I have been using computers for over 60 years, starting with a cards in/cards out IBM 650 to Univac mainframes to the earliest personal computer to “The Computer for the Rest of Us” (The Macintosh). Look up the ad “Why 1984 will not be 1984”.
Unfortunately, 1984 arrived with Apple’s OS X. Everything has changed from gradual changes to complete changes that make previous data unusable, requiring days and weeks to update. Many of these changes are difficult to decipher or many hours to undo (like an update that moved giga-bytes of data to the cloud.
Now Yahoo! had done that with it Finance pages.
For years, I have kept a spreadsheet of weekly data for several stocks or mutual funds. I had Yahoo! set up to give me closing prices every Friday.
I missed a week and when I tried to have Yahoo! give me my data, nothing happened. i went to bed frustrated not knowing what had changed.
On Saturday, I figured out that I had to completely rebuild my list. When I requested the list, I found out that it had the high and low prices but not the closing prices which is what I really wanted.
I went to Yahoo! help section and found out that I was not alone. Many commenters were very upset about the changes.
Well, back to figuring out how to get the data I want.
https://yahoo.uservoice.com/forums/382977-finance/suggestions/38499625-think-your-changes-out-before-springing-them-on-us
Showing posts with label computer for the rest of us. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computer for the rest of us. Show all posts
Sunday, September 01, 2019
Saturday, January 26, 2019
Where did the “computer for the rest of us” go
Where did the “computer for the rest of us” go.
I have been programming and using computers since 1959, some self-taught, some with help of others.
I wrote my first small program for Ohio Oil on an IBM 650 (cards in, cards out). I started with Elliot Organik’s Programming the IBM 650 and the help of other programmers.
I next encountered the Burroughs 3500(?) as a graduate student at Case Institute of Technology.
Then I worked nearly 20 years at Univac working on the Univac 1107 and later models.
Then the personal computer became more interesting and I went out on my own. Then in 1984 Apple came out with the Macintosh. This was the “Computer for the Rest of Us”. It was simpler to use, almost intuitive. I was smitten and have moved up whenever I chose or could afford to.
But somewhere along the way Apple lost its way. Each new group of Apple programmers had to change the Mac OS to their way.
One of the most gratuitous changes was a couple of years ago when printer orientation went haywire.
For a long time I could put an envelope in the back tray of an Epson WF-3640. Push it in so far and tell my Mac to print the envelope. Whoosh! Done!
Then somebody in Epson or Apple decided to change the software. The orientation displayed on the Mac was different. I forgot all the little things I had to do differently. The envelope had to be put in the back tray opposite what was shown on the tray. I forget all the details but sometimes the envelope went through without even being printed.
I just looked up on the Epson website about printing envelopes from one of the front trays. I followed all the directions, but the printer insisted on an envelope being in the back tray!!!
Enough debugging for the day. I would rather read a history book.
I have been programming and using computers since 1959, some self-taught, some with help of others.
I wrote my first small program for Ohio Oil on an IBM 650 (cards in, cards out). I started with Elliot Organik’s Programming the IBM 650 and the help of other programmers.
I next encountered the Burroughs 3500(?) as a graduate student at Case Institute of Technology.
Then I worked nearly 20 years at Univac working on the Univac 1107 and later models.
Then the personal computer became more interesting and I went out on my own. Then in 1984 Apple came out with the Macintosh. This was the “Computer for the Rest of Us”. It was simpler to use, almost intuitive. I was smitten and have moved up whenever I chose or could afford to.
But somewhere along the way Apple lost its way. Each new group of Apple programmers had to change the Mac OS to their way.
One of the most gratuitous changes was a couple of years ago when printer orientation went haywire.
For a long time I could put an envelope in the back tray of an Epson WF-3640. Push it in so far and tell my Mac to print the envelope. Whoosh! Done!
Then somebody in Epson or Apple decided to change the software. The orientation displayed on the Mac was different. I forgot all the little things I had to do differently. The envelope had to be put in the back tray opposite what was shown on the tray. I forget all the details but sometimes the envelope went through without even being printed.
I just looked up on the Epson website about printing envelopes from one of the front trays. I followed all the directions, but the printer insisted on an envelope being in the back tray!!!
Enough debugging for the day. I would rather read a history book.
Monday, September 04, 2017
The Macintosh Has Lost Its Way
After some of the problems that I’ve had with the Apple, I reread Guy Kawasaki’s The Macintosh Way. I remembered it as being about how to design user-friendly software, but it is about all the ways to make a great software company from product design to user groups to interaction with other companies.
What I was looking for is on pages 55-56:
“Great products are elegant. They may have many features, but the features are tastefully and transparently implemented.” P. 52
However, "elegant" and “transparently implemented” have gone by the wayside. See “Computers Under the Control of Magicians”, “Don’t get caught on Sierra”, and “More Update Craziness”.
A counterpoint is “Now Apple’s really ‘for the rest os us’” by Michael Gartenberg, Macworld, 2010-06-23. But I think things have gone quite a bit downhill since 2010.
What I was looking for is on pages 55-56:
“Great products are elegant. They may have many features, but the features are tastefully and transparently implemented.” P. 52
However, "elegant" and “transparently implemented” have gone by the wayside. See “Computers Under the Control of Magicians”, “Don’t get caught on Sierra”, and “More Update Craziness”.
A counterpoint is “Now Apple’s really ‘for the rest os us’” by Michael Gartenberg, Macworld, 2010-06-23. But I think things have gone quite a bit downhill since 2010.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
The company with the computer for the rest of us forgot the rest of us
When Apple introduced the Macintosh in 1984, they dubbed it "The Computer for the Rest of Us". With its WIMP interface (Windows, Icons, Menus, Pictures) it was certainly a step up from the alphabetic command interface of all the other microcomputers of the time. Even an experienced assembly-language programmer like me found the interface superior to remembering a whole bunch of commands that had to be spelled correctly with the correct syntax.
Over the decades, Apple has introduced hundreds of ideas that make Macintoshes, iPhones, and iPad even easier to use, mostly. But sometimes they are devilishly difficult to use. A case in point is trying to do a simple thing like buy an eBook.
My wife wanted an eBook for a book group that meets this week because she was unable to get it at the library in time. She has never bought an eBook for her iPad mini, and even though she taught computer classes for years, she would rather have me do it.
She gave me the title, her AppleID, and her password. I found the book in a few minutes. I pressed on the price which turned into a "Buy Book" button. Why not have a separate "Buy Book" button? I pressed the "Buy Book" button and the price appeared again. Sometimes the button changed to downloading, but the gear icon for internet use never appeared. Eventually, for some reason the iPad eventually asked for my wife's password. I entered that. The iPad asked if she wanted to select security questions. I clicked "Not now". Now we saw the price button again. Repeat and repeat.
Finally, I clicked that we would select security questions. I had to enter her password again. Remember that poking a small screen is more cumbersome than a full-size keyboard. We selected the questions and gave the answers.
Now, as expected, we had to give payment method details. I don't remember if we had to enter her password before we could proceed. It certainly seemed as if we did. I gave the payment details, and I was asked again for her password.
Now I could click on the price, click on the resulting "Buy Book", and once again enter her password. Finally we see the "downloading" button stay on and the gear go round and round. In a few minutes she had her book and her acknowledgment of activity in her email.
She is now in her favorite chair with her iPad mini, engrossed in her book. Once I post this diatribe I hope I will be engrossed in the latest hardcover John Lescroart murder mystery.
Over the decades, Apple has introduced hundreds of ideas that make Macintoshes, iPhones, and iPad even easier to use, mostly. But sometimes they are devilishly difficult to use. A case in point is trying to do a simple thing like buy an eBook.
My wife wanted an eBook for a book group that meets this week because she was unable to get it at the library in time. She has never bought an eBook for her iPad mini, and even though she taught computer classes for years, she would rather have me do it.
She gave me the title, her AppleID, and her password. I found the book in a few minutes. I pressed on the price which turned into a "Buy Book" button. Why not have a separate "Buy Book" button? I pressed the "Buy Book" button and the price appeared again. Sometimes the button changed to downloading, but the gear icon for internet use never appeared. Eventually, for some reason the iPad eventually asked for my wife's password. I entered that. The iPad asked if she wanted to select security questions. I clicked "Not now". Now we saw the price button again. Repeat and repeat.
Finally, I clicked that we would select security questions. I had to enter her password again. Remember that poking a small screen is more cumbersome than a full-size keyboard. We selected the questions and gave the answers.
Now, as expected, we had to give payment method details. I don't remember if we had to enter her password before we could proceed. It certainly seemed as if we did. I gave the payment details, and I was asked again for her password.
Now I could click on the price, click on the resulting "Buy Book", and once again enter her password. Finally we see the "downloading" button stay on and the gear go round and round. In a few minutes she had her book and her acknowledgment of activity in her email.
She is now in her favorite chair with her iPad mini, engrossed in her book. Once I post this diatribe I hope I will be engrossed in the latest hardcover John Lescroart murder mystery.
Thursday, February 07, 2013
Apple's stock may go up
A few days ago I attributed the drop in the price of Apple stock to a problem that many iPhone and iPad users are having. See "Why Apple's stock price went down".
Thanks to Candy in Apple Support I have the solution.
Candy listened patiently to my tale of woe about not being able to access some feature because of password problems. She then walked me through the steps to resolve it. What she pointed out was not in any of the published Apple solutions and was not even visible on my screen without scrolling down. In 15 minutes or so, I had the problem fixed on my iPad and iPhone.
I thought I could fix the problem the same way on my Mac, but the applications and screens were not anywhere near the same as on the iPad and iPhone screens. Fortunately, there was another discussion on the Apple forum that had the solution for the Mac.
If you need these solutions, see https://discussions.apple.com/message/21108977#21108977.
Support people like Candy are probably worth twice as much they are paid. Too many companies have support people who use flowery language ("my pleasure to serve you") and too often have no real solution other than pointing you to a document that doesn't have the solution either. People like Candy make a customer very glad they chose a particular company's product, and it is very difficult to measure their value. I know her value to me was saving me more hours of frustration.
So if you are an Apple shareholder, I hope the news of Candy's help and the resolution of many people's problem makes the value of your stock go up.
Thanks to Candy in Apple Support I have the solution.
Candy listened patiently to my tale of woe about not being able to access some feature because of password problems. She then walked me through the steps to resolve it. What she pointed out was not in any of the published Apple solutions and was not even visible on my screen without scrolling down. In 15 minutes or so, I had the problem fixed on my iPad and iPhone.
I thought I could fix the problem the same way on my Mac, but the applications and screens were not anywhere near the same as on the iPad and iPhone screens. Fortunately, there was another discussion on the Apple forum that had the solution for the Mac.
If you need these solutions, see https://discussions.apple.com/message/21108977#21108977.
Support people like Candy are probably worth twice as much they are paid. Too many companies have support people who use flowery language ("my pleasure to serve you") and too often have no real solution other than pointing you to a document that doesn't have the solution either. People like Candy make a customer very glad they chose a particular company's product, and it is very difficult to measure their value. I know her value to me was saving me more hours of frustration.
So if you are an Apple shareholder, I hope the news of Candy's help and the resolution of many people's problem makes the value of your stock go up.
Friday, February 01, 2013
Why Apple's stock price went down
Many attribute the big drop in the price of Apple's stock to iPhone 5 sales not being higher. Could it be that it really is that Apple is not paying attention to the problems of its existing customers. With the introduction of iOS 6 for the iPad and iPhone, many people are having trouble using passwords that had been working fine. This has been going on since at least September, 2012, and nobody from Apple seems to respond to the problems addressed in the "Apple Community" forums.
As I said in "Why Facebook's stock price went down", "it's software is too buggy."
I posted the following today at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4316010?start=30&tstart=0.
I think that this Apple ID/password mess is just too much bother. I don't know how many hours I've spent researching the problem and trying some of the solutions.
Like many of you, I've wound up with multiple Apple IDs; let's call them A, B, and C. If I remember correctly, I got into this because I forgot a password. At the time, I remember that the only solution seemed to be to create another Apple ID. So now I can get into iTunes with ID A, but almost everything on my iPhone, iPod, and iCloud are for ID B. I know that a month ago ID B had a password in a short list.
With the upgrade to iOS 6.1 and maybe before, none of the recent passwords for ID B are acceptable. If I ask to change the password for ID B, it will not accept my birthdate as the first security question and it will not always send me email.
Even though ID B is in the list of email addresses for ID A, there is no way I can use the ID A change page to change the password for ID B.
I think this whole situation violates the Human Interface Principles for iOS of consistency and user control. See http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/Principles/Principles.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH5-SW1.
I've resigned myself to living without access to iCloud, with consistently clicking "ignore" or whatever when iCal and others ask for my ID B password, and a host of other annoyances. I've already sent feedback to Apple. I suggest you do the same at http://www.apple.com/feedback/, selecting iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Maybe if a few hundred of us do this, Apple will come up with a better solution than the varied advice here that works in some situations and not others.
UPDATE: See "Apple's stock may go up" for the resolution of this problem.
As I said in "Why Facebook's stock price went down", "it's software is too buggy."
I posted the following today at https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4316010?start=30&tstart=0.
I think that this Apple ID/password mess is just too much bother. I don't know how many hours I've spent researching the problem and trying some of the solutions.
Like many of you, I've wound up with multiple Apple IDs; let's call them A, B, and C. If I remember correctly, I got into this because I forgot a password. At the time, I remember that the only solution seemed to be to create another Apple ID. So now I can get into iTunes with ID A, but almost everything on my iPhone, iPod, and iCloud are for ID B. I know that a month ago ID B had a password in a short list.
With the upgrade to iOS 6.1 and maybe before, none of the recent passwords for ID B are acceptable. If I ask to change the password for ID B, it will not accept my birthdate as the first security question and it will not always send me email.
Even though ID B is in the list of email addresses for ID A, there is no way I can use the ID A change page to change the password for ID B.
I think this whole situation violates the Human Interface Principles for iOS of consistency and user control. See http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/MobileHIG/Principles/Principles.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP40006556-CH5-SW1.
I've resigned myself to living without access to iCloud, with consistently clicking "ignore" or whatever when iCal and others ask for my ID B password, and a host of other annoyances. I've already sent feedback to Apple. I suggest you do the same at http://www.apple.com/feedback/, selecting iPad, iPhone, or iPod. Maybe if a few hundred of us do this, Apple will come up with a better solution than the varied advice here that works in some situations and not others.
UPDATE: See "Apple's stock may go up" for the resolution of this problem.
Sunday, April 01, 2012
Publish or perish in the eBook world
Apple has recently updated iBook Author, software to create books to be read on iPads. Being in the greedy screechers union, I'm always looking for a way to make a buck (or even a few cents) from all my rantings and ravings. I thought I'd take a look at iBook Author.
Carrying on its tradition of making things more obtuse for the rest of us, Apple did make me jump through a lot of hoops before I was able to figure out how to download iBook Author. Among other things was a popup box that appeared twice asking me for an App to download descriptive material and then at least once again to download the actual application.
Finally I had iBook Author up and running and was given six templates to select from. I chose the "Basic Template", but basic it was not. Boxes jumped around when I was just a wee bit off from where I thought I should click. The template has two pages per view; is that a comfortable way to view a book on an iPad? I don't know, I'm not ready to buy one. I still haven't figured out how to remove frames that I don't want and add frames that I do. The table of contents is not organized the way I would like.
I did manage to get a cover organized and the text of one of my Reader Weekly columns in as the first story. The first story is "Bear Stories", originally published in the Northland Reader in September 1999. The cover is below:
Advanced orders welcome!
One of the little glitches is that I couldn't figure out how to get my name in upper and lower case. I guess I'm not supposed to according to this template.
My next project with iBook Author is just how to organize the template to my liking. Maybe I'll have to create my own.
My proposed content will be animal encounters, adventures in the fire dept., adventures in various projects, and other musings about life in the woods and on the water from my Reader Weekly (fka Northland Reader) and my blog.
I wonder how many months this will take me and what the price point should be on it - 99 cents or $3.49.
On the other hand, it might be simpler to do this project in Google Books or whatever first. iBook is limited only to iPad users. Google Books and other formats might have a greater number of potential readers. I certainly hope more than the 30 or so people that read this blog regularly. Thank you very much to those 30 people.
Carrying on its tradition of making things more obtuse for the rest of us, Apple did make me jump through a lot of hoops before I was able to figure out how to download iBook Author. Among other things was a popup box that appeared twice asking me for an App to download descriptive material and then at least once again to download the actual application.
Finally I had iBook Author up and running and was given six templates to select from. I chose the "Basic Template", but basic it was not. Boxes jumped around when I was just a wee bit off from where I thought I should click. The template has two pages per view; is that a comfortable way to view a book on an iPad? I don't know, I'm not ready to buy one. I still haven't figured out how to remove frames that I don't want and add frames that I do. The table of contents is not organized the way I would like.
I did manage to get a cover organized and the text of one of my Reader Weekly columns in as the first story. The first story is "Bear Stories", originally published in the Northland Reader in September 1999. The cover is below:
Advanced orders welcome!
One of the little glitches is that I couldn't figure out how to get my name in upper and lower case. I guess I'm not supposed to according to this template.
My next project with iBook Author is just how to organize the template to my liking. Maybe I'll have to create my own.
My proposed content will be animal encounters, adventures in the fire dept., adventures in various projects, and other musings about life in the woods and on the water from my Reader Weekly (fka Northland Reader) and my blog.
I wonder how many months this will take me and what the price point should be on it - 99 cents or $3.49.
On the other hand, it might be simpler to do this project in Google Books or whatever first. iBook is limited only to iPad users. Google Books and other formats might have a greater number of potential readers. I certainly hope more than the 30 or so people that read this blog regularly. Thank you very much to those 30 people.
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