Apple has much to celebrate, not least that it is the Mac's 25th birthday. It has come through some sticky times. Perhaps this quote from Woz could tell us why.
"I'm proud now. I'm especially proud not just because Apple turned around, but because it turned around in a way so in line with our early values. Those values were about excellence in product design - so excellent that people would drool over the idea of having that product. Those values were about an emotional feeling - a feeling of fun. Like the way we decided to have color on the Apple II in the early days, back when nobody thought it would happen. I'm so proud that Apple has gotten back to the important things." - Steve Wozniak, iWoz
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
Mac sales up, PC sales down
Apple have reported their best sales quarter ever, while Microsoft are suffering a slump in sales, although they don't look that bad. Even the economic downturn gripping the world has seemingly had little effect on Apple sales. Could it be that Apple are producing consumer products that people want to buy? There also appears to be evidence of Apple's move into the enterprise space, without Apple even trying. The Macintosh had a history of not being seen as a powerful business platform after loosing their way in the 90's (although ironically the Apple II started it all with Visicalc) but it is finding its way into offices, not just the design studio.
They must be doing something right.
Michel Dell said that Apple should give up now, Microsoft had won. He advised Steve to sell Apple before it became worthless. Now Apple could buy Dell outright! Dell has said it would love to sell PC's running OSX if Apple would licence it.
What is the reason Apple is doing so well? Take a look at their site, and the first thing you see is no presure sales information and friendly videos showing you how easy it is to achieve what you want to do. This same approach filters through to the Applestore. You get "come in, come in.. try some of our kit, use the free wifi want to sit upstairs and use your Windows laptop on our network, no worries. go for it have fun, we'll show you how to do stuff and give you some free training". Contrast this with any other computer store and you get "Can I help you with that sir?, no just browsing? You really need this protection software suite, are you going to play with that all day or are you going to buy it?"
Have Microsoft already addressed some of their issues by making Windows 7, if so why the job cuts?
Apple Reports First Quarter Results
January 21, 2009
Apple today reported the best quarterly revenue and earning in its history, ”surpassing $10 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time ever,” according to Steve Jobs. Announcing results for its fiscal 2009 first quarter, Apple posted record revenue of $10.17 billion and record net quarterly profit of $1.61 billion, or $1.78 per diluted share. During the quarter, Apple sold 2,524,000 Mac computers, a record 22,727,000 iPods, and 4,363,000 iPhones.Thursday, January 22, 2009
Huge sales predicted for Windows 7
I'm going to put my neck on the line now and predict that even Microsoft will not be prepared for the huge sales that windows 7 will generate. Hell, I might even buy a copy myself!
I can't believe I just said that... medic!
Not only will Windows 7 sell it's usual high amount bundled with many PC's, but sales to users wanting to upgrade will be equally positive. This is not due to Windows 7 being the best operating system in the world, but simply because it is the best version of Windows. XP users have had nothing to update their systems to as Vista's heavy demands would kill their PC. Microsoft themselves have had nothing to offer to netbook manufacturures apart from a stay of execution for Windows XP.
Windows XP is very long in the tooth now, it may be fast but it doesn't do much. It is a dead OS. Vista includes some grovy tech but is still rather poor in its execution, and I am being very kind to Vista here. Windows 7 is a very well optimised version of Vista, and it will finally run on the good old netbooks of this world as well as older systems owned by Windows users wanting to upgrade.
As soon as Windows 7 is released, XP will be dead!
Why on earth would I like a copy of Windows 7 if I use a Mac? Nope I've not gone mad, OSX is still the best OS out there. I would actually like a cheap home version of Windows 7 to replace my copy of Windows XP I use on the Mac to play windows games, as it contains directx 10/11. I'll stick with XP for the moment as it will take me a while to finish half life 2.
Quick update:
A few hours after writing the above, I have just learned that Microsoft are to shed 5,000 jobs. The world economic state is blamed. I can't help thinking that MS are being a bit premature, it could also mean that although Windows 7 deserves success, the economic climate may curtail sales dramatically.
I can't believe I just said that... medic!
Not only will Windows 7 sell it's usual high amount bundled with many PC's, but sales to users wanting to upgrade will be equally positive. This is not due to Windows 7 being the best operating system in the world, but simply because it is the best version of Windows. XP users have had nothing to update their systems to as Vista's heavy demands would kill their PC. Microsoft themselves have had nothing to offer to netbook manufacturures apart from a stay of execution for Windows XP.
Windows XP is very long in the tooth now, it may be fast but it doesn't do much. It is a dead OS. Vista includes some grovy tech but is still rather poor in its execution, and I am being very kind to Vista here. Windows 7 is a very well optimised version of Vista, and it will finally run on the good old netbooks of this world as well as older systems owned by Windows users wanting to upgrade.
As soon as Windows 7 is released, XP will be dead!
Why on earth would I like a copy of Windows 7 if I use a Mac? Nope I've not gone mad, OSX is still the best OS out there. I would actually like a cheap home version of Windows 7 to replace my copy of Windows XP I use on the Mac to play windows games, as it contains directx 10/11. I'll stick with XP for the moment as it will take me a while to finish half life 2.
Quick update:
A few hours after writing the above, I have just learned that Microsoft are to shed 5,000 jobs. The world economic state is blamed. I can't help thinking that MS are being a bit premature, it could also mean that although Windows 7 deserves success, the economic climate may curtail sales dramatically.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
iPhone for richer or poorer?
People assume that iPhone owners are rich or at least well off, but what about the argument that the iPhone would be just the ticket if you were unfortunately broke? I have heard it mentioned in more than one podcast, that iPhones are quite popular with those of us who are not so well off.
A 16Gb iPhone 3G on pay as you go in the UK costs £391 which sounds a lot, but there are several points that put this price into perspective.
A 16Gb iPhone 3G on pay as you go in the UK costs £391 which sounds a lot, but there are several points that put this price into perspective.
- The cost of a years worth of unlimited data and use of the cloud wifi hotspots are included in the price. This usually costs £10 per month, which is an excellent deal from O2. So taking this cost off the phone brings it down to £271.
- The iPhone 3G is a portable computer with phone capabilities, very useful for finding a job, making appointments, push email, using the web.
- The iPhone does the job of several devices. If you can't afford a computer, it is your computer. If you can't afford an internet connection at home, it is your link to the world. If you want to play games, it is your games machine. If you want to watch movies and educate yourself watching podcasts, it is your portable media player. If you need a radio, Wunder radio from the app store will sort you out. Need to get to that interview? The iPhone is your GPS unit and city guide.
- A PSP costs £129 an Archos PMP equivelent media player costs £188 a 2MP camera costs £45 taking this away from the £279 iphone and it is free ;)
Sunday, January 11, 2009
A weekend with Windows 7
I've been playing with Windows 7 build 7000 over the weekend. I have been (for the most part) pleasantly surprised. It is the first version of Windows that I have been impressed with. I say this because back in the day Microsoft Windows 3.1 turned into Windows 95 which was less impressive than the Amiga OS I was using at the time. Windows Vista is being compared to Windows ME, with Windows 7 dubbed 'Vista done right'. So, what are the big news items that hit you right away?
Performance and Size
These are the two things that many users had problems with when using Vista SP0. I've not had a chance to do any timing checks but Windows 7 'feels' twice as fast as Vista SP1. This could just simply be that the user interface is more responsive but it is certainly nippy in many ways, although not as fast as Ubuntu.
At this point I should remind you that I am testing Windows 7 on a triple boot 5 year old laptop also running Vista and Ubuntu 8.04LTS so that I can see the differences of each OS running on the same hardware.
A bare bones installation of Vista Enterprise SP1 came in at a whopping 12Gb, whereas Windows 7 ultimate (containing more than Enterprise) comes in at a much smaller 6Gb. To massively over simplify, smaller files = faster reads = less RAM = faster computer.
Oh ok then, enough words already... Here's what it looks like.
Windows 7 has done a good job recognising my hardware, just need graphics card, audio, and ethernet. To be honest I would always install latest versions of these anyway. Windows update also detected and installed extra support for the laptop, a Sony Vaio GRT996VP.
The performance scores are pretty good. Desktop performance in Aero is slow but that is the fault of the poor graphics card and drivers. I used the same drivers that were used for Vista to check compatibility, it might be possible to improve performance further using better drivers although nVidia are annoyingly incapable of supporting their own mobile edition cards!
Slow Aero performance on older machines can almost be completely solved with one mouse click. Right-Click on 'Computer', choose properties / performance, then choose 'adjust visual effects' Untick the box enabling transparent glass and desktop performance will noticeably increase. It still looks nice.
When scanning the network it even discovered my Time Capsule.
A feature that I have grown to love on the Mac and Linux is the 'virtual desktop'. Although Windows 7 has internal support for these, you try getting them to work. I trawled the interweb for "Windows virtual desktop manager" and found several, unfortunately they were almost all completely awful. With the exception of two.
'yodm3d' is for those of you with a good graphics card and powerful computer. It imitates Linux's 'compiz' 3D desktop effects on Windows. Unfortunately while compiz running on ubuntu is ultra slick and very fast, yodm3d is as slow as a very slow thing, although it is easy to compensate by adjusting it's settings it is still no match for compiz.
My favorite virtual desktop manager for Windows is 'Vista virtual desktops' which works more like 'spaces' in OSX. In OSX 'spaces' is ultra fast, very slick, powerful and incredibly reliable. 'Vista virtual desktops' is fast, not very slick, nowhere near as powerful, and sometimes crashes, but it fulfils a need not serviced by Windows 7.
There are however good features unique to Windows. Dragging one window to the left and another to the right so that they can be automatically compared is a master stroke. Each window fills it's own side of the screen, returning to its previous size when dragged away.
The 64,000 dollar question is 'would I buy it?' what with me being a confirmed Mac convert. I'd have to say, at the right price, yes I would. On this particular laptop though, nothing beats Ubuntu hardy heron!
Performance and Size
These are the two things that many users had problems with when using Vista SP0. I've not had a chance to do any timing checks but Windows 7 'feels' twice as fast as Vista SP1. This could just simply be that the user interface is more responsive but it is certainly nippy in many ways, although not as fast as Ubuntu.
At this point I should remind you that I am testing Windows 7 on a triple boot 5 year old laptop also running Vista and Ubuntu 8.04LTS so that I can see the differences of each OS running on the same hardware.
A bare bones installation of Vista Enterprise SP1 came in at a whopping 12Gb, whereas Windows 7 ultimate (containing more than Enterprise) comes in at a much smaller 6Gb. To massively over simplify, smaller files = faster reads = less RAM = faster computer.
Oh ok then, enough words already... Here's what it looks like.
Windows 7 has done a good job recognising my hardware, just need graphics card, audio, and ethernet. To be honest I would always install latest versions of these anyway. Windows update also detected and installed extra support for the laptop, a Sony Vaio GRT996VP.
The performance scores are pretty good. Desktop performance in Aero is slow but that is the fault of the poor graphics card and drivers. I used the same drivers that were used for Vista to check compatibility, it might be possible to improve performance further using better drivers although nVidia are annoyingly incapable of supporting their own mobile edition cards!
Slow Aero performance on older machines can almost be completely solved with one mouse click. Right-Click on 'Computer', choose properties / performance, then choose 'adjust visual effects' Untick the box enabling transparent glass and desktop performance will noticeably increase. It still looks nice.
When scanning the network it even discovered my Time Capsule.
A feature that I have grown to love on the Mac and Linux is the 'virtual desktop'. Although Windows 7 has internal support for these, you try getting them to work. I trawled the interweb for "Windows virtual desktop manager" and found several, unfortunately they were almost all completely awful. With the exception of two.
'yodm3d' is for those of you with a good graphics card and powerful computer. It imitates Linux's 'compiz' 3D desktop effects on Windows. Unfortunately while compiz running on ubuntu is ultra slick and very fast, yodm3d is as slow as a very slow thing, although it is easy to compensate by adjusting it's settings it is still no match for compiz.
My favorite virtual desktop manager for Windows is 'Vista virtual desktops' which works more like 'spaces' in OSX. In OSX 'spaces' is ultra fast, very slick, powerful and incredibly reliable. 'Vista virtual desktops' is fast, not very slick, nowhere near as powerful, and sometimes crashes, but it fulfils a need not serviced by Windows 7.
There are however good features unique to Windows. Dragging one window to the left and another to the right so that they can be automatically compared is a master stroke. Each window fills it's own side of the screen, returning to its previous size when dragged away.
The 64,000 dollar question is 'would I buy it?' what with me being a confirmed Mac convert. I'd have to say, at the right price, yes I would. On this particular laptop though, nothing beats Ubuntu hardy heron!
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