Exclusive: Spy shot from behind closed doors at Canada’s newest Apple store.

Apple is normally very secretive about keeping the veil on Apple Stores until they are completed. Which makes this sneak peek a tasty tidbit. You may have already seen the floorplan, and you may have already seen the cloaked storefront but now… VistaSucks.WordPress.Com bring you the first spy shot of the interior of the new Apple Store Vancouver…

What laptop does Microsoft’s CEO use for his presentations?

A picture is worth a thousand words…

 

View the original on Flickr.Com

Popular Mechanics - Mac vs. PC: The Ultimate Lab Test

“…Simply put, Vista proved to be a more sluggish operating system than Leopard. Our PCs installed some software faster, but in general they were slower in our time trials. Plus, both PCs showed weaker performance on third-party benchmarks than the Macs. Our biggest surprise, however, was that PCs were not the relative bargains we expected them to be. The Asus M51sr costs the same as a MacBook, while the Gateway One actually costs $300 more than an iMac. That means for the price of the Gateway you could buy an iMac, boost its hard drive to match the Gateway’s, purchase a copy of Vista to boot-and still save $100. Read the full review on Popular Mechanics

Why ‘No Macs’ is no longer a defensible IT strategy

Once confined to marketing departments and media companies, the Mac is spilling over into a wider array of business environments, thanks to the confluence of a number of computing trends, not the least among them a rising tide of end-user affinity for the Apple experience.

 

Luckily for IT, many of those same trends are making it easier for tech departments to say yes to the Mac by facilitating IT’s ability to provide enterprise-grade Mac management and support.

“We’re seeing more requests outside of creative services to switch to Macs from PCs,” notes David Plavin, operations manager for Mac systems engineering at the U.S. IT division of Publicis Groupe, a global advertising conglomerate. There are so many requests that Plavin now supports 2,500 Macs across the U.S. — nearly a quarter of all Publicis’ U.S. PCs.

And Plavin is less of an anomaly than you might think. Buoyed by increased interest in the consumer arena, Macs are cropping up in more and more organizations, in large part because end-users are pushing for them. Read the full article on InfoWorld.Com

 

From Win32 to Cocoa: A Windows developer’s conversion to Mac OS X

“A couple of Gartner analysts have recently claimed that Windows is “collapsing”; that it’s too big, too sprawling, and too old to allow rapid development and significant new features. Although organizations like Gartner depend on trolling to drum up business, I think this time they could be onto something. “Collapsing” is over-dramatic-gradual decline is a more likely outcome-but the essence of what they’re saying-and why they’re saying it-rings true.

Windows is dying, Windows applications suck, and Microsoft is too blinkered to fix any of it-that’s the argument. The truth is that Windows is hampered by 25-year old design decisions. These decisions mean that it’s clunky to use and absolutely horrible to write applications for. The applications that people do write are almost universally terrible. They’re ugly, they’re inconsistent, they’re disorganized; there’s no finesse, no care lavished on them. Microsoft-surely the company with the greatest interest in making Windows and Windows applications exude quality-is, in fact, one of the worst perpetrators.” Read the full article on ArsTechnica.Com

 

Former Mac hater reflects on his switch to Mac

“…While I am not a card carrying Mac fanboy (it does have issues like any piece of technology), I wanted to try and summarize why I like the Mac so much now that I’ve been using it heavily for the last two months.

I have been a Windows user and software developer since 1992, and a DOS user and developer since 1984. I used to hate Macs and as recently as 9 months ago my avatar on one of my forums was John Hodgman (the PC guy from the Mac ads).

Now I really enjoy using my Mac and am drifting away from Windows as a platform. Here’s why:

Read the full story on David Alison’s Blog found via SwitchingToMac.Com

Study finds businesses more satisfied with Mac OS than Vista

Corporate users of Apple Inc.’s Leopard operating system are more than five times more likely to say that they are “very satisfied” with the OS than business users of Microsoft Corp.’s Windows Vista, a research firm said Wednesday.

In a February survey of 2,200 U.S. corporate computer users, 53% of those using Mac OS X 10.5 reported that they were very satisfied with their operating system. Of those using Windows XP or Windows Vista, however, 40% of the former and only 8% of the latter said they were very satisfied.”Apple continues to set the standard for corporate customer satisfaction,” said Paul Carton, director of research at ChangeWave Research. That, and the fact that corporate buying plans for Macs remain at historically high levels, indicate that users like what Apple’s doing, continued Carton. Read the full article on ComputerWorld.Com

Apple snags 14 percent of US-based PC retail sales in February

Apple’s computer sales in the US have grown considerably from last year - at 60-percent unit growth and 67-percent revenue growth - granting it 14-percent of all computers sold for February. According to AppleInsider, Apple’s laptop systems saw the largest growth, representing a 64-percent increase in units sold, and 67-percent increased revenue, suggesting strong acceptance of the company’s new ultra-portable, the MacBook Air. Read the full story on AppleInsider.Com

PC Magazine: “[Apple's Mac OS is] by far the best operating system ever written.”

“…After three months with Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard Version 10.5, I have three main things to say about it. First: Despite minor problems, it’s by far the best operating system ever written for the vast majority of consumers, with dozens of new features that have real practical value”

“ If you’re in the market for a new machine, it’s time to look seriously at a Mac, especially now that all Macs can run Windows along with OS X through the built-in Boot Camp feature that lets you install Windows and Leopard in separate partitions. Even better, third-party software from Parallels or VMware make it possible to run a Windows program in a window on the OS X desktop. It’s even possible to set up OS X so that Word documents automatically open in the Windows version of Microsoft Word.”

“I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done in long, complicated documents. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did—and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it’s better than any alternative, and it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else.” Read the full review on PCMag.Com

Mac customers 81% “Very Satisfied” compared to Vista Basic’s 15%.

The chart above says it all but you can still read the full story at BaltimoreSun.Com. Found via SwitchingToMac.Com

Legal IT Consultant: Vista = My Own Personal Hell

“…My conclusion is now that NO ONE who values their sanity, their time, their psyche and general sense of well-being should use Vista. At all. Under any circumstances. In fact, after giving it more than a fair shake over 11 months of daily use, I know think it deserves to be classified internationally as a Weapon of Mass Data Destruction. In fact, perhaps the best way to defeat Al Quaida or any other terrorist group would be to send them free copies of a particularly brain-dead version of Vista like “Home Basic” - it would stop them in their tracks, as it has done with me and so many others.”

“Vista is the #1 reason Apple has been so successful in the overnight turnaround of its Mac product line. The best feature of the Macbook and iMac series is they DON’T have Vista, not the fact they now have Leopard.” Read the full post on Rossipsa.Com

US Army: We’re switching to Macs.

“…Wallington, a division chief in the Army’s office of enterprise information systems, says the military is quietly working to integrate Macintosh computers into its systems to make them harder to hack. That’s because fewer attacks have been designed to infiltrate Mac computers, and adding more Macs to the military’s computer mix makes it tougher to destabilize a group of military computers with a single attack, Wallington says.

This past year was a particularly tough one for military cybersecurity. Cyberspies infiltrated a Pentagon computer system in June and stole unknown quantities of e-mail data, according to a September report by the Financial Times. Later in September, industry sources told Forbes.com that major military contractors, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon had also been hacked.” Read the full story on Forbes.Com

A thought from the author: Vista in retail.

I had an epiphany yesterday while I was in the local Best Buy on my lunch break picking up a purchase for myself. I suddenly found myself able to put into words what my gut has been telling me for months.

I was watching mid-day, week-day shoppers as they were browsing around the computer department eyeing desktops, and notebook computers. Most of them looked like Parents or Grandparents shopping for their kid’s school computers or getting a head start on Christmas shopping for the grand-children. As I watched these people toy about cluelessly with the Vista loaded hardware looking like they barely knew how to operate a trackpad, I felt that familiar sinking feeling that I’ve felt so many times before in the same situation.

Computer World: Mac OS X spanks Vista.

“Throughout the four years of the Vista development process, I tested and evaluated at least 15 different alphas and betas of the operating system, spending hundreds of hours evaluating the late prereleases and the final editions. Likewise, I spent countless hours testing Leopard, both in prerelease form and the final version now available to the public.”

“…it’s impossible to miss the refinement infused throughout Apple’s new operating system, whereas there are compromises in Vista that impinge upon the user experience without giving something back in return. Apple is focused on the user experience, while Microsoft appears to be focused on antipiracy, overengineered security protections, and digital rights management aimed at serving its prospective third-party partners. There’s really no contest. Tiger is a better OS than Vista, and there are no long-term downsides to Leopard. Vista doesn’t measure up.”

Hacker puts Mac’s OS X on Asus’ Windows Alternative PC.

This isn’t legal but apparantly that didn’t stop one hobbyist from loading Apple’s Mac OS on to the sub $500 Asus Eee PC.

Meant as a Windows Vista alternative for Best Buy shoppers it’s been converted into an inexpensive way to run OS X without the Apple hardware.  “…So, ever since I got the eeePC I’ve loved how easy it is to tinker with. Since I’m not a Linux guy, I dumped the Xandros preload and opted for Windows XP so I could [use] my EVDO USB datacard and blogging software easier, but I wondered could I install OSX on it? And, after trial and error - you can!” Read the full story on UneasySilence.Com (found via Gizmodo.Com)

Lifehacker.Com Editor Builds a “Mac” PC for under $800

Last October I reported on how hackers had found a way to install Apple’s Mac OS X on regular old cheap PC hardware which attracted a lot of attention. It seems the folks at the productivity tips site Lifehacker.Com were intrigued enough to give it a shot.

“…Building a DIY Mac requires some work on your part, so be ready to dedicate time to this project. To make things as easy as possible, I’m going to lay out how I built my Hackintosh from start to finish, from the hardware I used to the final patches I applied to the Leopard install. If you can build a Lego set and transcribe text, you’ve got all the basic skills required”

“…All of your hardware should work exactly as you’d expect. Your sound, networking, and video will all work off the bat. (I haven’t tested the motherboard’s built-in wireless yet, but it reportedly works.) Your iPods will sync flawlessly, and CDs and DVDs read and burn just as you’d expect. Mail, Address Book, iTunes, and everything else I’ve tried so far work flawlessly. Firefox is browsing, Quicksilver is doing it’s thing, Spaces are rocking, Stacks are stacking, Cover Flow is flowing, and Quick Look is previewing.” Read the full story over on Lifehacker.Com

In Japan: Mac OS X Sales Up, Windows Vista Sales Down

Microsoft’s has taken a bruising in the Japanese marketplace just as Apple’s Mac OS X Leopard was released, according to a new report by the country’s Business Computer News. The publication notes that while sales of Mac OS X increased dramatically between September and October, climbing from a rate of 15.5 percent year-over-year to 60.5 percent, Microsoft suffered from the reverse effect. Sales growth of Windows plummeted from 75.3 percent to 28.7 percent. Read the full article on Electronista.Com (found via MacObserver.Com)

Columnist: “[Apple's new OS Runs Great On My 6 Year Old Mac!]“

“…Subjectively speaking, I think Leopard is slightly more responsive on my [old Mac] than Mac Os X 10.4 Tiger was. The fancy new eye candy such as QuickLook Cover Flow in the Finder work fairly smoothly. Not quite as well as they do on my 2006 MacBook, but certainly well enough.

Vista, eat your heart out.”

Indeed! Microsoft’s latest OS seems to be the extreme opposite way on even the newest of computers. (Unless you’re running it on a Mac.)

Read the full article on BaltimoreSun.Com found via SwitchingToMac.Com

Columnist: The ages-old Mac-vs.-PC debate is over. Long over. The Mac has won.

… And yet, you’re not buying an Apple computer. Most of the world isn’t. There is probably a single overwhelming reason you’re clinging to Windows. Macs are expensive. This is what you’ve been told, and in your research, it’s seemed to check out. If they acknowledge it at all, Mac fans will rationalize the higher prices by noting that you’re paying for quality. Buying a Mac, folks say, is like buying a BMW (Apple CEO Steve Jobs regularly compares the Mac’s market share with that of German luxury cars). But what if you don’t want the BMW of PCs? What if you can only afford a Chevrolet?The present article is an attempt to prove to you that, on price alone, the Mac is not the BMW of computers. It is the Ford of computers. I am not arguing that the Mac is cheaper only if you consider the psychic benefits conferred by its quality. Rather I’m going to illustrate something more straightforward: Even though you may pay a slight premium at the cash register for a Mac over a comparable Windows PC (a premium that gets slighter all the time), it will cost you less money — real, honest-to-goodness American dollars — to own that Mac than to own that PC. Read the full article on The Machinist.

Slate Magazine: Leopard Devours Vista

Leopard demolishes Vista in a classy, coherent upgrade according to Slate Magazine on Wednesday. Apple has underpromised and overdelivered while Vista’s techincal improvements remain difficult for users to appreciate and utilize.

Apple’s OS update approach stands in sharp contrast to Microsoft’s. While Apple remains modest in its numbering system and includes lots of new features in periodic releases, Microsoft “trumpets each new version of Windows as an epochal breakthrough, thereby raising expectations so high that it can’t possibly meet them,” Harry McCracken wrote.

As a result, Microsoft’s “The Wow Starts Now” campaign, intended to create wonder has simply resulted in users being speechless and full of desire to cling to a six year-old XP. Read the full review on Slate.Com (via MacObserver.com)

Another School Switches From PCs To Macs To “Diversify” Computers

…At Cox, the school has installed about 100 iMacs in labs, and there’s dual-boot Mac minis (OS X and XP) at the head of about 30 classrooms. “We’re enhancing and diversifying our computer platforms by keeping Windows XP while adding OS X,” said Allen Gwinn, the school’s technical director, in a statement. “Upgrading to Apple platforms is the only way to do this.” Read the full story at CultOfMac.Com

Installing Mac OS X Leopard on a PC

…“You can build your system for a lot less than a real Mac and get the performance of a top-dollar Apple machine. This is fact and a lot of the real Mac users will deny, but it is fact. My machine runs a e4300 Core Duo Processor over-clocked to 3.40 GHZ. Where can you get a 3.4-GHz Mac? It will cost you a fortune. I have 1066-MHz DDR2 memory. Where can you get that on a real Mac???”

“Why run OS X? Well, when you are just used to Windows, it is like living inside a house and not experimenting the whole world out there. Once you get out of it, it is just amazing. Mac is just that: You just feel like glued to the computer. Everything is just beautiful, the interface, the stability. Once you experiment it, you don’t want to go back to windows. Trust me.” Read the full how-to guide on OSx86Scene.com (found on MacUser.Com)

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PCMag: Leopard “the most polished and easiest to use OS”

…Leopard again raises the question of whether to switch from Windows to a Mac. I’ve found Vista to be a major disappointment that tends to look worse the more I use it. I still use Windows XP for getting serious work done. But OS X is easier to manage and maintain and I vastly prefer OS X to Windows for Web-browsing, mail, and especially for any task that involves graphics, music, or video. Leopard performs all such tasks even better than previous versions did-and Leopard is the only OS on the planet that works effortlessly and intuitively in today’s world of networked computers and peripherals. Leopard is far from perfect, but it’s better than any alternative, and it’s getting harder and harder to find good reasons to use anything else. Read the full review on PCMag.Com

Manage your virtual desktops with Virtue Desktops [video]

What’s a virtual desktop you ask? Check out the video below… 

Read about it on LifeHacker.Com

 

 

Install Mac OS X Leopard on your PC in 3 easy steps!

…Well its been only a day since the Mac OSX Leopard was released officially by Apple and the hackers have managed to create a patched DVD that everyone like you and me can use to install Leopard on PC’s without having to buy a Mac. Please note the tutorial that I am going to post is still experimental and things might not work the right way simply because it is still early days in hacking Leopard to work on PC’s. Well if you don’t mind your PC getting screwed then go ahead and try out this tutorial. Read the full article on DailyApps.Net (found via CultOfMac.Com)

 See also: This post for a tutorial.

Leopard will open the Mac OS X floodgates (and embarass Microsoft)

…As many of you are aware, I think Windows Vista is a blunder. And with its annoying UAC system, and horrifically slow operation, it won’t take long before the majority of home users agree with me. And if the recent figures showing Mac OS X is already gaining market share is any indication of the future, look for Leopard to outsell Vista by a staggering margin. Read the full article on C|Net.Com

New York Times: “Leopard is powerful, polished and carefully conceived.”

…Microsoft had it a little easier with Vista, because everybody knew what Windows needed: better security. Maybe Mac OS X is harder to hack, or maybe the virus writers consider the Mac’s 8 percent market share too piddling to bother with. But in its six years, Mac OS X hasn’t experienced a single virus outbreak or spyware infestation. So Apple’s mission in Leopard was to make us aware of needs we never knew we had — something Apple is usually good at. Read the full article on NYTimes.Com

Apple unleashes its Leopard OS

…This is an important development for Apple; Microsoft’s latest operating system, Vista, got a lukewarm reception following its February launch, and Apple will be hopeful of attracting disappointed Windows users with Leopard. Read the full article on Telegraph.Co.Uk