“If you’re big enough of an Apple fan to own an iPod, you probably already have a good idea of what the iMac G5 is all about: the familiar white sheen, the brushed metal L-shaped stand, the brilliant widescreen LCD. Throw in Apple’s wireless Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and you’ve got a scene of Kubrickian merits. Only the cable that runs from computer to an iPod (or printer or digital camera or PDA) disrupts the sci-fi harmony. In terms of actual computing power, it occupies a nice space between the PowerBooks and the dual-processor G5 PowerMac,” Wilson Rothman writes for Time Magazine. “Rather than spend money on its silly “Switch” ad campaign, the company has spent it inventing actual reasons for people to switch from Windows to Mac, not least of all personal style. The iMac G5 is super suave, but it’s also a pretty good deal.”
Full article here.
See, all those people who whined about the switcher ads. They didn’t keep Apple from doing actual work too. Other computer companies keep reinventing themselves (Gateway sold TVs for a while, but gave it up and are going back to their roots – too late of course). Apple just keeps making cool stuff.
There’s something to be said for actually caring about the quality of the products one makes. That can’t be how the majority acts, there’s just too much mediocrity in the world. Be we can be glad there are companies like ID, Apple, BMW, Porsche, Leica, Rolex…
I would say the only negative of the article, is that it refers to the iMac as a gadget.
It implies that its not a serious product, and should only be considered if you don’t know what to do with your money…
Apple shows themselves on major shows for profs in the publicity business… that’s the way, besides iTunes & iPod, to gain sales and publicity.
Quality wins on the long run.
Mcfundies are just fine but do not attract much new customers, on the contrary .. they irritate !
ph8te, as a counter-example, consider Inspector Gadget. He was a pretty serious product. Come on, the guy had arms that could extend for several times his height. How cool is that? And he could fly. Can a Dell box fly?*
*No.
For years now Apple has produced innovative or exciting products, yet market share continues to wane.
The iMac G5 isn’t going to turn 15% of the previously Windows buying public away from Windows to Macs. Neither with the iPod, nor will the next fancy laptop, or the crazy Switch campaigns.
Rather, it’ll be real issues like security and stability which will make the majority of people think twice. That is assuming Apple gets the message out that these aren’t problems on their platform.
Me wonders how many people think that ALL PCs have the same problems MS Windows does.
Let me clarify – 15% of the “general Windows buying public”, since evidently, students seem to love Apple’s products.
Guess the young really are smarter than the old.
I think the vast majority of the PeeCee users think that the Mac has all of the same problems. Add to that, the thought of learning a whole new system and thinking they have to buy all new software, and most don’t even consider going to Mac.
People that are too lazy to think often used the flawed logic of “If it was so good, everyone would have one. I’ll stick with what is popular and common. That is the safest bet.”
Humans, as an animal species, are extraordinarily lazy. This laziness also invades their willingness to think. It can be proven by their lemming-like logic, an unwillingness to take responsibility for their own actions (think McD coffee law suit), and not only believing what the media tells then as “a fact”, but also allowing the media (or others) what is important (more people die EACH HOUR in the world from starvation and easily curable illnesses, all currently very preventable, than died in the 9-11 incident, but what has been drilled into your head as important? 9-11 has been warped into a political tool to control the lazy and stupid).
“Bad things happen when good people do nothing.”
Sadly, good people see what is happening, and are still too lazy to do anything!
The herd does nothing, the lazy ones do nothing.
The herd uses crappy software, the lazy ones use crappy software.
The herd is told it’s not Microsoft’s fault, the lazy ones believe it’s not Microsoft’s fault.
The herd is told that 9-11 is more of a tragedy than the hundreds of thousands dying DAILY from starvation (because politicians have better video of towers falling and have made people believe that the firefighters life is 1000 times more important than the 5 year old child dying in central Africa)… and you believed it.
Patriotism isn’t waving a flag with 1000 other flag-wavers, slapping magnetic stickers on your SUV, or watching the commercial-loaded CNN 9-11 special pushing anything made from red white and blue plastic.
What is patriotism? It’s visiting a local orphanage with money and gifts when it is NOT Christmas. It’s giving to a local charity and NOT taking the roll of candy or the box of cookies.
I am not surprised at the greed and stupidity of America today.
Moooo!
Aryugaetu >> i agree with you
altough to make your point you didn’t need the political stuff … but you are right that the whole WAR against TERROR is very simillar to the soviet era russia war against the “enemy”
Korko & Aryugaetu
Obviously, you didn’t have a wife, husband, father, mother or child on any of those airplanes.
When the Islamist fascists come for you, will you have the courage to resist… or will you be like Spain and lick the hand of your enemy while they take your freedom and your women?
Glick7,
We don’t need Islamic fascists to take our freedoms away. We’ve got people in office now that do a good job of that. i.e. Ashcroft, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.
The Switch Campaign was a success that is finally starting to kick in. The seeds were planted, many PC users bought an Apple product and were directly exposed to the high quality or even if they didn’t buy an iPod they kept hearing about how great Apple products were, and those seeds have started sprouting.
People watched the Switcher ads and thought to themselves that they would never ever buy a Mac, but the seed had been planted and every time they had a problem with their windoze machine thereafter they thought to themselves “would this be happening if I were on a Mac?”
As their current PCs fast become obsolete and the time rolls around to buy a new computer, more users than ever are considering the Mac. This recent slew of articles talking about this phenomenon will only feed the growth and provide sunshine for more and more “Switcher Seeds” to sprout.
Hey Korko!!
Maybe when two of your close family members are slaughtered by terrorists, like mine were, you may think differently. 3 times in the last 25 years I have had terrorists affect my life. In the early 80’s I was a half a block from the Cuban embassy when it was bombed. In 1993 I was living a few blocks from the World Trade Center when it was bombed. And I lost two family members in the first tower that was hit on 9/11.
So you can put your little “quotes” around the word “enemy” as if it were some made-up thing to fool the public. But for me the whole thing is very real, very tragic, and very scary.
david vesey
Aryugaetu & Korko-
I agree that most people are lazy and uninformed.
But it’s not my responsibility nor America’s to help people that won’t help themselves, or be the welfare provider to the world.
We are not a socialist country. It’s an ideoligy that doesn’t work.
It’s also true that part of human nature is to consume and that is what our Capitalist society is built on. It’s what motivates people to produce.
When people start to think they can get whatever they want/need by doing nothing- society falls apart.
Unfortunalty it looks like we are shifting from a Capitalist society to a entitlement socialist society.
So it looks like China will be the next Superpower in the near future while we go the way of the Roman Empire.
Seems that people are at last smart enough to start realising this very obvious change in the balance of power in the world. The only good news I suppose is that the Chinese at least won’t have to have scruples when they deal with the Islamacist question. Our liberalism, be it political or economic will count for nothing then I suspect, as we are simply left as spectators with the option to laugh or to cry.
Why must America be a regurgitated form of governments from the past? Why must America (or any country) stick with an old philosophy that worked in a society of 200 years ago?
Why can’t America be the “Apple” government of the world and “Think Different”?! The current election system of representatives worked fine when the fastest communication was on a running horse. But, now it is the perfect weapon of control for large corporations. Both, Dems and Reps love the current system. They BOTH get big business dollars and maintain control; keeping the true leaders and popular opinion out of the government.
Oh, yea… that’s right.. people are very stupid and lazy, (good people doing nothing)… corporations know this, and USE this. We’re dead already!
BTW:
No, I never lost someone to terrorism. I did lose many friends to AIDS and public apathy. I did lose a friend to gay-bashing, but I do not hate all straight people (yet). For some, terrorism hurts and for others, having a fellow American kill your friends and family hurts. You can’t compare pain. All we can do is fight for what each of us feels is right, but first we ALL must fight against media hype and corporate control.
We must either fight for a better US or start from scratch all over again. Whatever the decision, SOMETHING must be done. To do nothing… well…
…if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always gotten.
ph8te.. shut the fuck up..
what are they going to do.. rename the column for the sake of not pissing of steve jobs..
bite me. only thurrott would notice something so paranoid and anti-apple
I don’t see providing handouts to lazy people as a positive change for our society.
Most people know someone who has died of AIDS so you’re not alone there- stop behaving like it.
Speaking of stupid people- happen to catch the reports in the news over the last year that the practice of unsafe sex is rising among the younger gay community?
IKt’s no wonder healthecare costs are going up.
Apathy? Lets talk about a lack of self control.
Just because someone feels that something is “Right” doesn’t make it so.
Just to clarify-
When I say Lazy, I’m referring to my first post where I talk about socialism. My intent was not to imply that people with AIDS are lazy.
With respect to making America more like Apple- That suggests we install a Dictatorship form of Government. Works for a corporation, not a Democracy.
With respect to orphanages-
We should practice better birth control.
-Anyway-
Go Apple!!!
Stock at >$70
Rah rah rah
Aryugaetu:
We’ve gotten something very good for more than 200 years, and I want to keep it.
The founding fathers really did “think different.” We have a republican form of government that reflects diversities around the nation, not a centralized command and control system.
We have a representative democracy that provides protection agains mob rule, with political and judicial processes that protect the expression of individual opinion and thought.
More went into the design of the Electoral College than just considerations of speed of communication. The process tends to support and protect regional diversities in the nation, and I think we should consider that very carefully before dropping it. It’s easier (and much cheaper) for corporations (or whatever) to influence mass public opinion than to gain control of the multi-level structure we now have.
People, on the whole, do a pretty fair job of managing their lives.
We have freedom of choice in computing preferences. I prefer Macs. Long live Apple.
And now, back to the thread….
Aryagatu
A few points to consider:
There are more things going on to help people than you know of – they just don’t make the news and people don’t think about them, just like most people cannot name the Commanders of the last 3 space shuttle missions.
Example? There is a charity that flies a DC-10 around the world to poor countries. It has full surgical facilities and is staffed by volunteers – eye surgeons and nurses – that treat the blind. Been going on for as long as I can remember and I’m 60. Can YOU name the charity? Hasn’t been in the news recently so probably not.
There are also a mass of helping programs that are on “automatic pilot”, annually providing food, medicine, clothing and money.
Some are government sponsored and a lot are privately funded, like Feed The Children. There are also churches that allocate a percentage of each year’s budget for missions. Just because you don’t read about all of these programs doesn’t mean they don’t exist, and are not helping people. I cannot remember a time in my life when this has not been the case.
As for AIDS, compare this to breast cancer, which my wife has gone through. MORE women die of breast cancer in this country than people dying from AIDS yet AIDS gets MORE money for research. I have been treated this year for prostate cancer, which kills a lot of men. Read of any major funding program for prostate cancer that even starts to compare to the money spent on AIDS. Not a chance.
Or what about the money spent on medical research for the little kids that have cancer? Should we shift that money to do more research on AIDS? You tell me. You seem to have all the answers. Actually, tell some parents whose child is dying of cancer – then come back here and let us know what they said.
We are not as apathetic as you would hope – you just don’t know where to look, nor do you want to be told that others are as deserving of support as you and your friends.
Without wishing to dwell too much on the wrongs or wrongs of the current mess in Iraq, I still haven’t figured out how the US went in without any idea whatsoever of an exit policy.
Still, at least Bush didn’t quite lie in the same way as Blair did. At least Bush just kept repeating the ‘War on Terror’ and the 9/11 mantras, implicitly rather than explicitly connecting the two. Say something enough and in the end it becomes true I suppose.
To add to Ken’s well stated post-
America as a whole contributes more to developing nations (combined Charity & Gov) than any other nation.
Country Joe-
I’m not sure what your schooling is on how long it takes to move a nation from Dictatorship to Democracy, not to mention a nation in a region where the culture is stuck in the 13th century.
Consider How long were we in Japan after WWII.
Anyone that thought this was going to be less then a decade commitment was not aware of the scope of the challange.
And no promises were made suggesting otherwise.
(‘their’ overflowing bank accounts, is what I meant. It wasn’t Freudian)
Country Joe:
You need couselling. Trust me. Go make an appointment today.
Peace.
Ugh.. I talk about this shit all day in Econ class.. *rolls eyes.. I’m passionate about it.. but i need a break..