I know I'm going to sound like a totally insensitive capitalist pig, but I'm been a programmer for years and my experience is there are lots of challenging well-paying jobs for good, enthusiastic, productive programmers.
Every once in a while someone in a group mentions the idea of unions and -- no joke -- it's *always* the laziest, whiniest, least productive member of the group that brings up the idea.
Again, the complaints that you raise seem fairly minor and trivial, and would only really bother people that have been using Windows for a long time. Apple is not really targeting the hardcore Windows market, as far as I can tell. They are trying to target those people who do not have a great deal of computer experience, like the archtypal grandmother, or the computer illiterate English major. These people are not really going to care that the keyboard shortcuts are different (how many of them even know that there are keyboard shortcuts?) or that there is no Start Menu.
With respect, you have it completely backwards.
I am the power user and I don't care about learning new keystrokes. I will use the application folder and not care about the start menu.
It is the people who do not have a lot of computer experiene, the casual or novice user, who only know start menus and windows-style keystrokes -- these people are not looking to learn new things, they want to just be able to use the machine out of the box. Like you said, Apple is trying to appeal to those very people, and in order to appeal to them Apple should provide them a system that won't cause them to get frustrated by the little Mac-isms.
It is the hardcore Apple users who insist that the Apple way is the right way and that new users should learn the Apple way. THIS is Apple's downfall in their switch campaign.
I'll let others flame you about the start menu and shortcut keys (If you want MacOS to behave exactly like Windows, why not just use Windows?) but:
Mac OS is great because it's looks better and feels better than Windows. Just like a Mercedes is better than an Chevy. But send a Chevy driver on a test drive in a Mercedes that has a joystick instead of a steering wheel, and a the gas and brake pedals reversed, and it will not be a happy test drive.
If Apple wants Windows users to switch, they have to stop sticking to their guns on the "Apple way" of doing things -- Command-C instead of Ctrl-C is a perfect example -- and at least offer new users the option of choosing Windows-style key combinations. It's a simple matter of appealing to the pre-conditioned users they want to sell to.
As for the start menu -- Apple did user-switching better than Windows, Apple could do a Start Menu better than windows -- I would *love* for Apple to make a better "start menu" than sits as the left-most Dock icon, or maybe a Dashboard widget. Just because it's in Windows doesn't mean it isn't useful -- and it shouldn't be hard for those Apple geniuses to do it one better.
a) Right-clicking should work the same as ctrl-clicking.
Not always. I right-click on stuff all the time, but don't get the pop-up -- have to ctrl-click. Don't have an example cause I'm not in front of my Mac right now, but there's definate inconsistencies there.
b) MacOS doesn't have "windows-style "uninstall" functionality" because uninstalling is trivial.
Whhoooww! Hold on there chief. It most certainly is NOT! I installed Parallel and Adobe Creative Suite CS 2 on my new Mac, and unintalling was a nightmare! I had to run UNIX commands and hunt down configuration files all over the place to clean that stuff on my Mac.
Many non-trivial applications install system stuff and create directories all over the place. Real "uninstall" support would provide a wizard/assistant that would remove those things for you. Mac software is *surprisely* deficient in this respect.
I'm a recent Mac switcher, *love* my new iMac. These ads are funny, but Apple should be honest.
This "restart" ad is false advertising -- Windows XP is an extremely stable platform (unless Apple is referring to people who are still using Windows 98 and Windows ME -- but I don't think so).
The entire campaign smacks of Apple's vintage "lemmings" ad which didn't work because it offended their IBM using audience. This new campaign is flat out calling PC users fat dorks. The potential switcher I know are tech savvy cool users, and could potentially be offended by this portrayal.
Apple should spend more time making it easier to switch -- like including a "start menu" equivalent, using the defacto standard "ctrl-c & ctrl-v" type shortcut keys, better windows-style support for right-click instead of always having to use ctrl-click to get a pop-up menu, real windows-style "uninstall" functionality.
I love my Mac, but getting my wife comfortable with the little Mac-isms was like giving her a new car that had the gas and brake pedals backwards.
Drop the contempt for your audience, Apple, and make your computer a more seamless experience for potential switchers.
Just because "Teenage Exorcist" is waiting in my mailbox when I get home doesn't mean that I'm going to feel like watching it tonite.
I think you're doing it wrong. "Netflixers" I know do it like this -- get the DVD in the mail, copy it to your PC with something like DVDShrink, send the DVD back right away so you get the next item in your queue sooner.
Then later when you feel like watching the movie, burn it to a DVD+/-RW, watch it, then delete the file off your computer.
This may be walking the tightrope of "fair usage", but that's the reality of how people I know are using this sort of service.
I would like to use an online rental service like Netflix (more specifically, their Canadian equiv. zip.ca) instead of Blockbuster, but I don't want to be locked in with their subscription model.
If they would introduce some kind of pay-as-you-go scheme, that would be ideal. I don't want to pay the monthly fee as in any given month I may only rent one movie -- or none at all.
Slashdoters will probably poo-poo this, but I think it's a good thing.
To me it's obvious that there is some content that is not appropriate for minors, that's why we have ratings on movies PG-13 and R -- video games are no different.
If memory serves, Compaq was able to make non-IBM PC clones because they reverse-engineered the BIOS of the IBM PC. Everything else in an IBM PC were off-the-shelf components. Compaq cracked the BIOS and thus began the attack of the "100% IBM Compatible" clones of the 80s and 90s.
Today the Win32 API is the equivalent of the IBM PC BIOS. Build your own Win32 API and you can run all of the Windows apps. That's what the Wine project is all about.
But building your own fully functional Win32 api is an unimaginably hard undertaking. Does Apple have the resources, time, and inclination to take on such a project?
Turns out digg's revolutionary "let the users pick the top stories" philosophy isn't letting the editors mold the front page content to their liking.
Digg should just be open about it -- I'm fine with the digg editors assign bonus "diggs" to stories they want featured prominently, but at least they should be honest that they're doing it.
I just got a new 2.0 Core Duo iMac and it feels a lot more powerful than my old P4 2.8 GHz Sony PC.
How much RAM in each system? What kind of video card? Shared AGP or dedicated video memory?
Sony PC
CPU: P4 2.4 GHz
RAM: 1.5 Gig DDR 333Mhz
VIDEO: AGP ATI 9600XT 128meg
iMac
CPU: Core Duo 2.0 GHz
RAM: 1.0 Gig
VIDEO: ATI 1600
I was honestly hoping that my new iMac would feel as powerful as my Sony (which was a pretty nice PC) -- it definitely exceeded my expectations and "feels" a lot better.
after years of grumbling about windows, drooling over macs, and making all sort of excuses, i finally opened my wallet and bought a mac. (i have literally been thinking about doing this since the tangerine iMac)
it's the 20" intel iMac. bought it last night and should be here any day.
for the record, it was the support for dual booting OS X and XP that did it for me: (a) i need a windows machine for software development purposes; (b) i had uncertainly about the availability of mac alternatives to some of my most used windows utilities (ex. dvdshrink, nero... call of duty;)
looks like i'm officially a mac guy now -- going to have to put that white apple sticker on my rear bumper -- Yikes!
I'm buying a new laptop and I'm waiting to see what the new MacBook (was iBook) is going to be like.
What I really want is an
If Apple can't deliver in the next few weeks I'm going to have to get a Dell and (once again) Apple misses me on my "every-two-years" buying cycle.
boxlight
I don't go to the theatre -- but I might see this
on
LOTR Jumps the Shark
·
· Score: 1
I live in Ottawa and I've never been to the Toronto theatre -- Mama Mia, Lion King, Phantom -- never saw any of it.
*This* on the other hand, sounds kinda cool. I might go some weekend soon.
All my years in high school, university, and as a computer programmer I've been hearing nerds shouting back with "42" whenever the opportunity presents itself.
"Can I ask you a question?" "42!" <snicker-snicker>
Sigh. How much longer am I going to have to put up with this? It's a moderately amusing punch line from am moderately amusing book from 30 years ago.
I'll probably get modded down for this because I know Linux users don't like to hear this -- but Windows XP is a pretty good product.
It rarely needs rebooting, it lets even computer illiterate users be surprisingly productive, and it really doesn't cost very much. In fact, it effectively comes "for free" with a $500 Dell desktop PC.
For a Linux desktop to be preferred over Windows, the Linux desktop experience will have to provide something new and innovative that Windows does not, rather than just knocking off Windows features.
Hackers like me and you like Linux for many reasons -- but none of those reasons are particularly interesting to Joe Office Manager or Mom and Pop User.
Get innovative, people -- invent something new and useful that Windows *doesn't* have, and then they will come.
I'm 36, and been programming professionally for 10 years, been part of 2 failed start-ups and 2 corporate layoffs.
After watching other managers' hits and big misses for 10 years, and learning a lot about computer programming and marketing along the way -- only *now* do i seriously feel i have the chops to take a shot at building a successful product. But will I do it?
That's where the youthful enthusiasm comes in. Youthful enthusiasm and being under 30 is great because you don't have a wife and a mortgage payment yet. Like Steve Jobs said, "stay hungry and stay foolish". You have to be pretty "foolish" to leave a great paying programming job to take a shot on the next "digg.com" -- try telling that to you wife -- "but honey, when i get 50,000 visitors a day, *then* i'll figure out how to pay the mortgage".
For every Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who made it big under 30, there's a thousand guys who failed a dozen times.
More power to you, entrepeneurs -- I may join you one day. Just have to get a little more foolish first.
I'm thinking about getting a new computer -- and Mac Mini is top of my list. But I'm concerned about the hard drive space and the integrated intel view.
The iMac is much more the machine I'd like, but I'm looking for something I can move later to my rec room -- don't want the integrated monitor.
Why can't Apple put out a machine with iMac capabilities in a small cool case -- like the Mac Mini but a little bigger -- I don't want to be confined to small laptop-sized hard drives.
Slashdot Mirror
I don't see why this is a big deal. Average desktop users should not have admin rights -- no?
boxlight
I know I'm going to sound like a totally insensitive capitalist pig, but I'm been a programmer for years and my experience is there are lots of challenging well-paying jobs for good, enthusiastic, productive programmers.
Every once in a while someone in a group mentions the idea of unions and -- no joke -- it's *always* the laziest, whiniest, least productive member of the group that brings up the idea.
So I vote no.
boxlight
Again, the complaints that you raise seem fairly minor and trivial, and would only really bother people that have been using Windows for a long time. Apple is not really targeting the hardcore Windows market, as far as I can tell. They are trying to target those people who do not have a great deal of computer experience, like the archtypal grandmother, or the computer illiterate English major. These people are not really going to care that the keyboard shortcuts are different (how many of them even know that there are keyboard shortcuts?) or that there is no Start Menu.
With respect, you have it completely backwards.
I am the power user and I don't care about learning new keystrokes. I will use the application folder and not care about the start menu.
It is the people who do not have a lot of computer experiene, the casual or novice user, who only know start menus and windows-style keystrokes -- these people are not looking to learn new things, they want to just be able to use the machine out of the box. Like you said, Apple is trying to appeal to those very people, and in order to appeal to them Apple should provide them a system that won't cause them to get frustrated by the little Mac-isms.
It is the hardcore Apple users who insist that the Apple way is the right way and that new users should learn the Apple way. THIS is Apple's downfall in their switch campaign.
boxlight
I'll let others flame you about the start menu and shortcut keys (If you want MacOS to behave exactly like Windows, why not just use Windows?) but:
Mac OS is great because it's looks better and feels better than Windows. Just like a Mercedes is better than an Chevy. But send a Chevy driver on a test drive in a Mercedes that has a joystick instead of a steering wheel, and a the gas and brake pedals reversed, and it will not be a happy test drive.
If Apple wants Windows users to switch, they have to stop sticking to their guns on the "Apple way" of doing things -- Command-C instead of Ctrl-C is a perfect example -- and at least offer new users the option of choosing Windows-style key combinations. It's a simple matter of appealing to the pre-conditioned users they want to sell to.
As for the start menu -- Apple did user-switching better than Windows, Apple could do a Start Menu better than windows -- I would *love* for Apple to make a better "start menu" than sits as the left-most Dock icon, or maybe a Dashboard widget. Just because it's in Windows doesn't mean it isn't useful -- and it shouldn't be hard for those Apple geniuses to do it one better.
a) Right-clicking should work the same as ctrl-clicking.
Not always. I right-click on stuff all the time, but don't get the pop-up -- have to ctrl-click. Don't have an example cause I'm not in front of my Mac right now, but there's definate inconsistencies there.
b) MacOS doesn't have "windows-style "uninstall" functionality" because uninstalling is trivial.
Whhoooww! Hold on there chief. It most certainly is NOT! I installed Parallel and Adobe Creative Suite CS 2 on my new Mac, and unintalling was a nightmare! I had to run UNIX commands and hunt down configuration files all over the place to clean that stuff on my Mac.
Many non-trivial applications install system stuff and create directories all over the place. Real "uninstall" support would provide a wizard/assistant that would remove those things for you. Mac software is *surprisely* deficient in this respect.
Still love my Mac,
boxlight
I'm a recent Mac switcher, *love* my new iMac. These ads are funny, but Apple should be honest.
This "restart" ad is false advertising -- Windows XP is an extremely stable platform (unless Apple is referring to people who are still using Windows 98 and Windows ME -- but I don't think so).
The entire campaign smacks of Apple's vintage "lemmings" ad which didn't work because it offended their IBM using audience. This new campaign is flat out calling PC users fat dorks. The potential switcher I know are tech savvy cool users, and could potentially be offended by this portrayal.
Apple should spend more time making it easier to switch -- like including a "start menu" equivalent, using the defacto standard "ctrl-c & ctrl-v" type shortcut keys, better windows-style support for right-click instead of always having to use ctrl-click to get a pop-up menu, real windows-style "uninstall" functionality.
I love my Mac, but getting my wife comfortable with the little Mac-isms was like giving her a new car that had the gas and brake pedals backwards.
Drop the contempt for your audience, Apple, and make your computer a more seamless experience for potential switchers.
boxlight
Just because "Teenage Exorcist" is waiting in my mailbox when I get home doesn't mean that I'm going to feel like watching it tonite.
I think you're doing it wrong. "Netflixers" I know do it like this -- get the DVD in the mail, copy it to your PC with something like DVDShrink, send the DVD back right away so you get the next item in your queue sooner.
Then later when you feel like watching the movie, burn it to a DVD+/-RW, watch it, then delete the file off your computer.
This may be walking the tightrope of "fair usage", but that's the reality of how people I know are using this sort of service.
boxlight
I would like to use an online rental service like Netflix (more specifically, their Canadian equiv. zip.ca) instead of Blockbuster, but I don't want to be locked in with their subscription model.
If they would introduce some kind of pay-as-you-go scheme, that would be ideal. I don't want to pay the monthly fee as in any given month I may only rent one movie -- or none at all.
boxlight
Anti-competative! Predatory! Monopoly!
Don't worry, once Leopard comes out with Apple's own implementation of the Win32 API, no one will need Windows ever again.
Mmmuh-hahaha!
Slashdoters will probably poo-poo this, but I think it's a good thing.
To me it's obvious that there is some content that is not appropriate for minors, that's why we have ratings on movies PG-13 and R -- video games are no different.
boxlight
If memory serves, Compaq was able to make non-IBM PC clones because they reverse-engineered the BIOS of the IBM PC. Everything else in an IBM PC were off-the-shelf components. Compaq cracked the BIOS and thus began the attack of the "100% IBM Compatible" clones of the 80s and 90s.
Today the Win32 API is the equivalent of the IBM PC BIOS. Build your own Win32 API and you can run all of the Windows apps. That's what the Wine project is all about.
But building your own fully functional Win32 api is an unimaginably hard undertaking. Does Apple have the resources, time, and inclination to take on such a project?
boxlight
Ha! Slashdot jumped on this story quickly! ;-)
Turns out digg's revolutionary "let the users pick the top stories" philosophy isn't letting the editors mold the front page content to their liking.
Digg should just be open about it -- I'm fine with the digg editors assign bonus "diggs" to stories they want featured prominently, but at least they should be honest that they're doing it.
boxlight
I just got a new 2.0 Core Duo iMac and it feels a lot more powerful than my old P4 2.8 GHz Sony PC.
How much RAM in each system? What kind of video card? Shared AGP or dedicated video memory?
Sony PC
CPU: P4 2.4 GHz
RAM: 1.5 Gig DDR 333Mhz
VIDEO: AGP ATI 9600XT 128meg
iMac
CPU: Core Duo 2.0 GHz
RAM: 1.0 Gig
VIDEO: ATI 1600
I was honestly hoping that my new iMac would feel as powerful as my Sony (which was a pretty nice PC) -- it definitely exceeded my expectations and "feels" a lot better.
Hope this helps,
boxlight
I just got a new 2.0 Core Duo iMac and it feels a lot more powerful than my old P4 2.8 GHz Sony PC.
I know it's subjective, and I'm now running OS X instead of Windows, but still -- I definately *feels* more powerful.
boxlight
Maybe it's about time we stopped conforming to top level domains?
.com, .us, .ca, or dot anything?
If I want a web site, why can't it be www.boxlight -- or www.boxlight.this.is.cool -- why does it have to end in
boxlight
Cool news that I have the best job in America. Maybe I won't quit and open a computer store afterall. :-)
boxlight
Boot Camp will do little to coax Windows XP users into switching to Mac OS X
Not true. I need a Windows machine for some software development, but I want OS X the rest of the time. And I don't want two computers on my desk.
The day they announced Bootcamp, I bought a new 20" iMac.
boxlight
ok -- i did it.
... call of duty ;)
after years of grumbling about windows, drooling over macs, and making all sort of excuses, i finally opened my wallet and bought a mac. (i have literally been thinking about doing this since the tangerine iMac)
it's the 20" intel iMac. bought it last night and should be here any day.
for the record, it was the support for dual booting OS X and XP that did it for me: (a) i need a windows machine for software development purposes; (b) i had uncertainly about the availability of mac alternatives to some of my most used windows utilities (ex. dvdshrink, nero
looks like i'm officially a mac guy now -- going to have to put that white apple sticker on my rear bumper -- Yikes!
boxlight
That is, what I really want is a $1200 14" widescreen 1.66 GHz Core Cuo, 1 gig ram, 100 G HD. Dell can deliver this -- will Apple?
If Apple can't deliver in the next few weeks I'm going to have to get a Dell and (once again) Apple misses me on my "every-two-years" buying cycle.
boxlight
I'm buying a new laptop and I'm waiting to see what the new MacBook (was iBook) is going to be like.
What I really want is an
If Apple can't deliver in the next few weeks I'm going to have to get a Dell and (once again) Apple misses me on my "every-two-years" buying cycle.
boxlight
I live in Ottawa and I've never been to the Toronto theatre -- Mama Mia, Lion King, Phantom -- never saw any of it.
*This* on the other hand, sounds kinda cool. I might go some weekend soon.
boxlight
All my years in high school, university, and as a computer programmer I've been hearing nerds shouting back with "42" whenever the opportunity presents itself.
"Can I ask you a question?" "42!" <snicker-snicker>
Sigh. How much longer am I going to have to put up with this? It's a moderately amusing punch line from am moderately amusing book from 30 years ago.
Please stop now. Honestly.
boxlight
I'll probably get modded down for this because I know Linux users don't like to hear this -- but Windows XP is a pretty good product.
It rarely needs rebooting, it lets even computer illiterate users be surprisingly productive, and it really doesn't cost very much. In fact, it effectively comes "for free" with a $500 Dell desktop PC.
For a Linux desktop to be preferred over Windows, the Linux desktop experience will have to provide something new and innovative that Windows does not, rather than just knocking off Windows features.
Hackers like me and you like Linux for many reasons -- but none of those reasons are particularly interesting to Joe Office Manager or Mom and Pop User.
Get innovative, people -- invent something new and useful that Windows *doesn't* have, and then they will come.
boxlight
I'm 36, and been programming professionally for 10 years, been part of 2 failed start-ups and 2 corporate layoffs.
After watching other managers' hits and big misses for 10 years, and learning a lot about computer programming and marketing along the way -- only *now* do i seriously feel i have the chops to take a shot at building a successful product. But will I do it?
That's where the youthful enthusiasm comes in. Youthful enthusiasm and being under 30 is great because you don't have a wife and a mortgage payment yet. Like Steve Jobs said, "stay hungry and stay foolish". You have to be pretty "foolish" to leave a great paying programming job to take a shot on the next "digg.com" -- try telling that to you wife -- "but honey, when i get 50,000 visitors a day, *then* i'll figure out how to pay the mortgage".
For every Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who made it big under 30, there's a thousand guys who failed a dozen times.
More power to you, entrepeneurs -- I may join you one day. Just have to get a little more foolish first.
boxlight
I'm thinking about getting a new computer -- and Mac Mini is top of my list. But I'm concerned about the hard drive space and the integrated intel view.
The iMac is much more the machine I'd like, but I'm looking for something I can move later to my rec room -- don't want the integrated monitor.
Why can't Apple put out a machine with iMac capabilities in a small cool case -- like the Mac Mini but a little bigger -- I don't want to be confined to small laptop-sized hard drives.
boxlight
"Java Virtualization for Server Consolidation"
These are english words, but I have no idea what they mean. Does it have anything to do with "customer-centric e-solutions in web-time"?