Peat Bakke

Nothing compares to Mac. - orionstarr

Nice artwork, not sure I get the point though. - Wes Hoogenboom

orionstarr, I definitely love my Mac too -- my MacBook Pro is still my primary computer. And those Mac ads are funny as hell. But Vista was a huge step forward for Microsoft in my opinion and Apple can't touch MSFT in the home media/entertainment market. Media Center is about 2 years ahead of AppleTV, what I call the iDongle. - Thomas Hawk

I agree, Thomas. Now, I've only used the 64 bit version of Vista Ultimate, but the memory management far surpasses that of XP (32 bit and 64 bit). I'm current;y running a 2.4 GHz Core2Duo with 2 GB of RAM, and the comparison of 64 bit XP Pro vs. 64 bit Vista Ultimate is night and day. For 64 bit Windows it's Vista all the way (but I'll stick with FreeBSD). - Raymond Mendoza

it will be interesting to see what this develops into. We may not take this into account but MS ads are pretty freakin kool looking. Ever see their Server ads in the trade publications? What will be interesting is how they go about dealing with the Mac ads. I just hope it doesn't turn into the spin-game we are used to seeing in politics. If they are smart about it, it will work. The fanboy isnt going anywhere. And then you have the tech whores, like me, that use both products happily at work and at home. - Carlos Ayala

My disappointment with Vista wasn't with Microsoft. It was with other vendors and their lack of support for the OS. With the release date being pushed back for years, you would think getting your software and drivers ready would be pretty simple, but it must not have been. One core application that I *have* to run is Cisco's VPN client. Cisco did a terrible job creating a Vista version and to my knowledge, still hasn't created a x64 version that is stable. Factor in drivers, etc, and the release wasn't what it should have been. - Otto R. Radke

I have five machines, all running Vista. Two are Sony VAIO laptops and two are 64-bit. They all run flawlessly. Only issues I've ever encountered have been driver issues which are not Microsoft's fault. Do I think that Vista is the greatest operating system on the planet? No, of course not. Everyone with any sense at all knows that's OS/2. Sheesh! - Akiva Moskovitz

Otto, I think the issue with the vendors (especially hardware vendors) was that they didn't have anything to write drivers for. For the longest time Vista was supposed to be what they are now promising in Windows 7. I agree a lot of software vendors really dropped the ball, but when it comes to the hardware, I think it was Microsoft's fault. - Raymond Mendoza

Raymond, that doesn't hold water because drivers continued to be an issue long after Vista hit the shelves. There were quite a few issues with the pre-release driver SDK (especially for sound cards) but the fact that it took 3-6 months after release to stabilize the drivers says a lot about the vendors. In fact, many took the stance that they weren't even going to bother until they were convinced that Vista was going to be worth their effort. - Akiva Moskovitz

Heck, some vendors have yet to produce any Vista drivers at all such as Kensington, for example. I can't program the four buttons on the Kensington Expert Mouse so I'm at the mercy of installed software to (hopefully) set some defaults (thank you, Firefox, for using all four buttons). - Akiva Moskovitz

I still prefer XP over Vista big time...if Ubuntu could run windows programs w/o Command Line hacks (and if GoToMyPC was less buggy in Linux) I'd 100% switch over. - Sean McGee

I think they're going to have to do a lot better than that to sway public opinion. - Paul Grav

@Thomas. Media Center is indeed a nice piece of software, shame nobody's using it. - Paul Grav

I think it's a good start but the only thing that will really right the wrongs that Vista has wrought will be positive word-of-mouth. The more people who hear success stories from friends and friends-of-friends, the more people will begin to re-evaluate their negative [and, sadly, often unproven] bias. - Akiva Moskovitz

what was the last mac operating system to fail? thought so. - orionstarr

What about MacOS?? This OS really good!! - Misha

How quickly people forget: System 7 had extremely fragile and strict hardware requirements (moreso than Vista, I dare say). I had never spent more time on a tech support line for an OS in my life than when I was dealing with those two operating systems and a pair of 7500s and an 8100 (if I remember correctly). Constant lock-ups, crashes, compatibility issues with a variety of software (Aldus Pagemaker, for example). It was a nightmare. - Akiva Moskovitz

I'm trying to figure out what this ad is supposed to suggest. The strongest message I'm getting is a romantic tip of the hat to Thomas Kinkade and high seas piracy. Or, maybe they're suggesting I'm just a sheep and need to be better informed about the state of the world? I'm confused. - Peat Bakke via Alert Thingy

A better ad caption would read "Arrrrr. Tis true matety. Vista. She doesn't blow" - Andrew Smith

Arrr. Ye need at least 2 gigs of memory to walk this here plank! - Akiva Moskovitz

i've always used mac. just simpler, not buggy, no viruses. easier to create my art and podcasts on it. Plus you get more for your money in my opinion. Macs also hold up longer in time. I'm still running my mac at home that is over 5 years old! still fast! never crashed once. - orionstarr

Thomas: "Apple can't touch MSFT in the home media/entertainment market". Um, I REALLY beg to differ. I can rent a movie and play it on my iMac, my Air, or my iPhone(!). Not too shabby home media wise. The only thing I can't do is DVR stuff, which my TiVo handles great and I don't need that from my computer. BTW I have an Apple TV and I love it - it could use more rentable titles but the interface is wonderful and it works almost perfectly. - Steve Isaacs

Damn, they should have hired a washed up actor who will never be able to act again without hinting at the product he once sold his soul for. - Stephan Miller via Alert Thingy

Cheers to that, Andrew! It's practically begging for someone to add in a Jolly Roger ... - Peat Bakke via Alert Thingy

Thomas: "Apple can't touch MSFT in the home media/entertainment market". Um, I REALLY beg to differ. And I have an Apple TV and I love it. - Steve Isaacs "Well for home media entertainment my PS3 does the trick. Soon i'll be able to download HD and SD movies right online. Plus so much more - orionstarr

As a quote "Apple Fanboy", I will tread lightly here. There were plenty of Mac OSes that failed. I think Akiva rightly pointed out that System 7 was a severe headache. Most also don't remember that prior to System 7, you couldn't even multitask on a Mac. In my opinion, the only truly stable older MacOS release was MacOS 8.5 (and 8.6). I hated using all of the releases of OS 9. Most current Apple users don't remember these days, sadly, and have only recently reaped the benefits of being a Mac user. - Raymond Mendoza

Apple Fanboy you are talking about an OS that is like 10 years old! Since the release of OSX those versions have been the best for mac! - orionstarr

I'd also like to suggest that a lot of Mac fanboyishness/Vista hatred is more emotionally driven than empirically driven. - Akiva Moskovitz

Akiva: How quickly people forget? System 7 came out 17 years ago!!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S...)) - Steve Isaacs

True it is emotion because i'm tired of mac being put down when they put out one hell of a product and OS. Windows always gets the credit though and windows users think their crap doesn't stink. - orionstarr

Steve can your AppleTV play a netflix DVD? Does your AppleTV come with a built in dvr? Can it support cablecard HDTV? Can it easily handle a library with 100,000 mp3s? Can your AppleTV play games as well as an Xbox360 or allow you to easily stream content to cheaper extender boxes throughout your home? Apple's iDongle is a pretty big failure in my book. - Thomas Hawk

Windows just sucks...(and I'm a windows user)...I HATE it...I wish I could punch Steve Ballmer in the face I hate windows so much...But I can't afford a Mac...got gas bills and light bills to pay first. - Sean McGee

MY PS3 does everything media related I need. Movies, games, music, computer and internet can all be accessed wirelessly through my HDTV love it! - orionstarr

orionstarr, are you kidding me? Many Mac users are the most smug, self-righteous OS proselytizers on the planet. They make Linux users look like Zen monks in the midst of a winter's-long zazen session. I happen to adore OS X and plan on buying a MacBook Pro later this year and I fully recognize that Vista has had a ton of problems so at least I try to be practical about it. But, if anyone gets put down constantly, it's Vista users. - Akiva Moskovitz

Steve, shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. You'll ruin my argument! - Akiva Moskovitz

Thomas: Actually, yes. My iDongle (I like that name) can play and stream a lot of the content you speak of via iTunes. Sadly, you've got me on the DVD part, though I could probably rip them via HandBrake and play them via iTunes (though there is the legality issue with the NetFlix part). No gaming, either. Doesn't effect me much. I don't game. - Raymond Mendoza

To the Mac not failing, don't forget that Apple almost died an untimely death because their business model was horrible and the only reason to run a Mac was to run Photoshop or Pagemaker. It took Steve coming back and making extreme changes, like moving towards a UNIX base for OSX and removing the floppy from their machines. By the way, there was plenty of complaining about those moves back then. Back to drivers, there are many manufacturers who don't update their drivers when a new OS comes out. HP is notorious for dropping driver support after a printer is end of life, like after a year or so. My 8450 Photo Printer doesn't do color right anymore, but I blame HP for a lack of support for their hardware. Creative never got a good driver for their slightly older sound cards. Its a disgrace on their part. Every hardware manufacturer has $ in their eyes when a new OS comes out because they see new hardware sales and forget to support anything older than a year. We had the same problems with Windows XP coming fro - Eric @ CS Techcast

I don't know Akiva from my experience mac users always get the shaft as if they use an inferior product. You wonder why we are so smug! lol - orionstarr

orionstarr, yeah, it's all anecdotal at this point. Most people I know have the following opinion about the Mac: I'd love to have one but I can't afford it. I fall into that category myself. The MacBook Pro I want will run me nearly $3,000. For 1/3rd that price, I built a faster, bigger PC that does everything that the Mac will do. So, yeah. For what it's worth. - Akiva Moskovitz

CS Techcast, well put. - Akiva Moskovitz

I agree with CS Techcast, Mac did have to make a lot of changes back then. I remember it to. Most users hated the direction mac was going. I originally hated jaguar and didn't understand what Apple was doing. But now it all makes sense. I'm more proud than ever to be a mac user. I want apple everything! Ooops i'm being smug again! - orionstarr

It is always a disappointment when this type of conversation turns into a religious war between operating systems. How about we keep it on track and focus on how MS could improve Vista? Talking about what what worked and didn't work that relates to Vista and has a subtle tie into another OS is okay, anything over that derails the conversation. - Otto R. Radke

I wouldn't say I love Windows Vista, but I do regard it as an improvement over XP. But I also regard XP has a *terrible* OS. My biggest complaint about Vista is that there weren't *more* improvements, but there's nothing I can complain about in Vista that wasn't already an issue in XP. OSX and Ubuntu are better than both. As for the media center thing, I went the Mac Mini route. It's not ultra-elegant, but it's cheap and does the trick for me. Personally, I don't think anyone has gotten that right yet. - Eric

if you have only Macintosh on your hand swinging, everything around turns into apples :) - silpol

Raymond, the Netflix 3 disc at a time plan is a *far* better deal than paying Apple $4 every time you want to watch a show/movie. It will take me about a 2 months on Netflix to go through the entire 60 episodes of The Wire. That costs me about $40. The same content on the iDongle renting it from Apple would have cost me about $240. Even if it took you 6 months to watch the Wire it still would be a better deal from Netflix than the iDongle. - Thomas Hawk

Apple's "strategic" decision not to include a cheap $15 DVD player in the iDongle is just so that they can bone you by renting you overpriced content from iTunes -- the same iTunes that absolutely chokes on my 100,000 mp3 library due to "album art" and "gapless playback" processing. The bottom line is iTunes sucks for serious media consumption and that's where Vista and Media Center are two years ahead of AppleTV. - Thomas Hawk

So, what is the ad saying? If you don't love Vista, you're a medieval-minded flat-earther? Fascinating approach. Not about the product, but the reader. If you don't love us, you're a dope. Works for me. - Michael Hussein Markman

Michael, I think the message is more that sometimes what is the agreed upon consensus is wrong. I've seen a ton of stuff out there on the internet saying MSFT OS's sucks -- heck Apple built a whole marketing campaign out of this. I feel like I'm pretty open minded and use both Macs and PCs. That said I think XP *did* have problems but I think Vista is a far superior experience if it is installed on the right PC (i.e. a new PC vs. an upgrade on an old PC). - Thomas Hawk

At one point, everyone thought you had to use Microsoft Windows for work, too. (I have both OSX and Vista, and god, Vista sucks.) - Tom Karlo

Otto R. Radke, I agree, bashing helps no one, but it always devolves into that. That's from a former Apple IIe owner and I loved that computer. The things Vista could do better; deal with lag of screen re UAC (UAC will not and should not go away), require driver signing/WHQL testing on 32 bit as they do on 64 bit to get better support from 3rd parties for key components. Just a couple. - Eric @ CS Techcast

Disagree Thomas. Do you need 100,000 MP3s before you are a serious consumer of media? I have about 20,000 tracks and iTunes copes fine. I also route content around the house to an AppleTV and two Airport Expresses. Content I download from iTunes is synced automatically to the iPhone. Which is also used as a remote to stream music from iTunes to my wireless speakers & Apple TV. Podcasts paused part way through on the iPhone resume playback position on my Mac.Put simply, they all work together beautifully - Jamie

..But I digress. Vista is not nearly as bad as people make out. While I prefer to use my Mac, Vista is a significant improvement on XP in almost every respect. But given XPs abnormally long innings as the industry standard, the transition to Vista has been more painful than it should in respect to drivers and hardware compatibility. Kudos to Apples marketing team for pouncing on that fact.. they've given Microsoft a bit of work to do to redress the perception - Jamie

I'm glad Microsoft is starting to fight back. Vista does have its annoyances, but I can't imagine going back to XP. Due to work and gaming, I don't want to switch to the Mac or Linux. - Alan Le

Ok, I just remixed the new Microsoft ad to make a friendlier more Pro-Pirate version. http://thomashawk.com/2008/07/... - Thomas Hawk

I can't believe I'm feeling sad for MSFT. I think they should clone the Avis "We Try Harder" campaign. - Sean Savage

Thomas, your remix says this to me: Pirate Vista! - Akiva Moskovitz

Akiva, if the shoe fits, wear it. Peace brother. Software wants to be free. - Thomas Hawk

Not sure why all of the XP bashing. I have 3 machines, that are running XP and they are all extremely stable, do what I need them to do, network fine, do wireless fine. Now I'm sure that Vista has some nice new features, but I'm not sure how they could improve upon the stability that I have been experiencing on my XP machines for the past 4+ years. Can someone be specific about what makes Vista far superior to XP from a functionality stand point? (I'm not impressed with see through windows etc.) - Jeff P. Henderson

I still have a couple of XP machines here. I've not found a need to upgrade to Vista, and as I usually build my own machines, it could be a while before I do. I might well skip Vista, and go to Windows 7 or whatever it ends up getting called. - Ian "non-partisan" May via twhirl

Vista is fine - kinda good even. Sorry if it doesn't work with your ancient HP printer or archaic Canon PowerShot A40. Of course a Mac is better - but Vista is fine. - Noah Carter

I just don't think that an OS should be a political or sociological choice. Yet some people seem to believe that the OS you use defines you as a person. And Mac and Linux users are especially guilty of constantly intruding on Windows conversations to be smug or condescending. The solution to any Windows problem has fuck all to do with Mac or Linux. It's like suggesting someone buy a new car when one of their tires goes flat: it's not helpful. - Akiva Moskovitz

Like Ian and JEff, above, I'm running XP still. It's tweaked to the gills. I'm sure I'll be getting Vista with my next PC by default, but I'm curious as to what Vista does so well compared to XP? I feel my XP experience can't get any better, or than I can be made more productive by Vista. I'm also sure that just like with my XP installaation, with Vista, I'll probably turn off a lot of the glitz. Anyone have any links to the must-have Vista features? Or what your favorite things about it are? - Todd

I wish i could say "don't like" on friend feed.. - Brian Ries

Brian, it's called 'Hide'. - Akiva Moskovitz

If you know C, you may want to check out Perl (perl.com, by O'Reilly. Great books. perlmonks.org is also good). The newer scripting languages, like Ruby, PHP, etc., may be easier to learn; I don't know. But you can do a ton of stuff with Perl. - Larry Huffman

Python is having a lot of buzz lately and it's a great language to get started. Both http://docs.python.org/tut/ and http://www.ibiblio.org/g2swap/... are great resources to start. - Jeduan Cornejo

Unfortunately it looks like the Seattle Art Museum doesn't allow photography. - Thomas Hawk

If you have time, add http://www.empsfm.org/index.as... to your list - Otto R. Radke

I wanted to shoot the Gasworks Park at night while I was there, but it rained, and rained. :-( - cmiper

The market, the aquarium come to mind - Brian Sullivan

Not from Seattle but isn't the Hendrix Museum(or whatever they call it) there and on your list? - Mark Forman

Fishing tossing at Pike's Place Market - Scott Wamsley

I don't know much about Seattle, but now that the Sonics are leaving town, there could be something interesting to shoot regarding that - Will Hirsbrunner

there's a building which is on a spire, http://www.phototrek.org/Photo... - clarke thomas

Mark last time I was there the EXP museum (I am guessing that is the "Hendrix Museum" you were referring to ) did not allow photography - Brian Sullivan

Suggestions for things to shoot. How about Ballmer, what a disgrace. - Dread Pirate PJ

Oh, you mean with a CAMERA! Sorry, no idea - Dread Pirate PJ

Otto unfortunately the Experience Music Project doesn't allow photography so I'll be skipping it like the Seattle Art Museum. Would love to shoot both but with limited time in Seattle I'd rather not focus on renegade photography. - Thomas Hawk

hmmm.. Gasworks Park at night sounds interesting. Will have to check that out. I have the Troll on my list as well but he's a bit out of the main central area, so going to shoot that if I've got time. Anyone know of any particularly stellar views from hotels or other public access spaces to get to? - Thomas Hawk

Go for something unusual! http://www.undergroundtour.com... - Peat Bakke via Alert Thingy

but shooting outside of Experience Music Project has some cool possiblities. And there's the carnival rides around the space needle / monorail station near there, too. I remember it feeling very 70's there. - J.J. Toothman

Try shooting a local Farmer's Market, Farmer Markets FTW!! Really interesting seeing old school collide with local techies. - E.B.

Pioneer Square is cool...Some interesting stuff on the waterfront...West Seattle near Salty's could be good...OH, the Ballard Locks! For sure! With the good weather, lots of boats will be out and about on the Lake... - Live4Soccer

I'm thinking I'll go up the Space Needle and EMP on Thurs night maybe and shoot the exteriors. Wish I could shoot inside EMP. I've shot the Space Needle before though so who knows, maybe I'll find a better place to shoot on Thurs night. Especially looking for interesting neon or graffiti as well. - Thomas Hawk

Lake Union at 6:30 AM, when the various crews come out to practice. Kenmore Air (seaplane air service) also uses Lake Union. Try the Ballard Locks for the boats and the salmon working their way upstream. - Laurie Sefton via twhirl

Thomas. I recommend: Troll in Fremont, view from Golden Gardens Park, Alki (W. Seattle), Ballard Locks, Discovery Park, University of Washington Campus, Arboretum, Seattle Underground tour, view from top of Queen Anne hill, view of Cascades & Olympic Mountains from Phinney Ridge. How's that for a list? If you need graffitti, near the University District, there is a ginormous Mural just north of the University bridge. Very cool stuff. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg

ducks and pheasants - Bjorn Tipling

Dial me, buddy. - l0ckergn0me

The Columbia Center allows tourists up on their observation deck -- much better panoramas than the needle (and costs less as well). The Boeing field airplane museum would be great but I don't think they allow photography either ( I was there with a Microsoft private party though and there were no restrictions) - Brian Sullivan

There used to be an old guy who wandered Pike Place constantly photographing women with long hair. Was this guy creepy? - don't know - just remember hearing of him from friend (who had hair half the length of her body). Anyway, find out if he Qik's with an N95 now. - Micah Wittman

There can never be enough photos of the space needle. - Jacob

The capitol hill area - east of DT - has the best graffiti / underground art - Erica Toelle

Rainier or the ballparks. - Steve Rubel

EMP, SFM. The SFM has a robot display now on. - Dave Hussein Martin

Bruce & Brando Lee grave site. - Mark Anderson

Photograph Valve game studios. Extra points for Gabe Newell. - CannonGod

I sure like those Amaon Fresh people in Seattle. Fun and intersting. - Julie Anderson

all those that you mention have been done to death, is that ever a consideration? - Gregory Lent