<iApps? My Eye!
- 2002.08.01
As the dust settles on Apple's decision to charge us for the
intangible iTools services, people begin to ask how this will affect
Job's plans for the digital hub. I, for one, don't care. The digital hub always struck me as a ropey idea. It's not that I
object in principle to people connecting digital cameras and
camcorders to their Macs, it's just that I don't want to be forced to
sit through the dross that they subsequently create. The Apple propaganda machine has been going full tilt for the last
while, informing us of the wonderful free iApps that come with every
Mac. So what? I like to think that for an investment of over €1,000
I'd get something other than an operating system thrown into the
box. When Jobs announced iPhoto, I dutifully went to the Apple site and
downloaded it. I looked at it - and erased it. Yes, it's very nice,
but I'm not going to give up Photoshop any time soon. iMovie? Sorry, my Adobe Premier habit is too ingrained. I do use iTunes, but then again, I'd be irritated if people
expected me to pay for software that just plays music, regardless of
how nice the graphics are. If Apple want to impress me, then they'd better write a HyperCard
style iMedia and Homepage style iWeb tout suite. I am genuinely concerned that Apple is beginning to
neglect its core professional user base in the graphics and
media industries. |
The problem with the iApps is this - they're not powerful enough.
Okay, you say, but they're not aimed at commercial users. This is
absolutely correct, and it's also the nub of my argument. I am
genuinely concerned that Apple is beginning to neglect its core
professional user base in the graphics and media industries. If Adobe
ever pulls Photoshop, then the party's over. Macs will be stone dead
as far as designers go, and mine will go out the window.
Literally. People talk about the "empowering" potential of the iApps, but
having tools available to edit photos and video does not a
professional make. The effect is more likely to be similar to that of
Microsoft Word and PowerPoint - where people like me were once paid
embarrassingly small amounts of money to produce professional
presentations and stationery, offices are now awash with printouts
and presentations made by people who think that combining double
underlining, bold, and italics is a good thing. It isn't. So, what do I want? Well, I don't want Apple to stop making the
iApps; I just want them to stop pretending that having them equals
instant creative professional. The marketing strategy seems to be
that "ordinary users" can bask in the reflected glory of the purple
haired professional designers and movie makers. Maybe, but then
again, maybe not. Besides, I know plenty of graphic designers who are far from cool
or interesting in any way whatsoever. Power to the people? Certainly, but the digital hub is more of a
strategy for selling hardware than a rallying call for creative
democracy, which, incidentally, will never exist.
Next week Jason Walsh will look at your
responses to Macs in the
workplace.
Jason Walsh
is a journalist and postgraduate student. These
observations, though unscientific by any standard, derive from his
studies in sociology of culture. One day soon he'll be a doctor, and
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Mac
Life ©2002 by Jason
Walsh.
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