For years, the manufacturers of computer software, especially operating systems, would have you believe that their product is the only one available for you and that it is the only one that is right.  Having a computer with one operating system led you down a different path than another.  However, now, all that is beginning to turn.

Once upon a time, if you wanted to have a car, it helped to have a bit of knowledge of how they worked, so that if something became broke, then you could fix it.  And cars were vastly different from one another, so that what worked on one might not work on another in the same way.  Now, most car users experience only minor differences between different cars, even between cars made by different companies.  In a way, cars have become more complex, so it takes a more specialized knowledge to repair them, but the usability of a car is nearly the same from car to car.

Especially over the last two decades, computers have come along a similar path.  Most operating systems can now be run by a graphical user interface (or GUI, pronounced like gooey) of one kind or another.  It is this GUI interfacing that is making computers easier to use, and easier to switch between systems.

Over the last few years, as I’ve been learning about systems that I had not used before, such as Linux, I’ve discovered that much of the functionality between operating systems is the same, from a user stand point.  While they may look as different under the hood as a Jaguar XK looks from a Ford F150, from behind the wheel, the functionality is much the same.  One operating system might have a feature or two different from another, but essentially, they have the same functionality.

Case in point:  in most operating systems, you click on an icon, and it opens a program.  Sometimes you might have to click twice, others only once, but either way, you can get the program to open.  Most programs today even have three boxes in the upper right hand corner of the screen.  Go ahead and look.  See?  One button minimizes the window, one makes it take up the entire screen’s viewing area, and one closes the program.  It’s the same.  Wait.  What if you’re on a Mac?  Well, those might be on the left instead of the right.  The important thing is that the functionality is there.

What does this mean?  For most users, once you understand how your operating system works, it can be very easy to switch to another operating system.  Or even another program.  Just look for things that are familiar.  Sometimes, different vendors might use different terminology for the same thing, such as a program might also be known as an application.  But if you look, you can often find things that are familiar just by exploring the new system for a few minutes.

While this might not eliminate the need for instruction, looking for things that are familiar before you go looking for a learning tool can help you save time because you will find you already know what something does.  By using that knowledge, you can focus on learning the things that you don’t understand instead of repeating what is familiar.