“Want to know what might be the best reason to put a spiffy new Apple Mac in your small business office? It’s not the hip ads or the easy-on-the-hand keyboard that comes with the iMac, or the ridiculous debate about whether Apples or PCs running the Microsoft Windows operating system are faster or easier to use,” Jonathan Blum writes for TheStreet.com.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, it is ridiculous that some people are still debating whether Macs or Windows PCs are “faster” or “easier to use.” Apple Macs have been proven study after study after study after study to boost productivity, decrease support costs, offer lower total cost of ownership (TCO) and retain their value far longer than Windows PCs. In hundreds of independent reviews, Apple’s Mac OS X is the clear winner over Microsoft’s Windows (VIsta or the ancient XP).
Blum continues, “Rather, for my small business money, the single most exciting productivity tool probably lies hidden deep inside some Macs: Automator. This piece of code, which Apple describes as a ‘personal automation assistant,’ is part of the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac (starting at $400) suite of office software. Yes, you have to buy the whole Office software package to get Automator.”
MacDailyNews Take: Wha? Do some research. Please. For once. Automator is part of Mac OS X. It has shipped on every Mac since the release of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger on April 29, 2005. Microsoft’s bloated Office is definitely NOT required. Hey, it’s TheStreet.com, what do you expect? Automator is an application developed by Apple for Mac OS X that implements point-and-click (or drag-and-drop) creation of workflows for automating repetitive tasks. Automator enables the repetition of tasks across a wide variety of programs, including the Finder, the Safari web browser, iCal, Address Book and more. It can also work with third-party applications such as Microsoft Office or Adobe Photoshop. More about Apple’s Automator here. Apple’s Automator Actions website is here. None of this is surprising because, as we saw less than a month ago (‘Tech guru’ spreads the FUD about Macs in business – May 30, 2008), Jonathan Blum knows pretty much nothing about Macs.
With that major correction out of the way, Blum loves his Automator, even if he has no idea what it is, who makes it, or how it got on his Mac. Blum writes, “For the right operation, the gains possible with Automator are enormous. And it is this simple: Think of how slick it would be to get the boring, repetitive stuff that bogs you down all day out of the way. And my read here is firm: Somebody, somewhere is going to make a lot of money with Automator. That person might as well be you.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Contact: Jonathan Blum