RasterWeb!Microsoft wants to help you decide between a PC and a Mac…
They even have this awesome web site to help you do it…
That photo… there’s something… familiar about it…
Can we zoom in on it?
No… More! Can we zoom in on it more!?
Wait… those colors… Zoom more! And rotate it!
Say what!?!? I knew I’d seen those colors before…
So what does it mean!?!?
So there I was quietly trying to enjoy my lunch when I heard voices… I then found these two nutcases out back near the dumpsters with an old PowerMac so I grabbed the video camera and caught it all on tape.
They told me they may have more things that need to be smashed, and that I should be on the lookout and always have a camera ready… I told them that if they bring the smashin’ I’ll bring the camera, and we’ll see what happens.
Enjoy!
Look, I know that Steve Jobs wants nothing but the very best for his customers, and he thinks the only way to provide the “very best” is to create unnecessary restrictions on what’s allowed to run on his platform (the iPhone and iPad.) Steve wants you to have a great user experience… but to me, the removal of freedom is a bug, not a feature, and less choices negatively affect my user experience.
Maybe Steve underestimates his customers… See, I’m fine with cross-platform development. Really, I don’t mind it. In fact, I think it’s a good idea and I’m very much in favor of it. Let the best application win… Not by being the only application, but by being the best among many.
I’m happy to hear that there will not be an app store for the Mac OS X platform, but really, I think the reason for that is that the genie has been out of the bottle for so long (30 years?) that it would be impossible to put back in.
And as for the iPad, I have this to say about that… if it helps bring the death of Flash, and the rise of HTML5, bring it on! Apple has been responsible for the death of technologies in the past that were meant to die, and this is one more. I mean, you all miss that built-in floppy drive on your MacBook, right?
Following up on my Consume / Create post, I was thinking about Apple’s current product line, and wanted to graph it out.
At the far left end is the iPod, which is almost an exclusively “consuming” device. I don’t know what kind of content you could create with an iPod. I mean, you could create content, it’s possible, but I don’t want to think that hard about it. Next up is the iPad, which is a cross between a big iPod and big iPhone. You could create written content, but it’s got no camera, and very limited connectivity in the way of input ports. (See Could No Camera Be an iPad Killer? and Parsons’ Students Shrug Off Apple’s iPad. No Camera, No Creativity) The iPad is a new device, so it’s hard know yet where it will fit into the landscape, so I put it before the iPhone. Now the iPhone has a camera, and you can play music on it, and (possibly) shoot video, and you could type up your novel on it, though you’d likely go mad in the process.
OK, so the iPod, iPad, and iPhone are mostly consuming devices anyway, but two of them let you create things, but there are various levels of “creating” thing, and honestly while my copywriter friend could tap out a killer headline on an iPad, my photographer friend is probably not capturing the next great image on an iPhone. I’m mainly focused on media creation.
We then move on to “real” computers, starting with the MacBook Air. It’s got a camera and one single USB port. I don’t see this is a serious computer for serious media creators. It is a super-lightweight laptop great for the traveler/writer/business person. Skip it. The low-end MacBook (often called “the whitey”) is next. Low-end. It’s got two (yes two!) USB ports, and Gigabit Ethernet, but no Firewire. And, it’s low-end, which means it lacks power. Really. It does. (Luckily, it has a built-in camera!)
I put the Mac mini in there next, as I think it’s a step up from the low-end MacBook. The Mac mini has a bunch of USB ports and a Firewire 800 port, which means I can connect something like a Panasonic HVX200 HD camera and move that footage. I can also connect a Firewire card reader and get 24MB RAW files from a DSLR or RED footage onto it at a reasonable pace. The Mac mini is no powerhouse, but connectivity-wise, it’s moving up the ladder.
We then move onto the iMac and then the MacBook Pro. The iMac is a nice computer, and you can even get one with a 27″ display that’s pretty adept at editing video. I put the MacBook to the right of the iMac, mainly because on the high-end configuration you get the ExpressCard slot, which will let you connect eSata drives, which is a step up from Firewire. The MacBook is obviously better for portability, and the prices (and features) intermingle a bit between the two lines. The latest 27″ iMac is available in a Quad-Core configuration though, which is some serious power, so I’m still not sure of the positioning of these two.
And as long as we’re still talking about that Quad-Core iMac, let’s compare it to the Mac Pro, the granddaddy of Apple’s Creation Stations… If you’re wondering whether you can forget the Mac Pro and just get a top-of-the-line iMac, well, that depends on what you are going to create. You can read Why It’s Still Smart to Buy a Mac Pro and as someone who maintains a Mac Pro with 4 internal drives, an AJA IO card and two G-Tech eS Pros which pulls in footage from the HVX200 as well as the RED ONE, I can tell you I wouldn’t dream of replacing this Mac Pro with an iMac. Not yet anyway…
What about price? Hmmm, I figured it would be worth reorganizing the above graph with cost being the variable.
Once again, the order isn’t perfect, but I think it’s a quick overview, and worth comparing to the graph above to see how they differ.
Anyway, now that you’re done consuming all these silly words, get out there are create something! From what I hear, it’s easier than ever before, and the equipment you need is cheaper than it’s ever been! :)
I watched the documentary film “Welcome to Macintosh” and I liked it.
I know… you’re like “No duh! Mr. Fanboi, of course you loved it!” but hey, I’ve got issues with Apple, and they do plenty of things I don’t like (they always have) but using computers created by Apple has been a part of my life for 30 years now… I don’t think there is a brand around I’ve been involved with for that long… well, been involved with, and haven’t grown to hate.
If you’ve been using Macs for a long time and been fascinated by Apple, or an actual fan, it’s worth watching. On the other hand, if you are a recent convert from the Windows world, and new to the Mac in just the past few years, it’s probably not for you. (But if I’m wrong, let me know…)
Photo courtesy of Nik Fletcher
One thing I feel wasn’t really touched on is that in the past few years Macs (and other Apple products) have become “lifestyle” items, where in the past I don’t think this was the case. The film did mention that in the mid-to-late 1990’s it was hard to be a Mac user. Damn straight it was… I was deep into it. I worked at a design firm/publishing company where we had tons of Macs, and seeing the unknown future of the Mac (and Apple!) back then was not easy. By the end of the lifecycle of Mac OS 9 (pre-OS X) I was almost ready to abandon the Mac. I was using FreeBSD as a server OS, and Windows was making in-roads and actually getting better… If the NeXT/Apple thing hadn’t happened, and Mac OS X hadn’t come along, things would have been dismal.
Looking back today, it’s easy to say that Steve Jobs and Mac OS X were the saviors of Apple… and I don’t know how much my design background plays into it, but I really do want to use beautiful, well designed things, and that’s where Apple shines, and in true Apple sense, design refers to how things work, and how they function on the inside, just as much as they refer to how things look on the outside.
So my recommendation of the film is, if you’ve used/liked/loved the Mac for 10 years or more, see it. You’ll find it fun, amusing, and informative. If you admire Apple as a brand, see it, as there’s some valuable insight into design and marketing that the Microsofts of the world will never get right. If you’re a die-hard Microsoft lover or Windows user… or hey, a Linux/open source dude… it may not interest you quite as much.
I mean… I liked it, but I guess I’m just an Apple fanboi… ;)
