Apple's contribution to the creative world

I suspect it was working with iPhoto images in Photoshop that got me thinking about this. Or it could have been the ease with which I put together a real estate flyer to promote a house for our firm. Maybe it was the Quicktime movie where I used iMovie HD to create a virtual tour that made me thankful for having a Mac as a creative tool.

I think there are many of us out there who owe Apple some thanks for building a platform that has allowed us to do things with computers that we would never have been able to accomplish without the genius behind Apple.  I am not sure Apple knew how far the creative revolution would go, but that doesn't diminish the accomplishment.

There are a lot of things which Apple brought into my life through both internally developed applications and ones created by third party developers.  The first digital camera that I ever used was an Apple Quicktake.  The first time I created a newsletter, it was with Pagemaker, a Mac, and a LaserWriter. It was Apple that first got us thinking millions of colors.  I don't think our digital photos would be nearly as exciting if we were still stuck with 16 or 256 colors.  I can still remember my first scanner.  It came from Apple, and it worked so well that it was with great sorrow that I watched Apple stop making scanners.

There are lots of other Macintosh tools that make a big difference in my life.  While I greatly appreciate the Macintosh user interface, I have to say that I am more grateful for the applications than for any part of the user interface.  The functionality of many of these tools has moved over to other platforms. Even as that has happened, typically the integration between the computer hardware and software is still better on a Mac.  Unfortunately Apple lost interest in printers, cameras, and scanners so while things are pretty good there, I suspect Apple could have done better, especially in the world of multi-function devices.

As I look to the future, I am hoping that some of the innovations built into Mac OS X will foster the creation of wonderful new applications that I can't even imagine. I think the developer momentum is there unless Vista sucks it up.

I saw the first serious Vista commercial Sunday night  It was actually a "Wow" commercial that was pretty good. 

The big question it leaves in my mind is whether or not Vista has closed the gap in digital image tools enough to blunt Apple's advantage in that area. 

I know there are some third party developers out there cranking out some interesting stuff for the Mac platform.  Yesterday I happened to run across Zudeo which showcases some fantastic high resolution video with their Mac OSX client. Still I wonder what Apple themselves will bring to the table with Leopard.  I don't think Apple can afford to rest on its digital lifestyle laurels.

It is a tribute to Apple's ability to seed technology in the computer industry to see how far sharing digital images has penetrated our society.

As thankful as I am for my computer enhanced ability to create images, documents, and web pages, I  really get excited when I see how technology has helped true artists get their work in front of the public.

I recently got to meet Mary  Warshaw, a real artist and author of the linked blog.  Mary is from Beaufort, NC. Her prints that she is selling on the web do a wonderful job of capturing the unique combination of ocean, old homes, and history that is so intertwined with the Beaufort that you can see today. As much as I love digital photography, I will still rather have a beautiful print hanging on the wall.

The funny thing is that Mary and I met through blogging which is one area that appears to be not only a technological Achilles heel for Apple but also a cultural one. I had an Apple employee comment on a recent post. It was a very positive comment which said nice things about Apple.  The next morning he sent me a note asking for me to remove the comment because he thought it might get him in trouble.

I removed the comment, but I can only shake my head in wonder that Apple, the company responsible for loosing much of the computer creativity out there has modeled its employee communications policy on North Korea.

I guess that's why I'm heartened by a note from Sven, a Mac user in Sweden, that he has Mac OSX, Windows XP, and Ubuntu all running happily on his MacBook. 

I am ready to hedge my Apple bet. I'm not at all sure the iPhone will lead to enhanced creativity since it will be a closed platform.  Time will tell.  Hopefully some upcoming announcements will demonstrate Apple's commitment to computers with screens us old guys can use. 

Apple has surprised me lots of times before, so I remain hopeful.

Comments

[macsterdam]

Just want to say I enjoy reading your posts tremendously. Hope you will continue to do so for a long time!

[TRS-80]

Apparently the Vista photo album is really quite good.