Todd —
You’ve got to give up this obsession with Apple and iTunes. It’s an unreasonable prejudice, and it just makes you look a bit unbalanced.
Some of us just happen to like the Apple user interface. And the latest Macs, sharing the Intel processor with most PCs, are cost-competitive with Dell at similar performance points for the first time.
Thom – I don’t want to dispute your suggestion that I’m unbalanced, but I do disagree that I am obsessed. Before today, I count three total posts (in 3 years) that mention Apple or iTunes, and only one of those is derogatory. On my BiblePlaces Blog, I have never mentioned it. Clearly, I have a long ways to go to demonstrate my obsession. I’ve heard though that Apple lovers are hyper-sensitive :-).
More seriously, there are so many issues today that we disagree on which are serious and substantial. The PC-Apple one is sort of like a sports rivalry, for those who don’t care about sports.
This particular post has nothing offensive except the graphic (which I did not create, only borrowed). I thought the occasion of a big announcement by Apple, coupled with the suggestion in the article that the stock price could drop, would be a subtle but unique way to remind readers of my fondness for Apple, while at the same time teaching some about a stock market practice they didn’t know about. The graphic may be over the top, but it communicates my own mystery as to how primitive Apple is in some ways (with only one mouse button for a long, long time).
As for others who like Macs, I am truly at peace with that. I don’t needle to create converts, but only in good-natured fun. Apple of course has done much more to make fun of PCs than the other way around.
How’s that for trying to fill in the white space between the hyperlinks?
Thanks for filling in the white space (grin).
Actually, the graphic tickled me – the single-button mouse has been rejected by Mac users for a couple of decades now. Nobody likes them, or uses them.
And yes, it’s almost exactly like a sports rivalry between PC and Mac (tastes great, less filling) — and we enjoy the give-and-take. I hope you didn’t think I was seriously accusing you of mental instability. That would be the pot calling the kettle . . . .
Booooo. Ok, I’ll bite. It is quite fitting that you post this today because it is the day we have all been waiting for: the MacExpo. It will be this day in history that Jobs presents the new Apple products. Of most intrest will be the phone/pda/music/etc hardware.
Todd, you absolutely have to check out the iPhone on the Apple website. Watch the little movies they have for the features. It is awesome! You will be assimilated.
Apple shares jumped more than 8 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged. The run on Apple stock created about $6 billion in shareholder wealth.
While I’m not a fan of iTunes, due to their lack of a subscription-based service, I still feel that have the slickest interface. It’s great that TMC does some Podcasting with it and I only hope for more to come.
I do own two iPod Shuffles and have an older iPod. I’m definately interested in the iPhone. It’s small, lightweight and multifunctional. If they end up offering more smartphone capabilities to it (application support and basically turning it into a PDA) I wouldn’t hestitate to buy one. It sounds like that is Apple’s direction and I think this could be a killer gadget. Phone, iPod, PDA, etc. … all in one. Nice.
The Apple TV thing sounds great too, especially if it ends up functioning better that Media Center Extenders (which screw up more often than not). If it works right than Apple has trumped MSFT in a big way …
… though the iPhone (and iPod) already have done the trick. The Zune looks to be a dud and MSFT has lots of work to accomplish in order to recover.
Thom – I guess somebody should be happy that God made me a Bible teacher and not a stock broker.
Jonathan’s links though remind me of one reason that I hate Apple (and this is more serious than good-natured). A few years ago I bought Apple Quicktime so that I could edit some videos. Shortly thereafter Apple “upgraded” the program so that I could either 1) watch Quicktime videos or 2) edit my own. But not both. In essence, they are forcing me to pay for another program (version 7) or to be unable to watch any of the Apple videos, including the one that Jonathan links to.
Now, I suppose they have the “right” to do that. Any company has a right to screw their customers. But usually people scream and the company either changes their practice or loses a lot of business. Apple, in my perspective, is taking advantage of their monopoly and doesn’t care about fair practices.
Possibly the same could be said for other companies (and Microsoft will be the first that comes to mind). But I’ve used 10x as much MS software over the years and I can’t think of a single time when they did something like this.
Of course, this is but one example. But if this is one of my few contacts with Apple, it sure leaves a sour taste in my mouth and makes me wonder why I would want to buy a phone or some other product. Especially a $500 phone that will be a doorstop in 3 years time.
And the phone only works with one phone company? What’s up with that? Why the exclusivity? I’ll tell you – it’s not for the customers’ benefit. On second thought, buy AAPL now.
Hey, I just like the Apple user interface — not all of their product intro or upgrade strategies. However, I always despised Microsoft’s busness ethics/practices — they were the folks prosecuted for unfair business practices in all 50 states and Europe.
As to product life, Moore’s Law still means that processors double in power at half the price about every 18 months, so three years is two full technology generations — a long product life in this industry.
I think Cingular is the first, but won’t be the only provider offering iPHone. Since only Verizon gets a decent signal to my side of the mountain, I won’t be looking into the iPhone until it’s offered by my carrier.
Brian, it looks like the iPhone is the first handheld that’ll run a full OS, not a scaled down version, so it’ll be more of a computer with a very small screen than a PDA — full sync with mail, contacts, calendar, plus iTunes and Safari for browsing, and other office applications for productivity. I hope Verizon adds it, soon.
Todd, your Quicktime problem is a bit odd. Anyone should be able to view videos with the free player. I don’t think Apple Inc. would want to prevent anyone from seeing their commercials. I would try to download the free player again.
One of the best features on iPhone that prevents its death in 3 years is that it has no buttons (save one). Buttons cause limit upgrades and cause death, but since the iPhone is touchscreen, then the software simply needs to be upgraded for new features. Cool.
Jonathan – Apple won’t let you have two versions of the same program on one computer. So I can have either 6.5 full version or 7.0 free player. With 6.5 I can edit my own videos but Apple has made it impossible to view new videos with this player. If I install 7.0, I lose my purchased 6.5.
On your second comment, Apple marketing is really good. They have even fooled a near-PhD grad. In 3 years, Apple will be selling something else that you just gotta have and the iPhone will no longer be cool, will have been dropped one too many times, or the battery will no longer recharge.
Do you really do all your video stuff on Quicktime 6.5? Go ahead and get a Mac and then you can do all your video on iMovie (which is completely integrated with iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, etc [that all come with the Mac]). Personally, I don’t know anyone that has bought the full version of Quicktime, so sorry I can’t help with that one.
Be it known that my 17 inch PowerBook G4 is 3 years old and still works like a charm. I have had no problems with it and I anticipate it to be faithful for years to come. Yes, I would love the new version with the dual hardrive, built-in iChat camera, new screen, etc., but I’m happy with my “old” computer. I understand that this may be hard to understand for PC users – kinda like the mouse thing.
Jonathan – you should join Apple Marketing. They only want me to spend $30 for the latest version and you want me to spend $1500 on a Mac so I can do the same thing. Forgive me for bringing it up.
And yes, I do all of my video stuff with Quicktime 6.5. Just browse through my blog and you’ll see how much all that is. A clip of a kid reading the Bible in a couple of languages. And a few other things on the same level that I send to family. If I ever decide to do more, it won’t be with an Apple program. (That doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t, just that I won’t.)
Ok, ok, my last word: your figure of $1500 is slanderous. With educational discount you can get an iMac for $899 and a MacBook for $1049. How ’bout them apples?
Jonathan –
Your hard drive is very near the end of average life expectancy — make sure you backup regularly and be prepared for it to die at the most inconvenient time. That lifecycle is fairly common to all laptops, not just Mac.
I replaced the hard drive in a three-year-old PB G4 aluminum and a four year old PB G4 titanium in late 2005 — both under extended Apple warranty. Ship it off on Monday, get it back Wednesday afternoon.
Both machines going strong, as you said, “faithful for years to come.”
Todd —
You’ve got to give up this obsession with Apple and iTunes. It’s an unreasonable prejudice, and it just makes you look a bit unbalanced.
Some of us just happen to like the Apple user interface. And the latest Macs, sharing the Intel processor with most PCs, are cost-competitive with Dell at similar performance points for the first time.
Thom
The’re still gumdrops and jelly beans. ;-)
Thom – I don’t want to dispute your suggestion that I’m unbalanced, but I do disagree that I am obsessed. Before today, I count three total posts (in 3 years) that mention Apple or iTunes, and only one of those is derogatory. On my BiblePlaces Blog, I have never mentioned it. Clearly, I have a long ways to go to demonstrate my obsession. I’ve heard though that Apple lovers are hyper-sensitive :-).
More seriously, there are so many issues today that we disagree on which are serious and substantial. The PC-Apple one is sort of like a sports rivalry, for those who don’t care about sports.
This particular post has nothing offensive except the graphic (which I did not create, only borrowed). I thought the occasion of a big announcement by Apple, coupled with the suggestion in the article that the stock price could drop, would be a subtle but unique way to remind readers of my fondness for Apple, while at the same time teaching some about a stock market practice they didn’t know about. The graphic may be over the top, but it communicates my own mystery as to how primitive Apple is in some ways (with only one mouse button for a long, long time).
As for others who like Macs, I am truly at peace with that. I don’t needle to create converts, but only in good-natured fun. Apple of course has done much more to make fun of PCs than the other way around.
How’s that for trying to fill in the white space between the hyperlinks?
Thanks for filling in the white space (grin).
Actually, the graphic tickled me – the single-button mouse has been rejected by Mac users for a couple of decades now. Nobody likes them, or uses them.
And yes, it’s almost exactly like a sports rivalry between PC and Mac (tastes great, less filling) — and we enjoy the give-and-take. I hope you didn’t think I was seriously accusing you of mental instability. That would be the pot calling the kettle . . . .
Blessings,
Thom
Booooo. Ok, I’ll bite. It is quite fitting that you post this today because it is the day we have all been waiting for: the MacExpo. It will be this day in history that Jobs presents the new Apple products. Of most intrest will be the phone/pda/music/etc hardware.
BTW, the Apple mouse of this century looks like a one button, but it actually is a two button. The scroll button is really cool too. You can check out the Mighty Mouse here:
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=52E1F9CD&nplm=MA272LL%2FA
Todd, you absolutely have to check out the iPhone on the Apple website. Watch the little movies they have for the features. It is awesome! You will be assimilated.
http://www.apple.com/iphone
Oops — bad stock tip (grin)
AP story Jan 9, 2007
Apple shares jumped more than 8 percent on the announcements, while the stock of rival smart-phone makers plunged. The run on Apple stock created about $6 billion in shareholder wealth.
Thom
While I’m not a fan of iTunes, due to their lack of a subscription-based service, I still feel that have the slickest interface. It’s great that TMC does some Podcasting with it and I only hope for more to come.
I do own two iPod Shuffles and have an older iPod. I’m definately interested in the iPhone. It’s small, lightweight and multifunctional. If they end up offering more smartphone capabilities to it (application support and basically turning it into a PDA) I wouldn’t hestitate to buy one. It sounds like that is Apple’s direction and I think this could be a killer gadget. Phone, iPod, PDA, etc. … all in one. Nice.
The Apple TV thing sounds great too, especially if it ends up functioning better that Media Center Extenders (which screw up more often than not). If it works right than Apple has trumped MSFT in a big way …
… though the iPhone (and iPod) already have done the trick. The Zune looks to be a dud and MSFT has lots of work to accomplish in order to recover.
Thom – I guess somebody should be happy that God made me a Bible teacher and not a stock broker.
Jonathan’s links though remind me of one reason that I hate Apple (and this is more serious than good-natured). A few years ago I bought Apple Quicktime so that I could edit some videos. Shortly thereafter Apple “upgraded” the program so that I could either 1) watch Quicktime videos or 2) edit my own. But not both. In essence, they are forcing me to pay for another program (version 7) or to be unable to watch any of the Apple videos, including the one that Jonathan links to.
Now, I suppose they have the “right” to do that. Any company has a right to screw their customers. But usually people scream and the company either changes their practice or loses a lot of business. Apple, in my perspective, is taking advantage of their monopoly and doesn’t care about fair practices.
Possibly the same could be said for other companies (and Microsoft will be the first that comes to mind). But I’ve used 10x as much MS software over the years and I can’t think of a single time when they did something like this.
Of course, this is but one example. But if this is one of my few contacts with Apple, it sure leaves a sour taste in my mouth and makes me wonder why I would want to buy a phone or some other product. Especially a $500 phone that will be a doorstop in 3 years time.
And the phone only works with one phone company? What’s up with that? Why the exclusivity? I’ll tell you – it’s not for the customers’ benefit. On second thought, buy AAPL now.
Hey, I just like the Apple user interface — not all of their product intro or upgrade strategies. However, I always despised Microsoft’s busness ethics/practices — they were the folks prosecuted for unfair business practices in all 50 states and Europe.
As to product life, Moore’s Law still means that processors double in power at half the price about every 18 months, so three years is two full technology generations — a long product life in this industry.
I think Cingular is the first, but won’t be the only provider offering iPHone. Since only Verizon gets a decent signal to my side of the mountain, I won’t be looking into the iPhone until it’s offered by my carrier.
Brian, it looks like the iPhone is the first handheld that’ll run a full OS, not a scaled down version, so it’ll be more of a computer with a very small screen than a PDA — full sync with mail, contacts, calendar, plus iTunes and Safari for browsing, and other office applications for productivity. I hope Verizon adds it, soon.
Blessings,
Thom
Todd, your Quicktime problem is a bit odd. Anyone should be able to view videos with the free player. I don’t think Apple Inc. would want to prevent anyone from seeing their commercials. I would try to download the free player again.
One of the best features on iPhone that prevents its death in 3 years is that it has no buttons (save one). Buttons cause limit upgrades and cause death, but since the iPhone is touchscreen, then the software simply needs to be upgraded for new features. Cool.
Jonathan – Apple won’t let you have two versions of the same program on one computer. So I can have either 6.5 full version or 7.0 free player. With 6.5 I can edit my own videos but Apple has made it impossible to view new videos with this player. If I install 7.0, I lose my purchased 6.5.
On your second comment, Apple marketing is really good. They have even fooled a near-PhD grad. In 3 years, Apple will be selling something else that you just gotta have and the iPhone will no longer be cool, will have been dropped one too many times, or the battery will no longer recharge.
Do you really do all your video stuff on Quicktime 6.5? Go ahead and get a Mac and then you can do all your video on iMovie (which is completely integrated with iDVD, iTunes, iPhoto, etc [that all come with the Mac]). Personally, I don’t know anyone that has bought the full version of Quicktime, so sorry I can’t help with that one.
Be it known that my 17 inch PowerBook G4 is 3 years old and still works like a charm. I have had no problems with it and I anticipate it to be faithful for years to come. Yes, I would love the new version with the dual hardrive, built-in iChat camera, new screen, etc., but I’m happy with my “old” computer. I understand that this may be hard to understand for PC users – kinda like the mouse thing.
Jonathan – you should join Apple Marketing. They only want me to spend $30 for the latest version and you want me to spend $1500 on a Mac so I can do the same thing. Forgive me for bringing it up.
And yes, I do all of my video stuff with Quicktime 6.5. Just browse through my blog and you’ll see how much all that is. A clip of a kid reading the Bible in a couple of languages. And a few other things on the same level that I send to family. If I ever decide to do more, it won’t be with an Apple program. (That doesn’t mean that you can’t or shouldn’t, just that I won’t.)
Ok, ok, my last word: your figure of $1500 is slanderous. With educational discount you can get an iMac for $899 and a MacBook for $1049. How ’bout them apples?
Jonathan –
Your hard drive is very near the end of average life expectancy — make sure you backup regularly and be prepared for it to die at the most inconvenient time. That lifecycle is fairly common to all laptops, not just Mac.
I replaced the hard drive in a three-year-old PB G4 aluminum and a four year old PB G4 titanium in late 2005 — both under extended Apple warranty. Ship it off on Monday, get it back Wednesday afternoon.
Both machines going strong, as you said, “faithful for years to come.”
Thom
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