by Eolake Stobblehouse

An interview about: Crossing Platforms : A MacIntosh/Windows Phrasebook
David Pogue and Adam Engst have written a book for Mac users starting on Windows, and vice versa. It is like phrasebook: You want to know about a principle on the platform you don't know, so you look it up, and it is explained in terms of the platform you know. This is something new, so we did not hesitate in interviewing our favorite Mac Book author.

Stobblehouse: Who will gain the most from the new Mac/Windows dictionary?

David Pogue: We're targeting a very unusual category of people: those who are already computer proficient, but feel like absolute beginners when they must use the rival platform. Our assumption that the reader already knows how to use either the Mac or Windows really helped in writing the book; whenever we want to explain some concept, we can invoke the one the reader already knows on the other computer. So instead of going into a long song and dance about what a shortcut is on Windows, we can explain to the Mac user that it's "a lot like an alias on the Mac."

Stobblehouse: A couple of years ago, you bought a Windows machine to ascertain that you were still right in using Mac. Was this the genesis of the Mac-Windows dictionary?

David Pogue: Frightening how much you know... yes, exactly. Here I was, one of the nation's leading experts on the Mac OS, and yet I was flopping around in Windows like a trout on the beach. It was such a waste of time -- I had so much knowledge, and all I needed was a little tiny bit of information to translate it into skills I could use on the PC.

Stobblehouse: Do you feel that there is a philosophical difference between Windows and the Mac OS?

David Pogue: It's not really so much philosophical as historical. No matter what Bill Gates says, underlying Windows 98 and Windows 95 is DOS, its grandfather. So much of what's wrong with Windows -- the bloat, the complexity, the ridiculous design -- is necessitated by its requirement to work with all those older programs. Same thing with the Mac, in a way -- Apple must still deal with miles of computer code in the Mac OS that's leftover from the early, pre-PowerPC days.

Stobblehouse: Has this changed over the years, on either side?

David Pogue: Not yet, but both companies are trying to make a change. As you probably know, Mac OS X, due late in 2000, cuts the strings that tied the Mac OS to previous versions. It's based on UNIX, actually, and is a completely different animal. Microsoft was planning to do the same thing with the consumer version of Windows 2000, which is called Windows Millennium, and finally gave up. Windows Millennium will be based on the old DOS foundation after all.

Stobblehouse: How did you and Adam go about the collaboration?

David Pogue: Adam did the vast majority of the research and first drafts. (His wife was working for Microsoft, so he had an excellent source of technical information.) I acted as sort of the second wave, adding, embellishing, writing sidebars and other supplemental elements, filling in missing entries, and so on.

Stobblehouse: Did you work with Windows users in researching for the book?

David Pogue: Only by observing. I do a lot of teaching and consulting, and I could easily see how much trouble my students have making the switch.

Stobblehouse: Did you find things in Windows that you wish were on the Mac too?

David Pogue: I miss the single keystroke in Windows (Windows key-M) that takes you back to the desktop and hides the windows of all other programs in a split second.

Stobblehouse: (I hear you. That would be nice.) Are there still compelling reasons for preferring Mac? And is this different according to what you're doing with the computer?

David Pogue: The Mac requires far less time to learn, maintain, and troubleshoot. That's absolutely clear in my mind. Creative-oriented software works much better on the Mac -- color management in particular is a distinct Mac advantage. Windows, in short, doesn't have any system of maintaining color fidelity between scans and printouts.

Stobblehouse: One of the reasons you're my favorite Mac book author is that you are creative, and work with a lot of creative people. Is there a fundamental difference between the creative computer user and the "ordinary" computer user (if such a creature exists)?

David Pogue: It would be hard to pinpoint, but I think the work-to-troubleshooting ratio plays a big part here. The other aspect of this question is choice: most Windows users were never given a choice of computer. They show up at work and they're told what to use. Mac people, on the other hand, chose Macs themselves, and so they tend to have a much stronger emotional attachment to the machine.

Stobblehouse: Do you have any advice to people who think using a computer is difficult or frustrating?

David Pogue: Only not to take it personally. Actually, "Crossing Platforms" taught me this above all: that the creators of these machines are simply trying to do the best job possible within the ridiculous constraints. For example, Microsoft must write an operating system that works equally well on the hardware from 45 different manufacturers. Obviously, it can't be done with very much elegance.

That's the frustration -- that every single person uses these machines in a different way, and no single operating system works beautifully for every person and every machine. What I learned from writing the book is that both system software designers had to solve the same exact problems -- some of which are impossible to solve elegantly (such as cram in hundreds of options and choices into a logical and easy to master interface). The best we can do is to appreciate the difficulty of their task.

And to read computer books, of course. :)

Stobblehouse: Thanks, David! While I realize that this book will not have as big an audience as the super-seller iMac For Dummies, I am sure it will be big, and will be appreciated.