Interfaces: PC and MAC and the screenGamma property...

[Richard Gaskin]

Alex Rice wrote:

> 
> On Jan 3, 2004, at 3:56 AM, Richard Gaskin wrote:
> 
>> Which raises the obvious question:  When will Apple play nice and
>> adopt the predominant standard?
> 
> For graphics, print and video production Macs *are* the standard.

Except, ironiclly, at Pixar, where they have more Linux machines than Macs.

<http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/2003/10/28/pixarosx/index.php?redirect=
1073135312000>

> FWIW SGIs also used a similar gamma- and they were used in graphics
> and video a lot. TV and Video production is just different than PC
> computer graphics I guess.
> 
> I'm not sure, but from what I've read, it's not as simple as twiddling
> a decimal number for the gamma somewhere in the system defaults.
> 
> <http://www.poynton.com/notes/colour_and_gamma/GammaFAQ.html>
> <http://www.poynton.com/PDFs/Mac_gamma.pdf>

Good info, thanks.

> Now AFAIK quickdraw is obsoleted and now the graphics API is
> Quartz+CoreGraphics, which does not use QuickDraw at all.
> Maybe the gamma model is the same?

We can hope.  Interoperability is critical for wide adoption across any
large organization, whether corporate or academic.  Everything that helps
move that goal along helps all of us, esp. Apple.

>> I hear they're finally considering a two-button mouse; is a universal
>> gamma setting so unthinkable?
> 
> Hating Macs today, Richard? Actually I use a 3 button scrollwheel mouse
> on all my Macs. But
> 
> Control-click == Right click
> 
> if you are ever using a 1 button mouse.

  Control-Click = two hands

"Hating Macs"?  On the contrary.   In fact, I'm writing this on a Mac, as I
have since 1987.

The difference between me and a fair number of other Apple loyalists is
recognizing that status quo is deadly in an environment of radical dynamic
change like computing.  As with living organisms, the only organizations
that aren't moving are dead.

So I ask questions, and once in a while some feel these may appear to be
"anti-Apple" sentiments, but that's not the case at all.  I'm just trying to
think beyond Steve's last keynote.

When the iMac shipped with no means of backing up data without a network
server or a third-party device, seeing that most of these were going into
homes and relatively few into the enterprise I called it a mistake.  Some of
my friends mistook that for being "anti-Apple", but later Steve Jobs himself
publicly called it a mistake and Apple became the last major manufacturer to
offer CD burners as standard equipment.  Same story with the "hockey puck"
mouse.

No human is perfect, not even Steve Jobs.  ;)  And an organization is just a
collection of imperfect individuals.

Individuals improve their effectiveness through a lifelong process of
tempering their internal vision of how the world works by incorporating the
needs and wants of their social context, hopefully moving us day by day
toward Maslow's "self-actualization".

As a collection of individuals, organizations can learn similarly, refining
their internal understanding of their place in the world through
constructive engagement with others.

When customers call here for support, the ones who complain are often taken
aback by how excited I am to hear from them.  But the fact is that while
flattery feels good, it's not nearly as instructive as criticism; I already
know the decisions I've made, but I need guidance to determine the next
decisions I will make.  Everyone has blind spots.  The older I get the more
willing I am to throw code and designs away when confronted with a
compelling argument for a new way of doing things.  These days I focus less
on the software that I make and more on its evolutionary process. Everything
made by humans can be made even better.

So while I applauded Apple's decision to maintain the single-button mouse
for years, in the modern context the decision has outlived its usefulness.
Computers are no longer a novelty, with a market penetration rivalling VCRs.
If folks can find their way around the many poorly-designed remote controls
for VCRs they can certainly learn to appreciate the advantages a two-button
mouse. :)

I've heard rumors that Apple is already leaning that way, and when Steve
gives it the official blessing it will no longer seem a radical suggestion,
but will instead be described as "brilliant", even if half a decade behind
the curve.

Much of the Apple customer base is like that, so accustomed to defending
their choice against stupid "Apple is doomed" FUD that they've become
defensive toward anything that hasn't already been blessed by Steve.  I know
it well, I was one of those for many years until I started working with
multiple operating systems and seeing how the other 98% of the world works.

My suggestion about gamma settings was in earnest:  the two-button mouse is
coming sooner or later (I'd be surprised if Apple closes 2004 without it),
and that's a healthy change for everyone.  Perhaps one day we'll see a
standardized gamma across all OSes, and that will be a healthy change too.

Any difference between platforms not supported by solid usability research
or objective technical advantage just wastes time and resources for
everyone, but is most costly for the ones with the minority marketshare.

There's the old joke:

  Q: How many Apple employees does it take to change a lightbulb?

  A: Three - one engineeer to design a better but slightly
     non-standard lightbulb, another engineer to design a
     better but slightly non-standard socket for it, and
     a marketing exec to kill the program when it fails
     to meet sales projections.

I'd like to live in a world where you can tell that joke at a developer
conference and everyone in the room just gets a blank look instead of the
knowing grin it gets today.  I think it's possible, if we Apple loyalists
think different.

Worth the read:  <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/78/jobs.html>

The one-button mouse is (soon) dead! Long live Apple!

-- 
 Richard Gaskin
 Fourth World Media Corporation
 ___________________________________________________________
 Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com