I've never really thought of this until reading this article, but is it possible that Microsoft has a better interface innovation than Apple, especially for beginners?
The article linked to above includes a portion of an e-mail from a high-school student discussing the advantages of the Windows "Start" button versus the Mac OS X Dock. Part of what he has to say:
In fact, I see more people struggle when they sit down at a Mac for the first time than those who sit down at a PC for the first time. If a student sits down at a Windows XP computer and isn't sure what to do, the Start button calls his/her attention and leads him/her to the programs that need to be opened. On a Mac OS X computer, the dock seems to draw a students attention, but unfortunately the icons aren't labeled...and those unfamiliar with computers don't recognize the icons for programs that have become so familiar to us.
Now, as I've mentioned before, every day at my day job, I deal with people who are complete novices having to deal with computers. Many of those people are so incredibly intimidated that it's really kind of sad. In my experience, "newbies" tend to be more comfortable on the Macs and "experienced" users tend to be more comfortable on the PCs (although that's definitely not a rule as to who uses what computer for what reason). But, upon reading the above quote, I can agree that there might be a case here. It will be interesting to gauge people's reactions going forward as they sit in front of a computer for, perhaps, the first time.
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