Re: PC vs Mac

On Tue, 03 Oct 2006 06:26:44 GMT, Sean wrote:

On 2006-10-02 10:22:17 -0700, Phil Yff <phil.yff@xxxxxxxxxxxx> said:

That's the Apple approach. It is both a strength (as you've alluded
to) and a weakness. The more proprietary Apple approach also
discourages outside developers and makes it harder to integrate outside
offerings in a coherent and cohesive fashion. I have both a PC and a
Mac. I wish my PC was as secure and user friendly as my Mac. I wish
my Mac had the same range and depth of software as my PC. The insular
approach Apple is taking is really hurting it. It used to be that the
Apple was an order of magnitude better than the PC when it came to
desktop publishing, film editing, and other mutli-media applications.
Today, Apple is lagging behind the PC because it is unable to attract
the developers. Since you buy a computer for its software, I am afraid
that my elegant Mac is fast becoming a dinosaur.

Phil Yff

Really? I'm not trying to get a religious argument going, but Adobe's
desktop publishing stuff works very nicely on a Mac. (InDesign,
Illustrator, PhotoShop, etc.), and MOTU's Digital Performer, strictly a
Mac application, is an insanely great DAW that is being developed
faster than I can keep up with. These are applications I use on a
pretty much daily basis and my Mac doth work famously with them.

Since I'm committed to supporting both Macs and PCs, I'd like to see them
both excel. I was a great advocate of the Apple Lisa. It didn't do that
well in terms of marketing, but it was the first affordable machine to
provide a graphical user interface and an operating environment that took
care of the common services between applications. It paved the way for the
Macintosh. The hardware of the Macintosh, when it first came out, was
tailor made for multi-media use. Whether you wanted to do film editing or
desktop publishing, the Mac was the way to go. However, it seems that now
that the PCs hardware is capable of supporting multi-media apps that
developers are devoting less energy to the Mac. The Adobe products you
refer to are a case in point. The PC versions provide more capability than
the Mac versions.

I attribute this trend to Apple's insular approach. They are more
interested in imposing a proprietary approach on development than they are
in attracting developers. They are spending a lot of energy on TV
commercials. Although the commercials correctly point out that Macs are
more stable, secure, and have better plug and play capabilities; they are
missing the point. It's all about software. I wish Apple would stop
spending the money on commercials and instead use the money to incentivize
developers. Apple has always relied on word of mouth advertising. If they
improve their third party software offerings, they'll sell more Macs.

This is not Apple bashing. The PC environment has its flaws, too,
especially in the area of security. However, I'm more concerned about the
Mac right now. I'm afraid it will fade away like Beta gave way to VHS.
The Macintosh will remain viable only if it can retain its user base and
you can't retain a user base without software apps.

I'd like to end on a positive note. My criticisms of PCs and Macs are far
outweighed by my appreciation of the contributions they have made at home
and at work. To get back on topic of language, computers (Macs, PCs, and
other platforms) provide invaluable multi-lingual assistance and are
helping the world communicate.

Phil Yff
.

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