It's human nature to require instant gratification from your software. I've seen it countless times: Someone runs a program, immediately feels comfortable with it, and then spends the rest of his days using that program religiously. Or another person plays with the same program for 120 seconds and dismisses it as too difficult or too confusing. It's rather like watching a fancy fashion show runway in Rome or Paris: There had better be eye appeal pretty quickly, or the bucks won't flow.

Ditto for modern computer operating systems. An operating system is the basic software that determines the look and feel of your entire computer and usually extends to the programs that you run as well. Microsoft felt ... read full excerpt from Mac OS X Tiger All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies ebook