Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Vista: good for Microsoft or Apple?
I had the opportunity to look at Vista yesterday. I know, I am late, but it is not mobile or open source so I thought I could wait...
First impressions: WOW. Nice looking interface (looks like a Mac), it has search (like the Mac, a year or more ago) and gadgets (those are called widgets in the Mac world), they improved security, file sharing and the movie editor (you know the drill... already there in a Mac).
Sooooo, the big news is: Vista is a step closer to a Mac.
Now, I am not a Mac user. I never had a Mac. I had to buy a Mac for my wife because it matched her iPod. I now have to buy Macs for all salespeople in Funambol (a tip for CRM vendors: build Mac integration fast and you will win). And even for techies, like Stefano, Kincy, Harrie and others. I am chased by Macs...Macs crash like Windows. The hardware is not superior because I have seen many return their laptop, including Dave and Matt.
However, my brain works in strange ways. The moment IE7 came out and finally had the features of Firefox, I switched from IE6 to Firefox, just because Microsoft was pushing me hard to upgrade. Why would I get a browser that had the same features that Firefox had months before? Firefox had to be more stable and I assumed "they must be working on the next features, while Microsoft is chasing them"...
Therefore, I have the feeling that the moment they will force me to upgrade to Vista, I might jump to the light side of the force (anything that is not Microsoft is light, I guess).
Am I alone? Probably so... Or maybe not. Why would you upgrade to an OS that is like the one that has been out there for more than a year and can run your Windows as well (the opposite not being true)?
Since I am talking about switching, let me ask Steve Jobs for two necessary features:
1. Please give me a VGA output. My life is giving presentations (sad, I know) and I will lose the dongle in a month... You switched to Intel, you can switch to VGA too...
2. Please give me a touchpad mouse with the right button. Yes, I understand I can achieve it with an external mouse or a click on the keyboard. But it is not the same. If it is just for advanced users, put it in the high end laptops only. Please...
That said, I believe I might be close to switch. Definitely closer than I ever thought. If I am not the only lunatic out there, Vista might be good for Microsoft - as they said - but it might be even better for Apple...
Posted by Fabrizio Capobianco at 02:04
4 Comments:
salientgreen said...
Fabrizio -
A little Mac tip: You can right click by holding two fingers down on the trackpad and clicking once on the trackad button. Set this up in System Preferences-->Keyboard & Mouse-->Trackpad then check the box next to "Place two fingers on the trackpad and click button for secondary click"
Comment Posted at 06:38
Mathew McBride said...
Funny, I actually like the ctrl+click right click method on Apple laptops better.
The two button trackpad on my previous laptop caused a tonne of RSI, which has disappeared now.
Good point about the dongle, though. There are companies out there like Asus who are selling laptops with full VGA, SD, PCMCIA slots in the same formfactor* as the previous 12" PowerBook. The good side of the dongle requirement, however, is that I can use DVI at home with my LCD.
* With the lousy normal screen hinge and battery pack sticking out, unfornately.
Comment Posted at 01:56
Andrea Trasatti said...
About 4 years now, I decided I wanted a notebook.
I had visited a friend and seen his PowerMac.
I went out and checked the PowerBooks and other notebooks. It was the thinnest, lightest and seemed the best even compared to a lot of thinkpads top of the line.
The CPU was still a PowerPC, but since I did not care so much about the CPU I purchased it. 3600 Euro, at that time, not really cheap!
In the beginning it's been a bit tough. I had to go out and hunt for some applications that I needed. Very often, when you run Windows, you may choose among 10 applications that do what you want, with the Mac, when you have 2 you are lucky.
I found the applications I needed, anyway, found the right forums and places to get updates and help.
Now I'm a happy Mac user and I would not go back.
I agree with you that it's not all roses, but I like it a lot and when I use Windows (almost every day, unfortunately) I don't see a reason why I should go back.
With regards to the trackpad I actually like very much the current settings and for example it never happens to me to click by mistake, while on the PC happens.
BTW the Mac Trackpad has the two-finger-scroll feature that is AWESOME and beats and PC trackpad I've seen and tested where you can slide your finger on the right side of the trackpad to scroll the page. The Mac feature works much smoother.
Last but not least there are some small things that make your day better and in my case are the ones that will not make me go back to the PC. Things like the super-easy, intuitive and efficient management of network cards, IP, DHCP and so on. The preferences on the Mac are just simple and effective and if you want to hack you can still open the terminal and edit the configuration file and you know what? The preferences pane will not explode if you go back to the GUI and try to change again the configuration.
Comment Posted at 05:59
Fabrizio said...
Ok, I am convinced, I can make it with the absence of the right mouse button... What about the dongle for the projector? Solve that and I am sold ;-)
fabrizio
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