The top ten irritants that plague Mac users in a Mac-and-Windows environment.
John Rizzo
Hey, I'm no whiner. I've been happy to use my Macs in hostile PC territory since the days when PC floppy disks were floppy. Cross-platform computing has come a long way since then, and helpful new products
are announced almost weekly. But some problems with cross-platform software do not seem to go away, and new ones crop up all the time. Here are the top ten annoyances that bedevil users of cross-platform software, from least to most irritating.
10. Cross-platform viruses. It used to be that Macs had
their own viruses and PCs had theirs and that was that. No
more. A few months ago, Mac users discovered that Word for
Windows 6 documents were infecting their Macs with the Word
macro virus. Microsoft had created such good cross-platform
templates that hackers had no trouble creating a virus that
could jump the OS boundary. Fortunately, this virus isn't
dangerous. It merely forces you to save a file as a template
when you try to do a Save As and produces a dialog box
containing nothing but a number 1. Microsoft's fix (called
mw1222.sea), which deletes the macro virus, is available on the
Web at http: //www.microsoft.com/msoffice/prank.htm or from
Microsoft (206-635-7200).
9. Slower Mac versions. The Word macro virus is another
excuse to chuck Word in favor of the smaller and speedier
WordPerfect or the ClarisWorks word processor. Although the
Windows version of Word runs OK, the Mac version moves like a
giant northwestern slug. And Word isn't the only application
with a faster PC version -- Lotus Notes is another offender.
Given that Power Macs are faster than Pentium machines, it is
odd that Wintel machines still zoom past Macs when running
certain applications. I don't subscribe to the theory that
Microsoft is plotting to make the Mac look bad -- after all,
Excel for Mac works just fine. But whatever the reason for their
plodding pace, these programs make the Mac look like a slow
platform, which it isn't. The only solution is to steer clear of
them, so if you can, try before you buy.
8. Nonsupport of OpenDoc. This isn't a problem now, but
it will be soon, when you'll want to swap OpenDoc parts with
Windows users, only to discover that a key application doesn't
support it. With its ability to handle more data and objects,
OpenDoc is superior to Windows' Object Linking and Embedding
(OLE) technology. Nevertheless, developers are already choosing
sides in the coming OLE-versus-OpenDoc power struggle. Look for
a protracted war, with you and me as the losers.
7. Mac-ignorant Internet sites. Ever download information
only to find that you can't open the file because it's in a PC
file-compression format? PC users also suffer discrimination, at
sites that provide files in SIT (StuffIt) format for Mac users.
Be prepared with a cross-platform decompression utility.
ZipIt, shareware available on ZD Net/Mac, on eWorld and
CompuServe, can "zip" and "unzip" files. Another unzipper is the
commercial StuffIt Deluxe, from Aladdin Systems. Aladdin has
also made a breakthrough for Windows users: a freeware StuffIt
Expander for Windows, which supports MacBinary as well as ZIP
and other PC and UNIX formats (available from
ftp://aladdinsys.com).
6. Partially cross-platform software. Some network
software requires Mac users to access Mac servers and Windows
users to access PC servers. MIS folks must then carefully
control which applications and files are on which server,
leading to a segregated network in which the Mac segment is
likely to be neglected. Worse yet, plenty of other network
applications, including Microsoft Mail and Novell GroupWise,
can't support Mac servers at all.
The developers of these applications should take their cue
from the best network software, which lets Mac as well as
Windows users access either Mac or Windows servers. Good
examples of true cross-platform network software include
SoftArc's FirstClass e-mail package and Day-Timer Technology's
Day-Timer Organizer, a Windows PIM that's recently been ported
to the Mac.
5. The features gap. Mac software upgrades often come 60
to 90 days after the Windows versions and sometimes even later.
This type of delay creates problems for Mac users of products
such as Netscape Navigator, who can't access the advanced
features Web-page builders use in creating Internet sites. With
other programs, such as Novell InForms, the Mac version stays
inferior to the Windows version. Macintosh users don't expect
equality in a Windows-dominated world, but what about fairness?
4. Lack of support for Mac OS features. I'm not talking
about publish-and-subscribe or Balloon Help, but useful,
innovative features such as thumbnails, Apple Guide, and
AppleScript. Fortunately, we should be seeing more vendors of
cross-platform products implementing drag-and-drop in their Mac
versions now that that feature is part of Windows 95.
3. Lack of support for Windows standards. Although lack
of Mac OS features bugs users, lack of PC standards in Mac
software drives MIS people crazy. Apple has antagonized this
group for many years, by doing things like pushing DAL when the
world was moving to ODBC. Superior cross-platform software can
fill in the gaps in the Mac OS, however. TechGnosis, for
instance, includes an ODBC 2.0 driver in its SequeLink 3.0
client/server middleware product.
2. Windows users telling you to switch. You know the
standard arguments: Macs are more expensive; Windows machines
are just like Macs; there's no good software available for the
Mac.
These are pretty easy to demolish. First, just point to ads
for $1,600, 75-MHz Power Macs, which are just as cheap as PCs.
And no, Windows machines (still) aren't just like Macs,
especially when it comes to setting anything up. Finally,
there's plenty of software for the Mac. In fact, if you look at
some Windows-only software, such as Corel's obtuse Ventura
Publisher, you'll realize you're not missing anything. Then
you'll get the argument that all the good software is being
developed for Windows first. Although this is often true, there
are still examples of Mac-first innovation, such as Apple's
Cyberdog and the PageMill and SiteMill Internet tools, recently
acquired by Adobe from Ceneca Communications.
1. Windows-software look-alikes. If you've run across a
program with buttons and menus that don't work the way you
expect them to, you may be dealing with Windows-specific
interface features that have been ported to the Mac. This may
not be the most serious cross-platform problem, but it's the one
that bugs me the most. Interfaces don't need to be exactly the
same on Macs and Windows machines but should allow for
OS-specific customs. Claris does a good interface job with
cross-platform software that works the way you expect on each
platform; other companies (even very successful ones with very
popular products) don't.
But then, I expect Microsoft's Mac applications to adopt
Windows interface conventions. I even expect actual Windows code
in my Windows-derived Mac apps. After all, it is Microsoft's job
to Windowize the world. For the other cross-platform-software
companies, there's no excuse.
Contributing editor John Rizzo is the author of several books, including How Macs Work.
