Welcome to Macintosh – The documentary for the rest of us
19 Jul 2009 
3 Comments
Welcome to Macintosh is a recently-released documentary mixing history, criticism and an unapologetic revelry of all things Apple into a movie experience. It features interviews with a variety of Mac-notables such as Andy Hertzfeld, Guy Kawasaki and others, and traces the history of the development of the Mac since before its introduction.
You can read more about it here.
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When it comes down to it, Apple is not inherently “good” while Microsoft is “bad” – they’re all trying to maximise return for shareholders. Nice clip.
So what does Kawsaki use all those redundant iPods for?!?!?
Haha, I think those belong to his kids. On the other hand, he’s a reviewer so he might have gotten free merchandise that he just doesn’t use.
I agree, business is business: Apple and Microsoft are both trying to make money, but where they differ greatly is their approach to things like innovation, standards compliance, usability and stability. I love the Xbox 360 (although I’m on my third one already due to Red Rings Of Death), but I can’t stand using their operating systems…
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve never liked the “glass” look Microsoft’s latest products have… It seems tacky. (The same goes for Apple’s Aqua style, I prefer the new Marble buttons and scrollbars that started in Leopard and will be universal in Snow Leopard over the bright blue ones.) Also, adding “OK” and “Cancel” buttons to preference windows seems like just adding another step to a tedious process the user has to perform – why not simply save changes as soon as they’re made like Mac apps do?
The Windows registry is a nightmare, and the cause of a lot of problems. Installed and uninstalled applications leave junk behind which accumulates over time and slows down your PC. Installing most applications on the Mac is as simple as opening a downloaded disk image and dropping a single “.app” file into your Applications folder. To uninstall it, drag it from your Applications folder to the Trash. These applications leave some files behind in “~/Library/Application Support” and “~/Library/Preferences” so you can pick up right where you left off if you decide to install them again one day, but nothing that compares to the Windows registry and filesystem clutter.
As for standards compliance, things like the Office Document Format and Internet Explorer are a joke… If you searched for “acid3 test” on Geekology and took a look at the rating IE7 (12/100) and even IE8 (20/100) gets compared to Firefox 3 (71/100), Safari 3 (75/100), Opera 9 (83/100) and Safari 4 (100/100), it’s a huge disappointment from the largest software development company in the world. Ouch!
A better solution than either Window or OS X is of course Linux: Mostly open-source, extremely secure and stable, and usually free. Two big problems at the moment, however, are the lack of usability for general users in most distros and the need to occasionally revert to the command line to fix problems – not something your Average Joe is likely to enjoy.
It comes down to how you use your computer, really:
If you’re in a corporate environment where you need to use custom-built Windows-only applications or if you need Windows-only games (although I think there’s much to be said for console gaming over PC gaming), using OS X or Linux with Windows running in virtualization mode can be resource-intensive and probably defeats the point.
If you work in a platform-independant field like non-MS software development, management, design or marketing, or if you need to use the best productivity software available, the Mac is perfect for your needs.
If you need a great server or an inexpensive software solution that can run on almost any hardware (and you have some technical experience, or at least someone like that on call), you should go with Linux.
Methinks that comment should have been a post! LOL.
Been meaning to convert one of my older PC’s to Linux – used to admin an HP9000 mini computer years back so I have a smattering of Unix lodged in deep memory somewhere.
One of the recent ZATech podcasts mentioned that Unbuntu 9 is darn near ready for one to deploy one’s aged parent’s PC… :/