Sleeping with The Enemy: Learning Windows for Mac Users
A Book Proposal
Statement of Purpose
The book is aimed at Macintosh users who want to learn about Windows. They need this information because for the first time they have found themselves in a situation at home, school, or work, where the Windows operating system is the standard.
I personally found a need for this book and after extensive research discovered it does not exist. After teaching myself what I needed to know I decided to record what I had learned and make the same process easier for others.
The idea for this book occurred to me while I was the Network Administrator for Medscape. Medscape produces what most consider the foremost medical web site in the world. The company was originally run entirely on Macintosh computers, but later migrated the web servers and later the employees to Windows NT.
When searching for learning tools, I found the "official" books from Microsoft, training courses, and third party books. All of these either focused on the complete novice or built on existing Windows knowledge. Like many other Mac users, I had considerable computer skills and only needed to know how to perform familiar functions in a new way, not learn computers from scratch. Furthermore, Windows training materials are either too expensive or too boring for Mac users, who usually operate at home, school, or small businesses and prefer more casual and fun approach to learning.
Because the Macintosh is prevalent in schools and small businesses, there are many people who have learned the Macintosh first and eventually need to learn Windows because of its ever increasing domination of the marketplace. This approach also allows me to make certain assumptions about the prior knowledge of the reader and concentrate on creating educational comparisons and analogies.
The introductory approach will involve explanations of equivalent functions between the two platforms. The main pedagogical element will be side-by-side comparison. Emphasizing what is known and familiar will help the reader learn what is new and possibly intimidating. Liberal use of screen shots and diagrams will be used where appropriate. The book will describe how to navigate through Windows and later discuss more advanced topics such as installing software and simple hardware upgrades. The subject matter will focus on how to accomplish real-world tasks. Because of the enormity of new vocabulary, the glossary will be an important feature. An index will be generated as well.
All material ©1999 Victor Lombardi