With so few posts, you my friend, are going to get an earful.
I don't disagree with you. I've been noticing Apple's decline away from the professional level, catering more towards the consumer. I think its made clear by this whole "Back to the Mac" thing of bringing iOS to the Mac, along with the focus on the iDevices (look at the top bar of Apple's web page and compare iDevices to Computer tabs. iDevices could have been all reduced to one tab easily.)
I say, let Apple go in this direction. It appears to be best for shareholders, best for Apple as a company, best for the Jobs, best for their overall bottom line. How many companies out there can claim they have such a large amount in savings and rising profits in an economy like this? They are making money hand over fist my friend, and who wouldn't blame them for riding the current.
I don't really like Apple, and I really don't like Microsoft either. I love the idea of Linux, and have various computers running some flavor. However, for professionals, especially in the AV world (of which I am a part in my current job), it can't cut the mustard. Not enough decent programs, and not enough funding or resources to pull it off.
(In the AV world)
Apple - Controlling, Consumer Based, Simple, Stable
Microsoft - Controlling, Trying to do Too Much, Standard in Workplaces, Bloated
Linux - Confusing for Consumers, Not enough large funded projects for AV, Build it to do what ever you want.
Aka: No one wins. Its so disheartening and frustrating. I rely on all three OSs just to get my job done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
ACK 
My very employment has depended on Apple and Microsoft operating systems lending themselves well to tweaks and optimizations for creative professionals to do their work efficiently. My clients need expensive, sophisticated software/hardware solutions running at speeds that exhaust the resources of the hardware. The features described here will only further drag us into a "dark period" that is the beginning of the end of the video post-production industry as we know it. I think Snow Leopard is a great OS for Final cut Studio 3, and, eventually, the many varieties of CS5. Most of my clients use tablets. I don't sell the moronic magic mouse, and the one client's setup where I "accidentally" did, yielded a guy demanding it go away because the lag from 8ft away made it unusable. (There was a $340 USB 2.0 extender already in place from the existing setup being upgraded).
Apple needs to realize that killing the professional products (Xserve, Snow Leopard's "spirit," software sales conducted by resellers, the Mighty Mouse), they are executing an industry that kept them alive for the decade it took for them to realize that the iPod thingy generated more revenue than those computer thingies.
They are, with "Lion," as one of you said, trying to make the iPhone/iPad converts more comfortable once they arrive. I get it. My 3.5yr-old daughter is a master at both the iOS on my iPad (company issue) and the Android OS on my phone (NOT company issue). For her, and adults at or below her level of comprehension, I say "well done" to the industry. These operating systems are great as gaming platforms and appliances for Google/Yahoo/Apple services like maps and email. They deserve a place in the industry, but should be on the other side if a wide rift - far apart from desktop computers.
iPhone users who are new to Apple aren't buying the $7k Mac Pros that I am selling. They aren't - or shouldn't be - video editors and producers. It's all well and good that the people that, in fact, are still making tens of thousands of dollars at a time producing and editing video (not YouTube crap, and necessarily Hollywood movies in this context), ALSO have tablet devices and smartphones. They aren't asking Apple or Google or Microsoft to now modify their editing platforms to work more like their toys. Why would they?
As for Windows 7 - my company laptop is a PC, and I ADORE Windows 7 compared to any Microsoft predecessor. With that said, it has been nothing short of a pain in the ass to implement in place of WinXP for my clients. Great for productivity boxes, but ironically unproductive for professionals.
Apple has become the evil, self-righteous establishment they once considered their adversary. Way to not see the forest through the trees.
Bringing what was once an enterprise feature (no matter how old) to everyone including your mum has to be a good thing so long as it's easy to use, and that's they key, not if it can be done, but if it can be done in a way that is understood and usable to your mum...
