Posted in iNetSynch Casts on Aug 29th, 2007 No Comments »
I know I had scheduled a review of the new iWork and iLife 08 suites but the recent debacle with the Microsoft Genuine Advantage or as most seem to prefer calling it Genuine Disadvantage gives me a chance to speculate on why Apple and Microsoft view and deal with piracy in radically different ways.
First let me state, I am not defending Microsoft or others with similar copy protection schemes but I would like to add my two cents (and with the fall of our currency this colloquialism should appropriately qualify my comments). As a hardware designer and software developer I have been on both sides of the fence and have some appreciation of the costs of piracy.
Would Apple continue to ship unprotected copies of their Operating System and applications if some enterprising entrepreneur developed a virtual machine product similar to bootcamp allowing OS X to be run inside existing Windows PCs?
I suspect it was Apples historic reliance on using proprietary hardware to copy protect their software that lead them to surprise and even anger some pundits and Apple fans when they released the locked iPhone. The controversy continues eat up hours of tech podcast time as the attempts of hackers to open the iPhone to cell service provider other than AT&T and to develop third party applications not sanctioned by Apple remain the focus of the geek tribes. The way Apple and AT&T react to the iPhone hacks may offer a glimpse of how Apple would treat customers if its OS were not locked down by the Apple hardware.
Both Apple and Linux distributions are in a unique position. With Apple, the hardware is the software “dongle” and with Linux most developers profess a non-commercial philanthropic intent.
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Posted in iNetSynch Casts on Aug 26th, 2007 No Comments »
Today I realized I spend close to 80% of my time at the iMac! It is an adventure and as the the “Macites” like to say tis even fun. I have usually enjoyed working at my PCs in the past but that was because I enjoyed my work wether it be developing software, hardware or web content. The PC was a means to an end and became the ultimate erector set for me.
I suspect you can detect I am becoming an Apple convert. I have given up on seeking the perfection portrayed in the Apple Advertisements and reconciled myself to the reality that my dream of a perfect computing experience may never happen in my professional life time. Yet, I still hope to see that day and to revel in it.
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Posted in iNetSynch Casts on Aug 26th, 2007 No Comments »
Windows 2 Apples Episode 8
I come to you today somewhat humbled and more appreciative of my iMac and Apple applications. This changing heart is a result of my recent experiences with a Windows music creation and audio production program and the ease with with I have been able to backup up my iMac.
I purchased Music Creator 3 to use in place of GarageBand on my Windows XP tower. Although it came with easy install instructions, manual and separate video tutorial disk it is suffers from the feature over load and poor human interface design issues that plague many Windows applications. I soon realized that my time would be better spent using GarageBand on my Mac than taking the many hours if not days to become equally productive with Music Creator 3.
My second glimpse of the iMac halo effect was the discovery of how easy it is to make a complete boot-able image of the OS, applications and data using disk utility and a external firewire drive. In less than two hours I was able to install, reformat and copy a complete image of my iMac to a Western Digital 1 Terabyte My Book drive. I am very impressed given the dismal history I have had using products like Ghost to attempt a full system back up of my PCs.
I now feel a warm glow when using my Mac … could I be a new convert in the making?
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Posted in iNetSynch Casts on Aug 19th, 2007 No Comments »
To prevent confusion and the spread of misinformation, I need to add this quickie update to my last post … episode 6 of Windows 2 Apples.
Contrary to my initial impressions of the 08 version there is no simple way to manage multiple Web sites. You still have to move the domain file before booting iWeb in order to force it to ask for a site different from the one you worked on last. I must have assumed the prompt for domain was always present at launch because I had to reinstall iLife 08.
This inability to select the desired project without manually moving files around is so very limiting, prone to error and lame I am hoping that I have missed something and that I am wrong. As it is iWeb seems to be primarily intended for setting up and maintaining one .Mac site.
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Posted in iNetSynch Casts on Aug 19th, 2007 No Comments »
iLife 08 is installed and I have had a chance to experiment with iMovie, GarageBand iPhoto and iWeb. As a relative iMac newbie, I suspect my comments regarding the new iMovie maybe a bet less harsh than those heaped on it by long time Apple users and admirers.
I bought into the Apple hype and waited to really spend much time learning iMovie until I upgraded to the much ballyhooed iMovie 08. As some may recall I hoped Apple would not follow the lead of Windows developers and just heap on a pile of unnecessary new features just to make a compelling argument to buy the latest upgrade. In the Windows world we have grudgingly grown expect code bloat and feature overload.
Well it does seem I had nothing to worry about from that quarter. Many old line Apple users are a bit miffed, to say the least, that Apple actually striped features in the name of enhanced easy of use.
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