Rearranging the Deckchairs

I wonder how long can Apple get away with ads like this one, with their “Just Works” slogan.

I’m a Mac fan, but they don’t “Just Work”. The hardware is beautifully engineered, with some lovely touches (that magnetic power cable has saved my laptop from being kicked across the room several times, and Macs are so quiet). Yes, the software looks nice. But it is pretty much as buggy as any other complicated piece of software. Sure, it works better than Windows Vista, but that’s like saying that compared to Zimbabwe or post world war 1 Germany, the economy is in pretty good shape right now.

Off the top of my head, here are just some examples of my Macs not “Just Working” that I’ve run into recently:

• MobileMe. If this just works, where’s my email? Mr Jobs, your pants are on fire.
• Apple wireless keyboard? Looks great. Works great. Apart the constant messages about ‘connection lost’ shortly before it stops working and in order to fix it you have to fetch a USB keyboard or screen share from somewhere else.
• Got a mighty mouse with one of those nifty scroll balls? It doesn’t work, does it? If it does, you just bought it – wait a while.
• Is your iTunes library on a network drive over wifi? If so, pull up a seat and admire the spinning beachball. You can also synch your ipod shuffle or iphone if you have a half hour to spare and you don’t need to catch a train.
• Time Machine and Time Capsule? Great interface. It’ll be nice when it works.
• Airtunes? That’ll be nice when it works, too.
• I can share my airport with another computer wired into ethernet? Cool. When will it work though?
• iPhone remote? If randomly flipping between airtunes speaker settings counts as “Just Works”, then yes.
• Bought a second Mac? Did you know you can transfer all your settings and software from your old Mac? That works great. Unless of course you weren’t actually planning to throw away your old Mac.
• Apple TV over wifi? That’s nice when it works. It’d be nicer if it worked all the time.
• Filevault? Doesn’t work. Breaks time machine.
• I have a USB Canon Scanner. On a Mac, it doesn’t “Just Work”. It doesn’t even work with a bit of effort. It won’t work at all. It worked with Windows, though.

As for the claims about Macs not suffering from viruses and security issues etc, that won’t last long.

There is no particular technical reason why a virus would not affect a Mac, once somebody cares enough to create one. For example the browser is as riddled with security holes as any browser, and those holes are generally easier to exploit than a comparable hole on Windows.

It reminds me of Netscape and Oracle years ago and their claims to have “bullet proof” security. No, they didn’t. And nor does your Mac.

Monday:

It’s the old argument about cost of ownership, you see. PCs are cheaper initially, but quite often the amount of time that you, or someone else, spend attempting to fix the problems actually adds a considerable amount of money “spent” on the machine. I have owned, since I bought my first computer in 1997, seven Apple Macs. The amount that I have spent on tech support amounts to £0.00p. Sure, I have spent some time tuning and fixing bits and pieces, but much of the time this was for my own pleasure as much as anything else.

Wednesday:

Apologies for the lack of posting, I had some severe computer issues yesterday. The new Apple 10.5.2 upgrade broke my computer. Or, rather, it caused a conflict that meant that a large number of my most vital applications simply crashed on start up.

Technorati Tags: vista, mac, linux, all as bad as each other

Stephen Fry has a blog.

:-)

This is classic:

A flotilla of plastic ducks is heading for Britain’s beaches, according to an American oceanographer.
For the past 15 years Curtis Ebbesmeyer has been tracking nearly 30,000 plastic bath toys that were released into the Pacific Ocean when a container was washed off a cargo ship.

Some of the ducks, known as Friendly Floatees, are expected to reach Britain after a journey of nearly 17,000 miles, having crossed the Arctic Ocean frozen into pack ice, bobbed the length of Greenland and been carried down the eastern seaboard of the United States.

Plastic duck armada is heading for Britain after 15-year global voyage – Times Online

I want to see some photos of these. I wonder if they can be spotted on google maps?

technorati tags:ducks

If you are a fan of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians (whose biggest hit was “What I am”, but she has much better stuff too), you may be interested to know that there is a pile of free songs by her that you can download here: EdieBrickell.com ~ music.

They are very good too!

technorati tags:music, edie brickell

Breath Spray – Instant Irish Accent

From the fine purveyors of looking good for Jesus

Love the “irish look” they picked.

technorati tags:irish, accent

Graham Parker has a new record out shortly, and a very good one by all accounts.

“”Columbus” offers the best of Parker, and considering his body of work includes “Squeezing Out Sparks,” “Howlin’ Wind” and “The Up Escalator,” that is saying something.” — Dave Ruden, The Advocate

“Parker is in full smartass mode on these songs, the band is having a rambunctious good time, and Don’t Tell Columbus is a very early contender for Album of the Year” — Andy Whitman, Paste Magazine

“If I never make a record again, that’ll be fine with me. This is it. My work is done here.

(Disclaimer: The above comments are extremely pretentious and in no way reflect the pompousness of the person who wrote them.)” – GP

GrahamParker.net

technorati tags:music