Instructions not included

N

Nafae

Registered
My friend recently purchased a new imac, but returned it. Why? Because she, as a complete computer novice, couldn't figure out how to get her AOL account working on her imac. She couldn't figure out what to do with .dmg files she had downloaded, and she didn't know how to get on the internet. She was a complete computer novice, and had only used Windows for about a month. She eventually returned the imac because she couldn't figure out how to work it!

I have seen this raised before, but I think apple really needs to put emphasis on beefing up their instructions for their computers, because people just don't know what to do! Without a start menu, without names on the icons in the dock, without knowing what a dock does it's hard for people to learn the perfection of the macintosh. And if they are getting their switch campeign to even work, people need to know how to work the mac without going out and purchasing a 30 dollar instruction manual.

Anyways that's just my rant, :p
 
I couldn't agree more!! I think the whole "pdf manual" is a crock. not just with macs, but with complex software as well. At least provide the option for a well written and complete manual at no more than $10 extra!!

i want to be able to read the manual and play with the program, the computer, etc., not switch back and forth between them. not to mention i want to be able to thumb back and forth between different parts. I could go on, but you made a good point.
 
I couldn't agree less.

If a person can't figure out to double-click something to mount the disk image or to simply be curious enough to run the mouse over the icons in the Dock, I don't think they should be using a computer at all, much less a Windows machine. If they can't figure out Mac OS X, it's going to be much harder for them to learn Windows, 95% of the market share or not.

Plus, Apple includes spectacular documentation with Mac OS X. The manual does not need to be a 5000000 page long thing. It needs to be simple enough and to address the basic questions of how to work Mac OS X. Apple provides that, and very well.

Big fat documentation manuals should be provided at an extra price. With software like Photoshop, I'm sure a big fat manual could come in handy, because doing stuff like that is really complicated. But if you want a quick question, the answer is not a dead tree. You can easily get that information on the web, and you're helping save the environment.

Nafae: Next time, I would suggest having your friend read the friendly Mac OS X instruction manual. It should get her started on the right path.
 
Remember the days of the help tutorial that played after the os install.

I loved that thing. It put a big red circle by where you were suppose to click.

That would be a great idea. I remember when I bought my Performa, I set my parents in front of the machine, played the tutorial and came back in an hour and they were clicking away.

It was great, and I wish Apple would have continued it in later releases of the OS.

I agree, Apple is pushing people to "Switch" how about some documentation on the differences between the MacOS and Windows.
 
Forget red circles on your screen, I remember when my dad first bought a Mac (a used 512k for over 2 g's) back in 1986 and the tutorial was in audio cassette form. I remember my elder brother and my dad sitting in front of that glowing 9" monochrome beauty and taking their cues on MacPaint, MacWrite, and the Finder from a little cassette player. I've moved on, see my sig, my father, well I've gotten him up to an SE and yes, it is a pre-superdrive (original superdrive HD disk drive). Just some stories from waaaaaay back.
 
yea, i remember the audo cassettes. and i remember the tutorial for 7.5 that made me think my screen had just fritzed:p

but my lc475 came with a manual that was more complete than the books you buy in the stores these days. I still have the manual because so many of the basic things are still the same, especially thru 9.x. Bring back those kinds of manuals.

and simone - they can print them on recycled paper. in fact i would prefer it on recycled paper.(how many watts do you figure i killed to type this? did you know that most electricity is still produced by burning wood and other resources?)
 
Does the "getting started" guide talks about installing software from disk images? I think that is one concept that is hard for most Windows users to grasp, that you can drag and drop install in Mac OS. I know it's so intuitive, but most Windows users expect software to mess with the registry and such. Also, I often hear Windows migrants gripe about the lack of "uninstaller" for the Mac OS - they just don't understand that you can drag to the trash and it'll be okay.
 
if they want to make it harder they can also get rid of the prefs too (only if they want to)
 
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