John Pendley wrote:
> In pondering my scanner options, a new option has occurred to me. I've got
> a decent scanner for a beginner (an Acer ScanWit). Windows won't install
> it, after many, many attempts and a boatload of technical advice. Windows
> crashes on me all the time. So maybe what I ought to do is get a Mac and
> use the scanner I've got for awhile.
>
> I'd like to hear from Mac users, especially on the issues of support,
> stability, and ease of use with peripherals such as photo scanners. I'd
> also appreciate your best guess as to how hard it would be for a college
> educated (albeit in English), long time Windows user to learn to use a Mac.
For your Acer ScanWit I'd recommend VueScan over the bundled scanning
software whether you use Windows, Linux or Macintosh:
http://www.hamrick.com/vsm.html
Hardware trouble-shooting on a Mac is a lot simpler because there are fewer
configurations to test (both for the user and more importantly the QA team
at the product developer). I stopped doing wintel trouble-shooting for my
friends and family years ago since I'd really rather have a life of my own.
Supporting the couple-hundred Macs in my extended family has been trivial
and even the most naive users like my Mom become self-sufficient on a
broader scope of applications much more quickly than on wintel. XP is a big
improvement, but come on, was there any reason to slog through 18 years of
bad design waiting for a useable version of Windows? Did you have to carry
clunky traditional SLRs around when OM/Zuiko sweetness was available?
If you've never owned a Mac you owe it to yourself to get one, and if you're
on a budget a used PowerBook G3 or desktop G4 can be found for under $1,000.
I did professional photo retouching for years on 68k Mac II and Quadra
systems that you could find for the price of a lousy dinner nowadays. They
are a joy to use and I'm surprised that more of the zuikoholics on this list
aren't macophiles. Appreciation for fine cameras while tolerating DOS and
Windows displays and typography over the years is a contradiction in
aesthetic sensibilities. John Rizzo's MacWindows site is a good resource for
those making the transition:
http://www.macwindows.com/
Support for graphic arts applications on the Mac is unparalleled--everything
from running Photoshop 3.0 on a 1986 Mac Plus, to creating cool QuickTime
slide shows by just copying and pasting text, graphics and sound from any
app, to tying together all your disparate software with AppleScript to
create custom, automated workflows. Since this has been going on
uninterrupted for over fifteen years, you can understand why many veteran
Mac users are loyal--we've never had to change our stride. That translates
to a lot of time saved from avoiding the recurring training that wintel
users have gone through, resulting in more focus on content than the
computer. On the other hand if you enjoy messing with the machine, there's
nothing better than wintel.
Classic Mac OS stability can be very good for strictly managed
configurations, to very poor if you live fast and loose. Mac OS X is
industrial strength but not to the level of a truly robust system like SGI
IRIX--it'll take a couple of years for it to get really bullet-proof.
SCSI scanner support on pre-iMac machines with SCSI on the motherboard and
classic Mac OS is rock solid. Now that SCSI is a third-party option on
modern G4 Macs and OS X, your mileage may vary and the experience resembles
a late version of Windows. Life is much more enjoyable, however, with a new
FireWire film scanner from Nikon or Minolta. FireWire on the Mac is one of
the best examples of Apple's "it just works" design ethic. This year's Eco
Challenge adventure race in New Zealand is a good example of photo pros
preferring Macintosh (cameras are N***n--I wish Olympus would hurry up!):
http://www.robgalbraith.com/diginews/2001-10/2001_10_18_gear.html
By the way, the term "plug and play" was coined by wintel marketers--Mac
users had taken for granted that peripherals worked when attached and were
somewhat bemused when the term came into widespread use. Parts that work?
What a concept! Let's brand it!
Adobe is taking it's time announcing when a Mac OS X version of Photoshop
will ship, so a lot of people, myself included, are still sticking with OS 9
to get daily work done. If you're adventurous you can install XFree86 and
the Gimp on OS X, along with just about any other UNIX software with source
code. The ability to run Microsoft Office, Photoshop and Maya along side
native Perl, Java, and gcc is pretty special.
The world would be a better place if there was more diversity in the
operating system and productivity software installed base. Viruses wouldn't
cause such widespread damage and Microsoft software, the ultimate commercial
virus, would be a lot cheaper.
Joel Ingulsrud
(former SGI and Radius displays product manager)
joel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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