Sinister thought, that!
Mac are for lefties Ping!
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Posted on 08/24/2009 12:27:41 AM PDT by Swordmaker
COMMENT: It's all in the mind - and the desktop
PCs and Macs are very different machines. There are probably more obvious statements than that in the world but not many. From the design of the computers, to their strengths and weaknesses, the sweeping contrasts between the two are enormous but sometimes it's the smallest variations that are the most telling of the them all.
For example, have you ever taken a good look at something as simple their desktops? There's the recent addition of the Dock and obvious graphic subtleties but one thing, although noticeable, that barely seems to register is the icons and where they sit on the screen. Sure you can drag and drop them wherever you like but the default auto-arrange on the Mac is to the right side of the screen and, with Windows, it's to the left.
No big shakes, you say? O ye of little faith. Icons on the right-hand side of your visual field fall into the left-hand side of your brain; meaning that on a Mac, your left hemisphere is occupied while the blank space on the other side of your desktop leaves your right brain to think. With it so far? Good. Now, it might interest you know that the right side of the brain is associated with imagery, graphical and geometric shape analysis, is more intuitive and supports more holistic approach to thinking. Sound familiar to the Apple approach?
Contrast that with a Windows-based machine. With the icons and the mess on the left side, the left brain is free to work and the left brain is sequential, logical, verbal, mathematical and supports a more linear approach to solutions. You could argue that it's represented in the users of these systems and they ways they work - Apple providing holistic machines with everything you need running out of the box and in tune; a more design-orientated, image-friendly appearance and a strength in graphics applications - whereas PCs provide a more hands-on, straight numerical and logical linear-based approach.
It might seem farcical but a recent poll on MacRumours found that 30% of their Mac-using readers were left-handed, and left-handers are right brain dominant. That's three times more than the worldwide split of 90% righties to 10% southpaws. And it doesn't stop there. The most recent figures for the computing market showed that 88.7% of the world uses Windows and 9.63% run with Apple. That's more than pretty close.
So, why then is Bill Gates left-handed and does Steve Jobs favour his right? Why have they been catering for the other end of the market? Well, perhaps it's simply business. There's many more right-handed people than lefties. It's a bigger market, but then, it could be that Steve Jobs took the right side first. However, Gates's fortune could be because left-handed people have a higher propensity for success. A study by Chris McManus of UCL showed that left-handed men who attended college were on average 15% richer than their right-handed counterparts and that figure went up to 26% if they managed to graduate. He also predicted a rise in the proportion of left-handers into the future, so perhaps Jobs has just been playing the long game - on an evolutionary scale.
Maybe Macs are really for left-handed people, maybe Windows are for the rights; maybe Gates is taunting right-handed people who persecuted him with an unstable and frustrating OS and Jobs has been exploiting arty-farty southpaws. Who knows, but the one question really remaining is, does that mean that at around 1% of the market share, Linux is for the ambidextrous?
Sinister thought, that!
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I’m left handed. It’s a lot simpler than that.
Back when computers were really expensive, our family had only one. Macs had a one button mouse. The right handers could put it on the right of the machine and the left handers could put it on the left. In other words, the machine was ambidextrous without having to software swap the buttons around just because someone wanted to use the computer for a minute.
We left handers still can’t buy an ergonometric mouse. There’s enough of us you’d think someone would realize the market opportunity.
Or joystick.
I use a big old ambi MarbleMouse on my desktop.
They aren't popular anymore and I can't understand why.
I'm not sure Logitech makes them anymore. I had a devil of a time finding a replacement recently.
If you are using a mouse all day, rolling a trackball with your fingers is far easier than using your wrist and forearm.
I use my right hand for the mouse even though I'm very left-handed.
Macs are for everyone !
I know I have purchased my last Win based machine. Nothing but headaches and the same problems as my old Win98 machine.
Same here. But for many years I've used a graphics pad hooked up to my bigger desktop replacement laptops and don't use the mouse much at all at my desk unless my left hand is otherwise engaged, I use the pen (lefthanded) for just about everything except stuff that's on the right (scrolling mostly) where my left hand would block the screen. My superportable laptop & smaller devices are touch screen & I can just use my fingers or a stylus with those.
Supposedly in the early days, Mac had better graphics capabilities - and superior graphics programs written for it - which I'm sure is why it also appealed to more right-brained people. (And despite the graphic at the top of the head, lefthanders are the only ones who are truly right in the head, as we all know.)
All I can say is, as a lefty I'm just glad I don't have to use ink or pencil for much. I don't always have that telltale smudge on the side of my left hand from dragging it across the paper over what I've just written or drawn like I always seemed to in elementary school. ;-)
Ha! My wife and I are both left handed. We have one Mac and two PCs. The Mac is the one that actually makes money in this house.
No way. Wintel uses that discriminatory two-button mouse with the main function on the left button, making it easier for righties. And as we all know, all Macs ever made have come with ambidestrous, single-button mice.
/sarc
/joke alert
This is just Plain Stupid. I’m right handed. Mrs. Altair is right handed. We love our Macs.
I chose a Mac because I was too lazy to find a machine that both a) I did not have to pay the Microsoft Tax on for the inevitable Linux install; b) I wanted to play games and my favorite game is World of Warcraft.
I’m really a KDE fan. I love that interface the best. I’ll have to admit though, that Open Spaces is growing on me every day and it becomes harder to use my KDE/Linux desktop machine all the time.
The kicker though is that when it comes down to it, I hate running systems that I have not contributed system software to. I’ve contributed patches for dozens of various Linux packages, so that’s a no-brainer. Much of the software distributed with Mac OS X (like /bin/zsh, XEmacs, Emacs) has my code in it. That works for me.
I’d rather work with a system that is pleasant to use and has software that I have personally improved (Mac OS X freeware components) than use a system that makes me want to push a screwdriver through my forehead (Microsoft Windows). I have no idea how left -vs- right handedness fits into that.
Uh, with which hand do you hold the screwdriver?
I am right-handed, but mouse left-handed at work (xp). at home (osx) and gaming (battlefield 2), I mouse right handed.
I tell my wife I can go both ways, and she just rolls her eyes...
LOL. You don’t miss a beat :)
Right hand. Of course maybe I should just stay on my Mac and Linux machines and avoid a traumatic fate.
Sounds like a good plan to me...
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