Suppose you a have an unusually busy and complicated life and most of your time goes into work and family. Then, of the one hour left to do the things you really like, only a few minutes are left every night (when your brain is dead) for things like photo and video editing, online publishing or otherwise for sharing with family and friends the output of your creative self.
The last thing you need is having to re-start applications, reboot systems, or what’s worse, call it a day without making any measurable, noticeable progress. Does it sound familiar? It happened to me, times too many.
I remember that in the late 80s it was said that personal computing in the 21st century would be ubiquitous and unrecognizable, to the point of allowing users predictable levels of reliability, efficiency, and ease of use. Nicholas Negroponte of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child became the poster child of such predictions.
If you are technically savvy or have experienced first hand the complexities of the technology and found your way to success, the claim (or suggestion) I’m about to make may not apply. But for most people, the concept “digital hub” first introduced by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates back at the turn of the century, appears to be delivering on the promise.
Well….
It is not ‘the’ solution for everyone in every possible sense, but it certainly comes close.
In the past I tried managing my digital content with various tools and platforms. I was well aware of the challenges and my approach was that of a research project. In retrospect, it was that attitude what prevented me from giving up! It was fun. I enjoyed the accomplishment of showing an artifact just made, but after a while I realized I was investing too much of my time into troubleshooting open source and hardware configurations and not enough time into content creation, which was my original goal.
When the time came for revamping my system I decided to make the switch to Apple, and I haven’t looked back since. A few reasons? Why not.
The installation and configuration of most (if not all) Apple branded products can be described as no-brainers. The Cupertino guys do make an extra effort to simplify and streamline the inherent complexity of the beast until it’s intuitive enough. The learning curve is manageable. There’s enough documentation around for most solutions. The installed-base is a great resource readily available with online answers to common problems. Apple hardware and software is designed from scratch to play nice together. The time investment for learning new software is not negligible, but it’s not onerous, either.
So, until something better comes along, it appears I’m bound to continue sending my savings to 1 Infinite Loop, Attn Steve. My friends warn me of getting too locked into the Apple eco-system, but I haven’t had that impression so far.
The fact that Apple controls not only the whole software stack, but the hardware running it, translates into high levels of integration and efficiency, and optimal cost-effectiveness that one could only approximate with high-end dedicated workstations, but at a much higher price point (in the mid 90′s I worked with SGI and Alias Wavefront).
In a little box, like the Mac Mini, an average user gets everything (hardware & software) to build memorable multimedia artifacts. The integration of hardware, software, operating system, and applications is compelling. If there ever was a justification for a good vertical solution, Apple can boast it’s got it and it’s difficult to find anyone else with a comparable offering.
Of course, there are solutions both on Windows and Linux, but in the end, after a long road, I discovered it’s never as simple and as streamlined as they would like you to believe. You’ll be talking to several tech support reps at many different toll-free numbers.
Over time, when one acquires some experience, almost any toolset will do. A hammer is a hammer. But the primary goal should always be the same: to produce good content at a reasonable rate. To create a digital legacy for family and friends should not require one to become a “specialist” of the underlying technology. Unless, of course, that is your goal, in which case, you are welcome to it and I’d love to hear from you.
Mac OS X, iLife, JAlbum, Gallery3, Photoshop Elements, Adobe Flash, a few image/audio/video editing apps for very specific tasks, some utilities, and voilá, one becomes an efficient publisher of digital media.
Trust me, you’ll still get enough sleep to be functional in the morning.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
