Flip3D is a “productivity addition” in Microsoft’s forever forthcoming Windows Vista. “The biggest influence is clearly that of Exposé on the Mac – a utility attempting to help the user stay organized by seeing every open window at once – but Microsoft has gone in an entirely different direction in how they are presenting everything,” Ryan Smith reports for AnandTech.
Smith writes, “Activated via Win+Tab, Flip3D works like a rolodex of windows, with a mouse wheel (or repeated pressing of the TAB key) allowing the user to flip through the windows until they find the one they’re looking for. However, this is one major case where we wish Microsoft would have just completely copied Apple, rather than trying to create their own implementation.”
“Flip3D in its current incarnation is not at all a useful productivity tool because the rolodex design means that it can’t really show everything at once like Exposé can. Having to wheel through things further hinders its effectiveness, as it’s not as smooth an operation as simply using the mouse to select the desired window. For all you true nerds and geeks out there, Flip3D is an O(n) operation where Exposé is O(1),” Smith writes.
“Lastly, for such a great emphasis on eye-candy in Aero, the rotated view of the windows is poorly thought out; by rotating the windows it creates aliasing which in spite of the power of modern video cards is not being removed. The artifacting around the window borders and the illegibility of the text simply make Flip3D ugly to look at and ugly to use. In this case, Microsoft simply would have been better off not implementing Flip3D than using this. We like Exposé, and a version of it in Windows would be very nice, but Flip3D is a second-rate copy at best, and ultimately does not function nearly enough like Exposé to be useful,” Smith writes.
“Even with the massive improvements Microsoft has shown with Vista, we still feel they aren’t quite ready to beat Tiger in a fight. Tiger still offers a more refined experience that doesn’t come with nearly as many quirks as Vista does (beta quirks or otherwise), and there’s a great deal of functionality that Tiger has that isn’t replicated by Vista at all, such as drag and drop application installation or a Unix shell. Ultimately switchers are going to find that Vista is similar to Tiger, but it’s not enough to surpass Tiger and cause them to switch back,” Smith writes. “And then there’s Leopard…”
Full article here.
Watch a QuickTime video from Apple of Exposé in action: http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/expose.html
MacDailyNews Take: We’d be surprised if Microsoft didn’t botch a copy job of yet another Mac OS X feature. See, when Microsoft copies, they can’t steal it outright or they’ll run into legal issues. This is why Windows is an upside-down and backwards Mac UI instead of a direct copy (Microsoft’s users pay for the lack of innovation every time). Since Apple did it first and they focus so intently on the user experience, they spent a lot of time thinking about the best way to implement it, so the copy, in order not to be a direct copy, has to be bastardized and diminished in some way by definition. Because this is Microsoft’s modus operandi, they are predictably consistent at bastardizing and diminishing Apple’s innovations in Windows. F9
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I saw a demo of flip3D several months ago and thought exactly the same thing. Seeing all the windows at once is exactly why expose is such a good tool. As for flip3D, guess it was made by tools instead
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
I wouldn’t call it a botch job.
Having used Visat Beta 2 myself (and being relaly impressed), I would say that Flip 3D is pretty cool, and (for me) more intuitive than Expose
Here’s a video of it in action
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6219108055179715875
“Flip3D ugly”
Wouldn’t that make it “flugly”?
Won’t be noticed by your average PC user – “You have to remember, these people had never seen fire before”.
When they first announced this I couldn’t figure out how it could be of any real use. Since you can only view one window at a time it’s effectively like clicking through all the windows on your taskbar one at a time anyway, maybe marginally quicker. That said, I can imagine instances where it’s slower.
PS. Sorry for all they typos…
Billy, you’re correct with your demos: 3-4 windows open. However, I sometimes have dozens if not more windows open (you should see what it looks like when I invoke expose!). In that instance it would be REALLY slow to scroll through each window one at a time. That’s the situation where expose would kick the snot out of flip3D.
Thanks for the video Billy but I can’t see everything at once, I am using an external monitor for my 3 year old powerbook in dual screen mode and expose spreads all the windows evenly to both screens.
Vista is lacking.
Billy:
Gee, nice video. Love that shaky quality. It’s oh so Cinema Verité.
Wow 2 windows. THAT’S an impressive show. I’d like to see how it does with 15 or 20 windows and 4 or 5 applications… what it’s like working in the real world.
Exposé not only shows you ALL open windows, but identifies them when you move the cursor over them. Flip3D doesn’t come close. It doesn’t even identify what the window is.
Besides, OS X has a similar feature TODAY… You can toggle through open windows in the active application (usually) by using Command-`. So, essentially, Mac OS X has BOTH Exposé and a simpler iteration of Flip 3D.
MDN magic Word: LEAVE it to Microsoft to kludge-ify something simple and elegant.
Billy,
I don’t know what’s uglier, that video or windows vista. Man, having to scroll through all those windows is anything but intuitive. If you like using the keyboard instead of the mouse expose can do that with the arrows and return.
Just my two cents
I concede that Flip 3D is going to get pretty messy when you use many windows.. but it’s still quite usable.
The point being that it’s not as shite as some people here would like to make out.
Clearly, Apple have the better solution, overall, but Microsoft’s is certainly the kind of thing you would expect Apple to come out with.
I’m just trying to be balanced in my assesment.
And then there’s leopard . . . .
I love it!
As in, “That’s the tech that’s been here a year so what are they going to do when the new cat comes to town”
If your going to plagiarize, to it right, and do it fast!
Apple NEVER copsies Microsoft huh?
Well, I’ve got three words for you all.
FAST USER SWITCHING
Honestly, it’s no surprise that Microsoft copies anyone who does something successful. They’ve been doing it for years.
However, Apple’s not without fault: Apple’s Dashboard was obviously, er… “inspired” by Konfabulator (now Yahoo Widget Engine). However, it was a realtively weak rip-off initially, in my opinion.
Hmmm… I wonder why Smith failed to mention that…
:~)
For us multiple monitor users – just how would 3-D Flip work in that instance. Expose works great, I can’t imaging windows flipping on different monitors at the same time. Confusing?
Maybe MicroThought doesn’t know what good taste in a UI is.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
Fast User Switching:
Apple took what existed before (in UNIX first, not Windows, BTW) and made it better:
http://www.apple.com/macosx/theater/fastuserswitching.html
What do you call Steve Ballmer and Rob Glaser when they finally dump Windows and move to Mac OS X?
Fat Users Switching.
Quote DW, “….Apple’s Dashboard was obviously, er… “inspired” by Konfabulator…..”
Rubbish. The idea was around with Desk Accesories in Apple’s System 6, which is some 15 years ago.
Tacitus
Drunk Cheney
I actullay use flip 3D on a dual monitor setup.
What happens is that the wondows all move to the flip-3d layout on the main monitor.
Monitor 1 has the flip-3d windows in centre
Monitor 2 displays the desktop
MDN Word “Eye”, as in, it’s all eye candy anyway
My problem with Exposé is that it only works with currently visible windows and not the hidden ones.
Is anyone else out there a hider like me? I can’t stand seeing windows that are not in use or that I’m not about to drag & drop from. I am constantly using command-H to hide an application which I’m done with for the moment, or also the “Hide Others” command which I have globally remapped to the F1 key because I use it all the time. I sometimes switch to another application by holding down the option key before clicking on the application’s dock icon; this also has the effect of hiding your former application while switching to another.
Thus, the dock, command-tab, and command-` (cycle through an application’s windows/documents) are my most useful forms of navigation. Apple should include an option to make Exposé activate all hidden windows, or am I missing something and it’s possible now? I’ve tried it with a hot corner (set literally as “All Windows” even though that’s not entirely true) and F9 through F11.
MW: see. I don’t “see” all my windows through Exposé.
What do you call Steve Ballmer and Rob Glaser when you wire them up to a 10,000 volt power cable…
Fat Users Twitching.
“more intuitive than Expose”
How can something be more intuitive than a feature that just presents everything to you to choose from? This sounds like MS apologists at work to me.
It’s akin to saying “well all those viruses on Windows are an advantage because it makes people learn to install and uninstall their software more”
Billy,
The point has been made by EVERY post, but yours – Flip3D IS as SHITE as it appears. And it is NOT the kind of thing Apple would come out with – they came out with Expose.
DW,
Using good ideas that others create is important in this industry. Apple does it all the time. For example, mighty mouse right clicks, apple trackpads are scrollable, Mac OSX has a dock (which resembles the start menu), just to name a few. But Apple uses ideas sparingly, tastefully and always improves on them.
Microsofts problem is that nearly their entire OS is copied, and they do it in a poor fashion.
“FAST USER SWITCHING”
That same little feature is far overused for
citing an example. Quit regugitating the same
crap. Fast User Switching vs. 1001 other things
that MS copied. Get over it.
Bad spelling on previous post. BTW I totally
agree w/ face. Ya’ do what ya’ gotta do, just do
it with class. Expose’ appears to be much faster
and more useful to me. Seeing all of the windows
at once is the whole point.
A Hider: try Desktop Manager. One thing I love about Linux (about the only thing!) is the virtual desktops, and desktop manager does that on the Mac. I put email on a page, safari on one, iTunes on one, Word on one, Maya on one, and have an extra couple for whatever else I’m working on.
No more need to hide, and each desktop is nice and clean.
Why this isn’t in the OS already, I have no idea. It’s a great tool!
Hi A Hider,
Try Witch http://www.petermaurer.de/nasi.php?section=witch
It will let you go to any window you want, whether it’s hidden, minimized, whatever. It’s Command-Tab alternative, but way better.
Apple NEVER copsies Microsoft huh? FAST USER SWITCHING
Actually Apple had this first with a little known utility they put out as a test back in the early days of the Mac interface. The problem was RAM was limited and expensive at those times to hold two user accounts in memory at the same time.
In fact Apple Mac II’s had the ability to place 6-7 other “Macs” inside the first using daughtercards. Each Mac was represented on the first on with it’s own window, and switching between any of them, and each user account on them, was as easily as clicking a window.
Of course this was long before Windows even appeared, so there is no way Microsoft can claim they had Fast User Swtiching first.
Apple had Desk Accessories (aka widgets, gadgets) first as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desk_Accessory
Microsoft copied fast user switching from main frames. Apple had something similar a long time ago.
Good to see it on vid.
Windows version is nothing more than a more complicated version of alt-tab. they’re trying to make it funky but its just adding complexity. I would end up just turning it off in favour of alt-tab.
On the other hand expose is lateral and innovative.
Typical microsplat.
Can’t wait to see how they patch the new security vulnerabilities it will undoubtedly bring.
And I’m just trying to be balanced in my assessment: it’s exactly as shite as some people here would like to make out, in fact, worse.
“…Microsoft’s is certainly the kind of thing you would expect Apple to come out with.” is an utterly laughable statement.
1. The 3D tilt adds nothing for usability but distorts the picture needlessly. Apple’s eye candy doesn’t interfere with the usability. Genie effect distorts between the user recognizing the window and minimizing it. Microsoft hamfistedly pulls you into this arbitrarily slanted pseudo 3D effect while the user is searching for windows and you gain nothing.
2. Exposé lets you see the entire contents of the window as well as their relative sizes. Flip3D just shows you the top left or sometimes just the left of the back windows Since most websites are “hockey stick” designs, only the non-changing portion of a website will be visible; the unique parts will always be totally obscured! DONKEYS! Try opening up 10 CNN or MDN articles and see if Flip 3D doesn’t show 9 identical windows behind the frontmost one! They show top and left: EXACTLY the part that never changes and is the least uniquely identifiable part of a website.
Oh, here, I’ll hand you beleaguered Microsoft apologists an excuse for you: “But, if you are using multiple websites, you will just use tabs anyway.” BALLS. Even if you are in a Photoshop document you might have the majority of your changes or identifying differences be near the center of the window: In Exposé you see all the windows side by side with no arbitrarily applied 3D tilt. USABLE.
Microsoft couldn’t have done a worse job if they tried.
My mistake, one could put only 5 more “Mac” NuBus daughtercards in the Mac II via the 6 NuBus slots, one had to be a graphics card.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_II
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NuBus
Macromancer
For the record, I am not an MS apologist.
My situation is that I have been a Windows user for 14 years, and this year have come very close to switching to Apple. Last December I fell in love with OS X.
But Vista is making me think otherwise (coupled with the fact that I have invested plenty of money in my self-build PC)
Hence my interest in this website.
My posts on this site are that of a PC owner who is sitting on the fence regarding my next PC. (Probably in 6-12 months)
At the moment, Vista seems to be nice enough for me not to have to buy a new PC (i.e. Mac), and to just upgrade my PC and OS.
However, I am very interested to see if Leopard does something to change my mind.
Ultimately, I am open minded…but (like many potential switchers), switching to a Mac would cost me conversion-time / old-pc-money, so I am trying to balance the cost / benefit.
At the moment, Expose vs Flip 3D isn’t enough to make me switch.
A Hider, do a web search for “mac spirited away”… it’ll take you to an application that you’ll probably really love.
Billy Ash
Steve Jobs is back at the hlem of Apple and he knows how to drive creatives to come up with totally new products and interfaces.
Vista for most will be “just good enough” and nowhere as near as cutting edge as Apple OS will evolve into.
In fact if it wasn’t for Mac OS X making XP look so bad, most Windows users would still be using years from now with very little change.
I doubt there is much room left for innovation in the present interface with computers.
Billy, if you are getting a new PC in 6-12 months anyway, you aren’t losing any money from your investment. Just get a mac and if you need to, run windows on it. Let’s face it, VISTA won’t be out in 6-12 months, so you will be able to use your current copy of XP on your new mac without breaking any copyright laws, or spending extra money on a new OS.
when vista does come out, just bootleg it like the rest of us.
Billy Ash,
If your interest in this website is because you are seriously thinking about trying a Mac, I would suggest reading all the articles but skipping over the MDN Take and the other comments.
There are very few well thought out comments made in these threads, and they are not worth wading through the ignorant, whiny, arrogan, ad hominem-laced, fanboy posts that dominate the discussions.
@ Billy Ash:(coupled with the fact that I have invested plenty of money in my self-build PC)
Aye, there’s the rub…
SJ, I would GLADLY pay $500 for a shrinkwrapped OSX/iLife bundle. Make me use a dongle for security. Any way you want it. I DON’T CARE! I LIKE TO TINKER! IT’S NOT A CRIME!! ARE YOU LISTENING SJ?!?!
Please?
sorry. I get a little worked up.
And what’s with this “angled” look of MS Flip3D? A gimmick to live up to the 3D part of the name?
Please – we have flat windows. Display them flat. Like Expose does.
Sheesh!
do any of you have the tendency to place your windows in the upper left part of the screen? I do. It’s aesthetically pleasing, plus that way they are easy to expand.
Similar to project looking glass by SUN…
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/details.xml
check out the video also
http://www.sun.com/software/looking_glass/demo.xml
Finally! Someone points out the obvious! Flip3D is USELESS because you can’t find the window you’re looking for if you have more than 3-4 windows open.
Whoever thought of this implementation was obvious not interested in actual productivity but to show off a useless tech demo.
And by the way, the same goes for Sun’s Looking Glass project. Similarly flash, but useless in the real world because it really is poorly implemented.
Hey Billy,
Wanna see what Expose is like with over 20 windows open (and 3 movies playing)?
http://idisk.mac.com/wingsy-Public/Expose.mov
It’s 2 megs and it isn’t streamed… so give it a min to d/l.
PC Apologist- face well and truly rubbed in the dirt. An ‘oft repeated point about fast user switching that turns out to be yet another Apple innovation… ho ho ho.
Billy Ash – someone a wee bit sad if he can be ‘convinced’ by what he sees with VISTA so far… Something very odd there, for sure, because VISTA so far is massive wreck with more dropped features than there are programmers looking for jobs in Redmond.
Microsoft Windows will one day be seen to have been a passing phenomena. The whole world will collectively say: “do you remember MS Windows? All the punishment we took? how awful it was?
Apple Mac is the long-term solution.
Wingsy
Fuck yeah!
That’s impressive. I’ve never seen it used like that. I have to admit that it makes Flip 3D look like a child’s toy in comparison.
Particularly as you had some real Honest-to-God applications open.
Flip 3D might be prettier (to my eyes) but Expose seems like it would actually improve my productivity.
What is the spec on your system?
I’m considering that when I do eventually buy, a 20″ IMac with 2GB memory would probably be a baseline target.
Can anyone supply a screenshot with expose on a dual monitor system?
“. . .ignorant, whiny, arrogan, ad hominem-laced, fanboy posts that dominate the discussions.”
Now you’re just trying to spoil the fun. “Ad-hominem laced” – Is that closer to Burato or Point de Gauze?
Macaday
Resorting to insults isn’t going to make your arguments any stronger.
The fact is that there are sensible and intelligent people like (I believe) me, who are actually tempted by Windows Vista.
Microsoft must be doing something right.
If that is true, then you have to ask yourself, how is this Utopian picture that you paint going to come true?
How naive are you Leopard People?
Vista will ship with a total Expose clone, only better because Windows can alt-tab too.
They show off “something else” (Flip 3D SUCKS and they KNOW IT) for now so Apple can’t sue them, but Gates has the REAL Expose waiting for when Vista ships. Then it’s too late, Apple can sue, MS can pay a penalty that they laugh at, but too late, Windows users win–again. We get the best of MS and Apple innovation all rolled into one.
Go ahead, poke fun at the 800 pound gorilla that will be what, 30 days later than Leopard? Big whoopie. Then the gorilla will lay the smack down!!
Microsoft PWNS YOU! I pity you Leopard People once Vista hits.
For Billy Ash –
Thanks for your comments. Nice to see someone NOT flaming around all the time, but trying to bring in some objectivity – now and again.
That said, are you using a Mac now or Windows? You mentioned you are “tempted” by Vista.
All I can say to that is this:
Of very article I have read to date on Vista or Vista vs OS X Tiger, I have not read a single article saying Vista, overall, is as good as Tiger. The GUI, Widgets, Spotlight, or fast user switching, it’s all a fairly obvious attempt to copy what Apple has had out on the streets in Tiger, narrowing in on two years now.
So again, it does a good job exceeding XP (shouldn’t be hard to do), but still falls short of what is on the market today in Tiger. Of course, Leopard will arrive around the time of Vista and then how much further will Vista be behind?…
Lastly, Vista has already initially had virus issues, and uh, why on earth go to that realm over a secure Mac OS X position – that is, if you are on a Mac at present.
If you can answer these questions point by point, directly, I think people will now you are not trolling but really putting out what you feel is an objective argument.
Regards
“Microsoft botches another copy job”
Microsoft. The Kinko’s of the software industry.
Steven
“are you using a Mac now or Windows?”
Windows…. since 1992
“I have not read a single article saying Vista, overall, is as good as Tiger.”
Yes but my problem is that I have a lovely machine that I spent quite alot of money bulding over the years. To improve it in the future, all I need to do is upgrade a component here or there. Now to move to OSX, I need to spend allot more money, just to get an equivelant machine. My though is….is OS X THAT good to basically chuck away a thousand pounds, or can I live with the Windows, and be £1000 richer!
“The GUI, Widgets, Spotlight, or fast user switching, it’s all a fairly obvious attempt to copy what Apple has had out”
I know, but the problem is, that as an end user, I’m not really too fussed as to who came up with it first. I’m not a member of the Steve Jobs Fan club, nor Bill Gates.
“But still falls short of what is on the market today in Tiger.”
But £1000 and all the migration time better? That’s what I have to evaluate.
“Of course, Leopard will arrive around the time of Vista”
Hence, I would not even consider my next move until we all Know what Leapard can do
“Lastly, Vista has already initially had virus issues”
The truth is, as a Windows user for 14 years, I have only had a virus issue twice. (once on windows 3.11, though a floppy, and onmce on XP, whilst visiting some very dodgy websites).
Both times the effect were annoyances (rather than lethal). They were also both times when I had been running my system for months without a firewall or Anti-Virus. I now always use a firewall / anti-virus, and apart from increased startup times, my system runs tickety boo.
“If you can answer these questions point by point, directly, I think people will now you are not trolling but really putting out what you feel is an objective argument.”
I hope I have laid out my honest case!
In conclusion, the dilemma I and millions of Windows users have is as follows.
“To switch to Apple, I have to buy a totally new system, i.e. no upgrading. My current system will then be a waste.”
Thanks to Boot camp… all other reasons have now gone out of the window. It’s now all financial!
John,
No more need to hide, and each desktop is nice and clean.
Why this isn’t in the OS already, I have no idea. It’s a great tool!
How do you drag & drop between desktops? (Not that I really care, think of it from a marketing standpoint.)
One thing Apple DOES need to fix is the application switching! It’s still a UI kludge from MultiFinder. Maybe if there was an option to give each app its own desktop (or at least fake it with an automatic “Hide Others” when switching apps).
FWIW, the demo that Se7en pointed out, originally had a segment showing a ‘parade’ of windows that uncannily reminds me of MS’s ‘innovative’ Flip3D. This video displays a working technology which MS hadn’t yet announced.
[mighty mouse right clicks]
Before anyone gets too excited by MS’s ‘invention’ of the two button mouse, please note that Apple actually patented the one-button mouse — and the two-button mouse had not been. It wasn’t until Win95 when Microsoft STUMBLED upon an actual use for the second button — when ‘right-clicking’ to activate a ‘contextual menu’ that the ‘genius’ of a two-button mouse was revealed.
[Mac OSX has a dock (which resembles the start menu]
Uh, yes. Mac OSX has a dock — which may resemble the 1995 Start menu — which certainly resembles the 1987 NeXT Dock.
Window bloom: you can set it up so the desktops “flip” as you drag to the edge of the screen. I don’t like that myself, so I don’t have it set up that way. And BTW, one of the great things about Desktop Manager is how very configurable it is.
face;
While the Dock may superficially sort of resemble Windows’ start menu, the Dock grew out NeXT’s shelf, which predated the start menu by a few years.
The Dock resembles the start menu in roughly the same way that a whale resembles a shark; they’re not closely related, but since they work in the same environment, they do look somewhat alike.
Personally what I thought was most telling, on the first “The First Look” page is this quote: (Mac usage has shot up immensely since Anand started covering that market, with at least 3 of our editors admitting to their Mac addiction)
Just one look….that’s all it took!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />
Peace.
that Windows Start menu is a rip off of the old Apple menu, which I always hated.
[Uh, yes. Mac OSX has a dock — which may resemble the 1995 Start menu — which certainly resembles the 1987 NeXT Dock.]
Actually, and more correctly — the Mac OSX dock resembles the 1995 ‘task bar’ — which certainly resembles the 1987 NeXT Dock.
And, the 1995 Start Menu resembles the 1984 Apple Menu.
Don’t post on an empty stomach!
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”red face” style=”border:0;” />
{ (or at least fake it with an automatic “Hide Others” when switching apps). }
Hold option when you switch apps!
Gee, nice video. Love that shaky quality. It’s oh so Cinema Verité.
Yeah, Cinema Verité, that’s it. Not a Microsoft-branded tripod. NOT A MICROSOFT-BRANDED TRIPOD! Cinema Verité, yeah, that’s it.
there is no eye candy in os X
everything u see is there for a reason
see the drop shadow behind windows, when bring a window to the front it makes the shadow further away as if the window lifts up off the desktop
to windows users this is eye candy
if fact it is a very subtle and vital form of user feedback
it does look nice too
windows just puts drop shadows that dont change on every window. it serves no purpose whatsoever and somehow they made it look bad too
SUSE Linux 10.1 has better “eye-candy” than Vista will (transparancies, window effects etc.), AND is secure, less resourse intensive, and FREE. Although you can get a distro from Novell for $59.00 on DVD. Well worth it as another alternative to Vista. If you want to see it in action (VERY IMPRESSIVE) check out this episode of DL.TV:
http://digitallifetv.com/blogs/digitallifetv/default.aspx
<b>Episode 72 – click on the right “sidebar” for the SUSE segment<b>. The virtual destops are kinda cool………..
^^^Episode 72 – click on the right “sidebar” for the SUSE segment. They are using Xgl in addition to Open SUSE to acheive the effects seen. Very cool to me. I love when they change the virtual desktop “cube” to have ten sides – impressive performance.
Hi ,
i have a query in vista.can any one help me.
Billy,
I went to watch that video, but the damn image was jumping around so much that it made my eyes hurt! I don’t know if you shot it, but if you did you SO did not impress me. If anything, you only proved how clueless windows users are. Is it really so hard to use a tripod?
A Mac user would have made a live screen capture, saved it in Quicktime, edited in iMovie and exported the compressed file for the web – no jitters, no jumping and no headaches!
It’s all about how well you “show up”. A crappy demo completely distracted from the content and only made the producer look bad. Sorry to be so harsh, but someone needs to say it.
Hi Billy,
From a former PC user, I hope you go the Mac route.. Here’s my story.. A rather lengthy soliloquy on it all…
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Back just before I started going to art school, I was a PC user. I thought Macs were cool and all, but I used to think that they were “toys” or for very specialized needs in certain industries. I worked in a tech support department full of PC users who would always poke fun at Macs. What’s strange is that we were troubleshooting Windows problems and bitching about XP, ME, and 2000 constantly. So why did Apple get a bad rap from those guys? Like me, they were stuck in their own wolds, used to dealing with, and bitching about Windows problems. That’s just the way life was. Almost like complaining about your parents or your job.
When I got into the labs at AIP and started using Macs I was perplexed, because they were so intuitive that in the first week of using OS X, it was counter-intuitive. I was saying to myself “You mean you don’t have to go to the Start Menu, Programs, and scroll through a list of programs to find the one you want? You just take an application you use often and drag it to the dock, then it’s there permanently? Just one click? Weird.” It just kept getting better and better. I learned my way around OS X very quickly in the labs and bought a used G4 for home. Then I bought a PowerMac G5 the month they hit the stores. I’m going to nab a new Mac Pro in the coming weeks, and I’m so excited. In the years that I’ve had my G5, how many times has my system crashed? Once, and I just rebooted.
I have never looked back, not once, not for a second.
I am a Mac advocate, not a Mac Nazi. Mac Nazis (like PC Nazis) are annoying at best and are the sort of people who feel they have to prove something, act condescending, arrogant, or elitist in order to make them feel better about themselves. So if you have taken insult from Mac Nazis, my condolences.
Billy, from a former PC user, and someone who knows where you are in your predicament, all I have to say is make the switch. Invest in your computing future. You’ll never look back. With Apple’s prices being BETTER than comparable PC units (see the Apple WWDC clip on their site), and with the ability to run Windows, now is a very good time to make the switch.
Kind Regards,
Nick
Yawn! The Mac-PC war is dead. Move on and find something more interesting to moan about why don’t you… It’s all about convergence. As always users will vote with their cash. Flip3D / Exposé – who cares? I’ve never heard anyone complain about not being able to bring into view their application of choice quickly enough on either OS, so why bother now that Microsoft have introduced Flip3D?
What is it with that giant, ugly clock in Vista? Please tell me that can be changed or eliminated!
It reminds me of watching the school clock waiting for recess or better yet, the end of the day. In other words, it reminds me of the interminable hours and minutes waiting for the fun to start. Hmmmm…
I can’t wait until our IT monkey comes in with Vista under his arm expecting to install it on my HP Inferion (Pavilion).
The man is such a pompous dork, I think I’ll let him install it, then call him five times a day to fix it.
In the meantime, I’ll just continue to use my Mac G4 with Tiger under the hood. With a smile on my face I might add.
No WOW in San Francisco!
http://www.niallkennedy.com/blog/archives/2007/01/windows-vista-launch-san-francisco.html
MacFags will never stop fighting a lossing battle. The 5% followers or the flat earthers will always think they have something great, when all they have is a brick wall… keep the rest of your five percent gang thinking Apple is great, it will make you feel better then knowing you use a pile of crap.