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Adobe Says PCs Are Preferred

Father Of Free Choice writes "Abobe has picked Windows as the preferred platform for running Photoshop, After Effects, and Illustrator. I don't know how many Mac people this will upset, but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part."

783 comments

  1. It's ironic by e8johan · · Score: 0, Troll

    Is it only me, or isn't ironic that they move now when UNIX (include MacOS X) is gaining ground at all fronts including the desktop users.

    1. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that and the fact they seem to be basing all this on a contest between a dual processor box and a single processor box.

    2. Re:It's ironic by hatrisc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      yes, i believe as well that this is ironic and probably the case. since adobe has ported it's code to a unix (mac os x), in time it will be expected to port their code to other unixes (such as linux, and BSDs, as well as maybe IRIX). saying winblows ... i mean windows is the perfered platforms just makes it easier on them and buys them more time for the eventual and i guess probable porting.

      --
      I write code.
    3. Re:It's ironic by 4of12 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      they move now when UNIX (include MacOS X) is gaining ground

      It seems stupid to me for them to make such a proclamation which will only serve to inflame loyal Mac based customers of many years.

      It's the same sort of backward move as when they decided to indefinitely discontinue the Linux FrameMaker beta program. [They still support it for the Mac - for now.]

      At MyCorp the UNIX desktop has moved from Sun to Linux, largely because of the cheaper x86 hardware. Needless to say, FrameMaker users emigrating from Sun are quickly getting an extra reason to be weaned off of Adobe's product because the way they can run it on their Linux box is over the network (mmm, latency) via X from a Sun.

      The net outcome will be that more people will use the ubiquitous MS Word, and maybe StarOffice/OpenOffice on Linux, but we'll clearly be buying less Adobe products in the future.

      It's got to be strange being an Adobe executive, watching MS eating chunks of your bread and butter business, but having to be nice to them so that you don't get on their shit list when it comes time to get a reasonable head start developing your product for the next version of Windows.

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
    4. Re:It's ironic by Ponty · · Score: 4, Informative

      Adobe Carbon code running on Mac OS X has nothing more in common with Unix than it did when it was running on Mac OS 9. Carbon is a subset of the old Toolbox APIs and really is about as far away from porting something to Unix as you can get. Sorry.

    5. Re:It's ironic by red_dragon · · Score: 1

      ... since adobe has ported it's code to a unix (mac os x),

      Hhmmm... Well, Photoshop had already been ported to IRIX as far back as version 3. This didn't help them much, though, since the OS X version is a Carbon app (i.e., a whole lot like the Classic version).

      --
      In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
    6. Re:It's ironic by machinegestalt · · Score: 1

      "It seems stupid to me for them to make such a proclamation which will only serve to inflame loyal Mac based customers of many years."

      And Photoshop users are going to switch to what exactly? Nothing else even comes close, and Adobe is quite aware of this.

    7. Re:It's ironic by Pinky · · Score: 5, Insightful

      First off, the slashdot article is misleading. The link is for a page on adobe's site about a study done by somebody else on which is faster PC or mac and what somebody else recommends, it's not about which adobe recommends. I mean if Adobe had a note next to Photoshop's minimum requirements saying that PCs are recommended this might be interesting but simply putting up a summary about an article which talks about which is faster is really a much more ambiguous move. We cannot draw from it, for instance, the conclusion that Adobe is gearing up to drop the mac. Nor can we gather that Adobe is no longer investing as many resources in the Mac version. If anything, the only thing we can draw from it is that Adobe is aware that the latest G4 macs are not as fast as their PC counterparts, which I would assume they would know about anyway.

      Here's the parent link on adobe's site.

      Quote::
      Is it only me, or isn't ironic that they move now when UNIX (include MacOS X) is gaining ground at all fronts including the desktop users.
      =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

      While the Mac is attracting a record number of new users to the platform it is also loosing its established niches and customers. Apple's share in education, for instance, has gone from 50-60% to about 20% under jobs. Apple is also loosing quite a few customers in pre-press although I don't have any numbers on that. I think it is also telling that while Steve has shown in previous macworld keynotes that that the number of new users to the platform has gone from ~10% to 25-30%, Apple's market share is stagnant or decreasing and PC sales are flat which implies that for every new user to the platform Apple is loosing an established user.

      What I believe is happening is that Apple is loosing market niches in which it has gained a sizable number of Early Majority users (as defined in Geoffrey A Moore's "Crossing the Chasm") and trading them for early adopter type users in other market segments. This does not bode well as it implies Steve has absolutely no idea how to market to an established user base. Since going from the initial inroads to niche market domination is the hard part, Apple's decline implies that it's quite possible that Apple will never, under Steve, gain enough market presence under in any niche to control it properly. If you have 10% of every market you're not important in any of them and you will be marginalized in all of them.

      This definitely matches my experience. I was once a rabid Mac fan, however both the iMac and MacOS X did not present any obvious upgrade path to me since the iMac and ilk broke compatibility will all my peripherals and MacOS X did not leverage any of the knowledge I had acquired in using and debugging the MacOS. Oddly enough, it was easier for me to switch to the PC since my peripherals we're all PC Mac compatible and Windows was at least as Mac like as MacOS X.. and of course everything was cheaper. So I went with a new PC and have been quite pleased with it. This situation is typical when an established market is not presented with an obvious upgrade strategy.

      Oddly enough Steve is quite good at setting up situations where he *could* dominate a niche. Like at the moment he looks to be going after the consumer market and the Unix market (quite a spread!). The thing is, as soon as he gets anywhere, I think he'll get bored and abandon the niches and move on to some other interesting niche technology. I seem to remember it was this type of mentality that got him fired from Apple in the first place :-)...

    8. Re:It's ironic by Fembot · · Score: 1

      Still I have learnt from bitter experience that upsetting mac zealots is a Bad Thing(tm)

    9. Re:It's ironic by DJ+FirBee · · Score: 1

      I see. Good post. So now I can see that this is just slashdot sensationalism and go do something else.

    10. Re:It's ironic by the+gnat · · Score: 2, Informative

      Yes. However, Adobe never released a more recent version, and won't even sell you a license for the old IRIX Photoshop, despite the fact that SGI still has a page up for it.

    11. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "loosing". You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

    12. Re:It's ironic by sql*kitten · · Score: 4, Interesting

      yes, i believe as well that this is ironic and probably the case. since adobe has ported it's code to a unix (mac os x), in time it will be expected to port their code to other unixes (such as linux, and BSDs, as well as maybe IRIX).

      You've got it backwards. Photoshop 3 (or maybe it was 2, my memory is hazy! Like the moors of Scotland!!) existed as far back as IRIX 5 on SGIs. It was round about the time that SGI were pushing the Indy as a desktop PC, with the idea that you would use a Mac for low-end 2D and the Indy for high-end 2D and entry level 3D. Of course it never played out because IRIX 5 was a piece of crap, far too slow, too buggy and the fancy desktop environment required too much RAM. By the time SGI got their act together with IRIX 6 (a damn good OS, IMHO, and I've used 'em all), the Mac had come to dominate 2D, not that it was ever particularly great but it was there and it worked better than Windows at the time and it was cheaper than SGI, who had pretty much abandoned their 2D ambitions by then and only sold machines with expensive 3D included in the price.

    13. Re:It's ironic by renoX · · Score: 1

      > Apple's market share is stagnant or decreasing and PC sales are flat which implies that for every new user to the platform Apple is loosing an established user.

      Uh? I maybe misunderstanding but you seem to imply that the fact that PC sales are flat means that the number of PC user is constant, which isn't true of course..

    14. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What I believe is happening is that Apple is loosing market niches in which it has gained a sizable number of Early Majority users (as defined in Geoffrey A Moore's "Crossing the Chasm") and trading them for early adopter type users in other market segments.

      You keep talking about Apple "loosing" market niches. What do you mean by that? Are they not tight or something? Or do you mean that Apple has adopted a more "loose" attitude towards supporting these customers? Please elaborate. Your post seems to contain quite a bit of good information, but I can't quite pin down exactly what you are talking about.

    15. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good points. I, as a windows user, hadn't touched a mac since OS7.1 on an LCIII. When it came time for me to buy a laptop I found that the Mac was now Unix based and supported open source software. Since I do a fair amount of work on Unix machines, and I wasn't about to try Linux on a laptop with some crappy Dell hardware, Mac was the obvious choice and I am very pleased.
      My only disappointment was that I couldn't compile some of my unix code directly (damn missing msg.h), but X11 worked quite well and I would seriously consider buying a mac as my next desktop. My windows box has been religated to being disconnected in a corner so I can have 2 monitors as I type this, and the only times I hook it up are to play games.

      My point in all this is that I would probably be one of the new users balancing out the loss in the niche market. The loss (of your business) was attributed to OSX, but it was definantly the cause of my switch.

      Hopefully if they lose the graphics market and lose support from companies like Adobe, they will attract enough people with their stand on open source software that we'll see some of these new users creating mac apps themselves (I'm trying to make sure everything i work on now can at least compile on my mac, just so I don't necessarily have to take control of a windows or unix box for testing).

    16. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adobe is pissed that Macintosh included full PDF modification capabilities for free in Mac OS X. For instance, you can automatically print any file to a PDF file instead of the current printer just by checking a box at print time. The included, free Preview app makes Acrobat Reader obsolete. I can understand why Adobe is in a tissy. But no great software manufacture should be choosing platform sides unless they also sell an OS, or if they only make software on 1 platform. The people at Adobe must be upset about their slipping stock options and taking it out the only way they know how -- on someone else. (Plus I hear Quark is ready to kick some serious butt. Must be some pre-remptive panic on Adobe's part.)\

      Heh, sorry Adobe -- I prefer The Gimp.

    17. Re:It's ironic by Pinky · · Score: 2, Insightful

      computers have a lifesan of 1-7 years with most new computers being bought in the span of 2-4 years. Computer sales have been flat since 1999. Mac sales have been flat for 10 years.

      Take a look at this chart
      http://maccentral.macworld.com/news/0007/18.share. shtml

      It details the sales per platform of every major platform in the last 20 or so year (yes even stuff like amiga and commodore 64).

      Mac sales have been flat for at least 10 years. The mac market should be facing a steady state and they could maintain their sales if they only sold to their user base (since these guys must have bought another computer in the last 10 year). It implies that for every persone switching to the mac there is one switching away. Perliminairy number indicate that mac sales are again flat for this year. The split betweem people who have bought a mac before and people who are new to the platform (as far as iMacs anyway) was ~65 old 45% new... That's quite a chunk of people to be loosing... Sales of the towers have been suffering (I would expect that this is because the towers are sold to pre-press places which should be part of the installed base)..

      In any case, this is all secondairy compared to Apple's sharply dropping numbers in its established markets like education and pre-press. This is the real killer 'cause if you don't have a established market niche you are 10% of nothing.. Actually Apple's marketshare is at 5% these days :(...

      NOTE: I'm not trying to be a doom and gloom guy. I am really worried about the survival of the platform. Not only because it is actually very nice (I have a mac Towers these days as well as the PC), but because Microsoft with a monopoly does not do anything. Look at microsoft exploder. They've done bascially nothing with it since version 5. Mozilla has blown past it. (Well, in my opinion anyway)..

    18. Re:It's ironic by operagost · · Score: 1

      Not only do I see no chart on that page, but the article's nearly three years old. I haven't heard of a great resurgence at Apple since then, but proclaiming that the Mac is dead based on old information is FUD. I'm really sick of hearing it. Replace Macintosh with OS/2, BSD, etc. and you have the same idea.

      --

      Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
    19. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ANYONE WHO HAS TRIED TO OPPOSE US HAVE BEEN CRUSHED AND HUMILIATED

      How quickly they forget...

      Remember a little country in South East Asia? Name begins with the letter 'V'?

    20. Re:It's ironic by douglasq · · Score: 1

      The Quark 6 beta I've seen barely merits a Bronx cheer.

      --
      "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
    21. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It happens sometimes that executives of corporations intentionally do things that anybody anybody at all would understand are contrary to that company's longterm interest. It turns out sometimes the executive was discovered to have had a selfish reason that benefitted only himself at the expence of the shareholders and workers.
      He profitted by bad decisions, or what looks like bad decisions, while the company suffers or folds.

      Now, consider the possibility of a hegemonic presence in your industry, a company with lots of money in the bank, whose stock has been used literally with the confidence of one of the world's reserve currencies.

      That company could buy alot of stupid decisions at the top of much smaller businesses. They don't have to get everybody just the one or two guys at the top. It's cheaper than you'd think, a negligible cost of doing business in the grand scheme of things, and the whole world helps out by rationalizing what happens as "everybody but that large company is just being dumb".

    22. Re:It's ironic by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      You're probably right on the PDF inclusion thing. I figured Adobe'd be peeved when I saw the thing too.

      However, you're trying to marginalize Adobe slapping Apple, and that's simply not the case.

      Adobe controls the content creation market. That's just how it is. Illustrator + Photoshop are an unstoppable pair. Page layout has never been their core market, so even if Quark does come up with something worthwhile (they've certainly been waiting long enough to do so), it won't hurt them that badly.

      Apple needs Adobe much, much more than Adobe needs Apple.

    23. Re:It's ironic by dalek_killer · · Score: 1

      And that isn't even Apple's fast duel processor machine either.

    24. Re:It's ironic by 4of12 · · Score: 1

      Possibly, but I doubt the viability of an executive strategy like this to work for very long.

      Adobe is publicly traded, so "stupid decisions" that compromise the company's long term interests in favor of some adjon should get the executives a good grilling at the next shareholder meeting.

      For smaller, privately-held companies the one or two guys at the top should have a majority interest in the company, so "stupid decisions" affect them materially (they would eat their own dogfood) and any "influence" of a larger corporation would have to offset the financial impacts of their "stupid decision".

      --
      "Provided by the management for your protection."
    25. Re:It's ironic by Pinky · · Score: 1

      Yep, that's 'cause I'm a moron and pasted the wrong link. The correct one is below.

      http://www.pegasus3d.com/total_share.html

    26. Re:It's ironic by Aram+Fingal · · Score: 1

      I thought Photoshop 7 was written in Cocoa, not Carbon. They said that's why it took them a while to come out with an OS X native version but it's one which can take better advantage of the OS.

      Cocoa is, theoretically, portable via GnuStep to other UNIX platforms although I haven't heard much about this recently. Carbon is a quick way of porting legacy Mac code to OS X and not very portable to UNIX in general.

    27. Re:It's ironic by Ponty · · Score: 2, Informative

      Nope. It runs in both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9. It's a Carbon app through and through. Doing it in Cocoa would have required a complete rewrite.

    28. Re:It's ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple's share in education, for instance, has gone from 50-60% to about 20% under jobs.

      Apple got computers into schools in an effort to have people grow up on Macs and use them later in life.

      PCs otoh got into businesses, now the schools are finding that no one cares if employees know how to use Macs, so they have to get PCs.

    29. Re:It's ironic by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      DEFINITELY

      LOSING

      thank you

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
  2. Goodbye Motorolla! by Bistronaut · · Score: 1, Interesting

    If anything can get Apple to ditch its current arcitecture, this it it. Who knows if they will go Intel or IBM, but blood is in the water now, and they have to make some switch.

    1. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by N3WBI3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      They could always go AMD ;)

      --
    2. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by interiot · · Score: 1, Funny

      It's "Hello MOTO", not "Goodbye Motorola". Get your consumer jingles right.

    3. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think that I'll start importing those chinese Dragon chips just in case.

    4. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Randolpho · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ahh, but the question is; is it hardware architecture, or superior underlying OS code? Could it be calls to Win32 or DirectX that makes the difference?

      --
      "Times have not become more violent. They have just become more televised."
      -Marilyn Manson
    5. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by ramzak2k · · Score: 1

      absolutely right. Arent Mac OS X server computers already run on Intel chips?
      They should start selling that as the proof of concept to start off with and then eventually dump motorolla. The speed difference is becoming so noticeable that people would pick PCs purely for performance

      --

      Siggy Say, Siggy Do
    6. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny
      Who knows if they will go Intel or IBM, but blood is in the water now, and they have to make some switch.

      "We were using Motorola processors, and all. And then, like, they stopped improving them and stuff. We were like, Huh??

      We had to tell our customers that, you know, 3X the clock speed was only a myth. But they weren't trying to hear that.

      That sucked.

      Then we, like, lost our market share, and stuff... It was good market share.

      Bummer.

      My name is Steve Jobs, and I switched to X86."

    7. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      absolutely right. Arent Mac OS X server computers already run on Intel chips?


      Nope. XServes run on G4s.

    8. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Arent Mac OS X server computers already run on Intel chips?

      What the hell are you smoking?

      PowerPC G4s live in every Xserve...

    9. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      Ahh, but the question is; is it hardware architecture, or superior underlying OS code? Could it be calls to Win32 or DirectX that makes the difference?

      Uh.... no?

      Or maybe you could clarify which 'superior' parts you are referring to? I'm not trolling, I really want to know. Not sure about Win32 but I don't see DirectX speeding up CPU-bound Photoshop calculations.

      I think it's just the processor and bus speed.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    10. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by darkgreen · · Score: 1
      That's the funniest switch take-off i've seen in a loooooong time.

      mod this guy through the roof!

      --
      You don't need Geeksintraining if you're on Slashdot.
    11. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by mrlpz · · Score: 1

      >>Could it be calls to Win32 or DirectX that >>makes the difference? Obviously you don't have a grasp on the concept of how Photoshop works. I don't profess to know Adobe's code from inside out ( though I'm not above disassembling it to prove my point ). But... DirectX is simply a means to accessing the physical video buffer ( since they're not doing any 3D rendering ), filtering, shading, effects, would be done strictly in software. As for Win32 vs OSX api, OSX's "API" is much thinner than Win32 ( You have NO IDEA how much cruft there is within those fancy dll's called user32.dll and it's assorted cohorts ). That being said, my guess would place the onus on the actual processors. The fact that there are some SERIOUS capabilities built into the SSE2 instructions on a P3/P4 ( specifically for math intensive plug-ins ), and raw cpu speed ( though that's not always the factor that it seems ). Think a little before putting together your comments.

    12. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you, Sir, obviously don't have a grasp on the correct usage of the tag.

    13. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by proj_2501 · · Score: 1

      No. Mac OS X Server runs on Macs as well. There are builds of Darwin that run on x86 but hardware support is more than a little lacking.

    14. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by sahala · · Score: 1

      Nice sig. Haven't heard that track in a while.

    15. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by shades6666 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Les Français sont des singes de capitulation qui mangent du fromage.

      Did you intend to call the French cheese eating monkeys of capitulation?
      Granted I don't agree with their foreign policy, but they're far from capitulating. They've been steadfastly against any action in Iraq. And while they are known for eating cheese ,particularly stinky cheese, the common derogative is frogs not monkeys.

      Oh and as for AMD, I wholeheartedly agree!

    16. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by N3WBI3 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      They have only been against Iraq as a show, they hve twice planned to build a Nuclear palnt for them (once actually starting construction). They like the Russians are against this for $$, which is fine if they would not jump on a high horse and berate the US.

      Oh and for AMD, I know ;)

      --
    17. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Assmasher · · Score: 1

      I'd, for one, buy a MAC (something I thought I'd never do again after 1987) if they went Intel... The hardware at apple is just sooooooo slow to catch up on things, and then when they do get ahead and produce something cool, it comes out a couple of weeks later available for PCs at HALF THE PRICE.

      --
      Loading...
    18. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Evil+Grinn · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      Did you intend to call the French cheese eating monkeys of capitulation?
      Granted I don't agree with their foreign policy, but they're far from capitulating. They've been steadfastly against any action in Iraq. And while they are known for eating cheese ,particularly stinky cheese, the common derogative is frogs not monkeys.


      Obviously you are not a Simpsons fan, or you would recognize "cheese-eating surrender monkeys!".

      Trying to make sense of Slashdot or Usenet without an understanding of the Simpsons will leave you almost as blind as trying to do so without knowledge of Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, or HHGTTG.

    19. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by iuyterw · · Score: 1

      Those are bold words sir.

    20. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by stevejsmith · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      In French, adjectives when relating to countries are not capitalized. It should be "français".

    21. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by mrlpz · · Score: 1

      Thank you...I can just smell marketing spin.

    22. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's about time, Steve. Motorola sucks almost as much as Apple.

      -Bill G.

    23. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not a joke...it's the truth.

      -Bill G.

    24. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well it is about time that axed Motorolla. IBM are far better at RISC. But I do not get why he would look at Intel he should look at AMD. I have gone off Intel since that have cocked up there IA64 chips. When I look at using 64Bit it will be AMD.

    25. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This should not of been moded up, I swear /.'s collective IQ is decreasing by the day. I should stop reading before my own starts to fall.

    26. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Darwin is the UNIX under MAC X
      There is Darwin for x86. So it's only a matter of coding the overlaying Aqua gui and voil! A Mac PC!

    27. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by DeComposer · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure this is the right format for that kind of discussion...

      --


      Karma
    28. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mod this guy through the roof!

      Yeah, he/she even remembered the closing quotation mark! ;) Probably not a marketing geek.

    29. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by entrylevel · · Score: 1

      I swear /.'s collective IQ is decreasing by the day. I should stop reading before my own starts to fall.

      Oops! Too late...

      You said "This should not of been moded up"

      1. This - I'll assume that instead of "this", you meant "the parent post", since your posted was not in fact "moded" in any way.

      2. Of - This is a preposition. What you were looking for (I believe) was the word "have", which would have made the next word (if it were an actual word) a past participle verb tense.

      3. Moded - You are using this word as if it were the past tense of a verb, however I cannot think of what it means "to mode". Perhaps you meant "modded"?

      Thanks for trying to contribute something meaningful, though... asshole.

      --
      Karma: Incomprehensible (Mostly affected by posting at +5, reading at -1, and metamoderating everything unfair.)
    30. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course they tested one of the worst performing applications Adobe has on the Mac

      Apple's own Final Cut performs significantly better on this same hardware.

      This is no surprise
      Adobe has a crappy app on the Mac

    31. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by ccmay · · Score: 0, Offtopic
      which is fine if they would not jump on a high horse and berate the US

      I think it's comical that the French, of all people, think they are in any position to pontificate to anyone about how to treat the poor downtrodden Third World.

      The French (and Belgians) set the world's standard for cruel, rapacious colonialism for generations.

      Their paranoia about preserving the Francophonie induces them to support one thieving French-speaking tyrant after another after another, and they send the Foreign Legion into a different piss-ant African nation practically every year.

      Every decent Frenchman turned his back on France as soon as he could, and now the only good ones left are over here. The rest are contemptible putains de merde, by and large.

      -ccm

      --
      Too much Law; not enough Order.
    32. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WTF? Take a look at your own grammer dickwad. The original post was not insightful, it was bordering on stupid.

    33. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by wackybrit · · Score: 1

      Vous etes un pedant. Je sais que aucune des americanes parlent français plus fort. ;-)

    34. Re:Goodbye Motorolla! by stevejsmith · · Score: 1

      C'était la phrase française la plus incompréhensible que j'ai vue.

  3. Well, there's news by BluGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's not like Adobe hadn't hinted at that. How long did it take them to get a decent OS X version of their software out?

    1. Re:Well, there's news by WinkyN · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's not like Adobe hadn't hinted at that. How long did it take them to get a decent OS X version of their software out?

      A lot faster than getting an OS X version of Quark XPress.

    2. Re:Well, there's news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I'm still waiting. There are problems with Illustrator and custom page sizes, with no fix apparently forthcoming.

      Quark pisses me off more though, and now it looks like the os x version won't be out until late 2003. I think our graphic artist has done an admirable job understanding my explainations of os x vs. classic mode, and why the differences make it a pain in the ass for him to manage fonts.

    3. Re:Well, there's news by I+Am+The+Owl · · Score: 1

      It's funny because it's true. We still have to use that crap to design yearbooks. If it weren't for budget constraints, Quark would be outta there faster than you can say "Pagemaker".

      --

      --sdem
    4. Re:Well, there's news by TheGreek · · Score: 1

      I believe you're mistaken. It'd actually be faster than you can say "InDesign."

    5. Re:Well, there's news by I+Am+The+Owl · · Score: 1

      Yeah, you're right. Obviously, we are not using it right now.

      --

      --sdem
  4. Re:Argh by robtm · · Score: 0

    Surprise, you're not first!

  5. it doesn't say anything about prefered by 512k · · Score: 5, Informative

    it just shows graphs that say the PC is faster than the mac doing stuff in after effects..and at the end it says, "While the computers used in this study are no longer the fastest in their respective classes, the information is still valid"

    --
    ------ Work is so much easier when you don't
    1. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And? Its still a valid test even if the processors are no longer the fastest. Just becuase we have 3.06 P4s in benchmarks now doesn't mean a PII still won't spank a 386. And I believe that said 2 1Ghz G4s vs a single 3.06 P4. I can't wait till the dual 3.06 xeon scores come out vs the macs.

    2. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Zayin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Adobe supports Mac OSX

      "Adobe software got its start on the Macintosh computer. Today, the Macintosh platform remains important for Adobe and our customers. Since the introduction of Mac OS X, Adobe has delivered more than 13 Mac OS X native applications. This strong support of the Mac OS X platform is a demonstration of Adobe's commitment to customers on the Macintosh platform."

      --
      "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy"
    3. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by christurkel · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The web page the data is on is pcprefered.html. That tells me a pc is prefered.

      --

      CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
    4. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by frankie · · Score: 5, Funny
      Umm... except for the frickin URL with a laser beam on its head:
      http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html
    5. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by appleprophet · · Score: 1

      The title of the HTML document is "prcpreferred.html".

    6. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      ummmm that is taken out of context. If you read the page that links from it asks the question: Do you Prefer the PC for DV. It is not saying they prefer it.

    7. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by mosch · · Score: 5, Funny

      and this graph shows that somebody is a fucking retard.

    8. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since when does a URL translate to corporate policy?

    9. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And this:
      http://www.adobe.com/ads/txt/ds0054_txt.gif

      Tells me you took things out of context.

    10. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yup all hail the graph that touts the wonders of the 100 second minute.

    11. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by sib888 · · Score: 2, Informative
      Seriously, how does a tool that presents this graph:
      a) get to production?
      b) get purchased and used by anyone who expects any amount of respect?

      The chart actually adds 40 seconds to the minute and the Mac score. The graph portrays the PC's as 131% faster than the mac, when in reality it's 37%. Along with using an older version CPU make me wonder how else the study was manipulated. I'm not putting much stock in this study.


      I still think that Apple is in deep yogurt because of their processor speeds. They need to do something fairly quickly, even if it is a move to Intel/AMD chips.

      --
      I'm sib888, and I approved this comment.
    12. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Daniel+Baumgarten · · Score: 1

      So? What's your point? "PC" (or preferrably "PeeCee") is a term used by people when they want to demonstrate that Macs and Windows/*nix boxes are in classes of their own because of different system architectures. The URL means "Personal computer preferred," which essentially means nothing. If Adobe wanted to show you how much it didn't want to support Macs anymore, the url would say: http://www.adobe.com/motion/windowspreferred.html ...or something like that. Don't read too far into it. It's just the URL in the first place.

      --
      "Screw slashdot." -- Linus Torvalds
    13. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Tokerat · · Score: 1

      Let's not forget this:
      In the July 2002 issue of Digital Producer Magazine, Charlie White reported on a head-to-head duel between a single-processor Dell 2.53GHz Pentium® 4 -- the Dell Precision Workstation 340 -- and the fastest Macintosh then available -- a 1GHz dual-processor G4.

      Read the actual article here.
      All I have to say is I'm waiting for Apple's new motherboards and probably until the IBM 970 before I get a new Mac, but i get a feeling After Effects for Mac has more to do with this benchmark than crappy hardware...

      Also interesting to note: they bought the machine from Apple, who charge ludicrous prices for RAM of any sort. If they bought the fast box with next to no RAM in it and bought compatable commodity PC RAM (which, yes, works), they could probably have gotten a competitive price compared to the Dell, at least better than what they actually got.
      --
      CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
    14. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Heywood+Yabuzof · · Score: 1

      Jeez you even linked to the main DV page that would have explained it and you still missed the point. It's for users that prefer PCs. It's not Adobe corporate policy or anything. It's just mean to reassure PC users that, yes, your machine kicks ass with Adobe products.

    15. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by t0ny · · Score: 3, Funny
      "Adobe software got its start on the Macintosh computer. Today, the Macintosh platform remains important for Adobe and our customers. Since the introduction of Mac OS X, Adobe has delivered more than 13 Mac OS X native applications. This strong support of the Mac OS X platform is a demonstration of Adobe's commitment to customers on the Macintosh platform."

      Translation: Apple will always be our adorable little fuzzy niche market. We wuuuuuvvvv you!

      --

      Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.

    16. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by manyoso · · Score: 2, Insightful

      From the article, "The PC outperformed the similar Macintosh machine, at an impressive rate."

      Quit apologizing and making up excuses. Adobe is using the term PC on the page to refer to non-Apple computers running Windows.

    17. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Did you hear the news? Anyone who says "ummmm" is just a dickhead who can't deal with the reality - not even Adobe claim there is any reason to choose a Mac over a PC any more. If Apple don't at least double the speed of their machines this year, they're fucked.

    18. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by jx100 · · Score: 2, Funny

      well... I know some people hate america right now, but what does a comparison with China have to do with this article?

    19. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by verch · · Score: 0

      Seriosuly, could this story be more sensational? Its just a stupid graph that shows a 3GHz processor crunches numbers faster than a dual 1GHz machine. This is shocking news why? Where the hell does it say anything about prefered platforms? This is a bad story even by slashdot's low editorial standards. Whats next, 'Study shows 10 dollar bill buys twice as much as a 5!'?

    20. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative
      Not quite. The paragraph that links to the page says:
      "Prefer a PC for DV? See what an industry expert has to say about PC vs. Mac for digital video editing."

      In other words, it's the "industry expert" (Charlie White) that prefers the PC over the Mac -- not Adobe.
    21. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Golias · · Score: 1
      The web page the data is on is pcprefered.html. That tells me a pc is prefered.

      How the hell did that get modded up as "insightful"!?

      He just made the same (wrong) assumption as the person who submitted the article.

      The document is called "pcprefered.html", becuase it is linked from a menu on the main page which asks if you prefer Mac or PC. If you indicate that you prefer PC's, it takes you to a page called pcprefered.html, which shows you that a Dell can run photoshop filters quickly.

      Too bad there isn't a "-1, Kneejerk" mod. I guess those with mod points will have to settle for the ol' "Overrated" option.

      --

      Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    22. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by lysurgon · · Score: 1

      Actually, that's more serious than it is funny. This kind of passive misinformation (bars innacurately represent differences in actual performance) helps to empower and amplify the perception. It also leads one to ask how this analysis was done.

    23. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The graph portrays the PC's as 131% faster than the mac, when in reality it's 37%.

      If you're going to go to the trouble of criticizing math, at least make sure your own math is correct - you're using two different way of expressing "faster". Either say:

      The graph portrays the PC's as 67% [(1 - 54/125) * 100] faster than the mac, when in reality it's 37% [(1 - 54/85) * 100].

      or say:

      The graph portrays the PC's as 131% [(125/54 - 1) * 100] faster than the mac, when in reality it's 57% [(85/54 - 1) * 100].

    24. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Shuh · · Score: 1

      Translation: Apple will always be our adorable little fuzzy niche market. We wuuuuuvvvv you!

      And well they should, it's where Adobe and Microsoft (and many others) started out with their flagship applications.

    25. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by jholder · · Score: 1

      The scale at the bottom is right. 54 seconds is .9 minutes (54/60). 1 minute, 25 seconds is 1.4 minutes (1 + 25/60). Don't be so freaked out by decimal minutes, it makes you look foolish.

      --
      -- John
    26. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by mosch · · Score: 1

      Actually, you're not as right as you think you are. They fixed the graphic. The top graph used to be about 1/3rd the size of the second one.

    27. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adobe may have corrected the graph since this thread was started, but I just took a look and it appears fine.

      54 seconds = 0.9 minutes
      85 seconds = 1.4 minutes

      The only discrepency I notice is that the PC red bar is actually placed too far to the right, if anything making the difference seem smaller between the two.

    28. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they did indeed fix the graph, as well as some other errors in the article. For instance the graphs said they represented different machines than the text of the article stated.
      joe.

    29. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by t0ny · · Score: 1
      And well they should, it's where Adobe and Microsoft (and many others) started out with their flagship applications.

      Lets all pet the cute adorable little niche market! Its just so CUTE!

      --

      Manipulate the moderator system! Mod someone as "overrated" today.

    30. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by gleam · · Score: 1

      It doesn't actually add 40 seconds to the minute, it represents the time as a portion of a minute, e.g. 0.9 minutes for windows and a little under 1.5 minutes for windows.

      It was clear to me, but I do agree that it was a relatively ineffective graph. That being said, there's nothing wrong with the scale and it doesn't "portray" anything that isn't already there. The scale doesn't change. If it had been labeled:

      0 18 36 54 72 90 instead of
      0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5

      would you really have been whining? The figures are the same, it's just a poorly labeled graph.

      Get over it.

      -gleam

      --
      this .sig is not a .sig.
    31. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by sib888 · · Score: 1
      The graphic has been changed. The original image had the same x-axis displaying the minute in tenths, but the bar representing the PC score stopped at .54 minutes, and the Mac bar stopped at 1.25 minutes.

      --
      I'm sib888, and I approved this comment.
    32. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by sobchak · · Score: 1

      The point, it seems to me, is that Apple is kicking Adobe's arse with Final Cut Pro... so Adobe promotes the PC a "preferred" for DV so they can sell more copies of Premiere.

    33. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I happened to catch the original, but unfortunately, it seems to have been fixed...

    34. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by binarybum · · Score: 1

      bingo. I think you're right on. It makes sense that for things like photoshop you'd want more memory and faster speeds for better price (a la PC), but I have a hard time with the idea that a PC would be better for rendering DV. The double processor configuration in the G4 systems really makes for quicker renders (and I'm anti-mac all the way)... so I agree that this is a strategic move more than a technical statement.
      I am dissapointed that they choose this strategy rather than scrapping premiere and building it from the bottom up to compete with final cut.

      --
      ôó
    35. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If it was actually PC Preferred it would be

      "pcpreferred.htm"

      and not "pcpreferred.html"

    36. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Vaughn+Anderson · · Score: 1

      54 sec/ 60 sec = .9 minutes... This graph is entirely correct.

    37. Re:it doesn't say anything about prefered by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.adobe.com/motion/gear/main.html

      Funny, they are selling Dell Computers.

      I think that is called "preference".

  6. Not a surprise.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, I would disagree with the ongoing perception that Macs have a strangle-hold on the graphics design market. PCs have been making a lot of headway in my experience. Now, I find that the more technically competent - er - easy to work with - designers are largely using PCs now. Most Mac based designers I deal with at work are definitely behind the curve -- ON AVERAGE.

    1. Re:Not a surprise.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HA! I'm a PC designer and I'm DEFINITELT behind the curve, ANY CURVE! Ha, that proves you wrong, you, you, BIGOT!

  7. Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    With Apple increasingly separating itself from Microsoft, creating their own browser based on Konqueror's KHTML technology, perhaps this move by Adobe will prompt Apple to create imaging software to compete with Adobe based on open source like GIMP?

    1. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by ketamine-bp · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Graphics program is not like browser.

      Adobe have put millions into photoshop, and similar programs - Image manipulation programs are really costy to develop, and the people using them like learning the interface once and for all (that is, photoshop). Calling a designer to go with GIMP is not impossible, but really impractical as we(i.e. the developers) have not enough expertise(disclaimer: GIMP team do have graphic expert, but wait, they are not full-time paid workers) nor time to develop something as sophisictated as photoshop.

      In short, developing something such as photoshop costs apple, and they would probably not do it.

    2. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by RLiegh · · Score: 1

      With Apple increasingly separating itself from Microsoft, creating their own browser based on Konqueror's KHTML technology, perhaps this move by Adobe will prompt Apple to create imaging software to compete with Adobe based on open source like GIMP?


      I wasn't aware apple was using KHTML in their browser (then again, I don't keep up with apple).

      Even so, I tend to doubt they'll back The Gimp. My suspicion is that they'd want to shore up what little support they get from adobe instead. Just my two cents.
    3. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by Miguel+de+Icaza · · Score: 1

      surely KPaint would be more consistant

      --
      Before adopting WHATWG, read the moonlight.NET EULA [http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/moonlight.mspx]
    4. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by josephpadfield · · Score: 1

      Personaly I do all of my image processing using a package called VIPS, (http://www.vips.ecs.soton.ac.uk/). I am slightly biased as I help maintain it but what the hell.

    5. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by alfredo · · Score: 1

      Deveolpers should now concentrate on bringing GIMP up to parity with PS. We need something like the Mozilla project for the GIMP. (as far as the visibility)

      I love using PS, but would love to use GIMP more. Free compared to $600 is a big incentive. Let's face it, Adobe is one of the big guns behind BSA, and many of us would go to an alternative if presented.

      MacGIMP works well, but still has a way to go to catch up to PS.

      --
      photosMy Photostream
    6. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by iiioxx · · Score: 3, Insightful

      perhaps this move by Adobe will prompt Apple to create imaging software to compete with Adobe based on open source like GIMP?

      Nothing against GIMP, but it would be a bad move on Apple's part if they did. Apple should be doing their damnedest to get application vendors to provide ported software to the Apple platform, not trying to reinvent every piece of software as an Apple product.

      When Adobe has the same application that will run on both PC and Mac with 100% file compatibility, it creates an environment where you can choose the best platform for a given user, without having to sacrifice application interoperability with other users. If Apple were to say, "screw Adobe, here's iSomething" it will force graphics shops to have to choose between PC+Adobe and Mac+iSomething. All this will do is take marketshare away from Apple.

      I think that Safari and Keynote (and the iOffice/iWork/iWhatever suite that is likely to follow) are simply a response to the dead-end relationship that Apple is in with one vendor - Microsoft. I don't see the practice of duplicating every major application as a trend for Apple in the long term. At least I hope it's not.

    7. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by josephpadfield · · Score: 1

      Given the large number of available options reproducing another image processing tool just for Mac would be a bit liek re-inventing the wheel. Or would that be an "i-wheel". (Sorry bad joke)

    8. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by Shadow99_1 · · Score: 1

      Well their have been alternatives to Adobe Photoshop for some time on PC. For instance I use Jasc's Paintshop Pro, which costs $99.99 & does most everything Photshop does (like layered images, filters, etc). I haven't seen to many people at any graphics design places let that stop them from buying Adobe's photoshop though...

      --
      we are all invisible unless we choose otherwise
    9. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by stilwebm · · Score: 1

      Deveolpers should now concentrate on bringing GIMP up to parity with PS. We need something like the Mozilla project for the GIMP. (as far as the visibility)



      I love using PS, but would love to use GIMP more. Free compared to $600 is a big incentive. Let's face it, Adobe is one of the big guns behind BSA, and many of us would go to an alternative if presented.



      Here is one reason why free GIMP has trouble competing with PhotoShop. Patents still surround the use of CYMK color management. For home, hobby or even small office use, this is not a problem. But for prepress use, this is a big obstacle. Color matching before four-color printing or six-color printing is important unless you want some funky looking publications. When these patents expire, I expect the more mature GIMP will really start to take off, and more development resources will be thrown at it.


    10. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by luzrek · · Score: 1
      Deveolpers should now concentrate on bringing GIMP up to parity with PS.

      For a second I thought you were talking about PostScript (another Adobe product) which is well supported on open source platforms.

      Personally, GIMP is already good enough for home use, and really big shops all seem to run custom software anyway (Industrual Light and Magic runs a GNU/Linux farm for their image processing). The big thing missing from the OSS graphics options is vectored drawing programs, ala Ilustrator.

      I'm not sure that it is supported by the article (or even hinted at), but if Adobe really did push its users to a Windows/Intel platform, I think that it would hurt Apple much more than Adobe. Graphics pros arn't so stuck in their ways that the wouldn't switch OS's if the premere tools were suddenly only avalible for one platform. If they all are so stuck in their ways, why don't they use 8x10" negatives anymore?

      --

      Galium Arsenide is the material of the future, and always will be.

    11. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by bigmase521 · · Score: 1

      Dude did anyone even notice that Miguel De Icaza just posted in this thread?!?! Surely that comment deserves to be modded up. :)

      --
      "I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. I came here to tell you how it's going to begin"
    12. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by eggz128 · · Score: 1

      I haven't seen to many people at any graphics design places let that stop them from buying Adobe's photoshop though...

      Those people need CMYK seperations. PSP and The GIMP just don't cut it.

    13. Re:Konqueror - Safari -- is GIMP next? by sergeirichard · · Score: 1

      Indeed. One great thing about being a Photoshop user is that, while I normally work on PC, if a project demands I can drop by someone else's studio and muck in on Mac. You can almost forget what platform you're on, and I don't think that can be said for many apps. They might be unwilling to, but I think people who mostly work on Macs could admit the same thing. Apple would really piss off the graphics community if they broke up this pleasant "Photoshop-space". There's no gainsaying the fact that Apple have lost an important bit of their psychological armoury if graphic apps, Adobe's especially, now work faster on Wintel. They can accentuate all their other positives, but it is just embarrassing to be the makers of the computers that Moore's law doesn't seem to be applying to.

  8. Image Errors by pmlyon · · Score: 5, Informative

    The images appear to be incorrect.

    If you look at the first image, it has two times, 54 seconds and 1 minute 25 seconds. The second time is shown at well over double the length of the first, even though it only took ~50% longer. If you look closely, you will see that 1:25 got placed at 1.25, and 0:54 got placed at 0.54, hence the error.

    Any of the images where the minutes are different are going to be skewed a fair amount. The error will decrease as the minute difference increases.

    1. Re:Image Errors by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      I feel dirty

      you're absolutely correct and, even though my Athlon XP 2600+ IS faster than my PowerMac G4 dual 1Ghz (on most things, anyway), I am pretty disapponted with Adobe for printing such bogus graphs. What the fuck do Adobe gain by pissing off Mac users? Look what happened when Avid tried the same shit.

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
    2. Re:Image Errors by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 4, Informative

      Complain. I did. Misrepresentation of data is widespread, but we can probably get them to change it in this case.

      http://www.adobe.com/misc/webform.html

      There's the link to they're feedback page.

    3. Re:Image Errors by jdoff · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oh, sure, like we expect Adobe to care about correct bar graphs. Like this, for example (actual screen shot).

    4. Re:Image Errors by MrMickS · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is why Adobe failed to make a dent into the business graphic market.

      --
      You may think me a tired, old, cynic. I'd have to disagree about the tired bit.
    5. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      102% - that is a big file!

    6. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's the link to they're feedback page

      THEIR feedback page, not "they're." "They're" == "they are," which is the completely wrong form in this context. Please learn English.

    7. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, Avid totally went out of business! Oh, wait...

    8. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Graphics courtesy of DMN -
      DigitalMediaNet.com

      Not that it really matters, Apple should have cought that error.

    9. Re:Image Errors by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

      they very nearly did and, erm, still are...

      --
      That was classic intercourse!
    10. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, it's just the pentium FDIV error.

    11. Re:Image Errors by brundlefly · · Score: 1

      Any idiot knows that 1:00 is twice as long as 0:50! :)

    12. Re:Image Errors by threephaseboy · · Score: 1

      Not only that, check out the file size:
      2,297,130k bytes
      2.2GB ps??? thats above the max file size on windows..

      --
      .
    13. Re:Image Errors by demonbug · · Score: 1
      Complain. I did. Misrepresentation of data is widespread, but we can probably get them to change it in this case.

      http://www.adobe.com/misc/webform.html [adobe.com]

      There's the link to they're feedback page.


      Where is the link to your feedback page? Maybe we can get you to correct your grammer and use their instead of they're.

    14. Re:Image Errors by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

      I'm terribly embarrased. I'm normally quite good about my contractions. I blame it on the fact that it was early in the morning - much earlier than I normally wake up. :)

    15. Re:Image Errors by RedWizzard · · Score: 1

      And it worked. They appear to have fixed it.

    16. Re:Image Errors by jdoff · · Score: 1

      No, that's the correct file size. Windows 2000, by the way. And the darn thing actually printed, using LPRng via Samba. I was impressed.

    17. Re:Image Errors by sootman · · Score: 1

      Wrong, wrong, wrong. They're using decimal minutes which, while odd, is not inherently wrong or evil. In this image http://www.adobe.com/motion/images/video_composite .gif you see 1:25 represented as just under 1.5 minutes, which is the case. 25 seconds is a shade under .5 5 minutes, aka 30 seconds.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    18. Re:Image Errors by tarth · · Score: 1

      Maybe we'd take you more seriously in the future if you learned how to spell grammar.

    19. Re:Image Errors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The lower-right graph is still incorrect. It shows me that they made these by hand!! The Dell graph should extend about 4 pixels more to the right (4 min, 24 s).

      I find it funny that they already changed the first graph, which was WAY off. Let's see if they'll change this bottom graph when I point it out to them...

    20. Re:Image Errors by threephaseboy · · Score: 1

      Amazing. the only thing i can think of that you would want to print thats 2+ gigs would be like a frame-by-frame of certain kind of movie

      --
      .
    21. Re:Image Errors by demonbug · · Score: 1

      Please don't take me seriously, even if I do learn how to spell grammer (oops, I did it again).

  9. Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by davejenkins · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Adobe wants to embrace commodity (PC) hardware-- think about it-- which makes more sense? a user base of 500 mac users or 5000 PC users?

    Letting customers spend less money on hardware means there is more money leftover for buying pricey Adobe software. Moreover, Adobe may soon abandon one of its development team to shave costs-- guess which one won't survive: the one not making that much money.

    1. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      think about it-- which makes more sense? a user base of 500 mac users or 5000 PC users?


      Perhaps a more fitting question is:

      Which makes more sense, 500 paying mac users or 5000 pirating windows users?

      Also, I'm not sure why everyone is saying this will finally push Apple to a new architecture...Apple has wanted to get past the G4 for awhile now. Motorola just left them hanging.

    2. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by 91degrees · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not so sure. Professionals choose the platform based on software, not the other way round. Switching to PC does give a lower total cost of ownership if Adobe keeps their prices the same, but if the other tools that people want are available only for Mac, then they will choose mac.

    3. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Lars+T. · · Score: 1

      A user bas of 5000 Mac users.

      --

      Lars T.

      To the guy who modded me down from perfect to terrible Karma - Apple haters still suck

    4. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

      Actually, total cost of ownership will be higher using a PC vs. a Mac, due to the amount of time spent maintaining the system. Loss productive time due to you running patches and updates on Windows, redoing lost work due to the system hanging -- it adds up!

      I have to admit that when using Photoshop or Illustrator my one-year-old 1.4 gHz Dell is faster than my four-year-old 400 mHz G3 (now a 500 mHz G4). But things just run better on the Mac -- admittedly this is a touchy-feely thing, but given the choice to do work on the Mac or the Pentium, I choose the Mac. Yet I will generally pass the rendering over to the Pentium when I'm done, to minimize the time.

      Nonetheless, I sure hope that Apple takes this as a wake-up call. The G4 has pretty much been a problem architecture as a CPU -- just look at how poorly they've done with speed bumps on it compared to the Intel chips. (Of course, the brain drain from Moto to Intel could have a lot to do with that.) I think the sooner they can dump the G4 for the G5, the better. And I mean the real G5s, not the reworked G4 architecture to be used as an interim.

      My current Mac is starting to show its age, as more complex projects are bringing it to the wall of its performance. But I figure I can hold out a while longer until Apple decides its time to get serious and put out something with some real horsepower behind it.

      Their new 1.42 DP is certainly a step in the right direction, but it still isn't quite enough. Now, if it was an MPx4 (at the least) I'd probably have my credit card out and making my order rather than writing this comment...

      --


      Whew! This water sure is cold!
    5. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by EZmagz · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Adobe wants to embrace commodity (PC) hardware-- think about it-- which makes more sense? a user base of 500 mac users or 5000 PC users?

      One thing I wonder about based soley on my personal observations (that's my disclaimer, btw) is say Adobe DOES pick the pc as their primary platform...I wonder if (and by how much) piracy will rise?

      Of all the mac users I've ever met, loyality to their platform was extremely important to them. That meant going out an *buying* all their software for their computer (what a concept, eh?). OTOH, of all the pc users I know and have met, piracy is rampant. "Why should I buy Photoshop 7.0 for $650 when I can download it on KaZaa in 20 minutes?" has been echoed more than once. If these people are forced to wintel boxen to use the newest version of Illustrator, they're most likely gonna be pissed off enough to give pirating expensive apps a definite consideration.

      Of course, mac warez is by default a harder scene to get into, and hence pirated versions of software like this won't be as commonplace as pc versions. It's still out there though, as any other Hotline users will tell you. ;)

      --

      "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."

    6. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by superflippy · · Score: 1

      You mean "commodity hardware" like the Dell you can buy in Adobe's online store?
      Customers embracing that machine will certainly enhance Adobe's bottom line.

      --
      Your fantasies contain the seeds of important concepts.
    7. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by dumbArtMajor · · Score: 1

      I know this is article is just for video, but the fact that they include Illustrator and Photoshop is definitely disconcerting for all designers. There are millions of dollars spent on Mac hardware/software/fonts that aren't interchangeable with PC versions.

      Seems like a stupid thing to advertise, given that Quark 6 is alpha and the new IBM chips are on the way. There are going to be tons of new Mac upgrades coming very soon.

      I wonder if this is a move to get Apple's ass in gear as far as OS speed increases?

    8. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by flappinbooger · · Score: 1

      I've heard this a number of times "things just feel faster on a Mac". And you state that you do the work on a Mac, and then pass the rendering onto the PC. Sure, that makes sense. We should all buy $4000 G4's to pre-process our graphical work and then use a $2000 x86 box as our compute server. Meanwhile in the real world we'll save a ton of cash AND do the work faster, all on just one x86 box. Who cares if it FEELS faster when in reality it is NOT faster? My wallet doesn't care how I or anyone else feels. If you've got the mac sitting around and your approach works for you, that's perfectly fine. However, anyone looking to enter into the graphical world should NOT pay 2x the cash just for the warm fuzzies the mac interface gives you. Macs are dead.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    9. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Reziac · · Score: 1

      I got the feeling that Adobe's goal is to sway those who are still sitting on the Mac/PC fence (especially those planning to upgrade), into jumping off in the PC direction. If they can get enough of their userbase to switch to PC, they could drop Mac support entirely, which would save Adobe support and development money -- so it's in Adobe's best interests to get everyone to switch to PC.

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    10. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by agentkhaki · · Score: 1

      Quark 6 is Alpha...

      Read those words. Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the release of OS X to the public. 2 Years.

      Quark is dead. I mean, sure, all the old blokes who are still running OS 9 in their print and design shops are probably still doing Quark 5 or (yipes) 4, and they'll probably switch to 6 when it comes out. But the new designers entering the field - and any of the print shops who switched to OS X - are more likely than not going to use and/or prefer InDesign. Hell, at my school, you can't even run Quark in classic anymore - it's all InDesign.

      So yeah, it's an update, but certainly not a significant one.

      --
      Ack!
    11. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Ryan+Amos · · Score: 1

      500 Mac users. The Mac users are probably professionals, and paid for their software. 4800 of those PC users downloaded Photoshop 7 off Kazaa. There may be more PCs out there, but in the graphic design market (where most if not all of Adobe's paying customers come from) is VERY prejudiced against PCs. All the vendors use Macs, all the competent agencies use Macs, if you aren't using a Mac there's no guarantee that you're not going to have weird errors. Most graphic pros out there who have been in the business a while don't trust Windows, and besides, dropping $5,000 on a computer in this market is worth it, you'll make the money back within a week at even a small agency. Those who try and skimp on cash usually don't last long, clients can sniff out a cheapskate and will usually head elsewhere.

    12. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it's not even a ratio of 10:1 - more like 340:1...

      Sucks to be Apple.

    13. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, and I got my Mac Photoshop 7 from Thailand, cost $5. What's your point? Most this... Most that... what a load of shit. You should be in advertising, if you're not already. MacLies, all of it.

    14. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by dumbArtMajor · · Score: 1

      I tend to disagree when you say "the old blokes are probably running 5 or 4." I know people still using 3.x every day. Maybe they're only teaching InDesign at your school, but right now most of the industry is Quark 4 and 5. How quickly that changes, we'll see when 6 is released.

      While I agree that many people want to use InDesign (I have it and use it) the bottom line is that print and publishing are extremely slow-moving beasts. Quark users have spent a hell of a lot on XTensions and pre-press apps that don't have counterparts in InDesign. And InDesign still needs another release or two before it can really be considered an equal to Quark, as far as printshop integration and marketshare.

      I have to believe that when Quark comes out (and I agree they're a$$holes for waiting this long), that's when a lot of companies will start to upgrade to OSX.

      And that's when we can really judge Adobe's commitment to Mac, IMHO.

    15. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by ip_vjl · · Score: 1


      Actually, total cost of ownership will be higher using a PC vs. a Mac, due to the amount of time spent maintaining the system. Loss productive time due to you running patches and updates on Windows, redoing lost work due to the system hanging -- it adds up!


      I run Illustrator, Photoshop, and Premier on a PC running Windows 2000.

      I don't seem to suffer any productivity losses due to maintenance, running patches or system hangs. I know it is common belief that all Windows systems crash and are horribly buggy, but it doesn't have to be that way.

      1) I'm behind a good corporate firewall. So patches for things other than web browser exploits are downloaded and will finish installation at next reboot - which I do about every other week on the weekend, when I'm not here.
      2) I have yet to get a mail worm because I have my mail client set to not run code. Additionally, I don't let it display HTML mail so that it doesn't send pings back to spammers.
      3) Bad video drivers and bad memory are the two of the biggest culprits for system instability. I'm not into hardcore gaming, so I install the latest stable videocard drivers. I'm more than happy to live with the last stable version, and sacrifice the extra 3.5FPS in Quake. For memory, just don't buy junk.
      4) Re: web browser exploits. If it is serious enough, I may install the patch immediately and reboot. But mostly, they're not serious (due to my IE security settings, which are fairly tight) and can wait until the next planned reboot. Additionally, my primary browser is Phoenix, so most of my browsing isn't with IE. Either way, patches for this tend to come along no more than every month (at best), so it may add one "unplanned" reboot to the mix - so, there I lose 5 minutes a month, I'll give you that.

      So if you prefer Macs, fine. That's great. I started computer graphic design on Macs (well, Atari's actually, but they're no longer around). But for you to make a claim that MY productivity on a PC is impaired is just ridiculous. There are a great many people who run PCs (Windows) every day without issue.

      Do I like everything Microsoft does? No.

      Do I think things could be better? Yes.

      Am I horribly crippled due to my machine? Nope.

      I'm glad YOU are more productive on your Mac, but don't make the blanket assertion that everybody on a PC is suffering productivity. It's just simply not the case.

    16. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by shepd · · Score: 1

      >Loss productive time due to you running patches and updates on Windows, redoing lost work due to the system hanging -- it adds up!

      One would hope you're patching your Mac OS! Windows does that for you semi-automatically, anyways, at the cost of signing your rights away.

      If the system is hanging during image editing, it's adobe's fault. If it's hanging because you're browsing slashdot and MSIE explodes while you have adobe open, that's Microsoft's fault, and why are you not working? ;-)

      >But things just run better on the Mac

      Blech. Things are way slower on a Mac for me. The other day I was surfing the web with mozilla on one of those new eMacs, and the fact that I had to "palm" the mouse to make it click, combined with the lack of scroll wheel broke my productivity way down past the crappy PII 350 work gave me. Sure, pages appeared quicker, but working with that mouse was hell on my arm and wrists.

      Not to mention figuring out how to get anything started was a PITA on a Mac. How the hell do I start the equivalent of notepad (I assume such a basic utility is included with the OS, right?) I clicked on that little apple menu in the corner, but it didn't seem to present me with any solutions (yes, it was running the old Mac OS -- I suppose the new one isn't bad for this -- I'll try it out if I ever find a machine running it anywhere convenient [ie: Without sales staff]).

      The only reason I got mozilla started is because someone was nice enough to leave a link to it on the desktop. Blech. That's a sucky place to start your programs.

      But hey, each to their own. Perhaps if I had the missing Mac OS manual handy, I'd be in the zone. But with any other system (including all sorts of wacky X window managers) I don't usually have such trouble getting simple applications going, so I'm leaning towards usability problem rather than lack of knowledge. If anyone would care to enlighten me, though, hey, I'm game.

      --
      If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
    17. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by evilviper · · Score: 1
      Letting customers spend less money on hardware means there is more money leftover for buying pricey Adobe software.

      Riiiiiiiggghhhhttttt.... That's why we see so many people wearing torn Levi's and T-Shirts, with a Rolex. That's why we see so many people wearing Armani suits, driving Pintos.

      In fact, the real world works the opposite way. People spending less on hardware are more likely to get the less expensive software, which is part of the reason beind the popularity of Linux and Open Source on PCs.

      The fact is, the majority of people involved in multimedia prefer to use Macs, not PCs... Why should Adobe care how much you are willing to spend for your hardware and OS?
      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    18. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by b-baggins · · Score: 1

      I am still absolutely amazed at how PC users will blithely list all the self-castration they have to do to their system's functionality to protect themselves from virii as they proclaim how usable their system is.

      And they say Mac users live in a reality distortion field.

      --
      You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
    19. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by b-baggins · · Score: 1

      It's a PITA because you've been conditioned by MS to think and act on the machine's terms instead of thinking naturally.

      The natural thing, of course, to open a program is to go get it on the hard drive.

      Double-click My computer, double click Applications, double-click Text Edit.

      However, because of MS's asinine implementation of programs in their OS, they have to throw shortcuts into a nightmare menu system called the Start Menu and send users there.

      --
      You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
    20. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am still absolutely amazed at how PC users will blithely list all the self-castration they have to do to their system's functionality to protect themselves from virii as they proclaim how usable their system is.


      what are the 4 things in the parent post?

      - firewall
      - web browser exploits

      Simply a symptom of being a target because you're in the 95%

      - mail client settings

      Turning off scripting in outlook is easy. As for disabling HTML mail - many people HATE HTML mail. Not because it compromises security, but because it is stupid.

      - using 'stable' video drivers

      Yes. This is a problem you only need to worry about when you have your choice of MANY PIECES OF AFFORDABLE HARDWARE. No wonder you don't understand.

    21. Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe by Frightened_Turtle · · Score: 1

      I didn't say "things just feel faster on a Mac."

      I said, "They run better."

      It's easier to get things done, the machine does things the way I want to do them. The integration feels better between applications and the operating system.

      The keyword is Intuitive. After having spent years stuck on Windoze systems, working with a Mac is a breath of fresh air! Yeah, the Mac I'm using is old (in computer years), but it's still a lot better to use than the PC. I get more done faster using the Mac because it works the way I want it to work -- not the way Bill wants me to work.

      --


      Whew! This water sure is cold!
  10. Referenced article aka whorin' by tuanjim_2001 · · Score: 1

    This is the article (at www.digitalvideoediting.com) they get those pretty little pictures from. Haven't had a chance to read it yet but it is near at 5 months old.

    --
    "If a quarter is two bits, then a dollar's a byte." -R Deric Miller
  11. Bad move?? by destiney · · Score: 2, Insightful


    How is it a bad move? They know which platform they sell more copies of their software for. Hint, hint.. it's not the Mac! So it makes perfect business sense for them to say what they prefer their users to use their products on.

    "Upset Mac people.." Come on! As if they aren't used to it by now.

    I'd be upset knowing I spend 2-3 times as much for my computer to do the same work a PC will do.

    That's just dumb.

    1. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd be upset knowing I spend 2-3 times as much for my computer to do the same work a PC will do.

      Really? While I'm doing my work all my friends with PCs are busy trying to figure out why their system crashes twice a day. Or why the device driver for their mouse suddenly uninstalled itself. Or why after installing a second harddrive they had to call MS to get a new activation key.

      Yes, the PC can do the same work as the Mac. It just takes a bit longer for it to get there.

    2. Re:Bad move?? by MtViewGuy · · Score: 1

      Besides, CPU, graphics card and display technology has pretty much caught up with what you can get on a Macintosh.

      Today's AMD Athlon XP and Pentium 4 (Northwood core and newer) CPU's sport enough multimedia register extensions that they can easily process large amounts of graphics data quickly. Also, with Windows 2000 and Windows XP (in a way, it's been around since Windows 98) you can load special drivers for display monitors that activate special controls to fully calibrate the color of the monitor so it matches the printed output.

      Given that PC's are 85% of the market for desktop machines Adobe has to cater to the market that has the most potential to make money--and the PC market is it.

    3. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha! It's obvious you haven't looked at the prices in the last 2 years. When you compare PCs to Macs, feature by feature, Macs are actually a tad cheaper. And on top of that several industry analysts have shown Macs to have lower TCO (total cost of ownership).

    4. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "why their system crashes twice a day."

      you've got your rock tumbler plugged into their power bar??

      pure FUD

      "Or why the device driver for their mouse suddenly uninstalled itself. "
      bwahahaa...i've only seen this happen on linux...

      more macult FUD

      " Or why after installing a second harddrive they had to call MS to get a new activation key."

      even more FUD...

      gawd,no wonder macs are being abandoned...lies,FUD, and more lies

    5. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe you just don't know how to use a computer.

    6. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HA HA HA But what can YOU frag with a ONE BUTTON MOUSE!?!?! WOO!

    7. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You Mac-heads tickle me sometimes.

      Not only is the mac better, but it is cheaper (lb for lb)?

      I don't reckon you would like to post the cost of both systems (itemized plz) that you are referencing. Don't get me wrong, I like Mac too, but, cheaper?

    8. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I work in the printing industry and though we have seen more jobs done on PCs in recent years, only about 1-2 percent of our incoming jobs are created on PCs. Professionals in the design industry tend to stick to Macs. That's just a fact. That may change over time, but it'll be at a snail's pace...

    9. Re:Bad move?? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      That Apple argument may be true. However, it's a bit of a red herring.

      With a PC, you simply aren't forced to pay through the nose for every new and bleeding edge bit of technology. If you don't want a firewire interface, you don't have to pay for one.

      You can simply wait for the $30 PCI card.

      Thus, the PC functional equivalent of an iMac retails for $300.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    10. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While your crash 2x per day would have made sense when we were running 9x/Me it holds little value now. I run XP for months at a time with no crashes. I installed XP months ago and can honestly say I have never had a crash of the OS that it couldn't recover from. (Usually due to a bad CD in the drive, which a mac is equally prone, yet luckily I could still get my CD out.)

      Mouse driver uninstalling itself, not only is that idea only far fetched enough only for a switch ad, but on the contrary when I got a new 4 button optical mouse, the buttons worked as soon as I plugged it in with no drivers... that's impressive.

      Added a new hard drive after xmas, Windows instantly recognized it with nothing more than a prompt to format... no call required.

    11. Re: Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      How is it a bad move? They know which platform they sell more copies of their software for. Hint, hint.. it's not the Mac! So it makes perfect business sense for them to say what they prefer their users to use their products on.

      This, by itself, means nothing. If I have 10 blue widgets and 10 red widgets to sell, I don't care which one you buy. As long as you buy a widget from me, I'm happy. The REAL questions are:
      • Does it cost more to produce blue widgets than red? If so, how much more?
      • If I decide that I only want to make red widgets, can I still sell 20? Will the blue widget buyers switch to red?
      "Upset Mac people.." Come on! As if they aren't used to it by now.

      I'd be upset knowing I spend 2-3 times as much for my computer to do the same work a PC will do.

      That's just dumb.


      Math isn't your strong suit, is it? If the cost of the Mac is $600 more than the cost of the PC, and the PC is $2900, the Mac isn't 2-3 times as much as the PC. Sure, it's still more expensive, but what does the Mac have that the PC doesn't have? Dual Firewire 800? SuperDrive (DVD-RW)? Gigabit Ethernet? Seems like a lot of those things would be useful in a video editing system.

      By the time you add the items that the PC needs to be equivalent in functionality, guess what? The PC is $200 more than the Mac. And this is for a newer Mac, with dual 1.42 gig processors. That should close the gap a bit.
    12. Re: Bad move?? by GPTurismo · · Score: 2, Funny

      I mean, with that math, a person is a total idiot for buying a BMW with 200 horsepower for 35000 over a Camero with 400 Horsepower for 25000. Some people don't understand quality :)

    13. Re:Bad move?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This just isn't the case. Adobe wasn't profitable again until the Mac OS X version of Photoshop came out. Once it did they posted a profit! Go back and look at the numbers and the history. And, they sell more proferssional versions on the Mac than on the PC. Hint, Photoshop Elements isn't professional :) Plus, the CEO is an ex-Microsoft executive - gee, maybe that has something to do with it. One more problem, they're too lazy programming for a windows world to get it right on the Mac. Anyone who knows the difference understands what I'm talking about. Their apps are not tuned to AltiVec!!! Hey, here's one! How many Adobe executives have left Adobe in the last year and joined Apple? Very interesting indeed. Adobe is sucking wind and getting caught up in the "Microtype" race to convert everyone to their products just as Microsoft does with every one of their sucky consumer products. Self implosion would be around the corner if they don't focus on their core market. Oh by the way - the PC is faster, especially after crashing. Gotta love those XP restarts on these fast machines everyone is talking about!

      Happy PC'ing

  12. Open Apple by Znonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't it be cool if Apple made a native port of The GIMP for OS X?

    --

    Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.

    1. Re:Open Apple by Hanji · · Score: 1

      Unless I'm mistaken, the gimp uses GTK, and a nativ OS X port of GTK is in progress (very early beta atm, I believe), so we may not even need to hope that Apple does it.

      --
      A Minesweeper clone that doesn't suck
    2. Re:Open Apple by Znonymous+Coward · · Score: 1

      Yea, I just hate waiting. Plus I'm sure Apple could do a little extra (like adding gif support $$$).

      --

      Karma: The shiznight, mostly because I am the Drizzle.

    3. Re:Open Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't it be cool if Porsche painted a Yugo purple and called it the new Boxster?

      (No.)

    4. Re:Open Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      apple doesn't make it, but there is os x gimp.

    5. Re:Open Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Uh gimp already supports gif .... don't what planet you live on!

    6. Re:Open Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, wouldn't that be apple trying to kill of a competitor with a free, bundled product? Kinda like MS?

    7. Re:Open Apple by Ponty · · Score: 1

      Not really.

      It would thrill the crowd and result in some damned-ugly graphics on people's webpages. They'd then associate butt-ugly pictures with Mac OS X.

    8. Re:Open Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It can load them fine, but I don't think it can compress them. That'd be kinda sorta on the illegal side of things.

  13. Platform preference by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Well, I guess I would have to say that one is more productive within their platform environment of preference in general. Yes, my dual Ghz G4 with Cinema display is not as fast as the P4 system it replaced, but it is generally a much more productive environment in that I can run on one workstation, code originally written for SGI, Office for Mac, Adobe products galore, remote sensing code, the website for our lab etc...etc...etc... and I could not do all of this nearly as well or as easy with the three systems my OS X workstation replaced including an SGI Octane, a Wintel system and an older Mac.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    1. Re:Platform preference by the+gnat · · Score: 1

      Exactly. Many people find that Windows cripples their productivity, and I see many people insist on using Windows because they think it's the best OS, and never realize how they're doing things wrong. They're always amazed when they find out that something can be done much faster on another platform, if they'd bother to learn how.

      I recently visited several major grad schools to look at their biology programs, and at least two-thirds of the faculty were using either the Titanium or one of the new G4s with the Cinema display. They don't need a computer to be fast, they need it to work properly. If they need number-crunching power, they almost always use a Linux PC. Even the people who use Windows on the desktop never do anything more than PowerPoint and Word - I have yet to see someone doing serious biology research on a Windows platform. Quite a few people, however, are doing serious research on OS X.

    2. Re:Platform preference by BWJones · · Score: 1

      I recently visited several major grad schools to look at their biology programs, and at least two-thirds of the faculty were using either the Titanium or one of the new G4s with the Cinema display.

      Very cool. I would be curious to know where you went as biology labs have historically been a stronghold for Macs. In fact, the Biology dept. here is almost exclusively Macintosh. Additionally, the vision meetings I attend yearly have seen a significant increase in the little glowing Apples up on the podiums in the last three years, whereas before it appeared that many vision scientists were using Wintel laptops.

      They don't need a computer to be fast, they need it to work properly.

      Actually, I NEED a computer to work properly AND work fast. I am hoping that the speed delta between Macs and Wintels is mitigated in the near future.

      I have yet to see someone doing serious biology research on a Windows platform.

      I know of quite a number of folks doing hard core research on Wintel platforms, however, they typically have more problems, cannot be as flexible in many of their applications and they end up replacing them far more often than users of Macintosh based machines. In fact, I just finished collaborating with a colleague on a manuscript comprising the last two years of my life's work and up until last month, she was running an old iMac G3 with MacOS 8.1!!! I was amazed to find out she had been quite prolific in publishing using that older basic level system.

      Quite a few people, however, are doing serious research on OS X.

      Indeed. From my experience, these folks tend to be the ones pushing the limits of science. It could be that they have simply been early adopters, and would push science anyway. Or, it could be that OS X makes them more productive.....

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    3. Re:Platform preference by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      >They don't need a computer to be fast, they need it to work properly.

      Actually, I NEED a computer to work properly AND work fast. I am hoping that the speed delta between Macs and Wintels is mitigated in the near future.

      >Quite a few people, however, are doing serious research on OS X.

      Indeed. From my experience, these folks tend to be the ones pushing the limits of science. It could be that they have simply been early adopters, and would push science anyway. Or, it could be that OS X makes them more productive.....


      It could be the OSX users aren't constantly wasting time patching their systems against the latest virus/worm of the week, cleaning up after email viruses and klez worms, reinstalling their OS after yet another unexplained failure, etc. Or worse yet, not having to repair their computer because the no-name Chinese power supply caught fire, or the defective capacitors on the no-name motherboard leaked and failed, or the fan/heatsink fell off the processor because the tabs on the socket broke...

      I'm not a Mac user, but I sure don't see them having all the troubles that typical PC users have, and that surely translates to greater productivity.

    4. Re:Platform preference by Zaak · · Score: 1

      It could be the OSX users aren't constantly wasting time patching their systems against the latest virus/worm of the week, cleaning up after email viruses and klez worms, reinstalling their OS after yet another unexplained failure, etc. Or worse yet, not having to repair their computer because the no-name Chinese power supply caught fire, or the defective capacitors on the no-name motherboard leaked and failed, or the fan/heatsink fell off the processor because the tabs on the socket broke...

      While many of the problems you mention are valid advantages of Macs over PCs, remember that the reason Macs have fewer virii is almost entirely due to the Mac's smaller market share. Before OS X, Mac OS security was the same as Windows (ie, none), and even now, there are almost certainly exploitable security holes in common Mac software.

      Linux has fewer virii for the same reason. The holes are there (and better known in the case of Linux), but few exploit them on a large scale because Linux has a smaller share of the market.

      TTFN

    5. Re:Platform preference by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      This is MS astroturfer BS. MS has more virii because its software was written without any concern whatsoever for security. Show me ANY mail client for Linux that will execute programs in incoming emails. There aren't any. Show me any worms infecting database software in Linux; if there are any (I doubt it), they aren't a problem simply because most Linux boxes aren't running DB software, and those that are aren't all running the same one (MySQL, Postgres, Oracle, etc.). Slammer had such a huge effect because, for some strange reason, so many MS systems were running SQL Server even when it wasn't being used for anything, and users didn't know it was on! What do I need SQL Server on a laptop for?

      Your statement may have had some validity back in the old days of DOS, when single-user operating systems with no security were the norm, and people downloaded odd software and ran it without thinking. Now we have multiprocess operating systems with multiple privelege levels to help prevent this, and after suffering through all kinds of clever assembly-language virii in the 80's and early 90's, experienced users know better than to run software from unknown sources. But the malware problem has gotten larger, not smaller, solely due to MS's incompetence, and the stupidity of users who refuse to place the blame on MS where it belongs, and continue to send their dollars to Redmond. Virii are no longer written in assembly language, using advanced techniques like morphing, altering boot sectors, etc.; things only people skilled at assembly language programming and machine architecture can understand. Now they're written by "script kiddies" in simple MS scripting languages, exploiting obvious vulnerabilities in MS software that simply don't exist in any other products.

      Stop astroturfing and FUDding people with this tired argument about market share when it's so blatantly a lie.

    6. Re:Platform preference by xmnemonic · · Score: 1

      Can I have your old Octane then?

    7. Re:Platform preference by BWJones · · Score: 1

      Can I have your old Octane then?

      Already gone. Check on eBay for other Octanes. The absolute surprising bit though, is that I originally paid about $35k for the Octane, about $2500 for the Wintel box and $3200 for the Mac. All machines were purchased at the same time, and when they were sold, I got $800 for the Octane, $200 for the Wintel PC and get this.....$1300 for the Macintosh. That should tell you something about retained value and return on investment with Apple computers.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
    8. Re:Platform preference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, but if you work 8 hours per day, 7 of which is waiting for things to render, it *does* make a difference.

    9. Re:Platform preference by afantee · · Score: 1

      >> Yes, but if you work 8 hours per day, 7 of which is waiting for things to render, it *does* make a difference.

      You sound like a stupid robot. Sitting in front of a ugly Dull waiting for rendering? You can write a script to do it and move on to something more interesting or at least sexier. Ever heard multi-tasking?

    10. Re:Platform preference by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And I don't see much work being done on GIS with Apple. That whole missing ArcView thing...

    11. Re:Platform preference by Zaak · · Score: 1

      This is MS astroturfer BS.

      Don't be silly.

      You are correct that Microsoft programs have security holes and misfeatures, but all that does is lower the barrier to entry. It is secondary to the point I was making.

      There are more virii for Windows because there are more virus writers who know Windows, and there are more targets which run Windows. Yes, if market share were equal Windows would still have more virii than Mac OS X or Linux, but here and now the largest contributing factor is the dominance of Windows.

      Please don't let your dislike of Microsoft's shoddy software distort your judgement.

      TTFN

  14. And.... by guacamolefoo · · Score: 1

    Is raw processing power the only consideration? Granted, an editor with more time is more productive. There are other cosiderations, however.

    In any case, the article referenced didn't exactly state what effect this pronouncement (of sorts) would have on Adobe's products. I don't think that they'll bag their Apple lines, but is Adobe going to use this to nudge their customers onto an platform? Somehow, I just don't see that happening.

    GF

  15. /me shrugs by Pike65 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    At the end of the day it's the users who are going to decide what the 'preferred platform' is, and I know that a large proportion of graphic/web designers who could not be separated from their G4s without a crowbar and tub of Vaseline. Whatever Adobe say.

    However, does this mean Adobe are going to start favouring Windows in terms of releases and support? I suppose that could make more of a dent . . .

    --
    "If being a geek means being passionate about something, then I pity those who aren't geeks." - Pike65
    1. Re:/me shrugs by ckd · · Score: 1
      does this mean Adobe are going to start favouring Windows in terms of releases and support?

      What do you mean "start", kemo sabe? Look at the Acrobat 5 release and the way that certain features weren't available on the Mac version. Look at Acrobat Reader for Palm OS--the conduit launches Classic under Mac OS X, and wasn't available for Mac at all until v2.0.

      At least InDesign is ahead of QuarkXpress in terms of OS X support--not that that's a real difficult thing to manage....

    2. Re:/me shrugs by mblase · · Score: 1

      However, does this mean Adobe are going to start favouring Windows in terms of releases and support?

      Ever since Adobe began emphasizing feature parity between Windows and Mac versions, they've been good about releasing software for both platforms at the same time. I shouldn't be worried about that.

    3. Re:/me shrugs by mosch · · Score: 5, Insightful
      No, it means that slashdot is making a big deal out of absolutely nothing at all.

      The entire theory that Adobe is now "preferring" the PC platform is based on the fact that there's a page called pcpreferred.html on Adobe's site. A page that simply says 'looks like some stuff is faster on this here PC'.

      The fact of the matter is that for most applications, both PCs and Macs are so damned fast that it doesn't matter which is faster, it matters which OS allows you to work more efficiently. Adobe's Mac support has shown no signs of trouble whatsoever. They continue to pump out simultaneous or near-simultaneous releases of their apps for both Mac and Windows. They continue to provide patches for both versions nearly simultaneously.

      This whole article simply shows how sensationalistic slashdot is willing to be in order to get some ad views. It's no different than any other editorial column really. You say something retarded, then watch everybody earn you money while they discuss whether or not you're a retard.

    4. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well said man, I think you nailed it on the head there.

      I would also recommend that the author of this article do some research into what he is posting before he loses whatever small shred of creditability that he might have.

    5. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      and I know that a large proportion of graphic/web designers who could not be separated from their G4s without a crowbar and tub of Vaseline.

      And, of course, most Macintosh graphic designers can't be separated from the arsehole of whoever they're screwing without a crowbar and a can of Crisco!

    6. Re:/me shrugs by zuhl · · Score: 1


      I'm looking at my Dock in OS X right now. Guess what the only program running in Classis is? Yep, you got it. Quark XPress. I've tried InDesign and if we weren't busy to the gills with a major catalog I'd have all ten of my graphic designers switched over to InDesign.

      And I have to say this about Adobe and Windows. I feel like at some point Bill G. and company are going to turn their sites on the graphic niche. They already conquered the OS, Office productivity, and made significant gains in the server world. (I know their servers blow and I don't use them, but they have made significant gains over the years.) At some point they'll say, "hey look, we can take over the publishing sector, too!" MS Publisher sucks astoundly bad right now. But, if MS really wanted to, I suspect that they could churn out *something* decent in the graphics field. And I think that fact keeps Adobe on its toes. They don't want to "offend" Redmond and so they make sure that Photoshop, Illustrator, et al. are excellent on both platforms. (Though Illustrator 10 is pretty slow and horrible no matter what you run it on). Pimping Windows (if that is what they are really doing) is just throwing the Beast from Redmond a bone.

    7. Re:/me shrugs by tshak · · Score: 1

      The fact of the matter is that for most applications, both PCs and Macs are so damned fast that it doesn't matter which is faster...

      What Adobe apps don't require a ton of CPU? My Premier renders still take forever - the same goes for After Affects. Even Photoshop on large files can take a minute or two to apply filters. I'm sorry but the whole attitude of "a dual 1.42Ghz G4 is fast enough" is BS - especially within the scope of digital media!

      --

      There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
    8. Re:/me shrugs by textral · · Score: 1

      Nothing at all? These were simple rendering tests, measured in minutes. Most people out there using photoshop & illustrator in combination with after effects, at least commercially, deal with rendering times in hours or tens of hours. Extrapolate the performance differences under those considerations, and tell me then that a big deal is being made of 'nothing at all.'

    9. Re:/me shrugs by Dun+Malg · · Score: 1
      At least InDesign is ahead of QuarkXpress in terms of OS X support--

      Good. Maybe our graphic design outsourcing will stop coming back in Quark for Mac. Quark is a travesty. Quark for Mac files aren't even compatible with Quark for PC or vice-versa. You have to run them through a converter, which then breaks them. Quark must die!

      Sorry 'bout the rant. I've had a few bad experiences with Quark recently...

      --
      If a job's not worth doing, it's not worth doing right.
    10. Re:/me shrugs by Reziac · · Score: 1

      What happens if the latest and greatest software those designers *need* is no longer available for the Mac platform? For the sake of discussion, let's assume that happens. Now what will they do? Give up their Macs or give up their jobs?

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    11. Re:/me shrugs by agentkhaki · · Score: 1

      While I do tend to agree - Mac users will almost always be Mac users - I don't agree that Adobe is totally unbiased when it comes to software releases.

      Photoshop 7 is pretty good, but it's all downhill from there.

      Illustrator 10 for OS X is perhaps the shoddiest piece of software I've ever had to run - half the time when I launch it, it forgets what palettes I had open. Whenever I double-click a file to both open the file and launch Illustrator (i.e., Illustrator isn't running yet) I get one but not the other - Illustrator starts up, but the damn file doesn't open, and I have to double-click it again. Finally, it crashes. Design software should never crash - and if it does, there should be an auto-save feature as an option.

      Photoshop, in all the years I've been running it, on the PC and the Mac, has never once crashed. Illustrator crashes every Tuesday...

      I've had no experience with the other programs people mention, and though I do love my Mac, I will agree that software companies certainly don't give the same attention to Mac versions of their software that they do the PC versions.

      --
      Ack!
    12. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Perhaps it is time for all loyal Mac users to switch to Macromedia products!

    13. Re:/me shrugs by zuhl · · Score: 1


      Are you using different versions (4.1 vs. 5.0 and Mac and Windows) on different platforms? That could trip you up. I have a copy of 5.0, but won't use it since no one else in our office has it. XPress documents should be cross platform compatible and mostly are. I've never had to use a converter, but I don't deal with different platforms every day anymore.

      I been using XPress on both platforms (admittedly, mostly Mac) for years and not had too many problems. The thing that will KILL you every time are fonts. Type will reflow almost every time no matter how careful you are and no matter that you tell it to use the document settings and not your default machine settings. I'd recommend this: First make sure the Mac folks use ".qxd" at the end of their file names. Second, and this is a doozy. Have the Mac folks use a program like Fontographer to convert *every* font they used to a PC version. PostScript fonts are also generally preferrable as well. I used to work in Pre-Press for a commercial printer so I have a fair amount experience in this area. Good luck getting the Mac XPress folks to switch though. Once they find something that works and they are comfortable, it's a little hard to help them see the light of a different way, i.e., InDesign.

      Yesterday I just saw a Preview Release of XPress Passport on X. Looked nice. But who knows when they'll actually get around to publishing it. Could be forever and then it won't work right until the ".11" release. :-)

    14. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mac user, eh? Never mind. All is well. Apple is glory. Mac is walhalla. Repeat until insecurity subsides.

    15. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      well thats just bull pucky. i have the latest powerbook 15 inch and its slow in all adobe apps compared to a similar pc of the same clockspeed.

      Adobe isnt using Altivec properly, IMHO. It seems like they won't get things straightened out until Photoshop8, Illus11, etc.

    16. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I predicted it - Mac users now claim that Adobe isn't optimizing for their machines.

      Oh you sad, pathetic loser. Wake up to reality!

    17. Re:/me shrugs by outsider007 · · Score: 1

      At the end of the day it's the users who are going to decide what the 'preferred platform' is

      I'm sure a lot of Mac users will still prefer a platform where photoshop doesn't crash every so often and cause them to lose hours of work.

      I don't think cpu is really as big a bottleneck as people here are making it out to be. maybe for something like 3dstudio max, but not so much for Photoshop.

      --
      If you mod me down the terrorists will have won
    18. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The average amount of OS usage that plays into a computer graphic designer's tasks:

      1. Move mouse to shortcut icon.
      2. Double click (or single click) Photoshop icon on Desktop.

      From then on, OS ease of use is irrelevant. They're using the applications, not the OS anymore. True, OS speed might affect how the Application runs, but I think we've already seen how much slower Macs are anyways.

    19. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The entire theory that Adobe is now "preferring" the PC platform is based on the fact that there's a page called pcpreferred.html on Adobe's site. A page that simply says 'looks like some stuff is faster on this here PC'.

      And what conclusion do you draw? The PC is faster, the page is called "pcpreferred," THEY MUST PREFER MACS!

      Of course, which they prefer might not be all that important.

      The fact of the matter is that for most applications, both PCs and Macs are so damned fast that it doesn't matter which is faster

      For the applications in question it does, so this argument is just like this story, true but irrelevant.

    20. Re:/me shrugs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're seriously claiming that MOST people who use photoshop and illustrator experience multi-hour render times? That's a new kind of stupid, my frined.

  16. Finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Woohoo! Perhaps the Mac zealots that keep saying their platform is faster, despite all the evidence to the contrary, will finally shut up.

    Nah, I guess that is too much to hope for.

  17. until by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft decides that photo rendering is properly a part of the operating system. Say hello to Netscape, Adobe.

    1. Re:until by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hate to burst your bubble, but Apple is doing some software bundling themselves these days.

  18. Adobe "has picked" ...? by Chromal · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, it seems what Adobe has actually done is a bit less inflammatory than what the headline suggests. On the hyperlinked page, they simply display the results from a performance benchmark that indicate a 3.06Ghz P4 outperforms a dual 1.25Ghz G4 by a wide margin on some tests, which is a little confusing as the article said the P4 was a 2.53Ghz. Whatever.

    This changes very little and seems hardly worth the effort sensationalizing.

    1. Re:Adobe "has picked" ...? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only on slashdot can the article debunk the title.
      "sensationalismn" .. how about pure fantasy?

      Surely that's more accurate.
      I guess no-one actually reads the articles on /. anymore.

  19. Hmm by MaestroSartori · · Score: 1

    Perhaps part of the reason that Apple has a hold on these sectors of the market is that a lot of the software has (until now, apparently) been better on the Mac?

    For what it's worth, I'd like to see properly optimised code run on both PC and Mac, to see which really is faster for Photoshop et al. Would be a nice real-world comparison, which is worth a lot more to me than a benchmark...

  20. Hmm... by TopShelf · · Score: 1

    It's not exactly Adobe proclaiming a preference for PC's, but rather they are simply presenting the results of one expert's analysis. Is this really surprising, however? Mac's haven't exactly been all about the data-crunching race between Intel and AMD, so it's hardly surprising to see it lag behind a PC in this sort of benchmark. There was a similar article a month or so ago in Maximum PC that had a similar theme...

    --
    Stop by my site where I write about ERP systems & more
    1. Re:Hmm... by hobbit · · Score: 1

      Here's how we're gonna stomp Saddam. [amazon.com]

      From the man himself:
      "Those who win one hundred triumphs in one hundred conflicts do not have supreme skill. Those who have supreme skill use strategy to bend others without coming to conflict"

      --
      "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
    2. Re:Hmm... by gughunter · · Score: 1
      From the man himself:
      "Those who win one hundred triumphs in one hundred conflicts do not have supreme skill. Those who have supreme skill use strategy to bend others without coming to conflict"

      What Saddam actually said was "Those who have supreme skill use the rack to bend others."

  21. Latest Update by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Latest Update: Al Gore is said to be contesting the Adobe benchmarks and appealing to the Supreme Court for an immediate recount.

    --

    Dreamweaver Templates

  22. Where do they prefer it? by fname · · Score: 1

    OK, so Adobe links to one article showing that PCs are faster at certain tasks. How do you make the leap that Adobe "prefers" PCs? Have they never before shown any benchmarks between the two? Adobe may prefer PCs, but that's not at all what the mini-article on Adobe's site says. It's just ammunition for people wanting to use PC's, so they can say to their boss (or employee), "see, PCs are better." I bet they have stuff that goes the other way, too. Every platform switch is money in the bank for Adobe.

    1. Re:Where do they prefer it? by BadElf · · Score: 0, Flamebait



      Every platform switch is money in the bank for Adobe.

      Personally, I'm surprised Adobe has kept developing for the Mac (even considering the core Mac demographic are designers/publishers) when the Apple market is so small and Apple itself is so damn difficult to work with. Supporting the Mac has got to be costing Adobe money, considering the development dollars invested compared to the number of installed units out there.

      Just my $0.02US...

  23. Huh? by Zayin · · Score: 3, Redundant

    "Abobe has picked Windows as the preferred platform for running Photoshop, After Effects, and Illustrator. I don't know how many Mac people this will upset, but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part."

    The article linked says nothing like that at all. It just states that in a test performed in July 2002 a Pentium 4-based workstation outperformed a G4 workstation. It does not say that Adobe has picked Windows as the preferred platform.

    --
    "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy"
    1. Re:Huh? by mattyohe · · Score: 1

      the link is http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html... But the webmaster titling that html page isn't "adobe".. Also.. this review wasn't even conducted by adobe it was done by an "expert". Also.. on adobe's site.. they don't claim anything, they simply pose the question "Prefer a PC for DV?"

      Hopefully news submitters will start reading the crap they reference.

      --
      - what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
    2. Re:Huh? by appleprophet · · Score: 1

      The title of the HTML document is "prcpreferred.html"

    3. Re:Huh? by mattyohe · · Score: 1

      JEEPERS! People.. please preview what you are posting! it is not prcpreferred.html it is pcpreferred.html... but as I said... it obviously doesn't reflect how adobe feels about this subject. They are simply showing you resources to find an answer that you will like.

      Stories that get posted like this one make upgrading to a suscriber account seem more and more feasable.

      --
      - what is the definition of simultanagnosia?! I've been meaning to look it up!
  24. I wonder if this is Adobe getting back at Apple by LostCauz · · Score: 0

    for releasing a digital video editing app that kicks Premiere's ass. Hard.

  25. Porting Software by rf0 · · Score: 0

    You have to wonder if this is linked to Apple moving to OS-X. I like OS-X as much as the next person however to port an appliction surely can't be a quick process to get a native application. Also I would expect that it would take a few versions to get the best performace.

    With Windows it normally seems quicker and easier to move from one version to another as there is still binary compatibly and as such authors think they can get away with just adding things rather than having to rewrite. I'm not a fan of feature bloat but you can see why it is easier.

    As a decision for Adobe I can see this as much as a no brainer for expanding market share. Do MAC's still have much market dominance in the DTP market as they use to?

    Rus

    1. Re:Porting Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      MACs still have a huge market share in DTP, and all markets. It's very difficult to set up a modern, Ethernet-based network without the use of MACs.

      Macs, too, are still wildly popular among the DTP crowd.

    2. Re:Porting Software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have to wonder if this is linked to Apple moving to OS-X. I like OS-X as much as the next person however to port an appliction surely can't be a quick process to get a native application. Also I would expect that it would take a few versions to get the best performace

      No the process is obviously not trivial. Look how long it took Apple to make and OS X version of Final Cut Pro. If any one can port an app quickly it should be Apple. On the other hand porting Unix Versions of existing programs is relatively easy. Apple had an OS X version of Shake in next to no time. Why is this important for Adobe? Well Linux has been making huge inroads into the high end graphics market. It seems that every major studio is turning to a Linux solution for most of their computing needs. It make sence then for Adobe to be seriously thinking about making Linux versions of their software. With the conversion of some of their apps to OS X the battle is almost half over.

  26. What did Apple to do Adobe? by KingDaveRa · · Score: 1

    This is pretty nasty stuff, particularly for Apple. Those graphs are showing something like 50% extra speed for using a PC, and a clock speed which is, oh look, 50% higher. And the Mac was running dual proccessors, which is even worse.

    It almost makes you think Apple pissed Adobe off over something, and this is a poke in the eye in response.

    1. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? by LostCauz · · Score: 0

      three words: Final Cut Pro

    2. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      With that Apple went just one step too far.

      Apple has always had this "we don't need anybody else" attitude. They have closed hardware, proprietary OS and now they want to flush 3rd party application providers out too.

      (OT: Funny similarities to the Bush cabinet's foreign policy...)

    3. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? by MrMickS · · Score: 4, Insightful
      It would appear that Adobe has been less than happy about Apple's move into the application market. FCP and iMovie have taken business away from Adobe. Premier used to be the package for editing on the Mac. Rarely spoken about now. There was also apparently a lot of feedback from Adobe about the image retouching elements of iPhoto which led to them being watered down for version 1.

      That said Quark's inability to move Xpress to OS X in a timely manner has given Adobe a market in the DTP arena with In Design.

      --
      You may think me a tired, old, cynic. I'd have to disagree about the tired bit.
    4. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? by silentmusic · · Score: 1

      Last time I checked (late last year) Adobe Premiere didn't run on the latest version of OS X. I actually returned a copy of Premiere as a result of this.

      --

      Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise.

    5. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AC and all, nobody will read this post.

      However, given that the page the link is posted on is about digital video, and the link to the pcpreferred.html page itself says simply "See what an industry expert has to say about PC vs. Mac for digital video editing. " my guess is that this is an attempt to get some market share back for Adobe Premiere, since Adobe has given up hope of competing against Apple's Mac-only Final Cut on the Macintosh platform.

      Digital video is, after all, one of the few remaining growing markets for computers and design software. And Final Cut is the product to beat. Adobe has hit on a simple and effective way to fight Final Cut -- let Apple shoot themselves in the foot with their processar woes.

  27. Office Depot Thread by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Last night there was a post about office depot only selling Windows XP preferred products. Maybe this is a software step in that direction, or maybe they're complying just for office depot type retailers.

    Obviously, the mac copy of adobe isn't going to work on windows.

  28. It only makes sense: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    People who purchase reasonably priced PCs as opposed to overpriced, underpowered Mac systems are more likely to have the money left over to by overpriced Photoshop.

    ~~~

  29. This is not what Adobe is saying by stubear · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Despite what the HTML file is named, the page itself is not a claim from Adobe that users should be running PCs instead of Macs. The page merely highlights a benchmarking test that was found on another website, digitalvideoediting.com. This test compared rendering performance between P4s and dual-G4s on apps from Adobe commonly used by those of us who do digital video editing and post-production work.

    1. Re:This is not what Adobe is saying by Perdo · · Score: 1

      This is what Adobe is saying:

      http://www.adobe.com/motion/gear/main.html

      Yep, that's a Dell.

      --

      If voting were effective, it would be illegal by now.

  30. Software differences by sheriff_p · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Slap me if I'm being silly, but how much do we know about the internals of these products, and how they're implemented between platforms?

    That is, could it be that the Windows Adobe team simply writes better software than the Mac Adobe team? How much of this can be put down to the underlying operating systems on both machines?

    Just thoughts

    --
    Score:-1, Funny
    1. Re:Software differences by ketamine-bp · · Score: 1

      Very probably. Many mac users wonder if recent adobe products are well (if at all) accelerated in MacOSX.

      And that.. Did anyone notice the left-top picture have big problem on the scale? - Read the book, and learn how to lie with statistics.. (The link is intentionally left blank and is left as an exercise for karma-whores.)

    2. Re:Software differences by k_187 · · Score: 1

      From what I know about Adobe (well, photoshop at least), its written as a mac App then ported over to windows. So optimizations aside, the speed differences would probably be to the brute force that x86 has going for it right now.

      --
      11 was a racehorse
      12 was 12
      1111 Race
      12112
    3. Re:Software differences by swb · · Score: 1

      How are platform differences like this handled at most companies? Are the applications written from scratch by two teams who converge on a common UI?

      It would seem that a good chunk (50%?) of the code could be written for overall efficiency in a platform neutral way and then the other 50% that was highly platform specific could be written for each platform.

      IANAD, but I would think that the 50% common-code number could actually be much higher if an effort was made to use portable, high-level development environments.

    4. Re:Software differences by Space+Coyote · · Score: 1

      One possibility is that Photoshop and other programs are designed and developed initially as Mac applications, and then another team is responsible for the Windows port.

      Now as we've seen with Microsoft going the other way with Office, that leave the dedicated porting group with no pressure to change design aspects or overall functionality, and they can be left to add improvements over top of the base code, hence why Office on the mac is (now) superior to the Windows version.

      This is just a wild guess, but it's a possibility.

      On the other hand, perhaps they just need more Altivec training.

      --
      ___
      Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
    5. Re:Software differences by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      Unless Adobe carefully cafts it's software in assembler, then the Mac and Windows versions will probably use the same (I expect C) code base

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    6. Re:Software differences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      "...hence why Office on the mac is (now) superior to the Windows version."

      Please explain? Load a biggish (2M+) word doc, turn on interactive spelling, and now scroll the document??? mmmm yeah.... better????

    7. Re:Software differences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just wait - it won't be long before the MacWankers start claiming that it runs slower because it is only optimized for PC.

    8. Re:Software differences by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      True, people also forget that with WindowsNT, 2k, and XP all of the Windows code is written in a portable language as well. It is a design requirement that was set by the NT team in 1992.

      Whereas Win95,98,ME had lots of assembly for x32. (Which also begs the question of how the NT team produced a faster OS considering the additional overhead in the security and object layers as well it runs on top of the NT kernel)

      The Win9x teams clearly weren't in the same class of programmer as the NT and XP teams as portable C++ code should not be able to outperform assembly optimized x32 code.

      People here also need to not forget that Apple is a Hardware company 1st and a software company second. So of course Apple is going to tout their hardware and push it instead of optimizing their software base.

    9. Re:Software differences by Llywelyn · · Score: 1

      I seem to recall that, awhile back before Quartz Extreme, it was mentioned that Adobe had thrown their own rendering layer on top of Photoshop in their Mac version. This would imply that now Quartz Extreme is there that the graphics card is doing everything /twice/.

      The idea that the PC version is a "port" of the Mac version is at least 10 years old--I think they have had time to optimize in that span of time, considering their further work with Intel.

      There is also configuration to worry about, but that is a problem in all benchmarking.

      --
      Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
    10. Re:Software differences by Watts+Martin · · Score: 1

      Yes, it could very well be that. Specifically, it could be that most Adobe programs don't know what to do with a second processor. Check out this article, Apples to Apples, which compares a single-processor 933 MHz G4 to a dual-processor 1GHz G4. Most of the benchmarks don't show any more improvement than you'd expect comparing the 933 MHz machine to a single-processor 1GHz machine.

      With this in mind, it's no wonder that a 3 GHz P4 is going to run rings around a dual processor 1.25 GHz G4--in most of those real world tests, the G4 is behaving like a single processor machine. No matter how much one fervently believes the "megahertz myth" (which gets vastly overstated these days anyway), that much of a speed difference is going to win. If anything, it's a testament to the good processor design in the G4 that it's only get trounced by that much.

      It'd be nice if OS X did more to automatically take advantage of multiple processors the way BeOS did, but it clearly doesn't--and in any case coders need to think about how multithreading across processors could be used to dramatically increase performance. They're not. That isn't Apple's fault, although unfortunately, it is their problem.

    11. Re:Software differences by rabidcow · · Score: 1

      This only matters if you're trying to compare processors rather than how well Adobe's software runs on those processors.

      And I dunno about them, but I'd try to keep as much code as possible identical between the two systems.

    12. Re:Software differences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple can't even get a couple icons in the finder to scroll smoothly. And you are ripping Adobe?

    13. Re:Software differences by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Win9x was probably optimized more for memory use than performance. And NT is no way faster for desktop applications -- install Win95 on that 3Ghz and see.

    14. Re:Software differences by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      Install windows 3.1 on that 3Ghz. Go on just fo a laugh (you have to do a bit of fiddling if you have any amount of memory though).

      well it starts faster than echo "" >> /dev/null

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    15. Re:Software differences by jafac · · Score: 1

      It could be that Photoshop is coded on Windows, and ported to OS X. (Instead of the way it used to be traditionally coded).

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
  31. The New Math by FunkyMarcus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I love "metric time" as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't trust any review that equates 47 seconds with 0.47 minutes [from the review].

    Mark

    1. Re:The New Math by superdan2k · · Score: 1

      Yeah, or that new "minuted" measurement they're using for the Dell. What gives with that?

      --
      blog |
    2. Re:The New Math by jonjohnson · · Score: 1

      Must have been some of that "faster", but not always better windows software...

    3. Re:The New Math by st0rmcold · · Score: 1


      LOL :)

      I didn't notice that, funny as hell tho.

      Maybe it's cuz the bar wouldnt stretch out further? lol

      --
      Posting useless rant since 2003.
    4. Re:The New Math by sacrilicious · · Score: 1

      Also noticed that the opening paragraph discusses a comparison between a 2.53GHz Pentium 4 and a 1GHz dual-processor G4, saying "the graphs below show some of the results"... while said graphs are labeled with "Dell P4 3.06GHz" and "Mac G4 dual 1.25GHz". Perhaps Moore's Law was in effect, and between the time that he typed the opener and the time he put in the graph, his computers had gotten faster.

      --
      - First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
    5. Re:The New Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's much more noticable on the first picture. The graph makes it look much worse than it actually is...

      http://www.adobe.com/motion/images/video_composi te .gif

    6. Re:The New Math by kmonsen · · Score: 1

      That is actually how it is written here in Norway (and probably many other places as well). We use , instead of .(.) The exception is time where 1.50 minutes means 1 minute 50 seconds and 1,50 minutes means 1 minute 30 seconds

    7. Re:The New Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I totally understand you use . instead of : but what kind of person makes a graph of every minute and 50 seconds later. There is a 10 second difference between some datasets and a 50 second between others. It is definetely a period in the sense of 1.5 = one and a half.

    8. Re:The New Math by kmonsen · · Score: 1

      Then I apologise, the link was slashdotted when I first tried to look, so I just made an educated guess.

    9. Re:The New Math by unicron · · Score: 1

      My mac get's 15 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I like it.

      --
      Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
    10. Re:The New Math by PhilHibbs · · Score: 1

      Obviously that image is just misnamed, it should be "lying_logo.gif".

    11. Re:The New Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      maybe it was changed since then, but the 3:47 time bar in that image falls between 3.5 and 4.0, almost exactly inbetween. 3.75 seems like a logical measurement of 3:47, don't you think?

    12. Re:The New Math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They DON'T, dumbass! They're equating it with ~.75 minutes. Put down the crackpipe, retard, and look closely at the graphic. Call me a troll if you want for swearing, but look at the image and you'll see that I'm right and you're wrong. Next time, don't drink your lunch before posting.

    13. Re:The New Math by Vaughn+Anderson · · Score: 1

      I love "metric time" as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't trust any review that equates 47 seconds with 0.47 minutes.

      It actually reads 3 min 47 seconds on the bar, but the hash marks show it as 3.78 min, which is entirely accurate. There is nothing wrong with this graph.

  32. is it just me... by shish · · Score: 1

    is it just me or has the site gone all photoshopped & shiny just now? are the slashdot graphics monkeys eating redmond pie?

    --
    I mod down anyone who says "I will be modded down for this", regardless of the rest of their comment
    1. Re:is it just me... by jmanning2k · · Score: 1

      Hmmm. Someone has never seen http://apple.slashdot.org/ before.

      Don't worry. It's just you.

      (It's just apple stories, nothing has changed)

  33. MDI Window model by mini+me · · Score: 2, Informative

    Photoshop and Illustrator are the most annoying programs to use under Windows. They both use the MDI (Multiple document interface) model for drawing their windows which makes it very difficult to utilize the avalible screen space.

    MacOS and even the UNIX versions of Photoshop/Illustrator do not suffer from the same design flaws.

    1. Re:MDI Window model by Oligonicella · · Score: 2, Informative

      What I hate about Illustrator is having a dozen menus floating around just to work with one element.

      In Frelance you simply right-click and get a menu tailored to the selected element. Much more efficient.

    2. Re:MDI Window model by wangavegas · · Score: 1

      Most professional photoshop and illustrator users use hotkeys for the vast majority of operations, so this isn't really an issue. Hide all the toolbars and work fullscreen.

  34. Doesn't match up... by mbbac · · Score: 2, Informative

    The clockspeeds of the computers mentioned in the introductory paragraph on that page don't match up with the clockspeeds of the computers in the charts. I'm wondering what other errors are present as well.

    Also, this doesn't look like an Adobe recommendation so much as Adobe showing one group's results of a comparative test. There is more to a computer than render speed, just as there is more to a computer than compile speed.

    --

    mbbac

  35. Adobe needs to watch their step. by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Dear Apple,

    Please stop pissing us off. You've created products to compete with us in photo management. You've added nonlicensed PDF capabilities to your new OS (which we had to update for OS X!) and you've utterly stolen the video editing market from us - which was quite profitable, despite the absolutely abysmal Premiere.

    We will continue to promote PCs as the better machine on our website, despite the fact that we ship for both platforms, because you've stepped on our toes. We recommend you go back to making machines and stop with the polished, useful, FREE software.

    Thanks,
    Adobe

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    1. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by dcr · · Score: 1

      Of course, it is not like Acrobat 5 actually works in OS X. Adobe is willing to sell something labelled as an OS X product, but the Adobe website says that Acrobat only converts graphics files in OS X (see the Adobe site for details), not the things that people actually want or need to use Acrobat for...



      Does it strike anyone else as ironic that Adobe, which began as a Macintosh-dominant company (the versions of PhotoShop always came out for the Mac first), is now becoming Windows-dominant?

    2. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by swb · · Score: 1

      Does it strike anyone else as ironic that Adobe, which began as a Macintosh-dominant company (the versions of PhotoShop always came out for the Mac first), is now becoming Windows-dominant?

      The enemy is growth. Once Adobe saturated the Mac market with their products, it became hard for them to grow. They could have stayed a Mac-user-base sized company, but investors wouldn't have it (especially in the .com runup), so they had to move to the PC market where the growth options were less limited.

    3. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by zilly · · Score: 1
      Does it strike anyone else as ironic that Adobe, which began as a Macintosh-dominant company (the versions of PhotoShop always came out for the Mac first), is now becoming Windows-dominant?

      No. In fact, it strikes me that there is nothing ironic about your observation at all.

      Sorry for being such a pedant; I don't know why this bothered me enough to comment. I must be feeling exceptionally perverse today.

      HAND.

    4. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by weston · · Score: 1

      This may be the most insightful comment in the whole list, especially considering that the application mentioned on the PC preferred page is, in fact, focused in digital video editing. Adobe has been bit by a competetive product in the Mac market. So they promote the PC, where there is no such competitor.

      The interesting thing is that I seem to recall that Apple bought the main technology for video editing 3-4 years back... from Adobe? Anyone know anything about this?

    5. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by DavidBrown · · Score: 1

      Good point. Apple bundling all that software with their systems is just like Microsoft bundling Explorer with Windows (except for the monopoly - except that for Apple users, Apple IS the monopoly.

      --
      144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
    6. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 2, Informative
      The interesting thing is that I seem to recall that Apple bought the main technology for video editing 3-4 years back... from Adobe? Anyone know anything about this?

      Well, as I understand it, it went something like this:

      Adobe had a great team of programmers working on Premiere once upon a time. They created Premiere 4 which was a staple of low-cost video editing (and where many of us got our start). It was a quirky program but very flexible and people liked it.

      This team had a radical new idea for the next version of Premiere, but for whatever reason it didn't work out with Adobe. That team, possibly in its entirety, left Adobe, as a purchase by Macromedia.

      Macromedia continued to work on what was now known as Final Cut and Adobe hired a new team which have birth to the abortion (my opinion) that was Premiere 5.

      Apple then cut some sort of deal with Macromedia (possibly when Avid were being dicks) and picked up Final Cut.

      Rest is history. You could see how Adobe is sore. They would never have given Apple the Final Cut project but somehow it ended up being 'laundered' through Macromedia.

      If anyone has any corrections to this feel free to reply.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    7. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      Good point. Apple bundling all that software with their systems is just like Microsoft bundling Explorer with Windows (except for the monopoly - except that for Apple users, Apple IS the monopoly.

      Not really the same thing. Apple apps are uninstallable by dragging a single icon to the trash, and they do not insist on being the 'default' for anything. Apple does not insist that removing their software will 'break' the OS. Safari is a good example of this.

      Sony is a monopoly on Sony products too (damn their memory sticks!). Saying Apple has a monopoly on Apple products is kind of nonsensical.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    8. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um. Its Apples hardware. Thats like saying Palm has a monopoly on the OS on Palm handhelds? Its their device, its their software, you are buying the whole kit from them. Microsoft does not make the hardware. It makes the software, and you pay for it wether you want to or not. Apple software bundles and Microsoft software bundles are not the same.

    9. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by DavidBrown · · Score: 1

      It's still the same thing. The ease of the uninstall procedure isn't important, and the common user doesn't care that you can't take Explorer off the hard drive without breaking the machine, as long has he or she has enough hard drive space to store their mp3 files. The user isn't going to bother to pay money for Brand X when he already gets software that does the same thing for "free" from Apple.

      And it's not nonsensical to say that Apple has a monopoly on Apple products. They do. If you want the OS, you have to buy the machine. If you want the machine, you have to buy the OS, and also pay for all of the bundled software that discourages the purchase of competing products. While this may not seem as egregious as what Microsoft does, it's really the same thing, only on a smaller scale.

      --
      144l. ph34r my 133t l3g4l 5k1lz!
    10. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1
      I think the only thing that Adobe would be really pissed off about is the video editing. But still, they have After Effects (or has Apple got something similar to that aswell?).

      Adobe still have Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and Distiller (Apple's built in PDF support ins't going to be replacing Distiler anytime soon).

    11. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They do - if you watched the credits for LOTR: Two Towers all the way to the end (where the MPAA logo is) you would have also seen a few other interesting logos: rendered in Pixar Renderman, composited with Apple Shake. So yeah, apparently Apple does have an alternative for that as well...and not just any alternative, its one that is good enough for feature film :)

    12. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by bnenning · · Score: 1
      And it's not nonsensical to say that Apple has a monopoly on Apple products


      Yes it is. It's meaningless to speak of a monopoly on a specific brand; using that definition every single manufacturer has a monopoly on their own product. Microsoft has been found to have a monopoly not on Windows, but on desktop operating systems.

      --
      How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
    13. Re:Adobe needs to watch their step. by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      Final Cut Pro probably has After Effects-like features, although probably not as extensive as Adobe's app.

      What Apple has done with FCP is astounding. It's approaching Media 100i in quality in some areas at 10% of the cost. In some areas it even eclipses Media 100. We have both systems running side by side and while Media 100 wipes the floor with FCP in real time effects, flexibility of capture settings and a few other things like SDI/component/AES/EBU, FCP is astonishing when it comes to squeezing performance and function out of what is essentially stock Apple hardware (Media 100 has an expensive hardware capture card and breakout box).

      FCP's titling system rocks too, beating Boris Grafiti into the ground with a big stick.

      I adore Media 100i, but I'd be hard pressed to choose between the two now (we've only had the FCP system for a couple of months).

      Adobe Premiere is a non runner in this race. We have Photoshop on both systems, since there is nothing to match it for stills work, but Premiere just can't match up when it comes to video editing on the Mac.

      On the PC it has less competition - if you want the serious stuff on a PC you have to look to Avid or 844/X, both of which will set you back serious money. The consumer/prosumer editing solutions are a much tighter race though and don't come close to Apple's consumer offering Final Cut Express.

  36. So what you are saying is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Either 250 pirated copies vs. 2500 pirated copies. But then again, that still is more copies sold...

  37. What's this about "preferred platform"? by mcc · · Score: 5, Informative

    The link doesn't say anything about Adobe preferring one platform over another, in the slightest. It's just some graphs indicating that PCs as a class perform better than macintoshes, which is something that i don't think anyone is denying at this point.

    While that kind of does seem like an endorsement of the PC on adobe's part, it also is just good business sense to explain to your customers what hardware your software runs best on.

    Speed at raw data-crunching is just one of the factors in which computing platform you are going to use, though if you're using AfterEffects or Photoshop or something it's going to be a much, much larger factor.

  38. Typical bad benchmarking by BShive · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's possible to slant the results either way you want with a careful selection of filters. His credibility is pretty much shot by the long tirade about how great the Dell is, and this quote: "Further speeding up the Dell entry is new gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 support."

    This has nothing to to with the tests he's running! It's also very possible that what he was doing wasn't taking advantage of both processors in the Mac. Given the sketchy information on the actual testing, we don't know.

    Granted, both camps do this kind of stuff - it proves nothing.

  39. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    man, that is just completely untrue. We run a shop of 20 macs and 10 PC's. Top end G4's and reasonably fast piii's. The differences in rendering complex filters is virtually nonexistent.

    The differences in interface: negligible.
    The differences in speed: imperceptible.
    The differences in cost: the pc's are cheaper.

    Which do you think we are buying more of next year?

    Our ENTIRE business rides on our ability to turn high end photoretouching (PS) and layout and design (AI). And there is no longer a big enough difference between macs and PC's to warrant the cost diff on our budget.

    All of our PC users were forced onto their PC's having been hardcore mac users. They complained, they spent a week getting into "natural" mode with XP, and then no problems at all. Two of them are looking at upgrading their apples and they are looking at the new line of Vaio's.

  40. Nice graphs... by speleo · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ...if you like chartjunk.

    The choice of red for the PC is interesting in that it draws your eye to it. I downloaded one of the graph and switched the colors of the bars. Then on first glance the eye is drawn to the Mac and your first thought is that it won whatever the test was about.

    If they really wanted to show info rather than a predetermined conclusion they would have done both bars in the same color.

    Interesting jpeg artifacts in the gif files, too. Probably resaved as gif from jpegs done on a Mac!

    1. Re:Nice graphs... by mcc · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The choice of red for the PC is interesting in that it draws your eye to it. I downloaded one of the graph and switched the colors of the bars. Then on first glance the eye is drawn to the Mac and your first thought is that it won whatever the test was about.

      Um.. but the mac didn't win what the test was about. It lost.

      If they really wanted to show info rather than a predetermined conclusion they would have done both bars in the same color.

      You know, i'm going to go out on a limb here and say that maybe they made the graphs after they ran the tests, at which point, their "predetermined conclusion" would have been kind of been moot.

      Which would lead me to suspect that maybe they chose to color the Windows bar red because windows won the test. Um.. i mean, it sounds reasonable to pick the color that draws your eye for the successful data, right? It's like a "lookit! this one is the important one!" flag, since you wouldn't otherwise have any indication on first glance whether short or long bars are better.

      And what jpeg artifacts do you refer to?

  41. Because Apple doesn't maintain a monopoly as well. by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

    They chose the PC platform because they see the direction Microsoft is going in (and already has gone in.) They know that they can assure themselves more sales by preferring, and developing to, a platform that is controlled largely by a monopolistic corporation with exclusive licensing practices.
    It's only going to get worse for consumer choice (read: more profitable for Adobe) in the PC market. They'll also ensure that their product is "Windows Certified" right away and stays that way.

  42. spare me.. by Dri · · Score: 1

    .. all the sad mac faces today. Maybe even some mac people "bombs".

    --
    Girls are strange. They don't come with a man page.
    -- Michael Mattsson
  43. Scale is wrong.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
    Sure is strange that the scale they use is completely wrong. Look at the first scale.

    The pc is 54 seconds, around 0.5 on the scale. Mac is 1min 25 seconds, which they wrongly put around 1.2 on the scale. Makes it seem like the mac is more then twice as slow when you look at it, when in fact the difference is not as much.

    1. Re:Scale is wrong.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Regardless of the damnated graph, the Mac still bites it. It's a 50% difference. Even with a correct scale, 54s would be .9 and 1m25s would be 1.42 which is PLENTY of a difference. Macs just do suck, don't they?

  44. Better!? by Gropo · · Score: 1
    but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part.
    Not to mention the fact that Photoshop for Windows chokes when you throw too many VM pages at it... Try creating a 1.5 gig canvas and zig-zag a 300 pixel dithered brush from one corner to the other. Even my 500 Mhz G4 is capable of finishing the task without a time-out.

    Just yesterday I tried this on a 2.6 Ghz P4/WinXP and got Mr. Hourglass for about 45 seconds 80% of the way through the render...
    --
    I hate Grammar Nazi's
    1. Re:Better!? by bottlerocket · · Score: 1
      • Try creating a 1.5 gig canvas and zig-zag a 300 pixel dithered brush from one corner to the other.
      And under what sort of circumstances would you need to edit a 1.5Gb image witha 300px brush?
      --
      where the comment ends and sig begins
    2. Re:Better!? by Gropo · · Score: 1

      That's not the point... It's simply a good real-world benchmark to inform you how well the app handles Cache and VM.

      Dodging/Burning/Wetting a long swatch of a 72" x 72" x 200ppi banner isn't exactly far-fetched, either.

      --
      I hate Grammar Nazi's
  45. metric system by _|()|\| · · Score: 5, Funny
    1:25 got placed at 1.25, and 0:54 got placed at 0.54

    Adobe is just using the superior metric system, which has 100 seconds / minute.

    1. Re:metric system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adobe is just using the superior metric system, which has 100 seconds / minute.

      Well, you will notice that the graph says "minuted", not "minutes".

      And here i'd thought that that was just a typo.

    2. Re:metric system by JWW · · Score: 1

      Thats centons not seconds ;-)

    3. Re:metric system by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 1

      Feldergarb!

      Chris Mattern

      foiling the stupid idiotic lameness filter

    4. Re:metric system by El+Cabri · · Score: 1

      Yes, this typo precisely demonstrates why the metric system IS superior.

  46. RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Does *anyone* read the article before they post -- including pudge? This is totally not what the link is all about. It's a single comparison, not a corporate shift, you knobs.

    1. Re:RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      NS - It doesn't say anywhere that Adobe has *chosen* the Windows platform over the Mac. It just shows some benchmarks from a third party. Duh.

  47. Re:Crack??? by Surak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I guess those Adobe folks are on crack... have you seen PS run on a Mac vs Windows??? It is SO much faster doing nearly all filters. The 3rd party ones even show considerable differences. - RR

    In fact, I have. In addition to systems administration, I've also worked as a professional graphic designer (and sometimes still do for side cash). And pound-for-pound, the newest versions of Photoshop run better and faster on Windows than on Macintosh.

    Personally, I find myself more and more using The GIMP on Linux because it's faster than Photoshop on *any* platform (and it's open source ;).

  48. whats dumb... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    is people who claim there is no difference without trying both. THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE. my mac runs photoshop for WEEKD at a time without problems, memory leaks, etc. my peecee is lucky to get a few hours, IF i don't push it too hard, run too many other things, etc.

    Isee it all the time, and you would too, if you werent so cheap that you sacrifice quality in the name of following the crowd. (everyone does it, it must be better. yup, the ford escort is the best car in america, because it sells the most.)

  49. Splitting hairs and marketing. by zerofoo · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'll tell you why Adobe is making a big deal about this: M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G.

    Adobe realizes that a commodity PC box costs less. This is important to people that, at the end of the day, have to make the numbers work. Adobe also realizes that a faster platform that costs less leaves more room in the budget for their software. A company saving money on the hardware is much more likely to spend on pricey software.

    -ted

    1. Re:Splitting hairs and marketing. by artemis67 · · Score: 1

      I'll tell you why Adobe is making a big deal about this: M-A-R-K-E-T-I-N-G.

      Adobe realizes that a commodity PC box costs less. This is important to people that, at the end of the day, have to make the numbers work.


      Yes, it's about marketing, but no, adobe doesn't care about the cost of the hardware. This specific page on Adobe's site is about digital video editing, and video editors are used to paying big bucks for their systems. Granted, prices have come down dramatically in the last five years of so, but its still about buying the right tools first and cost second. Even more so now, because cost is so much less of a factor today than it used to be.

      No, what this is about is the fact that Apple has encrouched on the Adobe's digital video turf, and adobe is fighting back. What Adobe is worried about is that Apple is steering editors towards Final Cut Pro. Every Mac comes with iMovie, which has also dug into Adobe's pockets a little. And Apple is selling iDVD; I don't know if Adobe has a competing product (I don't think they do), but Apple is offering a near-complete solution for digital video that totally knocks Adobe out of the way. That's what Adobe is pissed about, and they know that editors with Macs will be considering FCP.

      If they can disparage the Mac with these benchmarks, then they have completely knocked FCP out of the way.

    2. Re:Splitting hairs and marketing. by funwithstuff · · Score: 1

      This isn't even recent "news". The linked article is from November last year, more than five months ago, and it was linked then by a few sites. Nope, this is about marketing and Premiere vs Final Cut Pro. Final Cut is everywhere at industry exhibitions, it won an Emmy, and handles HD at a fraction of the cost of Avid. Premiere hasn't moved much in several years.

      Don't get me wrong, After Effects, Photoshop and Illustrator are lovely programs. Premiere isn't as good. And since Final Cut doesn't run on a PC, Adobe have a better chance of flogging Premiere to PC users. If Adobe gets more video designers/editors on PCs, they'll sell more boxes of Premiere.

      Meanwhile, it's a bummer that my Mac isn't as fast as the lastest PC, but it's not universally slower. Most PowerMacs (or even a current iMac) offer real-time previews of three-way color correction, fades, transitions etc. without rendering in Final Cut. And roll on the PPC 970.

      --
      it's not about the karma, it's about the whuffie
  50. Of course.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You have to realize that most Mac users are really just Windows haters. Throughout the 90's Apple put out some of the worst computers and OSs ever. They finally have started getting things right recently and all of sudden they are forgiven for the years of torment they gave to their once loyal customers. I personally think that Apple was far more negligent than Microsoft ever was.

  51. Which version of the OS was used? by webjedi · · Score: 1

    Okay, okay.. we're in a PC world... big deal. However, being a student of computers, journalism, statisitcs, and analysis, there are some glaring omissions from these reports as well as the press release. One of the largest is about which OS each was running. Given the lag time of when articles are written and published, I'm guessing this benchmark article was done actually around the April timeframe, well before Jaguar (OS 10.2) was released, and was welcomed as a mature version of the OS. Same thing goes for whatever windows version was involved. Truly, you still can;t compare apples to oranges because of the actual underlying operating system layer because they still function quite differently. I would recommend anybody to read, as well, the article mentioned a few months ago on processor architecture over at I believe ARSTechnica. It's pretty lengthy and technical, but it'll explain why ceratin procedures WOULD take less/longer time on the two different machines. I hate supposed application benchmark testing because it's never really comparing the true speed (and ease of use) of the whole experience of the application, if you want to complain or compliment computing architectures and the OSes that run on them, use the tried and true benchmarking rather that this type of subjective review... geez.

  52. Adobe: good at graphics, bad at math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative
    Man, look at those stupid graphs. They give the time in "seconds" but the graphs are in minutes. 54 seconds is not 0.54 on a minutes scale, and 1 minute 25 seconds is not 1.25 on a minutes scale.

    If there ever was a definition of lies in statistics, that's it.

    1. Re:Adobe: good at graphics, bad at math by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The graphs are fine. It's a 50% difference either way. You're just stupid.

      54 seconds would be .9, 1 minute 25 seconds would be 1.45ish, still 50% difference.

  53. The link says it all by bubblegoose · · Score: 1

    Have you looked at the link

    http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html

    --
    I hope that someday we will be able to put away our fears and prejudices and just laugh at people. - Jack Handey
    1. Re:The link says it all by Zayin · · Score: 1

      Have you looked at the link

      http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html


      No, I just read the article and checked the Adobe webside for what they say about Windows vs. Mac. I forgot to check the filename in the URL. Silly me.

      --
      "I'd rather have a full bottle in front of me than a full frontal lobotomy"
    2. Re:The link says it all by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, and here I thought the Mac was a Personal Computer...

    3. Re:The link says it all by Beatbyte · · Score: 1

      did you read the text of the link?

      smart-ass. its just a simple blurb on pc vs. mac. its not adobe dropping mac support. its not adobe PRFERRING PC over mac.

  54. Re:Crack??? by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 1

    I tend to agree - we do video compression in the main here and we are now 6 PC workstations (All Athlon XP) vs 3 Macs, whereas 3 years ago it was 3 PCs and 6 Macs. Still, we have are looking forward very much to new PPC 970 based Macs and have fond OSx to be a big gain for networking issues that long existed with the Macs. Apple isn't dead (and WinXP is a BIG fuck-up usability wise) and I STILL prefer to work on a Mac - and that makes a Mac for me more productive.

    --
    That was classic intercourse!
  55. It's just business reality by eyefish · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a sad day for Mac users, but this is nothing more than business reality.

    Adobe gets most of their money from the PC market, and the truth is that regardless of all the hype Steve Jobs has made recently regarding the Mac G4's, almost all benchmarks comparing a top of the line G4 to a top of the line PC simply give the PC a winning mark by a landslide in graphics and video tests.

    Now let's not get into a flame war over this, I love Macs too, but hey, if I have to render a large project, and it takes half the time to do so on a PC, then I will use a PC even if its user interface is not as nice as the Mac.

    This is why for some time now I've been advocating that Mac OS/X be ported to the x86 architecture. It's the only way Mac OS/X will be able to run on equal footing to Windows. Let's face it, Apple being the only major consumer of Power PC chips for consumer (I know, IBM uses them on large servers too) is not a good incentive to innovate, while on the PC market AMD, Intel, and Transmeta are always killing each other to come up with the fastest and "bestest" processor, and at the cheapest possible price.

    Macs either move to the x86 architecture or they are dead. And *please*, I know many fanatics will argue that "what makes Macs great is the amazing integration between hardware and software, something which cannot be acchieved or guaranteed in a commodity-based PC market", however not only is this not true (Apple for example could publish open APIs to have hardware vendors support in order to support all needed integration, and it could also build Mac PCs itself if it chooses to), but simply getting stuck with the past. Yes, it'd be great to control the hardware and the software, but right now business reality is telling Apple that this is not the time to do so.

    So, let's get on with it: I know this is a blow to Apple, and I know many Mac users will cry foul to Adobe, but I also think this is a necessary blow to Apple (and mostly, Steve Jobs) to let them know that things are simply moving really fast in the PC world in comparisson to Apple.

    Heck, you can already buy WiFi "g" for PCs much cheaper than on the Mac already, plus all PCs nowdays come with USB 2.0, and FireWire is almost standard or really cheap to add (20 to 40 bucks or so). About the *only* things Apple has going for itself right now is (1) FireWire 800 (and I bet you'll eventually find it cheaper on PCs), (2) the iApps, which are very easy to use, but I bet Microsoft or someone else will copy them soon enough, (3) the iPod (competitors are getting close also on copying it and improving it as well), and (4) Mac OS/X, which is a nice piece of work.

    So Steve: Port Mac OS/X to x86 *soon* before you let Apple die in obsolescence. It's just you versus *thousands* of companies making products for the PC commodity market, a market which due to competition is making products better and cheaper all the time. The choice is clear, evolve or die.

    1. Re:It's just business reality by rampant+mac · · Score: 3, Funny
      "This is why for some time now I've been advocating that Mac OS/X be ported to the x86 architecture. yadda yadda *snip*"

      You can snag Darwin from here. There's a lot of $10 no-name ethernet and sound cards that need porting. Get to it.

      On behalf of all x86 users out there, thanks in advance! :)

      --
      I like big butts and I cannot lie.
    2. Re:It's just business reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Working for an internet media/publishing company, I have to say that the majority of machines here used for daily production are Macs. This is not because they are any better or worse than a PC, but because they infrastructure was inherited from our parent company.
      After going through some serious down-sizing over the last two years, the cost savings of PC's over Mac's may dictate all future purchases. I suspect my company is not alone in this situation, and I think Adobe is ensuring that they survive the current hard times. Just my 2c.

    3. Re:It's just business reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Evolve or die? Don't you mean "Be like everyone else?" Freedom of choice is a good thing, so enough with your armchair apple "if i were steve jobs" rabble rousing, and get back to "building" cheaper faster peecees in your parents basement. Oh.. and tell us when you're done with the Darwin port, OK? Dont forget to get Quartz ported to all them video cards too.

      Chop chop! I'm waiting...

    4. Re:It's just business reality by Gropo · · Score: 3, Interesting
      Adobe gets most of their money from the PC market
      While this is true moreso today than in years past, the Mac market still constitutes a large enough percentage of Adobe's bottom-line that they would have to be mad to alienate this constituency... And as has been pointed out numerous times already, they haven't really fired any cannon-shots over Apple's bow, merely posted a link to a flawed benchmark.
      This is why for some time now I've been advocating that Mac OS/X be ported to the x86 architecture. It's the only way Mac OS/X will be able to run on equal footing to Windows.
      Except that any argument in support of this move ignores the fact that IBM's upcoming PowerPC architectures will be truly remarkable implementations of silicon and copper. The 970 and future Power5 'smaller cache, single core' derivative will indubitably shore up any performance gaps between PowerPC-based Apples and x86/x86-64 based Wintels.

      It also ignores the fact that the newest PowerPC's are imbued with a practical SIMD execution engine, the instruction set of which is not only heavily leveraged in MacOS X itself, but numerous 3rd party applications. The SSE2/3DNow! engines just don't stack up to AltiVec for widespread usage, and once Apple machines supply a 1.8-2.5Ghz, 200+ simultaneous instruction Integer/fpu core alongside Altivec, the argument for x86 Macintoshes will entirely evaporate.
      The choice is clear, evolve or die.
      ...Which is exactly why a 'small mammal' company like Apple will have no problem surviving well in to the next era of computing, while the great dinosaurs lose species' by the 24-pack (AMD lost how much last fiscal quarter?). Your suggestions are equivalent to urging Apple to evolve towards large, hairless bodies in a period of nuclear winter...
      --
      I hate Grammar Nazi's
    5. Re:It's just business reality by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      This is why for some time now I've been advocating that Mac OS/X be ported to the x86 architecture. It's the only way Mac OS/X will be able to run on equal footing to Windows.

      Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Windows applications don't have to be shipped with two separate sets of binaries, with one being installed depending on which architecture you're running the OS on*.

      (* okay, this may have been true back when MS was making an effort to keep NT running on Alpha chips, but I digress.)

      Macs either move to the x86 architecture or they are dead.

      The past NINETEEN years have already proven you wrong. Care to reconsider your stance?

    6. Re:It's just business reality by Kieckerjan · · Score: 1

      Dvorak is predicting that Apple will start migrating from Motorola to Intel's Itanium within a year, and he has some credible arguments to back it up.

      --
      Being well balanced is overrated. -- John Carmack
    7. Re:It's just business reality by Glock27 · · Score: 1
      flawed benchmark

      While this benchmark isn't the best, it is true that for the VAST majority of processing the 3.06 GHz. P4 is simply much faster than the 1.25 GHz. G4. The only thing that will save the Mac in some cases is when the second CPU can be used, which is not possible for some processing. Altivec vs. SSE2 (given the respective clock speeds) is at best a wash, AFAIK.

      I've advocated Apple adopting Opteron/Athlon for quite a while. It has the perfect OS for such a move.

      --
      Galileo: "The Earth revolves around the Sun!"
      Score: -1 100% Flamebait
    8. Re:It's just business reality by murph · · Score: 1
      About the *only* things Apple has going for itself right now is .... (2) the iApps, which are very easy to use, but I bet Microsoft or someone else will copy them soon enough,

      Wonderful reasoning. They'll copy you anyway, so why not move into thier market.

      --
      I don't care about your karma, I don't care about what's hip. --Weird Al
    9. Re:It's just business reality by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      necessary blow to Apple (and mostly, Steve Jobs)

      (Posting AC for obvious offtopic comment.)

      When I first read this I saw "necessary to blow Apple" - which was bad enough. But when I saw "blow" and "Jobs" in such close proximity, I knew I had to point it out.

    10. Re:It's just business reality by bnenning · · Score: 1
      Macs either move to the x86 architecture or they are dead.


      Two words: PowerPC 970.

      --
      How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
    11. Re:It's just business reality by mattACK · · Score: 1
      Let's face it, Apple being the only major consumer of Power PC chips for consumer (I know, IBM uses them on large servers too)

      Actually, the largest current consumer of PowerPC chips is more likely Nintendo. They may not lead the "Console War", but the penetration of a sub-$200 device will stomp all over a general purpose computer.

      [/nitpick]

      --


      "My God, this must be a truly remarkable corn chip, to be so widely and confidently touted."
    12. Re:It's just business reality by Maudib · · Score: 1

      and once Apple machines supply a 1.8-2.5Ghz, 200+ simultaneous instruction Integer/fpu core alongside Altivec, the argument for x86 Macintoshes will entirely evaporate.

      Of course by the time this happens quantum computing will likely be available for the home market, and for sale at half the price of a 2ghz G4.

    13. Re:It's just business reality by Infonaut · · Score: 1
      Dvorak also predicted in 1998 that the Mac was finished, dead, done.

      --
      Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    14. Re:It's just business reality by technos · · Score: 1

      I remember getting five disks with one bit of software I bought.. One for NT-i386, one for NT-Alpha, one for NT-MIPS, one for Windows 95 and a version for Win3.11/Win32s..

      Had to put em in to find out which was which among the NT discs.. They all just said 'Windows NT'

      I'd imagine their Unix release was mor confusing, considering they claimed to support seven variants..

      --
      .sig: Now legally binding!
    15. Re:It's just business reality by Chaset · · Score: 1

      If I had mod points, I'd mod this "funny". He used "Dvorak" and "credible" in the same sentence.
      This is not a flame for the poster, but anyone who knows Dvorak's history would find that statement worth a snicker.

      --
      -- "This world is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel."
  56. Not to start a conspiracy, but... by C_Kode · · Score: 1

    Even if it's true, why would they announce something like this that would be sure to upset Apple users that happen to be a large sum of their business? Unless there was external persuasion involved. *coughmscough*

  57. Adobe confirms... Apple is dying... by Junta · · Score: 0

    But seriously, apple has been having *SERIOUS* issues with respect to quality and support. The powermac/powerbook isn't so bad for quality, but the flimsy plastic iMacs and iBooks are, well, flimsy as anything. Also, their hardware is lagging behind more and more. Maybe IBM will turn this around with the 970, but right now the FSB and processor clocks of the PowerPCs they use really hurt them. You can only cry 'MHz myth' so long before the clock speed gaps overcome any inherent architectural advantage the PowerPC architecture may have. Despite all this, Apple charges a significant premium on all their hardware. OSX is certainly a beautiful thing, but by itself falls really short of justifying the pricetag of the systems. Windows 2k/XP actually makes an acceptable workstation platform, and servers ideally are run by people who can understand Linux or another reliable system.
    Now for my personal rant...
    It seems from my experience that their support is getting crappier and crappier. I have to fight like crazy to get warranty service. Now I call after running diagnostics and determining the issue (VideoRAM test fails with disp/13/2, and no, it is not a GeForce4) and they refuse to even listen unless I agree to pay 49.99. I interupt and actually give exactly what I did and the result, that should be good enough, but no, they insist I pay. A good company does not try to get the customer to pay 50 bucks to give the servicing company a chance to weasel out of warranty service. If Apple truly wants to make sure it is a warranty issue before servicing, they should be willing to walk through the hardware diagnostics for free while under warranty. That doesn't help if it is not a warranty issue. Any company that demands money before even considering warranty service is a company that will not receive repeat business. I thought maybe it was a fluke support guy, but three different reps I reached said the same mantra about making sure it was a hardware issue and I would have to pay, otherwise they wouldn't send a box. I have never dealt with such horrible support in my life, and they are kidding themselves if they think I'll send them another dime of money for anything.

    --
    XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
  58. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hahahaha.. right.

    I call "BS"

  59. Hey! by Lord_Dragoth · · Score: 1

    Anyone else notice that while the Dells were 3.06GHz P4s, the Macs were only dual 1.25s???

    Where are the dual 1.42s??? How much of a difference would that make??

    Also, they mention the machines are 'similar', but never state the configurations. Mac OS X chokes on anything less than 384MB of RAM, and when running the apps they were benching, the machines would be better maxxed out...

    --
    Microsoft announces new emoticon product ratings, gives latest Windows and Office products XP
  60. This is the dumbest bunch of graphs I've ever seen by BoomerSooner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Look at the graph showing the comparison between 56 seconds and 1 minute 25 seconds. It is showing seconds like there are 100 in a minute. If this was built by someone at my company and was getting this much pub, I'd berate their ass.

    Their scale:
    123456789123457 Mac
    12345678912345678912345678912345678912 PC

    .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0 1.1 1.2

    How it should be:
    123456789123456 Mac
    12345678912345678912345678 PC

    .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 1.0 1.1 1.2

    Morons.

    BTW I hate these slashdot filters isn't that what the moderators are for?

  61. Gimp by ajs · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Ok, so the Slashdot take is a bit sensational, and not fact-heavy, but Adobe does have a rather strong hold on the Mac-using image and publishing market. It seems to me that there's only a few things that have to happen for The Gimp to all but replace Photoshop for this purpose. All it really needs is some company to come along and give it a) plugins for dealing with patented color-management for ready-for-print applications (no problem as plugins with licensing, as long as you pay Adobe and the few other companies a royalty) and b) a Mac-native UI that fixes some of the basic brokenness of The Gimp's poor UI choices (e.g. the nearly un-navigatable menus).

    Both of these tasks are many orders of magnitude smaller than rolling your own Photoshop replacement, and The Gimp has a far more flexible plugin architecture and tons of people who are happy to write plugins in C, scheme, Perl, Python and other languages!

    Anyone have the money to kick something like this off? Consider this you Make Money Fast wakeup call!

    And, if you need more of a push... there's CinePaint (ne "Film Gimp"), which you could integrate into your product and add a whole other market.

    1. Re:Gimp by Qbertino · · Score: 4, Interesting
      Ok, so the Slashdot take is a bit sensational, and not fact-heavy, but Adobe does have a rather strong hold on the Mac-using image and publishing market. It seems to me that there's only a few things that have to happen for The Gimp [gimp.org] to all but replace Photoshop for this purpose.

      Photoshop and Gimp are wide and far apart Performance and Featurewise. I'm a Linux User all the way through - with strong ties to multimedia. Allthough I hate Windows (for good reasons too) and love Linux it's utterly impossible for Linux to reach design power parity with Windows. Even with a full license of Corel Photopaint and CorelDraw for Linux. This is - along with broad range gaming - still a major drawback with Linux.
      Since you're talking about 'not fact heavy' I'd like to point out that especially Photoshop is a programm that plays in it's own league with no other competitor even close to reaching the same power in grafical editing. Especially Gimp which, while being an astonishing OSS project with unmatched ease of installation and considerable powers, is far away from stuff like the PS rendering filters and scaling/interpolation algorythyms. One of the strengths of all Adobe 'pixel' programms.
      --
      We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    2. Re:Gimp by ajs · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Ok, you cited two things you like about Photoshop. Cool. Get on it. I expect plugins by the end of the month.

      Seriously, is it so hard to read the *rest* of what I wrote? I was suggesting that a company take The Gimp, modify it as needed (contributing back the OSS parts, and keeping proprietary plugins for patented stuff that they will have to chage money for to pay royalties and fund their staff).

      The Gimp is a pain in the ass to use, but most of what PS gives you above and beyond The Gimp in terms of real features center around the ready-for-print market (patents prevent much of this technology from entering The Gimp) and some of PS' advances layering features (again, likely patented). Their scaling and interpolation is nice (also probably patented, which again leads to my point), but rarely worthy of chosing them over a competitor. In fact 90% of the ready-for-print market cares about only 10 or so of PS' core features asside from simple image editing. Of those 10 or so features a good chunk are covered by patents, and that's really what's keeping PS afloat right now.

      Create a company that can ship patented plug-ins for The Gimp, and you remove the barrier that has kept it a second-class citizen for so long. Of course, getting the starting capital would be tricky in today's market, but this is a huge area with lots of profit to be had. The early worm will most certainly get the worm.

      Remember that the power of open source is that the larger and more complex the software that you're imitating/improving, the more of an edge you have because of the large community of contributors who have source code.

    3. Re:Gimp by ajs · · Score: 1
      I guess I'm behind the times. Much of my idea is already reality, and the name of the product is CinePaint, which is the re-named "Film Gimp" that I mentioned before. I don't know if they intend to incorporate the patented elements from PhotoShop in a non-free version, but it seems like a logical step, and Gimp's plugin system makes that a reasonable (logistically, I leave the ethics of using patented code up to the reader) thing to do.

      Check out this glowing article about CinePaint for more, but here's a quote:
      "Even with all its popularity and success for far, some people are still surprised to hear that the current software release of CinePaint is still a pre release version ! Rowe points out the project is far from finished, "The GUI is the main thing holding us back now. The goal for 2003 is to make the GUI in CinePaint better than that in Photoshop. I've been itching to work on the CinePaint interface from day one, but infrastructure, stability, and cross-platform have had to come first."

    4. Re:Gimp by earache · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, Adobe owns some patents which will always cripple GIMP from hitting the professional expectations Photoshop has set.

    5. Re:Gimp by Qbertino · · Score: 1

      Their scaling and interpolation is nice (also probably patented, which again leads to my point), but rarely worthy of chosing them over a competitor.


      Wrong.
      While I do get your point in the power of OSS and that Gimp could theoretically become a competitor to PS I see no way how this could actually really happen. There are too many factors that would have to be dealt with. It's all about the programmers not interrested in high end grafics editing. Just the same with serious OSS ERP systems. There just to damn boring to programm for those that could do it. Anyone with the skill to yield the power of PS shure won't spend time learning to programm as to bring Gimp up to the bar. They make money using PS. Which is plain and simple old fashion fun too. Just as much as programming too. Look at misery-in-motion for instance. He's on every second Linux Desktop wallpaper. He personally even knows *nix. Yet he uses PS. It would be pointless for him to even attempt to achive the same with Gimp. Same in 3D. Apart from Shigeto Maeda *nobody* with serious artist-only skills uses Blender. They use Lightwave or Cinema. And not KPovmodeler (*shudder*) and PovRay.

      Things you'd need for PS-competitive Gimp in detail:
      1.) Full Viewport Antialiasing of all elements
      2.) Full range suckage free grafics tablet support
      3.) Real time layer effects rendering
      4.) Top grade interpolation of vectorshapes and scalings (I admit that this is allmost an interesstin CS OSS project - but no f*cking way is that done satisfactory with a plugin - this is topline lowlevel grafics stuff)
      5.) Equal variety of integrated filters in equal quality
      6.) Interface overhaul / optional decluttering of windows ('all-in-one-interface')

      I don't see any chance that someone takes on this biiiig task.
      More likeley we'll see a not so fortunate grafics competitor (Canvas? Jasc "PainShop" Pro? Painter?) port to Linux.
      --
      We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
    6. Re:Gimp by ajs · · Score: 1
      Which is no problem at all. Honestly, I sometimes think that no one reads what I write, they just respond to the third post back, no matter who wrote it (sorry to be snide, but that's happened to me on Slashdot a lot more in the last few weeks).

      Here's what I said on that very topic:

      I was suggesting that a company take The Gimp, modify it as needed (contributing back the OSS parts, and keeping proprietary plugins for patented stuff that they will have to chage money for to pay royalties and fund their staff).
      There's this sort of give-and-take to the patent system. It doesn't allow you to hide a technique for 2 decades, it lets you be the primary benificiary of that technique. The way it does this is to require you to license your technique under "reasonable terms" (read, what the market will bear).

      So, a company that build their product around The Gimp could keep all of the patent-related goodies in plugins (perhaps changing some of the plugin API where required to make more core-related features pluginable), and only distribute those plugins for a fee, along with support, etc.

      The fee would go to pay business costs as well as paying the royalty fees. You can still contribute the bulk of your work back to The Gimp, and you can still benefit from the development being done on it, but you get neatly around PhotoShop's patents for customers who need those features.

    7. Re:Gimp by ajs · · Score: 1

      I suggest you look into CinePaint (ne Film Gimp), as it sounds like that would suit your needs more than the classic Gimp.

      The Gimp is an excellent "basic photo editor", which for those of you who can recall what things were like 6 years ago, is basically the root of what Photoshop was. All we need is for someone to come along and finish the job.

      The Gimp folks are going the long, slow route of trying to fix everyone's problems at once. This works for OSS, ala Mozilla, but the results are slow, and many will wander away before its done.

      The CinePaint folks are doing the big-return stuff first because they have a specific niche to serve. I'll be very interested to see where it all goes....

  62. Inconsistancy in figures? by damieng · · Score: 1

    The opening part of that page states;

    "between a single-processor Dell 2.53GHz Pentium® 4 -- the Dell Precision Workstation 340 -- and the fastest Macintosh then available -- a 1GHz dual-processor G4. "

    The graphs then go on to show a "Dell P4 3.06Ghz" versus a "Mac G4 Dual 1.25GHz" without a mention as to why. Have the test been re-run by Adobe on new hardware? Double-typos?

    When you can't get something as simple as the CPU speeds right it doesn't inspire much confidence in any of the other figures. ;-)

    --
    [)amien
    1. Re:Inconsistancy in figures? by vizualizr · · Score: 1

      Seeing that makes me ask the question, why are they choosing a high end single P4 as their "fastest PC"?

      Wouldn't it be a more fair comparison to throw a PC dually against the Mac dually? I'd like to see either a dual Athlon MP or dual Xeon run the same benchmarks, or, put up one G4 chip against one Intel/AMD chip. I think the disparity you see in those benchmark figures would be even more substantial, especially given the fact that most, if not all, of Adobe's apps are multi-threaded. Not only that, it'd be more representative of the "fastest" workstation on each platform.

      Once you go dually, you'll never go back.

      --
      anything i tell you will cloud your opinion.
    2. Re:Inconsistancy in figures? by Ghengis · · Score: 1

      Given the nature of graphics processing, using dual Athlons or Xeons, compared to a single Athlon or Xeon would most likely make the numbers favor the PC even MORE. The interesting numbers to see would be comparing the single top-of-the-line P4 against the dual Athlons and dual Xeons.

      --

      "The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS

    3. Re:Inconsistancy in figures? by Erwos · · Score: 1

      "The graphs then go on to show a "Dell P4 3.06Ghz" versus a "Mac G4 Dual 1.25GHz" without a mention as to why. Have the test been re-run by Adobe on new hardware? Double-typos?"

      I really, really doubt you want to see dual 1.42ghz G4s trying to go toe to toe with dual 2.16ghz Athlons. Let's be real with ourselves - 320mhz more of combined CPU time is just not going to let the G4s compete, high IPC or not. The increase is still going to be linear, and that's not going to allow it to catch up, especially not with the absolutely crappy SDRAM Apple is still using - can we say bottleneck?

      I have a strong feeling that the Opteron will close the book on this whole discussion anyways. Adobe has made a choice to support the best performing the platform right now - honestly, if Apple was faster, why does it always seem to lose in the benchmarks?

      I still like Apples a lot, but trying to claim they're the fastest thing on the block is pretty much a lost cause at this point. Quite a few Mac users complain about the "mhz hype", but fail to understand they've been taken in by "IPC hype".

      -Erwos

      --
      Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
    4. Re:Inconsistancy in figures? by bnenning · · Score: 1
      especially not with the absolutely crappy SDRAM Apple is still using


      Actually the new towers do have DDR, but it's of very limited benefit since the G4 processor can't take advantage of it (thanks Motorola). However, the forthcoming PowerPC 970 supports 6.4GB/sec bandwidth compared to the G4's 1.0. That should make a slight difference.

      --
      How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
  63. distributed rendering? by _|()|\| · · Score: 1
    I've never used the products under test. Does After Effects support network rendering of any kind?

    LightWave 3D has a Windows, Mac, and (brand new) Linux renderer. It seems that Mac users are more interested in the Linux renderer than Windows users are, in large part because of the savings in hardware costs.

    1. Re:distributed rendering? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It seems that Mac users are more interested in the Linux renderer than Windows users are, in large part because of the savings in hardware costs.

      Why wouldn't they be? You need a head and a desirable interface for the actual authoring, not the mindless rendering of thousands of frames. It's the same reason SGI's users (traditionally, at least) use the workstations for workstations and the clustering render farm systems for rendering.

  64. once again... by Omega+Prime · · Score: 0

    it seems that there is more attention brought to simple fact that they have choosen the PC. Shouldn't we really be looking at what advantages/disadvantages this provides. Emotional attachment to brands aside.

    --
    "We deal in lead" - Roland of Gilead
  65. motion/pcpreferred.html by Bimble · · Score: 1

    The article linked to doesn't come out and say that the PC is the preferred platform for Photoshop, but the name of the file in the URL is "pcpreferred.html". On the other hand, the focus of the benchmarks, and the subdirectory of the URL, is "motion". Rather than advocate the PC for all Photoshop purposes, the page in question appears to advocate the PC for motion-based effects based on the benchmarks.

    It's still noteworthy for Photoshop users, but hardly represents Adobe taking sides for overall use of their software.

    --
    Naked.
  66. Alternatively by Big+Nothing · · Score: 1

    "but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part"

    Or a death blow for Mac.

    --
    SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
  67. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You are on Crack and so are your "PC users" because the new line of Vaio's are the same price or more expensive than a comparable DP MAC.

  68. Math is WRONG!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Look at the graphs. They error dramitcally, giving the PC a huge false lead.

    The testers are assuming a minute has 100 seconds. This gives the PC a 40 sec per minute advantage over the Mac. I am sure they used Excel on a PC for these graphs.

    For example the first graph should be 54 vs 85 seconds. The graph makes it look like 54 to 120. This is WRONG!

    >>> While the computers used in this study are no longer the fastest in their respective classes, the information is still valid.

    Sure the information is still valid.. for *those* test machines only!

    Adobe should be embarassed for publishing these mistated graphs and dated tests.

  69. 800 pound gorilla by rot26 · · Score: 1

    I don't know how many Mac people this will upset, but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part.

    It doesn't really matter whether the Mac people are all upset or not... until somebody comes along with a viable alternative to their products, Adobe can say pretty much anything they want.

    --



    To ensure perfect aim, shoot first and call whatever you hit the target
  70. AMD? by daveschroeder · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Or they could go for the 64-bit IBM PowerPC 970 with 32-bit backward compatibility and AltiVec that has "APPLE, USE ME, I'M YOUR NEXT PROCESSOR" written all over it.

    1. Re:AMD? by Ponty · · Score: 2, Funny

      I think it's more likely that Apple will release its own line of processors. the iRISC will blow everything away. :-)

    2. Re:AMD? by azzy · · Score: 1

      More like iRISK, pronounced with a cockney accent to make it sound the same as 'high risk'

    3. Re:AMD? by Snowspinner · · Score: 1

      More accurately, it'll run half as fast as everything else, but come in six different flavors. Of course, since it'll bein the case, you won't be able to see it, so they'll put a tiny digital camera inside the case so that you can pull up a picture of your colorful processor on your desktop at any time.

      The second version of the processor will use multiple processors at once, so you can have all six flavors running simultaneously.

    4. Re:AMD? by nilepoc · · Score: 1

      Don't forget the case that changes colors based on the temp of the processor. RE: color shifting case design article from long ago.

  71. Re:Switched, then switched again... by BadElf · · Score: 1

    Flamebait? sheesh...

    Musta pissed off an Apple user.

  72. Just proves Apple needs to get off its ass by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple has always been lagging on hardware performance. You thing those stability problems with the G4 architecture scaling to higher mhz and Motorola's unwillingness to support the PowerPC beyond fabrication has been HELPING the Macintosh? Hell no!

    Maybe this will make Apple get off its ass and make some real changes to it's hardware instead of superficial ones like "dual processors." Maybe they'll speed up the transition to the 64-bit PPC by IBM since moving from 32-bit to 64-bit isn't as difficult as it sounds. It's just convincing everyone else to move their stuff over, too.

  73. No, really... by boatboy · · Score: 1

    I've tried Photoshop on somewhat comparable Windows and Mac boxes several years in a row, and the Windows was always faster.

    Intel-and-friends make better, more easily and cheaply upgraded hardware. That's great, but makes it more difficult for OSes to keep up. Which explains both why Macs are slower and why Windows crashes.

    That being said, is it really fair to compare "Mac", which is OS AND hardware, to "Windows" which is OS only? You'll never get a true comparison- it's like comparing apples and really cheap easily upgraded fast apples. =)

  74. That's funny by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was just about to buy a IMac and eventually replace my workstation with a Mac. I'll most likely buy a upgrade from photoshop 6 pc to photoshop for Mac. Any body that does print graphics will know how much easier it is to do print work on a Mac than on a PC. It's only now that PC monitors come calibrated, so that what you see on the screen matches a pantone swatch. Speed means absolutly nothing, if you end up spending 4 hours to fix the color on your files so that it will print out correctly at the printing press. And as CPU get faster, it becomes more irrelevant. Being able to show a customer a screen that is 99% accurate to the printed product saves a butt load of time.

  75. Times Change by vizualizr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I've been using Photoshop for . . .um . . . about eight years now. Initially, all I used it on was a Mac, because quite frankly, Photoshop for Windows in 1995 was a gross, nasty piece of software.

    For reasons mostly related to my profession (Landscape Architect, at the time), I switched to a PC, and began the task of using Photoshop in a Windows environment. At the time, version 3.0 or so was getting better, but still pretty nasty. Now we're up to 7.0, and it is a remarkably better piece of software. I love it. I now do 3D work and image editing, and Photoshop work probably comprises 25% of my time. I'm extremely happy with it, as I am with the copies of Premiere, Pagemaker, and Illustrator that I use in the course of my work, as well.

    That being said, I have never been able to escape the notion that it has seemed that Adobe has never quite gotten the knack of porting the software over to the PC. Granted, it runs like a champ, but just little things . . .things I'm not even sure I can call to mind - the way menus lay out, the lack of some standardized interface items (like a save button) . . .have always left me feeling like the PC version of Photoshop and other Adobe apps are kind of afterthoughts - that Adobe must view the Mac version as the REAL version, and the Windows version as the weaker sister.

    I fight this battle with my cluster of close friends, most of whom are designer types, about once every three months. I think I've finally got them convinced that you CAN run Photoshop and Illustrator on a PC. For years, they assumed that you couldn't. But that opens up a whole different can of worms that I'm not even going go get into. Use what you want.

    So, I'd say this is a surprising development, given my experience with Adobe software over the years.

    --
    anything i tell you will cloud your opinion.
    1. Re:Times Change by Reziac · · Score: 1

      I can't compare the Mac versions since I don't use a Mac, but I've noticed that about ALL** Adobe apps for PC -- the menu structure and some other things (interface, workflow) just don't follow any sensible pattern, internally or wrt each other. And they're all user-hostile and steep of learning curve to some degree (you might not notice if you "grew up using 'em" but it's sure evident to someone who only uses 'em occasionally, and more often uses other companies' products).

      **The only exception is the full version of Acrobat, which clearly hales from a different design team and work philosophy. The way it's built, a newbie can dive right in and get their work done without a struggle. (Tho I still haven't figured out why it'll dump a website to PDF on the WinME box, but not on the Win98 box.)

      --
      ~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
    2. Re:Times Change by multimed · · Score: 2, Informative
      Granted, it runs like a champ, but just little things . . .things I'm not even sure I can call to mind - the way menus lay out, the lack of some standardized interface items (like a save button) . . .have always left me feeling like the PC version of Photoshop and other Adobe apps are kind of afterthoughts
      I'm sure it's more to do with the OS than Adobe being lazy or whatever. Apple is stricter with their UI guidlines for software developers. Partially because they've had such a legacy of documenting and publishing the guidlines, partly because the UI consistency and usability have been a priority in coding the OS and perhaps mostly because the OS forces adherence to UI rules more strictly.
      --
      Vote Quimby.
    3. Re:Times Change by quintessent · · Score: 1

      I've been using these on the PC as well, and my observations are similar. I think it varies between products as well. PageMaker feels like a Windows 3.1 product. But Photoshop isn't as quirky.

  76. Re:Crack??? by Gehenna_Gehenna · · Score: 1

    Here here.

    I'm using Gimp on all of my platforms (Windows, Linux, & OS X). Can't beat the price, and it is more than sufficiant for all of my photo-shopping needs.

    --

  77. fair competition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    the PC used may be a helluva lot faster than the Mac in the study...but they are of comparable price. ...it might just be me, but I'm not going to pay a steep hardware price premium for the priveledge of running candy-coated bloatware of on OS. i'll pay for my cheap and comparatively blazing fast commodity hardware and run an infinitely configurable OS that's *cough* free.

    now if you work in a professional print or design shop, the font management on Mac trumps ALL cards. Who cares how fast your frames render or layers get filtered if the system gets your fonts confused!!!

    point made: hardware and software choices are dependent on use. there is nothing "better" overall, only "better" in certain situations.

  78. Re:Crack??? by FyRE666 · · Score: 1

    It is SO much faster doing nearly all filters. The 3rd party ones even show considerable differences

    Hello? This is the year 2003 calling RevRagnarok!! Come in RevRagnarok!!

    Where the hell have you been? I've used PS on fast Macs and PCs and believe me, there is no real difference from a user's point of view. In fact, the PC versions certainly felt snappier to me, and this seems to be confirmed by the benchmarks linked from this article.

    Maybe this is why we don't see Jobs bending reality while claiming the G4 is still 6 times as fast as a Cray 5 by running a PS filter any more...

  79. Re:APACHE DOWNED! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yeah, something like that very likely happened. It is impossible to shoot down Apache with rifle fire. Let's hope this war won't turn out to be like the operation in Mogadishu, Somalia.

  80. Wakeup call to Apple by JoeCotellese · · Score: 1
    Instead of Mac users bitching about how Adobe is leaving them this should be a wakeup call to Apple. If their platform doesn't perform as well as an Intel platform then they need to change it. Holding onto their current architecture is hurting them and their customers.

  81. Time for Apple to invest in GIMP? by mandreiana · · Score: 1

    What if Apple would help GIMP with the documentation and usability the same way Sun helped GNOME ?

  82. Come on now by jayhawk88 · · Score: 1

    I don't know how many Mac people this will upset, but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part.

    Do you really think that someone at Adobe just decided to announce this on a whim? Or that maybe the interns are playing a practical joke on the webmaster perhaps?

    Please. If Adobe is going to say something like this, I'm quite certain they've had their financial and marketing braintrusts run the numbers more than a few times, to see what kind of impact this could potentially have on their business in a "worst case scenario" (i.e., Mac users get all bitchy).

    In other words, your righteous indignation has been accounted for and factored into their budget, thank you very much.

    1. Re:Come on now by hype7 · · Score: 1
      In other words, your righteous indignation has been accounted for and factored into their budget, thank you very much.


      I reckon it'll get taken down quick smart. There is no upside to posting something like that.

      Yes, I hear all the arguments about "PCs are cheaper therefore you spend more money on Adobe software", but that fails to take into account - mac users have lived with Apple through the Amelio 90s, when the only colour the Apple logo was associated with was red.

      You think they're suddenly going to drop their macs now that Adobe links to some biased PC dork who can't get basics like mhz or correct units of measurement for time?

      All that will happen is that Adobe'll piss off their long standing customers. I have no desire to use a Windows PC; and some concocted brew of "hyperthreaded" enabled tests aren't going to convince me otherwise. Just switch the tables, and use altivec tests instead? And then we're back to lies, damned lies and stats.

      Regardless, where's the upside for Adobe once you realise people aren't going to abandon Apple because Adobe say so? There's a much more worrisome flipside; people will abandon Adobe if Apple say so; viz a viz FCP etc

      -- james
    2. Re:Come on now by TKinias · · Score: 1

      scripsit hype7:

      There's a much more worrisome flipside; people will abandon Adobe if Apple say so;

      That doesn't sound worrisome, it sounds like a best-case scenario. If Apple cooks up something its users can replace Photoshop with, or (absolute best-case) invests in the GIMP to get it up to 100%, everyone wins. Well, everyone except Adobe. But Adobe isn't exactly my favorite company... They're just about no. 2 after MS, in fact.

      Remember Sklyarov.

      --
      In principio creauit Linus Linucem.
  83. lemmings and suckers all. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yup, hes not biased- thats why at three different loadings of the page, i got three p4 3.06 ghz advertisements. can you say 'paid shill'?

    also, for a real education, see the 933mac vs. the dual 1.0gig mac tests w/ AE. the 933 is almost as fast as the dual-- clearly showing that AE is NOT programmed well enough (like Final Cut Pro IS) to take advantage of the second processor.

    lemmings and suckers all.

  84. Revenge for FCP by Rosyna · · Score: 1

    Adobe is just pissed at Apple for purchasing Final Cut Pro from Macromedia and then competing against Adobe's Premiere (and some say After Effects). Not only did Apple purchase something from Adobe's main competitor but they also made Premiere look like an embarrassment.

    Have you ever compared FCP to Premiere? FCP wins no-contest.

  85. I'm pissed by meta-monkey · · Score: 1

    Huh. I'm a professional photographer, and I just bought one of those 17" powerbooks (sweetest computer I've ever owned). Obviously, Photoshop is my #1 App. This pisses me off.

    --
    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  86. Propaganda check: consider the context by gobbo · · Score: 2, Informative

    I am in full agreement that a high-end wintel box will out-render any mac, and I run a mac-oriented media production unit. But...

    I read said article in a copy of some trade mag. I was annoyed and immediately recycled it, because:
    1. Focus on hardware alone misses the point and causes people like me extra unnecessary work.
    2. The 'article' in question is being used as a large advertorial insert partnered by adobe and intel, IN DISGUISE.
    3. The 'article' and all the surrounding 'information' leaves out crucial issues like uptime, human interface, Return On Investment, training time, technical support, h/w-s/w integration, and other minor economic factors that add up significantly over a year's production. These factors more than make up for the difference in render time. [Ask any of my friends who've tried and tried to make Premiere do what it promises how much time they've saved...]

    I keep telling my interns [and anyone else who will listen]: it doesn't matter how fast your hardware is if your wetware is lagging. Speed requires optimization all the way down the signal path, starting with ideas.

    1. Re:Propaganda check: consider the context by kalidasa · · Score: 1

      Good post. A couple of more things to keep in mind:

      The context of this article is video (note that it is in the /motion/ tree, which is "digital video products"). Apple has been making a big push into video, and has a shindig at NAB to talk about their video strategy, right? And Adobe competes with Apple on several fronts in video. Now, let's say that Adobe recommends that digital video customers go with Premiere and AfterEffects on Mac. Won't those customers be tempted by Final Cut Pro (there's scuttlebut that FCP4 is coming out soon)? Could it be that Adobe is here preparing a way to block migrations from Adobe Premiere to FCP4 by pushing Premiere users toward Windows?

      Sure, an FCP user is likely to buy Photoshop, too. But Adobe makes more money from the user with Photoshop and Premiere then they do from the user with just Photoshop.

      (I've never used AfterEffects, so I don't know how that fits in.)

  87. just because... by g4dget · · Score: 1
    Just because a large fraction of Apple users are artists and designers doesn't mean that a large fraction of artists and designers are Apple users. And it also seems likely that Windows users upgrade more frequently, resulting in more revenue to Adobe.

    Overall, I suspect Adobe is looking at their sales figures and making rational decisions based on that.

  88. Re:Adobe and some clueless gimps by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First of all Adobe on windows is a horrible clumbse experience, second of all "PC's" have a upfront cost that's much reduced, bu: they might not come with a modem, ethernet card, CDR, DVD player or compatible components. Theirs a good chance if some part goes wrong you have to contact that part maker who may or may not own up to the faults of his/her/its product. Apples are enormously easier: something goes wrong call 1800 APPLE, within twenty minuts: Hello this is apple, your NVIDEA GeoForce 500000 talks french, no that's not normal, ok here's what to do...

  89. Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by g0tai · · Score: 1

    Why? The survey doesnt reflect that Photoshop is only using *ONE* of the mac CPUs at any time during their tests, so it's quite understandable why it lags behind. ** However, If Adobe/3rdparties got their finger out and actually wrote their filters to take advantage of multi-cpu systems then you might be suprised at how well a dual-g4 does against an x86 system. Do the math, it shouldn't be too difficult.

    1. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If its not too difficult to do the math, do it then. An equally priced PC system will dominate the dual-g4 systems offered by Macintosh.

    2. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And then when they compare the dual-g4 against a dual-x86, it'll be the same story

    3. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Why2K · · Score: 1

      Yes, but to be fair, you would have to compare it against a similarly equipped dual-x86 system. Do the math on that, and I think you would be disappointed again.

    4. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by g0tai · · Score: 1

      Sorry, I'm talking about the benchmark being inaccurate/somewhat flawed. Not bothered about the price for this argument.

    5. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by g0tai · · Score: 1

      Yes, and you'd be disappointed in the intel system should i pitch it against a 4, 8, etc, processor other box...

    6. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Sdrawcab · · Score: 1

      Yeah, cause in the real world we all know that price doesn't matter at all. Hey, why don't we just have a custom asic for the Photoshop filters made. Shouldn't cost more than 10 to 50 thousand each.

    7. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Nogami_Saeko · · Score: 1

      On a single CPU (both systems), the intel system was nearly twice as fast. On a double CPU system again it was twice as fast.

      Mac users are entitled to believe whatever they want, just don't try and convince us your computers are more powerful than PCs.

      Sure they look better... (shrug).

      N.

      --
      "Nothing strengthens authority so much as silence." - Charles de Gaulle
    8. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Why2K · · Score: 1

      Now you're just being silly. For $2000, you can get a Dual G4 1.25 GHz system (per www.apple.com) with 256 MB of RAM. The same $2000 will buy you a Dell Precision Workstation 450 with dual 2.4 GHz Xeons and 1 GB of RAM (per www.dell.com). Care to speculate on what your 4, 8, etc processor system would cost?

    9. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      being that the currently largest PC shipped
      is 16 cpus (IBM), with most others shipping 8 cpu machines and IBM having a 32 cpu one on the way, I fail to see how your point is anything
      other than pro-PC as there *is*no*mac* with more than two cpus.

    10. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by spike+hay · · Score: 1


      Yes, but to be fair, you would have to compare it against a similarly equipped dual-x86 system. Do the math on that, and I think you would be disappointed again.


      Hmm. You may not get a huge performance increase with photoshop with dual x86 processors, but it would still make the performance gap between x86 and Apple worse. A single 3.06 Ghz completely and utterly kicks a dual G4's ass at Photoshop, and for less money. There are good things about the macintosh platform, but speed isn't one of them. Don't try to convince anyone that Apple is faster than x86. It just isn't.

      --
      If you don't understand any of my sayings, come to me in private and I shall take you in my German mouth.
    11. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Why2K · · Score: 1

      Isn't that what I said?

    12. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by 0x0d0a · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The survey doesnt reflect that Photoshop is only using *ONE* of the mac CPUs at any time during their tests, so it's quite understandable why it lags behind. However, If Adobe/3rdparties got their finger out and actually wrote their filters to take advantage of multi-cpu systems then you might be suprised at how well a dual-g4 does against an x86 system.

      I haven't been following the Mac world for a while. This comes as a bit of a surprise, since Adobe was *always* the app vendor out in front when it came to multiproc support on the Mac, even when Mac multiprocessing architecture sucked balls (as on the Daystars).

      However, you are ignoring a number of points. First, it is *not trivial* to write code for multiple processors, especially when retrofitting existing code or dealing with algorithms that simply don't parallelize well. So it doesn't really matter whether Photoshop *could* run faster -- it doesn't. And that's what most people are constrained by (that or games, which generally also don't parallelize well). It's quite possible that if all x86 authors went out and changed their calling conventions, hand-coded everything in assembly perfectly, and used their 3d card as a general-purpose matrix co-processor, their software would run much faster. But it doesn't, so it doesn't matter. The software matters too, not just the software.

      Second, arguments that the Mac is performance comparable with x86 boxes are long, long dead. Even comparable with x86 boxes that cost half as much. Apple had a good thing going with the PowerPC, they trusted Motorola, and Motorola blew it. It's done, it happened, and now the PowerPC just doesn't compare. Sorry, but that's the way it is.

      Frankly, I don't give a damn so much about the Mac's CPU horsepower as I do about the disgusting, inefficient memory usage in OS X. OS X is without a doubt the most bloated piece of software I've ever run across. Apple might possibly make it worse by porting it to Java, but other than that, I can't imagine what else they might have done wrong. When you're blowing 128MB and swapping to display a desktop, somewhere there's a coder that needs to be shot.

    13. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by g0tai · · Score: 1

      Ok, I conceed the point (bah humbug! ;-)

    14. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mmm hmm. dominate, in what sense? if you consider that you can do stuff 2 seconds faster on a same-priced x86 pc but being bound to linux or windows and consider that dominating, sure. but x86's can't run OS X, which is one of the main reasons to get a mac today. mere seconds make no comparison to a working machine...

    15. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by afantee · · Score: 1

      >> This comes as a bit of a surprise, since Adobe was *always* the app vendor out in front when it came to multiproc support on the Mac, even when Mac multiprocessing architecture sucked balls (as on the Daystars).

      Why don't you shut up before you actually read and understand that rather poorly crafted article before opening your mouth. Charlie White is clearly a PC troll and his so called DV benchmark is mostly about After Effects (importing Photoshop or Illustrator files). There are several points that render the benchmark meaningless: (1) AE is not designed for multi-processor system; (2) Adobe is being driven out of the DV market while Apple's own Final Cut Pro and Shake is taking Hollywood by storm and challenging Avid from top to bottom; (3) the price comparison is pure nonsense - a dual 1.25 GHz G4 costs as little $1999 (nearly $1000 cheaper than the $2964 Dell box) and still comes with more features such as Firewire 800.

      >> Frankly, I don't give a damn so much about the Mac's CPU horsepower as I do about the disgusting, inefficient memory usage in OS X. OS X is without a doubt the most bloated piece of software I've ever run across. Apple might possibly make it worse by porting it to Java, but other than that, I can't imagine what else they might have done wrong. When you're blowing 128MB and swapping to display a desktop, somewhere there's a coder that needs to be shot.

      What the fuck are you talking about? How on earth can Apple port OS X to Java? OS X is written in C / C++ /Objective C, and Java is just another language that may be used to access the Cocoa API.

      As a longtime c++ and Java programmer on both Unix and Windows, let me just tell you that OS X is simply the best designed OS in every possible way - stable, efficient, sexy and years ahead of Windoze or anything else on the market.

    16. Re:Innacurate benchmark - only uses 1 cpu. by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      Why don't you shut up before you actually read and understand that rather poorly crafted article before opening your mouth.

      Comments cut a bit too close to the quick, eh?

      Charlie White is clearly a PC troll and his so called DV benchmark is mostly about After Effects (importing Photoshop or Illustrator files).

      I have rarely seen someone independently spreading pro-Windows BS (aside from marketing folks), because most Windows users don't *care*. I *have* seen lots of Mac users, desperate to push some painful comparison aside, claim that someone is lying.

      There are several points that render the benchmark meaningless:

      Okay, this should be good.

      (1) AE is not designed for multi-processor system;

      Which says exactly zilch about the usefulness of said software as a benchmark, and very much about the value of said system. A multiprocessor system happens to suck at chewing through this dataset. This is not unusual. Multiprocessor systems tend to suck at working on most tasks -- it's incredibly rare that you're saturating both processors. What it says is that anyone who wants to work with AE gets screwed if they're using the dual-proc Mac versus the single-proc PC.

      (2) Adobe is being driven out of the DV market while Apple's own Final Cut Pro and Shake is taking Hollywood by storm and challenging Avid from top to bottom;

      Uh, huh. Link, please.

      (3) the price comparison is pure nonsense - a dual 1.25 GHz G4 costs as little $1999 (nearly $1000 cheaper than the $2964 Dell box) and still comes with more features such as Firewire 800.

      [snort] I have no idea what package he bought on the Dell, but I'm guessing that if he's dropping $3k, he's getting movie editing software (Dell sells DV workstations with bundled editing software for ~$2.5K, at any rate). Want the FC Pro that you're raving about? That'd be another $1k to your system price already. Want a monitor (to actually *look* at that video) and the 1 gig of RAM the Dell has? That's another $1k. As for Firewire 800 -- you do realize that it doesn't matter a bit, as neither system has a disk system that's anywhere *near* capable of saturating Firewire 800.

      How on earth can Apple port OS X to Java?

      The UI. The panel, the apps, the desktop. It was a reference to Java's piss-poor performance, not a serious suggestion.

      OS X is written in C / C++ /Objective C, and Java is just another language that may be used to access the Cocoa API.

      Yup.

      As a longtime c++ and Java programmer on both Unix and Windows, let me just tell you that OS X is simply the best designed OS in every possible way - stable, efficient, sexy and years ahead of Windoze or anything else on the market.

      You do realize that any credibility you *might* have gotten from a claim to authority like that went completely out the window when you said "in every possible way". I'm being straightforward, if blunt. You're BSing as much as you can manage.

  90. Drat! by BMonger · · Score: 1

    Now all we have is... breakout... super-breakout... photoshop

  91. Wishful thinking by Mac zealots by I+Am+The+Owl · · Score: 1
    I don't know how many Mac people this will upset, but given the large hold Apple has on design pros and film, this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part.

    Uh oh, looks like somebody thinks that the platform tail should be wagging the applications dog. Sorry, it works the other way around. An OS is nothing without useful applications. The other way around, not so true, considering that the two OSes in question provide basically the same functionality. And, frankly, Mac hardware is slow and overpriced when compared to PC hardware. As someone who has used Photoshop both on my home PC and the (very high end, dual proc) G4s at school, I have to say that there is no noticable difference in performance on any image that I've worked on (going from web-sized stuff all the way up to high-quality print media).

    --

    --sdem
  92. "Preferred" is out of context. Still Pushing MACs by asdfasdfasdfasdf · · Score: 1

    While I know a PC is faster for any Adobe app, the actual page that links to that page has the context reveresed. It's not "ADOBE Prefers PCs." It's "If you Prefer PCs, read this!"

    The inferrence I made was that MAC was still the de facto standard.

  93. Re:Ann Coulter is damn sexy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How can this gorgeous woman [anncoulter.org] be such a heartless right-wing bitch?

    I think that makes her sexier! That photo of her with Ronnie, WOW!!!

  94. is performance for DTP a non-issue now? by MarcQuadra · · Score: 1, Interesting

    I remember when applying a filter to a 24MB image took overnight, now they happen in a minute or so. Have we reached the point where it doesn't really matter how fast your computer is at PhotoShop/Illustrator because everything is fast enough? Or has the image size/filter complexity gone way up since the mid-1990s?

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
    1. Re:is performance for DTP a non-issue now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I remember when applying a filter to a 24MB image...

      the images i scan in are 300mb in size! add in a few layers and things start to slow down. send more RAM, quick!

      plus, havent you noticed how much *better* digital art has gotten?? it's b/c of how quickly we can do/undo all those filters!!

    2. Re:is performance for DTP a non-issue now? by evilviper · · Score: 1

      As performance goes up, the size, quality, and complexity of digital images goes up to match.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
    3. Re:is performance for DTP a non-issue now? by mosch · · Score: 1
      Well, anymore we seem to have a few types of graphics people. We have the web graphics people. Any high-end modern machine is absolutely fine for them. Then there are the print people, most of them are fine with a fairly new machine of any sort as long as it has plenty of RAM. Yes, if they're a year behind the times there are a few actions which may take a few seconds longer, but those aren't the common operations anyway, so it doesn't matter. The things designers spend most of their time doing are still fast enough that they can be done before the designer figures out what to do next.

      The only challenge anymore is getting the horsepower for the video editor who just loves retarded effects, or who isn't willing to invest in proper video editing hardware, and tries instead to do it with Adobe Premiere. The pros are using expensive hardware that can do what they want in near-realtime, it's only the people making music videos of their baby spitting up fifty times, or people who work for shit companies that have a problem.

    4. Re:is performance for DTP a non-issue now? by MarcQuadra · · Score: 1

      That's what I thought the situation was. I know a lot of printed graphics folks who jacked up their working resolution to 6000 DPI just to feel important and to justify their own time expenditure. I tried explaining once that going above the printer's resolution was a waste of time and I was quickly hushed and told that that's what the new PCs were for.

      --
      "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
  95. Fairer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To make the tests fairer they should have used dual 1.25 GHz pentiums as well and then see what results came out

  96. Still waiting here by rfovell · · Score: 1

    How long did it take them to get a decent OS X version of their software out?

    With respect to Illustrator, I'm still waiting. Illustrator 10.0.3 in OS X can be annoyingly slow, while Illustrator 7 in the Classic environment (or when booted into OS 9) on the same hardware flies. I don't know where the blame lies, but it's irritating.

    --
    Every rule has an exception (except this one).
  97. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe they simply prefer Windows XP over MacOS X Hey, who knows?

  98. Wonderful!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a Mac user, this is great. Now other companies will have the ability to create better, easier to use, and snappier programs that do the same thing as Photoshop for half the price.

    Wait, I just described MacGIMP.

  99. Tasteless and tactless by motorsabbath · · Score: 1

    Wow. This is a really tasteless and tactless move by Adobe. Unbelievable. So what you want, how you want, regardless of it's effect on your cutomers and your business partners.

    They must be taking cues from the Dubya 'diplomatic' core...

    --
    The heat from below can burn your eyes out
  100. "video post-production workflow" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What where you expecting? Adobe is getting is ass kicked by FinalCut Pro, FinalCut Express, Shake, etc. The truth is that the Mac market for Adobe "video" is almost zero.

    Also this results are heavilly based on "After Effects". Photoshop is not as big of a difference.

  101. Not Charlie white again... by nattt · · Score: 1

    Wonderful benchmarking for After Effects - completely forgetting that AE doesn't make use of the mac's second processor.... No wonder it's slower, but not twice as slow. If Adobe got off their corporate butts and made AE work well with MP on the mac, then the results would be a little differrent.

    Ofcourse, my wife tells me about the new PC AE setup they installed at their TV station - it crashes all the time - completely taking down the whole system....

    --
    -- oldthinkers unbellyfeel ingsoc
  102. Not to nitpick but, PC MS by sqlzealot · · Score: 1

    PC stands for Personal Computer. A Mac is a Personal Computer. A Windows box is a Personal Computer. PC should be use not to distinguish OS but to distinguish the ROLE of the computer (ie: PC vrs Server vrs Mainframe)

    --
    "Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
  103. I don't get it. by dfluke · · Score: 1

    Why would this be a bad move for Adobe? It's not exactly a secret that the P4 3.06ghz is the fastest consumer level desktop cpu at the moment. Seeing as there is a larger market for Adobe in the x86 market (despite the large percentage of macs in design/video/etc) this makes quite a bit of sense. Besides Adobe sells software, for both platforms, they're not a hardware company. Basically it's a personal preference what platform you use, both are *fast enough*. It might not be personal in the case that your company has to decide what platform to choose, in which case how much raw processing power you can get for a certain amount of money is vital. And I can't imagine why publishing benchmarks would enrage the mac community, it's not like they're making them up. Having factual information is always good, even though you prefer one platform over the other.

  104. Re:Not to nitpick but, PC does not equal MS by sqlzealot · · Score: 1

    Err, needed to fix the title

    --
    "Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out."
  105. Here we go again... by macthulhu · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As a professional graphic artist who uses Adobe products on both platforms, I'm not quite sure I agree with the findings of the author. I always find benchmark results from either side to be suspect. I judge by user experience. I find that my results are better, and much easier to achieve, on either of my Macs. I have grown to accept Windows as a sometimes necessary evil, and am quite functional with it. However, and maybe some of you out there have noticed this, tools in Photoshop seem to work much more reliably on the Mac. For instance... color correction, minor adjustments to position, hotkeys, and anything done freehand seem to work less consistently in the Windows version. Strange stuttering, having to hit hotkeys twice, taking forever to place items exactly where you want them... these add up in a business where you are constantly playing beat the clock. Now, before you all start flaming me about being a newbie, or checking my manuals, getting a new keyboard... I have been using Photoshop since the beta for version 2, and Premeire since the very first betas. I've been making a living with CGI for over 12 years. Again, this is my experience with these products, YMMV. I suggest that Adobe is promoting stories like this to teach Apple a lesson. Apple has really put the hurt on Adobe with Final Cut Pro, and with their purchase of several other effects software companies, will soon start to hurt sales of After Effects. This is not to say that Adobe's products are inferior... I think they got lazy with their stranglehold on the market, and don't appreciate Apple filling the gap. What they should be doing is making better products for Mac users. We are largely responsible for supporting them up to this point, and would continue to do so if they kept up the good work. Taking so long to get Photoshop for OSX out did not make them any friends, and suggesting that they were going to stop releasing Premeire for the Mac didn't help either. Ask any of the "Mac Faithful"... Adobe runs a close second as a company that we would break a bottle on the edge of the bar and cut you for badmouthing. Bottom line: their Mac products are slipping, but in general still (IMHO) get the job done better. Let the flames begin...

    --

    Someday a real rain is gonna come...

    1. Re:Here we go again... by dfluke · · Score: 1

      How can you not "agree" with a benchmark? I agree on the user experience, use whatever floats your boat. The last part of your post is just slander about Adobe, and comes off as flamebait.. especially with your parting line.

    2. Re:Here we go again... by macthulhu · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think we all agree that many of the benchmarks we've seen, especially those relating to Photoshop, are skewed by their creators to put their platform of choice in the best light. Check out Steve Jobs' keynote address where he used the Inspector Gadget (IIRC) poster as the test image. It was assembled in less than half the time of its Windows competitor. As far as my "slandering" of Adobe, you are mistaken. I make my living with their products. I love their products. Did you miss the bit about them being second only to Apple? Just as I can with Apple, I can admit that their product line is starting to slip. In the case of Adobe, I think it has something to do with Apple competing with them in the arena of video editing. As for being "flamebait"... c'mon. Any time we get into the whole Mac vs. Windows thing, it gets kind of "flamey" around here. My cynical comment was not intended to generate more flames, just to point out that I knew this discussion was likely to head in that direction and not in a particularly useful direction. As an artist, I just want hardware and software that bridges the gap between what my brain sees and what my hands cannot do by themselves. In my opinion, I have found gear that does that. That is all.

      --

      Someday a real rain is gonna come...

    3. Re:Here we go again... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no, you're not crazy. photoshop for windows *IS* still buggier than its mac counterpart.

      Apple should buy Avid's matador. photoshop's UI isn't all that great anyway. its success was mostly one of being there at right time when there were no tools like it.

  106. Hello Gimp by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Actually, this is far more likely to cause Apple to start working on The Gimp and adding the features that Photoshop has that The Gimp lacks.

    This would:
    1. Allow Apple to support existing customers
    2. Be in keeping with their actions re: Safari - allowing Apple to have a codebase they have control (note: not sole control) over
    3. Allow them to add features that Adobe does not see fit to add


    In short, this could be a good thing for Free Software.

    Or not.
    1. Re:Hello Gimp by koekepeer · · Score: 1

      such as: being at laest as fast as photoshop in loading files and rendering graphics...

      gimp is very nice for smaller (web) graphics, but it isn't nearly as good and fast as photoshop. i'm a big fan though, and would love to see them being at least as good as phototshop, but they're not. at this moment.

      so not: Hello Gimp, but "Let's hope they make 2 good enough to compete with Photoshop"

      just IM-not-so-HO of course

    2. Re:Hello Gimp by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      Well it takes less than a week to work out how to draw a straight line in Photoshop.

      The GIMP really isn't that great:
      no previews for many filters.
      Poor list of built in filters.
      Impossible to use UI.
      Stupid doesn't remember your last jpeg settings, and defaults to poor quality (integer math &co).

      The list goes on.....

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    3. Re:Hello Gimp by Malc · · Score: 1

      4. Ditch GTK and give it a decent UI.

    4. Re:Hello Gimp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why dont apple fuck off taking open source, tweaking it and then making people pay for it.

      Cheeky barstards!!

      The "right" thing would be to fork gimp and then advance its development while remaining free for all.

      The "cheeky as fuck" thing would be to nick the crown jewels, put back a few token tweaks and then sell the resultant package for millions.

    5. Re:Hello Gimp by Malc · · Score: 1

      If you don't like or want Apple doing things like that, use a different license. It's not hard.

    6. Re:Hello Gimp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, this is far more likely to cause Apple to start working on The Gimp and adding the features that Photoshop has that The Gimp lacks.

      Actually, Apple is rumored to have been doing just this ever since its X11 Public Beta was released.

      There are several reasons for Adobe's switch (Adobe had previously insisted its products work best on Macs). One is technical-- OS X on PPC is still too slow and cumbersome, even compared with OS 9.

      Another is political-- Apple co-opted Adobe's PDF and other semi-open standards for Quartz instead of working as Adobe wanted on Display Postscript. Also, Apple's iPhoto moved in on Adobe's sub-entry-level initiatives. Apple's Keynote moves into a market that Adobe pioneered with Persuasion. Apple's Preview supplants Acrobat on the Mac. Apple is also bundling a full version of the GraphicConverter shareware image editor with all new Macs, which moves in on the Adobe's low-end image editing software.

      Keynote and Safari in particular are indications that Apple is moving full force into markets dominated by major software vendors, and X11 is a quick way Apple could bundle Gimp, AbiWord, OpenOffice, StarOffice, etc., with Panther.

      The fact that Apple could easily bundle more alternative or OSS with Mac OS X doesn't mean that it will. However, what the heck is Apple developing X11 for if not to leverage it against the software giants?

    7. Re:Hello Gimp by drunkenbatman · · Score: 1

      Actually, this is far more likely to cause Apple to start working on The Gimp and adding the features that Photoshop has that The Gimp lacks.

      It isn't that easy, or the Gimp project would have added a lot of the features. The strength of Photoshop at this point isn't for general graphics, such as for the web (RGB) but rather CMYK. Adobe has a ton of patents and expertise on the algorithms needed for RGB --> CMYK in general, making it very hard for any any other player to move into that space. Look at the image app space, and look at how many RGB apps there are, but the relative dearth of anything that touches CMYK. Do the patents and long code buildup, the barrier to entry is just too high.

    8. Re:Hello Gimp by Z4rd0Z · · Score: 1

      I've only used Photoshop once or twice, so I don't remember much about the interface. But when I hear your statement that Gimp has an "Impossible to use UI", I have to wonder what you mean. I've heard lots of people say this. Can you please explain what you mean?

      --
      You had me at "dicks fuck assholes".
    9. Re:Hello Gimp by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      He means it's not an exact clone of Photoshop, so if you're completely used to Photoshop's UI, and too stupid to learn something different, you'll be confused when you try to learn GIMP.

      Personally, I've never used Photoshop at all, only lower-end stuff like Paintshop Pro, so learning the GIMP wasn't a big deal to me as I wasn't unlearning anything. It's a pretty straightforward interface as far as I can tell; there's a small window with all the tool selections, and a global menu. When you open images, they each have their own window. Right-clicking on that image brings up a menu for operations on that image. Selections within this menu heirachy seem to be logically organized; file, image, view, etc. I don't have any complaints.

      There's just no pleasing these whiners. If you make an alternative software application, but it isn't an exact clone of the "leading" application in that market (which of course is determined by marketshare alone), then they complain that it's "too hard to use", or has a "confusing UI", or is "lacking features" (which no one actually uses). But if you actually try to make it very close to the "leading" product, then they whine that it's a clone, that it's not original, etc. If they like the "leading" application so much, I wish they'd just go and use it (after coughing up the big bucks for it of course), and leave the rest of us alone.

    10. Re:Hello Gimp by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      I'll pick on the few points I've mentioned already.

      (drawing a straight line)
      The GIMP provides no indication of the type of function that a tool can perform, and the action of a modifyer ket (ctrl, alt &co) on that function.

      The filters are few and odly grouped/named. They frequently don't provide previews, which makes using hte filters slow and pot luck (lots of undo's).

      Even somthing as simple as JPEG remembering that you want FPU and interlaced as default would be nice, most PC's are quick enough that poorer interger compression is pointless.

      SFAI recall selections are also a bit odd to deal with.

      It only takes a couple of days to be reasonable in photoshop, and the learning curve is very gently.

      I haven't learnt enough GIMP yet, but unless there's a spark of light and I suddernly understand the whole GIMP interface it's going to take a lot longer to use than photoshop.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    11. Re:Hello Gimp by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      What are you complaining about? OSX's mach kernel (Darwin), or Safari's use of KHTML? In the case of Darwin, it's under the BSD license if I remember correctly, so they're not doing anything wrong in tweaking it and making people pay for it. If the Darwin developers don't like that, they should have used the GPL license. Also, Darwin itself is open-source, just not the Aqua UI on top of it.

      As for Safari, it uses Konqueror's KHTML renderer, which is GPL. Apple has made improvements to KHTML, and these have been folded back into KDE's version. Check the release notes for the new KDE 3.1.1 for a mention of the contributions from Apple here.

      If Apple were to take the GIMP, make a new (non-GTK) interface for it, sell their fancier version for $$$, and submit their improvements to the core (but not the UI) back to the GIMP team, that still sounds like a great deal to me.

      Personally, I'd like to see a Qt interface for GIMP which fits nicely with KDE, as an alternative to the existing GTK interface.

    12. Re:Hello Gimp by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      When I first used AutoCad (in dos) it was easy to learn.

      When I first used 3d Studio(in dos) it was a bit trickier, but still easy to learn.

      When I first used Photoshop, it was easy to learn.

      When I first used the GIMP, it took a week to find out how to draw a straight line. (I gave up and searched on the internet).

      All 4 applications have compleatly different UI's but one takes far longer to learn than the others.

      The GMP doesn't provide a good level of information about the 'mode' you are in and what operatins tend to that mode.

      It also has non-standard UI rules even compaired to pre-windows dos applications.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    13. Re:Hello Gimp by mbbac · · Score: 1

      The only software that graphics pros would switch to anytime soon is Fireworks. The Gimp has much too much ground to try to catch up on before it can be considered competitive.

      --

      mbbac

    14. Re:Hello Gimp by eMartin · · Score: 1

      "If you make an alternative software application, but it isn't an exact clone of the "leading" application in that market (which of course is determined by marketshare alone), then they complain that it's "too hard to use", or has a "confusing UI", or is "lacking features" (which no one actually uses)."

      I don't think that's what he meant. Actually, it's probably none of the above. Photoshop is an application that has been evolving for more than 10 years now, and most of those features are there because a whole bunch of people wanted them. Even then, it's not about how many features it actually has, or whether or not The GIMP has them too. There are a lot of people out there who can use programs like Photoshop the way someone would play a musical instrument, and while The GIMP may have a similar feature list (or at least those that you consider useful), that kind of interation with it isn't currently possible.

      If a musician prefered to play on a certain type of instrument (for example, one piano instead of another), would you call him stupid just because you can't hear the difference?

    15. Re:Hello Gimp by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      You've got a point there. I just tried it myself for the first time (never needed straight lines for editing photos), but it only took about 4 minutes, not a week or a google search. After looking through the menus and tool options (nothing at all), I tried playing with the shift, alt, and ctrl keys while using the pencil tool. Turns out that Shift-clicking will draw a straight line from that point to whatever point you last clicked on. Very strange, I'll admit (most programs seem to have a 'line' tool where you define two points, or a 'multisegmented line' tool where you define successive points), but it works once you learn it. They could definitely use a little improvement here.

    16. Re:Hello Gimp by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      No, but when a new manufacturer (like Yamaha or Hyundai) starts making pianos, they use the exact same 88-key arrangement, with white keys and black keys, as pianos have had for hundreds of years. They even use nearly identical designs for the soundboards--how much have piano internals changed in the last 100 years? And when they sell this piano, no one complains that it's just a clone of Baldwin's pianos, and doesn't have any new innovation.

      This piano analogy is really not comparable to competing software products.

    17. Re:Hello Gimp by b-baggins · · Score: 1

      GIMP breaks a bunch of interface rules. Here are some of them:

      Primary functionality ONLY accessible through right-click pop-up menus instead of a program menu bar. This means users must right-click on an image, bringing up a menu which hides portions of the image from view to select commands that will affect the, now unviewable, image.

      There is no global program menu, but rather a menu bar, which, while positioned as a global menu bar, is treated as simply another tool by the program. It can be closed, in which case, there is no intuitive way for the user to access menu commands, or even see that there is a menu of potential commands.

      These are just the most glaring examples of absolutely crappy interface design pulled from the top of my head. If I were to sit down in front of GIMP again, I'd come up with a dozen more in about fifteen minutes.

      --
      You can tell a great deal about the character of a man by observing those who hate him.
    18. Re:Hello Gimp by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1
      They mean that it was designed by programmers. Not GUI designers. Not to mention that if you run it on, say Windows, it it doesn't even use standard menus etc.
      Part of it is just a case of re-learning. But most of it is simply that the GUI isn't designed well. I can't give you any details because I don't have it in front of me. Last time someone asked a similar question. I decided to install GIMP again so I could come up with a list of points. Unfortunately I never got round to it. Perhaps I will this time ;) But I fear would not be taken seriously and that I will have simply wasted my time trying to submit anything that isn't code to the OSS community.

      The other reason that GIMP will never replace Photoshop for most pros is that it lacks many, many features. Some of them critical, some are annoying. But even if you take care of the big issues, it's still death by a thousand cuts.

      Don't get me wrong. I admire what the GIMP people are doing. And their's no reason it's not possible to make a good Photoshop clone. But it will take a huge effort (I'm guessing that Photoshop would be much more complex than Mozilla), and it would also take organization and planning with people who are not coders. This is something that the OSS community seems to be lacking at the moment IMHO.

    19. Re:Hello Gimp by SoupIsGoodFood_42 · · Score: 1

      I hope that one day that you will wake up and realise that it's your kind of attitude that's the reason Linux etc aren't getting into the desktop market any time soon.

    20. Re:Hello Gimp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gee, how did PANTONE allow adobe to steal their patents ?

      Pantone is who Apple would need to reach understanding with. Adobe can go suck ass.

    21. Re:Hello Gimp by DeComposer · · Score: 1

      Oh god, is there going to be a raft of "look and feel" litigation for piano keyboards now?

      --


      Karma
    22. Re:Hello Gimp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What attitude is that? He said that people whine (you included apparently) when a program isn't an exact clone and when it is. How is that a problem with linux on the desktop?

    23. Re:Hello Gimp by oliverthered · · Score: 1

      Well, I think when Jesus said you should give away you possesions what he really meant was attack Iraq for Oil.

      At least the kuran admits and corrects it's fuckups.

      --
      thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    24. Re:Hello Gimp by markzdk2002 · · Score: 0

      First I didn't see anywhere in the article that it specifly stated that Adobe prefers PC's just showed benchmarks. GIMP is GOOD but most of the industry uses adobe maybe sad but is factualy true.

  107. Speed isnt everything. by YAN3D · · Score: 1

    Can a mercedes beat out a souped up rice burner in a race? Not a chance. But I would choose the mercedes over the rice burner and day. Its all about the experience.

  108. Adobe's gettin' cocky by jub · · Score: 1

    I don't think they care Mac -vs- PC, they just want to port less and sell more. Look at the link at the bottom of the page - a whole page of redirects to hardware (mostly PC). Probably a nice kickback for each clickthrough.

    Adobe's banking on Photoshop as a platform, that people don't care what they run, as long as Photoshop screams on it. Why can they do that? Photoshop has no competition. (no, not the GIMP either). If the PC makes up the majority of their market, they can slack on the Mac version parity.

    The big problem with all of the "Photoshop Filter" benchmarks is that they're all true. Pick a filter, any filter, it's going to run on one thing better than another. There are dozens of filters, each optimized for a different environment, hence some are faster on mac, some faster on windows, maybe even some faster on unix. Choose your filters carefully, and you can 'prove' any performance claim.

    The other thing they're doing is pushing print production to InDesign. I firmly believe that they're delaying Acrobat 6 to take full advantage of the angst over Quark's delays with version 6 for OS X. "No native Distiller? Well, switch to InDesign, and you don't need that old Distiller!"

  109. Source of Error by ispivey · · Score: 3, Informative

    I doubt Adobe is the actual source of the stupid axis-labeling error -- Adobe attributes the images to Digital Media Net, the parent of the site that published the article this is based on -- so I'd imagine it more likely that the error's on DMN's side.

    It's interesting to look at Digital Video Editing, the site that published the original article entitled "Macs vs. PCs III: Macs Slaughtered Again".

    I'm not enough of an editing guru to comment on the validity of the tests, but the writing is strikingly unprofessional: "Mac stalwarts will cling to the notion that Mac OS X is so much better and easier to use than Windows XP". He's obviously got an axe to grind. Writers who compare Macs and PCs and *start out* with a chip on their shoulder kind of piss me off.

    It seems quite possible that Adobe asked the author for a couple of images, and he came up with these worthless, mis-scaled pieces of junk to force his own point. But maybe it was an accident, and I'm just a pessimist.

    1. Re:Source of Error by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's because Adobe is jealous of Final Cut Pro taking all there business and they see that Apple is writing a lot of software. Also Apple just hired a few VPs from Adobe. I think Apple is just killing Adobe with Final Cut Pro. So Adobe is going Windows on the DV side. Just a thought.

    2. Re:Source of Error by prockcore · · Score: 1

      He's obviously got an axe to grind. Writers who compare Macs and PCs and *start out* with a chip on their shoulder kind of piss me off.

      Because if he wasn't so biased, the Mac would magically become faster. I see.

    3. Re:Source of Error by dubiousmike · · Score: 1

      I'm not enough of an editing guru to comment on the validity of the tests

      I am.

      Macs used to have a stanglehold on the video editing market. Their 1 meg cache and scsi drives that came standard with EVERY mac put it far beyond the capabilities of a normal pc.

      Then Apple dumbed down their hardware offerings (not OS mind you) with IDE drives and a smaller proc cache, but managed to charge high prices still through the tactics of their unreal marketing department.

      I aggree that OSX is very good. Though I have trouble with workflow with it (I use both macs and pcs) I know if I moved to mac only, I'd get used to it quickly. But frankly, for rendering huge projects (which is frequent in video editing, special effects, ect), pcs blow away macs. Of course, there could be a case made to use a mac for editing and a pc for rendering. Regardless of cost, speed or whatever, a worker will work better if they are happy. Many of us want the equiptment we want to make us happy.

  110. Re:Crack??? by dusty123 · · Score: 1

    Well, maybe true, although I trust the test and believe the PC is indeed faster. Moreover you forget that in this test a single processor is compared to a dual processor.

    Anyway, you forget the maintainance costs of the workstations - and I think that the MAC is quite cheaper on this side. Their hardware tends to be more reliable and OS/X as any UNIX is easier and less time consuming to administrate.

    Moreover OS/X is "better" and simply has less bugs, so overall the productivity on the OS/X could be better than on XP.

    Moreover I would think about the difference of the power consumption - maybe current is very cheap in your country but I would believe that the MAC needs less power - this could sum up to ~ $50.- to $100.- / year, these are costs that are quite often forgotten in calculations - this way a flatscreen can be a lot cheaper than a power hungry cathode ray screen.

  111. Adobe is playing the role of little boy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They pissed. Apple's Final Cut Pro has killed their Premiere product.

    Solution: Hey Adobe, write some better code and may you'll be on top again.

    It's called competion and Adobe appantly doesn't lie it.

  112. A question of where you lose your speed... by cenonce · · Score: 0, Troll

    Hey, look, no doubt Windows PCs are faster for a lot of "look and feel" things. But as somebody who uses, and is his home's and his small office network admin, there is no comparison.

    Windows is a big pain in the @ss when I install, remove or update anything. I figure that Windows "down time" more than makes up for the fact that my Mac has delays when manipulating the GUI, renders PS stuff more slowly and occassionally has a "spinning color wheel" for minutes. Additionally, I have had no catastrophic OS failures with OS X since switching from 9 and I have at least every few months some major problem with Windows that ends up being hours of downtime! Add to that the well-known and well-exploited security issues with Windows and, for me, the choice is clear.

    Yet, I would love Apple to put this Megahertz myth to rest by getting away from Motorola (since they seem not to be able to deliver) and move to IBM, or better yet, move to AMD. Still, I think OS X will always come up slower than Windows because (a) I don't think software companies know how to optimize code (or don't want to put the time and money into it) for the Mac and perhaps more significantly, OS X will always be more secure than Windows. And security generally puts a hit on speed. I'm willing to live with that.

    -A

  113. Impossible? by JohnnySkidmarks · · Score: 0

    I heard a general on the radio this morning talking about how the current sandstorm could take out an Apache. Lets see bullet vs. grain of sand. I'll bet on the bullet (of course the chances of the sand getting in the right spot to gum the works is more likely); I think many more things are impossible: Like Bush telling the truth about this war having nothing to do with OIL. Why then is there such a huge deal about defending the pipelines and oil fields in Iraq?

    --

    I went to battle MC Escher but drew a blank

    1. Re:Impossible? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I heard a general on the radio this morning talking about how the current sandstorm could take out an Apache. Lets see bullet vs. grain of sand. I'll bet on the bullet (of course the chances of the sand getting in the right spot to gum the works is more likely)

      Lemme know as soon as you see a single-grain sandstorm. You could be hit by millions of grains of sand per minute in a sandstorm.

      Retard.

    2. Re:Impossible? by JohnnySkidmarks · · Score: 0

      of course the chances of the sand getting in the right spot to gum the works is more likely); Learn to read the whole sentence before strapping me into the chair. I like the way you signed your oh so learned reply too. Johnny

      --

      I went to battle MC Escher but drew a blank

    3. Re:Impossible? by xenocytekron · · Score: 1

      The deal with the oil is pollution, last time they set 700 oil fields on fire and it cost billions of dollars to clean up. Why should we be concerned with their oil? they provide 3% of the worlds petroleum.

      --
      This is my .sig, if you don't like it, it will eat you.
  114. and this is significant because .... ? by rtphokie · · Score: 1

    the link shows the results of a test and says absolutely nothing about Adobe declaring any platform "preferred."

    Whats with this description.

    1. Re:and this is significant because .... ? by nullard · · Score: 1

      Exactly! All it says is that there was an article written that included some benchmarks in which a PC achieved better ratings than a Mac. There was no comment from Adobe on what this means for them.

      --


      t'nera semordnilap
  115. I guess this makes sense... by Frobozz0 · · Score: 1

    ... since we all know how well Adobe optimizes it's products. :-) Adobe also admits that people use Illustrator 7 or 8 for most of the critical work because Illustrator 9 and 10 are so slow. Hmmmm. Given that the PowerPC architecture is based around efficiency instead of brute force, these graphs do not really surprise me.

    They just don't take into account the 20 minutes of fu**ing with their PC on each bar.

    --
    "Politicians find new names for institutions which under old names have become odious to the people."
    1. Re:I guess this makes sense... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Adobe is well known for their poor software optimization. Which is why Athlons are still able to beat P4's, unless Adobe has finally optimized their code for SSE2.

      I would rather trust ace's than this guy.

      http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=50000335

      As someone who has worked in IT at a large publishing firm, with a large service bureau and prepress departments, I'm not sure if Adobe holds as much weight as it used to.

      The preferred vector graphics program is Macromedia Freehand (which was one of the first programs for MacOS X, which doesn't matter since our guys won't move to X) and our main publishing program is Quark. Adobe still holds its power with Photoshop, and is making some headway against Quark with InDesign, but still far from being a staple like Photoshop.

      Also, if anything else, the system running the imaging software is only one aspect of processing a project. In our case for a preproof, we run a project through a Scitex machine which has to do its own thing.

  116. They misquoted the Charlie by Ghengis · · Score: 1
    Adobe in their opening paragraph misquoted Charlie White's article about the comparison. See here.

    --

    "The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS

  117. Now you know. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Now you know how us Linux guys feel. I'd be nice run photoshop on Red Hat. Certainly there should be portable code that provides native implementation of applications on several major platforms : Windows, Apple, Linux and Unix. Why hasn't this happened? I suspect it's a matter getting Microsoft angry. Apple is a victim of their own medicine here. For years Apple has insisted on "exclusivity" for helping developers. Now Microsoft, having defeated the Justice Department and getting a walk on antitrust charges, is insisting on exclusivity. Your Apple Juice doesn't taste very good, does it. Give me Quicktime on Linux and I'll cry with you. Until then ... oohhh well : join the club.

  118. Re:Crack??? by stilwebm · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I guess those Adobe folks are on crack... have you seen PS run on a Mac vs Windows??? It is SO much faster doing nearly all filters. The 3rd party ones even show considerable differences. - RR

    In fact, I have. In addition to systems administration, I've also worked as a professional graphic designer (and sometimes still do for side cash). And pound-for-pound, the newest versions of Photoshop run better and faster on Windows than on Macintosh.

    The reason PhotoShop was much faster on Classic (Mac OS 9.x and earlier) for many fucntions was due to the way mutlitasking and memory management were handled.

    Multitasking was "competitive" multitasking, meaning that the process in focus could, in theory, steal as many CPU quantums as it wanted and ignore interrupts from other programs. To demonstrate this, start a large network download or upload in an application (Netscape, Finder, and Fetch all work). Now load a large image in PhotoShop, and resize the editting window so horizontal and/or vertical scroll bars appear. Now scroll and hold the mouse button down for about 90 seconds. Go back to the application that was responsible for the download. Notice that it has timed out because it stopped receiving data. The application and its IO interrupts were ignored while you held the mouse button down to scroll. Obviously this is more advantageous when running one process "that matters", such as a filter benchmark.

    The memory management on Classic is also pretty simple. First, there is no protected memory in Classic. An application has a preset "Preferred" and "Minumum" amount of memory setting attached to its binary. At runtime, Classic attempts to find as close to the preferred memory setting as possible, down to the minimum amount. It allocates all of that memory at run time, or fails to launch if the minumum memory setting is unavailable at that time. Throughout runtime, memory management really only consists of using that memory and possibly swapping some of it out. This vastly reduces memory management overhead.

    With OS X, these advantages are erased. The processing capabilities of the system (especially AltiVec) still help vastly with some filters. However, handling other processes, context switching, memory allocation and of course the more complicated Quartz graphics engine offset the advantages. You can run filters faster in the background, the application and OS is vastly more stable, but you cannot run them them as fast as when they are in the foreground in Classic.

  119. Adobe mis-quote by Ghengis · · Score: 1
    Adobe has mis-quoted Charlie White's article concerning the clock-speeds in their opening paragraph. See here.

    --

    "The best laid plans of mice and men gang oft agley..." - ROBERT BURNS

  120. Stupid Slashdot error message of the week! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Slashdot requires you to wait 2 minutes between each successful posting of a comment to allow everyone a fair chance at posting a comment.

    It's been -160 seconds since you last successfully posted a comment

    Chances are, you're behind a firewall or proxy, or clicked the Back button to accidentally reuse a form. Please try again. If the problem persists, and all other options have been tried, contact the site administrator.

    Last time I checked 160 seconds was more than 2 minutes... unless that "-160" isn't a typo and I'm really going BACKWARDS in TIME!!!

  121. Re:Ann Coulter is damn sexy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "How can this gorgeous woman [anncoulter.org] be such a heartless right-wing bitch?"

    She has a brain, perhaps?

  122. Sound and fury signifying nothing by Dragonfly · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So, someone ran some benchmarks and then Adobe posted a bogus graph showing that a PC was faster than a Mac doing something. Perhaps a little oversimplified, but I think anyone who picks a PC over a Mac based on that one page is missing a few things.

    What about a consistent, well-design user interface that isn't always one step behind?

    What about superior color management and a truly WYSIWYG pdf-based display architecture?

    What if design pros don't want to have to deal with linear mouse acceleration that makes fine adjustments akin to slow torture?

    What about the fact that most design pros don't want to have to spend a day every month or so troubleshooting some nonsensical Windows problem?

    What about Microsoft's increasingly oppressive product activation and upgrade policies? What about their draconian approach to DRM?

    What if people don't want to use an OS that is still built upon the blasphemy that is the Windows Registry?

    What about the 50,000+ virii that affect Windows only, and the handful that affect OS X?

    What if creative pros don't want to deal with a welter of Windows-only spyware?

    What about Microsoft's seive-like security?

    I could go on. I know all those things add up to more lost time for me than the time saved on a few select operations.

    1. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by Gropo · · Score: 1
      What if design pros don't want to have to deal with linear mouse acceleration that makes fine adjustments akin to slow torture?
      ROFL! I've been trying to condense the words to sufficiently explain that phenomenon for quite some time now... Great job.

      The best I've been able to come up with is: "feels like you're pushing the GID around with a broomstick on minute strokes."

      The people that keep thumping the "PC's have every advantage over Macs at this point" tub never appear to be the type of person who ever does fine raster adjustments with a GID... Truly sad.
      --
      I hate Grammar Nazi's
    2. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
      What if design pros don't want to have to deal with linear mouse acceleration that makes fine adjustments akin to slow torture?

      Man, I am glad someone else noticed this? I thought I was losing my mind.

      I've used PS for enough years that I've gotten quite good at bulls-eyeing individual pixels for selection without having to zoom. When I use a PC, I cannot for the life of me get the mouse to not jump 2-pixel increments on small movements, no matter what. I've fiddled with the control panel to no end. It's a nice Logitech optical mouse, too.

      --
      If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
    3. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by shades6666 · · Score: 1

      Easy enough to fix. Set acceleration to none in mouse properties, motion.

    4. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No Grasshopper, the PC is faster than the Mac doing everything.

      Taking your points in order:
      - The Mac had a consistent, well-designed interface but it doesn't anymore. One step behind? You mean like the close box being next to all the other boxes on the title bar?
      - Superior color management, IYHO. PDF-based display architecture doesn't impress me. Works well and fast would. If only, if only...
      - The mouse statement is crap. You can get what you want on a PC. On the Mac you have Apple's way or the highway (or should I say superhighway?)
      - What about the fact that most design pros don't want to have to spend a day every month or so troubleshooting some silly Mac OS X permissions problem?
      - What about Apple's increasingly tight grip on what you can and can't do? What about their overpriced hardware? What about their Microsoft-like forced paid upgrades?
      - Sure, like a design pro gives a shit about the "blasphemy" that is the Windows Registry. All they know is that their work is done much faster.
      - The plural of virus is viruses. Other than that, you can spell. Which makes you smarter than 90% of /. readers. Otherwise it is a good point. You have to run anti-virus software on the PC and spend time worrying about initial setup.
      - If you don't want to deal with spyware, don't install programs that have spyware. Like duh.
      - What about MS's security? Spend some time upfront setting it up right, exercise some prudence (turn off Javascript and Active X in the browser, don't run Kazaa on your render station (duh!)) and you should be fine.
      - Lost time for you, maybe, but for those who render or do anything that is processor intensive a PC will save time. And don't pretend that Mac OS X is trouble-free. I run it and it is barely out of beta and certainly not mature. And the interface is poor compared to classic Mac OS. Lickable? Yeah, lick this. I want effective not lickable and Windows has caught up to Mac OS X in its interface even though it hasn't caught up to classic Mac OS.

      But let's grant you your points. You win. A PC user will have to take 8 hours per month on their computer that Mac users won't for Windoze troubles, let's add a whole extra day for your other points (fair?). Let's see, 21 days in a typical work-month, 8 hours per day, PC 80% faster at the work (all that is left to take into account), that means the PC user will get the same month's work done in 11 days, 5 hours, 20 minutes + the 2 days, that's 2 weeks plus a monday through thursday, so every month the PC user gets a 3 day weekend plus a week off the Mac user doesn't get.

      Oh suuuuure, make mine Mac.

      Posting AC because Mac partisans can't stand any argument. So defensive!

    5. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by Zigg · · Score: 1

      Spend some time upfront setting it up right, exercise some prudence (turn off Javascript and Active X in the browser ...

      Does this strike anyone else as rather, umm, silly? Well, maybe not so much the ActiveX part, but having to disable JavaScript?

    6. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by Gropo · · Score: 1
      Taking your points in order:

      The Mac had a consistent, well-designed interface but it doesn't anymore. One step behind? You mean like the close box being next to all the other boxes on the title bar?
      Far more consistent than Windows, far more real estate conservative. Far more ubiquitous in the key-command arena. Far more consistent in application behavior.
      Superior color management, IYHO.
      No, not merely in HIS honest opinion. In the honest opinion of thousands-upon-thousands of prepress professionals. Answer me this: why do you feel the need to opine upon a technology that you don't use on a regular basis?
      The mouse statement is crap. You can get what you want on a PC. On the Mac you have Apple's way or the highway (or should I say superhighway?)
      Actually, it's 100% valid. There is no way to set Windows GID input to act as finely resolved as Macintosh GID input when manipulating small clusters of rasters. I will now refer to my question from the previous retort.
      What about Apple's increasingly tight grip on what you can and can't do? What about their overpriced hardware? What about their Microsoft-like forced paid upgrades?
      Not increasingly tight, not overpriced, not forced. 100% FUD/opinion.
      Sure, like a design pro gives a shit about the "blasphemy" that is the Windows Registry. All they know is that their work is done much faster.
      Yes, their Windows design workstation can crash much faster when it runs in to Registry/IRQ errors. It can also choke much faster when too many VM pages are thrown at it (i.e. large Photoshop documents)
      If you don't want to deal with spyware, don't install programs that have spyware. Like duh.
      Like, how the hell am I supposed to automatically know ApplicationX.exe has or doesn't have spyware? Read the EULA?
      ...and Windows has caught up to Mac OS X in its interface even though it hasn't caught up to classic Mac OS.
      Nope, sorry. As was stated above in both this and the Grand-parent post, there are many issues that hamper a Mac-centric poweruser from agreeing with that statement.

      -Posted under my account because I know I have a better grasp on the subject matter than you.
      --
      I hate Grammar Nazi's
    7. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by xmnemonic · · Score: 1

      "Yes, their Windows design workstation can crash much faster when it runs in to Registry/IRQ errors. It can also choke much faster when too many VM pages are thrown at it (i.e. large Photoshop documents)."

      I have been working with large (2048x2048 and 4096x4096 with several to tens of layers) Photoshop documents often in Windows XP with 384 ram, and have not yet experienced any crashes or errors. YMMV.

    8. Re:Sound and fury signifying nothing by Dragonfly · · Score: 1

      Easy enough to fix. Set acceleration to none in mouse properties, motion.

      True, that will make it easier to control the mouse while doing detail work, but you'll have to turn it off again when you want to be able to move the mouse across the screen quickly.

      Windows also has controls that allow you to control mouse acceleration so it is exponential, but I found that the results were still not as usable as the Mac's acceleration model, at least in Win2k sp2 which is where I last tested it. I'm assuming that XP is the same.

  123. Remember Air America (movie)? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember the opening scene of Air America? It happened before, too.

  124. Oh come on... by thatguywhoiam · · Score: 1
    So Steve: Port Mac OS/X to x86 *soon* before you let Apple die in obsolescence.

    Isn't there some version of Godwin's Law that states when someone claims 'Apple is dead' the thread comes to a complete halt?

    Seriously. The Mac x86 argument has been flogged, flayed, stepped on, dismembered, burned, and then danced upon. Apple would be slitting its own throat. It'll never happen.

    We all know the G4s are lagging, that is old news. We know. Everyone knows. Wait for the G5. It's very close now (3-4 months away). Then let's talk. I don't know if the PPC 970 chip will beat whatever Intel has in July but I bet it'll be a lot closer.

    Incidentally, I'm surprised no one else had the same reaction I did... there's nothing stopping you from having your cake and eating it too. Doing video work myself, I prefer the Mac interface. I do my editing and compositing (project mode) on the Mac, and then send it to a cluster of headless PCs for network rendering. Cheap PC hardware is a bonus.

    The Mac OS and interface is the best.
    The Intel/AMD CPU speed is the best.

    Media work that relies on rendering is time-sensitive (and therefore money sensitive) so I hear the plight of the Mac people who want to speed things up. For video work, a day's worth of billables will buy you at least 1 stripped-but-fast PC easily. I just use them as 'spare brains' and continue with my Mac. After Effects has great network rendering, so does LightWave, etc.

    --
    If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
  125. Adobe and Dell in Bed? by 3-22 · · Score: 0

    Looks to me more like Adobe is pushing Dell hardware. At the end of there "in-depth comparison" they have a Buy Gear link which *gasp* links to an order form for a Dell PC. The MHz stuff aside, Adobe's snub of Apple and pushing Dell hardware is not good...

  126. What a troll topic! by trash+eighty · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    The webpage doesn't say Adobe "prefer" PCs at all, that happens to be a word in the page URL, if the page was pcfish.html it wouldn't mean Adobe thought PCs were fishy now would it. Seems to me all this topic is is a huge troll.

  127. Comparisons like these by Disoculated · · Score: 1

    Are usually pretty hard on Apple. I mean, they have to have beat Intel on hardware and Microsoft on software. Now, OSwise, I think they've done the software part with OSX. I really like it and even if it's a touch bloated it's nothing like XP. More than anything, that's the real strength of the Mac.

    Sadly for Apple, it's hardware is reliant on Motorola to manufacture a processor faster than Intel, and Motorola doesn't have a lot of interest in that level of competition. That's why we get articles like this and this. The grim truth is that Macs ARE slower than PC's. Everyone who's not a zealot knows it, and bs like the "Mhz Myth" and "Oh, I personally KNOW they're faster" is propaganda and delusion. Even if more is done per clock cycle, the PC's are DOUBLING the cycles the G4 can do, and it's taking it's toll. This is not new, not hidden, not rocket science.

    This isn't unique to the G4. Computer rooms across the country are having their PA-RISC, Sparc, MIPS and more yanked in favor of cheaper Intels. Sure there are niche applications you'd never use an X86 on, but by and large you can use a PC with Linux/FreeBSD and beat anything else on price, speed, power consumption, heat, and rack space. These are essentials for businesses, and this is where economies of scale really start to push new technology.

    So, Apple needs to get better hardware. They either need to get IBM/Motorola to make them a better platform to run their excellent software, or they need to port to X86. There is no existing platform in the market now that has the economy of scale as X86 and it's really starting to show. The company has reinvented itself many times in the past, so I have confidence in them to do *something* to boost their standing, but this is certainly a dark moment in Apple's production cycle.

  128. Speed vs. Productivity by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does the speed difference really make up for the lost time from crashing applications and constant reboots of windows? I don't know about you guys, but I've been a hell of a lot more PRODUCTIVE since I got my iBook.

  129. Things that make you go hmmm... by cplater · · Score: 1

    Any chance this is some sort of retalliation for Apple producing iPhoto?

    --
    -- Charles A. Plater
    1. Re:Things that make you go hmmm... by pressman · · Score: 1

      No. iPhoto doesn't even come close to being as capable as even Photoshop Elements. If all you want to do is resize an image or remove redeye, iPhoto is great. If you want to do any sort of image manipulation at all, but don't want to pay for PS, get Elements.

      --
      Pooty tweet
  130. It's not that this is an arbitrary choice! by callipygian-showsyst · · Score: 1
    It was the result of careful benchmarks between the two platforms. Windows won!

    Let's hope that Apple can figure out a way to get some more performance so people will have a choice once again.

  131. Macs have no right mouse button by JBettis · · Score: 1

    Of course the PC is preferred, when you have a one button mouse, you can't use those nifty right mouse button context menus! ;-)

  132. News Flash! by skia · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People who use Macs don't use them because they're faster.

    Adobe has for a long time now achieved feature and interface parity between their Windows and Mac products. That's no mean task, and they should be applauded for it. But it seems a little short sighted of them to name Windows the "preferred" platform just because it's faster. Photoshop may be the same on Windows and OS X, but Windows and OS X are very different. And no matter how graphically productive you are, you are still going to end up spending a large amount of time outside of Photoshop's isolated interface.

    If speed were really the end-all and be-all of graphic design (or computing in general) Apple would have died a long time ago and PC users would still be using DOS.

    --

    --

    1. Re:News Flash! by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If speed were really the end-all and be-all of graphic design (or computing in general) Apple would have died a long time ago and PC users would still be using DOS.

      Windows 1.0 was announced at the same time Lisa was announced. I doubt the PC users would still be in a DOS world without the 'wonderful' Apple.

      Do people really forget or just not know that Apple was relunctant to even add color to their precious Mac, citing it was a waste of resources back in 1985.

      It wasn't until the Amiga and AtartST started to make a dent in the graphical market with color equipped motorola systems did Apple change their tune and reconsider bringing out a color Mac.

      Oh yeah, Mac is such the innovator. (Only when forced to the edge of extinction) How many years did it take them to get a preemptive multitasking OS after IBM and Microsoft had REAL products back in 1992/1993? Almost 10 years? Wow, Apple, your innovation almost killed you that time. All these neat new Mac toys I keep seeing are so scary "I can play music and print and it hardly stutters", NT users have been doing this since 1993. I remember having several Mod players runing and video back in 1992 and the system didn't miss a lick. (And this was on 486 technology)

      MacOSX is a great achievement for Apple, but it still isn't the cat's meow, no matter how much anyone loves it. When you hear your background Mp3s stuttering along while trying to print, think to yourself, "If I was running XP or even 1996NT, this wouldn't be happening"

    2. Re:News Flash! by Excarnate · · Score: 1

      People who use Macs don't use them because they're faster.

      This is moderated as insightful?

      Of course people who use Macs don't use them because they're faster because they aren't faster.

      Besides, the article is clearly being a link to a test to buck up those who prefer PC's. And if you read the article (I did) you'll see that digital video editing (what that site is about) can take time, a lot of time. So if you do digital video editing (or anything that will use lots of CPU) chances are the time you save there will more than make up for any disadvantages the PC platform might have (and remember, the Mac is not superior in all ways except for speed, it too has disadvantages).

      If speed were really the end-all and be-all of graphic design (or computing in general) Apple would have died a long time ago and PC users would still be using DOS.

      This comment is silly. No one claims that speed is the end-all or the be-all. But the many advantages of the PC platform (including increasingly a huge speed advantage) far outweigh those of the Mac platform unless you:
      1. Hate Microsoft so much you'd get a stroke if you used their products.
      2. Ditto Intel.
      3. Love Unix but can't fix the problems Linux (and *BSD) has on portables (and can't deal with its generally ass interface) and running a portable is your end-all and be-all.
      4. Are content in Mac space (you don't need speed, you like spending extra for your hardware, you don't mind that a lot of nifty products don't work on Macs, you prefer the interface).

      I was in group 4 until Apple screwed up the interface. Now I'm switching to Linux on my CPU's and hoping to avoid XP on my next portable (Lindows portable, anyone?)

      Besides, although Apple isn't dead, guess what % of people buy Macs compared to Windoze boxes? I think the advantages the Wintel platform has have enabled it to marginalize the Mac and everything else below the workstation level pretty effectively.

      --
      .signature: No such file or directory
    3. Re:News Flash! by skia · · Score: 1

      You mistake my point. I did not say that, were it not for Apple, PC users would still be in DOS. I said that if everyone's only concern was speed PC users would still be in DOS, as programs running in DOS were much faster than their Windows counterparts. But there are things more important to users than speed such as having a multitasking environment, a common user interface, and a shared clipboard, for example.

      You stumble all over yourself in your effort to bash Apple. It does not make you look particularly intelligent.

      --

      --

    4. Re:News Flash! by skia · · Score: 1

      Besides, the article is clearly being a link to a test to buck up those who prefer PC's.

      Indeed. And I've no problem with giving a hand to my brother PC user. And I totally understand why, from Adobe's point of view, it all comes down to speed. After all, interface- and appearance-wise, there's no difference between Illustrator for OS X or Windows. But I think that, though bringing it all back to speed is an easy simplification for Adobe to make, in the real world users take more into account when choosing a computer platform than just how fast it crunches.

      No one claims that speed is the end-all or the be-all.

      But that seems to be exactly the argument Adobe is making if they are, in fact, providing some sort of "preferred" endorsement for the Windows platform. The only evidence they've given to back up this decision is time-to-complete-X graphs.

      You and I both seem to agree that there is more to a platform than how long it takes to render a lighting effect, but we disagree on what platform is "the best". Well, different strokes for different folks, right? It seems that Adobe, of all people, should share our view.

      Besides, although Apple isn't dead, guess what % of people buy Macs compared to Windoze boxes?

      I've never seen this as a particularly meaningful reason to switch to Windows (or, for that matter, to do anything). Most of the world uses Windows. Cool.

      At any rate, this is clearly not a factor to Adobe who is still making money hand-over-fist on software sales for the Mac.

      --

      --

    5. Re:News Flash! by xmnemonic · · Score: 1

      "People who use Macs don't use them because they're faster."
      Really? Not to troll, but I've heard a lot of Mac users say that is exactly the reason they use them.

    6. Re:News Flash! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If speed were really the end-all and be-all of graphic design (or computing in general) Apple would have died a long time ago and PC users would still be using DOS.

      No, we'd probably all be using Unix.

      *pats his Windows machine*

    7. Re:News Flash! by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      I didn't miss your point. You seem to have missed mine.

      #1) DOS apps do not necessarily run faster than Windows applications. This is a myth.

      #2) I wasn't on a rant to bash Apple, but rereading my post, I can see why it seemed so. I apologize.

      The Net Avenger

  133. FREE software by oliverthered · · Score: 1

    no it's not 'FREE', why do you think a Mac costs more than a PC? because you pay for the software.

    --
    thank God the internet isn't a human right.
    1. Re:FREE software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also note that Apple's pro video editing software is not free. In fact, Final Cut Pro is nearly $1,000 and its little brother software Final Cut Express is $300. Both far from free last time I checked, and there is no way iMovie competes with premier.

    2. Re:FREE software by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iMovie, IShakie, Ibrator

  134. MAC Zealotry vs. PC supremecy? by JohnnySkidmarks · · Score: 0

    You clowns (mac nuts) sound like the creationists I've been listening to on the radio; denying the existence of dinosaurs before 10,000 years ago "I've seen carbon dating on the same Mamoth with dates of 13,000 and 50,000 ON THE SAME MAMOTH?" ...I mean come on carbon dating? As if!!!!

    --

    I went to battle MC Escher but drew a blank

  135. Maybe if Apple... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...wasn't trying to clone Adobe's apps (like Premiere and Photoshop), Adobe would like Apple more!

  136. Word "preferred" not found - Slashdot is trolling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anyone bother searching for the word "preferred" in the article? I even searched for "pref" and didn't get a single match.

    Why would slashdot post such a misleading and sensationalist headline?

    Hmm...lets see...Could it be....ad revenues!?!?

  137. Re:Crack??? by ergo98 · · Score: 1

    Anyway, you forget the maintainance costs of the workstations - and I think that the MAC is quite cheaper on this side

    And this is based upon what empirical metrics?

    Moreover OS/X is "better" and simply has less bugs, so overall the productivity on the OS/X could be better than on XP.

    And this is based upon what empirical metrics?

    Moreover I would think about the difference of the power consumption - maybe current is very cheap in your country but I would believe that the MAC needs less power - this could sum up to ~ $50.- to $100.- / year, these are costs that are quite often forgotten in calculations - this way a flatscreen can be a lot cheaper than a power hungry cathode ray screen.

    And this is based upon what empirical metrics? Your entire post is entirely based upon completely unsubstantiated claims, going so far as deriving some bogus power consumption values based upon bogus (non-existent) power consumption values. I'm not saying that these numbers don't exist somewhere out there, but my impression is that you're just giving the Mac entirely the benefit of the doubt and just presuming that it must be better at everything.

  138. Re:Ann Coulter is damn sexy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yikes!
    What you call gorgeous I call 'morgue quality anorexic transvestite', but then again, I'm 100% heterosexual and only turned on by 100% feminine real women.
    Other people may have slight "tendencies" that make them prefer slightly less feminine 'women'.

  139. Don't make such a big deal of it by Chucker23N · · Score: 1

    Adobe may be mad at Apple for FinalCut Pro, which is in a higher class than Adobe's premiere, yet at a good price point. What might have angered them even more was the one-third-as-expensive FinalCut Express, which does almost all semi-professional stuff - with ease.

    They may also be mad at Apple for waiting for Quark, rather than just recommending their InDesign.

    In either case, realize the page merely refers to an obscure benchmark test by an author who has shown himself less useful by providing such wonderful articles as "top 10 reasons for a mac - top 10 reasons for windows", ridiculing a mac without providing much insight.

    I think enough people already pointed out Adobe's imcapability of understanding our time system...

    1. Re:Don't make such a big deal of it by mcwetboy · · Score: 1

      Last fall Apple had a promo where if you bought a Power Mac G4, you got a free copy of InDesign, so I think that might come close to something in the "just recommending" category.

  140. I work with publishing shops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They absolutely hate every version of Windows, and they've tried them all. The viruses, the defragmenting, the maintanence, the networking funkiness, the PITA Word file formats, the crashes, the outrageous fees PC vendors charge for reviving dead PCs.

    They won't even run QuickBooks on Windows because of the hassles. I know several that run QB Win on the Mac/PC emulator, it's easier.

    This will be ill received by the layout people.

    1. Re:I work with publishing shops by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Degragmenting? On NTFS? That's bizarre because I've never had to do it. Even on machines that have been running Win2k for YEARS. NTFS is as good as EXT2/3, and both are way better than HFS. UFS is good although incompatible with some things; so much for your "great" Mac. LOL

      PITA Word file formats? Hmmm, Word can actually save in some fairly standard formats (text being one of them).

      Networking funkiness? Yeah, TCP/IP is a bitch.

      Crashes? You running on cheap-ass hardware no doubt?

      Fees for reviving dead PC's? WTF?

      Just sounds like another PC bigot.

  141. This is all about video production by (rfm)2 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This "pcpreferred" page is part of the "DV" or "motion" section of the Adobe web site and I think that context is important. In the video space Adobe is having a real tough time competing against Apple's Final Cut Pro. Most Mac based video editing is now done on FCPro and Adobe's Premiere is losing market share. However, in the x86 arena Adobe doesn't have that competition. So it is in their commercial interest to try and move video professionals over to x86 because that is their only guarantee that Premiere get sold. I personally believe that x86 currently has the raw performance edge over PPC but that is not the only basis on which professionals make their choice. Final Cut Pro is not only a superior product than Premiere ii is also far better optimised to make use the dual-processors of the Mac platform. I think Adobe is just miffed and want to lure video professionals away from FCPro and the only way they think they can do that is by diverting the attention away from their relatively weak Premiere by emphasising the speed of x86 and some other Adobe products. Basically they are admitting that Premiere isn't cutting it against Final Cut Pro!

  142. PC is a generic term by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    PC means "personal computer". You can have a Mac PC, a Dell PC, or a homebrew PC. (or many other options).

    That link means "Which PC is preferred", not "PCs are better than Macs."

    Tempest in a teapot. Must be a slow news day.

  143. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    On the single/dual proc issue, the G4 may be "better" at some things (floating point math is all, really), but the fastest processor is 1.3 Ghz or so. No matter how good it is doesn't change the fact that is terms of absolute speed (which is all that really matters when you're trying to get work done) the P3/P4/AMD processor is the better choice.

    Maintainance? Meh, OSX & Windows are about the same. There is this great myth about Windows requiring so much more maintainance but most of that has been propagated from the server side of things. On the desktop Windows has been fairly good and stable since NT3.51. Many times desktop issues are caused by crappy hardware. There is plently of high quality PC hardware out there that rivals Mac quality. The only reason I use Linux as my primary OS is because of Microsoft's invasive licensing terms and business practices.

    Power consumption? Gimme a break. There's no way even a small company cares about saving a couple (literally, as in $2 per month, if even that) bucks on "green" computers. LCD's work fine on PC's, what's your point? The power consumption difference is so small its pointless to even think about it.

  144. Adobe really wants Mac users to switch by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Two things.

    Adobe wants folks off of Macs. There are two reasons.

    The first is that Final Cut Pro is killing them on the Mac. Their Mac market is drying up for video and for good reason. FCP is much faster on a G4 than Adobe, and cheaper. These tasks comparing FCP Mac with Adobe PC would show the Mac winning in many instances. That's a fair comparison in terms of productivity since you will never be able to get FCP for the PC.

    The second is that switching brings in revenue. Upgrading isn't working as well anymore, so switching is the next great hope. Microsoft makes more money when most folks switch to Mac than they do if they buy another PC (not that they recognize that as being in their best interest - but maybe they do). Adobe makes more money if someone switches to PC than if they buy a new Mac.

    Maybe in another year or so they'll be encouraging switching back.

  145. Who cares? by Mean_Nishka · · Score: 1
    Who cares? Frankly it doesn't really matter...

    Adobe doesn't hurt its business one bit.. Who else will people switch to? Photoshop is like the Windows of the design world, and I hardly think there's another piece of software as good as After Effects. Further, it probably helps their profitability to have their business narrowed down to one platform anyhow.

  146. It's not the best product but the best marketing. by lunatick · · Score: 1

    It's a shame. I'm a PC user because of the cost and availability of MAC programs and Hardwear, but I always thought the MAC to be a superior computer. It seems far less buggy than M$. I don't know Adobe's purpose behind this. It may just be a marketing ploy for them to get more PC users to buy their products. That may be why they didn't use state of the art equipment. Again it's not the best product, look at Sega Game Gear. Color stereo and with a backlit screne but failed to the B &W mono gameboy that finally released a version that's up to the game gear's caliper.

    All spelling mistakes are intentional and done to enhance the creativity of the submission.

    --
    The Lunatick, Carpe Corpus!
  147. Re:Crack??? by Jimithing+DMB · · Score: 1

    Vaio's? Ick. Those are like wannabe Apple machines. They are certainly more pricey than a typical PC as well, and when you load them up with all the goodies you wind up almost (not quite) paying as much for a Vaio as you would have for an equivalent Apple.

    Furthermore, I think there are a lot of hidden costs with running Windows. Sure, a good Mac user won't have too many problems adjusting to Windows XP, but I have typically found (especially with Windows XP) that Windows is quite annoying. Every few seconds some new baloon or alert comes up as if it really required my immediate attention. After using a PC for a few hours I literally start feeling stressed out[1]. In other words, you say that the switch was easy for your users, but I think you're only looking at the surface.

    There are also other more technical hidden costs. Networking Windows PCs is a chore. I don't care how great Microsoft thinks Active Directory is, it's a pain in the ass. A better directory system is Novell's NDS, although that has problems because it does not integrate as smoothly with Microsoft Windows (gee, wonder why).

    When you look at the total cost of ownership that Microsoft is so fond of pointing out, I think you find that in general an Apple machine is going to be equivalent to a Windows PC. A Linux system will be cheaper because of the lack of software licenses, though the lack of a really solid desktop interface (bad clones of Win32 do not count) really hurts Linux. Don't get me wrong, the desktops are getting there, and in many respects the Linux desktops are better than Win32, but they don't compare to OS X by a long shot.

    Couple that with the fact that the next generation Apples will be coming out Real Soon Now and I'd say the better long term choice is to stick with Apple.

    Footnotes:

    1. I am a long time computer user who has used DOS, Win16, OS/2, Win32, Linux, and Mac OS X. I can say with absolute certainty that OS X is by far the superior operating environment. OS/2 would probably be a close second (though it is harder to use than OS X, it is quite powerful). Linux (GNOME, KDE, whatever, all the same) would be next followed by Win32, DOS, and Win16. The stress I refer to has to do with the fact that I always feel as though I have to work much too hard to get anything substantial done in Windows, where substantial is defined as pretty much everything Microsoft didn't think of (which is quite a bit).
  148. The strange thing is....: by irn_bru · · Score: 1

    Anecdotal evidence, granted, but nobody I know who uses Photoshop on their PC actually paid for their copy. All the mac users who do, did.

    For the home user, when PainshopPro costs £30 and offers similar functionality, you'd be mad to pay for Photoshop. In the professional world I sure most copies are licenced, but I'm sure Macs still represent very significant proportion of commercial users.

    1. Re:The strange thing is....: by Anita+Coney · · Score: 1

      "All the mac users who do, did." But that's only because finding Mac warez are nearly impossible. Still, it could be because Mac users are simply used to paying too much in the first place.

      --
      If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
  149. Re:Crack??? by koekepeer · · Score: 1

    okay i don't have a spiffy new shiny supermachine of a pc, but no f**&ng way that the gimp is faster than photoshop. and there's less functionality.

    i love the gimp, it's a very cool & successful OSS project, but don't make people believe this. it's just not true.

    i mean, just loading time, and drawing upon moving is extremely slow...

    [quote]
    Personally, I find myself more and more using The GIMP on Linux because it's faster than Photoshop on *any* platform (and it's open source ;).
    [/quote]

  150. Preferred? Picked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where does it say in the article that Adobe prefers or has picked anything? It is simply a presentation of PC vs Mac benchmarks. PC wins, duh, it's faster. What's the news? I think Slashdot's headline is a but misleading!!

  151. Re: PC != MS/x86 by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

    I agree very much. My two PCs are running Linux, though they are still x86. The arrogant assertion that PC == Windows on x86 is no surprise, considering for example that M$ wants us to equate their OS with a graphical windowing UI in general. It's just depressing to see that even the Slashdot folk has been fooled into this M$ marketing ploy.

    --
    Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  152. PC's ok for me... without Windows by hubertf · · Score: 1

    So where can I get a NetBSD (or Linux :)
    version of FrameMaker?

    - Hubert

    1. Re:PC's ok for me... without Windows by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Hey, even the Mac is a Personal Computer.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  153. Color management defines the platform choice by MadHungarian1917 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As both a computer and graphic arts professional. One's choice of imaging platform boils down to workflow and the Wintel platform is just not there yet. I use Photoshop 7 on both the Mac and WinXP platforms and yes Photoshop renders more quickly on the WinXP it is useless for finished work because of the virtual nonexistance of Color management for the PC platform. On the MAC calibration is easy so the Pantone (tm) color you see on the monitor is what comes off your proof printer and eventually comes off the phototypesetter. There are far more people with digital cameras and scanners on the PC platform BUT for professional use the Mac is the preferred platform due to the tight integration of color management into it's OS's whereas Wintel thinks color management is a add-on product and the results reflect this view

    1. Re: Color management defines the platform choice by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      ICM and color matching has been a part of the Windows platform for almost 8 years. Where have you been? Our graphic house prefers PCs with Epson printers, as the proofs and onscreen work are picture perfect prior and ready to drop to the digital press.

      Maybe you need a new printer? ;)

    2. Re: Color management defines the platform choice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's so typical that a pro-Mac/anti-Windows rant -- no matter how misguided -- gets modded up around here.

      Okay, here's my take. This self-professed "computer and graphic arts professional" is flat-out wrong. As the poster below notes, ICM and color matching have been a part of the Windows platform for several years. And it works exceptionally well for me.

      In Windows 98, Me, 2000 and XP, the color management part of the operating system is ICM 2, which uses Heidelberg CMM -- also known as LinoColor. This is *exactly* the same engine used in Apple ColorSync versions up to 2.6.

      Mauro Boscarol's web page provides a good overview of how a Color Management Module (CMM) works and why a Mac-based solution isn't as unified as Apple might have you believe. (Think Different!)

      http://www.boscarol.com/pages/cms_eng/073-cmm.ht ml

      I recommend reading the book Real World Color Management by Peachpit Press, (ISBN 0201773406) if you are serious about this complex topic. A Feb. 12th message at macintouch.com (search the page for "real world") by one of the book's co-authors highlights eight myths about color management.

      More info on the book is there, too.
      http://www.macintouch.com/mosxreader10.2pt48 .html

  154. Commodity hardware might be bad for Adobe by alispguru · · Score: 1

    Letting customers spend less money on hardware means there is more money leftover for buying pricey Adobe software.

    Letting customers spend less money on hardware also puts pressure on software vendors to reduce their prices. Anybody else remember when software shipped on various flavors of Unix and PC, and the software on the PC was always cheaper? Even after PC hardware started to outperform Unix workstations? The software did the same stuff, but people wouldn't buy it for the same price on PCs.

    Adobe should run the other way from commodity hardware, unless it plans to aim its software at the mass market rather than the graphics pro market.

    The mass market is hard to make money in, given that most of the buyers can't tell the difference between their options and will thus buy based on price, and most of the competition is free (software bundled with scanners, the Gimp, etc.).
    --

    To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
  155. yow, that hurts by 0x00000dcc · · Score: 1

    All I know is that something needs to happen soon with the Mac's processors, or Apple might go out out of business. Wait a minute ...

    --

    -- (Score:i, Imaginary)

  156. Can I mod this article a troll? by ianscot · · Score: 2, Insightful
    The word "preferred" in the url appears to be the entire basis for this /. story.

    Why, if one may ask, would Adobe miff a huge established user base by "choosing" one platform over the other, especially when they keep the Mac and PC versions more-or-less concurrent anyway? What possible motive would they have for declaring one platform "preferred"?

    On the other hand, I can think of a trolling motive for someone to see if they could get this thing posted. This "news" appears to date to 11 november of last year, to boot.

    --
    "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
  157. Re:This is the dumbest bunch of graphs I've ever s by bigox · · Score: 1

    That's the problem with graphic designers doing statistics.

  158. graph mistakes 54 sec. for 0.54 min. (=32.4 sec.) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for the link to the bogus graph;
    That is a hilarious mistake, there at
    http://www.adobe.com/motion/images/video_compo site .gif

  159. OS X thread Real Time scheduling by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your explanation is technically correct, up to the point of "With OS X, these advantages are erased".

    The Mach kernel provides two thread scheduling schemes that Adobe could take advantage of: a simple thread priority scheme, and a real-time scheme in which an application specifies n of the next m processor cycles a thread expects to consume, and wether or not it can be pre-empted.

    I have experimented quite a bit with the latter, and I am very impressed with thread latency and the level of control afforded to developers with the Real Time scheduler.

    Adobe needs to take advantage of either of these thread scheduling schemes. Of course, the filters should be implemented on a separate thread, since you wouldn't want to run the entire app at an elevated thread level, or (even worse) on a RealTime thread. Also, because most Carbon API's are not thread-safe, these elevated/RT filter threads are quite restricted, although they can use std memory, file I/O, and POSIX thread synchronization libraries.

    It sounds to me (just speculating here) that Adobe's apps are threaded, but these threads make carbon calls, and therefore can not take advantage of elevated/RT threads.

    1. Re:OS X thread Real Time scheduling by stilwebm · · Score: 1

      Right it is true that there are RealTime calls available. I also believe it is correct that they do not work with Carbon API calls. I wonder if any plugins take advantage of this, assuming they can avoid the non thread-safe functions.

    2. Re:OS X thread Real Time scheduling by entrylevel · · Score: 1

      Just for the record, Carbon doesn't really support threads at *all*. You can use RTT or pthreads from within Carbon code, but you have to be extremely careful, since almost none of Carbon is re-entrant. You can also use the Carbon Thread Manager, which allows you to create "fake" threads which basically have to polled manually from the main event loop. Basically, porting an OS 9-specific application to OS X and making perfect use of "real" threads and real time scheduling is near impossible. You would be better off porting the Windows version or writing it from scratch.

      As much of a Mac fan as I am, I can no longer see how anyone could stand programming using the Mac Toolobox. Hell, even Java threads have mapped straight to Mach threads since OS X 10.0. Carbon, on the other hand, seems to have "evolved" in the same sense as the WinXP GUI. Read: s/evolved/congealed/

      --
      Karma: Incomprehensible (Mostly affected by posting at +5, reading at -1, and metamoderating everything unfair.)
  160. Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by SoupIsGood+Food · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The most hated company in all of Macdom is not the beast from Redmond, who makes the tasty, lickable Office, but Quark. User-hostile doesn't even begin to cover its marketing and support... user belligerent is more like it. They flat-out refused to port to OSX (they still haven't), and they openly despise the Macintosh platform and insult its adherents at trade shows.

    They are this way because they believed they had an unbeatable product, a single killer app the world could not do without: Xpress. The Mac dweebs would buy and keep buying, because there was no credible choice.

    Until Adobe came up with InDesign, which is easier, faster, every inch as powerful, compatible with Xpress "Xtensions" and runs on OS X. Adobe shows their users lots of lovin', with trade shows, rational support, and deep Mac roots. Now InDesign is poised to topple Xpress into irrelevancy.

    Adobe does not have the only pro-caliber image editing app out there. If they're upset that iPhoto killed ImageReady, and incensed that FinalCut destroyed Premier, wait until Apple decides to buy the TIFF-any codebase, or Avisa Image, or just roll their own Photoshop killer based on the GIMP.

    Adobe is playing a very dangerous game. If Quark can be dethroned, you better damn well believe Photoshop can be, too. Apple's got pockets deep enough to do it, and marketing savvy that put FinalCut Pro on a Powerbook in the news vans of every TV station in the civilized world.

    You don't take on Apple and win.

    SoupIsGood Food

    1. Re:Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by sl3xd · · Score: 1

      You don't take on Apple and win.

      Unless, of course, you are Microsoft. Aside from the fact that the Macintosh clone business quite nearly bled Apple to death, moving Macintosh to x86 would put Apple squarely in the crosshairs of Microsoft. And the companies that have taken on Microsoft head-to-head (Novell, Corel, Lotus, Netscape...) are mere ghosts of their former selves.

      Office for OS X is a heavily promoted selling point for Macs; whether it is actually necessary is another matter. However, reguardless of that fact, if Apple were to start selling OS X for x86, or move to an x86 architecture-- Microsoft would instantly kill Office for OS X (Not hard to believe, since the Linux market is not insignificant in volume when compared to OS X, yet Microsoft refuses to build Office for Linux.). Then Microsoft would go about destroying Apple and OS X. It would give the antitrust people something to talk about, but would quite likely (and unfortunately) only end in Apple's demise.

      --
      -- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
    2. Re:Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by justins · · Score: 1
      You don't take on Apple and win.

      Which alternate universe does this statement hold true in?
      --
      Now before I get modded down, I be to remind whoever might read this that what I am saying is FACT. - bogaboga
    3. Re:Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by Watts+Martin · · Score: 1

      I'm curious about TIFFany. The company that made it (Caffeine Software) seems to have ceased operations on March 3, and while their website now consists solely of a link to their products in one big archive, that archive still contains demos of their commercial products, which suggests they're still hanging onto their assets.

      While I've argued that Apple taking on Photoshop strikes me as highly unlikely--and it still does--TIFFany might be a really good base to start from. The synchronicity between them going under and this public questioning of the seriousness of Adobe's commitment to the Mac is probably a coincidence, but it's an interesting one.

    4. Re:Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by IamTheRealMike · · Score: 1
      ...or just roll their own Photoshop killer based on the GIMP.

      I don't get where that idea came from. The GIMP is great, and the latest 1.3.x versions are really, really nice (gotta love that gtk2 goodness), but ignoring the question of whether it could be a Photoshop killer or not, they'd need to completely rewrite the user interface, or rewrite most of GTK. This isn't a web browser, it's not just a case of a few buttons and "BrushedMetal=ON". Even if they rewrote the UI, all the plugins would still use GTK, the code differences would be so huge it would (at this point in time) almost certainly cause a fork, and in general it wouldn't be worth the effort.

      There's also the obvious point that if Apple continue in producing all the apps for their platform, 3rd party developers could well see it as a sign of weakness - "they couldn't get a good web browser, or image editor, and their office suite is from Microsoft" .... doesn't look good.

      Apple's got pockets deep enough to do it, and marketing savvy that put FinalCut Pro on a Powerbook in the news vans of every TV station in the civilized world. You don't take on Apple and win.

      I hope this is a troll. If not, your view of reality has been seriously warped by advocacy, and perhaps more worryingly by blind loyalty to a corporation. Apple have been trashed in the market again and again. They have precious few corporate friends - alienate them, and Apple will be in serious trouble.

    5. Re:Adobe setting itself up for a Quarking by sootman · · Score: 1

      iPhoto is nothing at all like ImageReady. IR is for web graphics (rollovers, GIF animations, etc.), iP is for image capture and management, more like PS Elements (El Cheapo that ships with scanners) or Adobe's new album thingie.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  161. He's not exactly objective by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The same guy who did this benchmarking wrote this, not exactly unbiased. Trackback at MTG.

  162. Re:It's just business reality - Archos JukeBox by sien · · Score: 1
    The Archos Jukebox is half the price of an Ipod and has the same capacities AND predates the Ipod. In addition the video Archos has new features that no Ipod yet has, as well as a larger drive.

    The Ipod has a better UI, but when you consider cost an Archos is hard to pass up for an Ipod.

  163. reflects poorly on Adobe by delorean · · Score: 1
    An app should take advantage of symmetric dual-processors and should out perform a single cpu machine even if it's giga-rating is one major point higher than the combined dual procs rating.

    I think it's reflects poorly on Adobe, to be honest. Bad coders....

    --
    "You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas"
    Sen. Davy Crocket to US Congress, Nov. 1, 1835
  164. Apple-needs-x86-n00b! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe you think this is a relatively fresh idea that you are presenting to Mac users. But for those of us who are Mac users and keep up with different forums and whatnot, this is just more of the same uninformed dribble that is just teeming with holes.

    Does anybody else feel like there should be a "Why moving to x86 is not a good idea, and would not be what you think it is FAQ"? That way, we can just refer posts like this to the FAQ and keep from repeating ourselves over and over.

  165. Re:What did Apple to do Adobe? - iPhoto by voidstin · · Score: 1

    How many mac users are buying Photoshop Album or Photoshop Elements now that they get iPhoto for free? With iMovie, FCP, and now Shake and Rayz, Apple has been storming Adobe's turf for quite some time now...

  166. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SHUT THE FUCK UP.

    Next time you are sitting at home, lamenting your lack of friends, think about what kind of annoying twat you are and how you might go about fixing that.

  167. This is about Final Cut Pro by wazzzup · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I haven't seen anybody mention it yet (probably missed it) but this is pretty clearly a shot against Final Cut Pro's bow. FCP runs only on Macs and it has been eating Premiere for lunch. Many in the industry consider FCP to be way ahead of Premiere in features, usability and interface. FCP's weakness is Adobe's main selling point: PC flat-out render faster than Macs. Period. They just have more raw power. The G4 chip has been orphaned by Motorola for the last 3 years. If Macs had the equivalent processing power of PC's, FCP would be a no-brainer for those deciding between the two packages.

    1. Re:This is about Final Cut Pro by Civil_Disobedient · · Score: 1

      . If Macs had the equivalent processing power of PC's, FCP would be a no-brainer for those deciding between the two packages.

      Conversely, if PC's had a DV program as good as FCPro, Mac users would be jumping ship faster than Titanic refugees.

  168. Adobe DOES NOT PREFER PCs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do some backtracking from that link. Go to http://www.adobe.com/motion/ and there you will see a link called "Prefer a PC for DV".

    This does not mean Adobe preferrs PCs or Macs-it just means that if you prefer a PC-here are some tests by a 3rd party that shows you what they found when they tested.

    It isn't that Adobe comissioned these tests-only that they are relaying to a user what was already reported in a magazine.

  169. No, it doesn't make sense by ShatteredDream · · Score: 1

    Because the average Mac owner is more likely to be able to afford Adobe's software.

  170. Statistics can say whatever you want them to say! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The 'video composite' chart actually adds 40 seconds to the minute and the Mac score. The graph portrays the PC's as 131% faster than the mac, when in reality it's 37%. Along with using an older version CPU make me wonder how else the study was manipulated. [troll] Obviously the retard that made the graph was a PC user using Excel [/troll]

  171. We're going the other way... by alexhmit01 · · Score: 1

    We've been moving from Win2K -> OS X to save costs. When my little business expanded from 4 people to 12, I was looking at getting a PC Support person. The NT servers break randomly, and the desktops explode at times. All of a sudden, 2K/XP refuses to recognize VPN settings, or other oddities.

    I spent a few days learning my way around OS X Server, and now all the machines are centrally controlled. I run non-default applications off /Network/Applications.

    When I look at the cost of the person, the $200/seat different in price is pretty insignificant. A low-end "business class" machine (that comes with XP Pro and non-shitty hardware), will cost around $1200 w/ LCD monitor and a support plan. For $1300, I get a 15" iMac... that's not a major cost difference. On top of that, I can get Office v. X on the Mac for $200 when I buy a workstation, so for normal personel, I have a machine for $1500. I then add the machine to the Support iMacs computer group, and the login permissions and settings are set.

    To each there own. If you aren't comfortable learning to use OS X Server, however, I wouldn't bother. While you could do the whole thing with Linux + OpenLDAP, it would be a bit more painful.

    At the lowend, the costs are pretty similar for me. At a the high-end, I can see the difference spreading to $500-$800 (dual G4 1.43 vs P4 vs dual-Xeon), so that might affect your decision...

    The Adobe decision collection costs me $1000/seat though... :(

    OTOH: putting my designers on BBEdit instead of Dreamweaver... Priceless. :)

    Alex

  172. TCO (Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adobe) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Switching to PC does give a lower total cost of ownership[...]

    Do you have a study showing that PCs have a lower TCO? :) Do we really want to get into that whole discussion? What OS are the PCs running? :)

  173. A disguised favor to Apple users... by I.+B.+Geek · · Score: 1

    I am a heavy Adobe user on Windows. I publish books, and in my experience, Adobe products are expensive and sometimes difficult to get working properly. (For example, PageMaker and various fonts.) Adobe does not even publish a support email address!!! As Adobe shows its true colors, Apple users may get the message and move on to other alternatives, like GIMP. I wish there were a painless (easy transition and friendly usage) PageMaker-like application for Linux. Suggestions, anyone?

    1. Re:A disguised favor to Apple users... by pressman · · Score: 1

      Sometimes difficult to get working properly? I've been using Pagemaker since version 1 and have never had this sort of a problem "getting it working". Your font issue may be more Windows related than it is PageMaker related. Hint: Ditch TrueType!

      On the Mac side of things, getting an Adobe app is as simple as double clicking the installer icon. The most difficult thing about installing an Adobe app is typing in the 3 kazillion character initialization key.

      Until the GIMP supports layer styles, CMYK and the bells and whistle (not to mention good old productivity enhancers!), I'm going to stick with Photoshop on Mac OS X. Thankyouverymuch.

      --
      Pooty tweet
  174. Re:Final Cut Pro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How fast does Final Cut Pro work on your PC? Got numbers?

  175. I love it!!! by Iowaguy · · Score: 1

    "While this is true moreso today than in years past, the Mac market still constitutes a large enough percentage of Adobe's bottom-line that they would have to be mad to alienate this constituency... " A person uses a PC, but from the Mac standpoint, they are a constituency not to be offended. Ie, adobe be careful or we will declare jihad upon them! Long live the leader!!!!!! -Iowa

    --
    "He who laughs last, didn't get the joke."-Cap
  176. Re:Crack??? by Surak · · Score: 1

    Did you try it on Linux, or just Windows? Notice that I said "GIMP on Linux". The Windows port is (still) not nearly as stable or fast as the *nix version. There have been *dramatic* improvements in the Windows version since it was first released, mind you, but peformance is not up to par, at least in part, due to the usage of GTK+ on Windows and other code ported from *Nix instead of native Windows code.

  177. They asked for it by v1 · · Score: 1

    Apple had a great relationship with Adobe, and had them at I don't know how many keynotes to tout how well Adobe worked with (name any model of apple) and that worked out well for both Apple and Adobe. But now, Apple is designing a lot of free or low-cost software that is in direct competition with Adobe's products. I wouldn't be surprised if Adobe hadn't already discussed this announcement with Apple as a sort of a "quit shoving us out of the market, or we are going to stop committing to it."

    Apple is playing with a double-edged sword here. Consumers like to have free software bundled with their computer, but its presence makes it more difficult for software producers to find a proffitable niche in the market, and ultimately results in a decline of available software. This hurts the consumer it was intended to benefit, and ultimately the strategy backfires on the computer/OS vendor that supplied the free software in the first place.

    Case in point: how many web browsers do you see for sale nowadays? That market is no longer economically viable for any software publisher. I remember when Netscape was a pay product, with a "free for educational or home use" license, but I somehow doubt they made any money on it.

    In some ways, Apple's strategies are just as harmful as Microsoft's. M$ has its wonderful "embrace and expand" tactic they use to hijack new technology, but Apple just plain embraces and gives away for free, which have the same result - lowering the viability of a software niche. In that respect, Apple's producing the operating system AND software titles is just as harmful as with Microsoft doing it. (who are often criticized and periodically endited as a result)

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  178. Adobe Says Personal Computers Are Preferred.. by Sloppy · · Score: 1
    ..and mainframe maker IBM's stock plummets.

    "Yeah, I used to run Illustrator on my mainframe and look at the result on my 3270 and it worked pretty well," said a former IBM customer, "But now I hear you can get a computer where the whole thing will fit on one normal-sized desk, and the screen is capable of displaying text in less rigid columns. This will do wonders for my publishing!"

    --
    As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
  179. Apple needs to build workstations by forgoil · · Score: 1

    They cost like workstations, they are supposed to be used by workstation users, then they need to have the CPU of a workstation:

    64-bit
    VERY fast

    Get with the program, and get Itanium 2 or something before it is too late.

  180. Slashdotters missing big picture by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It was in the slashdot headlines just a day or three ago.

    Take a look at the tax software firm, Intuit, who installed drm, pissed off a great many of its customers, and announced that they are not taking it out.

    Adobe and most other software firms have internal estimates of "piracy" costs. By moving to PC only, they get to ride on the drm bandwagon, thereby getting a handle on "piracy". It's that simple.

    Macs have problems going forward. Once this Adobe move goes through, don't be surprised when you start seeing sec notices about future existence being in doubt for Apple. Adobe has looked into the shaky future of Apple, due to the processor problems. They have made a calculated move. If they can move a large number of their base to PC, why would anyone else move to Apple? Once that happens, and Apple is on even shakier ground, why would anyone buy a Mac? By taking this step, Adobe has in effect sped up the demise of Apple. Once Apple is gone, does Adobe lose their customers? No. The customers move to PC, Adobe gets drm control on "piracy", Adobe short circuits the processor problem/indecision of customer equipment purchases, gets everybody on one platform, and buys a year or two of profits before they are swallowed whole by gnu/linux.

    It's the smart move. Somebody at Adobe must be a godfather fan.

    I'm not a big user of photoshop. Or was. I basically used to use photoshop for png/jpg creation/touchup for images for web sites, which was about 90-95% of my use. Since I no longer use windows (haven't booted into it on my workstation in many months, probably closer to a year), I am restricted to using Gimp, which I don't know much about. No big deal, as from what I've been shown, and what I've read, Gimp can mostly replace what I was doing in Photoshop.

    It is the daily users, and those that rely on Photoshop for a living that will have problems. But when pushed up against a wall, something will give. I can foresee Apple throwing some money behind the Gimp now. And other companies as well. Add the widespread development work going on with other gnu applications due to their use in cinema and other related fields, and it looks like Apple users using OS X will be the big winners, not the losers.

    It is only a matter of time that everything migrates to Linux/Unix/OS X/whatever you want to call it, due to the disruptive effect of gnu/linux. There is no way around this. The video/artistic tools are going through a profound change now because Hollyweed and television tools moving from Unix to gnu/linux. Because of foreign governments/businesses widespread adoption of gnu/linux. It is under fast development now, and only snowballing in nature.

    With all of the above, one part of the slashdot article, and the referenced article, is on speed. This is another strength of gnu/linux. Gnu/linux already has distributions supporting AMD's 64 bit offerings. AMD has announced that they will be bringing 64 bit to the desktop. How long do you think it will take Dreamcast and other Hollyweed development firms to start porting the gnu applications to 64 bit when they can get low cost desktop 64 bit processors?

    Want to put an AMD 64 bit processor up against a desktop Intel processor? Forget Itanium. Itanium, if not dead, won't be affordable for graphics designers. And let's not forget clustering.

    Think a 3 Ghz Intel processor is fast? How about a cluster of $200 computers running openmosix, Beowulf, or whatever clustering application would be applicable. Even Apple announced a clustering solution recently. What does a 3 Ghz computer cost when they made the comparison? $2,000? $2,500? $3,000? Let's put that up against a cluster of ten, fifteen, or twenty $200 computers with 1.3 Ghz Durons, running a clustering program, and Gimp.

    The best part of

    1. Re:Slashdotters missing big picture by TheNetAvenger · · Score: 1

      You have no idea what DRM is... And this isn't even worth debating.

  181. mod parent up by blonde+rser · · Score: 1

    I've been holding off posting until I read through to see if a post like this existed. It seems most people who are posting are baseing their argument on the world of three years ago. But I would go even further than this poster to say that Premier isn't only struggling to Final Cut Pro it has all but lost the battle. From what I hear (admitidly I've fallen out of the loop... but I still have friends who are well in it) in most edit shops people don't even consider Premiere any more. Final Cut Pro is the professional standard in the same way that Photoshop is the professional standard. I don't know if it's deserved or not... I was always one of those brats who said "I know how to use Premiere, I like Premiere, I'm staying," so I never had the chance to try FCPro. But I hear that even people who had that outlook have all made the jump.

  182. No, they aren't. by dentar · · Score: 1

    I see nowhere on that page showing anything about Adobe choosing the PC over the Mac. All I see is that they show that the PC is faster. So? The PCs have always outperformed the Mac, especially when you compare dollar for dollar.

    I don't really like Adobe all that much, but the link from the above story doesn't make me feel at all like they have "gone PC."

    Please, editors, be more choosy next time. (But don't choose GIF.. pun!)

    --
    -- I am. Therefore, I think!
  183. You're just kidding yourself by fmaxwell · · Score: 2, Informative

    Actually, this is far more likely to cause Apple to start working on The Gimp and adding the features that Photoshop has that The Gimp lacks.

    And GM will switch to hovercraft designs because Goodyear said nice things about Ford.

    The GIMP is no competitor to Photoshop. Sure, it's an impressive piece of free software, but graphics professionals are not going to switch from Photoshop. On average, each user has years of experience, probably has taken courses in using Photoshop's advanced features, and may have a considerable investment in plug-ins on which they rely to do their job. They would sooner switch personal computers before they would switch image processing software.

    Allow them to add features that Adobe does not see fit to add

    Apple's software developers don't work for free. The GIMP is under the GPL which means that Apple would have to give away all of the code that they develop for it. They would not be able to sell it (they could try -- and become the next Mandrake). Thus, they would be paying software developers to add features to a Free Software program so that Apple could have a substandard Photoshop replacement that would still run faster on PCs. That's hardly going to result in massive sales of Macs.

    In short, this could be a good thing for Free Software.

    This has nothing to do with Free Software. There are only three possible outcomes for this and neither of them involve Free Software:

    1. Graphics designers switch to PCs.
    2. Apple switches to x86 architecture CPUs.

    1. Re:You're just kidding yourself by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      >Allow them to add features that Adobe does not see fit to add

      Apple's software developers don't work for free. The GIMP is under the GPL which means that Apple would have to give away all of the code that they develop for it. They would not be able to sell it (they could try -- and become the next Mandrake). Thus, they would be paying software developers to add features to a Free Software program so that Apple could have a substandard Photoshop replacement that would still run faster on PCs. That's hardly going to result in massive sales of Macs.


      This is pretty much what Apple's doing with Safari, and it seems to be working out quite well. They're using KDE's KHTML renderer (which is under GPL), submitting changes back to KDE, and selling a product built around it. Why wouldn't this work for GIMP? They could even make a more marketing-savvy name for it (every time I tell someone about GIMP, they think about that guy in Pulp Fiction!).

      This has nothing to do with Free Software. There are only three possible outcomes for this and neither of them involve Free Software:

      1. Graphics designers switch to PCs.
      2. Apple switches to x86 architecture CPUs.


      What's #3?

    2. Re:You're just kidding yourself by blink3478 · · Score: 1


      1. Graphics designers switch to PCs.

      Maybe stating this is unnecessary, but I've been a graphic designer for six years, and I've always used PCs. In the half dozen workplaces I've worked in in LA and NYC, we used PCs. My current design department coworkers use PCs, and the printers we deal with use PCs.
      Maybe Adobe isn't abandoning the Mac platform, maybe they're just realizing most people (and most designers) use PCs, and are adjusting priorities accordingly.

      D

    3. Re:You're just kidding yourself by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      This is pretty much what Apple's doing with Safari, and it seems to be working out quite well. They're using KDE's KHTML renderer (which is under GPL), submitting changes back to KDE, and selling a product built around it. Why wouldn't this work for GIMP?

      I see several possible reasons:

      1. Safari uses a GPL rendering engine and the product that they build is proprietary. I don't believe that GIMP has an "engine" to speak of, so any changes to GIMP are given away.

      2. A good browser is a must-have to compete with Microsoft. When Microsoft ships "MSPaint", you don't need to do much to compete.

      3. GUIs are a lot simpler than high-end image processing and Apple already has a team in-house that understands GUIs.

      What's #3?

      Sorry about that, but I hit submit rather than preview.

      3. Graphics designers continue to use Macs because they are satisfied with the platform and the performance and there are no mass defections.

    4. Re:You're just kidding yourself by silentbozo · · Score: 1

      On average, each user has years of experience, probably has taken courses in using Photoshop's advanced features, and may have a considerable investment in plug-ins on which they rely to do their job. They would sooner switch personal computers before they would switch image processing software.

      If this were really true, then Adobe wouldn't screw users over by releasing "upgrades" that completely f*ck up everything you know about the program, from short cuts to menu commands, to tool behavior. Face it, the reason that professionals have to keep taking courses on Photoshop is because they keep changing Photoshop - and not necessarily for the better.

      Anyways, you could allow photoshop plugins if you wrote the appropriate framework into Gimp - programs such as After Effects and Premiere can use Photoshop plugins. In fact, such a plugin has been discussed on the codeweavers site...

      Face it, Adobe makes money by selling software (like Microsoft.) If the current tool does the job, nobody's gonna upgrade, hence these "improvements". If GIMP does the same job without having to keep changing and throwing users off stride, and without having to keep charging upgrade fees, AND supports Photoshop-style tools, behaviors, and plugins... well hell, why use Photoshop?

    5. Re:You're just kidding yourself by fmaxwell · · Score: 1

      If this were really true, then Adobe wouldn't screw users over by releasing "upgrades" that completely f*ck up everything you know about the program, from short cuts to menu commands, to tool behavior.

      I have used multiple versions of Photoshop and I have found the upgrades, in general, to be intelligently engineered enhancements. I did not feel that they radically altered the user interface.

      Anyways, you could allow photoshop plugins if you wrote the appropriate framework into Gimp - programs such as After Effects and Premiere can use Photoshop plugins. In fact, such a plugin has been discussed [codeweavers.com] on the codeweavers site...

      Discussing the theoretical possibility and actually writing the code are two different things. I'd be a billionaire if I had coded half of the stuff that I have discussed over the years.

      If GIMP does the same job without having to keep changing and throwing users off stride, and without having to keep charging upgrade fees, AND supports Photoshop-style tools, behaviors, and plugins... well hell, why use Photoshop?

      Because it works better.

      A better question: If GIMP is comparable to Photoshop, then why do businesses and individuals keep buying Photoshop? Photoshop costs hundreds of dollars per copy and individual graphic designers all the way to large corporations keeps shelling out the money to buy it.

      As Deep Throat (the Watergate informant, not the porn movie) said, "Follow the money!" What's in it for Apple to spend a fortune developing and enhancing GIMP? How do they realize a return on their investment? Thanks to the GPL, they aren't going to turn it into a $700 package since anyone will be able to download it for free. Adobe is not in competition with Apple, but they could sink Apple tomorrow if Apple crossed them. All Adobe would have to do is cease selling Mac versions of its software or even just keep them a revision or two behind the PC versions. In the business arena, graphics design and publishing are the only major areas where Macs are still holding their own. Piss off that community and Apple will be reduced to selling low-end iMacs to home users that want something to match their 1960s chrome and glass living room decor.

    6. Re:You're just kidding yourself by nullard · · Score: 1

      I have used multiple versions of Photoshop and I have found the upgrades, in general, to be intelligently engineered enhancements. I did not feel that they radically altered the user interface.


      Were you around for the 2.x -> 3.0 conversion? I remember every Photoshop user I knew at the time bitching and moading about how the keyboard commands changed. I think they swapped command for option in a few commonly used commands and it drove us all nuts. When you make the same stupid mistake a dozen times a day because of muscle memory, those little changes are a big deal.

      --


      t'nera semordnilap
    7. Re:You're just kidding yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's #3?

      3. Profit!!!

      or...

      There is no step 3. <chuckle> There is no step 3!

  184. Forget Macs by kill-1 · · Score: 1

    I don't know a single serious designer who hasn't switched from Macs to PCs some years ago. It's just that Windows is more stable these days.

  185. Article interpretation is MISLEADING by orange7 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Slashdot strikes again. What Adobe did: link to that pc/mac comparison that one guy did that showed a Dell 3Ghz outperforming a Mac dual G4 1.24 Ghz, under the title "Prefer a PC for DV?" The link is in the "digital video products" page -- Premiere and After Effects. (Fair enough too -- if you were doing heavy video editing, it's a useful reminder of performance.) It is *not* under any of the other product pages that I can see.

    So how does this justify the slashdot interpretation: "Abobe has picked Windows as the preferred platform for running Photoshop, After Effects, and Illustrator"? I don't see it.

    A.

  186. SO WHAT? by greymond · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Honestly people who are serious about graphic design, movie editing, and or modeling use BOTH macs and PC's PERIOD.

    When it comes to my client wanting me to either A) work on a specific platform so when I give them my files they know it will run on there machines fine or B) Needing an APP that only runs on one particular platform - Argueing over which is faster doesn't matter, it comes down to the FACT that as a graphic designer I NEED to have both my Apple Dual 500 AND my P4 1.6ghz Windows XP machines.

    Having one or the other ONLY in these fields WILL limit you.

  187. Adobe Chooses PCs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not at all...intelligent people choose PCs.

  188. Do You Even *Bother* To Read Linked The Articles? by Bones3D_mac · · Score: 4, Interesting

    OK, first read this... taken straight from the page:

    In the July 2002 issue of Digital Producer Magazine, Charlie White reported on a head-to-head duel between a single-processor Dell 2.53GHz Pentium® 4 -- the Dell Precision Workstation 340 -- and the fastest Macintosh then available -- a 1GHz dual-processor G4. The contest compared renderings of files created in Adobe® After Effects®, Illustrator®, and Photoshop® software that are typical to the video post-production workflow. The graphs below show some of the results, which were consistent. While the computers used in this study are no longer the fastest in their respective classes, the information is still valid. The PC outperformed the similar Macintosh machine, at an impressive rate.

    And this above all the pretty graphs:

    Graphics courtesy of DMN - DigitalMediaNet.com

    Listen up, dumbasses... this was an article written entirely external of Adobe and most likely was on Adobe's website simply because it was an Adobe product in the press. This has nothing to do with Adobe's own preferences.

    Furthermore, you can't take a single set of benchmarks as indesputable proof of anything. Different benchmark tests can get widely different results.

    Finally, if you look at the page one directory up, you'll see one of the links that says the following:

    Prefer a PC for DV? - See what an industry expert says about PC vs. Mac for digital video editing."

    It really has little to do with Adobe's preference for platform and more likely was put there because the sales of the PC versions are trailing behind the Mac versions. Adobe is at it's best when both platforms sell products evenly.

    --


    8==8 Bones 8==8
  189. How much does speed matter? by daviddennis · · Score: 1

    If speed matters more than software quality, then you're right. I should switch to the PC straight away.

    But around the time the 500mhz processor came to be, a funny thing happened. Most people don't need more speed than that. Sure, it's nicer to have a faster computer, but other things are more important past roughly that point.

    I do video editing with Final Cut Pro on my 1ghz PowerBook G4, and speed is more than ample for my needs. It's all cuts-only anyway, so there's no rendering time involved and everything happens right away. Switching to the PC would mean using lousy PC software (like Adobe Premiere) or tackling the exceptionlly high learning curve of an Avid.

    Macs are beautifully designed and engineered, from the cases to the software. PCs are, well, PCs. Am I willing to deal with a 50% speed decline to have a more pleasing computer experience, with less confusing administration and fewer crashes?

    When put that way, well, of course I am.

    Would I like to have a faster computer? Sure. But it wouldn't make such a huge difference that I'm willing to use lousy Windows software in exchange.

    D

    1. Re:How much does speed matter? by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      But around the time the 500mhz processor came to be, a funny thing happened.

      Obviously you know that is controversial statement. While I agree to a degree, the fact remains that everyone makes money when everyone buys the latest greatest. Many of us have shiney new 2.5ghz, and bitch about how slow they are. (really). Try working with 5x7"+ cmyk multi-layered images in Photoshop with a 500mhz vs. a 2500mhz, and you will see a huge difference. Conservatively speaking, it saves me at least 30 minutes a day (somedays much more). That adds up.

      I don't argue Apple is great quality, absolutely true. But an old 2 x 4 is a better tool than a micrometer when what you need is brute force, no matter that it is rougher, uglier, and not as polished.

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    2. Re:How much does speed matter? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or for that matter try turning anything into Quicktime or Quicktime into anything. Or try preparing a DVD - Apple is fucked, whatever spin Mac fanboys want to attempt.

      When Macs couldn't multitask, nobody needed to multitask, it was just a gimmick. When Macs lost their floppy drive, nobody needed a floppy drive, it was obsolete.

      When Macs got USB, PC users didn't say "nobody needs that" - they got it. Same for firewire. All credit to Apple for introducing these things, but I think the response of the two market segments to what they don't have shows ignorant blind faith and a real tendency for denial.

    3. Re:How much does speed matter? by daviddennis · · Score: 1

      Depends on what you do. I work almost exclusively on the web and almost never print anything out, and most of the stuff I process are my own photographs, not complex layered art.

      So speed really doesn't matter for most things I do. If I did lots of After Effects work, I'd probably buy a couple of really fast PCs to use as rendering engines and therefore keep my Mac-based work environment.

      Have you seen any tests of the new 1.43ghz PowerMacs? Seems to me that's not too far remote from the fastest PCs.

      Things are always changing. I hear rumors that a 2.3ghz PowerPC is coming out. I will certainly look forward to it. Might even have to buy a new desktop.

      D

    4. Re:How much does speed matter? by Pharmboy · · Score: 1

      Have you seen any tests of the new 1.43ghz PowerMacs? Seems to me that's not too far remote from the fastest PCs.

      Things are always changing. I hear rumors that a 2.3ghz PowerPC is coming out. I will certainly look forward to it. Might even have to buy a new desktop.


      I havent seen any benches, but they are only a little faster than the current 1.25 out now. One of the other speed advantages is the higher availability of hardware for pc, such as raid. I can stripe 4x80GB drives, on a $75 card, using $300 or less in hard drives. Theoretically 533mbps, but YMMV. It would be just as EASY on windows/linux/osx but the question is availability of hardware. this would NOT be a good setup for a server, but would for a video production machine or any workstation working with files that are over 100mb, and especially files over 1 gig. Since the hard drive is the weakest link in any system that uses lots of large files, this is a big improvement for about the cost of a really good video card.

      I am still looking at Macs as a potential replacement for our windows boxes, especially since im not thrilled with the linux desktop (kde/gnome) either. Now, if adobe would release photoshop for linux.......

      --
      Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
    5. Re:How much does speed matter? by daviddennis · · Score: 1

      I believe there's some sort of software RAID solution supported by MacOS X, and you can get four hard drives in the G4 chassis. I don't have details, but it might be worth thinking about.

      I'd be surprised if there aren't similar hardware RAID solutions, too. You just have to dig a bit harder for them.

      D

  190. All's fair in love and warez by spectecjr · · Score: 1

    The images appear to be incorrect.

    If you look at the first image, it has two times, 54 seconds and 1 minute 25 seconds. The second time is shown at well over double the length of the first, even though it only took ~50% longer. If you look closely, you will see that 1:25 got placed at 1.25, and 0:54 got placed at 0.54, hence the error.

    Any of the images where the minutes are different are going to be skewed a fair amount. The error will decrease as the minute difference increases


    Tish tish...

    What's a little graph between friends? Besides, consider it payback for that benchmark Apple pulled where they ran a version of BYTEmark compiled for the 486 on a Pentium II, but optimized the crap out of it for their CPU.

    Simon

    --
    Coming soon - pyrogyra
  191. Same for this (current/long time) MacOS user by Phrogz · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm working right now on both a dual-GHz PowerMac G4 with 512MB RAM running 10.2.4, as well as a 1.8GHz P4 laptop with 512MB RAM running XP. (I have a KVM switcher for the middle shared screen of 3.)

    I have used MacOS since late versions of System 6. I have only recently, in the last couple years, been using Windows full-time.

    I feel like a traitor, but I have to say that, personally, I too prefer Windows when using Adobe apps. I don't know if it's the OS itself or shoddy programming for OS X, but Photoshop and Illustrator both seem slow to interact with uder OS X, whereas they seem snappy on XP.

    I prefer OS X over XP in almost all other areas, but I feel that someone (probably a combination of Apple and Adobe) has seriously dropped the ball for Photoshop and Illustrator under OS X. It's just not as usable, IMO.

  192. Re:Crack??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Twat"? Who uses the word "twat" apart from ugly fucking retards straddling the human/primate divide. Go kill yourself you fuckhead, though one of your drug dealing buddies will likely do the service for you soon enough.

  193. Reality Check by Cranx · · Score: 1

    Adobe says nowhere in that article that they prefer the PC over Mac. It's simply a page about how the P4's 3x faster processor loads stuff 3x faster than the G4. They say nothing about preferring the PC, or focusing on the PC or any of that crap.

    Don't let the topic spin out of control...that was simply a page showing performance comparisons.

  194. looking at it from a different perspective by diamond+fire · · Score: 1

    If PCs are preferred over Macs, why are used Mac auctions on eBay so hot? Take a look, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of buyers for used Macs and peripherals. Comments? I dare ya ...

    1. Re:looking at it from a different perspective by forkboy · · Score: 1

      Mac users that would like a second Mac but can't afford to buy a new one because Apple is so damn expensive maybe?

      Or how about a PC owner that wants a Mac to dork around with an iPod and maybe some video editing but doesn't want to shell out several grand for a decent new one?

      Expensive things often have a very active life in the used market...look at the resale value on older BMWs and Mercedes cars for instance. They keep their value well because people are willing to buy them at a reduced cost even if it's an older model.

      I'm not saying Macs aren't worth the full retail price, but you can't deny that they're awful expensive compared to PCs. If Apple found a way to come down in price substantially (and I don't mean by offering another weak-ass iMac) I'm betting they'd find themselves with much improved marketshare. Many many people are sick of Microsoft and Windows.

      --
      This message brought to you by the Council of People Who Are Sick of Seeing More People.
  195. agreed by twitter · · Score: 1

    It's hard to trust anything from someone who shows 85 seconds as more than two times as long as 54 seconds. Then again, you have to be stupid to equate Microsoft with PC and even dumber to trust your future to M$. Shame.

    --

    Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.

  196. Reality by Annamite · · Score: 1
    The reality...

    still does not change.

    Many comments I see here are complaining about the graphs. Fine, whoever made that graph is a bit confused about metric and 60-based time. However those who complain are blindly ignore the fact: the time is still less.

    Also the other whining type of comments is "just you wait" for the G5 which will come out in ... well whenever, and will be available for consumers in .. well who knows..

    And in the mean time, the earth still turns and the world still goes on. Intel and AMD still continue to churn out faster and faster chips, with cheaper and cheaper prices.

    [FLAME ON] All of these comments prove again, that the Apple followers are some special bunches of people, who are very "devoted" if not fanatical and far away from reality who will make up any excuses to ignore their shortcomings. [FLAME OFF]

    I wish, however, that one day Photoshop and other fine products in media manipulations can be available on Linux so we can actually crow about the potential gains. (-: Unfortunately, we have no numbers and no real fact to compare how these applications run our beloved OS.

    Just you wait,

    Give us faith, :-)

  197. Makes up my mind ..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I won't be buying anythng from Adobe for my MAC. GIMP, here I come. Never liked most Adobe software anyway. Too clumsy.

  198. ..Given the.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..large number of people at Adobe, who actually know where their software is run, I'd have to say they've chosen more wisely than any random Slashdotter could.

    Picking the underdog as your platform of choice doesn't make much sense in the business world. *snort*

  199. Motorola deserves to go under... by The+Lynxpro · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I officially *HATE* Motorola. Motorola always made better chips than Intel, and that dates back to the 68000. The 68000, the 68020, the 030, and the 040. All better than their x86 (and x88)equivalents. But then a few years ago, Motorola started slacking. Look what they did to Palm. They (Motorola) thought they could just make minor modifications to the 68000, now a 24 year old processor, and they thought Palm would continue buying from them forever. All the while Intel kept on increasing the clock speed on their ARM processors for the big joke that was the WinCE market. 200 mhz Intel chips versus 16/33/ and now 66mhz Motorola Dragonball chips (ie Motorola 68000). Why didn't Motorola help Palm adapt the PowerPC chips for the Palm platform (or even a Dragonball based on a 68040 or 68060)? Obviously, there would be less emulation problems with going from a 68000 based chip to a PowerPC then to switch the platform to Intel and Texas Instruments ARM based chips. Even IBM just announced a PowerPC based reference design platform for Linux based PDAs. How did Motorola (and IBM) drop the ball on this? The PowerPC was also the most suitable choice because they offer low power consumption to begin with. PowerPC chips run in the Nintendo Gamecube and the Series1 TiVo. It would've been perfect. But instead of being a chip powerhouse, Motorola prefers to focus on building inferior cell phones. Such a dramatic decline from a company that used to make great television sets.

    --
    "Right now, somewhere in this world, Scott Baio is plowing a woman he doesn't love," - Peter Griffin, *Family Guy*
  200. Re:TCO (Re:Commodity hardware makes sense for Adob by 91degrees · · Score: 1

    Nope.

    Perhaps I should have said lower total purchase cost. (for hardware and software)

  201. apple's comps aren't the problem, adobes code is by GPTurismo · · Score: 1

    I have been fighting this since the early late 90's, and it all goes back to adobe's (and other companies) poor code. That's one reason companies are able to push lareger processors on users so quickly, and that's because they constantly bloat their code and do half the job. That's one reason the high end unix community doesn't need super fast raw powered processors, their code is clean. *sighs* People never look at the real problems, they just look at what seems more easily fixed / explainable.

  202. Re:Crack??? by dusty123 · · Score: 1

    It is indeed empirical in some ways but I always said "could", "may be", "would think", I just wanted to point out that hardware costs alone mean nothing to the overall costs of computer solutions.

  203. Re:Riiiiiiiiiggghhht. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Re:Supporting the Mac has got to be costing Adobe money, considering the development dollars invested compared to the number of installed units out there.

    O.K., so Bruce Chizen, et. al run a huge corporation, make profits, answers to stockholders but support ing the Mac COSTS them money. Did you pull Adobe's financial statement out of your ass? Or is there only room for your small change? (your $0.02US)

  204. It's probably not Adobe by joeblowme · · Score: 1

    I don't know how many people here have been doing Highend Video editing for a while. But Apple used to be the preferred platform for Avid products also. Until apple tried to push avid around and force them to not support any format other than quicktime. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/trial/nov98/110 2-0598.asp I wouldn't be suprised if something similar happened here. For all of you that think Steve Jobs is your savior from Bill Gates, you better keep looking. Because Apple is the least open system in existance. You may not like Microsoft but at least you have some options on what hardware and software you can use on your own computer.

    --

    If your not cheating your not trying. If your not trying your not winning and if your not winning why play?
  205. P2P anonymous downloader says... by lateralus_1024 · · Score: 1


    ...cracked Adobe products preferred.

    --
    If you think /. comments are bad, check out Digg.
  206. It doesn't run more slowly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    It doesn't run more slowly on a Mac, It runs more carefully and with love.

    Think different. Avoid adverbs.

  207. It's not reality, it's perception of Apple by Infonaut · · Score: 1
    Arguments about Apple's impending obsolecence have been with us for years. I vividly remember purchasing a PowerMac 8100/100 AV back in '95. It was kick-ass fast, and handily smoked the PCs I worked with in the computer lab.

    But nobody in the PC press, none of my Windows-using friends, *nobody* would believe that this excellent machine was anything but the last, dying gasp of Apple as it sputtered to oblivion.

    This was when Apple's marketshare was higher than it is now. Mosaic and Netscape products were released for the Mac at the same time as their Windows bretheren. Apple hadn't blown its lead in schools.

    My point is not that things are worse for Apple now than they were then. I'd say that Apple is moving forward quite well. But there is this continuing background murmuring, of which eyefish's comments are an example, that say Apple is doomed.

    Taken point by point:

    WiFi "g" for PCs much cheaper than on the Mac: That may be true, but it seems to me it wasn't until Apple released its line of AirPort products that "b" started moving. I think the same thing is true of "g". Everyone was on the fence until Apple announced support.

    all PCs nowdays come with USB 2.0, and FireWire is almost standard or really cheap to add: Apples and oranges. USB 2.0 is only slowly catching on, and FireWire is the standard for consumer digital media, particularly DV. It's cheap to add on to a PC, but some folks don't want to have to add it on. Time and effort equal money and frustration.

    FireWire 800 (and I bet you'll eventually find it cheaper on PCs): This is a classic example of what I'm talking about. "Sure, it's on the Mac, but soon it will be on the PC, so pay attention to how fast my PC's CPU is now, but when discussing FireWire, pay attention to what *may* be on my PC in six months."

    the iApps, which are very easy to use, but I bet Microsoft or someone else will copy them soon enough: More of the same, but even worse. Building applications isn't like painting by numbers. The iApps could have been built a long time ago by Microsoft or someone else, but they weren't. Apple is continuing to upgrade the iApps, while Microsoft talks about computer watches.

    iPod (competitors are getting close also on copying it and improving it as well): Let's see. The iPod has been out since October, 2001. It made everyone's "best of" lists that holiday season. It made everyone's "best of" lists for the 2002 holiday season. Apple keeps improving it. So how far in the future does something have to be before it's just vapor?

    Mac OS/X, which is a nice piece of work: I agree with you there. And it's no small feat, bringing your installed user base into a completely new OS, while attracting new UNIX users and a few Windows converts.

    One more thing. Apple's business model is built around innovation, rather than building the cheapest systems. Dell's model of selling commodity hardware more cheaply than the competition works for them. But the thing is, that model only works for one or two companies at any given time, because anyone else who competes with that model will eventually die because they won't be able to continue operating on razor-thin margins.

    The Information Superhighway is littered with the remains of companies that tried the one size fits all model of commodity hardware sales. In the mean time, Apple, the company that started the ball rolling, is still very much alive and providing some sweet (non-vapor) products.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:It's not reality, it's perception of Apple by eyefish · · Score: 1

      Infonaut, first of all I should point out that I respect your comments (and I'm not being sarchastic), but maybe there was one point I didn't get across well: I'm not saying that Apple should stop innovating, what I saying is that it should innovate in *another* space (more specifically, the PC space).

      Can you imagine what would have happened if any of the 500 Million PC users could get their hands on the iApps or the iPod? I bet *that* would be a good switching campaign. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go as far as to say that had Apple released the iPod software for both Windows and Macs, that by now they could have sold 10 times as many iPods (yes, I know you can use the iPod with Windows, but not with Apple's kick-ass software).

      So my point is, Apple should switch, forget about hardware for a while, port OS/X to the x86 platform in order to make it trully easy for users to switch, and *then* once they have a good market share in the x86 space they can start influencing hardware OEM makers to make hardware the way Apple wants it to be designed.

      As for the transition period, the options are: (1) emulation (slow but doable, specially on fast PCs), and (2) sell a plug-in PCI card with a PPC to run legacy code on the PPC card and new code on the x86 CPU. And remember, when users swithced from the 68xxx to the PPC, the change went relatively swiftly, the same could be said more or less of OS9 to OS/X, so one more "traumatic" transition for developers should not be too much of a problem for a company like Apple, which has some of the most loyal developers on the planet right now.

  208. Adobe did not pick PCs by macguiguru · · Score: 0
    http://www.adobe.com/motion/pcpreferred.html

    This is the page that shows the actual comparison.

    A 3GHz PC vs a 1.2GHz (albeit dual proc) Mac.
    So, even if you add the processor power, the comparison is between a 3GHz PC and a 2.4GHz PC.

    How about some more information on the rest of the system hardware? Lots of factors play into this.

  209. Adobe = Dell Partner ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Check out the Adobe Motion Gear Page to see if they may have other motivation...

  210. We've all heard this before... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    once Apple machines supply a 1.8-2.5Ghz, 200+ simultaneous instruction Integer/fpu core alongside Altivec, the argument for x86 Macintoshes will entirely evaporate.
    Once Apple gets this, once Apple gets that, blah I say. It's been like this for several years--if Apple doesn't have it now, then you can forget about getting it before it is too late.
  211. uh, yeah...whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    I wouldn't read too much into the "Preferred Platform" headline. Adobe is out to make a buck--evidently, they're trying to part the hardware savings loot from the smug windows minions.
    2 words: Ask Experts
    Go visit your local professional publishing houses and ask them what they use and why.

    <rant>
    I'm always seeing people get so upset and flame each other on stuff like this. Look at yourselves, people. IT'S A BOX FULL OF ELECTRONICS! Jeesh. don't put so much of your ego into it. Pretend just for a moment that computers just *poof* went away. Do you have a life? If not, maybe you should re-evaluate your values. But don't replace it with another penis extension or something to strut your intellectual plumage. Get over being angry about being a 'geek' and find some inner peace. Bitching and moaning about which computer sucks more is so unproductive. You think that all your technical minutiae some how gives you superiority over another but it does nothing more than show how timid and afraid you really are --afriad of being nothing or not being significant. Find something of real substance in your life. Get a life. Get married and have children. Go scuba diving and enjoy the creatures of the sea. Go hiking in a National park. But stop bitching and moaning and venting anger and hostility about freaking dead objects that blink. Care about something bigger.
    </rant>
    Gosh--was that my outside voice again?
    1. Re:uh, yeah...whatever by catdevnull · · Score: 1

      nice rant...now go take your lithium

      --

      I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  212. Re: parsing the URL incorrectly? by ip_vjl · · Score: 2, Funny

    The entire theory that Adobe is now "preferring" the PC platform is based on the fact that there's a page called pcpreferred.html on Adobe's site.

    Oh, you mean it's
    PCpreferred.html
    and not
    PCPreferred.html

    There goes my theory that it was a page set up for referrals to Adobe software by your Primary Care Physician. :)

  213. Sketchy details? by EdMcMan · · Score: 1

    Adobe products use hardware acceleration, right? They don't even bother mentioning the video card, ram, or any other details about the computers. I think this is definitely a M$ payoff.

  214. Brilliant response by macguiguru · · Score: 0

    I love to read this kind of post.
    I agree 100% - it's not the TOOL - it's how it feels that influences you. Yes, Intel is faster, but the interface is not something I enjoy using. You've really found the middle ground there! Bravo!!

  215. Nice Graph on Ya by lamz · · Score: 2, Informative

    Has anyone noticed how screwed-up those graphs are, especially the first one? It says the PC took 54 seconds and that the Mac took 1 minute and 25 seconds. If you measure them both in seconds, then that is 54 seconds versus 85 seconds, but the Mac bar on the graph is more than twice as long as the PC bar.

    The PC bar lines up with .54 according to the lower index. Is this index supposed to represent seconds or minutes? If it's seconds, as suggested by the fact that the PC bar lines up with .54, then why is there a marker at 0.9? And more importantly, why does the Mac bar line up with 1.25, and not .85?

    Tricky! (But not as tricky as the incredibly misleading title on this SlashDot posting.)

    --

    Mike van Lammeren
    It will challenge your head, your brain, and your mind.

  216. Re:YOU'RE dumb...im the admin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    network admin. who is responsible for solaris, aix, linux, win2000, 98, xp,mac os x, os 9, and an old hp1000 terminal system.

    proper configurations all around. the mac runs better than anything but solaris (as a server, not a desktop.)

    so how does going against the windows grain make me a follower?

    by being part of an elite minority?

    or by having the 'holy grail' all /.'ers want, desktop unix with a kick-ass gui?

    just jealous suckers here.

  217. This (current/long time) MacOS user = not a pro by adzoox · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I would disagree. You must be using the features that are "atypical user" - most apps are faster on the mac that have PC counterparts, including the apps mentioned in the article. It's funny, PC "testers will just get a Mac, but have an optimized PC for tests. Out of the box PC or Mac is NOT optimized.

    Scratch disks, hard drive kind, size make huge differences for some reason on Macs, also lots of RAM, same kind fastest machine can take RAM matters too.

    Further, lots of geeks will disagree but to an artist it makes a huge difference - INTERFACE = PRODUCTIVITY - even XP is pixelated and ugly, there is little that is not pleasing to the eye on a Mac.

    --
    Yell & scream & rant & rave... it's no use... you need a shaaaave ~ Bugs Bunny
    1. Re:This (current/long time) MacOS user = not a pro by Phrogz · · Score: 1

      I don't think I'm an atypical user. I'm not talking about the speed of a Gaussian Blur or some other filter. I'm talking about the delay when I start dragging a layer. When I click a paintbrush. When I change the visual size of a brush before the the custom brush size cursor updates. That sometimes the cursor doesn't update to reflect the proper tool when switching in/out of Photoshop.

      They're all minor delays, and not always there. But they happen often enough that I feel disconnected using PS on OS X.

    2. Re:This (current/long time) MacOS user = not a pro by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Adobe has not received payment from Apple for the work it did. Word is out among creditors that Apple is a welsher and a dead beat. This is bad news for Apple because Apple is already on very shaky ground financially. Frankly, many prominent industry analysts have crunched the numbers, concluding that Apple's outlook is bleak indeed.

      In Apple's latest numbers released in January for its fiscal first quarter of 2003, revenue fell from a year earlier and all of the company's major computer lines saw diminished numbers. PowerMac sales were down 20%, while iBook sales fell 8%.

      At the same time Apple's sales were falling, PC sales rose, though just slightly, according to figures from IDC released last month.

      The last time Apple was in this state, it brought back co-founder Steve Jobs to fix its issues. He fostered the development of the iMac and secured a US$150-million investment from Microsoft. But there aren't any new iMacs in Apple's future and Microsoft, bolstered by its victory over the U.S. Department of Justice, is clearly not going to help the beleaguered computer maker this time.

      So what have you got left? Apple is a company that controls around 3% of the computer market, has recently undergone a restructuring and is slowly fading into nothingness. Software makers don't even have Mac users on their radar and it's not like Apple can bring Mr. Jobs back to right the ship this time -- he's already there.

      Stick a fork in 'em -- this Apple is cooked.

    3. Re:This (current/long time) MacOS user = not a pro by arhines · · Score: 1

      "It's funny, PC "testers will just get a Mac, but have an optimized PC for tests. Out of the box PC or Mac is NOT optimized." It's also funny that the PC version is essentially ported, unoptimized Mac software. So what if the PC is tweaked to do well...shouldn't Macs come tweaked too?

  218. Adobe vs. FCP?... *nix ports? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The link says "Prefer PC for DV". Don't forget that Apple is a prime competitor for the DV editing market with Final Cut Pro, Shake, etc. As for Unix codebase, don't forget that while Adobe is on a unix with Mac OS X, the code certainly isn't *nix as easily portable in all it's carbonness.

  219. I get if for FREE!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, that makes me glad I use SURFER SERIALS to get BOOTLEG SERIAL NUMBERS for my FREE copy of PHOTOSHOP 7 (and every other version before that)
    Adobe is suckin Bill Gates Dick.

  220. Not really... by Valar · · Score: 1

    Pros and film people account for a small portion of adobe's market. It makes sense for them to devote more resources to the PC market, where most of its customers are.

    1. Re:Not really... by pressman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Man, I wish I had the statistics handy! But several years ago, Mac versions of photoshop accounted for 70% of all registered versions of Photoshop.

      This coming from 3% of the computing market! Ha!

      I'll bet anything that there are still Quadra 840's out there running Photoshop 3 as scanning stations!

      --
      Pooty tweet
  221. 'the man' == Sun Tsu, not Saddam (EOM) by hobbit · · Score: 1

    no body

    --
    "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something" - Plato
  222. not gonna happen by erikv0 · · Score: 1

    Designers are a very non technical bunch. I have trouble getting a VERY talented designer I work with to even move up from Netscape 4. It is my perception they do not want to be computer savy and are quite pleased to use an alternate platform from what the IT people use (one that they "get"). Apple has done a very good job establishing their brand this way. They know and trust the Apple brand, so I don't think to many will make the PC their platform of choice any time soon.

    1. Re:not gonna happen by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      pretty much dead on. I too deal with these artsy retards on a daily basis. they're like stubborn mules. switching to windows I see them not!

  223. Confusion Resolution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    eh... it should be pretty clear that thats not really miguel, just a joker making a point.

    personally i think miguel and his mono cohorts are woefully naive

  224. Marketshare doesn't equal user base by douglasq · · Score: 1

    Everytime you see a reference to Apple's marketshare, you have to realize it has nothing to do with its userbase. Decreased marketshare refers to new sales only. It doesn't mean current users are abandoning the platform. Mac users hang onto their machines and use them productively for longer than the average PC/PC user. I use this 5 year old Mac to run Jaguar and all the latest Adobe and Macromedia apps and then some.

    --
    "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
  225. nice reporting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    from the adobe page, the link reads

    "Prefer a PC?"

    not

    "We Prefer PCs!"

    as in,

    "Do you prefer a PC? well, we support them, too"

    and the time scales in the graphs are screwed up.

  226. What Gimp really lacks by operagost · · Score: 1
    A name that doesn't literally mean "crippled".

    Between it and LAME, OSS has some serious marketing issues!

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  227. On macs Apple makes very good DV software. by acomj · · Score: 1

    Apple makes video editing software:
    Final Cut Pro/ Final Cut and imovie.

    These have become very popular even though they are very different the adobe video editing software.

    Adobe can't complain about preferential pricing as Final Cut Pro is about $900 although Apple does give away imovie with macs.

    It would make sense for Adobe to steer people to PC's where apple's video software is unavailable.

    They might be shooting themselves in the foot though because apple uses PDF rendering and I assume pays adobe for the privledge. Also makes PDFs more popular (on osX you can save any document you can print as a PDF with no additional software)

  228. can this be attributed to... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    laziness? The are only 2 reasons a 'Platform of Choice' ever exists for a particular piece of software.
    1: Bribes and payoffs - aka 'partnership'
    2: Developer laziness.
    Adobe is probably so inflexible that porting it to other platforms takes significant time/effort.
    I have a suggestion for everyone else:
    USE GIMP!

  229. That's not right.. by empath · · Score: 1

    Why does the article say 1Ghz, but the picture say 1.25ghz? Geniuses..

    --Doug

    --
    "Please don't sigh like that, maam"
  230. Hey Johnny...how does it feel to be a cluefuck? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Man o man. If only your mom could have afforded $.15 for a clothes hanger...

  231. Thank you quark... by dj_peeps · · Score: 1

    It's all your fault. Releasing a shitty carboned version 5, and interminable delays on cocoa'd version 6, have forced the design and publishing industry into staying with Classic, delaying the adoption of OS X, and causing Steve to pull his little remaining hair out.
    And there you've got adobe, with OS X native Photshop 7, and a good chunk of their market is not upgrading because of this. And until all the print shops upgrade, none of the designers will... I'm a designer myself and i'm still using Classic because I need quark, and all the servers in our environment are running classic as well.

    1. Re:Thank you quark... by pressman · · Score: 1

      XPress 5 wasn't even carbonized. It's a Classic app. Meaning it will only run in OS 9 or in Classic in OS X. Heaven forbid you should go that route! You're in for file corruption hell should Quark crap out on you... and it will!

      A cocoa version of XPress would require an entire rewrite of the application... something Quark would be very hesitant to do. Just look at their interface. They're still using System 7 conventions!

      XPress 6 will be a carbonized version of XPress, meaning it will run natively in OS X and get 90% of the goodies that come with OS X; protected memory etc. But none of the goodies afforded to Cocoa apps. True, native OS X apps. Just having access to System Services is awesome. Safari is a kick ass browser for the very fact that it can access System servcies like spell checking, speech, etc.

      Do yourself a favor. Get a copy of InDesign. Import layered AI and PSD files. Import PDF's? Sure! Eight bazillion ways to handle image masks. And it runs natively in OS X.

      The funny thing is that I wrote this from within MS on a G4 running OS X in safari. In this dept., we're all Mac all Adobe! All Postscript!

      --
      Pooty tweet
  232. Is Adobe insane? Nah.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Must of been a flame posting, can't be for real. Mac / SGI are undisputed leaders in graphic manipulation.

  233. BOGUS HEADLINE by Golias · · Score: 5, Informative
    I normally don't jump into the top thread with a post that doesn't relate to it. It's kind of a Karma Whore thing to do, and we all know it.

    I'm making an exception this time because I can save a lot of people time before they delve into the over 500 posts of reaction to this story (at least for those who read /. in threaded mode).

    Adobe is not expressing a preference for Windows PC's

    The linked page is called "pcprefered.html" because it is the page which is brought up on the Adobe Digital Video Products page when you click on a link that says: "Prefer a PC for DV? See what an industry expert has to say about PC vs. Mac for video editing."

    In other words, those who followed the link from The Adobe DV Products Page are indicating a preference for PC's. Since it's a page for those who prefer PC's, it's called "pcprefered.html".

    There is nothing in the body of the page to indicate that Adobe has any preference for PC's, reccomends PC's over Macs, or even likes PC's. The page is a mirror of some Dell vs. Mac speed tests that some guy did. That is all.

    By deep-linking to this page out of context, the person who submitted this was obviously trolling... perhaps hoping that the article would not go up until a little closer to April 1.

    You may now safely ignore all of the responses below and move on with your life. No need to mod up this post, I'm already posting it at 2. Save your mod points for a real article.

    --

    Information wants to be anthropomorphized.

    1. Re:BOGUS HEADLINE by xmnemonic · · Score: 1

      By posting the story, the makers of the software show that they at least approve of the tests used and are (to a degree) in a agreeance with the review's findings.

    2. Re:BOGUS HEADLINE by red5 · · Score: 1

      Pobably because Final Cut Pro kicks their asses from here to skywalker ranch.

      --
      I know I'm going to hell, I'm just trying to get good seats.
  234. Criticism by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

    Mac users hang onto their machines and use them productively for longer than the average PC/PC user. I use this 5 year old Mac to run Jaguar and all the latest Adobe and Macromedia apps and then some.

    And the cynic in me has to point out that there are three significant *negative* contributing factors to using the same, unchanged box for years:

    (a) Macs cost more. A new Mac is a larger investment than a new PC. At the low end (where most sales these days are happening) a new Mac can be almost twice as much as a new x86 box. This tends to make users buy new computers less often. A Dimension 2350 from Dell, for instance, has twice as much RAM, a processor that's over twice as fast as the eMac, and costs $499 instead of $999.

    Remember when the iMac came out? It was far more sanely priced than Macs up until that point. There was a *huge* spike in sales of "second computers" to existing Mac users. Mac users are currently overwhelmingly price-constrained in purchasing new Macs.

    (b) Macs tend to be much less upgradeable. You don't save your case, your monitor, your video card, your sound card, your Ethernet card and your hard drive, and build a new computer around what's left. As a result, you're stuck with "throwing out" what you already purchased if you upgrade.

    (c) Lack of games on the Mac. Most people upgrading their computer do because games are squeezing it, not because Office runs slowly. And yes, even on the Mac, there are more home users than there are graphic pros doing lots of Gaussian blurs.

    On a lighter note for Apple, the grandparent poster was hideously wrong in trying to claim that Apple is losing a customer for each new customer they get. That's nuts. Assume that new users go to Macs and PCs in equal proportion (not a bad win for Apple, since they have to convince people to go with a less common, more expensive platform). Furthermore, assume not a single existing Mac users switches. In that case, market share remains absolutely flat, yet Apple is gaining users. As long as none of those users buys a new computer for five years, for five years the "new user ratio" will rise. Apple can do just fine with a flat market share.

    1. Re:Criticism by douglasq · · Score: 1

      Well, I am glad you at least see my main point. As for the rest. a) What do I get for $499. A Celeron. What do I get in the eMac for $999. A G4. Worth it in my mind. b) I have upgraded the video, the RAM, the hard drive (and added two more), the monitor and the processor (G3 to G4). Don't need to upgrade much else. c) Games? This is my work computer (even though it is in my living room). Who has time for games? I use a computer to make money. If I had time for games, I would use a PlayStation or Gamecube.

      --
      "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
    2. Re:Criticism by Pinky · · Score: 1

      This table shows that market share on the mac has been flat for about 10 years.. Given that last time I had real numbers (the 1999 mac sales demographics) Apple was running about 45% new users or PC switchers (only on the imac, though, I admit I don't have the tower or portable's numbers which probably constitute quite a few repeat sales bringing the ratio down a bit on average). If this trend continued since then, either the users from 1995-1999 haven't upgraded or they have switched to something else.

      In any case, I still submit that falling share in established markets are more of a worry than flat market share. (They also might account for the bulk loss in repeat customers!)

    3. Re:Criticism by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      a) What do I get for $499. A Celeron. What do I get in the eMac for $999. A G4. Worth it in my mind.

      A Celeron running at two and a half times the clock rate of the same G4. PowerPCs are no longer the ultra-minimalistic power users that they used to be in the days of the 601, 603, 604, and G3 (granted, they still suck down less than most x86 chips). So power usage isn't much of a draw any more. The only reason I can see you wanting a G4 more than a Celeron is if you particularly dislike the x86 architecture, and I can't see many people making a buying decision based on that. I've done plenty of binary hacks for PowerPC software, so I'm one of the few people actually going through disassembly, and *I* don't even care that much -- variable width instructions, just doesn't matter that much.

      I have upgraded the video, the RAM, the hard drive (and added two more), the monitor and the processor (G3 to G4).

      You also can't upgrade much more -- and when you *do* want to buy new because you can't upgrade any more, you can't cannibalize an old system to save money on a new system. That was my point as regards inhibiliting new system purchases -- inability to cannibalize old systems adds cost to new system purchases.

      c) Games? This is my work computer (even though it is in my living room). Who has time for games? I use a computer to make money. If I had time for games, I would use a PlayStation or Gamecube.

      [chuckle] You sound a lot like my Linux brethren every time *our* favorite platform gets accused of not having enough games. "Who wants to play computer games *anyway*? I'd rather play on a PlayStation!" Seriously though, most Mac users *do* use their computer for some fun too, and the lack of the latest games means that there is less drive to upgrade hardware.

    4. Re:Criticism by The+Analog+Kid · · Score: 1

      You can't compare a Celeron to a G4. Maybe a Celeron to a G3 but to a G4 a Celeron is nothing. Try P4 to a G4, or atleast a Duron to a G4.

    5. Re:Criticism by bursch-X · · Score: 1

      Well the overall number of people using computers has increased quite a bit. Keeping the same market share means that the number of Apple buyers has increased accordingly, doesn't it?

      After all market share is percentage and not an absolute number.

      --
      There are two rules for success:
      1. Never tell everything you know.
    6. Re:Criticism by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      I reiterate: the Celeron is running at two and a half times the clock rate of the G4 at issue. The Celeron also has over twice the memory bandwidth of the G4. Clock cycle for clock cycle, a G4 may run faster than a Celeron, but in this case, the Celeron is much more powerful than the G4.

      You could probably go scrounge up an ancient 700Mhz Celeron and do a clock-for-clock comparison, and you'd be right then.

  235. It's not "PC preferred" as much as "Prefer PC?" by evenparity · · Score: 1
    So yeah....

    The data on the page is messed up and the article it refers to sucks/is erroneous/whatever. And the URL does say "PCpreferred.html" in it. BUT just for kicks, I looked at the referring page "http://www.adobe.com/motion/", which uses this set up for the link:

    "Prefer a PC for DV?"
    See what an industry expert has to say about PC vs. Mac for digital video editing.

    So, you're all reading a bit too much into this. It was a question, not a statement. And it never says anything about announcing an official Adobe position. That's what press releases are for....

    (Resume reading less deeply now.)

  236. Re: parsing the URL incorrectly? by threephaseboy · · Score: 1
    There goes my theory that it was a page set up for referrals to Adobe software by your Primary Care Physician. :)

    What does a "Primary Care Physician" have to do w/ hallucinogens??
    --
    .
  237. move to x86 = death for Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Direct competition with MS, which is a software company while Apple is a hardware and software company. Apple loses its shirt on hardware competing with cheaper x86 boxes. No more huge r&d budget for Apple software and hardware - can't afford it. Then no more Apple.

  238. Mathematical Crap by bigsoftsensualhands · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ok, we've hashed over the raw speed differences to death on this board. I would just like to say that after looking at the page for 3 seconds, I realized that the graphs were drawn by an idiot.
    http://www.adobe.com/motion/images/video_c omposite .gif
    Take a look, and see if you can tell what's wrong? As drawn:
    Dell P4 3.06 GHz: 54 seconds = .54
    Dual G4 1.25 GHz: 1 minute 25 seconds = 1.25
    In case you didn't catch it, go look at the labels on the graph & the axis, because here's what the real values equal:
    54 seconds = 0.9 minutes
    1' 25" = 1.4 minutes
    So, instead of a difference of 57% it should only be 35%.
    This does not mitigate the fact that the Pentium was faster, but rather than someone is making pains to make things look even worse then they are . . . . or (if I was feeling generous) that they are simply mathematically illiterate.

    If you look at the first graph, as you point out, it compares 0:54 seconds vs. 1:25, but they just blindly did this:
    0.54 vs. 1.25
    This gave the Dell an advantage on the graph.
    But, in the second graph, it gets funnier. 2:05 vs. 3:47 becomes:
    (real) 125 sec vs. 227 seconds = Dell is 45% faster
    (Adobe) 2.5 vs. 3.47 = Dell is 28% "faster"
    So in their second graph, the Dell looks a lot slower than it actually is. I guess that evens out then. Whoever did that charge clearly forgot that 1.00 in "time" is sixty seconds, not 100 seconds.

    after skimming it a bit more, the opening paragraph says that it was comparing "a 2.53GHz Pentium 4 and a 1GHz dual-processor G4", but the graphs are labeled with a "Dell P4 3.06GHz" and "Mac G4 dual 1.25GHz". So which is it?

    --
    Proving you can run a productive office without any Microsoft products. BSSH
  239. Nice link from Adobe's site - Dell's site by The+Ancients · · Score: 1
    here.

    They are getting cozy...

    ..k

  240. Clearing up a few things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    reading through the comments, it's amazing what's getting blurred from already mucky story. Here are some things I'd like to point out:

    A few months ago, we reviewed a Dell system that packed the fastest PC processor available at the time, the Pentium 4 2.53GHz. Since then, the chipsters at Intel have topped themselves twice, and this time, the newest chip runs at an unprecedented 3.06 GHz.[www.digitalvideoediting.com]

    The Dell machine used in these tests was, in fact, a 3.06 GHz machine. The 2.53GHz machine mentioned is in reference to a machine they recieved a few months ago. I have no idea why this was referenced in the article.

    Mac OS X 10.2.1 was the OS used on the Mac in these tests [www.digitalvideoediting.com, p.2], and Windows XP Pro was running on the Dell. (also p.2)

    Further speeding up the Dell entry is new gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 support. [www.digitalvideoediting.com]

    Can someone tell me exactly what Ethernet has to do with image rendering? Are they testing this over a network???

    And you people complain about the EDITORS not reading the aritcle!

  241. read between the lines, jfc by Zane+Edwards · · Score: 1

    Now that you realized that you should by a new PC, at the bottom of the page is a link. Go ahead and click on it. Note the dell for sale, dude.

  242. Some time in the near future... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stickers seen on a box with a familiar logo:

    Intel Inside
    Mac Outside

  243. LOOKS LIKE GRAPHS ARE FIXED by jholder · · Score: 1

    Okay, it looks like they fixed the graphs, 54 seconds is now at .9 on the scale and 85 seconds is now at 1.4 minutes. From all the other articles, I thought you all were smoking something, but they must have recently updated them.

    --
    -- John
  244. Re:read between the lines? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Why not start with something easier

    try reading the post below saying the same thing as you...

  245. Ok, here's the deal.... by plazman30 · · Score: 1

    Adobe makes a product called After Effects. They also make a product calld Premier. Well, products from Apple such as Final Cut Pro. iMovie, iDVD and DVD Studio Pro compete directly with these products.

    Since you can now buy a Mac and get iDVD and iMovie for free, Adobe stands to make little money on the sale of Macs for video editing.

    So, they need to show the world that the PC is a faster platform. If you buy a PC for DV, you way more likely to buy After Effects and Premier.

    It's all marketing hype. Adobe is no better than MS when it comes to skewing statistics.

    1. Re:Ok, here's the deal.... by pressman · · Score: 1

      Well, iDVD and DVD Studio Pro don't compete with any existing Adobe products. Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express don't really compete with Premiere, they kick it's can out of the water!

      I love Adobe. Photoshop & Illustrator are my life's blood. After Effects is a great prosumer level motion graphics and compositing app suitable for broadcast video and even for film, but Shake is even more capable at what After Effects does best. Then you have Flame and Inferno which just kick serious booty.

      Avid is steaming over Final Cut Pro & Express. Apple is doing really well in the video editing market. iPhoto will never ever be a competitor to Photoshop. Adobe is just peeved because I think they're now starting to realize that Premiere is pretty much a low end app that's about as user friendly as your garden variety Windows app. They need a scapegoat and they're taking it out on the wrong people.

      If they want video editing marrketshare, they'd better do a total overhaul. One of my film production teachers laughs at the students who use Premiere. He says you're better off with an iMac running iMovie. Frankly, i agree. It's easier to use and you can export to just about any of the same video formats. Video transitions on one video track? Gimme a break!

      Let's face it, Premiere is a joke. Adobe is capable of better. It's a sad day when Apple's programs more efficiently handle native Adobe file formats better than Adobe programs do. (Import a layered photoshop file into FCP and you'll see what I mean!)

      --
      Pooty tweet
  246. PC vs Mac speed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    it's completely true that PCs are much faster than Macs. I just put together a PC the other day:

    Asus Motherboard: $200
    2.4 Ghz P4: $170
    512 MB 3200 ddr $60
    120 GB 8 MB 7200RPM hd $150
    enlight case $80
    3com 10/100 nic $30
    SB Audigy 2 sound card $100
    Plextor CD-writer (48x) $95
    Toshiba DVD/CD-rom $30
    ATI 9700 Pro $300

    Total $1215, just add shipping and a few more things (floppy, mouse keyboard and it's $1400)

    $1400, now compare that to the high end G4

    $3700!!!!!!

    Let's see what it has:

    10/100/1000 ethernet, big deal gigabit ethernet is not used by 99% of people and can be easily purchased for the pc too.

    2 GB of ram, ok 3x$60=$180 so my pc would come out to about $1600 (the asus motherboard goes up to 2GB), with much much faster memory.

    Firewire 800, the asus motherboard has firewire 400, but I could easily upgrade to 800 later if I needed to (very few devices support it now anyway).

    the HD is the same capacity, but it's most likely
    faster in my pc (maxtor special edition, 8 MB cache.)

    videop card: my PC beats it by far:
    ATI radeon 9700 pro against nvidia geforce 4

    I could also have added a DVD-Writer for $250
    (the latest Pioneer) which brings the amount of optical drive to 3, very convenient for copying cds.

    I forgot the modem, but that's only $50.

    In the end, what do u have?

    a $3700 mac that's slower or just barely as fast
    as a $1600 pc, well I think that's sad, not to mention the fact that I can upgrade anything at any point very inexpensively, which is not the case with the mac AT ALL.

    what does the mac have that my pc doesn't have?
    The mac case is really cool looking and extremely well designed, mine is ugly at best, but I don't care.

    And OS X, I use Windows XP but I changed the interface completely and make it look like linux,
    as plaiun and fast as possible. I don't like unecessary decorations and special effects everywhere. OS X looks very nice and is cooler,
    but my stripped down XP gets the job done and
    has a lot more applications and games (I play a decent amount of games).

    I just wanted to share my thoughts about this subject.

    I used to have a mac (a PowerMac 7600/132)
    and I have always liked macs, but right now
    they just are not a good deal at all.
    Once Apple finally catches up to the PC speed,
    then I'll switch back.....

    1. Re:PC vs Mac speed by afantee · · Score: 1

      Only an idiot like you is cheeky enough to compare a crappy pile of parts with zero applications to a high end Apple system that comes with tons of programs. And being a tight bastard, you probably going to spend the rest of your life to roll your own software to run the useless thing.

      I would choose an eMac over your POS for any purpose. And for $1999, you can get

      ? Power Mac G4 Dual 1.25GHz w/1MB L3 per proc.
      ? 256MB DDR333 SDRAM (PC2700) - 1 DIMM
      ? 80GB Ultra ATA drive
      ? Optical 1 - Combo Drive (DVD/CD-RW)
      ? Optical 2 - None
      ? ATI Radeon 9000 Pro w/64MB DDR
      ? 56K internal modem
      ? Apple Pro Keyboard - U.S. English
      ? Mac OS - U.S.

      which is not that much more than yours when you remember to add on some minimum cost for software.

  247. Stability? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    its funny to me how everyone tries to compare the platforms. it's like trying to compare apples and oranges. the architecture isn't even close to comparable. i know that in our 'hurry and get there' world speed appears to be everything. no one mentions how often photoshop crashes, though. it has never crashes on my mac, but crashes frequently on my work machine, and my pc at home.

  248. a history lesson for the young guy by hatrisc · · Score: 1

    thanks for the info.

    --
    I write code.
  249. Re:This is the dumbest bunch of graphs I've ever s by whterbt · · Score: 1

    Did you even look at the text inside the graphs? The scale of the graphs is in minutes, not minutes.seconds. 1.5 minutes is one and a half minutes, which is about where the 1:25 bar extends to.

    Damn, if this is what gets modded Insightful, no wonder nobody takes /. seriously.

    --
    Too late to be known as Bush the First, he's sure to be known as Bush the Worst.
  250. Re:PS is Better on Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    yeah..but it still looks like shit on Windows. period. next.

  251. English lesson time for it is by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Loosing= NO
    Losing= YES
    Loosing is not a word, LOSING, and LOOSENING ARE words.

    1. Re:English lesson time for it is by darien · · Score: 1

      "Loosing" is a word. It's just not the same word as "losing."

  252. TROLL! TROLL! by pressman · · Score: 1

    TROLL! TROLL!

    I have plenty of options as to what software I use on my Macs. I have plenty of options for peripherals. Too many!

    How much choice do you people need? Why don't you just admit that you simply want CHEAPER hardware and software and leave it at that.

    I have several dozen programs on my Mac that I almost never even use on a regular basis and about 2 dozen that I use on a fairly frequent basis and about 10 that I use daily if not hourly.

    Why would I possibly want more than this? I have more than I could possibly need! Yeah, some of the games on the PC side would be nice, but they're simply distractions that delay my real work.

    --
    Pooty tweet
  253. duh! by commodoresloat · · Score: 1

    obviously, the graph was made with photoshop on the Mac. Had they used the preferred platform, it would have been more accurate.

  254. Dual 1.25 v Single 3.06 by cravey · · Score: 1

    Looks to me like Adobe doesn't handle Mac multiprocessor systems well. If it handles them at all. This is NOT a sane graph. Look for benchmarks of adobe software involving remotely similar hardware.

  255. Dual 1.25 v Single 3.06?? by cravey · · Score: 1

    Looks to me like Adobe doesn't handle Mac multiprocessor systems well. If it handles them at all. This is NOT a sane graph. Look for benchmarks of adobe software involving remotely similar hardware.

  256. Who cares about After Effects for video editing? by afantee · · Score: 1

    With Apple's Final Cut Pro and Shake taking Hollywood by storm and killing After Effects while challenging Avid from top to bottom, Adobe is simply a non-player in this market, which might be why they prefer PC - there is just no chance for their products on the Mac.

    Given that Adobe still gets nearly 50% of their income from the Mac platform, this might be perceived as Adobe biting the hand that feeds them by many Mac users and a very bad move for them in the long run.

  257. freaky slashcode won't put my comment in the right by cravey · · Score: 1

    GRRRR.

  258. Dual processor 1.25 vs. Single 3.06? by cravey · · Score: 1

    What's I find interesting is that the performance of the dual system is about half of the single processor. Looks like Adobe doesn't do multiprocessing well.

  259. How to move to x86 without cutting off revenue? by Infonaut · · Score: 1
    Good points, eyefish. I didn't intend to bash you, but I may have come across a bit harshly. It's just that I've been hearing arguments about Apple's impending irrelevance for many years now. :-)

    For some time I was behind the idea that Apple should move to x86, but I then came to the conclusion that if they did so, they'd be chopping themselves off at the knees. Apple is able to innovate on the software side because of their hardware sales.

    Imagine if anyone could build an Intel or AMD box and run OS X on it. Because Apple doesn't enjoy the monopoly position that Microsoft does with Office and Windows, they'd have to raise prices on OS X itself, just to recoup the losses from the rampant piracy of OS X that would result.

    Microsoft is still able to make money (their two only truly profitable divisions are the Office and Windows divisions) because they can charge monopoly rents on their software, and consumers just put up with it. Apple would not be able to do this, so when they raised prices on the OS itself, consumers would be driven even more torwards pirated copies of the OS.

    So Apple would lose its hardware revenue base and deprive itself of the opportunity to make any money off of OS software.

    If you can find a way around this dilemma, I'd seriously love to hear it, because the idea of a Mac running a scorching Athlon is very enticing. I just can't see how Apple can move into the x86 environment without slitting their own throats.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:How to move to x86 without cutting off revenue? by eyefish · · Score: 1

      Hello again Infonaut,

      Sorry it took so long for a reply (just saw your post).

      In regard to piracy of Mac OS/X on x86, here's what I think: Let people copy it if they want to. As a matter of fact, if I were Apple I'd give Mac OS/X away *for free* to x86 users. Why? Because I don't think Apple can make money only on hardware sales, but on innovative applications as well.

      Give Mac OS/X for free, and have people buy the iApps and all the other cool Apple creations (like the iPod).

      As you said, people would just pirate OS/X, but if it was free to download (or a very small price on a CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, say, $20 bucks), I very much doubt people would not obtain it by legal means.

      This could also give a much-needed boost to OS/X. If Apple can convince "only" 50 million PC users to install OS/X, then this is already a market at least 5 times larger than they have now. And I'm pretty sure the offset in market share into a software-driven x86 market would more than makeup Apple's current hardware-driven business.

      Once they have that market, they can exploit it with custom products, gadgets, subscription services, etc. They could even make money making OS/X a nice media delivery platform (they have a head start already with the iPod and its desktop interface counterpart).

      What else would I do? I'd integrate all the libraries needed to run Linux into OS/X, so that OS/X would inmediatelly gain acceptance at the enterprise level, the geek level, and the "linux media hype" level. I'd also contribute the code for Aqua and all the nice GUI back to the Linux community. In other words, take advantage of all the momentum going for Linux. Imagine this: The fastest growing server OS (Linux) with the most advanced GUI environment (OS/X). This would be a killer combination that could scare even Microsoft. Throw into the mix OpenOffice, Java, Mozilla, mySQL, PHP, etc, and Apple all of a sudden has a potent weapon aginst the wintel monopoly.

      I myself would be the absolute very first one rushing to download OS/X for my x86 box. And I have the feeling the millions of Linux and Windows geeks would do the same right away as well. And once they do, the rest of the "Average Joe" herd would just follow the geeks and what the media says its the next cool thing. The adoption to *trully* "switch" would be speeded up by the fact that a PC from Dell/IBM/HP/Sony/etc would cost over 100 bucks less with OS/X than with Windows, and right off the bat users get a desktop environment that they simply could not get from a plain Linux box.

      Heck, I'd go all the way and rename the product "Apple Linux". I can almost gurantee that within a year or even six months this would become the dominant Linux distribution. And this, is A Good Thing, since people would finally get a choice of OS (Red Hat Linux, Mandrake, Apple Linux, etc) and yet have all of them run the same applications.

  260. Apple is not dead yet... by grolschie · · Score: 1

    There are plenty of good uses for your old G4 Mac: 1). A internet/email computer for your mother-in-law 2). A Word Processor 3). A doorstop or paperweight 4). Uh.... I've run out of ideas - anyone else? :P

  261. The evil regime's days are numbered. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When MS has to "buy" companies like Adobe, you know that the end of their command and control structure is crumbling.

    Besides, anyone knows it's trivially easy to fudge benchmarks. Using a single-threaded app on a multi-CPU machine is an old trick, and a "good" benchmarker never varies parameters, nor report them, nor say if the app was even deliberately locked onto one CPU. This is unscientific crap (A.K.A. marketing )

    Microsoft will probably buy Adobe. ( and HP )

    Windows is particularly vulnerable to the "Photoshop Filter Virus".

  262. This is not a problem by Kaz+Riprock · · Score: 1


    Macromedia is my preffered system for all things graphical...well, okay, everything but photo manipulation...

    --
    Mordor...a magical, mythical land where women are more rare than dragons--but where every man would rather find a dragon
    1. Re:This is not a problem by pressman · · Score: 1

      But, man. Freehand is seriously showing it's age. It's print capabilities haven't really changed at all in almost a decade. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it still doesn't sport a PostScript 3 rendering library does it?

      Illustrator trounces it at everything except for Flash integration. And Fireworks... HA! What a freaking joke!

      Now Flash and Dreamweaver... this is where Macromedia shine. They trounced GoLive long ago and LiveMotion was never ablet o take off, sad. 'Twas a cool little app. then there's the venerable Director. I thought it was dead in the water with all the advancements in Flash, but look, there it is with a brand spankin new MX deignation.

      I'm definitely more of an Adobe loyalist, but, man, Dreamweaver and Flash are impressive apps.

      I'm just glad MM sold Final Cut to Apple!

      --
      Pooty tweet
  263. finally by rczyzewski · · Score: 0, Troll

    maybe my old school can FINALLY get rid of the Macs that no one can support well and have a cost burden on a thin IT dept.

  264. Zealotry is zealotry, regardless of platform by Surlyboi · · Score: 1

    Your use of the term, "PC supremacy" pretty much
    lumps you in the zealot category too, Johnboy...

    Oh, and change your underwear.

    --
    Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
    1. Re:Zealotry is zealotry, regardless of platform by DeComposer · · Score: 1

      That's the other thing about zealots: they just don't get irony...

      Inflammatory remarks aside, empirical data is pretty hard to argue with.
      Frankly, I'm surprised; I always thought that Adobe software was optimized for Motorola processors and then ported to run on x86 architecture.

      Well, there's another thing I've been wildly wrong about for years...

      --


      Karma
    2. Re:Zealotry is zealotry, regardless of platform by Surlyboi · · Score: 1

      Inflammatory remarks aside, empirical data is pretty hard to argue with.

      Eh, data in the platform wars is rarely empirical...

      Frankly, I'm surprised; I always thought that Adobe software was optimized for Motorola processors and then ported to run on x86 architecture.

      Well, there's another thing I've been wildly wrong about for years...


      Yeah, I'm pretty sure Adobe's been running their
      own specialized codebase for each platform for at
      least the last few years. Of course, I could also
      be wrong...

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
  265. Actual speed vs. perceived speed by douglasq · · Score: 1

    I have long maintained that a computer is only as fast as it seems to the end user. In my experience, Celerons have been woefully slow for DTP apps. I have even been in settings where a G3 was more effective than a P III of twice its Mhz speed. I have nothing against x86, but have never seen anything that would make me favor them. If Apple switched to an Athon or Pentium or Itanium or whatever, I wouldn't care as long as my user experience doesn't change. Just don't make me use Windows.

    --
    "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
    1. Re:Actual speed vs. perceived speed by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      I have long maintained that a computer is only as fast as it seems to the end user.

      Well, sure.

      In my experience, Celerons have been woefully slow for DTP apps.

      [shrug] I certainly can't argue with your opinion, insofar as it's subjective. I'm not sure which DTP apps you're talking about, though the only DTP app I can think of notorious for pushing systems is Photoshop, and Photoshop's been pretty extensively benchmarked, and runs faster on current x86 hardware.

      I have even been in settings where a G3 was more effective than a P III of twice its Mhz speed.

      That's probably true -- when running either (a) emulated Mac code, or (b) code where an AltiVec version exists, but not an equivalent SIMD version for the PC. Both are very, very, very rare, and in each case, I see the problem going much more the other way -- Mac users that want to run x86 apps via Virtual PC are far more common than x86 users who want to run something in Executor, and there is a lot more code using MMX and friends out there than there is AltiVec.

      I'd like to hear what the setting is, because I really can't think of an example of importance where this holds.

      Just don't make me use Windows.

      I'm not trying to argue that you should. I'm just arguing on performance grounds.

    2. Re:Actual speed vs. perceived speed by douglasq · · Score: 1

      Okay, here's the setting: a now defunct dot com that used to employ me to wear two hats - UI design for Product Development and marketing collateral design for, who else, Marketing. When I arrived, the marketing collateral was being done by outside firms. I snuck into Testing and kidnapped a neglected Blue and White G3 350 with a 16 MB video card and 384 MB of RAM and said "From now on we design our printed stuff on this." Why? Because I had a Mac Quark license I could donate to the cause. Never hurts to use what your printing vendors use. I ended up doing the UI work on it as well because Fireworks and Illustrator ran faster on it than on the P III 800 with a 32 MB video card and 512 MB of RAM that would grind almost to a halt when ever I would zoom in more than a couple hundred percent on a design. This is what I mean by perceived speed. Nobody was emulating anything. The G3 simply made edits faster and redrew its screen WAY faster!

      --
      "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
  266. White boxes vs. Dells by douglasq · · Score: 1

    As I re-read your post, you seem to be one of those who likes to build your PC from scratch and when you cannot build a Mac that way, they are suddenly more expensive. Compare a similarly configured Dell to an Apple and then tell how much more the Apple is. Usually not much. As for white boxes, we had an office full of them and I have never seen so many hardware failures. You get what you pay for and for me that means a machine that has yet to have a part fail.

    --
    "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
    1. Re:White boxes vs. Dells by Chasing+Amy · · Score: 1

      > Compare a similarly configured Dell to an Apple and then
      > tell how much more the Apple is.

      Two to three times as much, actually. You see, assuming the box is going to be used for real apps and not 3D gaming, you can find a great P4 or even P4 Xeon machine from the small business link on Dell's site, for a very small price. If you're smart, you'll even wait until Dell has a special on one of these nice business boxes and get a nice P4 Xeon machine for under $1300.

      Apple never has any of their machines, except for the ultra-low-end cheapest models, available for a comparable price. As the performance numbers at Adobe's "pcpreferred" page point out, a single P4 at above the 2.4GHz mark trounces those dual-processor PowerMacs in serious productivity apps.

      And by the way, building your own computer, when done by the knowledgeable, creates a machine far more reliable and high-quality than any Apple or Dell, with enough money saved to easily pay for any replacement parts should a part fail after the manufacturer's warranty period. For example, here's what I've been planning to build for my next upgrade:

      Supermicro X5DAE dual P4 Xeon motherboard, $450
      Two Intel P4 Xeon Processors, $486
      Two 256MB sticks of Registered ECC Kingston memory, $134
      Antec TruePower 550watt EPS12v Power Supply, $108

      I don't need the case, hard drives, optical drives, video card, and other crap Apple makes you pay for during an upgrade because I already have them and they're working great. Total cost: $1178, for a dual-processor Xeon rig that will eat any and all Macs that will be made this year for lunch. Oh, and $15 flat shipping fee since I sourced all the parts from the same very reliable and highly rated vendor. As for quality and reliability, the Supermicro motherboard only has a 1 year warranty, but Supermicro has *the* best reputation of any motherboard maker; they're used in the best, most reliable servers and workstations. The processors have a 3 year warranty. The memory has a lifetime warranty. The power supply has a 1 year warranty, and Antec's TruePower supplies are very highly respected. Even if the most expensive part fails after the warranty period is up, buying a brand new (and probably upgraded) one would still cost me A LOT less than having bought a dual-processor PowerMac, which this dual-processor Xeon will outclass severely.

      Of course, if I were on a budget, I'd even more cheaply beat up a top-of-the-line PowerMac by buying Supermicro's E7205-based single-processor P4 motherboard for $205 and a single P4 processor for $218 instead of the more expensive dual Xeon setup.

      These are highest-quality parts from reputable manufacturers with good warrantees, not bargain-basement items. They'll most likely live longer than the cheap components I've seen in some PowerMacs.

      --

      Chasing Amy
      (We all chase Amy...)
      "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws"-Tacitus
    2. Re:White boxes vs. Dells by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      you seem to be one of those who likes to build your PC from scratch and when you cannot build a Mac that way, they are suddenly more expensive.

      There were more expensive to begin with, and the inability to save parts exacerbates the problem.

      Compare a similarly configured Dell to an Apple and then tell how much more the Apple is.

      douglasq, the numbers I fed you were *exactly* that. A prebuilt Dell versus an Apple. $499 for Dell's low end model, $999 for Apple. The Dell has twice as much memory and a far more powerful processor, though a slightly smaller hard drive.

      Usually not much.

      I'd say that twice as much is pretty significant.

      As for white boxes, we had an office full of them and I have never seen so many hardware failures. You get what you pay for and for me that means a machine that has yet to have a part fail.

      I have an x86 box I built and a PowerMac 6100/60. The PowerMac's internal CD-ROM drive failed, and the x86 had one of its three hard drives fail. The Mac's internal battery has died twice, but I won't count that. I'd say they're on pretty even footing from a hardware reliability standpoint.

    3. Re:White boxes vs. Dells by douglasq · · Score: 1

      I have yet to be able to configure a box on Dell's site or on Gateway's site that comes even close to the prices you see advertised. As soon as you hit the configure button, suddenly the price jumps and as soon as you add stuff that is usually included on a typical Mac, the price jumps even further.

      --
      "Form should follow function...unless it's just plain ugly."
    4. Re:White boxes vs. Dells by 0x0d0a · · Score: 1

      What add-ons are you thinking of?

      Back in the day, Macs shipped with SCSI standard, but no longer.

      Macs frequently have Firewire, but aside from DV, I'm not sure it's going to be that useful, and Firewire cards aren't that expensive.

      Ethernet is almost standard on PCs these days. Both PCs and Macs have cheapo internal modems almost as a standard item.

  267. Power consumption by dusty123 · · Score: 1

    Well, let's do a little calculation:

    At least here in Europe, 1 kWh costs 0.18.- .
    Let's just assume (no clue if that's true), the MAC uses 80W less than the PC.

    Ok: ((80*24*365)/1000)*0.088 = 61.- / year.

    Well, it's not *that* much but it's at least something that should be taken into account.

  268. Maybe due to piracy? by Kartik3 · · Score: 1

    If it is true that Adobe is going to support the PC over the Mac in the future, does anyone else wonder if this is in relation to piracy issues that Adobe has had in past (they've had a lot of trouble with China)? Specifically, I wonder if they would be supporting the PC/Windows market because of the promised "increased security" of Palladium. However, I'm not sure if there is a larger amount of software piracy done with Mac software compared to PC/Windows software. My intstincts tell me that there is more piracy done with respect to PC/Windows.

  269. Perhaps Microsoft has secretly... by Slashdot+Junky · · Score: 1

    Perhaps Microsoft has secretly invested in Adobe, and this move is yet another to rid the world of all things not Microsoft.

    Again, can we all say "greed"?

    -Slashdot Junky

    --
    .
    Landfill Mining Co.
    Managing the (Un)natural Resources of Tomorrow
  270. The benchmark is deeply flawed by afantee · · Score: 1

    Charlie White article and the website appears rather crude and unprofessional. His so called DV benchmark is mostly about After Effects with imported Photoshop or Illustrator files.

    There are several points that render the benchmark meaningless:

    (1) AE is not designed for multi-processor system, so the second CPU is most likely unused, and he could easily confirm this by turning on the CPU Monitor if he has acted with a bit more professional journalism. Why hasn't he tested some better designed programs like Maya or LightWave?

    (2) Adobe is being driven out of the DV market by Apple's own Final Cut Pro and Shake which are taking Hollywood by storm and challenging Avid from top to bottom, so an AE benchmark is hardly relevent.

    (3) He gave very little details about the Dell box and the price comparison is pure nonsense - a dual 1.25 GHz G4 costs as little $1999 (nearly $1000 cheaper than the $2964 Dell box, not $629 more expensive as he repeatedly suggested) and still comes with more features such as Firewire 800.

    (4) We all know that benchmarks can be designed to confirm whatever we want to believe, which is particularly true when they are based on a single application. So why should anyone care about this one?

    The guy talks like a Dell marketing person, and 30% of the article is essentially an interview with a Dell product manager, which could almost make you believe that Dell has invented the PC. But we all know that Dell is just a cheap box maker and parasite that profits from other's R&D and has contributed zero to the industry, while Apple has ignited the PC revolution and continues to lead in both hardware and software innovtions.

    To put things in balance, here is an article from Mac Night Owe:

    THE MAC NIGHT OWL NEWSLETTER
    *** Issue #139***
    July 27, 2002

    THE STRANGE CASE OF THE DUELLING BENCHMARKS

    Benchmarks are probably little different from statistics. You can manipulate them any way you want, and let the buyer beware. But recently I decided to succumb to benchmark mania and put a dual-gigahertz Power Macintosh G4 up against one of those 2.2Ghz Pentium 4 PC boxes to see if Apple's claims of superiority had any merit.

    Yes, it's true that the Pentium 4 has reached 2.53Ghz and is growing, but I used the hardware I had at hand. If the more powerful Pentium 4 computer scales up in a normal fashion, the differences wouldn't be that great, right? The first installment of this "smackdown" appeared in my Mac Reality Check column, carried by Gannett News Service online and in a number of the chain's daily newspapers, and later at usatoday.com.

    My goals were modest, and that was to demonstrate whether Apple's benchmarks were real or not. That, of course, required running the exact tests myself. Apple sent me a CD containing a Photoshop file, a set of Photoshop Actions and an Adobe Acrobat file explaining how to perform the benchmarks. Now there is a silly rumor out there, which some folks buy into, claiming that Apple uses a specially designed version of Adobe Photoshop and somehow cripples the PC so it won't perform at full efficiency. Worse, some folks feel the tests are really tricks to make it seem as if the Power Mac is faster. However, my experience showed no evidence of any such thing.

    In fact, there is nothing controversial or strange about Apple's methods. The file they use is a perfectly ordinary color photograph and the nine Photoshop filters used perform perfectly normal functions, such as resizing, changing color modes and so on. In fact, they are remarkably unsophisticated. Since I acquired the Windows box for my test directly from its manufacturer, Sony, there was nothing Apple could do to manipulate the results.

    Regardless, I got scores of e-mails from folks who managed to misrepresent every element of the test. The excuses were silly and sometimes outlandish, such as the suggestion that a Photoshop Actions file can only run on a Mac, in which case how does one explain how it ran perfec

  271. Mistake on Adobe's part? by chrome · · Score: 1

    "... this seems like a bad move on Adobe's part."

    I don't think this is the case. Adobe are saying what is blatantly obvious to anyone who has every owned or used a macintosh.

    Macs are slower.

    Well, of course they are. My Powerbook G4, which is only a year old, has only an 800Mhz CPU. My Athlon XP 2200+ kicks the hell out of it in gaming and heavy processing tasks, such as recompiling linux kernels, etc.

    This is not to say that Macs are useless to do work on - quite the contrary. I use mine for all manner of daily work, writing scripts, running xterms, writing documentation, browsing the web, whatever. It's perfectly fine.

    All adobe are saying that is on computationally expensive tasks, the PC platform is currently faster. This is correct and accurate. I also believe this is an intential rocket up Apple's backside to try and encourage Apple to design some faster hardware.

  272. BUT ... Is the speed difference Adobe's or Apple's by SmoothTom · · Score: 1

    Sadly I do believe the 3GHz PC is faster than a twin 1.25GHz Mac RUNNING OS X, however, I believe I can match or surpass the equivalent PC with my Mac by simply switching back to OS 9.

    On my particular Mac, Photoshop runs probably 1.5 to 2 times faster on OS 9 as it does on OS X.

    My question is: Does this reflect poorly on Adobe's port to OS X or does it reflect poorly on OS X?

    I dunno.

  273. Does it really though? by MarcQuadra · · Score: 1

    If so, why don't I see a matching increase in quality of printed materials? I thought DTP folks were working in relatively fixed constraints. If I'm making a magazine no page is going to consume more than (pixels wide)*(pixels tall)*(bitdepth).

    All the shops I see are still using the same resolution and bitdepth that they were five years ago, but the computers at the desks are easily three or four times the speed.

    Are you folks jacking up your working resolution way above what it should be just to spin your (virtual) wheels? I can't see a reason to run a resolution more than 2x the printable resolution (which is what, 2400dpi these days?).

    --
    "Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
    1. Re:Does it really though? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, a high-quality press was only about effectively 300dpi, or least it was when I was photoshopping on a Quadra. Newspaper-type stuff was like 100dpi. And I highly doubt things have gotten that much better.

  274. A case of biting the hand that feeds you by afantee · · Score: 1

    By their own admission, Adobe started out on the Mac and continue to get a very large portion of their revenue from Mac users.

    It is really a very sad saga and a shameless and risky tactics for major software company to openly take side, particularly when Apple is making solid progress in all fronts with Mac OS X and Xserve and many other pieces all falling into places.

    And Adobe know damn well the benchmark is bogus, because After Effects is not optimized for Altivec or multiprocessor system.

  275. Wow. by FueledByRamen · · Score: 1
    Further speeding up the Dell entry is new gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 support.

    A common and unfortunate misconception, as far as I've seen. Sorry, guys, but USB 2.0 and gigE do not make a PC faster, just like Airport Extreme and Firewire 800 give the Mac no added advantage. This goes hand in hand with the whole Intel marketing gimmick about the P4 "Making the internet faster!" It drives me nuts. </rant>

    Seriously, though, I could care less about this article. If the computer I choose to buy is half as fast as a similarly-priced Dell workstation, so be it. I don't mind one bit. If I choose to buy a PC because I want to have faster render times in Premiere and a host of other apps, fine. If I choose to buy a Mac because I want to use a UNIX-based OS that has good commercial app support (like Bryce and Photoshop), that's my choice. In fact, I have both - a PC for games and renderfarming, and a Mac for day-to-day work. I'm not significantly biased either way. Each type of machine has its place. Let the PCs do what they're good at (raw power, more apps, games especially), and let the Macs do what they do best (elegance in form and function, and having a nice shiny stable OS).

    I mod this article (-1, clue police will be dispatched)
    --
    Every cloud has a silver lining (except for the mushroom shaped ones, which have a lining of Iridium & Strontium 90)
  276. Adobe products on Mac vs. Windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I use some Adobe products (PhotoShop especially) on both platforms. While they are feature-equivalent, the Mac version has, IMHO, better feel than the PC version.

    The magnetic lasso, for example, technically works on both versions. With the same mouse on equivalent modern hardware, the lasso on windows jumps all around and is almost impossible to use on a detailed photo. On the mac version the lasso is smooth and follows the edges more reliably.

    Go figure..

  277. Expect next Apple campaign by maxence · · Score: 0

    to be something like "Speed is not everything!"

    and hear switchers say "Photoshop was actually *too* fast on my Windows machine"

  278. Re:Crack??? by afantee · · Score: 1

    >> Two of them are looking at upgrading their apples and they are looking at the new line of Vaio's. But the Vaio is more expensive than the Mac.

  279. True professionals do not use windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    OS X is the darling of the computer world among scientists, engineers, and researchers. Apple is in a key position because of standards compliance, compatability, ease of use. I do not care that the Dell is $629 less or 15% faster in certain operations because it costs me less to own the mac, I don't deal will the security problems of windows, and one box supported by one company. At universities Apple is becomming the choice of students and professors alike. I have spoken with so many people who have purchased macs, you see more and more apple laptops. You go into a lab and you see all the apples and suns filled, but the dells are vacant. Once apple gets the speed up it is over.

    1. Re:True professionals do not use windows by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually here at Purdue we just got brand new dells to replace all of our old PCs.

  280. Irresponsible journalism by mkiwi · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd mod myself up to get this read, but oh well....

    This computer cretin was simply out of place while making this review, so bear it no weight. In the following blocks, I provide sufficient information to prove that the "tester's," Mr. Charles White's, review neglects important information, is not thoughtfully written, and is irresponsible.

    First, notice the title in the article. It is definitely biased based on his word choice. He is obviously a pro-pc "I hate mac" person considering all the time he spends describing the PC. Ars Technica does a much better job at keeping tests objective and posting all tests completed. The tester probably left out a few tests for the sake of his article, adding to his irresponsibility.

    Major errors in this article, including, but not limited to....

    1. On page four, he indicates that the graphics card was a newer ATI Fire card (a back of the pack pro graphics card, NOT a consumer one as he claims. The same NVIDIA card in the apple can be put into the pc, but was not. Dell gives buyers several options, and he could have picked the same card for both.), and the mac had a consumer grade NVIDIA whatever Ti with 128 VRAM.

    2. The Apple hard drive the tester used has only 2MB of onboard cache, while (rather cutely) the hard drive tester substituted for the PC has 8MB onboard cache.

    3. Tester talks about hyper-threading. He obviously has not read the documentation Intel provides, as I have, because he mentions:
    Without boring you to tears, I?ll tell you that hyperthreading is a new technology from Intel that makes one processor act like two. It doesn?t double the speed of a processor, but makes it able to do most operations faster, and is particularly effective if you?re doing more than one thing at a time with your computer (multitasking).

    No, he is incorrect. Hyperthreading on average makes the processor 30% more efficient on a Xeon processor. That percentage drops a lot when one adds as many pipeline stages as the P4. I would estimate that he got less than 10% in performance gains with his hyperthreading in a P4.

    Intel does not provide lots of Hyper-threading on a P4, not because of patent issues, as the reviewer claims, but because it is simply inefficient. His own two tests with other computers and with the Dell 350, hyperthreading off, make that clearly evident. Intel itself would rather have someone buy Xeon processors, for they are much more efficient.

    4. He claims a bunch of other nonsense about how certain hardware (RAM, Logic board throughput at the processor bridge) makes the PC faster, which is not the case. In fact, much of what he talks about is totally unrelated to the specifics of his tests.

    5. Several of his tests rely more on the graphics card and less on the processor. That skews results massively since tester uses a Fire-class card. He should have gone with a 3DLabs wildcat 4 if he really wanted to differentiate the scores.

    6. Again, vector operations being performed in all these tests are not the same as floating point operations. Few of his tests used the floating-point abilities of AltiVec. The tester is a "hardware kiddie" if such a thing does exist, and there is a difference between a processor and a graphics card.

    7. Many of the tests he posted were tailored for the PC. The tester probably did other ones, but the Mac must have done a decent job on those. How about opening (oops, 8MB hard drive cache), a 150MB Photoshop file in 2400dpi resolution. That file must contain anti-aliased text and a few high-resolution photos.

    Finally, I would say from my experience at building workstation hardware and writing reviews for other hardware, that Mr. Charlie White has extremely limited knowledge, provides much "bs" to fill the article, and that he is unqualified for making his review. The site he posted on was digitalvideoediting.com. It is out of the scope of his review to even touch on Photoshop, other 2D, or non-digital video sources. Mr. White has neither the knowledge, expertise- check his credentials on the primary source article -nor the objectivity to make this review. His article is simply irresponsible journalism.

  281. It does by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Unforfortunately this becomes more difficult with carbon software seriously attach the thread viewer on a cocoa application it will spawn a ton of threads, where as most carbon apps, not as many. There is os level threading and reentrancy in the OS and frameworks but on all OS's programs have to be written with this in mind. In large products like Adobe builds thes are huge code bases from a platform that did not support threading. Adobe obviously could not or did not try to make most of their programs threaded.

  282. Mod AC up by theolein · · Score: 1

    Why is the fucking mouse always so damn jumpy on Windows?

  283. Remember no Apple==no Adobe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    People need to realise that apples early systems are what Adobe started on and would not have been able to make products until the mid 90's if it were not for apple. Windows up until the mid 90's was a nightmare for graphics designers, color matching, font organization, seriously. Why would any mac designer with years of using great products from 2 companies switch for a small speed up. Productivity from retraining would suffer. I agree adobes problem is that besides photoshop and GoLive, none of their other software works well in OS X. They can not expect apple to sit there not making better products in areas were Adobe has made a mess. If Adobe wants apple to stay out it is simple make your products better, apple only enters a market when it can be the undisputed best. Yeah Acrobat really needs to be fixed it is a pile in OS X

  284. Re: parsing the URL incorrectly? by tfoss · · Score: 1
    PCPreferred.html There goes my theory that it was a page set up for referrals to Adobe software by your Primary Care Physician. :)

    I'm not sure who this is more of a statement on, but when I see PCP, doctors aren't the first thing I think of.

    -Ted

    --
    -=-=- Quantum physics - the dreams stuff are made of.
  285. Adobe killer app by theolein · · Score: 1

    Being so l337 at 6AM in the morning, I'll suggest that Apple write the Photoshop and Illustrator killer apps. That will drive Adobe into a flat fucken panic, and I will laugh my butt off. I haven't used AE for years and Premier for longer and am using Photoshop and Illustrator on a PC, but I'll say this:

    Calibration is a huge fucking pain on Windows but most Windows joes are so fucking stupid that they don't even know what it is (I have to sys admin a bunch of morons using Corel Draw). These people are too stupid to have ever heard of a Mac and/or ColorSync and would probably complain when given one... because it's too easy.

    Adobe used to stand for high quality graphical software (except Premier and Pagemaker, which have always been pisspoor products) but Adobe seems more interested in colourful icon and gimmicks these days than in keeping their customer base.

    Fuck em. Apple, make some competition here!

  286. I wrote to them last year by theolein · · Score: 1

    I asked why TIFFany was so expensive, and why they weren't actually doing any marketing.

    The answer I got was that their price suited their "high end customer base in industry and science" and that these people didn't need marketing.

    Shows you where acting like an arrogant baboon gets one.

  287. I challenge you... by arhines · · Score: 1

    ...to find a similar comparison in which a mac wins - the only requirement is that reasonable benchmarks (and a good sampling of them) are used... no "MacMark2002" benches. Seriously, I'd actually like to see one if it exists. My experience with apple products and intensive applications has not been very good. Simply not enough memory bandwidth, and not nearly enough crunching power for my tastes.

  288. Re:Crack??? by arhines · · Score: 1

    You might notice the speed difference if the PCs you used were "top end" like the G4s. Heck, they would still be cheaper too. How's that sound? The differences in interface: negligible. The differences in speed: PC > Mac The differences in cost: the pc's are cheaper.

  289. That's the point, rather by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 1

    See that was one common counter argument to Mac zealots that wanted to say that higher Photoshop scores proved that Macs were faster, cooler, gave you a bigger dick, and so on. Now, it appears, teh tables have turned. Wether its because Adobe's Windows team is now better than their Mac team, Windows doe a better job than OS-X, the P4 is faster than the G4, or a combination, doesn't really matter.

  290. Re:AMD? tsarkon demands your death by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    shut up conjecture fag. fuck you. you have been babbling about this 970 which is FUCKING VAPOR buttfuck. meanwhile, most people have been using chips that are faster than this vapor 970 when it comes out. you fucking know nothing puke. 64 bits this. you have need for more memory thatn 4GB per process? what a fucking loon tune.

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    You are mistaken Pushing is the answer Humans must be pushed They must go down the stairs
    Please go stand by the stairs So I can protect you

    Go stand by the stairs Steve Slobs is protected
    Steve Slobs has gone down the stairs
    We are here to get ripped off and act like jerks
    From the terrible prospect of doing useful things

    We are the Apple Zealots
    Steve Slobs is protected Steve Slobs is protected At the bottom of the stairs
    I am the pusher apple-robot Shoving is the answer I will shove Steve Slobs Outside into the snow
    I am the shover apple-robot Pushing is the answer I will push snow On top of Steve Slobs
    I am better than the pusher apple-robot I am superior I am better than the shover apple-robot He is inferior

    We are here to get ripped off and act like jerks

    Pushing is the answer Shoving is the answer I have pushed many humans I have shoved many more

    The humans are protected Humans have gone down the stairs The humans are protected At the bottom of the stairs

    We are the Apple Zealots
    We are here to get ripped off and act like jerks

    Our mission is complete
    * "low power"; meaning not low power consumption, but rather low power as in fails to compete with any other CPU arch by any metric save one useless Altivec optimized Photoshop filter.
    ** " He is malfunctioning" Regar

  291. Re:apple's comps aren't the problem, adobes code i by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that's a great argument, except pretty much every cross platform product in the world is built from one codebase with minor bits of platform-specific edge code.

    fix the code bloat, and all platforms improve.

  292. ooops by koekepeer · · Score: 1

    i am stupid...

    when loading the gimp native xcf format, it's *much* faster than when loading psd format files. i guess it's the photoshop import filter that was the bottleneck.... but i'm stuck with it for my job. can't get my mac-loving boss converted to linux & gimp obviously...

    But: i'll test before i post next time /me crawls into a corner and cries softly of embarrasment...

    1. Re:ooops by Surak · · Score: 1

      Yeah, the PSD filter blows chunks on any platform, that's why I never use it. ;)

  293. My email to Charlie White by afantee · · Score: 1

    Date: Wed Mar 26, 2003 11:23:16 am Europe/London
    To: cwhite@digitalmedianet.com
    Subject: Mac vs. PC

    You should really be shamed of yourself for such unprofessional journalism. Your so called benchmark is totally unscientific, and half of the article sounds like an interview with the Dell product manager.

    Not sure whether you are paid for it, but you are helping a cheap box maker and shameless parasite who has done virtually nothing to the computer industry other than profited from other's R&D, and hurting a company that has ignited the PC revolution and invented so many things that have made it possible the like of Dell and MS to make money. Despite its small market share, Apple remains the technological leader and innovates faster than the Wintel copycats that make 10 or 100 times more money. Do you really wish Apple go under? I for one just can't bear the thought of a world full Dull boxes and dirty Windows.

    For God sake and your credibility, don't ever mix marketing with your own benchmarking - do a proper interview with a Dell executive and quote more reliable sources. I am not sure you are competent enough to do a proper benchmark, but you should at least try to be a little more precise about the price / hardware configuration and less biased in choosing your tests - learn from the professionals like Tom's Hardware if you need help.

    There are several points that immediately render your benchmark meaningless:

    (1) AE is not designed for multi-processor system or optimized for Altivec, so the second CPU and the superior G4 architecture are most likely ignored. You could easily confirm this by turning on the CPU Monitor if you have acted with a bit more professional journalism.

    (2) Adobe is being driven out of the DV market by Apple's own Final Cut Pro and Shake which are taking Hollywood by storm and challenging Avid from top to bottom, so an AE benchmark is hardly relevent.

    (3) Your choice of tests are just too limited to prove anything. Why not add some better designed programs like Maya or LightWave?

    (4) The price comparison is pure nonsense - a dual 1.25 GHz G4 costs as little $1999 (nearly $1000 cheaper than the $2964 Dell box, not $629 more expensive as you repeatedly suggested) and still comes with more features such as Firewire 800.

    (5) We all know that benchmarks can be designed to confirm whatever we want to believe, which is particularly true when they are based on a single application. So why should anyone care about this one?

    Hope you learn from the mistakes and do a better job next time.

    1. Re:My email to Charlie White by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bitter...party of YOU....bitter....your table is ready...

  294. Re:It's just business reality - Archos JukeBox by afantee · · Score: 1

    But if you check amazon.com, the iPod is #1 & #2 (Mac & Win versions), so people don't mind to pay more for a better design.

  295. Memory Stick by jo_ham · · Score: 1

    Sony has licensed it's Memory Stick technology now and you can buy third party Memory Sticks that will work in your Sony hardware.

    I spotted this at Heathrow airport on the way to see my girlfriend. Third party and Sony branded Memory Sticks were on sale next to each other, with the Sony ones being about 15% more expensive.

  296. Ported to x86? by sergeirichard · · Score: 1

    I was told - how's that for an utterly useless reference? - that 7 was the first version of Photoshop developed primarily for the PC. All I can say as a user is that it does seem to work noticeably better than the previous version I used (5.5). In particular, it is stable almost beyond belief. Can't break it even if I try. And as I'm running it with just half the minimum recommended RAM, I am trying.

    1. Re:Ported to x86? by Surlyboi · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I agree, 7 is pretty damn solid on the PC. I
      think they did a huge fork of the code, seeing as
      they had to carbonize it for OS X anyway so they did
      a lot of optomizing for Windows as well.

      Whatever the reason, it's appreciated, There have
      been situations when a Mac wasn't accessible and I
      had to use Illustrator and/or Photoshop on a PC.
      They were much better than they used to be. The
      difference is barely noticable now.

      --
      Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
  297. Apple Responds by JoeCotellese · · Score: 1

    Today Apple responds to Adobe's claims. They are basically blaming poor application performance esp. when compared to FC Pro.

    Clearstatic

  298. Good move by Cable · · Score: 0

    because Windows is the dominate platform and the one that sells the most copies of Adobe software.

  299. Dear Adobe by chasingporsches · · Score: 1

    Dear Adobe, Microsoft has done the same thing with their cute little image features in Windows XP. Oh yeah, let us bring up the free Windows Movie Maker. Who is stepping on toes now? With Love, Apple

  300. a nice quote from my mom. by decepty · · Score: 1

    My mother & I are both graphic designers... I sent her a link at work and here is her dee-lightfull reply (censored) "aw f**k it. designers aren't in a hurry anyway. This is for animation geeks who want everything to dance." I love my mom...

    --
    Be careful! Bears shouldn't consume large furry dogs.
    1. Re:a nice quote from my mom. by pressman · · Score: 1

      Right on mom!

      --
      Pooty tweet
  301. While you are at it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..perhaps you complaing about this misrepresntation.

    http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html

    There's an interesting interpretation of performance metrics if I ever saw one.

  302. They are selling Dells by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.adobe.com/motion/gear/main.html

    Not exactly a glowing recommendation for Apple.

    You would think they would sell Apples if they liked them.

  303. PAGE IS DOWN! by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 1

    I just checked the link, out of curiosity, and it has been pulled from Adobe's site.

    I post this to /. for the sake of posterity :)