Monday, July 20, 2009

I’m on Jeopardy! And “I’ll take False Assumptions for $2,000, Alex.”

As I begin my consciousness-altering migration from a PC to a Mac, I’m like the kid in the candy shop configuring hardware: Two 2.66 GHz quad processors; 12 Gigs of memory; Two 1 TB disks; Raid; 30 inch display; and so on.  Risking mixing my metaphors … This isn’t Burger King, mister. I’m not going to “hold the pickle, hold the lettuce. ‘cause special orders don’t upset us.” I want a big Mac. But when I’m done, it’s just a lump of e-lec-tron-i-cal-stuff. It won’t do anything!

I need to remember, “It’s the software, Stupid!”

I assumed that for every Application I use on the PC, there was an equivalent Application for the Mac. Photoshop? Sure. Office? Sure. And so on. So I knew I might have to re-buy some software. It’s time to take inventory and tally the damage. In descending order by usage, here’s what I use:
• Outlook Mail -> Mac Mail – Cost: Zero
• Photoshop -> Photoshop – Cost $6 for new media
• Photoshop Pluggins -> Photoshop Pluggins – Cost: Zero*
• Lightroom -> Lightroom – Cost: $6 for new media
• Office -> Office – Cost: $129 for Mac version
• Quicken -> Quicken – Cost: $79
• Pro Series Tax -> Pro Series Tax – Cost: $250
• Norton 360 -> McAfee - Cost: Zero

Phew! I was worried about an $1,800 hit for Adobe CS4 (Photoshop et.al.) Hooray for Adobe’s intellignet approach to licensing!

Worst case, say, around $500. I can live with that.

False Assumptions Time: Pro Series Tax doesn’t have a Mac Version. And Quicken for Mac is incompatible with Quicken for Windows. Shame on you Intuit! Now I’ve got some serious head scratching to do. I need these programs more than I need to switch to a Mac!

Should I cancel my hardware order while I rethink this?

Posted by Digital Quixote in • PC to Mac
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Friday, July 17, 2009

I’ve had it. And you won’t believe what I’ve “had it” with!

I’ve been a PC guy for literally 25 years. Cut me and I bleed Windows. Staunch the flow with a Ctrl-Alt-Delete styptic salute.

My hot Dell workstation, originally optimized for photo editing isn’t so hot. It’s had just about every moving part replaced, some multiple times and when each and every part is working, it doesn’t work for very long. Every so often it seems to get tired and stop to rest. Sometimes it’s for a few seconds … enough that if you’re typing a sentence, a few words in the middle never reach the keyboard’s escape velocity. Sometimes it’s for a dozen minutes or more … during which nothing gets done and “System Idle” consumes the entire machine.

Talking with a PC friend who’s switched to a Mac, he said, “Maybe you like fiddling with the registry. Possibly you enjoy spending several hours each week on system administration. It could be you feel incomplete unless you’ve re-imaged your PC in the last 6 months. But if not, maybe you’d like a Mac that ‘just works’ instead.” He went on to say, “When my daughter at college had a PC laptop, we’d talk by phone every week to fix its latest glitch. I realized she hadn’t called for like seven months. Feeling a little left out and fearing a serious boyfriend, I called her and learned she’d bought a Mac laptop. She hadn’t called because nothing had gone wrong. She was silent on the boyfriend concern.”

I am a victim of ‘Death by a Thousand Cuts,’ and Tier 1, 2, and 3 Support at Dell do not know what to do. My fear is that there are so many hardware devices, software applications, OS Versions that the number of permutations is impossibly large … too large to be tested and certified by mere mortals. My fear – they not only don’t know what to do – there is nothing to do that will work.

Time to simplify!

I’m taking the plunge. I ordered a Mac Pro today from Apple’s website. My technology life is literally flashing before my eyes.

I sure hope the “I’m a Mac and I’m a PC” ads are right.

Break out the Kool-Aid; the journey begins!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • PC to Mac
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Monday, July 13, 2009

Click to enlarge ...

Seattle has opened a new “skate park” at Seattle Center. I went down yesterday to shoot (photographically) the flower of our youth in the new park. But for reasons of unstable weather, there was no one there. So I wandered around Seattle Center and caught these photos. Maybe you’ll like ‘em, too.

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Saturday, July 11, 2009

On the 4th of July, I attended the 21st annual Pacific Northwest Historics Vintage Car Races. Here’s how the brochure described it:

The Pacific Northwest Historics features many of the world’s rarest and most beautiful pre-1970 race cars. Most have been restored to mint condition and a handful retain the patina earned while racing years ago. This year, more than 250 vintage race cars from all over the West Coast and Canada participated. Fan favorites include Ferraris, Lotuses, Cobras, Corvettes, Porsches, Austin Healeys and some less recognizable names like Elva, Ginetta, and McLaren; many with impressive racing histories.

Some of the cars are valued at over $1 million, but the high values don’t hold back the owners and drivers - most cars will exceed 100 mph and some over 150 mph during the wheel to wheel competition. The Pacific Raceways circuit is a challenging 2 ¼-mile road course that includes nine turns, a 300 foot elevation drop and a near ¾-mile straightaway. Spectators are welcome in the paddock area and encouraged to take a close-up look at the cars and visit with the drivers.

Words do not describe the pulse-quickening roar of powerful engins reving upon entry to a long straight-a-way or shifting down to enter a tight curve. Maybe these pictures from the event will help.

Besides the racing, there were a lot of interesting cars on display ... like these for example.

We had access to the pits where there were all manner of photo opportunities for what I call “bits-and-pieces” photos ... like this one.

I know you’ll want to see hi-res versions of these, plus 37 aditional beautiful, bright, detailed images from the races. Right? Okay, then click here to see them!

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Out and About
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Friday, July 10, 2009

Posted by Digital Quixote in • Quotable
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