Is Apple’s lead in publishing and graphics in peril?
“Processor speeds are similar, if not directly comparable, colour reproduction is on par and the choice of an operating system is one of personal taste, rather than a business decision.”
“Photoshop and other specialist software runs easily on both platforms thanks to the mass-production of high-end graphics cards to meet the demands of gamers and the internet for video playback over PC.”
“Many printing companies also support both platforms, thanks to plummeting hardware prices and standardised programs, breaking open a once-secure market for Apple.”
“Although Apple is marginally ahead with a more stable and feature-rich operating system, the quality of output between the platforms is indistinguishable. ‘I challenge anyone to pick up a magazine and say whether it was made by a Mac or a PC,’ says Adobe’s Channel and Technical Manager, Nick Hodge,” reports Sholto Macpherson for Austrailian IT. Full article here.
I seriously doubt it. Many designers use Mac, because it’s easy to use, it’s elegant, and it?s attractive. Most artsy fartsy people are willing to pay more for aesthetics. However, if you?re a designer in a penny pincher firm, then you may be out of luck. I believe most designers work out of their homes, small offices and large agencies, not cold-hearted corps ? so I don?t think it will ever really be an issue. I have known a few advertising firms that used all Windows, but to no surprise, their work was stunk.
Mac still rules the graphics world. PCs don’t have the unified standards like Colorsync that are required for production-quality graphics. There are small tricks on the Mac that save hours of work that are completely absent on the PC platform.
The graphics businesses that I, as a commercial photographer, am aware of that swithced to PC’s to save money are now out of business. Sure things are tough all over but using PC’s seems to be the common denominator. Corportate culture would have us all use PC’s, but it is only to their advantage and not to the actual users benefit. I do work for a large air freight carrier and you would not believe the outcry that went up in the communications and engineering divisions when the corporate geniuses proclaim all would migrate to the Windows platform. Needless to say they are still do their work on Macs. Productivity fell dramatically when they had to use PC’s.
Why does a Mac site even give credence to such crap?
Color control is better in Macs. Dual monitor support is better. Calibration is built in. Drag and drop and graphics file compatiblity is better across all applications. The standard Apple color pallete has WEB SAFE colors on it. Networking is easier and more stable. There are almost no viruses. And last, it does not take an IT department to maintain them. That’s why graphics professionals use Macs….because of practical, workflow related issues.
I’ve got one work for the author of the Aussie article: Fonts.
Try working with the entire Adobe Font Library (and the Agfa one) on a PC.
Yeah, right a PC is better.
QUOTE: “Why does a Mac site even give credence to such crap?”
Well, because in some areas of the graphics industry there are an increasing number of reverse switchers. One particular area of note is web design/development, while neither Apple nor Macromedia look likely to address the problem of Flash player speed on the Mac, and the Mac versions of web staples Dreamweaver MX and Flash MX are almost unusably slow, plenty of web professionals will continue leaving the Mac in droves, myself included. At home, I love my powerbook and wouldn’t dream of switching, at work however, I need to use applications that actually work.
Who cares what Austrailian IT has to say. I find it funny how the PC universe still has to publish Anti- Mac articles to justify there existence.
There might be some areas of opportunity for Windows in the multimedia and web world, but the PC is totaly irrevelant in the print industry. Printers demand Mac format almost exclusively. Small wonder, almoist all print industry RIPS and CTP workflows are designed to run on a Mac. Attempting to run a Windows file — even in a compatible format — almost always introduces problems. Special characters such as the copyright and currency symbols are different on the two platforms , PC fonts sre a total nightmare and even some graphic formats don’t translate properly. So the Mac will continue to rule in the print industry. Of course this hokum isn’t anything new — we’ve been hearing that the PC was “catching-up” to the Mac in the graphic arts sector for at least ten years now. Still seems to be lagging a bit behind, I’d say.
My brother is a graphic artist and does a ton of ads/graphics/etc and he will only use a Mac. He has a PC for his day to day stuff (email web word etc) but the graphics on the PC takes much longer and it is harder to do. And we are talking Photoshop 7 PC vs Photoshop 7 Mac. He did one piece of artwork on the PC in 27hrs, did something larger, more complicated, more details on the Mac is 18. Hmm I wonder why he chooses a Mac? Plus the damn thing does not GPF/Exception Error all the time.
I am an art director for a marketing firm. After taking helm of the department about 4 years ago, I had to fight the corporate ladder to get Macs into the fold. It was a hard battle but I am happy to say that everyone in the art/graphics department is now sailing on OSX. Why? I “had” to use PC’s for work when I first joined, but it was frustration after frustration just doing simple cut and paste between Photoshop and Illustrator. Everyone in the corporation tried find “weaknesses” and faults in Macs for no apparent reason at first, but now they thank God for the “graphics” Macs when their PC’s routinely die.
Do a simple test: print a Illustrator graphics file to an Inkjet printer from a Mac then on a PC using the same set up. There is a huge difference in the quality of the output.
Oh, and one more thing….
I had to fire our last IT guy because he kept steering my boss that it was “studpid” to use Macs for graphics. Huh? No wonder his business card looked so childish.
Look who’s laughing now.
…’I challenge anyone to pick up a magazine and say whether it was made by a Mac or a PC…
If it was a good IDEA it was done on a Mac.
I’ve heard this often over the years. When Apple was struggling to turn itself around back in the ’90 MANY companies did jump ship and try to do the same things on PCs, but most ran back to Mac when Apple got its act together again — I should know, I was one of them, as were many who attend Seybold. Why, because macs are reliable and consistent for graphic and DTP production. Macs handle fonts well, cut-n-paste is amazingly simple/powerful, print support is rock solid, system/file backups are easy (ie., not stupid registry crap), macs have built-in color management, and files that were produced some 15 years ago can still be opened in newer versions of the same apps generally without problems. Even with the migration to OS X, the process is smooth and OS X just keeps getting more robust. When I hear colleagues daily switching TO MACS (especially hi-end, big screen powerbooks) away from their PCs, I find it hard to believe the mood is dour for our favorite computer.
Applescript is a major reason why many large design and print businesses use macs.
There is no way any serious graphic designer would use a PC. It just does not cut it when you compare it to a Mac. There is a difference. You have to have used both and then you would know. I have and I know.
Any platform that would require its users to perform 3+ step key commands to retrieve simple characters such as bullets or EM dashses is a failure to the Graphics industry. Hmmm…is there even a key command that can produce a system-wide bullet on the PC platform??
I’ve had no problems with Dreamweaver performance, and my iBook is slow. Perhaps one of the peripheral programs is slow?
Cut to the Chase, if Apple keeps using slow butt not going anywhere motorola, they could have the greatest software in the world(they do) and people will still use pc’s because of speed and cost. Dump Motorola and use IBM and Apple better do this sooner then later or they will continue with those low sales.
I think there are still huge gaps between Macs and PCs in the graphic and print industry. More important, it is a personal and emotional choice, artists are not accountants, there is something about asethetic and inspiration that most accountants will never get! Try to imagine graphic designers staring at a Dell box all day trying to work on graphic projects. So, for now, the only competition Apple has is some Sony boxes, and Mac is secured for the moment.
I said for the moment, because Apple hasn’t come up with anything in the last ten years to pull itself further from the PC attempting invasion in this area, the 4 major advantages distinguish Macs from PCs in the graphic field are old. PCs are catching up, and in a few years, these 4 traditional advantages will really won’t matter anymore … Apple really needs to innovate in this area again … We all know that money talks loud, and when those gaps get closed, slowly, people will switch to PCs! Look at the education market as a lesson!
I can’t wait to see what Apple has for us in the near future.
I do work for Marvel and DC Comics (Warner Brothers) and the graphics and editorial departments are exclusively Mac driven. This goes for all the comics companies, as far as I know. All the artists I know, with the exception of one or two, are Mac nuts, without a doubt.
I’ve used both platforms, but Macs are just easier to use, and the output really does look better. The funny thing is, Windows TrueType fonts were created by Apple for Apple, originally. Apple TrueType. Graphics pros wouldn’t give up Adobe postscript, and wouldn’t support the Apple TT. So Apple sold it to Windows for their default. Too funny.
Anyone who’s ever had to work on both platforms knows that the Apple interface is simply much better than anything you will get from Wintel. It isn’t about performance, it’s about the user experience. Plus there’s this: when you get software or machinery from Apple, IT WORKS.
Well I assume that TT fonts work better with acrobat on PC than they do on Mac? I say that while contemplating suing adobe for the stress I am suffering as a freelancer trying to continually pdf documents created in studios that simply won’t accept them at all.
You have to bear in mind ‘The Australian’ newspaper is very hostile towards the Mac platform (or anything ‘leftie’, creative or progressive for that matter). The token Mac column is usually overly critical, needlessly apologetic or simply regurgitates rubbish and press releases and does little serious analysis.
I work for QR (Queensland Rail) which was recently sold the dud of the ‘unified platform’ (i.e. Windows) model. We used to have a rather eclectic mix – Windows, OS/2, Unix, Mac.
Needless to say our graphics department fought a tenacious battle to keep their Macs (‘they died with honour’ as the Klingons would say). But bless ’em, they never miss a chance to let Information Services Division forget how pissed off they are at ’em…every opportunity Graphic Services drops a picture of a Mac or a MacOS screenshot into promotional materials…makes me smile.
The conversion to Windows has cost us an absolute, mind boggling fortune, support costs have gone through the roof, down time has exploded, productivity as a return on investment is dismal…but some of us battle hardy freedom fighters are organising again, waiting for the time to launch a counter offensive
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I work in IT as PC support, and my company only has 4 Mac’s (3 in production and a spare). We absolutely HATE going to “Mac Land” as we call it. First of all, it’s a pain in the ass trying to find simple control panel settings on it, etc., and secondly- where’s the other mouse button? (A little Windows humor) It’s kinda crappy when you support 300+ PC’s all day and then you get a call from the Advertising department because they can’t print from Quark (or some other lame stuff). Just a little venting, but last time I checked, the word “creative” wasn’t invented by a Mac user. It’s funny to see it in these threads though, as our Advertising manager will fight you if you say PC users can be creative too. I just don’t get it. We have run a side by side test with a 867 G4 Mac and a Compaq EVO P4 with Photoshop 7, and the PC takes the cake. And as far as GPF errors go, try getting a solid Windows config and you’ll never have that problem.
Whew, nuff said.