Programming a computer can be performed in one of numerous languages, ranging from a higher-level language to writing directly in low-level…

you can apply old, boring, slow and outdated hardware in ways which produce more actual ‘use’ than bleeding-edge, not-quite-working, hard-core hardware. the reference between these realms is, of course ‘use’.

what is meant by a ‘power user’? it is, simply, one who uses the power of the computer in front of them. it doesn’t have to be fast, new, bleeding edge, or even expensive. a power user doesn’t have any hardware requirement; they are, simply, just using the thing, powerfully. usually in exciting and interesting, but always -productive- ways. a power-user applies a computer for whatever actual ‘use’ is intended: game-playing, databases, internet, music, development, whatever.

so .. my point of view is that as a long-time “bleeding-edge software guy” with a partiality to Unix ways of life, i don’t really care what hardware is running, as long as its: a) On, and b) In Use. my personal measure of investment in computing power has always “how is it being used”.

By way of example for what I mean, I switched to the Powerbook Elite (as in, always try to have the latest powerbook) the day the first lovely (and still useful) tiBooks were available.

Dumping beige-box shrine-building and tempestuous cult-like hardware behaviour from about 17 too-many trips on the weekend to SoCal computer college swap-marts, and after I decided personally that the only thing that mattered was that the computer I use actually fit with any stack of books worth carrying. That was the principle requirement: form-factor compatible with books.

Its only the form-factor of the Mac way that matters to me as a Powerbook User .. if someone can show me a Unix workstation I can easily slide on the shelf, and use comfortably on the train, I’ll switch to it. So far, the Powerbook owns the ‘strictly book form-factor’ realm; it is designed for that.

Sure, I’d love to have a very fast computer around, but as I get older, and perhaps a little wiser, I realize that the latest and greatest isn’t always the best. Sometimes, having 3 or 4 little computers in active use is as good as, or better than, having 1 or 2 super-duper machines running instead.

So I’d just like to point out that Power is just one aspect of how you could measure ‘User’ in the “Power User” equation ..

-Drag and drop
-Keyboard shortcuts
-Scripts
-Automated tasks
-Sleep, not shut down

Anything to be more efficient. It has nothing to do with what hardware you use, nothing to do with what software you use but it has EVERYTHING to do with HOW you use them.

,dave

A power user on a PC, for instance, is comfortable with the registry. He or she knows how the operating system and applications function and can get the OS and apps to do things normal users can’t. Power users know all about the directory structure Windows uses, which processes normally run and which do what. They probably know how the NTFS file system works, etc. They can probably tell very easily if a virus is running on someone’s system and may even be able to remove it manually with a little investigation. They know where to look and what to do.

A PC power user doesn’t necessarily have to have the most recent and fastest hardware. It isn’t what someone owns that makes them a power user, its what they know how to do and how they use their system.

If someone knows a hell of a lot about how to use Photoshop, lets say, but doesn’t know diddley about the OS, then I wouldn’t call them a power user. Maybe in terms of that one app, sure, but not in general. I’d say, so-and-so is a power user when it comes to Photoshop.

If a OS X user could do tons of stuff with the OS but wasn’t an expert with any particular app, I’d still consider that person a power user. Knowing what it takes to master using the OS means you know how to user a computer very well, period. This skill can easily generalize to any app if necessary. However, a lot of people know how to use apps but strangely are completely lost when they are required to mess with the Operating System. I find that strange.

Sure, there are people who will buy a tricked-out high end system and then do nothing but read their e-mail on it, but by and large I think you’ll find that people with high-end PC boxes are using those boxes for gaming, or Photoshop, or coding, or what-have-you just as often as Mac power users are.

In addition, that fact that Mac users are blocked from being able to tweak out much of their hardware the way PC users can means that there’s no way to tell whether they would behave the same way if they were able to. In other words — if Mac owners could build their own boxes, do you think that this ‘difference’ would continue as is, or would Mac users start acting more like PC users in this area?