Philip Ferreira - Editor-In-Chief
Interesting review of the Apple PowerBook G4, but not in a good way. There are too many errors for this to be classified as a review, because your writer didn't get any information before they wrote their review (I'm sure I could write as good a review of a broadway musical seeing as I have never seen one).
The problem with them is not the hardware, it is the software, and the fact that everything you buy to expand your horizon has to be an Apple product.
There is very little in the way of software available for the Apple when you compare it to the PC offerings. That is why I am going to tell you to stay clear of them. Another problem with the Apple computer operating system is the fact that it is completely different than operating systems for the PC (whether we are talking Windows, OS/2 or Linux).
I can tell you that this person doesn't know what they are talking about. When has there been any software that would run on Windows, OS/2 or Linux? A new version has to be created for each of these as much as for a Macintosh.
Okay, so Apple makes some apps for their own Operating System, this is not so strange considering that a majority of PCs running Microsoft Windows have very little else installed beyond Microsoft Office. But that isn't the point now is it? The point is that there are plenty of applications for the Mac OS, so lets look at a few shall we.
Adobe: Acrobat, GoLive, Illustrator, Image Ready, InDesign, PageMaker, Photoshop, ATM Deluxe After Effects
Corel: CorelDRAW suite
Procreate: Painter, KnockOut, KPT Effects
Microsoft: Internet Explorer, Outlook Express, Entourage, Excel, PowerPoint, Word
BareBones Software: BBEdit
Softpress: Freeway
Macromedia: Dreamweaver, Freehand, Flash, Director
Stone Design: Stone Studio w/Create
Caffeine Software: TIFFany, PixelNhance
Omni Group: OmniWeb, OmniOutline, OmniGraffle, OmniDiskSweeper
Srata: Videoshop
And then games, you know I don't play many games, but here are some that I do have:
Quake I, II, III, Elite Force, Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, F/A-18 (both Korea and Hornet)
And yes, there is more than two rows of games at the Apple Store (and even CompUSA the last time I checked). And then there is the Apple software on top of everything else:
AppleWorks, iTunes (free), iPhoto (free), iDVD, iMovie, DVD Studio, Final Cut Pro
And should there be something out there that doesn't run on the Mac OS, you can run it in VirtualPC on any of these operating systems (most of which I have installed on my system):
Windows 3.1, 95, 98, ME, NT 3.1, NT 3.51, NT 4.0, 2000, XP, OS/2 Warp (1.0 - 4.0), Solaris 2.6, 7, 8 for Intel, Linux (pick your favorite), NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, and others.
Their new OS which they call OS X is based on Linux, but it is still different enough to prevent you from doing anything with it because all the cool linux programs are designed to run on a PC platform.
Mac OS X is based on 4.4BSD and Mach, not Linux. And what cool Linux programs? The software horizon for Linux makes the Mac selection look great! How can you miss that one?
So why are they having this problem? In my opinion it is because they are short sighted and greedy. They aren't giving enough incentive to developers to do anything for the Apple OS and because they don't have developers making software, you aren't getting 3rd party people making all those cool accessories.
And all that is is an opinion. But from everything that came before it, it is based on NO research at all.
Only recently have you seen MAC accessories start back up and that was simply because of the USB revolution, and the fact that Apple is starting to see the writing on the wall (again).
USB (designed by Intel) was around for quite a few years before Apple started to use it. In that time there was almost NO products that used USB. When Apple said they were designing a system that would ONLY use USB (the iMac back in 1998), that was when the first serious product started to be made. And what accessories have not been out there for Macs anyway? Sounds like more opinion than fact to me. As for the "writing on the wall", Apple is currently one of the most successful computer companies and has seen almost no slow down in this recession. Most PC companies would love to be as successful as Apple (at least all their former employees would have liked it before being laid off). This shows that this writer is completely oblivious to the actual state of Apple, it's products and sales figures, or what common software companies are doing with regards to writing for the Mac OS.
My advice is to stay clear of anything Apple and watch carefully what happens in the next few years.
Really, it sounds like the writer stayed completely clear of Apple while writing this article.
3 out of 3 Stars for the hardware, but I think this article shows that if you are a home user, Apple is just not what you should be using.
This article shows that if you are paying this person, you should get your money back. This person's article sounds like a combination of reading other people's reviews mixed in with their own misconceptions. Frankly I would be very surprised if the writer has seen anything more than a picture of the PowerBook G4. And there is very little here that your Review Crew could not have found out by spending 15-20 minutes searching the internet.
I'm not asking for a good review, just a REAL review would be enough. Hate it if you like, but do it based on the actual facts.
