Appletell

This is part two of a series. Read Part One here.

What I Hate About Windows

1) The Taskbar - Windows users will crow on and on about the taskbar’s superiority, but it is crap. It has no one purpose, rather it is a poorly implemented strip that serves as the main control point for the computer. The place where this becomes the biggest issue is if you hide it. You may just want more screen space, or to just hide the start menu, but you have no choice. Everything goes. Your list of programs, your minimized windows, system notifications, everything, is gone. Which brings me to my next gripe. Why would all my windows be displayed in huge buttons? I can understand it if my minimized windows were, but the maximized windows are already there. No need to have them in the taskbar. The argument is that its easy switching between windows, but I don’t find it easy to try to decipher between three Internet explorer windows, or three any windows. In the taskbar they all look the same and that doesn’t speed up the workflow at all.

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Earlier this week, in response to controversy surrounding the fact that Apple had chosen to include Safari as a download in Software Update for Windows even if the user never had Safari in the first place, Apple released a Software Update 2.1 Update that now categorizes Safari 3.1 as “New Software.

There are a couple catches though. First, the Safari box is still checked, so for those tons of people who just say yes whenever they see “Update Needed,” they will still be surprised to find Safari on their computer. Secondly, the Software Update update requires you to run Software Update to get it, thus installing Safari anyway if you don’t uncheck it.

Personally, I see no big issue with this for consumers. Worst case scenario, they don’t pay any attention and install the best browser in the world. The area where this gets annoying is in business networks when instances of Safari start popping up all over the network. Most IT people don’t want to deal with safari and then have to spend time deleting them all.

Have you had a Windows Software Update experience? Share below. 

With recent news of Microsoft opening up retail stores, it got me thinking.  Why?  Microsoft already has its OS available in almost every technology retail store there is, and you can get a Xbox 360 or Zune in almost all of these places, too.  Sure, it would be great to specifically promote your own brand and give consumers another store to shop at, but would it just fight for sales with the many stores that already sell Microsoft products?  If you ask me, Microsoft doesn’t really even make enough products themselves to make the store interesting enough.  They have the Zune, 360, their OS, and some peripherals, but how interesting could a store with just this really become (unless they have 360 game competitions, that is)?  All I could see these stores really being good for is maybe a cheaper alternative to Best Buy’s Geek Squad.  Maybe I’m missing something, but I just don’t think a Microsoft store could create quite the community the Apple stores are so famous for.

Apple stores offer an experience like no other.  They are full of life, learning, and, of course, awesome products.  If you ask me, Apple stores aren’t just stores.  With the Genius Bar, One on One Lessons, and daily help sessions, they are full of activity other than just buying.  They don’t pressure you to buy products, they make you WANT to buy the product.  They make people like me and you get excited about visiting them and cause you to want to come back.  I just can’t see a Microsoft store doing this.  I don’t know why, it just seems like it would be sort of dull.

Do you think a store made by Microsoft is just what they need to get back on track after the Vista disappointment, or would it be a waste of money?

2007 was a great year for Apple in the business world. The 2007 market share results for Mac OS X showed that in businesses, Mac OS X usage tripled to 4.2%, just over 2% lower than Vista, at 6.3%.

Windows XP declined during the same period, and it seems a shame that Apple doesn’t capitalize on the Windows Vista fiasco. Joe Wilcox at Apple Watch notes that Apple’s business advertising is totally non-existent. And Apple has a lot working against them. Windows PCs have long been the “Business Machine.” Most people assume that integrating Macs into the workplace will cause nightmares with compatibility, and there will have to be separate networks for Macs and PCs. The list goes on and on. It’s hard to imagine how Apple could extend it’s hip branding to business enterprise solutions, but they can think of something, and it’s a shame not to see them capitalizing.

Read [AppleWatch]

What I hate about Mac

1) USB Devices Always Wake the Computer - If my computer is sleeping, and I unplug my iPod to go out, why does my computer wake up? Why, why, why? Same if I’m unplugging my display/USB hub to use my computer as a laptop. The computer should NOT wake up.

2) USB Drives Can’t Simply Be Unplugged - In a similar vein to the first one, I should be able to yank out my USB drive and go. Why do I have to eject the drive first? I don’t on Windows…

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For you not brushed up on you Latin, carpe diem is a popular literary expression meaning, “Seize the day.” What do I mean by this?  If Apple wants to take control of the computer world that Microsoft has dominated for so long, now is the perfect time.  All the planets are aligned, so to speak, and Apple just needs to take advantage of the situation.  If they do it right, the tables could start to turn on Microsoft, leaving them wondering what happened.  Here are three reasons the time is perfect for Apple to take control.

1) Vista. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of the population is fairly disappointed with Vista.  After years of development and delays, it didn’t deliver.  For that reason, the time is right for Apple to really push the idea of switching to Mac OS X and learning how to use an easier, more responsive operating system.  The company needs to take advantage of the fact that Microsoft has been playing catch up with itself after Vista and really start hitting some nails into the coffin.  For example, one area that Apple is really doing a great job of pushing users to switch is in their Get a Mac ads.  Another strong point in this argument is the fact that Macs can run Vista and, in some cases, even better than a PC can.

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This rumor seems WAY out there but it might just be possible. Currently this one sits in the decidedly speculative section, but if it’s real it could be the the big M (no, not McDonalds) is taking a decidedly different view of their place in the market. Until now Microsoft’s stance has been that if you used Boot Camp to install a version of Windows on your Mac (the horror!) then you were essentially on an island alone. They simply wouldn’t give you any support. Now, internal memos might suggest that they’ll allow the Mac faithful who simply have to have a copy of Windows installed on the machine a small amount of assistance. The support will not include any help with installation, configuration, or anything related to the EFI on Macs, but all retail copies of Windows will receive the two free warranty calls any other Windows masochist user would get. It seems nuts to me that they wouldn’t have done this already, but I guess late is better than never.

Read [Neowin]

Microsoft employee Jeff Jones has released his findings from a comparison of Vista, XP, OS X Tiger, and RedHat Linux.

“Windows Vista One Year Vulnerability Report” by “Jeffrey R Jones, Security Guy (and Microsoft Director)” already has an inconclusive feel about it as soon as that title page is splashed up. But let’s give it a chance.

Before the report starts, we are met with an Executive Summary, telling me first that “This paper analyzes the vulnerability disclosures and security updates for the first year of Windows Vista and looks at it in the context of its predecessor, Windows XP, along with other modern workstation operating systems Red Hat, Ubuntu and Apple products.”

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