Misinformation In A Microsoft World. Apple’s Uphill Road.

Continued from Page 1…

“I hate to pick apart the only backbones of your article, but, I just can’t help myself.”

“briack”, please, restraint is a good thing. Trust me.

“Go down the list with me. iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Garageband, iCal,  iSync, Address Book, i Work Pages, iWork Numbers, iWork Keynote, iChat AV (with multiple audio/video channels).” 

These were all the items in Tera’s article which outlined the tremendous value in a Mac mini; Tiger, iLife, et al.

“iTunes - For one, the illegal transfer of files, media or otherwise, still reigns supreme. I’d rather take a risk and download illegally than spend a hundred dollars or so and get an iPod.”

Character: he’s a thief; probably much more common on the Internet because there’s no prison term.

“iMovie - From what the name says, I’m guessing this is a movie player?  Microsoft calls that “Windows Media Player.” It’s been around for years.”

Do you see one of the problems with “misinformation” we have on the Internet. Not only does everyone have an opinion, they get to share it—even though there’s no knowledge or facts to back it up.

“iDVD - Now I’m not a big one for DVD’s, but I do know that when I put a DVD in my computer, it can play on it. I even get a choice of several players to use. Why buy a Mac/Apple to play a DVD when you get download a two megabyte program?”

Again, the poor soul is commenting without understanding.

“iPhoto - For one thing, there’s MSPaint, sure, it isn’t too great, but it’s been in every Windows PC so far, and it does the job just fine. Modern computers also have Adobe PhotoShop installed right off the bat, for those who really want to work with their media files. And there’s also Microsoft Image Composer, a more Windows-based version of Adobe (which I personally prefer).” 

It’s really sad. “Paint” and iPhoto are not the same thing. A simple look at iLife on the Apple web site would reveal this previously well kept Windows secret.

“Garageband - Not sure what this is, maybe you can listen to 12 year-olds bang out off-beat tunes until their dad tells them to stop? I’d rather listen to professionals.”

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

“iCal - Unlike most Mac/Apple programs, this one tells me nothing about what it would do. My only guess is they stole Mr. Ripken’s name, and are “dropping” his name for publicity. Maybe not. I have not idea what this is.”

An occasional lapse of knowledge can be forgiven. This is a streak worthy of Ty Cobb’s record.

“iSync - Well, I’m guessing Sync would be short for synchronize, although I don’t quite see what point of having a program that synchronizes your computers components, aren’t they usually pre-synchronized? Maybe that’s just Windows.”

Why didn’t you stop after the 4th or 5th time of not knowing something? Why?

“Address Book - This is an obvious one to tell what it is. But where’s the little ‘i’ in front? Why isn’t is iAddress, or iBook, or even iAddress Book? Anyway, I prefer Outlook. Which has a built-in address book.”

That’s a good question. Maybe after the 27th “iApp” Apple thought it would be too much.

“iWork Pages - I guess this is an employment program? Look for an employer or employees! Still not sure why this is going to come with Macs. If they’re expensive doesn’t that mean the person has a job?”

Sigh. It’s sad. It’s really sad.

“iWork Numbers - Another division of iWork. I guess this is to fight off Quicken and Money?”

Tera was speculating that a spreadsheet component would show up in 2006—“Numbers.”

“iWork Keynote - Perhaps it would have been wiser to simply say iWork by itself. No idea what this is, maybe just the crucial employer/employee information, just the key notes.”

Truly, he’s terribly accurate with the “no idea” phrase.

”iChat AV (with multiple audio/video channels) - Well, anyone who knows about computers will know you need a separate channel for Audio, and a separate channel for Video, unless you’re trying to say that it has separate chatting channels. I’d sure hope so. I don’t have 9 teenagers screaming at me all at once, now featuring their acne-ridden faces.”

Please, please tell me this is about to end. Are we there yet?

“Now granted, they all aren’t that way, nor look that way, but that tends to be the people in chatrooms these days. There are plenty of free video chat programs anyway.”

“I’d also like to point out that you quoted your own article several times,  as if Apple themselves had said that, and not you, stating your opinion. I guess you’re trying to work in foreshadowing into your article? This isn’t a novel, it’s you trying to sound tough about Apple computers.”

There you have it. It’s official. Tera’s trying to sound tough.

“I find it quit humorous how Apple realized that nobody was buying their iPod, so they needed to make it Windows-compatible. Now look how sales have soared. I’d like to see a profit comparison of the sales of Apple computer against the sales of iPods that can be used with Windows. I’m guessing they’d be roughly the same.” 

Nobody was buying their iPod? Where do people come up with these?

“It seems to me, as a Windows user, that Apple isn’t dropping bombs on Microsoft, but they’re merely stealing- err, “borrowing” Microsoft’s ideas to catch up to them.”
END

And that’s precisely why Apple’s Mac market share will never climb beyond 10-percent. Never.