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Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in MacBooks
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Well, I am an educator. I teach broadcast video production. I have been a Mac user since 1984. This year we are replacing editing suites in six high schools. As the senior teacher I make the recommendation. Our IT department has been lobbying for years to get us to switch to PC's. This year they get their wish. I'm recommending PC's and they have been approved. . So, Apple is losing sales on 6 computer labs of 30 each (180 total) Mac Pros. In addition, they are losing sales of Final Cut Studio for those labs and Mac servers. So if you want to say that this decision will cost them very little, go ahead.
This was the final straw for me. I'm tired of Apple dictating my needs and and trying to squeeze every penny they can from me. Apple obviously doesn't care about the people that carried them through the lean years. So, I no longer care about Apple. Yes, I'm angry about this. So I'm not only voting with my wallet, I'm using my influence to get others to do the same.
I have seen several other such replies in this thread already, and on the Apple forums. Single lost sales may not get their attention, but lost labs (large numbers of units) perhaps will.
So let me get this straight, because Apple tactically withdraw FW from the new Macbook you are not going to buy a lab full of Mac Pro machines which DO have firewire? You said you were an educator, I can only hope you don't teach logical reasoning...
Good to see you are maintaining objectivity. Have fun maintaining your PCs...
He never said that was his reasoning, only that that was the last straw. Many schools are now doing this, and the FW fiasco is just the ultimate insult, since they can no longer recommend to students to get a Macbook for video editing.So let me get this straight, because Apple tactically withdraw FW from the new Macbook you are not going to buy a lab full of Mac Pro machines which DO have firewire? You said you were an educator, I can only hope you don't teach logical reasoning...
Good to see you are maintaining objectivity. Have fun maintaining your PCs...
Huh?
So, you're using the overall philosophy that Apple doesn't care about its consumers to switch to PCs, where they care about you even LESS?
So, you're using the overall philosophy that Apple doesn't care about its consumers to switch to PCs, where they care about you even LESS?
What's wrong with the White Macbook? Do the students have tobuy the "semi-pro" ally MacBook? I would have thought the White one would be more attractive in the currente conomic climate.
They may or may not care less. But I can at least get things configured the way I want without being dictated to. If I want a notebook with firewire, expresscard slot, external monitor, eSata, whatever, I can get it. And at a equal lower price than the MB with specs of a MBP.
This was a long process for me. Apple has been chipping away at me for some time now.
And to the person that posted about having fun maintaining the PC's. No problem. We had mixed labs, 20 Macs and 10 PC's because there was PC software that we needed to teach and our Macs were pre-Intel. I have had no more problems with the PC's than with the Macs. And my district IT dept. wanted everything to be PC. I didn't just do a knee-jerk reaction. I have been thinking about this for some time and I am very comfortable with the decision. After making the change in my side video business with success I decided that now was the time to make the jump.
Depends on how you want to look at it. If you want an Apple notebook with firewire they are dictating to you that you have to spend hundreds more for the privilege. But, I suppose that technically you're right. I had the option to go to another company. And I took that option. I just don't believe Apple is the same company they once were. They have turned their focus to consumer electronics and greediness and to heck with the customer (much like the hated Microsoft). That's their prerogative. Seems to have been working for them, but we'll see in the new economy.
While I'm sure Apple does not think of themselves as "dictating" to users, when they are the only HW game in town (which they enforce), the de facto reality is "use our offerings or move to a PC platform".
Choice? You mean the choice between a Mac and a PC? Yes, we all have that choice.
However, if you choose to use Mac, they dictate your options.
Dictate
Dic"tate\, v. i. 1. To speak as a superior; to command; to impose conditions (on).
The last entry seems apropos...
I might agree with you if Apple allowed OSX to be used by other hardware manufacturers. So, the truth is that if you want OSX, you are dictated to by Apple what hardware configurations are available.
But if there is a choice in the matter theres no way in hell its dictating, you chose to use macs and then you select your options from there. If I chose one brand of car, is that company dictating to me if a certain model doesnt some with OnStar?
And on that note, I usually don't care at all about count, but I just hit 4,000 so, yay?
Car companies weren't a good analogy for you because most allow you to choose the options you want. You can even special order it the way you want it to be. If Apple offered that option I wouldn't be accusing them of dictating.
Interesting that you mention "a perfect solution"... While nothing is 100% perfect, once upon a time Apple made the "nearly perfect" solution for a great number of creative persons involved in the production of audio and video who relied on a 6-pin FW400 port.
Apparently, this "nearly perfect" solution wasn't the result of Apple's knowledge of how to build a "nearly perfect" solution. It was simply due to "dumb luck"...
And some car companies require you to choose a higher-priced trim level in order to get certain options. Hmm, sound familiar? And that doesn't mean you can get whatever option you want. There are limits.
Your looking too much into the analogy, all im saying is you have the choice to opt out or not. I have been persuaded previously by this thread that the exclusion of FW was a bad choice by apple, I personally hope it comes back to the macbook rev b.
I'm just commenting because I find it absurd when people start bringing in the silly rhetoric such as "dictatorships" when as a consumer you have absolutly no obligation to buy.
Don´t be silly. I want a portable running their OS, as it´s what I´m comfortable with and I have invested quite a bit in software for the platform. I also want, no, I need FireWire and a matte screen. Now what´s my choice?
I´d call that dictating. They now have a range of laptops that lack any options whatsoever.
This, my friends, is why I have an EFiX machine now instead of my iMac. No, EFiX is not a hackintosh. I operate and install updates exactly the same as my iMac in the other room. For the record, it has yet to crash.
I love Apple for its software and hardware reliability (except the iPhone 3G), but I cannot stand the limited choices Apple gives the consumer for hardware.
Mid-Tower Macs for life!
I love Apple for its software and hardware reliability (except the iPhone 3G), but I cannot stand the limited choices Apple gives the consumer for hardware.
Mid-Tower Macs for life!
Look! yet another option for people!
I was really intrigued by EFix when it was released, seems like a great product.
I don´t find it unreasonable at all to have a desire to stay with the platform after all these years. No, the point here is that Apple is now limiting our options severely and to a lot of people buying a Mac notebook now involves a larger range of compromises. In my situation, to get a Mac notebook with FireWire and a matte screen I will have to move up to the 17", sacrificing the whole point of a notebook; portability.