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Microsoft Opening Shops Right Next to Apple Stores This Fall
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Microsoft Opening Shops Right Next to Apple Stores This Fall |
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07/16/09
07/16/09
07/16/09
Apple sells computers - Microsoft sells software. People aren't going to come in to look at displays of boxes.
I suppose if they punch up the XBox 360 - and I'd love to say 'and the Zune' but I'll get injured... it might work.
But wow...
Still if they made the stores more as meeting places, made them brightly coloured and had coffee, maybe get a starbucks in there - a place for computer users to hang out - might work.
Better than hanging out in a sterile white museum filled with faux-cheery drones.
07/15/09
btw, I see this going about as well as Gateway Country's or Dell kiosks.
07/15/09
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07/15/09
I hate those ads. They're incredibly misleading. A video pro would never buy a cheap laptop, and most lawyers can't use a Mac for legal work.
07/15/09
1. I have done professional video work with a PC, and let me tell you that the work came out amazing with Sony Vegas Suite!
2. I have seen people use MacBook Pro laptops to work with LEXUS/NEXUS, WestLaw and use the MicroSoft Office products to their Macs.
I think what you meant to say is that you can't do sufficient touch-based tablet medical transcription on Apple Products (yet).
07/15/09
Conversely, any modern laptop can do simple SD video editing, but in the commercial they are vague. She describes herself as a filmmaker, implying that video is her life.
Second, there are numerous reports of law students not being able to use Macs for their studies, because the test software is PC-only. Apparently this is beginning to change, but programs like Examsoft will only run on Windows, and some schools will not allow users to use Boot Camp to run it. That particular ad is about a girl going to law school. So, I stand corrected. Once you graduate law school, you have more options.
As for medical work, there are no Mac tablets, though there is the incredibly expensive Axiotron modbook option. Of course, there is a small contingent of doctors still working on Newtons and Palm Pilots. To be honest, I've never met a doctor that wasn't doing their work on good old fashioned paper, though.
07/15/09
My video editing were done on a Tablet PC (Motion Computing J3400 Tablet) on the spot for DoD use (and the product were commercial quality.) I needed a product that were rugged, able to withstand combat duty conditions and were able to be used in inclimate conditions.
The kit worked just fine.
My Primary laptop that I used were an ASUS V90 which performed functions with Vegas just fine. It enabled me to flawlessly work with Vegas and Cinescore, as well as Acid7 Pro.
No BSoDs occured. For that matter, I didn't lag. The only thing I needed to do (considering the conditions) were to safely find a place for me to hotswap the drives and film between cameras.
As for Medical tablet versus paper, the trend is to go green. Motion Computing, Fujitsu and others have long since contracted with reputable organizations, like the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, in performing in tried and true methods of tableting. The F5 and C5 versions are commonly used in civilian and military hospitals around the world, and are currently effective in e-faxing information from one site to another (i.e; Combat Support Hospital relays patient's condition to MEDEVAC, who in return transmits to a Regional Medical Command.) Similar implementations are done on medical campuses, where the MS Ink'ed medicalorder is quickly scribed to pharmacy, or other medical wings at the flick of a stylus stroke.
Law School -- Not allowing to run boot camp? Can you provide substantial evidence of this? Where in their policies does it state this? I ask this, since I know quite a few people who are going to Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, as well as CaseLaw in Cleveland -- Some of whom are allowed to BootCamp.
My assistant being one of them.
07/16/09
And most lawyers don't use computers in general. it's one of the slowest professions to become automated, which would tend to argue lawyers should move to Macs (given that they're portrayed as easy to use)... so a lawyer choosing a PC is actually a good story.
07/16/09
Regardless, your experience is indicative of only your situation, not these three industries(well, if you want to call legal work industry) on the whole.
No, I do not have "substantial evidence" of the policies of law schools across the country(but neither do you, I might add), just people on various forums saying their law school's IT department does not allow them to use Examsoft on Boot Camp. I have not done an exhausting study, because this is a message board, not a board meeting.
I am an avid fan of film, so I know how movies are made. Uncompressed 720p HD 4:4:4 video requires 200 megabytes of space per second. 720p is well below film quality, and that doesn't include sound. Post-production lossy compression at 1080i is around 27 MB/s, or nearly 200 GB for two hours of still less-than-Blu-Ray resolution video.
No one who works with that much data on a daily basis is using a laptop on its own. This doesn't even take into account things like 5.1(or greater) audio mixing, visual effects, or output. How many laptops can do multiple HDMI-in/out or receive an HD-SDI signal? How portable can they be when wired to several monitors to test video output? These are things a professional filmmaker will use one a regular basis.
I don't know why you're trying to argue with me about tablet PC's (have you ever heard of a Straw Man argument?), since they are not mentioned in the Laptop Hunters ads, nor did I say anything about them in my original post. Apple doesn't make tablet PC's. There is nothing to discuss.
07/16/09
I didn't say filmmakers don't use PC's. I said filmmakers don't use CHEAP LAPTOPS. I am well aware of Avid and Vegas.
Is today anti-reading comprehension day or what?
07/16/09
07/16/09
If you really must know, I do work with DoD on projects. I do have a background in medicine since 1999. I am AMEDD Trained in Ft. Sam Houston -- Took clinicals in BAMC, or if you prefer, SAMMC North.
It isn't a difficult idea to grasp that DoD (or any of it's subordinate branches and bureaus) films presentations for use within it's organization.
It is also not difficult to realize that there are also people in different educational disciplines that can work with one another in any given organization.
It is also not difficult to realize that you assert that I make a strawman argument, yet attempts a use of "appeal to mockery" with "appeal to authority", albeit poorly.
Back to topic:
LAW SCHOOLS: When you make an assertion, you would be wise to substantiate those claims. You state that law schools won't allow students to use bootcamp, and yet you fail to back your claim. At the same time, I know for a fact that law students use Apple product laptops in law school, and even my assistant uses boot camp when she uses hers to do briefs. I just asked her again this morning about this.
Even a layman knows that forums are mere heresay. They are not policy. The next time you make a claim, try going with something more concrete. Any university's administration would be happy to forward you any policy regarding the policies and procedures of their IT department.
LAPTOPS with DVs and DATs: You fail to take into account that External HDDs with Firewire and eSATA ability can still carry additional storage that is needed for sound on a person's DATs and DV cameras.
It is a "field expedient way" to handle the situation. It is also not hard to carry a pack of 1TB 3.5s in an eSATA or Firewire enclosure.
Afterall, a projects shot don't need to be the next Transformers or GI Joe flick. But it has to emphasize on the topics that I work with on hand.
TABLET PC: I have news for you... It's STILL a PC. It needn't even have to be in a "Laptop Hunters" ad to qualify to be a PC. They are still used by those who benefit from them.
As such, it is still pertinent to this discussion.
07/16/09
For fuck's sake. Go ahead and reread what I said. Where did I say "No one uses PC's for video editing?"
NOWHERE!
A computer is only as good as the user, no matter what the OS. It is a tool.
To that end, a professional will use quality tools whenever possible. A photo pro will use Photoshop (or, I suppose, gimp), not MS Paint. An engineer will use whatever CAD software is possible, not Lincoln logs(unless, I suppose, that is the tool suited for the job).
What I said was, "video pros do not use cheap laptops." There are plenty of video pros who use windows, but I doubt they walk into a Best Buy and say, "I have $2,000 and want a 17" screen with lots of RAM."
07/16/09
I can be haughty and self-important, too.
REALITY CHECK: Stumbling into Vegas and putting some video clips in order, then hitting "export" does not make you Francis Ford Coppola. I can believe you've worked on several internal videos. I've made low-budget commercials for the company I work for, but I wouldn't call myself a filmmaker.
The title filmmaker implies that one makes films for a living. You do not make films for a living, therefore you are not a filmmaker.
I took Sports Medicine back in high school, but I don't go around telling people I'm a doctor. My best friend plays with Fruity Loops for hours, and has even made a few CD's, but he doesn't call himself a musician.
Your videos may have been very nice. That does not make you a professional filmmaker.
07/16/09
As I looked back on this thread, I noted that I did "Professional Video Work". I later emphasized in what that entailed. Everything I mentioned on this thread explained it clearly.
What should already be understood should not need to be explained.
By no means did I compare myself to Francis Ford Coppola, nor did I attempt to make such a comparison. Frankly, you are "affirming the ascendant" here.
Before you suggest that others re-read the thread, I would suggest that you do the same.
Maybe then your end of the discussion would bear more substance, and a lot less logical fallacious argument.
07/16/09
I would begin by saying that I apologize for being a bit smarmy, because I am probably redirecting frustration from work.
However, your example of filming in the field is an exception and hardly common to the industry as a whole. No, you don't need a Dual-Quad-Core Mac Pro with 16 GB or RAM to edit video.
But even you have admit that carrying around and swapping a bunch of 1TB eSATA hard drives is significantly less efficient than using a single RAID array, especially when moving around large blocks of data like video. A desktop of any sort is more suited to working with large amounts of data, and is what almost any pro would use if given a choice.
The time savings of a high-end desktop over even the highest-end laptop is incredibly significant when you're billing (or paying) by the hour.
07/15/09
Silly Microsoft. Every store is a Windows store.
07/16/09
07/15/09
Apple basically created a world for their customers where people can't compare the products side by side and don't even get the chance to think about any other solutions. I think MS has figured this out and now want to make sure that when people go into the Apple store at least they will see something MicroSoft. (Even though it's next door)
I'm sure they plan on partnering up with the likes of Sony, HP and Dell. They have nothing to lose in doing this. I guess they think people will at least think about the alternatives.
07/15/09
07/15/09
They where absolutely tired of Compusa and BestBuy (whom they had actually dumped as a partner they where so tired of their salesmen) and knew they where not getting a fair shake in the retail sector.
The only reason Compusa was able to keep their Apple section, was they had to agree to have Apple salemen in the store from that point forward.
07/15/09
07/15/09
There is a balance here, and lots of very successful retail groups have found that balance. Gap Inc is a perfect example of that.
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I wouldn't be surprised to see Apple do that too.
07/15/09
07/15/09
On a serious note, if they have gaming demo setups going on, Apple is going to be hurt
07/15/09