Re: Curious Change in Macs

Randall Ainsworth <rag@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In article <no.spam-83A0B5.09123813062006@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Al
<no.spam@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I wonder what the design thinking was behind that. It may be for
cosmetic reasons as the silver front does not have a button on the front
of the CD/DVD drive.

Because people were too stupid to figure out pressing a button on the
keyboard. I preferred it on the keyboard, but somebody's research
determined that people didn't understand. So they put the button on the
device.

Do you actually have a source for this "information" about the reason or
is it just your speculation? That's a serious question, even if phrased
in a leading way. Perhaps you do have a source. If so, I'd like to know.

The bit about a power control not being part of the USB standard, as
noted by other responders, is a concrete, verifiable fact. While it is
not so verifiable that this was necessarily Apple's reason, it certainly
is an obvious candidate. Standard-conformance doesn't always overrule
other factors, but a design process that doesn't at least consider
following the standards would be a broken design process.

In recent years, particularly starting with OS X, Apple has shown
increasing tendency to pay attention to existing standards where
applicable. The Unix base of OS X is a huge example of this, but it is
far from the only one. Apple was once noted for ignoring standards and
doing its own thing instead. That day, however, has passed. I am glad
for the passing, which is a large part of the reason why I'm a Mac user
today. (And by the way, when I say "standard", I mean an actual industry
standard - I do not mean it as a synonym for "whatever Microsoft does",
which is a completeky different subject, MS now often being in the
position of ignoring applicable industry standards).

In contrast, your assertion about "somebody's research" sounds an awful
lot like unfounded speculation to me. Do you have a citation for this
research... or at least for the allegation that this was the reason?
Published rationale in the form of a white paper would be pretty solid,
but probably hard to find. Lacking that, word from someone actually
involved in the decisions would be pretty good. Citing other speculation
by people who are also in no position to actually know doesn't count.

--
Richard Maine | Good judgment comes from experience;
email: my first.last at org.domain| experience comes from bad judgment.
org: nasa, domain: gov | -- Mark Twain
.

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