X is "user-unfriendly," maybe these little vignettes can help us understand what they really mean.

mervTormel · 05-22-2002, 08:10 PM

yep. some people are resistant to change. what did Darwin say about that? oh, yeah. "Evolution will cull the defectives from the herd."

>=,=,=8>

AKcrab · 05-22-2002, 10:19 PM

Can I change the greeting when I open a terminal session to:
"Welcome to Darwin! Evolution will cull the defectives from the herd."

I think I've seen that tip posted...

mervTormel · 05-22-2002, 10:27 PM

the 'message of the day' file is at /etc/motd

it is automatically cat'd to any new login shell.

you can edit that to say whatever you want, like "Unauthorized Access Prohibited"

% sudo pico /etc/motd

rusto · 05-22-2002, 10:30 PM

<friendly tone of voice>
look in /private/etc/motd

</friendly tone of voice>

edit: gah, beat by merv again!

Craig R. Arko · 05-22-2002, 10:33 PM

Now, Philip, you didn't have any group particularly in mind about this, did you?

Nope, didn't think so.

AKcrab · 05-22-2002, 10:43 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by mervTormel % sudo pico /etc/motd

Cool!
Am I the only one who uses VI?

mervTormel · 05-22-2002, 11:23 PM

AKcrab: yes. sadly, you are the last and only one. a veritable extinct species

but seriously, pico fine for a quick edit and just waling in text.

vi is great for serious mangling and it's a great skill to have in you bat-utility belt. you should be able to at least casually use vi because it is on virtually every unix boxen out there, whereas other editors may not be.

as an aside, it's a good idea to put that warning in your motd. announcing "Unauthorized Access Prohibited" gives you many legal avenues, whereas no warning leaves you 'unrepresentable'.

we should start a security thread in the system forum. it's something i've been wanting to do for a while.

welp, gotta get back to beating rusto. wham! wham!

AKcrab · 05-22-2002, 11:31 PM

edit: I totally misread Merv's post..

Beating rusto?

rusto · 05-23-2002, 06:27 AM

hurts so good...

JayBee · 05-23-2002, 06:41 AM

Just out of curiosity, is it possible to have MOTD automatically clear the screen when it first appears. I'd like to be able to ssh into my OS X box, and for the MOTD to appear at the top of my terminal window.

I'm sure I've seen this done before, but can't figure out how if MOTD is just cat'd...

TIA

Phil St. Romain · 05-23-2002, 08:21 AM

Geez, what kind of monster have I created here? My head hurts after reading the follow-ups to my Readers-Digest-crowd-friendly opening post.

rusto · 05-23-2002, 10:34 AM

I'm gonna bump my mom's iMac up from OS 9 to OS X soon...will report fully with observations.

mervTormel · 05-23-2002, 01:29 PM

Quote:


	Originally posted by JayBee Just out of curiosity, is it possible to have MOTD automatically clear the screen when it first appears...

first...

% touch ~/.hushlogin

then, put the following in your login...

Code:

clear
cat /etc/motd

note that .hushlogin may also shut off the "you have mail" message.

[ phil, the monster lives; it grows, needs food, brains! ]

JayBee · 05-23-2002, 05:41 PM

Merv, it is just possible that you be da man...

Cheers. Pretty blimmin obvious now I think of it.

But hey, why think when I have you guys?

Here endeth the topic drift...

05-22-2002, 07:16 PM	#1
Phil St. Romain Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 2,350	Mac OS X and user friendliness Some of you are going to love these stories. A few weeks ago, I set up my sister-in-law with a used iBook, OS X as her default OS, and the five apps she would be using on the Dock. She learned the basics quickly and was sending email, surfing the net, and cranking out word-processing documents in no time--this from a woman who'd never really done much with computers. Last weekend when she visited us, she and my daughter were doing a variety of things on my daughter's Bondi Blue iMac, which still runs OS 9.1. My sister-in-law watched my daughter work for awhile, then had a turn doing something. She clicked around a bit, asked about the Finder, where the home folder was, and then remarked, "This is so user-unfriendly!" ---------- At work, we're replacing a number of work stations running W 95 with XP. And, you guessed it, the comments again are along the lines of "this is so different," "where's my stuff," and even: "this is the most user-unfriendly computer on the planet." ---------- Gui principles aside, it seems that for most people, what is user-friendly is what they're already familiar with. I even know a woman who's still using DOS instead of Windows because she knows DOS and Windows "is too hard to learn." Go figure that one. So when you hear veteran Mac users saying OS X is "user-unfriendly," maybe these little vignettes can help us understand what they really mean.

05-22-2002, 10:30 PM	#5
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,487	<friendly tone of voice> look in /private/etc/motd </friendly tone of voice> edit: gah, beat by merv again! __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

05-23-2002, 06:27 AM	#10
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,487	hurts so good... __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

05-23-2002, 06:41 AM	#11
JayBee Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 437	MOTD pretty-ifying Just out of curiosity, is it possible to have MOTD automatically clear the screen when it first appears. I'd like to be able to ssh into my OS X box, and for the MOTD to appear at the top of my terminal window. I'm sure I've seen this done before, but can't figure out how if MOTD is just cat'd... TIA __________________ JayBee -- It's all relative, you know

05-23-2002, 08:21 AM	#12
Phil St. Romain Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Wichita, KS Posts: 2,350	Re: MOTD pretty-ifying Geez, what kind of monster have I created here? My head hurts after reading the follow-ups to my Readers-Digest-crowd-friendly opening post.

05-22-2002, 08:10 PM	#2
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	yep. some people are resistant to change. what did Darwin say about that? oh, yeah. "Evolution will cull the defectives from the herd." >=,=,=8>

05-22-2002, 10:19 PM	#3
AKcrab MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Wasilla, AK Posts: 1,043	Can I change the greeting when I open a terminal session to: "Welcome to Darwin! Evolution will cull the defectives from the herd." I think I've seen that tip posted...

05-22-2002, 10:27 PM	#4
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	the 'message of the day' file is at /etc/motd it is automatically cat'd to any new login shell. you can edit that to say whatever you want, like "Unauthorized Access Prohibited" % sudo pico /etc/motd

05-22-2002, 10:33 PM	#6
Craig R. Arko Site Admin Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Minneapolis, MN Posts: 3,965	Now, Philip, you didn't have any group particularly in mind about this, did you? Nope, didn't think so.

05-22-2002, 11:23 PM	#8
mervTormel League Commissioner Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 5,536	AKcrab: yes. sadly, you are the last and only one. a veritable extinct species but seriously, pico fine for a quick edit and just waling in text. vi is great for serious mangling and it's a great skill to have in you bat-utility belt. you should be able to at least casually use vi because it is on virtually every unix boxen out there, whereas other editors may not be. as an aside, it's a good idea to put that warning in your motd. announcing "Unauthorized Access Prohibited" gives you many legal avenues, whereas no warning leaves you 'unrepresentable'. we should start a security thread in the system forum. it's something i've been wanting to do for a while. welp, gotta get back to beating rusto. wham! wham!

05-22-2002, 11:31 PM	#9
AKcrab MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Wasilla, AK Posts: 1,043	edit: I totally misread Merv's post.. Beating rusto?

05-23-2002, 10:34 AM	#13
rusto MVP Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 1,487	I'm gonna bump my mom's iMac up from OS 9 to OS X soon...will report fully with observations. __________________ :: 3.4GHz Core i7 iMac 4GB RAM :: Black MacBook SR :: 10.7.2 :: iPhone 4 / iOS 5 ::

05-23-2002, 05:41 PM	#15
JayBee Major Leaguer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 437	Re: Re: MOTD pretty-ifying Merv, it is just possible that you be da man... Cheers. Pretty blimmin obvious now I think of it. But hey, why think when I have you guys? Here endeth the topic drift... __________________ JayBee -- It's all relative, you know

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