Macworld SF 2005 — On the floor and off the record
We had a request for “heard on the street” style comments, so here are a few from personal observation. If you want to add your own, please use our article discussion area below.
At the PROSOFT ENGINEERING booth:
“These people are either incredibly smart or amazingly dumb, to go head to head with the most established utility companies in the world. If their new Drive Genie application is half as good as they say, and works from day one in Tiger, they may have found the holy grail of price and performance for the average user who can’t make sense out of Norton, Tech Tool Pro, or Disk Warrior.
At INTUIT:
I’m in tech support, and that lady was the first person ever to say our product is a complete stinker. Usually they give their compliment within a context of praise, using our software but finding a few things that annoy them. But this woman really hates us. I’m glad she’s so rare.
At the booth for THAT PACK:
What’ya think, hon? Will your 17 PowerBook fit in this case? It’s expensive, but with the pull out handle and tuck away straps, it just might work on the plane. That loud guy over there must be with the company. Now he’s pushing a sleeve that probably costs more but would definitely hold your laptop. Do you think we can return it if it doesn’t work?
Regarding MAC MINI:
What’s that little silver thing called, anyway? I heard iMac Mini, then MiniMac, then MiniBox, and several more. Whatever it’s called, Apple better start selling third party monitors at their retail stores and on their web site today!
By the time people actually buy one of these new Mac Whatsis, they’ll be better off if then simply get a 17” iMac, with much better value for money, unless they already really like their existing keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
Steve was so lukewarm during the keynote, I hope somebody worth reading gives him a good whipping for not emphasizing the Mac Mini first, slim iPod Shuffle second, and all that glitzware afterward. I think he lost people and never got them back, from my sense of the lack of buzz from the audience and media follow up.
Discussing iPOD SHUFFLE:
Give me a break! This is a total ripoff. Steve Jobs knows he’s got the entire market sewn up, and now he wants to shove his musical sticks of gum down the throats of every consumer in the world. If the real iPod Mini is worth $250 to the marketplace, then this white strip is way overpriced. Apple gets away with murder on all their musical gadgets, and I’m glad it keeps them in business, but how about selling a computer with usable RAM instead of screwing each buyer with memory that they pay pennies on the dollar for and charge people over the top dollar.
On DANTZ and EMC:
Who the hell is EMC? Did they buy Dantz or the other way around? If they kill Retrospect I won’t mind, since now there are other backups and I never really liked it in the first place. But really I wish Dantz would bring back Retrospect Express for $49 or whatever instead of forcing everybody to buy the full package. That’s way overkill for most of the rest of us. Ha ha.
At the SYBEX booth:
I overheard that guy talking to somebody from Sybex about doing book reviews. Who are they kidding? Nobody reads reviews any more. I just go over to Barnes and Noble, buy a pile of books, take them home, photocopy the pages I need and return them a couple of weeks later. Computer books are too damn expensive anyway, and I already know most of what’s in them before I open them up. I’d actually pay for the pages I copy if they made it easier. Isn’t that how ebooks are supposed to work?
The O’REILLY booth:
Did you just buy a book? Did you get that adorable carry bag they’re giving away? Hurry! Get a second book so you can have a free bag. It’s worth it!
Near the SHURE booth:
Did you see the prices on those fancy earbuds that guy is wearing? It’s something like $400 or $500. Puhleeeeze! I got mine at another booth over there for under two hundred, and I bet they sound just fine when I’m jogging or in the car. Shure is a good company, but they sure (chuckle) know how to price their stuff high.
Regarding iLIFE ‘05 and iWORK:
Oh, baby. Talk about eye candy. If Jobs thinks people are going to buy a new Mini just to get the software he’s nuts. What? iWork isn’t included? Bluchz! I use iLife ‘04 all the time and it’s real good for $49 or bundled. I don’t know how much Apple earns on all this almost-free software, but if they keep the prices low or bundle it like Microsoft does they may finally start selling computers again.
Behind the SECURIKEY booth:
That’s it! Now I can really keep my goddam kids off my f&*^%^&g PowerBook when it’s sitting on my desk. If I come back and see Halo or Doom or whatever the hell that ^&%$ game is called one more time I’m going to banish them to AOL with full parental controls until they have kids of their own.
At the LQ GRAPHICS booth:
Did you see that! Look again. Hear about Ken Burns? No, he’s not a baseball player. He’s that TV guy. Civil War and jazz I think. Anyway now in iPhoto and Photo to Movie or whatever you can do the titles and sound and dissolves and transitions right with software that’s under fifty bucks. I wonder if he gives educational discounts. Hey. Are you the developer too, or just a sales guy? What’s your discount or bulk purchase plan, please?
Near LaCIE:
Those DVDs with the burned or etched picture on them are really ugly. I hope they come out with a better color scheme. Plus I heard that lady say it takes a long time to make the DVD cover image. LaCie better hurry up or people won’t want to wait and have the burn and disk image write take so long to complete.
At IOGEAR:
I like their green shirts, the people in this company. Same with the Hoodman and some orange shirts over there. The people who order only a few company logo shirts are missing out on a great opportunity for cheap advertising. Did you notes not a single shirt is being given out on the floor this year? The companies all seem to be well organized, but for a few hundred dollars they each could sell or give away enough shirts to splash their names on the Expo floor and to every MUG in the country.
At PEACHPIT, OTHER WORLD COMPUTING, and other live talk/demo booths:
I can’t hear a damn thing. Why don’t they have some place or figure out some way to give these experts a way to do their talk without so much background chaos? I came here today just to hear Adam (or Andy, or …) and I could have done better spending a half hour sitting quietly reading his latest book. What a pain.
Far from the BOOM BAGS booth:
I just ordered a Boom Bag for my son. I’m going to send it right to his dorm, then listen out the window when he cranks up that pony. The sound is, well, less than perfect, but the concept is brilliant. Wish I had come up with it.
Near ADOBE:
Have you tried Elements 3 yet? Needs a decent processor and RAM, and it has a few quirky differences from version 2, but your graphics people will love it and stop using the full version of Photoshop the following day I think.
On the street outside MOSCONE:
My feet are killing me and I’m going to call in sick again tomorrow. Plans for tonight? Mine are to crank up my iPod and talk to absolutely nobody. If I fall asleep on the sofa reading this Mac Addict magazine and wake up with a dead battery I’ll consider the day a complete success. Boy did I bring the wrong shoes. And I should have taken a couple tons of vitamin C too. I’m so hoarse I’m gonna shut up up right now and and call your cell number in a day or later. Bye.
