Looks like they want more control over pushing the Windows 7 experience after the Vista disaster.

Apple 2.0. :) But didn't MS just lay off a bunch of workers? Now they'll hire new ones??

They probably aren't hardware centers and will probably work something like this:

Enter store and take a ticket.

Line 1 for Vista related problems

Line 2 for Windows 7related problems

Line 3 for sliced Deli meats that are on sale that day

Line 4 for all other related problems (Line 4 eventually leads you to a table with a sheet listing the contact information for all the other manufacturers and then to the back exit).

John

Nice to know I don't have to go to Vegas now to get infected... ;)

mc

Apple's stores are mainly hardware showcases. They also provide excellent opportunities for support and training at very reasonable prices at those locations.

Right-o, but they are rumored to start a remake of the stores as early as next week, per ifoApplestore:

On the heels of an iPhone/iPod display table make-over, Apple plans to entirely reorganize and refocus space within the stores to emphasize customer education, and software over hardware. The change would be the third major interior design for the stores, which has included the debut wood floors and the September, 2006 conversion to a stainless interior.

They probably aren't hardware centers and will probably work something like this:

John, that is just too funny!

Don't forget:

Line 5 for Windows XP bereavement counseling

:O)

(Although I actually have hopes for W7 someday, if only because Microsoft's survival depends on it. It may take a while to get it right, but screwing up W7 is not an option for them. This will depend on Sinofsky acting like a true despot, preventing the 25,000 middle managers from cocking up W7 again like they did with the statement that "having a user program disable UAC invisibly was not only OK, it was by design."

Right now Microsoft reminds me a lot of Apple during the Sculley era.

I had them as a customer back then, but I gave up on the company after seeing the creativity drained out and layers of useless middle managers working full time to prevent progress.

When Apple came out with the first versions of the System 7 OS, I was so thoroughly disgusted that I immediately got rid of my Powerbook in favor of an HP laptop running Windows 3.1, which at the time was quite superior to System 7.

We''ll see if I have the equivalent reaction when Windows 7 comes out... (System 7 looked good until it was released, then there was one disaster after another).

Mac OS (so called from 7.6 onwards) really sucked continuously until OS X 10.2 came out. That was the first time they leapfrogged Windows.

This year we should see Apple's Snow Leopard up against Windows 7. Both are presented as lean and offering better performance, less bloat, and higher reliability. Could be interesting...

One concern I have about Windows 7 is that I haven't seen any indication that Microsoft is providing much high level OS functionality for video and audio, like OS X's CoreImage, CoreQuartz, CoreAudio, etc. and FxPlug for OS-supported GPU real-time video processing acceleration.

There's DirectX that is responsible for a majority of the large numbers of security holes in Windows (I think it is the #1 attack vector for malware, followed by IE).

The front section of the store will promote, “Why You’ll Love a Mac,” catching visitors when they first enter the store. The section will have signage and brochures pointing out the advantages of a Mac over a Windows PC.

Every reason I use a computer would be a "you can't do that on mac" answer. :p
*)Can I use sony vegas on a mac?
*) can I play my computer games on a mac?
*)I have a budget of ~$1500. I need a quad core, 4gb RAM, ~1tb HD space (over three drives), duel monitors. Tower too. Needs a decent GPU (at least a Radeon 3850 or Nvidia 9600). Wait... HOW MUCH?!?!?!?

I could have sooooooooooooooooooooo much fun!

[b]*)Can I use sony vegas on a mac?[/i]

Yep. Get Bootcamp and you're good to go.

#2 to #4: Well, umm, gee...

OK, so 1 out of 4 isn't exactly a good average :-)

Mike

A whole store just for the Zune!

Maybe they'll showcase all the phones using the MS OS. Maybe they'll have a large full-time staff there helping people to unbrick and reboot those phones.

Isn't Microsoft also rumored to be developing their own phone?

A lot of people confuse workstation class computers with consumer PCs.

They are not the same.

I use a Mac Pro next to an HP xw8600 equivalent spec Windows workstation, and I paid more for the HP (even after price negotiation). That was OK because I knew exactly what I needed, one criterium being Avid Media Composer support.

Vegas could probably run on a netbook, not so with Media Composer.

My second criterium was the ability to handle very large amounts of RAM for After Effects, 4 GB is not enough for me.

On top of that, since I use so much RAM, my third criterium is error-correcting RAM and a Xeon architecture that reduces some other hardware problems.

None of these things matter to Vegas (other than V8.1), and consumer PCs don't usually run Xeons with 16GB ECC RAM.

I have a third computer with Vegas, this is just a regular old P4 PC and it works great for my old DV25 footage, and should run HDV and XDCAM with transcoding.

Horses for courses.

Btw, HP's least expensive workstation may be in your budget. But if you don't need the specs, don't bother.

1) Just ask them to play a Blue Ray disk on any of their iCrap.
2) Let one of them waste half an hour showing you FCS and then ask how to author a BD movie.

Bob.

Bob,

There are plenty of third party add-ons for both playing and recording Blu-Ray disks on Macs (including iMacs).

FCS software doesn't support BD burning, so Adobe got a nice opening to push the use of its Encore BD creator with FCS.

Encore is part of an Adobe suite that many professional Mac users have already, because they use also After Effects, Photoshop, etc.

I'm sure Encore has been used to produce at least hundreds of BD disks for simple (no menu features) HD distribution. Perhaps even thousands (oh, my!) worldwide.

In the meantime, Apple's DVDSP has been used to master disks for hundreds of millions of Hollywood replicated DVDs (because DVDSP is one of very few tools that allows for the creation of fully programmable DVDs, as needed in Hollywood, and it has become the #1 tool for the studios).

And Encore has been used to produce many wedding DVDs, other event videos, and a few small indie films.

Sony has spared no effort in killing off the Blu-Ray market with its incredible restrictions on what mere mortals can do with BD disks.

Apple's position is that BD will die, so why bother?

Now, I have to say that Final Cut is getting a bit long in the tooth in several areas.

But it is still one of the few tools that support high end formats and cameras, so many users simply don't have a choice.

Avid Media Composer for Mac OS X (10.5) and Windows (XP 32, Vista 32&64) comes with Sonic software that also creates BD disks with no menu structure, etc., and it is a great, nay the best, NLE for making cuts, but it has only a small fraction of the third party support that Apple has for Final cut Pro.

The question is what will replace BD if Sony continues to commit seppuku with their BD policy?

Most pros are betting on h.264 type downloads.

I still would like to see something as ubiquitous as the SD DVDs that can be played in just about 100% of all homes and offices.

Right now there is absolutely no indication that Sony will set BD free to save its own financial life.

But it could happen if they get desperate enough.

Think of the Chinese word for "crisis." It consists of the two characters for "danger" and "opportunity."

Just maybe the global meltdown can get them to look up from their shoe gazing to suddenly see what hoards of customers worldwide would actually buy from them.

There's DirectX that is responsible for a majority of the large numbers of security holes in Windows (I think it is the #1 attack vector for malware, followed by IE).

I believe you mean "ActiveX" not DirectX.

Then again,..I am branded a fear mongerer, so take it for what it is worth.

You're right of course.

And "fear mongerer" is someone who points out problems that many would rather see swept under the rug, so they don't have to deal with them.

Oddly enough we had a FCS user in yesterday asking what was the point of shooting HD when he couldn't author the BD disks that his clients were asking for. Our local Macolite made him watch several podcasts of Steve telling the faithful how BD was the work of the devil and would soon die. Didn't really convince this guy.

As he left he just looked at me and said "Vegas, like the city huh?"

Looks like I sold another copy of Vegas for SCS :)

Bob.

It's a big step to learn another NLE.

If his work could be done in Vegas, it could make sense to switch, because Vegas is so fast to work with.

But he could easily use Encore (which he may already have) to make BD disks from his FCS footage, using one of the popular BD drives to burn 'em. Adobe is demoing this all over the world right now.

There was also a good post here a day or two ago about clients asking for "HD delivery," even though they weren't able to play anything other than a download to a PC....

Coursedesign stated:
My second criterium was the ability to handle very large amounts of RAM for After Effects, 4 GB is not enough for me.

Are you using in AE with OSX or Vista 64?
I'm using AE CS3 on Vista 64. My computer has 8GB of ram so AE sees and uses 4GB. I've had AE crash several times. I only had a 30 second composition with a dozen 1920x1080 Photoshop bitmaps. Does the OSX version of AE utilize more than 4GB?

SOT- IMHO the OSX GUI has absolutely NO superiority to any version of Windows. Having only one pull down menu bar for all applications made sense when the Mac only had a 9" screen but nowadays it's an annoying limitation. Also the OSX Dock is far inferior to the Start menu and Taskbar, it takes up too much screen space and it far less customizable that the Start menu. But I know I'm in the minority because I've never seen anybody customize their Start menu. It's so friggin' easy to do.
Oh yes, I do have a computer running OSX 10.5.5 and FCP Studio 2. I got it not because it's "better" I got it because more people in the video business are using it. Oh and another thing, 99% of the people I talk to about computers don't have the slightest idea what they are talking about! Seriously they don't. I met someone who was the proud owner of the "latest Intel G5 MAC." This person also told me "You CAN'T edit video on a PC."
OSX and Windows each have annoyances, I don't have to knock Apple's products to justify my preference for Windows! :-)

Yep. It's unbelievable the level of deception that surrounds the Mac. The vast number of educators and students (those folks you'd particularly expect to be ... well ... educated) constantly berate my support of Windows by claiming that you cannot do anything graphic, video, audio, music, or any sort of artistic with Windows. They all believe that only the Mac can handle anything but plain text and spreadsheets. Then i'll whip out my scummy little $550 acer notebook with XP on it and run circles around anything they can do on their Macs. I love that 'jaw drop' look that i get almost every time.

And then they find out that i've paid probably only 1/3 the price for my PC and the software i use ... ooooooooh, that burns them.

i wonder if the intended staff of a m$ store will be paid 'active duty' allowances?

i'd hate to have to explain why my supposed 'vista compatible' pc turned out not to be after i bought it...

and which variety of 7 would you like, one that runs with chips or without?

then again, i'm looking for a new scanner, and am paralysed by the choice - and i know deep down they're all the same crap....

ah, bring back dos....

Are you using in AE with OSX or Vista 64?

Both.

I'm using AE CS3 on Vista 64. My computer has 8GB of ram so AE sees and uses 4GB. I've had AE crash several times. I only had a 30 second composition with a dozen 1920x1080 Photoshop bitmaps. Does the OSX version of AE utilize more than 4GB?

Yes, AE uses up to 16GB RAM in OS X.

AE can crash for a lot of reasons, including using 4GB RAM without error correction. Is it the only program crashing?

SOT- IMHO the OSX GUI has absolutely NO superiority to any version of Windows.

Well, it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. Not a massive difference, and clearly there are irritations in OS X, but overall I prefer it over Windows XP or Vista.

And in addition to the GUI differences, I appreciate not having to worry about antivirus software etc. for the moment, and I also am glad not to have to wrestle with the horrible UAC implementation in Vista (this is copied from OS X, but they took everything except what makes it work seamlessly).

Having only one pull down menu bar for all applications made sense when the Mac only had a 9" screen but nowadays it's an annoying limitation.

Hmmm, this actually never bothered me, but I agree in principle, and I think this is part of a future change.

Also the OSX Dock is far inferior to the Start menu and Taskbar, it takes up too much screen space and it far less customizable that the Start menu.

That must be the reason Microsoft is switching to an OS X-look-alike Dock in Windows 7...

You can specify small or large icons, and the behavior (including "off screen until needed" for example, just like you can do in Windows). There is also massive personalization available.

I don't find the 59 small icons in my OS X Dock to be in the way ever (on a 24" main screen).

But I know I'm in the minority because I've never seen anybody customize their Start menu. It's so friggin' easy to do.

Amen to that! I have customized the Start menus on all my Windows machines, that's a big time saver.

Oh yes, I do have a computer running OSX 10.5.5 and FCP Studio 2. I got it not because it's "better" I got it because more people in the video business are using it.

That's a valid reason. I tried for years to exchange video files between my Vegas and other people's FCP
systems. Never again, other than for very narrowly defined exchanges.

Oh and another thing, 99% of the people I talk to about computers don't have the slightest idea what they are talking about! Seriously they don't. I met someone who was the proud owner of the "latest Intel G5 MAC." This person also told me "You CAN'T edit video on a PC."

This forum is computer-geekier than most, but it's important to remember that there are a lot of very talented film & video people who couldn't care less what's in their computers.

The comment about not being able to edit video on a PC was obviously way off, but he/she may have had something specific in mind (that could also have gone the other way).

OSX and Windows each have annoyances, I don't have to knock Apple's products to justify my preference for Windows! :-)

Absolutely true on the former, and I take my hat off to you for the latter.

It's unbelievable the level of deception that surrounds the Mac. The vast number of educators and students (those folks you'd particularly expect to be ... well ... educated) constantly berate my support of Windows by claiming that you cannot do anything graphic, video, audio, music, or any sort of artistic with Windows. They all believe that only the Mac can handle anything but plain text and spreadsheets.

Many academics are a few years behind the real world.

It is actually true that until 2-3 years ago it was very difficult to find a printer or magazine advertising department that would accept files created on a PC. And it was for good reason, based on really bad problems that nobody wants to work overtime to solve when they're on a deadline.

Adobe put in a lot of work to make it all come together for print, and today InDesign (and Photoshop) PC-originated files are accepted by a majority of these vendors (but far from all). Even last year I was asked to confirm that the files I was sending them were absolutely positively Mac-originated....

To this day, font handling in OS X works better for professional use. It's not just because of better design, but because Macs were the 100% standard for 20 years.

Then i'll whip out my scummy little $550 acer notebook with XP on it and run circles around anything they can do on their Macs. I love that 'jaw drop' look that i get almost every time.

Wow, that's impressive. What do you show them that runs circles around anything they can do on their Macs?

And then they find out that i've paid probably only 1/3 the price for my PC and the software i use ... ooooooooh, that burns them.

So you paid $550 for your small notebook when they would have had to pay more than $900 for their unibody MacBook, which probably has a much better graphics card, and certainly comes with better apps included?

There is pride in getting the least expensive of anything, because it is often the best value.

But sometimes people prefer to pay more to get more value for some particular aspect of their work.

So I trust Macs will be around a while longer, in spite of them not being the absolutely cheapest of all computers.

Btw, they're at 10% now (as of last month), and they're growing at about twice the rate of Windows PCs.

Of course the percentage will never get close to 100, but that's OK. It's no different from having a choice of different cars for different needs, and I don't hear much of the Chevy vs. Ford type of debate there anymore.
People just buy what they feel like getting, and it's not a life-or-death decision.

don't hear much of the Chevy vs. Ford type of debate there anymore.

i would agree with that, but if you equate avid and fcp, or ppro to chevy / ford, what does vegas equate to? toyota? hyundi?

at least it's ahead of edius, which now probably equates to daweo...

btw. that's a pretty unflattering pic of steve - nice choice!

He hypnotizes people with the pattern on his tie, then he sells them used cars.

<*(:O[#]


And Vegas is the Tesla Roadster of NLEs.

Coursedesign:
AE can crash for a lot of reasons, including using 4GB RAM without error correction. Is it the only program crashing?

It's the only program I can make crash repeatably, it's not random. Sometimes a warning dialog box will popup letting me know the program is about to tank. When AE memory usage goes over 70% I have to save my project, exit the program, relaunch AE and continue. I've tried mucking with the cache and temp preferences without any big improvement. The Adobe "help" files are often unhelpful. I've searched the web for a better explanation about how to get AE to behave, but I haven't found much.

How in the world do people use AE to edit large HD projects? Do they break every thing down to thirty second snippets? Do they all use Mac Pro's with 16GB RAM?

Does the Windows version of AE CS4 behave better with large projects?

Thanks, Mr CD