I enjoy travel. Whether it be for business or for pleasure, traveling seems to give me a needed rest from the common every day. Recently, while traveling with my wife who was attending a teacher’s convention, I read an interesting article in USA Today. Since I receive a local and state newspaper at home, I relegate the reading of USA Today only to times when I travel.
The cover story on this day discussed how Macromedia’s Shockwave is exploding in use on the Internet. Shockwave allows common, everyday people to create their own multimedia programming at little or no cost.
What was amazing is that not only common folk are getting involved in Internet multimedia authoriing, but filmmakers and other creative professionals who previously had to work through large corporations to deliver their art form.
Among the names mentioned were film directors David Lynch and Tim Burton. Apparently, it takes a minimum amount of computer equipment needed to produce and deliver Shockwave content to web audiences. The article pointed out that practically any well-equipped new computer is capable of running the multimedia software.
Lynch, who is by no means an unknown director, uses an iMac. Here was a major motion picture director who has had literally hundreds work with him on movies in the past, sitting quietly in front of an iMac authoring his own productions.
It’s not that Shockwave authoring cannot be done on a Windows PC, of course it can. The difference pointed out in the article is the sheer simplicity the iMac provided to facilitate the process. Lynch drew pictures on the iMac, animated them, provided voices and background music -- all without any assistance.
Without meaning to the USA Today article said that neat stuff is just easier to do on an iMac. It’s not that it cannot be done on a Windows PC, it’s just easier on an iMac.
I’ve never really considered myself a "Mac advocate," rather I’m an advocate of easy-to-use computer systems. I have found the Mac is the only computer platform that meets that criteria over and over again.
Some PC users -- many of which have never used a Mac -- are quick to criticize the Mac. I tell them I speak from experience when I recommend Mac because I use both daily at home and at work. While PCs have become the darling of corporations for whatever reason (we won’t get into that here), it’s really hard not to recommend Mac to home users and creative professionals because of its many end-user strengths.
One of messages I hear repeated from missionaries and pastors who use Macs in the United States and overseas is the easy of use, set-up and stability of the Macintosh. Here again, when asked what type of computer I recommend, I usually respond Mac because of the attributes the platform possesses.
On the flip side, I have found it is sometimes unwise to recommend a Mac to users whose friends primarily use. Why? Because not matter what type of computer a person uses, there will be support issues from time to time. I’ve found it best for Mac users to have Mac friends to help and vise versa with PC owners.
However, I must admit that it has become easier to recommend Mac following the revitalization of Apple Computer and the growing acceptance of the platform once again among consumers. As more people use Mac technology, them purchase of a Mac makes more sense even when many more friends and families may use a PC.