“There aren’t fashion shows in New York and Paris to unveil new computer styles, but if there were, Apple would steal the headlines,” Chris Cobbs writes for The Orlando Sentinel. “Most PCs look alike: boring silver or black boxes. Apple products, however, are different, forcing the eye to linger on clean, understated design.”
“The latest minimalist fashion statement from Apple is the iMac G5, a slim, rectangular slab housing both monitor and computer, poised atop a curved aluminum stand… But the iMac offers more than aesthetic appeal and space-saving potential. It’s one serious computer, built around Apple’s speedy G5 processor, previously found only in the PowerMac G5 line,” Cobbs writes.
“You’ll want 1 gigabyte or more if the idea of making your iMac double as a Windows system has appeal,” Cobbs writes. “Microsoft’s Virtual PC for Mac Version 7 with Windows XP Professional, the newest version of a program that supplies this dual capability, needs at least 256 MB of memory for itself. The program allows a Mac to simulate a Windows system, a benefit to users who need to run software from the vast Windows universe.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Cobbs then spends the last half of his article discussing Virtual PC and how to get Windows XP running on the iMac. He tests out Office – using Virtual PC to run Windows XP to run Office!!! He makes no mention of Mac OS X and the article sounds like he fired up the iMac, installed Virtual PC and spent all his time running Windows XP. He probably felt very warm and safe that way. It would have been nice for him to at least mention that Microsoft’s Office 2004 for Mac is actually better than Windows Office (even Microsoft says so) and runs natively on the Mac.
Some people don’t get it, but they do help illustrate just how far Apple has to go to get to some people. This guy would get an Audi A8 to review, cover all the leather seats with nylon SpongeBob seat covers from Wal-Mart, chain a fifteen ton block of concrete to it, and then write about how he got it to feel really close to his Ford Escort. (Want more? Check out Cobbs’ review of the Apple’s 23-inch Cinema HD Display where he states, “The display makes Windows look as good as it possibly can.” You can’t make this stuff up, folks.)
Read the article – it’s about beautiful Apple hardware and how you can run Windows on it. No mention of Mac OS X, iMovie, iPhoto, iCal, iSync, Safari, Mail, Sherlock, GarageBand, iChat AV… please excuse us while we go pull our hair out.
Baka Ni!
Thank you NightOwl and amyhre for injecting some reason into this thread. If you see this article as appealing to Windows users then the article serves a fine purpose. You can’t run VirtualPC on a Mac without going through Mac OSX. Anyone who is influenced by this article to buy a Mac will find out for themselves that Mac OSX is better than XP.
As far as VPC security on the Mac, didn’t MDN have an article about how running Windows is safer on a Mac?
mac dood, there are many vertical markets for software that isn’t and won’t ever be on a Mac. The users of these apps aren’t at fault so there isn’t any need to berate them for it.
*shudddder
I seriously think about shooting the guy who wrote this and didn’t bother to check for mac software
I dont think there’s an adjective in the English language that describes the level of ignorance required to do what this guy did.
If I was Bill Gates, I would be reading this article with a tub of vaseline and some paper towels.. this is every Microsofties dream and Maclots nightmare: The utter surrender to shitty defacto technology.. so much so that you forgot what it was like to be optimistic or excited about new technology. These Windows hicks are so utterly demoralized from their enslavement they don’t even know what’s good for them.
Reminds me of the guy who ‘pretended’ to gut a G5 he got as a gift to make it PC compatible… he had pictures and everything and was absolutely flooded with Mac users hate mail. Turns out it was a joke.
Jack A.
It’s funny, some Windows friends were asking my opinion on what they should get.. I just said ‘Get a Dell’ (under the presumption that they were going to get a Windows PC so they could play games–i was right, of course)… then this guy spent like 2 weeks trying to figure out what the best deal was.. almost went with a Gateway (I told him that would be the last company i would ever patronize)..and he ended up getting an HP.
Of course, at the time I was thinking… Who gives a shit what computer you’re gonna buy.. you’ve already resigned yourself to Masochism XP… it’s the software that controls the experience.. not the freakin’ casing the computer comes in…
“….The users of these apps aren’t at fault so there isn’t any need to berate them for it..”
effwerd… I wasnt berating him for anything but calling Mac heads, and the posters here ..”elitist shmucks..”
There wasnt any call for that…
Point of fact…. yes, there may be an app “out there”..(somewhere) which I cant run on my Mac…. but, if Im not smart enough to do a tad bit of homework… to see IF.. there is something else “out there”… I could use instead… then I guess I would deserve to live in the MicroCrap world … wouldnt I ??
As far as hoping that we try to “Switch” PeeCeers to our side goes…. for the most part… thats a losing battle…
I mean… have you ever called your ISP’s tech support ??… and they tell you to….
“…. click on ‘MY COMPUTER’…” ..
and I say…
“I cant see Your Computer…so how can I click on it ?”
or they say….”Click on your ‘START’ menu…”
and I say..
“I dont have a menu that sez ‘START;..”
So they say…
“… So WHAT version of WinDoze are you using, anyhoo?”
and I say….
“Panther !”
I go thru this dog and pony show with them.. just so I can hear the dumfounded sound of their voices !!
Nah….. If people that dumb are gonna switch to Macs…. Who are we gonna have an intellegent conversation with ??
RE: Nah….. If people that dumb are gonna switch to Macs…. Who are we gonna have an intellegent conversation with ??”
I know dozensx of them, most of them are NOT that dumb, they just HAVE NOT BEEN EXPOSED to a good operating system.
They need to be exposed to it, and then a reasonable number of them will go for it.
But they need to be exposed to it by Apple.
kenh.. so they’re victims? pfft.. if ONE of them asks me a question about why i have such an oddly positive view of computing, etc.. i’ll answer them sincerely.. but until then.. don’t try to bail them out.. there’s many different kinds of intelligence.. and burying your head in the sand and complaining because the world is dark does not sound intelligent… i bet not one of them could admit to you that they’re basing their retarded ‘conceptions’ of the Mac platform on 1987 arguments. How intelligent.
mike: funny, you don’t sound like you have a positive attitude, but……….
I am talking about the substantial numbers of people who don’t even know the Mac is different from Windows, and in most cases it is literally because no one has ever taken the time to show them.
I am talkng about the ones who can’t have “retarded” misconceptions because they have not seen Macs enough to like or dislike them.
Have a good day.
Let’s talk about AutoCAD. Let’s talk about 3D Studio. Hell, let’s just talk about Visio. Or maybe about Access. Let’s talk more about QuickBooks the way QuickBooks is supposed to work, with all the bells and whistles and web-enhanced features that the current Mac version does not have, not to mention the fact that the friggin Mac QuickBooks file format is incompatible with the Windows QuickBooks file format. Try explaining THAT to your Windows-using accountant. You want to talk about MS Office for Mac? Great, let’s talk about how there are STILL (STILL, AFTER ALL THIS TIME) there are still cross-platform compatibility issues. Ever open a Word document from your Windows-base client only to find that they used fractions that have no Mac equivalent character? Let’s talk about how those fractions look like underscores on the Mac, and then let’s talk about how the only way to view them is either on a real honest to god PC or on Virtual PC. Hell, even venerable oldies like Adobe Illustrator can’t import or export Windows Metafiles worth a damn on the Mac, but the same program on the Windows side can perfectly.
It doesn’t matter that OMNI Graffle is comparable to Visio. It doesn’t matter that Strata is comparable to 3D Studio. It doesn’t matter that Filemaker Pro is superior in many ways to Access. Some of us actually have to work interoperatively with the rest of the world, despite our personal predilections. Bottom line, I couldn’t do my job without VPC and in some cases a real live honest to god PC.
No, there are a HUNDRED reasons why it makes good business sense to use Windows and Windows-specific software.
And I hate every one of those reasons. But that doesn’t make them go away, despite my best efforts.
This type of discussion, however, also warrants mentioning a number of Mac-only software titles that the Windows world can’t interoperate with. Namely FinalCut Pro, DVD Studio Pro, Logic, Motion, and some lesser known ones. Businesses who work with digital media pretty much have to either have Macs or use intermediaries who do.
By the way, I’ve worn my flame retardant vest to this forum today.
MS’ Mac devision does say Office for mac is better than Office for windows. I for one don’t agree.
FWIW I’m pretty much die hard Mac all the way, just don’t think a slower package without Database and other very much used features is somehow better because it looks nicer.
Mike, ignorance does not imply lack of intelligence. And vice versa.
The Windows world doesn’t exist to me.
I see one occasionally, click on it’s crappy OS and cheap feel.
I turn to my Mac friend, who’s first computer is a Mac.
“See what 95% of the world uses?”
“Yes” he says, “it’s clearly a piece of sh*t, I like my Mac so much better, the keyboard is better, the mouse is better, even the monitor is better.”
Then he asks me, “Is this the type of computer that has over 100,000 viruses and over 10,000 exploits?”
“Yes” I say, “Just look here” as I download and run a spyware detector, “13 traces of spyware, two keystroke loggers”
“If you used this computer to access your online bank, they would have had your money in minutes”
My friend says “Yea Microsoft really goes all out to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, trust the butterfly my ass”
VPC made it possible for me to buy a PB 2+ years ago, and to replace it last April with a faster version.
I have to have Windows in some form in order to demo a quick proprietary app. A Mac version is simply not possible and that app has allowed for he purchase of 2 PBs (and a 23″ display), an iBook for the wife, a 20″ G5 iMac at home and 4 iPods. I gotta love VPC.
Like me, a lot of people have to work with Windows users. It’s where we work. Pays the mortgage and puts kids through school, etc. It would be rather dumb not to recognize your source of income and accommodate it.
As for VPC, it runs Windows better than a PC, could use the ability to allocate more memory (512 is max now) and should never be allowed close to the internet. There are no updates on mine, nor will there ever be.
Simple & elegant. Also allows for others in my situation to BUY a Mac.
kenh and coolgrafix..
i get it.. you’re both defending millions of people who are caught, because of work.. unable to wrestle free from MS..
You’re right.. I never run into Office compatibility issues.. so I assumed their were none.. my bad..
and there are tons of programs that available for the mac that, comparable though they may be, are not COMPATIBLE with windows equivalents…
and I accept that..
BUT
I do NOT accept you guys defending people who have never seen a mac, yet insist they have no alternatives to windows.
I’ve never had a virus on my computer.
This statement is probably going to look like a lie to alot of PC users.
I don’t get popups, virii or … egad..system formatting.. reinstalls.. all that shit.. i don’t get any of it…
if you were a PC user.. and you ASSUMED that all mac users were liars, or delusional or flukey, or whatever.. and you considered yourself to be intelligent, even by the most generous usage of the word, wouldn’t you check out the mac platform? I mean.. literally, take 5 mins out of your virus-scanning day and check apple’s website
http://www.apple.com/switch/
remember that campaign?.. it’s still very important that people read some of this stuff before they retire an $1800 laptop that is suffocating with virii..
look at this Q/A from the Switch site..
Q:CAN I USE A TWO BUTTON MOUSE?
Mac OS X offers built-in support for USB mice and keyboards. With a two-button or scroll wheel mouse, you can take advantage of convenient features of the operating system without touching the keyboard. If you prefer a split ergonomic keyboard, just plug it in. You don�t need to install any additional software or configure drivers.
Read that last sentence again.. Sometimes we forget, as Mac users, just how good we have it.. and everyone thinks we’re rich (most of us aren’t)..and everyone thinks we don’t have any software (12,000 Apps is more than 0, last I checked)
Finally, about these people who’ve never seen a Mac, and assume it’s shit, because.. *hrmmm.. Windows is the standard and Bill Gates is the richest man on Earth.. ERGO.. MS must have the $$$ to pay the best programmers (just like a rich university) and the best managers and acquire the best IP etc etc..
… you would think they’d have a better product..
Anyone who does not make an effort to FORM AN EDUCATED OPINION.. is not INTELLIGENT!
There is a difference between knowledge and intelligence..
knowledge is memorization.. intelligence is an attitude, a hunger for more knowledge… I know you guys are defending your friends because they have PHd’s in Comp. Science and think you can’t get Unreal Tournament on the Mac.. Stop defending them.
(LOOONG POSTS)
mike: they don’t have degrees in computer science and don’t give a damn about games, nor do I.
What is it about you that makes you think you even know anything about my friends who are Windows users?
My original point, which I stick by , is that when people become aware that there is an alternative, they very often make the switch.
That is all I said. You took off with it and imagined that I said things I never said.
Why am I even wasting 5 minutes on a Sunday morning on this?
My last post on the subject. Get a life!
mike: they don’t have degrees in computer science and don’t give a damn about games, nor do I.
(obvious questions.. a) what makes you think they’re intelligent and b)why the hell would they have PC’s then..I know most people on here are working in software etc.. and most people get PC’s for games..)
What is it about you that makes you think you even know anything about my friends who are Windows users?
(about me?eh.. wrong question.. what is it about your friends that you insist they know nothing about macs, yet are very intelligent.. *sigh)
My original point, which I stick by , is that when people become aware that there is an alternative, they very often make the switch.
(intelligent people don’t wait for their ships to come in.. as they say..)
That is all I said. You took off with it and imagined that I said things I never said.
(let’s see…)
Why am I even wasting 5 minutes on a Sunday morning on this?
(because you enjoy it?)
My last post on the subject. Get a life!
(… lol.. yea.. it takes so much time out of my day to do this.. (???))
mike: you took the bait just like I thought you would.
Mike = Butt Pirate = One Guy From Finland = Turd Burglar
Mike,
From you comments about school, friends, and games, I get the impression you’re in school yourself. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m an old man by you standards. =)
I’m not defending anyone’s sustained ignorance.
And my argument didn’t mention “friends” who have PC’s because of games, for crying out loud. I’m talking about clients, corporations, small businesses. Frankly, every small business user in the world who doesn’t work in creative or advertising. These are not my friends, not do they own PCs because of the “games” available on them. They are the people of the world who couldn’t a flying **** what kind of computer they’re using as long as it runs QuickBooks, or AutoCAD, or whatever.
Anyway, have a good Halloween everyone! Out.
Hey, the guy does write for the Orlando Sentinel. I live in Orlando and no one from that paper has a clue about anything.
This is disgraceful… all the petty back-biting; the vicious cutting remarks and the relentless plugging for OS-X.
I really like it!
coolgraphix,
I run a large construction company and run everything exclusively on 100 networked Macs. All accounting (unfortunately done on defunct Flexware in Classic Mode on OS 10.3.5(we will change accounting programs eventually a native OS X product)), Filemaker-Filemaker Server, Vectorworks (for CAD), Appleworks, MS office, Fastrack (for project scheduling-MS Project is a much better program though), Digital picture documentation of projects, etc., etc., etc.
The only thing I could use would be an MS Project grade scheduling program. Everything else works great. My business is not the creative type you refer to or the advertising field. Macs work great and save me a ton of money over using Winblows.
God bless you, then Stan. =)
So it sounds like you do your own accounting, or does your accountant also use Flexware?
It also sounds like Vectorworks must play well with other CAD programs or you wouldn’t be using it.
I’m writing this in Safari on a dual 2gz G5 with Virtual Pc running in the background ‘cos I can’t find a decent, reliable Soulseek client for the mac. I used to run a headless 500Mhz vanilla PC via remote desktop for the same reason, but VPC on the G5 runs faster, and integrates nicely with the rest of the Mac OS. Apart from the fact that Windows comes nowehere near the look, feel and functionality of OS X my only disappointement with VPC on a Mac over using it natively on a PC is lack of SCSI support.
I’d have to agree that Windows looks a hell of a lot better on a 20″ studio display, but it’s an expensive way to polish a turd… :o)