Adobe announces CS4, not the same as releasing
I got all excited and I shouldn't have bothered. Saw a headline today that seemed to suggest that Adobe had actually released their upgrade to CS4. It is not being released until October. Apparently Adobe are doing a webinar? May have missed that but I will check it out and if there is anything of interest I will post.
Looking forward to the mega download from the Adobe Licensing site that will be Adobe CS4 Premier edition.
You know I actually must find out if there is going to be anything really interesting in this release.
A Switchers tale (and some video too)
Labels:
Apple,
AppleStore,
Belfast,
Switcher
I've been a bad blogger. I'm still trying to get used to this having to post nonsense. When are Google going to create the new iBlogger software that does all this for you automatically without any effort?
I did promise some video of the Apple Store Belfast opening event so here it is. I flatly refused to High Five but my son got caught in the moment and obliged the frothy mouthed store people. All in all it was a really interesting experience. Bumped into some old friends, reminisced about times past and how it was great to see the store actually opening. My spies who were there on Sunday reported that the store was totally frantic then too so the crowds did not die down.
It will be interesting to see if they can keep the momentum.
And while I did expect to chat to people I had never met before it was interesting to check out the wide and varied people who were there. A work colleague pointed something very interesting out on his trip on Sunday. He noticed that there were an awful lot of young people around. Teenagers and Twenty-somethings. I found that very interesting as a future pointer. Time will tell.
On my visit I bumped in to a very nice gentleman from Dundalk. Niall is a relatively recent switcher (2 years ago) and I couldn't resist trying to get a particular reason for this phenomenon. Well, it pans out like I said with my own friends who are switching. You get an iPod first and then it's like a virus. The same thing seems to have happened to Niall and his family.
It isn't like he went into it blind. His local Church and minister have Macs. He got the bug from there. I do find this very interesting because in my time I have seen quite a few guys in the clergy who are vehement Mac users. Some of them go way back to the 80's but that might be another story.
I took it for granted that he was originally a Windows user and that indeed is the case. What annoys me about people who criticise switchers or Mac users in general is we get labelled as 'zealots' as opposed to people who made a choice. But I was curious to find out what the core reason for switching was. Well, it turned out to be the reliability and ease of use argument. It could be debated between experts as to what machines are more reliable than others and indeed, experts the world over have been arguing as to which is the superior GUI, but you know what? All of that is totally irrelevant. If you go to a new device for reasons of reliability and ease of use, it will only be deemed a success if that is exactly what happens. In Niall's case, that seems to hold true. He is a happy user and like me is an avid iPhoto fan. iPhoto made real differences in our own family situation with the ease of getting pictures into a library and allowing us to show Granny and Granda. It was easy, but also it was professional looking. It was impressive and I suspect Niall feels the same way.
It is like I said before. Office? Aye, for work. All that stuff reminds us of work. It bores us. It does not engage us. iPhoto and the nice iApps seem to be engaging Niall and his family. So some vids in this post. The first will have chants of 'Belfast, Belfast, Belfast' by the Apple Store staff. I knew at that stage it was gonna be a bit over the top. Enjoy the videos and post your own stories of the day in the comments.
By the way, I have no clue at all what the guy on the left was doing wearing a crumpled velbet purple coloured coat. My daughter thinks he is a fashion victim. Sure, what the hell would I know? If you are that person and watching this, get a proper coat, son.
Out of the mouths of babes...
Labels:
Apple,
AppleStore,
Belfast
Apologies, I just had to add one more thing for today. Tomorrow I will post my videos from the event and a bit about an interesting conversation I had with a guy who travelled up from Dundalk for the opening. Quite interesting.
The pics show my son about to launch into a frenzied game of Star Wars II but the first pic shows what a kid had done in Kid Pix before dandering off to the bosom of his family, whoever they may be.
Now, I don't know if the child has been brainwashed by his parents or that he genuinely believes this, however, it does really go to the heart of my previous post about Microsoft.
People are believing in the Apple brand, so what is the score with Microsoft?
Oh, by the way, I got my T-Shirt. I'm a happy geek.
AppleStore Belfast Grand Opening
Labels:
Apple,
AppleStore,
Belfast
I've been to Apple Stores before. One in Glasgow, the Regent Street store in London and two in Florida, The Mall at Millennia and the Florida Mall. The American ones were always very handy for getting the iPods at a good price with the exchange rate. However, I was always envious of the lack of local software, particularly games. Actually, I don't really play games. Things like Halo and Medal of Honour make me sick. Literally and physically. I stretch to Age of Empires and that is generally my limit, but getting games has always been a local issue.
So, we dropped the ladies off to the School of Music and my son and I drifted off down to the opening for around 9.20am. I expected a wee bit of a queue, I promised that if anyone "High-Fived" me I would slap them and I was hoping for a bit of excitement and of course, the free T-Shirt. No plans to buy, just to look and be happy that employment was being brought to Northern Ireland and choice. The pics are above.
I got more than I bargained for. Met some old friends and a couple of new ones, but more interestingly the place was overwhelmed with people. I was not expecting it to be this busy. Queued up on the ground floor and eventually headed up to the main entrance. I will post some more on this later, I am all blogged out and if I don't do some stuff around the house I will be beat severely. One thing is for sure, by no means was this a damp squib. This is really exciting.
Anyone else there?
I'm not alone anymore.
Labels:
Apple,
Keynote,
Microsoft,
PowerPoint
In my last post I talked a bit about being around in the 90's as a Mac user. It was a very isolated position. My friends regularly pointed and laughed at me.
It was tough.
OS 9 may have been reasonable and the software I used did the job for me, but I had the feeling that my days with the platform were numbered and I would eventually have to bite the bullet and get on the Windows train.
I wouldn't have minded too much, though. Lots of software to choose from and cheaper hardware.
However, things changed and the rest is history and we all know where we are now.
However, one thing that is sort of freaking me out is that in a quiet but startling way, people that I know are switching. Not in droves at first but now people are coming out of the woodwork as Mac users.
I get the feeling they want to tell me that they thought I had a point all along. I never shoved my computing preference down anyone's throats. I let them choose and gave as balanced an opinion as I could. Most continued down the Windows path.
Until recently.
I think over the last two years I have seen a sea change. Yes, it all started when friends who had never ever been Apple users suddenly started to be. Even me old mate Stevie Robinson. Firmly in the Microsoft camp as a user both for work and at home. No problems. We had our preferences. But suddenly he was an Apple user. An iPod user.
Others followed down this path. Friends, we Apple users like me even though it was just the iPod.
But things changed again. Trudy got an eMac. The Goodyears got an iMac last year and got a deal from Apple that included an iPod. Sweeeeeeeet.
My best mate, Fergus, got a MacBook Pro. Out of the woodwork this past week Brian comes and tells me he got one too and Bobby did as well. I am positive others will follow.
Even a mate of mine down South is getting an iMac for his Parish office. Andy has been there all along and is getting more stuff. Friends from work won't even think about getting a PC. They use it in work, they like it and they get it for the house. Alison switched from a Windows box in work and got a Mac and if I were to take it from her I would get one of her infamous female glares and I would beat a hasty retreat.
What is happening?
One reason I have had over the last year that is making people sit up and take notice. It is what I call...
Death By PowerPoint.
DBPP has been in business for at least five or six years. You now the score.
Oh, Holy Crap, another presentation with that damned PowerPoint template and 47 points per slide. I saw this YouTube video this week and it sums it up...
So what made some of these people switch? For quite a few of them DBPP was the reason. They wanted something better. More dynamic and yet simple all at the same time.
The answer?
Apple Keynote.
The guys in question are loving it.
Go to the newly opened Apple Store in Victoria Square and give it a burn. Come back and tell me if you think I am talking out of my you-know-where.
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
Labels:
Advertising,
Microsoft
I've been following what has been going on with the new Microsoft Advertising campaign with moderate interest.
I am not going to turn this into a Microsoft bashing exercise. Enough people are doing that. Is Vista a dud? Well I have been using it mostly in a virtualisation environment on my Mac Pro. It does what I need. My expectation was for it to be a step ahead from XP. A modern operating system that would run fast, be nice and slick with a bit of eye candy and most important of all that it would be secure. Not too much to ask for the 21st Century?
Some of the criticism aimed at Microsoft has been some times a bit over the top. Certainly the service pack has made a reasonable difference. However the release of Vista is by no means what it should have been and I think everyone is more or less agreed on that.
In my opinion Microsoft's problems go deeper than just a dud release of an OS. With the stinging criticism of late I am fairly sure that they will be doing their utmost to push the boat out and get a much better release in Windows 7, or whatever they will call it.
No, Microsoft are suffering mainly because people are bored with them. People are not excited by the brand. People use the software for "work" and Apple have cleverly played on that in their (infamous?) Mac Vs PC ads. Let's face it, for most people work is a chore. A place you go to to pay the bills. There is little in the way of excitement. Excel, Word, death by Powerpoint are all making us feel listless and that boredom is spreading to Microsoft as a brand.
Apple, on the other hand, are producing "Office for the rest of us" in the form of the iLife applications. You know, the fun stuff. Taking pictures of the family. Using that video you shot and turning it in to a really cool movie that you can all watch with a bit of excitement. No digging out the photo album and the projector and boring people to death. iTunes, the iPod and now the iPhone. All cool things that people want. Things that are energising people and engaging them which is why the once stagnant Mac brand is now suddenly growing at unprecedented industry rates. Now, there is more to that story than meets the eye and OS X is certainly at the core of it but that is the truth of the matter.
Microsoft are making themselves irrelevant.
To try and make themselves less so they are running an advertising campaign, at first using Seinfeld and now an "I'm a PC" advertisement. Take a look...
Seems ok on the face of it? Maybe so, but I will tell you what. I may be an Apple user, but I am also a Windows user and a very infrequent Ubuntu user, but one thing I am not, I am NOT a Mac. I don't define my life as such. I use a tool. A tool I enjoy using. If someone uses Windows and it makes their day, then go right ahead. This Mac user will not be objecting, nor will he look down on you for your choice of computing platform, but please, for God's sake, don't label me as either a Mac or a PC. I have no intention of dressing like Justin Long, hell, I am 45, I would look like a tube.
But what is more strange in this ad, is that it actually makes a reference to the Apple Ads. Is the first rule of advertising not to acknowledge the opposition? This is why I find it a bit strange. Does this not tell everyone how successful the Apple Ads are and will subliminally infer that Apple are the cool kids, the guys with the good stuff and Microsoft are just playing catch up?
Microsoft do have problems. And while everyone on the planet have product problems it now strikes me that Microsoft simply have credibility problems. The same kind of ones that Apple had in the 90's and I was there and it was painful. "Beleaguered" the word used to describe Apple in the 90's now the word most fitting to Microsoft. Is Balmer going to pull a Jobs and turn the company around?
My bet, is that with him as CEO, the answer is no.
Apple Store, Belfast opening tomorrow.
Labels:
Apple,
AppleStore,
Belfast
Let me be up front.
I am a bit of an Apple head. Goes all the way back to my time at CEM Computers when I joined them in 1988. Yes, I am that old.
So to have the Apple Store come to Belfast is just a tad exciting for me. So, I will be heading down tomorrow morning just after 9.00am. I will be bringing my son with me whom I have successfully corrupted into another Mac fan. We will be going mainly to get our freebie T-Shirts and mix with the beautiful people. We won't be buying anything. Perhaps we might get my rapidly decaying Mac Book Pro power supply changed over under their extended warranty programme (should that be program???) but other than that my main purpose is just to gauge the reaction to the new store in Belfast.
Will there be great excitement or not? Will the crowds be thronging as they do in the U.S. of A or will it be a bit of a damp squib? Interested to hear what the locals make of all this so sound off and let me know.
Quark unveil XPress 8.0 in Dublin on Tuesday
It isn't that often that I get out and about from Teach Basil so having a wee trip down to Dublin was a nice break from the norm.
I'm sure like many people in the Publishing Industry, you had heard about the new release of Quark XPress 8.0. Now, I have to be honest, I think Quark have done a terrible job in the years between version 4 to now. But in many ways we had no choice. We paid through the nose for the only product that could do the job, put up with extortionate support rates with a second rate support process and felt trapped with a one trick pony organisation.
That is, of course, until Adobe finally got their act together, killed PageMaker (Oh, to be back in the day...) and started to develop a really serious piece of kit called Adobe InDesign. I've been a fan of that product for a long time now.
So when I first saw the details of what XPress 8.0 would offer I have to admit, I was gonna just label it as another crappy release and leave it at that.
Full disclosure, we use XPress 7. 7.31 to be precise and just about to take the plunge to 7.5. Nothing had happened in the intervening years between 4.0 to now so I couldn't get that excited to be honest. However, when I started to really get a glimpse of what they were at, then I had to put my prejudice aside and take a proper look.
Hence, my trip to Dublin.
I will post more on this in the future because as it turns out I am getting a visit from the head honcho in Ireland. Quark have bought a local company and the new head of Quark in Ireland is paying me a visit.
Makes me feel kinda special really.
Bottom line? The day proved to be better than I thought it would. Quark are learning the lesson. I will post more on this after the visit and in between I will let you know what I found interesting at the Dublin launch.
So, what do the rest of you think? Is version 8 really going to be worthwhile or not?
...and, he's off...
Labels:
general
This has been a long time coming.
So, I thought it was time I got my ass in gear and started a tech related blog. I guess working for a newspaper it had to happen sooner rather than later and between us doing food and drink, gambling and our beloved leader doing his thing I realised if I didn't do something soon either someone else would or I would just never get round to doing it.
So here it is.
I intend for this to be a varied mix. More or less if you can plug it in then it is of interest to this blog. I do want to have a local Irish focus so if anything catches my eye that has that local feel then I want to report on it. If anyone out there wants to promote or talk about anything technology related locally then, by all means, get in touch. More on that local flavour in later posts.
So, are you sitting comfortably (with laptop in hand, mobile phone in top pocket and wireless router zinging away in the background)? Then let's begin...
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