In my long career as an educational technology professional, I’ve used many generations of computers. I started with dumb terminals and Mag Card II typewriters, and progressed through a series of DECs, Wangs, and other now long-dead systems on into the shiny new world of Apple. But Apple quickly gave way to Windows, and now the two are vying for dominance against a world that is going more and more toward mobile devices like smart phones.

All this time, Apple users have remained shielded from the inner-workings of the computer, so that the system was easier to use and users didn’t have to understand file directory structures. Now that Apple has gone to a Unix OS, this is no longer quite so true, but still, users have been shield from much of the information (and thus the capabilities) that Windows users have long since grown accustomed to.  I train faculty and I train students, and many faculty prefer Macs to Windows while the inverse is true for students. Yet the students are more savvy than the faculty. Some attribute this solely to the digital immigrant vs. the digital native theory, but I can’t help wonder whether or not there is some IQ-building that occurs on the Windows side that Apple users never experience?

It’s just so much easier to grok a world you are more familiar with.