Windows

A Windows Guy in a MacWorld

Posted by on Jan 13, 2006 | 5 Comments

Just got back from MacWorld – where I presented on the Economics of Podcasting (don’t worry, the audio will be available very soon on The Chris Pirillo Show). I even slapped an “Attribution-ShareAlike” Creative Commons license on the entire hour (couldn’t hurt). While the crowds were certainly wooed by the new gadgets and software, I couldn’t help but think that… there’s no such thing for Windows users. Seriously, there’s no WindowsWorld – highlighting interesting software and vendors who care about consumer products and fantastic add-ons. You might argue that Comdex filled that gap – and I would certainly argue with that argument. I need a full-on Windows software conference to keep me from believing that all the cool things are happening on the other side of the fence. I don’t know if I’m fooling myself into believing that Windows Vista will be an amazing update, because I just don’t see it as being anything more than a mandatory move. What happened to the days when I couldn’t wait to start using something on my system? The difference between Windows 3.1 and 95 was palpable. The difference between Windows XP and Vista? Not-so-much. Now that Apple’s moved their development to Intel’s platform, Microsoft faces some tough competition. This isn’t a tongue-in-cheek statement – I’m dead serious. Let’s just play out a specific scenario.

Fast forward two years from now. Vista has been released and is already looking stale. Apple announces “Eleven,” with even more media-centric applications that further enhance your digital lifestyle. You still don’t care about OS X because it’s off your radar and completely out of your reach. Then, Steve Jobs makes the announcement of the century: OS X is now pre-installed along with Windows Vista on all Dell machines. Woah. In a heartbeat, the industry changes. There’s no longer “Macs” and “PCs” – there’s just a computer. Benchmarks are finally made relevant, with the ability to try software and tasks on one OS – then reboot and try them on another. Linux is completely out of the picture as a desktop operating system, further marginalized by OS X’s FreeBSD stable underpinnings. Consumers purchase Dells to experience both leading OSes first-hand. Many ultimately switch to Apple-only hardware, and others stick with what seems familiar. It’s not completely out of the question, provided Apple doesn’t do something stupid again. Their arrogance continues with campaigns that claim: “What’s an Intel chip doing in a Mac? A whole lot more than it’s ever done in a PC.” That’s a load of bull, but my crystal ball prediction is still quite possible. Watch it happen.

[tags]windows,computers,mac,os x,apple,intel,vista,microsoft,macintosh,pc,computing[/tags]

  • Anonymous

    I got an iPa d 2 32-GB for $21.68 and my girlfriend loves her Pana sonic Lumiix GF 1 Camera that we got for $ 38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS. I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $ 657 which only cost me $ 62.81 . Here is the site we use to get it al from, http://to.ly/aXIi

  • Brant Power

    I keep things clean solely for the fact I can find them faster. Especially when using multi OS. When holding onto large image files one couldn’t possibly remember exactly where that file was or the file name for that matter. Having a system to rate and tag files is critical in my field of work. The trick is to have just enough sub folders to contain your content into a relative space and location. The rest should be keywords to improve item look ups and rating to help sort out what is really important and what’s just there. This could be applied to any type of content.

    It maybe over the boarder for some but I have a naming convention for every type of file or content I encounter. So that way when I look up something I know what category it’s in then all I have to do is search for a suffix.

  • Anonymous

    The act of organizing and maintaining my files keeps me in touch with the information I acquire. Although I depend heavily on my computer’s search function, I would quickly lose touch with what I have if it weren’t for my folder and subfolder system.

    Great topic!

  • Anonymous

    I just p a i d $21.87 for an i P a d 2-64GB and my boyfriend loves his Panasonîc Lumîx GF 1 Camera that we got for $38.76 there arriving tomorrow by UPS.I will never pay such expensive retail prices in stores again. Especially when I also sold a 40 inch LED TV to my boss for $657 which only cost me $62.81 to buy.
    Here is the website we use to get it all from, http://bit.ly/SHOPid

  • Craig DeForest

    Nice, Dad. You’re of course right that organization “pops out” of filing, while it doesn’t from search. But I’m increasingly leaning toward relational databases rather than the hierarchical one of folders. For example, I organize my collection of research papers in Mekentosj Papers, which is more like iTunes than like the file system that I used to use. Sure, you can flip through hierarchically — but you can also invert that hierarchy (e.g. searching for stuff by year, then author vs. author then year), which you can’t do with a hierarchical database.

    So I, too, stand by my belief that hierarchical databases (file systems) are of fading relevance — but I stand corrected on the importance of organization itself!