What bothers me as a Mac user in a heterogenious environment is that every time someone says something positive about Macs around here, we're labeled as religious freaks that drank the Kool-Aid and swim around in Steve Jobs' reality distortion field. But if someone says something positive about Microsoft, they're an "Enterprise Builder" a "Team player" a "Forward thinker". Please. The hypocrisy is almost too much to handle.
I think many of the Microsoft fans out there just have a high tolerance for problems. The other day I was at a friend's house and when he opened his Vista laptop up, it refused to join his wireless network. He said, "Oh that happens all the time. We just have to wait a bit." then he proceeded to futz with it for 10 minutes before we were online surfing. If my Powerbook did that, I'd be PISSED. I stopped "evangelizing" for Apple some time ago. Now I just shake my head in wonder and amazement. I look at it like a competitive advantage! I keep working while the Windows majority is patching, installing drivers, removing ad/spyware, and rebooting (I think I rebooted my Mac at work a month ago).
Last point: I have used both platforms extensively and have formed my opinions in an educated way (for me at least). This is more than I can say for most Windows-using Mac critics. Most have them have never turned a Mac on, nevermind used one for more than an hour... so who's the fan boy?
Seriously though. What pisses me off is we get giant monopolies like Microsoft who thumb their noses at the law and interoperability but when Apple gets a good thing going, some Bill Gates look-alike geek who's idea of an awesome vacation is to hack into a DRM, has to slip and slide between paragraphs of law to reverse engineer it with the sole interest in breaking up the harmony Apple's got going between the store and the iPod.
I won't deny that Apple's setup forces customers to buy iPods and use the iTunes music store. THAT'S THE POINT BEHIND IT! Helloooo! Besides, both the store and the iPod are awesome. If they sucked, they wouldn't have the market share they do. If someone doesn't like Apple's setup, they should buy/rip CD's or buy MP3's from a different store and load them into a different brand's player. What's that? They can't because the other players suck? They should wait for the Zune. Then when they get the "Urge", they can buy a crappier, more limited version of the song from MS and put it on their knock off iPod Zune player and wander around looking for someone... *anyone*... else who has one so they can share it wirelessly with them up to three times.
Sheesh
Microsoft will make the movement of media between Windows, Soapbox and the Zune natural and seamless.
I've been in this industry for over a decade and a half. I've never seen Microsoft do anything seamless. Ever. The only thing Microsoft does seamlessly is make one bad knockoff after another. If I hear Bill Gates whine about not being allowed to innovate one more time I'm going to puke straight up. Go ahead Bill! Innovate! Produce something original with the billions of dollars you spend in R&D each year.
The Zune interface is just like a miniature version of the Windows Media Center user interface and is very similar to some elements of Vista.
So it will be cluttered with badly made skins and won't allow me to smoothly fast search through my media? I can't WAIT!
There is a market for this device. People who hate Apple's smugness and are willing to use sub-standard devices made by anyone else. I know two Apple haters. One has a Creative and the other is salivating for the Zune. Maybe they'll both run into each other one day and can share a song or two.
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I think many of the Microsoft fans out there just have a high tolerance for problems. The other day I was at a friend's house and when he opened his Vista laptop up, it refused to join his wireless network. He said, "Oh that happens all the time. We just have to wait a bit." then he proceeded to futz with it for 10 minutes before we were online surfing. If my Powerbook did that, I'd be PISSED. I stopped "evangelizing" for Apple some time ago. Now I just shake my head in wonder and amazement. I look at it like a competitive advantage! I keep working while the Windows majority is patching, installing drivers, removing ad/spyware, and rebooting (I think I rebooted my Mac at work a month ago).
Last point: I have used both platforms extensively and have formed my opinions in an educated way (for me at least). This is more than I can say for most Windows-using Mac critics. Most have them have never turned a Mac on, nevermind used one for more than an hour... so who's the fan boy?
Seriously though. What pisses me off is we get giant monopolies like Microsoft who thumb their noses at the law and interoperability but when Apple gets a good thing going, some Bill Gates look-alike geek who's idea of an awesome vacation is to hack into a DRM, has to slip and slide between paragraphs of law to reverse engineer it with the sole interest in breaking up the harmony Apple's got going between the store and the iPod.
... else who has one so they can share it wirelessly with them up to three times.
Sheesh
I won't deny that Apple's setup forces customers to buy iPods and use the iTunes music store. THAT'S THE POINT BEHIND IT! Helloooo! Besides, both the store and the iPod are awesome. If they sucked, they wouldn't have the market share they do. If someone doesn't like Apple's setup, they should buy/rip CD's or buy MP3's from a different store and load them into a different brand's player. What's that? They can't because the other players suck? They should wait for the Zune. Then when they get the "Urge", they can buy a crappier, more limited version of the song from MS and put it on their knock off iPod Zune player and wander around looking for someone... *anyone*
There is a market for this device. People who hate Apple's smugness and are willing to use sub-standard devices made by anyone else. I know two Apple haters. One has a Creative and the other is salivating for the Zune. Maybe they'll both run into each other one day and can share a song or two.