When I started college way back in 2002, (as a mere slip of a boy, of course) I had never touched a Mac. I knew next to nothing about them and figured they were for elitists and niche programming geeks. Part of me was intimidated to learn a new platform after growing up using nothing but a PC. Six years later, as I’ve forged a career in video production and photography, I own two Macs and haven’t used a PC in years.

There are countless articles out there debating the virtues of each platform so I won’t get into that here. I do want to briefly explain the four main reasons that Mac works for me as a freelance photographer and video producer.

System stability – Working against tight deadlines is stressful enough without worrying about whether or not I’m going to get through my project before the next system freeze or blue screen of death. My MacBook is a workhorse and I need that.

Performance – A lot of times I’m rendering something in After Effects while editing a raw file in Photoshop and fine-tuning my timeline in Final Cut Pro. I can flip between programs quickly and easily and my Mac keeps chugging along.

Maintenance – Spyware, adware, drivers, viruses. These are all four letter words in my vocabulary. Fortunately this just has never been an issue since dumping my PC. I need my computer to fire up quickly and work quickly. If I’m constantly running spyware, hunting down pop-up windows and installing driver updates – this is lost time I could be working.

Reliability – The PC laptop I bought in college spent as much time in the shop as it did in my possession. My Macs almost always work when I need them to. Which isn’t to say that they’ve always been perfect. I had the motherboard go on my Powerbook right when I was about to start a massive editing project. But it was replaced quickly and no data was lost. Crisis averted.

PC’s have come a long way the last several years. One could certainly make the argument that they’re cheaper, more customizable, and potentially even faster. But when I’m grabbing my pile of camera gear to go on a shoot, I throw my MacBook into my bag and I’m ready for battle. It does what I need it to do and I’m geared up to fend off my next looming deadline with poise and determination. Now where did I put those car keys?

Thanks for reading my first entry here at Mactropolis. I’m a newbie around here and hope to contribute as often as I can from the standpoint of a professional photographer/videographer. I was employed at a tv station for several years as a video journalist but have recently left the machine to do freelance work. I’ll try to poke around the forums as much as I can so feel free to give me your feedback - good and bad. I can take it! (I think!)

written by Jarrod Tully \\ tags: Mac vs. PC, Making the Switch

Salesforce.com, a huge corporation that develops CRM software may be making the switch from PC to Mac in the near future. Salesforce is currently signed up in an agreement with Dell, but as their licenses expire, their IT department is apparently planning for a switch over to Mac. Reasons for the switch are hazy, but one major factor is said to be security. Salesforce would rather pay the extra expense up front to purchase Mac systems, instead of paying insane costs to safeguard all of their Windows systems.

Salesforce is somewhat buddy/buddy with Apple already. They were on-board with Apple from the start with iPhone, and were even brought on stage at the iPhone SDK event some time back.

As per usual, this is just rumor and speculation at this point… But what a huge switch that would be. Could it be that we’ll see more and more large corporations making the switch to Mac, especially now that the iPhone has arrived on the enterprise scene?

[via MacNN]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: iPhone SDK, Making the Switch, Salesforce.com

According to Andy Greenberg of Forbes.com, the US Army is quietly working to integrate more Apple computers into the military mix for many reasons.

1. Security. Running macs will make it harder for a single attack to destabilize an entire group of computers. Security is of course one of the biggest concerns when it comes to computers and the military… and macs have long been touted more safe and secure when compared to their PC counterparts.

2. Diversification. Running different systems and setups will make it harder for potential attackers to take down anything significant. More data will be protected and the military will therefore be safer. I think of it like any smart investor. Diversify, diversify, diversify!

3. Ease of use. Lets face it, running and administering a mac is a piece of cake compared to a PC. The army has enough to worry about, so why not make the computers easier to use? Makes sense to me.

Apple computers do only take up a tiny portion of the US military’s computer mix. By the numbers, around 20,000 of the 700,000 desktops and servers are made by Apple. That’s just under 3%. Look for that number to rise over the coming years.

This is an interesting move if you ask me. I simply hope that the move will not compromise any existing systems or security. I’m sure it won’t… I’m sure every angle has been looked at before adding these new systems into the mix.

[Source]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Making the Switch, Security