Why I’m buying another Mac…

I have too much invested now in my Macintosh-based video tools. Final Cut Pro, for instance, is more than $1,000 a pop and we’ve popped that three times already. Plus there’s a network of video editors in the San Francisco area that all use Final Cut Pro and don’t like using anything on Windows. So even if I were able to make the switch and dump my software investments I am swimming upstream against the video editing community that I’m tied into here in San Francisco.

My Mac today isn’t booting up. It needs to go into the shop to get fixed. I guess the problems that started showing up last week were worse than I thought. I need a backup and I need a machine that’ll work when I go to Europe.

Now I really understand why so many people were so angry with Microsoft. People felt they didn’t have a choice in what to buy because of the ecosystem surrounding that platform and, yet, when the platform let them down they could do nothing else but rant about it.

Off to the Apple store I go.

97 thoughts on “Why I’m buying another Mac…

  1. I bet you $20 that the folks at the Apple Store give you a backup to use while yours is being fixed. I took my Macbook in for repairs, and they gave me a MacBook Pro to use while mine was being fixed. It even had Logic Pro on it, which was a big sticking point for me because my laptop runs my studio.

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  2. I bet you $20 that the folks at the Apple Store give you a backup to use while yours is being fixed. I took my Macbook in for repairs, and they gave me a MacBook Pro to use while mine was being fixed. It even had Logic Pro on it, which was a big sticking point for me because my laptop runs my studio.

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  3. If all you guys got together, you could use the money you would spend on your next upgrade of final cut pro and fund open source development of a video editing program that would meet your needs. Put your money where yur bitchin is, if you will 🙂 Seriously, you have the media reach to put that effort together Robert. Start a fund for it on one of those sites where you can collect money for things and promote it w/ your contacts and see how fast you can get to 50k. Hey Dave Winer and Doc Searls what are your thoughts?

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  4. If all you guys got together, you could use the money you would spend on your next upgrade of final cut pro and fund open source development of a video editing program that would meet your needs. Put your money where yur bitchin is, if you will 🙂 Seriously, you have the media reach to put that effort together Robert. Start a fund for it on one of those sites where you can collect money for things and promote it w/ your contacts and see how fast you can get to 50k. Hey Dave Winer and Doc Searls what are your thoughts?

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  5. It’s too bad I moved back east from there, I’d have been happy to come down for half a day and help you sort things out on the Macs. One of the things that I respect is that the internals of the OS are a lot more accessible than with windows, so unless it’s hardware, you can fix a lot of things yourself. If you come visit New york, I’d be happy to help you out.

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  6. It’s too bad I moved back east from there, I’d have been happy to come down for half a day and help you sort things out on the Macs. One of the things that I respect is that the internals of the OS are a lot more accessible than with windows, so unless it’s hardware, you can fix a lot of things yourself. If you come visit New york, I’d be happy to help you out.

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  7. It is all in the odds of having an issue with your computer.

    No computer is perfect. You are going to have an error rate no matter what. After all, computers are made by humans and we aren’t perfect, yet we build these machines and write the programs for them. There is always going to be a bad hard drive here and there or a bad motherboard or whatever. There is always going to be a software bug of some kind.

    In my experience, Macs tend to have less issues then PC’s. Probably some combination of better quality control when selecting the hardware, less variations of hardware to support, one vendor in control of every step, better design decisions for both hardware/software, etc.

    In my experience, Macs are more reliable and more likely to “just work” compared to PC’s. But they are still designed by humans and are still used by humans. They still use mechanical parts. Mistakes and flaws can still show up.

    Just like any car (or heck, human body), nothing is going to run perfect forever. It is just a question of the odds and when your unlucky number comes up.

    So I do think you are a tad unfair on Apple about this. No one claims that Macs are 100% reliable and will never have issues. It is all in the odds. And for most people, they are more reliable then PC’s by far.

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  8. It is all in the odds of having an issue with your computer.

    No computer is perfect. You are going to have an error rate no matter what. After all, computers are made by humans and we aren’t perfect, yet we build these machines and write the programs for them. There is always going to be a bad hard drive here and there or a bad motherboard or whatever. There is always going to be a software bug of some kind.

    In my experience, Macs tend to have less issues then PC’s. Probably some combination of better quality control when selecting the hardware, less variations of hardware to support, one vendor in control of every step, better design decisions for both hardware/software, etc.

    In my experience, Macs are more reliable and more likely to “just work” compared to PC’s. But they are still designed by humans and are still used by humans. They still use mechanical parts. Mistakes and flaws can still show up.

    Just like any car (or heck, human body), nothing is going to run perfect forever. It is just a question of the odds and when your unlucky number comes up.

    So I do think you are a tad unfair on Apple about this. No one claims that Macs are 100% reliable and will never have issues. It is all in the odds. And for most people, they are more reliable then PC’s by far.

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  9. Does anyone know why Microsoft hasn’t entered the Final Cut/ Avid market with a professional video editing package of their own?

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  10. I get incredibly frustrated when I have problems with my apple stuff too. I think it’s because apple’s prices are higher, so I expect more out of it in EVERY way. Usually, once I’ve calmed down, I realize that I’m paying for the benefits that I get out of using apple products every day that they do function.

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  11. I get incredibly frustrated when I have problems with my apple stuff too. I think it’s because apple’s prices are higher, so I expect more out of it in EVERY way. Usually, once I’ve calmed down, I realize that I’m paying for the benefits that I get out of using apple products every day that they do function.

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  12. Does anyone know why Microsoft hasn’t entered the Final Cut/ Avid market with a professional video editing package of their own?

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  13. The reason why Macs are so much more expensive then a Windows PC. You ave to buy so many just to replace the last one that stopped working.

    Good Luck

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  14. The reason why Macs are so much more expensive then a Windows PC. You ave to buy so many just to replace the last one that stopped working.

    Good Luck

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  15. Being a designer, I am expected to have all things Mac, especially since my “ecosystem” is probably 90% Mac. And years ago I was (I owned a frickin’ Lisa.) But after my Powerbook died, I momentarily switched over to my Windows system for everything fully thinking that I would hate Windows and run back to the Mac. Guess what…. I never returned. I could never find a reason to go back to the Mac. And everything on Windows was 10% to 90% less expensive (or free) with vastly greater selection. It’s amazing what competition does. I learned everything you’re currently going through 5 years ago. There was once a time when creatives had to use a Mac – you simply couldn’t do the same things on Windows. But that is no longer true. I can argue that I can do EVERYTHING that you can do on a Mac and more on Windows. I am humored that the fans of the famed “1984” commercial have become the audience IN the commercial. Mac/iPod/iPhone buyers are the victims of the greatest hidden monopoly in business history. Remember, cigarettes were once marketed as being good for your health….

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  16. Being a designer, I am expected to have all things Mac, especially since my “ecosystem” is probably 90% Mac. And years ago I was (I owned a frickin’ Lisa.) But after my Powerbook died, I momentarily switched over to my Windows system for everything fully thinking that I would hate Windows and run back to the Mac. Guess what…. I never returned. I could never find a reason to go back to the Mac. And everything on Windows was 10% to 90% less expensive (or free) with vastly greater selection. It’s amazing what competition does. I learned everything you’re currently going through 5 years ago. There was once a time when creatives had to use a Mac – you simply couldn’t do the same things on Windows. But that is no longer true. I can argue that I can do EVERYTHING that you can do on a Mac and more on Windows. I am humored that the fans of the famed “1984” commercial have become the audience IN the commercial. Mac/iPod/iPhone buyers are the victims of the greatest hidden monopoly in business history. Remember, cigarettes were once marketed as being good for your health….

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  17. What symptoms are you getting when you boot you Mac up ? Are you getting the Apple logo with a spinny thing beneath it ? If you are, then I had that problem too. I can let you know what I did to fix it.

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  18. What symptoms are you getting when you boot you Mac up ? Are you getting the Apple logo with a spinny thing beneath it ? If you are, then I had that problem too. I can let you know what I did to fix it.

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  19. Have you tried bookting form the install DVDs (I think you press C when the Mac boots up), and try doing an ‘Archive and Install’.

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  20. Have you tried bookting form the install DVDs (I think you press C when the Mac boots up), and try doing an ‘Archive and Install’.

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  21. I’ve had one foot in both worlds since 1984: I have owned nothing but Macs, and my employers have almost always required me to have PCs (except for about 7 years of doing Mac development and a year or so of Linux).

    I won’t say the Apple experience has been flawless: I have had disks fail or get corrupted, displays go bad, etc. But I prefer the Apple experience to the Wintel one for several reasons:

    – By and large, Apple backs its products. They have replaced batteries, power bricks, iPods, and one iPhone with a minimum of fuss (no receipt? no packaging? no problem).

    -Over the long haul, they have lasted and stayed reasonably current. My 1998 and 2001 iMacs are still doing daily duty in my wife’s classroom, currently running Classic apps under OS X 10.4.

    – Granting that some expertise is necessary to know how to exploit it, Macs have flexibility that makes diagnosing them much easier. In your case, Robert, I would propose putting your non-booting machine in target disk mode and connect it to another Mac, then see if the disk can be mounted and repaired. I have fixed several non-booting Macs over the years (since about 1993 or earlier) this way, and I know of no comparable capability that has been applied to my dead Wintel machines over the years.

    The net of it all is that my 24 years of experience with Macs has been, overall, way more satisfying (or less frustrating) than the same interval using MSDOS & Windows. That is not to say that there haven’t been times I wanted to put my fist through a screen or a keyboard, but a lot fewer times than when sitting at my Dell or HP at work.

    The “Apple Brand” promises that the experience will be better, not perfect. It’s advertising; surely a little hyperbole is not unexpected?

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  22. I’ve had one foot in both worlds since 1984: I have owned nothing but Macs, and my employers have almost always required me to have PCs (except for about 7 years of doing Mac development and a year or so of Linux).

    I won’t say the Apple experience has been flawless: I have had disks fail or get corrupted, displays go bad, etc. But I prefer the Apple experience to the Wintel one for several reasons:

    – By and large, Apple backs its products. They have replaced batteries, power bricks, iPods, and one iPhone with a minimum of fuss (no receipt? no packaging? no problem).

    -Over the long haul, they have lasted and stayed reasonably current. My 1998 and 2001 iMacs are still doing daily duty in my wife’s classroom, currently running Classic apps under OS X 10.4.

    – Granting that some expertise is necessary to know how to exploit it, Macs have flexibility that makes diagnosing them much easier. In your case, Robert, I would propose putting your non-booting machine in target disk mode and connect it to another Mac, then see if the disk can be mounted and repaired. I have fixed several non-booting Macs over the years (since about 1993 or earlier) this way, and I know of no comparable capability that has been applied to my dead Wintel machines over the years.

    The net of it all is that my 24 years of experience with Macs has been, overall, way more satisfying (or less frustrating) than the same interval using MSDOS & Windows. That is not to say that there haven’t been times I wanted to put my fist through a screen or a keyboard, but a lot fewer times than when sitting at my Dell or HP at work.

    The “Apple Brand” promises that the experience will be better, not perfect. It’s advertising; surely a little hyperbole is not unexpected?

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  23. Scoble, you fool. You most likely don’t need to buy Final Cut Pro – if you’re shooting with a single standard-def camera then you can use Apple’s sub-$200 Final Cut Express. That would pay, for instance, for the soon-to-be-useless Kindle you just bought.

    No offense, mate, but thank God there isn’t actually one of you born every minute.

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  24. Scoble, you fool. You most likely don’t need to buy Final Cut Pro – if you’re shooting with a single standard-def camera then you can use Apple’s sub-$200 Final Cut Express. That would pay, for instance, for the soon-to-be-useless Kindle you just bought.

    No offense, mate, but thank God there isn’t actually one of you born every minute.

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  25. Aaaargh!! That should say (snarkily), ‘Assuming your production values are what I expect, and your audio needs as limited as they seem…’

    I appear to have forgotten, um, how to type and stuff.

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  26. Aaaargh!! That should say (snarkily), ‘Assuming your production values are what I expect, and your audio needs as limited as they seem…’

    I appear to have forgotten, um, how to type and stuff.

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  27. It’s a pisser that you’re in this kind of jam but I’m sure if you explain yourself to the guys at the Apple Store they’ll come to some kinda compromise. They may even be able to fix your machine inside a day too – from what you were saying the other day about the ‘restart hell’ it sounds like the OS is just borked on it. The darkened ‘please reboot’ message is basically a fancy coverup for a Kernel Panic. It’s the OS spitting it’s pacifier out. The guys at your Apple Store can likely boot it from an external with Leopard on, suck the info off, flatten and reinstall it and have the data back on the drive in a couple of hours if that’s the case. I have had to do it myself before now on a PowerMac G4 that decided it was gonna sick up it’s lunch following an update way back in the 10.2.x days.

    Remember the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – DON’T PANIC!

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  28. It’s a pisser that you’re in this kind of jam but I’m sure if you explain yourself to the guys at the Apple Store they’ll come to some kinda compromise. They may even be able to fix your machine inside a day too – from what you were saying the other day about the ‘restart hell’ it sounds like the OS is just borked on it. The darkened ‘please reboot’ message is basically a fancy coverup for a Kernel Panic. It’s the OS spitting it’s pacifier out. The guys at your Apple Store can likely boot it from an external with Leopard on, suck the info off, flatten and reinstall it and have the data back on the drive in a couple of hours if that’s the case. I have had to do it myself before now on a PowerMac G4 that decided it was gonna sick up it’s lunch following an update way back in the 10.2.x days.

    Remember the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – DON’T PANIC!

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  29. Yeah, FCP Express 4 is going for $199, the FULL PACKAGE is nice and has extra apps however, but only a real must-have need if doing film work. But very nice that Apple reduced it, now all the iMovie toads can upgrade.

    But with Vegas 8 and Premiere CS3, I predict, the FCP juggernaut will start to slow. Still use FCP daily, but Vegas and VASST always seem to win the day (week, month) for me — in terms of workflow. Avid is power but pure hell, even after a few books and a class, it’s still a royal chore, but things it can do, that no one else can touch, just wish not so painful.

    soon-to-be-useless Kindle

    Well, all the bloggers who are getting them, will create a fan community slash blog, and they will forever talk to themselves, smarting themselves that they are of an elite order that really “gets it”. Scoble gets a ticket to that club, so it becomes not a device to actually use or to hack up, but a device that all the “cool kids” are using, photo op time. It’s real functionality lies in the “networking” potential, easily discarded for the newest shiny thing when the network-effect wears off. Just deconstruct the Scoble slash blogger-nose-level worldviews, easy as pie.

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  30. Yeah, FCP Express 4 is going for $199, the FULL PACKAGE is nice and has extra apps however, but only a real must-have need if doing film work. But very nice that Apple reduced it, now all the iMovie toads can upgrade.

    But with Vegas 8 and Premiere CS3, I predict, the FCP juggernaut will start to slow. Still use FCP daily, but Vegas and VASST always seem to win the day (week, month) for me — in terms of workflow. Avid is power but pure hell, even after a few books and a class, it’s still a royal chore, but things it can do, that no one else can touch, just wish not so painful.

    soon-to-be-useless Kindle

    Well, all the bloggers who are getting them, will create a fan community slash blog, and they will forever talk to themselves, smarting themselves that they are of an elite order that really “gets it”. Scoble gets a ticket to that club, so it becomes not a device to actually use or to hack up, but a device that all the “cool kids” are using, photo op time. It’s real functionality lies in the “networking” potential, easily discarded for the newest shiny thing when the network-effect wears off. Just deconstruct the Scoble slash blogger-nose-level worldviews, easy as pie.

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  31. Computers go wrong every day. I don’t see what there is to get your knickers in a twist over.

    Computers going wrong every day is one reason I trust my sound recording to a 702T rather than a Mac or PC. Of course, at its heart the 702T is a computer, but a highly specialised one.

    People don’t get angry at Microsoft. They get angry at Steve Ballmer being a prick and Bill Gates lobbying for TRIPS. Ray Ozzie …. you can’t polish a turd. Sell the sizzle not the sausage. Microsoft is all out of sizzle in my opinion. Nothing left to sell. I’ve got an old Lotus 1-2-3 disk if you’re interested?

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  32. Computers go wrong every day. I don’t see what there is to get your knickers in a twist over.

    Computers going wrong every day is one reason I trust my sound recording to a 702T rather than a Mac or PC. Of course, at its heart the 702T is a computer, but a highly specialised one.

    People don’t get angry at Microsoft. They get angry at Steve Ballmer being a prick and Bill Gates lobbying for TRIPS. Ray Ozzie …. you can’t polish a turd. Sell the sizzle not the sausage. Microsoft is all out of sizzle in my opinion. Nothing left to sell. I’ve got an old Lotus 1-2-3 disk if you’re interested?

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  33. So, maybe some directory damage caused this computer to not boot, and will the poster come back and say wether the techs at the store fixed it for him even though he could have done it himself?

    Probably not.

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  34. So, maybe some directory damage caused this computer to not boot, and will the poster come back and say wether the techs at the store fixed it for him even though he could have done it himself?

    Probably not.

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  35. Apple makes some fine products, But you can do everything you need for cheaper on a Windows machine.
    And if you want to spend two to three grand on a Vista machine, your going to get Dell XPS/Alienware specs.

    Not bad at all

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  36. Apple makes some fine products, But you can do everything you need for cheaper on a Windows machine.
    And if you want to spend two to three grand on a Vista machine, your going to get Dell XPS/Alienware specs.

    Not bad at all

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  37. “But you can do everything you need for cheaper on a Windows machine.”

    Joe, it’s not the fact you can do it that makes people use Macs, it’s HOW you do it. The vast majority of stuff is just more painless on a Mac than a Windows machine. In the long run when I count the number of hours it saves me in swearing and high blood pressure alone it makes the extra price worth it – but then again you do get odd moments of swearing and high blood pressure like Robert’s with a Mac too, but they are far outweighed (at least in my case, I dunno about Scoble 😉 ) by how well it all works *most of the time*.

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  38. “But you can do everything you need for cheaper on a Windows machine.”

    Joe, it’s not the fact you can do it that makes people use Macs, it’s HOW you do it. The vast majority of stuff is just more painless on a Mac than a Windows machine. In the long run when I count the number of hours it saves me in swearing and high blood pressure alone it makes the extra price worth it – but then again you do get odd moments of swearing and high blood pressure like Robert’s with a Mac too, but they are far outweighed (at least in my case, I dunno about Scoble 😉 ) by how well it all works *most of the time*.

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  39. Scobie why not vote with your wallet. I’m tired of hearing you complain. Go buy a PC and don’t ever complain again.

    As a Mac user for over 20 years it would take a lot more than one failure for me to cry like such a baby. In 11 years my business has had 3.45 hours of unplanned database downtime from Mac desktops deployed as servers and now 2 Xserves that do the job. In that time I have had a couple of failures that caught me off guard. Yes, I should have had disks backed up, I should have… but I did not. And yes there have been hardware failures, even one Mac arrived DOA. Remember Forrest Gump? Shit happens.

    Grow up and get over it.

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  40. Scobie why not vote with your wallet. I’m tired of hearing you complain. Go buy a PC and don’t ever complain again.

    As a Mac user for over 20 years it would take a lot more than one failure for me to cry like such a baby. In 11 years my business has had 3.45 hours of unplanned database downtime from Mac desktops deployed as servers and now 2 Xserves that do the job. In that time I have had a couple of failures that caught me off guard. Yes, I should have had disks backed up, I should have… but I did not. And yes there have been hardware failures, even one Mac arrived DOA. Remember Forrest Gump? Shit happens.

    Grow up and get over it.

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  41. I work for very large Fortune 500 Company that has standardized on Microsoft Windows for desktops and laptops, and all the other Microsoft Stuff for e-mail etc. Because of the Virus-filled Windows world they have implemented so many security barriers and policies that it is almost impossible to get ones job done, without rebooting the machines at least thrice a day. Of my 8-hr work day I spend nearly an hour waiting for the machine reboots.

    Working with Microsoft Windows stuff is cruel and unusual punishment.

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  42. I work for very large Fortune 500 Company that has standardized on Microsoft Windows for desktops and laptops, and all the other Microsoft Stuff for e-mail etc. Because of the Virus-filled Windows world they have implemented so many security barriers and policies that it is almost impossible to get ones job done, without rebooting the machines at least thrice a day. Of my 8-hr work day I spend nearly an hour waiting for the machine reboots.

    Working with Microsoft Windows stuff is cruel and unusual punishment.

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  43. “The vast majority of stuff is just more painless on a Mac than a Windows machine.”

    For people who don’t know how to properly use computers, perhaps. I’ve had more problems on Mac OS than I ever had on Windows. The experience differs from person to person. If you know what you’re doing, any operating system will work well for you. If you’re inexperienced, Macs may work better but only because everything is so well integrated. Of course, that makes it hard to customize anything and third party programs not designed in close connection with Apple don’t work nearly as well as, say, Garage Band or Final Cut.

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  44. “The vast majority of stuff is just more painless on a Mac than a Windows machine.”

    For people who don’t know how to properly use computers, perhaps. I’ve had more problems on Mac OS than I ever had on Windows. The experience differs from person to person. If you know what you’re doing, any operating system will work well for you. If you’re inexperienced, Macs may work better but only because everything is so well integrated. Of course, that makes it hard to customize anything and third party programs not designed in close connection with Apple don’t work nearly as well as, say, Garage Band or Final Cut.

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  45. @ #27 – Viswakarma

    Just because you’re at a fortune 500 company doesn’t mean that your tech department is any good. Ever thought that they may have just stuffed your setup? Maybe they have installed the wrong products… maybe installed them incorrectly… I don’t know many possibilities. Maybe your machine is just stuffed! Why must the problem be windows?

    I’m at IBM and although I wouldn’t want to vouch for all of IBM – the staff around me don’t have problems like you suggest. In fact I would say that most of the problems I see people experience is with other people’s badly written software.

    I have never know a windows machine to REQUIRE rebooting thrice a day. My machine is used pretty heavy duty and it gets put into standby at the end of the day and shutdown at the end of the week. Very few reboots in the scheme of things.

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  46. @ #27 – Viswakarma

    Just because you’re at a fortune 500 company doesn’t mean that your tech department is any good. Ever thought that they may have just stuffed your setup? Maybe they have installed the wrong products… maybe installed them incorrectly… I don’t know many possibilities. Maybe your machine is just stuffed! Why must the problem be windows?

    I’m at IBM and although I wouldn’t want to vouch for all of IBM – the staff around me don’t have problems like you suggest. In fact I would say that most of the problems I see people experience is with other people’s badly written software.

    I have never know a windows machine to REQUIRE rebooting thrice a day. My machine is used pretty heavy duty and it gets put into standby at the end of the day and shutdown at the end of the week. Very few reboots in the scheme of things.

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  47. Oh for heaven’s sake. Just be like everyone else, and take the thing in to get it fixed. Hopefully, you’ll be helped by someone unaware of your public temper tantrum.

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  48. Oh for heaven’s sake. Just be like everyone else, and take the thing in to get it fixed. Hopefully, you’ll be helped by someone unaware of your public temper tantrum.

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  49. There’s a few things I don’t understand.
    Assuming that this is due to the recent OS Software Update that caused you problems last week:

    1. Is it not possible to reinstall the OS from scratch rather than buy a new Mac? Seems that buying a new Mac rewards Apple for releasing an OS update that trashed your computer.

    2. Why are you using high-end video editing software? I remember when you did Channel 9 videos, you made due with Windows Movie Maker, and it was more than up to the task for your kind of videos. So iMovie would be more than up to the task for your videos as well. I know you love to spend money on Apple kit, but spending $1000 for Final Cut Pro seems whacky.

    2b. If you really feel that you need Final Cut Pro, why didn’t you get PodTech to pay for it? For that matter, can you get PodTech to pay for your Mac?

    3. You say, “now I know why people were angry at Microsoft” as if the situation is comparable. Apple’s lock-in is orders of magnitude greater than Microsoft lock-in. (Except normally Apple lock-in is praised (indirectly) while all other lock-ins are bashed).

    Lastly, I used to live in Silicon Valley (no longer, thank God), and the people down there need to take their heads out of their behinds. There is NOTHING a Mac and do that Windows cannot wrt media production. Those San Francisco video editor Mac bigots that stick their noses in the air and refuse to take work from Windows or Linux customers are ignorant elitists, reminiscent of the Lisp machine elitists from back in the day.
    http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/why-did-symbolics-fail/
    ” We [Symbolics] believed our own “dogma” even as it became less true. It was embedded in our corporate culture. If you disputed it, your co-workers felt that you “just didn’t get it” and weren’t a member of the clan, so to speak. This stifled objective analysis. (This is a very easy problem to fall into — don’t let it happen to you!) …
    … But back then we really believed in Lisp. We felt only scorn for anyone trying to write an expert system in C; that was part of our corporate culture.”

    (Though I’d guess that the avg I.Q. of the Lisp Machine elitists is 50% higher than that of the “Macs only, please” video editor elitists, but I digress…)

    Anyway, it sounds like there may be a business opportunity in San Francisco for a video editors that do accept business from Windows and Linux users.

    But yeah, welcome to the world of vendor lock-in, the likes of which you’ve never seen in the Microsoft world.

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  50. There’s a few things I don’t understand.
    Assuming that this is due to the recent OS Software Update that caused you problems last week:

    1. Is it not possible to reinstall the OS from scratch rather than buy a new Mac? Seems that buying a new Mac rewards Apple for releasing an OS update that trashed your computer.

    2. Why are you using high-end video editing software? I remember when you did Channel 9 videos, you made due with Windows Movie Maker, and it was more than up to the task for your kind of videos. So iMovie would be more than up to the task for your videos as well. I know you love to spend money on Apple kit, but spending $1000 for Final Cut Pro seems whacky.

    2b. If you really feel that you need Final Cut Pro, why didn’t you get PodTech to pay for it? For that matter, can you get PodTech to pay for your Mac?

    3. You say, “now I know why people were angry at Microsoft” as if the situation is comparable. Apple’s lock-in is orders of magnitude greater than Microsoft lock-in. (Except normally Apple lock-in is praised (indirectly) while all other lock-ins are bashed).

    Lastly, I used to live in Silicon Valley (no longer, thank God), and the people down there need to take their heads out of their behinds. There is NOTHING a Mac and do that Windows cannot wrt media production. Those San Francisco video editor Mac bigots that stick their noses in the air and refuse to take work from Windows or Linux customers are ignorant elitists, reminiscent of the Lisp machine elitists from back in the day.
    http://dlweinreb.wordpress.com/2007/11/16/why-did-symbolics-fail/
    ” We [Symbolics] believed our own “dogma” even as it became less true. It was embedded in our corporate culture. If you disputed it, your co-workers felt that you “just didn’t get it” and weren’t a member of the clan, so to speak. This stifled objective analysis. (This is a very easy problem to fall into — don’t let it happen to you!) …
    … But back then we really believed in Lisp. We felt only scorn for anyone trying to write an expert system in C; that was part of our corporate culture.”

    (Though I’d guess that the avg I.Q. of the Lisp Machine elitists is 50% higher than that of the “Macs only, please” video editor elitists, but I digress…)

    Anyway, it sounds like there may be a business opportunity in San Francisco for a video editors that do accept business from Windows and Linux users.

    But yeah, welcome to the world of vendor lock-in, the likes of which you’ve never seen in the Microsoft world.

    Like

  51. As I see it, all tech goes bad, its really how long will it take. But what I really would like to know is how much have you spent on Apple product since you left MS.

    ps do you think this was user error OR product error

    Like

  52. As I see it, all tech goes bad, its really how long will it take. But what I really would like to know is how much have you spent on Apple product since you left MS.

    ps do you think this was user error OR product error

    Like

  53. “waiting to get their MAC’s fixed”

    What part of their Money Access Center needs to get fixed?

    Or, perhaps something belonging to their Media Access Controller needs to get fixed?

    Neither one of those is something I would expect people to take to the Apple Store, unless, I suppose, their _Mac_ (abbreviation of Macintosh, not an acronym) had a problem with its Ethernet card.

    Like

  54. “waiting to get their MAC’s fixed”

    What part of their Money Access Center needs to get fixed?

    Or, perhaps something belonging to their Media Access Controller needs to get fixed?

    Neither one of those is something I would expect people to take to the Apple Store, unless, I suppose, their _Mac_ (abbreviation of Macintosh, not an acronym) had a problem with its Ethernet card.

    Like

  55. More Leopard screw ups:
    ** MacBook, MacBook Pro owners suffer keyboard freezing with Leopard **
    http://www.digg.com/apple/MacBook_MacBook_Pro_owners_suffer_keyboard_freezing_with_Leopard
    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/11/21/macbook_macbook_pro_owners_suffer_keyboard_freezing_with_leopard.html

    And Digg’s Mac fanboys aren’t even defending Apple on this one, they are admitting that this is a big problem. (There’s another post saying that Leopard cuts the batter life of PPC Powerbooks by 50%, but that’s an unrelated issue.)

    Like

  56. More Leopard screw ups:
    ** MacBook, MacBook Pro owners suffer keyboard freezing with Leopard **
    http://www.digg.com/apple/MacBook_MacBook_Pro_owners_suffer_keyboard_freezing_with_Leopard
    http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/11/21/macbook_macbook_pro_owners_suffer_keyboard_freezing_with_leopard.html

    And Digg’s Mac fanboys aren’t even defending Apple on this one, they are admitting that this is a big problem. (There’s another post saying that Leopard cuts the batter life of PPC Powerbooks by 50%, but that’s an unrelated issue.)

    Like

  57. Well I have been using vista 64bit on my work PC for a while now and have to say that I am quite impressed. The user access control has had to go! Nightmare! But other than that all has gone well. I use CS3 (all of it) and so far have not had a single issue.

    I tried Vista on my home PC but it had to go due to lack of drivers and i am not convinced the game performance is going to be good enough.

    I can’t understand why people bother with Macs. Mac users represent such a tiny percentage of PC users that it would be like cutting myself of from the rest of the world. i have never found a Windows problem that someone has not written a free application for. Safety in numbers 🙂

    Like

  58. Well I have been using vista 64bit on my work PC for a while now and have to say that I am quite impressed. The user access control has had to go! Nightmare! But other than that all has gone well. I use CS3 (all of it) and so far have not had a single issue.

    I tried Vista on my home PC but it had to go due to lack of drivers and i am not convinced the game performance is going to be good enough.

    I can’t understand why people bother with Macs. Mac users represent such a tiny percentage of PC users that it would be like cutting myself of from the rest of the world. i have never found a Windows problem that someone has not written a free application for. Safety in numbers 🙂

    Like

  59. You mean you haven’t got a backup machine already? What kind of professional tech dude are you?? Everyone knows that computers break.

    I’m “locked into” Logic Pro on Apple hardware but I don’t mind since there is in fact nothing comparable on Windows for the price. But by the look of your videos you really don’t need FCP, as other commenters have pointed out.

    I’ll wait a long time to upgrade to Leopard, though. I only just upgraded to Tiger, which is nice and stable now. 😉

    Like

  60. You mean you haven’t got a backup machine already? What kind of professional tech dude are you?? Everyone knows that computers break.

    I’m “locked into” Logic Pro on Apple hardware but I don’t mind since there is in fact nothing comparable on Windows for the price. But by the look of your videos you really don’t need FCP, as other commenters have pointed out.

    I’ll wait a long time to upgrade to Leopard, though. I only just upgraded to Tiger, which is nice and stable now. 😉

    Like

  61. David, that is likely a RAM issue, if it is a real issue at all. It is amusing that people will pay at least a thousand dollars for a computer and then refuse to pay $50 for more RAM. Furthermore, the users who go to a forum to complain are self-selected, not the typical user with no problems. Your dedication to posting anti-Apple FUD is remarkable. Be sure to thank whatever deity you choose for it today.

    Atheist, I do not understand why some people are such determined conformists that they will not even bother to learn why many in the know consider Apple’s software superior and Macs better designed.

    Like

  62. David, that is likely a RAM issue, if it is a real issue at all. It is amusing that people will pay at least a thousand dollars for a computer and then refuse to pay $50 for more RAM. Furthermore, the users who go to a forum to complain are self-selected, not the typical user with no problems. Your dedication to posting anti-Apple FUD is remarkable. Be sure to thank whatever deity you choose for it today.

    Atheist, I do not understand why some people are such determined conformists that they will not even bother to learn why many in the know consider Apple’s software superior and Macs better designed.

    Like

  63. Robert, I am like some others here, in that I don’t understand why you don’t take the machine in and have it fixed (or replaced). (Oh, and whoever you were commenting on everytime you walk into an Apple Store there is a line of people waiting to get their Macs fixed, that is because they HAVE THAT OPTION, which in many cases, WORKS. Where can I take my Dell in, outside of driving to Roundrock, have someone look at it, and have a good chance of walking out with the thing fixed?).

    I know you have the extremely unusual benefit of publishing here and getting a million answers to help you trouble shoot, and I know you’re a tech savvy guy, but sometimes, you just need the guys who do this for a living to do their jobs. I’ve been lucky and havne’t had a failing Mac (nor anyone in my family) for 20+ years that I couldn’t fix on my own–including a 4.5 year old Powerbook that I upgraded to Leopard, and now gets better battery life, Mr. Balder. However, with 20+ Macs, I know that I am plain lucky there have been no problems, because as many have pointed out, these are computers that are manufactured by HUMANS, and things do go wrong, no mater who made it (despite smug advertising, which is just that–advertising, and anyone who believes advertising to be the truth should be reading the national enquirer, not Scoble’s blog).

    For God’s sake, take it in and let them fix it or replace it. My buddy had a few problems with him MB Pro, and after a second trip to the Genius Bar, he saw the manager, they transferred his stuff to another machine, and he walked out with a newer (upgraded) machine. If you sit on your blog bitching about it, this ain’t going to happen.

    Though I can’t stand using Windows machines (and I use them a lot, and in my experience they are more frustrating and problematic), I can live with them, and I follow the same advice–just get it fixed and move on. Why you’re buying a machine is your business, and I have to agree that PodTech should be paying for this machine, otherwise you’re BSing us about the state of affairs there (unless they actually require you to use Windows so like so many others).

    Also, I want to hear the story about how this gets fixed, and if you do get another machine, how it works out. I’m about to upgrade (waiting to see if anything interesting comes out of MacWorld), but if we’re seeing more problems in MB Pros, I might just go for a beefed up MB–my wife’s one year old MB has been a pretty screaming machine (CS3, no probs) for a year + Parallels and XP + Office and a ton of other stuff, and I can live with that sweet bargain if the MB Pros are having quality problems–so let me know.

    And finally, if you are really fed up with the Mac, please take my ThinkPad. It’s a great machine, and I highly recommend ThinkPads for those that must deal with Windows, but I can’t stand looking at the screen anymore until someone comes up with a reliable way to run OS X.

    Please, get it fixed and let us know how it goes. And good luck.

    Like

  64. Robert, I am like some others here, in that I don’t understand why you don’t take the machine in and have it fixed (or replaced). (Oh, and whoever you were commenting on everytime you walk into an Apple Store there is a line of people waiting to get their Macs fixed, that is because they HAVE THAT OPTION, which in many cases, WORKS. Where can I take my Dell in, outside of driving to Roundrock, have someone look at it, and have a good chance of walking out with the thing fixed?).

    I know you have the extremely unusual benefit of publishing here and getting a million answers to help you trouble shoot, and I know you’re a tech savvy guy, but sometimes, you just need the guys who do this for a living to do their jobs. I’ve been lucky and havne’t had a failing Mac (nor anyone in my family) for 20+ years that I couldn’t fix on my own–including a 4.5 year old Powerbook that I upgraded to Leopard, and now gets better battery life, Mr. Balder. However, with 20+ Macs, I know that I am plain lucky there have been no problems, because as many have pointed out, these are computers that are manufactured by HUMANS, and things do go wrong, no mater who made it (despite smug advertising, which is just that–advertising, and anyone who believes advertising to be the truth should be reading the national enquirer, not Scoble’s blog).

    For God’s sake, take it in and let them fix it or replace it. My buddy had a few problems with him MB Pro, and after a second trip to the Genius Bar, he saw the manager, they transferred his stuff to another machine, and he walked out with a newer (upgraded) machine. If you sit on your blog bitching about it, this ain’t going to happen.

    Though I can’t stand using Windows machines (and I use them a lot, and in my experience they are more frustrating and problematic), I can live with them, and I follow the same advice–just get it fixed and move on. Why you’re buying a machine is your business, and I have to agree that PodTech should be paying for this machine, otherwise you’re BSing us about the state of affairs there (unless they actually require you to use Windows so like so many others).

    Also, I want to hear the story about how this gets fixed, and if you do get another machine, how it works out. I’m about to upgrade (waiting to see if anything interesting comes out of MacWorld), but if we’re seeing more problems in MB Pros, I might just go for a beefed up MB–my wife’s one year old MB has been a pretty screaming machine (CS3, no probs) for a year + Parallels and XP + Office and a ton of other stuff, and I can live with that sweet bargain if the MB Pros are having quality problems–so let me know.

    And finally, if you are really fed up with the Mac, please take my ThinkPad. It’s a great machine, and I highly recommend ThinkPads for those that must deal with Windows, but I can’t stand looking at the screen anymore until someone comes up with a reliable way to run OS X.

    Please, get it fixed and let us know how it goes. And good luck.

    Like

  65. Too bad John C. Welch doesn’t post here anymore. I would’ve loved to see him spin Leopard’s problems like a child’s spinning top toy. LOL

    Oh, and Paul, sure those that report problems are self-selected, but Mac fanboys, such as yourself, don’t afford Windows that same consideration and portray reports of Windows problems as the norm. So please spare us. Windows has ten times the userbase tha Mac does, therefore, all things being equal, you’d expect ten times the reports of Windows problems as Mac problems. So naturally, there would be mroe reports of Windows problems, but you Mac fanboys skip over that fact and rather proclaim that Windows has more reported problems because it is trash. Intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy all rolled into one.

    Like

  66. Too bad John C. Welch doesn’t post here anymore. I would’ve loved to see him spin Leopard’s problems like a child’s spinning top toy. LOL

    Oh, and Paul, sure those that report problems are self-selected, but Mac fanboys, such as yourself, don’t afford Windows that same consideration and portray reports of Windows problems as the norm. So please spare us. Windows has ten times the userbase tha Mac does, therefore, all things being equal, you’d expect ten times the reports of Windows problems as Mac problems. So naturally, there would be mroe reports of Windows problems, but you Mac fanboys skip over that fact and rather proclaim that Windows has more reported problems because it is trash. Intellectual dishonesty and hypocrisy all rolled into one.

    Like

  67. Paul: my Mac HAS been in the shop before. My son’s Mac has been in TWICE and needs to go in a third time.

    Mine is in the shop again. I just bought another Mac as a backup.

    Dell? They send you a new one and let you send your old one back. At least that’s what they did for me when I had troubles. That’s more convenient than waiting in line at a store.

    Oh, at the Stanford University Apple store yesterday they weren’t taking any more Genius Bar appointments. They were full up by the time I got there at 2 p.m.

    Like

  68. Paul: my Mac HAS been in the shop before. My son’s Mac has been in TWICE and needs to go in a third time.

    Mine is in the shop again. I just bought another Mac as a backup.

    Dell? They send you a new one and let you send your old one back. At least that’s what they did for me when I had troubles. That’s more convenient than waiting in line at a store.

    Oh, at the Stanford University Apple store yesterday they weren’t taking any more Genius Bar appointments. They were full up by the time I got there at 2 p.m.

    Like

  69. “Everytime I walk into a Apple Store there is a long line of people waiting to get their MAC’s fixed”

    Man that’s totally bogus!! My old Quadra 700 I got in 1992 still works, as does
    my iMac clamshell that I got in 2000!! Yes, I’ve had to replace some parts….but have done it myself!! My daughter’s Toshiba ,which is 3 years old, already had it’s
    monitor replaced!!

    Like

  70. “Everytime I walk into a Apple Store there is a long line of people waiting to get their MAC’s fixed”

    Man that’s totally bogus!! My old Quadra 700 I got in 1992 still works, as does
    my iMac clamshell that I got in 2000!! Yes, I’ve had to replace some parts….but have done it myself!! My daughter’s Toshiba ,which is 3 years old, already had it’s
    monitor replaced!!

    Like

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