[OT] Cringely on BootCamp's future

Chipp Walters chipp at chipp.com
Wed Apr 19 01:16:19 EDT 2006


Hi Todd,

Todd Higgins wrote:
> While you would just use it to run Revolution, for people who buy it to 
> do general purpose computing the software included is quite a deal.  Not 
> just the OS, but all of the creative apps, Front Row w/ the IR remote etc.

The computer I would get from CompUSA for less $$$ would have a faster
processor, more memory, and Windows Media (and remote). There are open
source or free versions of the other programs included. I can freely get
iTunes on my PC (I have it), and most companies ship some sort of lame-o
photo/movie editing package as well.

Of course, it really is personal preference, but I don't think anyone
can really argue price point on Macs. Now, iPods is a totally different
thing and I do think they are quite competitively priced.

That said, iLife is OK. I've tried it and it's obviously very good for
new computer users, (esp iPhoto), but Apple doesn't compete well feature
for feature against other programs. I purchased the iWork suite when it
came out and I have to say I was underwhelmed. I was even more surprised
when it couldn't render brochure designs to html as promised on the
package. I do think we've come to expect extraordinary things from
Apple, and when they don't deliver, we're quick to disappoint. Though I
haven't used it, I've heard GarageBand is very nice.

I remember the good old Mac days with products like More, Claris CAD,
Claris Impact, none of which have been equalled by *anything* since, for
ease-of-use and value proposition. I'm sure MS is to blame for a lot of
it. Heck, I really LIKED MacWrite! It was so easy to use and made so
much sense from a UI point of view.

One point not mentioned about the new BootCamp dual boot option: I
wonder how much Adobe's decision not to port Photoshop to Universal
binary for 18 months has affected Apple? I mean, if a majority of Mac
users use their Macs to do Photo editing and Graphic work w/Photoshop,
then that's got to be really bad news for them. Perhaps releasing
BootCamp helps convince those users to go ahead and upgrade to Intel
Macs and just buy a Windows version of Photoshop (expensive alternative!)

best,
Chipp





More information about the use-livecode mailing list