Wild Sanctuary wrote:
> As I've said, before, Walt, I'm simply a confirmed technophobe. But I
> am really grateful for the offer. Yeah, I've managed to learn a few
> things by wrote and am pretty comfortable with email, now, but still
> get sweaty hands at the thought of trying to learn yet another piece
> of software. I'll do it, of course, out of necessity. But I'm being
> dragged, kicking and screaming (good thing for my wife that the
> studio's soundproof) to the keyboard and screen. As for the tech
> guru, Jeff is a terrific fellow; especially because he's equally
> conversant in both platforms being a programmer and web designer. He
> also comes armed with a trait most needed on this turf: infinite
> patience. I traded him out my new DVD/CD burner and a couple of 30gb
> hard drives. Anyway, it all looks frighteningly cool and I'm about to
> tiptoe over to the screen after writing this note to see if anything
> bites.
I'm a biologist. I can do the technical stuff because I have to, but I'm
most comfortable imbedded in a swamp with no technical stuff.
When the Lisa, which was the first desktop windowing machine Apple put
out was released Apple used to offer courses in it's use for office
clerks and such like. First thing they would have those folks do was
each take a brand new Lisa and strip it down to the chassis by
themselves. Then take the pile of boards and so on and plug them all in
and turn it on. That helped a lot to get people over any kind of awe or
fear. The Lisa was, of course, designed for easy take apart. I could
probably strip one and have it back together in 5 to 10 minutes.
The best thing I can recommend is play with it. It won't break. Get a
sound file in there and just play. Try all the goodies on it. If it
get's mucked up just toss it without saving and open it again and play
more. You will be surprised just how little manuals and all that are
really needed with a good program.
My wife, who had never used any computer at all started on a Lisa. We
got it home, I hooked it up and checked it was running and pointed out
to her which Icon was which program. Then I had to take the kids to
swimming lessons and she said she'd poke around and see what she could
do. When I got back a few hours later she had already written a paper
she needed to get done and had most of the graphics drawn. And had
hardly looked at a manual. She's still not a technical person, but she
just took her latest computer a dual processor G4 running OS X after we
had loaded all the software for her here. We expected lots of questions,
as the transition from OS 9 to OS X involves a lot of changes. But there
have been almost none, she just continues churning out stuff at a far
faster pace than the PC folks.
The nice thing about a mac is it's so smooth you soon will find you
hardly feel like you are working on a computer. You are just doing
whatever task you have. Which is how I like a computer, just a tool for
a job, not a occupation in itself.
You will develop your own style of working. Don't try to exactly imitate
how others do it, work out what's comfortable for you.
> And by the way, anytime any of you are in the vicinity, you are
> welcome to come by to learn what certified cryptophons actually do.
> Just give a call, first. Almost got a chance to meet Doug VG this
> summer, but we missed meeting by about 50,000 ft and a few lousy
> hours.
I'll remember that.
Walt
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