"What's the difference between Windows and Office"?

No,  this isn't the start of a joke!

Believe it or not,  many people around the world that use PCs don't know the different between Windows and Office,  my mum included, and one of the things the IW (Information Worker) team I am in has thought about several times is how do we help educate people?  We we posed this question to this year work placement students and these are two of the great explanations we got back. 

“The CD player”

A PC is like a CD player – when you buy it, you don’t get any music with it and have to buy that separately. Programs, like Microsoft Office, are like CDs – you buy them according to your own taste and can then play them on the CD player.

“The fishbowl”

A PC is like a fishbowl. On it’s own it doesn’t do anything. You first of all need to add water – water is like Windows. Once you’ve got water, you can then add fish (fish represent the programs you could add to a computer).

Anyone got any other analogies?

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  I always like the car analogy. The PC is the chassis, Windows is the engine, and Office is the steering wheel, pedals and controls and the dashboard.

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The differerence between a farmer's field and the bread made from his wheat. The field can do many things, much like a computer and Windows. The field can then be used by implements and stuff to create a finished product - bread. Likewise Using applications (Office) you can produce a finished product (a latter with graphics etc). My .02 euros.