Stealing Macworld's thunder
Every year in early January, Apple aficionados gather together in San Francisco to celebrate the big Mac news of the year at the Macworld Conference and Exposition. Windows users, on the other hand, celebrate...Rubber Ducky? Or a public prerelease of the first service pack for Windows Vista? It doesn't seem fair.
However, except for the hardware news (the MacBook Air is very thin), this year's report from Steve Jobs wasn't nearly as exciting as last year's iPhone announcement. In fact, some of the news--and rumors--are old hat for Windows fans.
For example, Apple TV will now offer downloadable movie rentals that cost from $2.99 to $3.99. On Monday, Netflix announced unlimited streaming movies for most of its subscribers. Apple plans to offer 1,000 movies, while Netflix already has 6,000 available. The quality of HD films on Apple TV will likely be higher than Netflix, but for mainstream movie fans (who don't want to buy a separate device), Netflix has iTunes trumped for now.
One rumored announcement that wasn't included in Jobs' keynote--at least from what I've read so far--was the ability to save YouTube videos with iTunes and convert them automatically for viewing on iPods. Perhaps Apple is saving that for iTunes 7.7. The truth is that Windows (and Mac) users can already easily watch YouTube videos on their iPods, PSPs, or other portable video players, although it is a two-step process.
First, use a Firefox extension like Ook Video Ook or Video Downloader to save the streaming Flash video as a local FLV file. (The new RealPlayer 11 can also save YouTube videos to your hard drive.) Now that you have the FLV file locally, you can watch it anytime on any PC with a compatible video player like FLV Player. You can then also convert that FLV file to an MP4 file for viewing on your iPod. One popular free software application expressly designed for converting movies for iPods is the Videora iPod Converter. Other converting software abounds.
Despite the silly Mac vs. PC commercials with John Hodgman and the sometimes juvenile behavior in Web forums by fans of both platforms, the differences between Mac and Windows are quickly becoming irrelevant, at least on the software side.
Mac OS X users can use Parallels or Boot Camp to run Windows; ambitious Windows users can even run Mac OS X; and a quickly growing number of important software developers now provide full cross-platform functionality, that is, software that runs on Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux.
So, rather than use the opportunity of Macworld to unleash our unwashed PC and Mac trolls into online venues, we should appreciate what each platform brings to our cornucopia of downloadable software delights. Thanks, Apple!
Do Windows users care about Macworld? Tell me about it in the comments.
It seems that every time Apple has a conference, they release some new, overpriced, impracticable tech-toy. Take the MacBook Air. Yes, it is thin and portable. But a now archaic 1.6 ghz processor and one, yes I said ONE USB port, how can one expect to do anything useful with it? Even with all of the new wireless capabilities, you're probably not going to be running around all day. Once in awhile you'll want to plug it in and use it at home. And whatever happened to a CD-ROM drive? I didn't see one in the screen shots. And top that with a price of $1,799, it's just becomes ludacris that anybody would want to buy one. And don't forget the new "movie-renting" feature for the iPod and iPhone. If you actually had enough time to watch a two hour movie, you'd be at home on the couch in front of the T.V, not watching a tiny screen on your phone.
I will admit that Apple has nice user interfaces, and the integration of all of their software is amazing. But with all of the stupid ideas of theirs, they still aren't a credible rival to Microsoft or Windows. And with the decline of popularity in Vista and Office 2007 and people downgrading to XP and Office 2003 (or going to Linux and free software, like the Ubuntu and Openoffice.org), it will be interesting how this situation plays out.
>But with all of the stupid ideas of theirs,<
Ya, all of their ideas are pretty stupid and that is why they are valued more than Dell & IBM. Seems like it is time to take those chips off of your shoulder and see that there is life after Microsoft.
And the air. The thing has a 13" screen. Sure its super thin, but I'd rather have smaller than thinner. anyway, I would like to have one if it were a reasonable price...$800. But then no Macs sell for under a thousand (except for Mac mini which is just a super expensive cheap desktop).
There are several points about this last ultra-thin laptop that should be pointed out. First, Apple users appeared to be forgotten with no firewire port. Only one USB and that's it. If the wireless doesn't work (as happened with their release of Leopard and several problems with EAP support in general), there is no way back, no ethernet. No replaceable batteries (in case yours fail, you'll have to send all your laptop and hopefor the best).
Last, the main concern about ultra-portable PCs is, normally, weight. However, after designing an ultra thin laptop, turned out hat it could be too fragile and so, they decided to use aluminum and make it heavier. Toshiba has done pretty good job as well as lenovo and Sony making ultra low weight laptops. They already have good products, and I hope they don't start crippling ports out of their computers to look more like this new laptop.
Apple was also the first to convince us that we didn't need Serial ports, floppy drives, and such. Seems that we did learn to live without them quit well didn't we? Or did Apple force the Windows users to stop using them?
(I think the only Apple product I've ever purchased is a Quicktime Pro license, and I hardly ever use that.)
(I think the only Apple product I've ever purchased is a Quicktime Pro license, and I hardly ever use that.)
- by bighomer January 17, 2008 3:44 PM PST
- ...personally, I prefer linux.
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