iLife too easy to use?

by Justin Horn on Mar 3rd, 2009 @ 7:23 pm

Just read a post on Daring Fireball discussing an article by Christopher Dawson (technology director for the Athol-Royalston School District in northern Massachusetts) in which he says:

However, even iLife has its drawbacks in an educational setting. It simply hands so much to the students that they struggle with software (whether Windows, Linux, or even pro-level software on the Mac) that isn’t so brilliantly plug and play. Yes, iLife rocks in many ways, but the level of spoonfeeding it encourages actually makes me think twice about using it widely, especially at the high school level.

Grubers response to this pretty much sums up how I feel about it:

So the problem with Apple’s iLife apps is that they’re too good, and kids never learn that they need to struggle with technical issues before using software to express themselves creatively.

Even though I do agree that Dawson’s view of iLife is pretty ridiculous in the bigger sense of things, there is one tiny bit of truth I was able to pluck from it. I don’t think the kids need to suffer, but they should be exposed to both Apple programs and programs that they will encounter in the business world…which unfortunately is Microsoft. This would encourage kids to learn both, understand which is better on their own, and then take that with them into the business world.  Maybe one day kids won’t have to use Microsoft programs at all, but we aren’t there yet.

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View 1 Comments
Apples & Oranges, Software

1.
1. Chiyin

   March 4th, 2009 9:32 am

   

   I don’t think this is a microsoft vs apple kinda thing… it’s more about user interface design… if more people start using programs like iLife or Picasa(from google) and they take market share away from the big players, then they will be forced to rethink their strategy and start working on a better interface to stay competitive…

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