Its time for a new blog post and what are we gonna talk about? I’ll tell you what were gonna talk about. PC fanboys on Youtube. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a major fanboy of Apple myself, I go to great lengths to show the weakness of Microsoft and the power of Apple. As a matter of fact, I’m more than likely the most hated of all mac fanboys on Youtube. But it seems there is a distinct difference between Mac and Pc fanboys. I have never met a mac user that is ashamed of admitting he’s a fanboy, if he is one. Not all Mac users are fanboys, but the ones who are have no trouble admitting it. This don’t seem true for the PC side of things. Every PC user/fanboy i meet on Youtube is just ranting that I suck and PC is better. They cuss and fight just as hard as I do yet they refuse to admit there fanboyism. This hankers back to a point. Deep down inside most pc users are ashamed of there OS. even if they don’t admit it. Deep down they all want macs and I can tell this by the lack of pride associated with Vista and PC fanboys. They think, for some reason, that they are innocent. I never get any real reasons why tey stay with windows besides games. And games isnt a reason to do anything if you ask me. They are forced to revert back to XP, an OS that is older than my daughter. Yet they still clamor to buy a pc. This failure on Microsoft’s behalf, a little thing called Vista, does nothing to persuade them away from Microsoft. Now that my friend, is loyalty. At least we Apple fanboys have something really worth being pround of. And we show it. PC fans on the other hand, don’t. they will fight till the day they die claiming tey are not fanboys. But what else can you call it when you stick to a platform that everyone in the world agrees sucks. And another thing that gets my goat is a mac user who bashers other mac users for being proud of there computer. Several times a mac users has emailed me only to tell me I’m dumb, a liar, or an idiot. So why do they do this? Why do they sit at home a work on there shinny new iMac or Macbook Pro and then hate on me for bashing windows. My question for all those Mac posers is this, if I’m so wrong, why didn’t you buy a winpc?
Its worth remembering that Apple is a hardware company as well as a software company. Fully half of its R&D dollars (research and development) have to go into hardware related innovation, an expense a pure software company like Microsoft doesn’t have to incur. At the same time APple has to keep upgrading its OS. An expense Dell and the like have the luxury to do without. Apple sales are 1/4 of Dells yet its R&D is just as much. Apple has spent up to 8% of sales on R&D. In comparison Dell has only spent a meager 1.5%. Dell hasn’t half the expense Apple does. Why is Apple so innovative? Because they don’t care to spend the money to innovate. You find the money, you find the future.
In 2002, Mac guru Scott Kelby came up with an interesting list of Apple Firsts. These include:*The 3.5″ floppy drive*color graphics *Built-in Networking*Built in wireless LAN* Built-in sound*easy access to the guts*The ability to hook more than one display (Winpc machines didnt have this till 98)*the first PDA (The Newton)*First to pick up USB even though it was a pc invention*FireWire ( this was apples baby)*Elimination of tube based displays*Elimination of internal fans (cube)To this list could be added breakthrus like ”first computer in a box” and the first GUI that was successful. Not including all the iapps. And of course the ipod.
With a lot of people a computer is only a tool. It’s something that you use to make a given job easier. If using the computer doesn’t do this, than what’s the point. Your not gonna use it. Apple’s approach over the years has been to make using the computer as easy as possible. The way it has got to this point has been because Apple has developed an OS that anticipates most of the tasks that a user may try and carry out. And have a human like response ready to any request you may try to accomplish. They have also established a set of conventions to which all apps have to conform to and they also tightly control the work of outside developers to make sure they follow the rules. But lastly, the design and build of the computers are exquisitely suited to deliver the goods stated above. So what does all this mean for the user? It means things are easier for you and me. The regular guy. Constancy is something we Mac users take for granted. Simply put, if your an outside developer and you want to run apps that work on a Mac, you have to play by Apple’s rules. And Apple’s rules are relentlessly aimed at consistency and ease of use. If your a more experienced Mac user, even before you break the seal on the box, you know a lot about how to use t. You know how to instal new software. You know how to open a new file (Apple key + O). And you know the most important command of all. Apple + Z, which will fix the bonehead mistake you just made. You know what a dialog box is gonna look like, and what kinds of questions its likely to ask, and the range of response you can give. You know how to save file (Apple + S), quit an app, and even force quit an app if an app freezes. In other words, you can get away with not looking at the manual. Well, not true when digging deep into an app but you get my meaning. Thats why Apples manuals are so short if they package any at all. You KNOW when you ht Apple + S its gonna save it. And some pc users may say “Well, what’s so special about that? My pc does more or less the same thing from app to app.” LOL. Two responses what I will give. First, “more or less” isn’t the same thing as “always”. Its these exceptions that make the windows environment so damn frustrating. And the only reason Windows is even trying to improve is because Apple has set such a good example of how things should be. Its like zoning. Boston has zoning, Houston does not. Boston has consistency of land use, where peoples individual land uses MUST fit into the bigger picture. Houston does not. The best planners, developers, and architects in Houston try to keep the bigger picture in mind but cant MAKE people not build a trailer park. Like say, in Boston. Boston will say “NO, your not building a trailer park in downtown Boston” were as Houston would recommend against it but couldn’t stop you. The Mac reinforces this consistency. Stuff is almost always in the same place. If you know how to turn on your Mac than you know how to turn them all on. You know how to turn the sound up, and make the screen dimer or brighter. You know what to EXPECT. The other big plus with Apple is continuity. Improvement to the OS are almost completely seamless. Its just easier to use a Mac. And the main reason why it’s still easy to use a Mac is because it controls it all. It controls the core command for the box, and it controls the key aspects of the work of outside people who write additional commands for the box. Its called quality control. And Apple excels at it.
A windows FANATIC from Chicago was asked, one time, why she liked to windows operating system so much. She said she liked the fact that her computer wasn’t full of junk she didn’t need or use. She said she didn’t want 6 million printer drivers on her machine, “clogging things up”. She enjoyed installing just the right printer drivers herself, and having everything work just how she wanted it to. She didn’t like the machine t”thinking” for her. She liked to do it herself even if that meant, because the printer driver that was shipped with the printer is out of date, she had to go online surf, locate, and download the updated one and install it. This struck me as interesting. For one, not all have that kind of common knowledge. My mom for example. Anyway, I used the word FANATIC above. As Mac Chronicler Scott Kelby has pointed out, you often hear the words “Mac Fanatic” but never “Pc Fanatic” it always “pc user”. But thats a little backwards. With some notable exceptions, Mac users are not really fanatical at all about there machines. In fact, some have no interest in how they work. They don’t want to install printer drivers, EVER. The friend in Chicago? She’s the FANATIC.
The Mac OS is an amazing feat of programming. The Os is a bit like a genie in a bottle that comes out when you rub the lamp – AND ONLY when you rub the lamp. Or maybe its like a friendly ghost that haunts your cool summer retreat home in Miami. All pervasive but never intrusive. Aladdin and Casper at your service. An example comes to mind. A friends daughters iBook had been acting up after 3 years of hard use. Since she was soon to graduate college, a winpc came to mind. In other words, is it time to join the rest of the world? She wanted to be a teacher and since most schools are Mac friendly, she decided to get another iBook. The compusa guy promised all she needed was something called ” a firewire” to copy all her files over. He said it was a “snap”. Uh, oh. I’ve heard that before. So mentally, a weekend was set aside for the process. When the iBook got home, the two were plugged together using the firewire and both were booted up. Up came a dialog box on the new screen that said something like ” Oh, i see another machine just like this one. Do you want to recreate that machine on this one?” Yes was checked and an hour nap later. Wa-la. It was up and running with even the same desktop pic. What does this mean? It means someone at Apple prewired these things to handle this stuff in a way that even a technophobe could understand. And i’m sure there are millions of stories like this. For example: People have been used to Macs having a one button mouse and windows users are accustomed to 2 button mice. so they go buy stuff they don’t need if they switch. even though a 2 button mouse will work because someone in Apple again, prewired it to. Its called the “halo – effect”. Its when windows users get an iPod and then buy a Mac as an iPod accessory. An expensive accessory. So if you venture from the dark side. Don’t get things you don’t need.
Less than a mile down the road from Apple headquarters on Bandley Drive in Cupertino, California was Flint Center at De Anza College. A formal unveiling of Apple’s new product at the annual company meeting was scheduled to take place here and Apple hope they had things right. The unveiling was for a computer and it was called “Lisa”, which stood for either “local integrated software architecture,” or for Apples founder Steve Jobs daughter. Or maybe both. The Lisa had been worked on since 1978, when Jobs wanted a computer to replace the Apple II. At the time Jobs saw a machine that would sell for under $2000 and be aimed at business markets. Jobs had high hopes for the machine, which he hoped would raise Apples market share. Then a year later in 1979 fate came calling. Jobs was persuaded to visit Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). The PARC labs have since achieved legendary status as a place of extreme innovation. Jobs was weary though, XEROX more or less invented photocopying and he didn’t feel they had much to contribute in the matter of computers. And its glory days seemed to be behind it. So from Xerox’s side of the table, there seemed to be good reason to cozy up to Apple. Maybe some of the innovations that had been shelfed could get out into teh world. Xerox knew EXACTLY what they were doing. If Apple lived up to its growing buzz than it couldnt hurt to get a little private placement. A deal was struck: Xerox would buy 100,000 shares of Apple stock at $10 a share, and would agree to never buy more than %5 of Apple. In return Apple would get to make 2 reconnaissance trips to PARC. The trips took place in the last two months of 1979. And for Jobs these trips were a revolation. Xerox demonstrated a wonderful machine called the Alto. It had many of the characteristics that computers have today only more primitive. It had a GUI, bitmapping (code writing that allowed the merging of text and images), an input device called a mouse, a networking capability, pop up menus, and moveable windows. Like sheets of paper on a desktop. Most of these things had been sitting around PARC for years. In fact, the Alto was already 6 years old, and the mouse was invented in the 1960’s. The PARC people who wore the white doctor coats had presented all this before to the cooperate big wigs and NONE seen anything of any use or value. But unlike all the other people, Jobs understood EXACTLY what he was seeing: the future of personal computing. Now the only thing is to put them in an attractive affordable package. Can you say Lisa?
Don’t get me wrong, I love Ustream. Hell, I think I was one of the first people to use it of the people in my little youtube group, and I still plan on streaming on weekends, but it seems Ustream overshadowing Youtube. I know a lot of Youtubers that used to commonly post vids. But I have noticed since the popularity increase of Ustream that a lot of my favorite YouTubers are not posting videos but rather spending all there time streaming. I know people whos videos I really enjoy but the havent posted in over 2 weeks, but if you visit there Ustream channel you’ll see than streaming most all the time. Now I love ustream and i do plan to do a live stream once in awhile but this everyday stuff is killing peoples interest in youtube. I am not Chris Pirillo. And I dont think people should try to be. I have a Blog, 2 Youtube channels, a web site, 2 kids, and I work. This doesnt leave very much time for live streaming. So this BLOG entry isnt really complaining about someone streaming. Its about people not posting on youtube because they are to worried about there Ustream. A lot of teh people I subscribe to on youtube are ustreamers. I found my youtube audience, by far, to be the best and most likely to stick with me in the future. I do not want to sacrifice 1600 subscribers so 40 people can watch me on Ustream. Granted, you can record your show and post it on YouTube but I never se this happening. So what makes Ustream so popular at the moment. I believe its because it’s something different. People love youtube but it seems they are crying for a live social interaction with other people, and for some YouTube doesnt do that. Now rumors are floating around about YouTube setting up a service similar to Ustream, which may help or hurt YouTubers. The YouTube website is already slow enough sometimes. Some days it flies others it crawls so will this new streaming feature make our YouTuber experience even that much worse or will it help take some of the wind out of Ustreams sails? I for one would like to see people get back to youtube and forget this ustream stuff. Ustream is good but should not replace your YouTube videos. I enjoy searching YouTube for my friends vids or something really great I havent sen yet, with ustream all Im doing is seting and watching some dude live that really dont have that much to say anyway. So am I against Ustream? Absolutly not. Do I think Its overrated? Yes. Are These people gonna come back to YouTube? i think so. I think its just a phase for a lot of people. Most will get on Ustream, streaming for about a month and then slowly leave it behind and come back to YouTube. I realize this is not always the case but if my predictions are right, i see the Youtubers who are spending all there time on Ustream giving it up and coming back to post videos after all this wears off. It wore off for me and i expect it to wear off other people too. I get my videos out to a lot more people when posted to YouTube as opposed to just Ustreaming. If these people want to Ustream, fine. But dont forsake us YouTubers who have been here since the start.
Well last Memorial Day Appleinsider quoted sources saying that the Mac Mini was over. Which according to other sites has had limited growth in teh market in teh last 24months. But recently Apple has noticed a resurge in the minis popularity. For the last 2 years the min has been in kind of a limbo state. Not getting much better and not getting any worse. So for the first time in a year people on the inside of Apple have said that the Mac Mini department has been asked to gut the mini and apply fresh internals. Thanks to Intels rapid phase out of previous Core 2 Duo mobile processors and components, the update of the mini is its biggest gain in architectural design since the switch in 2006. What improvement does Apple plan on giving the little go getter? A 45 nanometer Core 2 Duo mobile is starting at 2.1 with 3MB of shared L2 cache. An 800mhz front-side bus (Up from 667), and a step up to the same Intel integrated graphics processor that the existing line of Macbooks have. I think its 128mb. Not sure. The long term plans for the mini remain a bit fuzzy given the limited attention and resources devoted to it compared to the iMac or Mac Pro. Nevertheless, Intels new 45nm architecture should assure a seat within the Mac product line for at least another 12 months. Those familiar with plans for the Mac mini were unclear of a release date. I assume this summer, the Penryn-3M-based systems are reportedly still in production. Also Apple, in the not to distant future, are releasing a refreshed version of the iMac which will shed the 65nm for a 45nm ranging up to a 2.8 Core 2 Extreme. So as of now the imac is a 64nm chip and will be bumped to 45nm in the summer I assume.
You have an iPod? I do. My neighbor does. Most of all my co-workers do. I think America is becoming an iPod nation, or even an iPod world. The President of the United States has one as well as the Queen of England and Chanel designer Karl Legerfeld who owns 70 of the little gadgets. One of the best things about it though is it universal appeal. Without the iPod, iTunes would have went nowhere fast. Its been adopted by not just teenagers but also business men and women, mom’s and dad’s, as well as grandma’s and grandpa’s. Everybody HAS ONE. Go into any coffee shop or Mall anywhere in the world and you see so many white ear buds you’ll think the Apple invasion has already begun. In 2006 Apple sold more than 43 million iPods since 2001. It sold twice as many as before every 3 months. Its holds a huge %75 market share world wide according to Apple. Did you ever think the iPod would get this big? Apple doesn’t. Although I sometimes think they knew exactly what they had and what they was doing. Remember, Steve has an uncanny ability to know what the world needs before it does. “We had no idea it would get this huge.” Phil Schiller told USA Today. So the iPod has become the signature technology of the digital music era and has changed the course of music history forever. Apple has a funny habit of doing that to whatever industry they decide to enter. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
