Mac360's Mac User Forums - Kate MacKenzie and Ron McElfresh

Bill gates has Xp problems…

2008-06-26T12:04:11-06:00

I guess the average user of XP is just as bad off as Bill Gates

The Most Important Applications On Your Mac

2007-02-09T05:15:27-06:00

Every time I meet a Mac user, I ask this question. ”What is the most important application on your Mac?”

The answers are surprising and varied. What’s the most important application on your Mac?

Before you answer, let me outline some of the results of my informal, unscientific research, and add a caveat or two.

Not surprisingly, what I hear most when I ask that question is, Email (whether Apple’s Mail or something else doesn’t matter). Then, Safari (sometimes Firefox).

After those two, both of which are somewhat expected, even from the average Mac user, variety sets in, often determined by job requirements.

For example, if you asked Kate and Bambi, they’d both tell you Microsoft Office, as the suite is mandatory for business compatibility.

Ask a digital photographer, and you’re likely to hear Photoshop or any one of half a dozen photo manipulation tools. A Mac web designer might say Fireworks or Dreamweaver.

A Mac programmer might use BBEdit even more than Mail or Safari. Regardless, Mac users have both favorite applications and necessary applications. For some of us, the choice might include iTunes or iPhoto, or another in the iLife suite.

See how this works? Mac users are a varied bunch and there are hundreds and thousands of Mac applications and utilities which keep our Macs going, and keep us going on our Macs.

Here’s an opportunity for you to chime in to my decidedly non-scientific, totally informal, and utterly pleasant research project.

What are the Top 5 Most Important Applications And Utilities On Your Mac? The caveat? Don’t put Mail or Safari on the list. Everything else is fair game.

What’s the difference between an application and a utility? Definitions may vary, so let’s keep it simple. An application on a Mac creates a document or a file of some sort, while a utility makes changes to settings or performs a specific task, but doesn’t generate a file for future use.

There are probably a few exceptions which we could debate until the cows come home and leave again, but the query stands. What are the Top 5 Most Important Applications and Utilities On Your Mac?

Word? Excel? Powerpoint? Photoshop? iChat AV? Skype? Final Cut Pro? Super Duper!?

There’s no need to rank them, just list each. Add a reason why, if you choose, though for some applications and utilities the reason may be self explanatory.

Yes, it’s OK to list Microsoft Office as a single item on the list. Ditto for iLife, iWork, Photoshop CS2, and so on. It could be argued that iCal and AddressBook are the most valuable.

Perhaps it’s Mac OS X’s Keychain, as that’s where your passwords and login ID’s will be stored (I’m giving out some hints).

That’s sufficient for a quick start with nominal prodding. Show us your goodies. What are the Top 5 Most Important Applications and Utilities On Your Mac, and why?

Why Mac Users Just Love To Say, “I Told You So.”

2007-10-11T14:05:16-06:00

Remember when owning a Mac meant you had to park down the street, wear a hat, and not make direct eye contact to Windows users? No more. The Mac is back and it is time to consider the ever popular Gloat Option and say to yourself or anyone else who may listen, ”I told you so.”

Yes, there’s some danger in gloating, some danger in saying “I told you so,” and some danger in trying to shave a bobcat in a telephone booth. But if you could pull off the latter without a scratch, wouldn’t that be cause for celebration?

And maybe a little gloating? And perhaps a snickery ‘See, I told you I could do it...”

So it is with the Mac. It’s back and the proof is irrefutable for everyone except White House press secretaries. For a long decade, Mac users endured status as a second class citizen in the computer world. No more.

Gone are the days of 2-percent or 3-percent market share numbers, constantly compared to Windows 95-percent share. If Google is a verb, then Windows is a really nasty cold sore.

Here’s what’s happening and why Mac users are having to learn how to exercise restraint as Windows brethren suffer through PC malady after malady.

We’ve preached true Mac Math at Mac360 for years. Market share numbers, in the general sense, are not valid indicators of what is happening to Mac sales (though, 15-percent overall worldwide share would be nice).

A brand new research report from Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research shows the Mac’s market share ranges from 45-percent to 2.7-percent. Start waving your Gloat Towels, someone has seen the light.

Wait. Is that right? 45-percent? No, it’s actually 45.8-percent, but I thought that rounding down would show a little humility. Smart researchers with a penchant for truth, justice, and the Appian Way, have sliced and diced the numbers and the Mac is looking healthy.

Worldwide Mac market share is 2.7-percent, up about 30-percent in the last year or so. US market share is over 6-percent and growing at a rate of over 30-percent per year. Here’s where the fun begins. Notebooks rule, and Mac notebooks rule absolutely. 8.3-percent of the US notebook market is Mac.

Small? Not quite. Notebooks, like any other piece of consumer or business technology, is sold in different market segments. Let’s say, under $1,000 and over $1,000. Bernstein’s bear researchers identify the latter as the Top Price Quintile, where the Mac has a whopping 29.4-percent market share. And growing.

Take out sales of notebooks to business, and just count the typical consumer notebook buyer, and the education market, and the Mac hits 45.8-percent of the Top Price Quintile. That makes the Mac the #1 notebook in the US, asterisks not withstanding. In that market segment, no other notebook manufacturer tops Apple.

As usual, numbers can be good and bad. Apple rules with the Mac in the premium Top Price Quintile (I just love saying “quintile” as if I just came home from my first semester at college). With numbers like that, it’s tougher for the Mac to grow share in that pricey segment. On the other hand, it’s easier to grow share in lower price segments, but expect Apple to do it slowly, rather than, say, tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM. Things don’t work that quickly.

Is it time to say, ”I told you so?” Yes. It’s time. But let’s remember to show a measure of decorum, taste, and class, and not shout so loudly that Windows PC users continue to hate Mac users but for different reasons. Maybe we Mac users should just get together and all of us say “I told you so” at the same time, just once, and it’s done.

You know, it would be like if all of us flushed our toilets at the exact same time. No one knows what exactly would happen, but it would be cool to find out.

I’m not right about things so often that I’ve ever worn out my ”I Told You So” Quota, but this time we’re ready. Mac users have known for a few years, probably since Panther and the first aluminum PowerBooks, that the Mac was on the way back. Now there is numerical proof that goes beyond Apple’s wild profits. It’s news. It’s factual. And it will get better.

Why do Mac users love to think, “I told you so?” Because we can. Let’s practice what we preach and share the ”news” with our digitally deprived kin, the Windows PC sufferers of the world. They need us.

Mac360 question for Ron?

2008-06-18T09:43:07-06:00

Ron, unless it hasn’t been updated, down at the bottom of the page it says “Mac360 is served on an Apple Xserve using Mac OS X Tiger Server.” Out of curiosity, I was wondering if there is an advantage to using Tiger over Leopard server?

Mac360 on the Road

2008-05-26T03:07:33-06:00

Kate and I are on the road for the next few weeks. Please accept our apologies for the steady stream of ‘Encore Reviews’ and daily topics. Kate is visiting family in Scotland this week and will attend a wedding this weekend, while my wife and I are celebrating our anniversary by visiting London, Paris, and Rome.

Today my wife and I are in London. Yesterday we visited the Apple Store on Regent Street. We had planned to meet Kate there but she’s come down with some kind of coughing flu so remains back in her family’s home this week. We’ll try to catch up for a visit to one of the New York stores when return from Rome in early June.

Our hotel is a few blocks from the Marble Arch and Hyde Park in London. ADSL is everywhere. So are Macs. The U.K. has the most number of Apple Stores outside of the U.S. The Regent Street Apple Store is freakin’ huge. It’s two levels with a giant glass staircase to the second level. Also notable is the theatre (2nd floor in the back) and an iPod ‘genius bar’ opposite the Mac genius bar. The store opened at Noon on Sunday and was packed within 10 minutes. Business is good.

A couple of photos are enclosed. I’ll do a complete article for NoodleMac in the next few days. It doesn’t look as though Paris has an official Apple Store, but there is one in Rome, so we’ll get photos there, too.

In the meantime, let me ask everyone’s help in keeping the forum topics and posts current. It’s always appreciated.

PS - in the photo below, I’m the tall one.

Are Mac Users Crazy, Fanatical, Zealots, Or Smart?

2007-10-19T13:36:08-06:00

So, you’re a Mac user. Does that automatically make you a crazy, fanatical zealot willing to defend the Mac at all costs and with all manner of language?

Or, are you simply a well informed computer buyer who knows the difference between mediocrity and excellence, and you’re willing to choose what’s better, even if it is representative of a minority?

Frankly, that’s what Apple’s old award winning Think Different advertising campaign is all about. Maybe it should have been titled Think Better. After all, isn’t that what we’re doing when we buy a Mac and use OS X?

Two events have been set in motion to bring me to the question about Mac zealotry.

The first event was my neighbor on the left-- a switcher to the Mac from Windows. I helped her choose a Mac and got it set up and running. Why did she choose a Mac? Two years of trouble with her HP Windows XP computer. Constant crashes. Virus scans. Malware scans. It just got worse for her, as it does for many Windows user.

During that time she asked me about the Mac, and noticed that our family actually enjoys using a computer, which, she said was “intimidating” that people could enjoy using a PC. Let me speak for most Mac users when I say, “I enjoy using my Mac.” I have seldom enjoyed using a PC.

My neighbor on the right is a Windows PC user who disdains all things Mac and Apple and hurls an insult or two whenever they’re over for a visit. He’s had the same trouble with his Windows XP that neighbor on the left had, and upgraded to Windows Vista, only to find even more troubles, and finally bought a new PC with Vista pre-installed.

Yet, whenever possible, he pokes away at our decision to be Mac ”zealots” and ”fanatics” by choosing a Mac over a PC. When we politely point out that Macs don’t get viruses or malware and are more stable and dependable than Windows PCs, he repeats the derogatory refrain. Zealot. Fanatic.

The second event was a Mac360 article which compared reviews of Mac OS X Leopard. One review was from Apple basher and flame-bait journalist, Paul Thurrot. The other review was from Tom Yager, a noted technology writer.

Mac360 pointed out the obvious differences between the two reviews, and highlighted the inflammatory slurs in the Thurrott review which was, as expected, pretty much devoid of serious analysis. On the other hand, Yager highlighted the inner workings of OS X Leopard and why it will be an outstanding upgrade for Mac users, eye candy notwithstanding.

That’s where it got interesting. Out of the woodwork comes a new Mac360 Forums member deriding Ron’s comparison article, insulting Mac360 for being ”fanatic zealots,” and unintelligent, and, amazingly, defending poor old Paul Thurrott. Obviously, fellow Mac user WhoMeWorry has not been a Mac360 reader for very long-- as in a single article which deflated his dear uncle Paul, but Mac360 readers quickly pointed out the error of his ways. Naturally, he took offense to the whole shebang gangbang and left in a tiff.

My eyes rolled and I actually felt dizzy reading all the responses. Or, the baby is kicking again. Whatever it was, it was like a middle school food fight with a flurry of words instead of peas and mashed potatoes. Still, I had to ask myself, ”Am I just a zealot for all things Mac?” Or, ”Do I really choose a Mac because it works better for me?”

My neighbor on the right struggles with his multitude of Windows PCs, but calls our family Mac zealots and fanatics. But we don’t struggle to keep our Macs running. They just work. So, why the vitriolic response from a so-called fellow Mac user? Why the constant barrage of insults from a neighbor? Jealousy? Is there something in the human psyche which hates it when others have it better, especially so if they’re in the minority?

I use a Mac and a PC, but mostly a Mac. It’s a choice, not a religion. Apple does a great job building products that work well enough to get out of the way and yet have an endearing personality. Kudos to them. But when Apple does something hair brained, we at Mac360 don’t mind doing the hokey pokey all over their digital eyebrows to let them know the error of their ways.

Does that sound like the actions of a religious zealot? Hardly. It sounds like the actions of an informed consumer, a buyer willing to make a choice for what is better, and not settle for mediocrity. I encourage you to read Ron’s article comparing Leopard reviews, WhoMeWorry’s response, Mac360 reader responses, and Bambi’s measured, and tempered response to the whole shebangbang.

It’s enlightening as to which side the true zealot lives.

“I Want A Computer. Why Should I Buy A Mac?”

2007-06-14T13:02:23-06:00

My neighbor on the left used to have a PC. I convinced her to get a Mac and helped her set it up. She and the whole family are happy. Like me.

My neighbor on the right does not have a personal computer. She asked me, ”I want a computer. Why should I buy a Mac? What will it do that a Windows PC cannot do?”

If your neighbor or co-worker asked you those same questions, how would you respond? Will a Mac let them do anything different than a PC?

For those of us who are long time Mac users and former Windows sufferers, on the surface, the response should be easy. Macs are better, easier to use, more dependable, more secure, price competitive.

That’s a plausible response until the aforementioned neighbor heads to the local CompUSA and listens to a sales pitch about Windows Vista vs. a Mac.

What they’ll hear is something like this: ”Vista is the best, most secure, most dependable, easiest to use Windows yet. Oh, and PCs cost less than Macs.”

Without digging into the ”why” of buying a personal computer, that’s a compelling response to someone with little computer experience but a desire to experience more.

How would you respond to a neighbor who’s truly interested in getting a personal computer and asks this question: ”What do you do on your computer (a Mac)? Can I do the same things on a Windows PC?” I live in a tough neighborhood.

Those are tough questions, no? How would you answer?

That exchange with my neighbor did get me to thinking. Is there anything I do on my Mac that couldn’t be done as well or nearly as well on a PC? It also got me to sit down for a moment to take stock of all I do on my Mac.

It’s a healthy, healthy, growing list. See how my list compares to what you do on your Mac.

Email, web browsing, calendar, address book, store and play music, store and play TV shows and movies, sync media and contact info with iPod and cell phone, edit movies, store digital photos, run Skype VoIP and iChat, RSS news reader, upload and download files, manage recipes and menus (MacGourmet).

Wait. There’s more. I use my Mac to burn DVDs, burn CDs with music, create instructions on video, create spreadsheets and word processing documents, create PowerPoint and Keynote presentations (I use both), print high resolution glossy photos, build web sites, build photo albums and galleries, and watch TV (via Elgato’s EyeTV). Oh, yes. I have a few games, too.

Is that enough? No. Our Macs are truly digital hubs, and increasingly we use it as much or more than TV for personal usage, much more as a total of the day.

Increasingly, thanks to a love affair with Photoshop Elements, my Mac gets used to modify digital photos , print business cards and cards and certificates and labels, and so on. See? It’s not just email and web browsing.

Notice that I didn’t mention much about Mac maintenance, scanning for viruses, backing up files, and all those little things needed to help keep your Mac running well. Windows users have it much worse than Mac users.

But that nagging neighborly question remains: ”Is there anything you do on your Mac that can’t be done as well or nearly as well on a PC?” How would you answer?

What’s The Danger In Flash Cookies On Your Mac?

2007-12-04T13:35:12-06:00

The digital world is a complicated and dangerous place. What do you do with those ubiquitous cookies on your Mac? Over one third of Mac users check and delete the cookies on their browser; Safari, Firefox, whatever. What about the Flash cookies on your Mac?

What? You didn’t know there was such a thing as a Flash cookie? Guess what? You’re not alone. Most Mac users have never heard of Flash cookies, including yours truly.

This weekend I received an email about Flash cookies from Mac360’s Kate MacKenzie, once again traveling somewhere in the wet and cold of Scotland for who knows what reasons, though it may have something to do with heritage, finding roots, or a need to use up frequent flyer miles before the end of the year.

Kate pointed me to a Mac360 Forum post about Flash cookies. I thought, ”Flash cookies? What’s that?”

Then I checked Safari’s cookies on my Mac. Yes, it was full of more cookie crap than usual, so I deleted what I didn’t think was worth much, but took special glee in deleting those cookies that might be worth something to sites which dare to infringe my privacy (like Mac360-- sorry).

I couldn’t find anything in Safari that had anything to do with Flash cookies.

Web browser cookies, sometimes referred to as ”http cookies” or the plain and simple “cookies” are pieces of text sent by a web server to a web browser, then sent back again whenever that browser visits the same web site again.

Cookies are used for tracking online behavior, maintaining information about specific users, site preferences, shopping cart information and so on. Many internet users don’t like cookies because they track a browser’s behavior, so there are advantages and disadvantages to cookies.

Mac users can view and delete cookies in Safari’s preferences. You may decide to accept all cookies, no cookies, or specific cookies, or check each cookie offered and accept or decline.

If you visit a lot of web sites, chances are more than good that your browser has collected a lot of cookies. What about Flash cookies?

Many Mac and Windows users delete their cookies, which often disrupts the collection of information for various web sites you visit. Web site marketers don’t like that so Adobe (formerly Macromedia) developed yet another way to skim information from unsuspecting Mac and PC users. Flash cookies.

Flash cookies are capable of gathering and storing much more information than normal cookies collecting by a browser. A standard cookie cannot save more than 4 kilobytes of information, while a Flash cookie can save up to 100 kilobytes of data. Worse, you cannot easily find the Flash cookies on your Mac.

Are cookies good or bad? Whatever they are, Flash cookies are worse. Click Here for Flash cookies explained in more detail.

That brings me to the point of checking cookies in Safari (other browsers also allow for cookie preferences, including deletion). In Safari, click the Safari menu item, then select Preferences. Click the Security button, then click Show Cookies. This will display a list of the standard HTTP browser cookies that are collected on Safari.

There are not many options for cookies. Accept always, never, or only from sites you navigate to, which would not include advertisers on those sites. That’s my usual selection. After that, about all you can do is delete what you don’t want.

Flash cookies are different. They collect much more information, and they’re not easy to find. Fortunately, some alert Mac360 readers found a way to edit Flash cookie preferences. Click Here to see the Flash Player Settings Manager for your Mac.

Use that Settings Manager to modify, edit, delete the Flash cookies on your Mac. The first tab is Global Privacy Settings. The second is Global Storage Settings, to specify how much space you want to provide to Flash cookies.

The third setting is Global Security, which is similar to the standard cookie settings in Safari. The 4th and 5th settings actually list the Flash cookies that have been collected on your Mac. I had about 50 Flash cookies. You may delete what you don’t want, and assign specific functions to each.

Are cookies dangerous, whether standard HTTP browser cookies, or Adobe’s well-hidden Flash cookies? Yes and no. Generally, no. But cookies contain information, and that information can be hijacked by internet thieves via session hijacking and other means, such as cross-site scripting.

So, cookies are not perfectly safe, but then, the internet is not a perfectly safe world. I check my Mac’s cookies from time to time. Now I have to check the Flash cookies, too. Some web site, particularly e-commerce sites, won’t even let a browser visit when cookies are turned off.

The paranoid mommy in me says it’s better to be safe than sorry. It’s easy to see why Adobe didn’t make a big deal out of Flash cookies. They’re great for web site marketers, but for the general web surfing public, Adobe doesn’t want anyone to know what’s happening on their own computers.

What about you? Do you have an aversion to cookies on your Mac? If so, why so? Do you edit the preferences or delete cookies on your Mac?

What’s The Most Unusual Way To Use Your Mac?

2007-09-19T14:07:21-06:00

What’s the most unusual way to use a Mac? I checked with neighbors, friends, and family. I’m the only one that uses a Mac for recipe collection.

Looking around, I found a bunch of Mac users who take old Macs and make aquariums. Really. I’m serious. Water. Fish. Window.

I have the links to prove it. If anything, Mac users are a creative bunch. But back to the aquarium Mac.

Even Wikipedia has an entry for MacQuarium. The idea and design seem to date back to writer Andy Ihnatko and the original Macs.

Creative Mac users didn’t let Andy have all the fun. If you’re interested in the detailed instructions, all you’ll need is an old Mac and Andy’s original plans.

Some guy named Matt shows you his method and recommended tools used to create a Mac aquarium. The Mac site AppleFritter has an entire gallery of Macs dressed up as aquariums.

Just to show you that more modern Macs can make the leap from useful computing to useful home for wayward plastic toys or a halfway house for anonymous goldfish, there’s the Monster iMacquarium. The iMac comes of age.

If you can find a very old original-style Mac, then Jim and Dianne have page by page instructions on how to rip apart a Mac and put an aquarium in its place.

Here’s a Mac that glows from the inside out. Nicely done. A Halloween lantern Mac would be a good touch.

Granted, these are all unusual uses for a Mac, but the themes are common. An aquarium with real fish. Very old Macs, especially the original all-in-one Mac, and later the iMac. But what of the more recent Macs? Where has all the creativity gone?

It didn’t take long for people to come up with unexpected uses for Apple’s hot selling iPod. Here’s the Top 10 List.

Many use their Macs in business, graphics, media, advertising, science, but none of those would qualify as ”unusual” uses of a Mac. I collect recipes and store them on my Mac using MacGourmet, but even that idea came from Mac360 co-founder Bambi Brannan.

Rack your brain for a minute. What’s the most unusual use you’ve ever heard of for a Mac? Besides an aquarium.

So, You Bought A Mac? What Tipped The Scales?

2008-05-15T00:50:40-06:00

Apple’s Mac sales remain at all time highs, units sold, total revenue, profits. Windows users are switching to Macs in growing numbers.

If you’re a switcher, or you know one, what tipped the scales toward the Mac? Why did you take the plunge and make the switch?

Was it due to the influence of Apple’s delightful series of television commercials which pit ’I’m a Mac’ against the doddering, inept, ’I’m a PC?’ Did you switch because Windows security problems drove you nuts?

Apple claims that about half of all Macs purchased in Apple’s retail stores are to first time Mac buyers, most of whom are former Windows users. Seldom do we hear of reports of Mac users switching to Windows.

It’s arguable that Mac OS X is a more dependable, secure, less problem-plagued operating system than Windows. Mac are known for being easy to use and secure, two areas that many Windows users found to be problematic with their PCs.

Somewhere in the buying process, when a PC user decides to switch to a Mac instead of buy another PC, there is a tipping point, a pinnacle where desire overcomes fear.

Most Mac switchers may not have made a yellow legal pad list-- two columns, detailed pro and con-- of the good points about Macs and the bad points about Windows, but the mental process probably carried a running tab that, when added up, became the decision to buy a Mac.

Many media and tech pundits point to the success of Apple’s iPod and iTunes among windows users as one of the major reasons for Apple’s Mac successes of late. Others point out that Microsoft’s security problems with Windows XP, and quirky behavior in Windows Vista also contributed to the Mac’s success.

If you’re a switcher to the Mac from Windows, any time over the past three years or so, can you describe what criteria you applied to your get to your decision to buy a Mac instead of a PC?

Over the past five years, Windows users have been treated to what we like most about the Mac through their experiences with the iPod and iTunes. It just works. No hassles. No learning curve. Plug it in and start using.

Tens of millions of Windows users bought iPods and use iTunes. That showed them that Apple makes cool products that work better than their Windows PC counterparts. Even Apple’s design of the new generation of iMac looks similar to the various iPod models.

The reasons for PC users switching from Windows to the Mac probably are quite varied, though most will share one thing in common. A tipping point. What happened that made the decision to choose a Mac acceptable?

Price? Security? Ease of use? Dependability? Style and design? OS X and iLife? Mac applications? Influence from family, friends, peers?