Apple (UK and Ireland) – Get a Mac

Funny UK versions of “Get a Mac” videos for our friends on the right side of the pond.

PC Pro: News: Microsoft emails reveal Tiger envy

‘Tonight I got on corpnet, hooked up Mail.app to my Exchange server and then downloaded all of my mail into the local file store,’ wrote Microsoft’s Lenn Pryor, former Director of Platform Evangelism. ‘I did system wide queries against docs, contacts, apps, photos, music, and … my Microsoft email on a Mac. It was f***ing amazing. It is like I just got a free pass to Longhorn land today.’

Of course, publicly, Vista is a 100% OS X *not* inspired product. It is only too bad that MS couldn’t/wouldn’t do the things they needed to do to make “Cairo” a reality. Their size, and their inability to shake off legacy requirements/obligations, may doom them.

Jim Allchin co-president of the company’s Platform Products and Services Group was just as impressed.

‘I don’t believe we will have search this fast,’ he wrote.

….and you won’t. If you are stuck updating your five year old OS (XP) to look and act, and hopefully function like a 2+ year old OS, you are always going to be behind the curve.

Macworld: News: Hackers can’t wait for iPhone

“If it’s really going to run OS X, [the iPhone] will bring certain security implications, such as potential misuses of wireless connectivity facilities, [and] deployment of malware in a larger scale,” the hacker known as LMH wrote in an e-mail. He declined to provide his real name.

In typical Apple fashion, the tech pundits are pronouncing the iPod dead for its lack of features that no one wants, or cares about. Here is one take, by the in>famous John C. Dvorak:

the iPhone which doesn’t look, I mean to me, I’m looking at this thing and I think it’s kind of trending against, you know, what’s really going, what people are really liking on, in these phones nowadays, which are those little keypads. I mean, the Blackjack from Samsung, the Blackberry, obviously, you know kind of pushes this thing, the Palm, all these… And I guess some of these stocks went down on the Apple announcement, thinking that Apple could do no wrong, but I think Apple can do wrong and I think this is it.

They were wrong before, especially him, about the iPod, about the iMac, and pretty much about Apple in general. So that is boring. The interesting part of this is the hacking aspect.

• What is the CPU (edit:John Gruber thinks it is an ARM processor
• What is the OS (how much can be taken out before you can’t really call it OS X)
• …and all teh little things that go along with it…will it do 802.1x security
• java (seems reasonable)
• flash (that may be impossible for now unless we get a flash lite (no pun)
• battery life with wi-fi, without wi-fi?
• What API’s?
• are widgets applications?
• Bootloader? Firmware?
• SIM access?
• Is it unlockable?
• battery access/life?

There are many, many more questions that will go unanswered for months to come, unless more information is gleaned from the FCC website. In the meantime, I guess we will have to wait it out, and of course speculate some more.

Review: Mac OS X Shines In Comparison With Windows Vista – News by InformationWeek

Here is a pretty good take on the new Apple v. Microsoft debate. Evolution versus Revolution. Vista, revolution without a single shot fired, versus the evolution of OS X. Six releases of OS X versus XP in ‘01 and SP2. Why? They run the show. Will Vista sell? No doubt, if only for the fact of the MCSE economy, and the multitude of companies with proprietary software that is Windows only. Is Vista better than XP? Yes. Does Vista live up to the hype that it was first billed as? I don’t think so, and there are some people who agree with me.

Maybe the tide is shifting. Maybe vendors will start to do crazy things like resurrect long dead mac projects due to the popularity and room for growth that Apple can provide.

You can choose from thousands of Mac OS X applications to purchase or download and install on your computer.

In some cases, instructions provided with the application specify that you can simply drag the application to your desktop or into a folder to install it. It is recommended you drag the application to the Applications folder.

If you want to reinstall Mac OS X or the applications that came with Mac OS X or with your computer, you can do so using the discs that came with your computer.

To get more applications, choose Apple menu > Mac OS X Software.

In addition, if you are a .Mac member, you can check the Software folder on your iDisk for new Mac OS X applications from Apple, updates to existing applications, and demonstrations from other developers.

Here is a post from PC World, these are the most commonly asked questions, I thought I would go a little deeper into the subject.

Where’s The Start Menu?

You don’t need no stinkin’ Start menu. On a Mac, you browse through your documents or navigate to your applications via a Finder window. And you can place frequently used apps in the system Dock, which you can place at the side or bottom of the screen. (Find preferences for the Dock in the Apple menu at the top left). You can set it to emerge when your cursor approaches it.

I’d agree with him here, and Vista is no better. Now we have a round windows-logo-as-start-button. As good as the start button is -Shift-A. This command will brong up your Applications folder.

Where’s My Right Mouse Button?

In Windows, the right mouse button brings up what’s called a context menu. To bring it up on a Mac, hold down the control key and click the mouse button. Or just attach a mouse with a right-click button. It will work the same way as in Windows.

Hmm…ok. Control click is great and all if you are an infrequent right-clicker. If you are coming from Windows, get a two button mouse

How Do I Install Apps?

File installation feels a bit strange at first since some apps, such as Firefox, mount as a drive when you double-click on the setup file. But then you simply drag the icon to your Applications folder, and it’s installed.

I don’t agree with this. Most applications in OS X are distributed as “disk images” or .dmg files. Once you mount the image, equivalent to inserting a CD/DVD, the application or installer is ready, just drag and drop (for an application). If it looks like a little package. In short, if an installer opens, it needs to be installed. If an application opens, it doesn’t need to be installed.

How Do I Search For Files Or Apps?

Searching on a Mac couldn’t get any easier, using Spotlight. Click on the blue icon in the top right of your screen and type in any phrase. You can search filenames, file contents, e-mail, contacts, even metadata.

Spotlight is great, there is not doubt about that. It is even better when you know what you are looking for. Try searching with “kind:”

Where’s The C: Drive?

Forget about delving into the depths of the Windows C: drive. On a Mac, you can find all of your files by simply using the Finder. And if you’re hard-core, drop into the Terminal app and get your Unix groove on.

Spot on, I couldn’t agree more.

Let’s focus on what is the same, and believe it or not, there is much that is the same or, at least, very similar.

1. The Windows™ menu bar:
This is a source of confusion for many people who are new to OS X (and previous versions of the Apple OS, as well). In Windows, each separate window usually has its own menu, like so:

In OS X, like previous Apple OSs the menu is anchored to the top of the screen, looking like this:

What does it mean to you? Well, once you get used to it, you recognize that it has several advantages. For example, if you tend to have many windows open at once, you will value the space because the windows are naturally smaller, without the extra “dead” space at the top. In other instances, it is helpful when navigating menus. Here is an example. In OS X, whereever the window is located, the preferences for that application are always at the top left part of the screen, you don’t have to aim. With Windows applications, the location is relative to the windows position, and you may overshoot the window. So as you see, it is possible for the act to take longer.

2007 Technology of the Year Awards: Hardware Slide: 5

Congratulations! to Apple for winning “Best Desktop/Workstation” AND “Best Notebook” at Infoworld.

This is what they have to say about the MacBook Pro:

MacBook Pro is both elegant and powerful, thanks to a 2.66GHz 64-bit Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 3GB of RAM, an AMD/ATI X1600 GPU, dual-layer DVD burner, long-life battery, and plethora of ports. And with OS X Tiger, every iota of that power is focused on your work.