Suppose you a have a busy life. Limited time. Most of it goes into your main occupation and family obligations. Then, of the one or two hours left to do the things you like, only a few minutes are left every night for things like photo and video editing, online publishing or otherwise sharing with family and friends the fruit of your creative work.
The last thing one needs is having to re-start an application, reboot a system, or what’s even worse, call it a day without making any measurable, real progress. Show of hands?
It was said in the 80s, that XXI century personal computing would evolve beyond what it was even possible to imagine at the time, to the point of guarantying predictable levels of system reliability, efficiency, and ease of use. Nicholas Negroponte of MIT Media Lab and One Laptop Per Child became a star in the field for the accuracy of his predictions.
If you’ve been running Windows apps lately or tried to manage a growing digital media library of photos, videos, audio, music, or had to design websites, or even more complex tasks such as multimedia development or game programming, it is very likely that you’ve been feeling like there has been progress in the technology, no doubt about it, but that there is still room for improvement. Many things can happen between an idea and a final product. And many of those are real points of failure. Lots of promises were uttered, but little joy has been felt.
If you are technically inclined or have experienced the complexity and quirkiness of computer technology, the claim (or suggestion) I’m about to make may not apply. But for most average users, the concept “digital hub” first introduced by Steve Jobs and Bill Gates back in 2001 appears to be delivering on the promise.
Well….
It is not the ‘perfect’ solution for everyone in every possible way, but it comes close for most of us.
Personally, in the past I tried managing digital media with various software and hardware products. The hardware/software combinations have varied over time, but overall they’ve been surprisingly stable and consistent. But after a few trials, I have been using Apple products, almost exclusively. A few reasons? Why not? The installation and system configuration is a no brainer, the learning curve is manageable, the hardware and software play very well together, and the time investment is not onerous.
The fact that Apple controls not only the whole software stack, but also the hardware running under it, translates into a high level of integration, high efficiency, and optimal cost-effectiveness that one could only approximate, alternatively, with SGI workstations, but at a much higher price tag.
In one little box, like the Mac Mini, the average user gets everything (hardware and software) that is required to build a memorable collection of multimedia artifacts. The integration of hardware, software, operating system, and applications is compelling. If there ever was a good justification for the implementation of a vertical solution, Apple nailed it with theirs.
Of course, there are comparable solutions both on Windows and Linux, but in the end, I discovered it won’t be as simple and as streamlined as the Apple model, it will certainly take longer to develop workflows, the user experience might underwhelm you, and the efficiency will take longer to become apparent.
Over time, when one becomes an expert, almost any set of tools will do. A hammer is a hammer. But the primary goal should always be the same: to produce good multimedia, our digital legacy to family and friends, and not to become specialists of the underlying technology. Unless, of course, that’s your goal. In which case, you are welcome to it, and I’d love to hear from you.
Mac OS X, iLife, JAlbum, Gallery3, a few small image/audio/video editing apps for very specific tasks, shareware and some utilities, and voilá, one becomes a publisher of digital media.
Trust me, you’ll still get enough sleep to be functional in the morning.