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June 11, 2009
[I'M A MAC – I'M A PC]
Being insatiably curious and perpetually dissatisfied we are suckers for beta versions of software. And there is no more tempting beta than a new version of Windows, and Windows 7 is a whopper. We had to have it.
So how has it been? In a word, sweet.
Now we have four computers – a Mac running OS-X 10.5.7 and three PCs running Vista, Windows 7 and Windows XP. So we should be able to give the definitive answer to the existential question troubling our times: which computer system is best for processing digital photographs?
There is much ballyhoo from the Mac pixies about how they are better looking, better dressed and with smarter haircuts than the overweight Windows drongoes who make up 96 per cent of computer owners. They also brag about how much easier and more intuitive their machines are than PCs. Well, a moment's thought will tell you that this can't be so when you are using Photoshop, because whether on a Mac or a PC there is obviously not going to be any difference. Well, not much, and what difference there is favours Windows.
So let's forget the big Photoshop stuff and imagine someone who is in the market for a new computer to edit, store, print and share photos through Flickr! or Facebook. This customer wants to take the computer out of the box, plug it in and get going without having to buy any extra software. Which operating system is best?
Windows Vista includes a useless mini-application called Photo Gallery. The free program Picasa, from Google, is far superior to Photo Gallery.
Windows 7 comes with Windows Live Photo Gallery – they dream up snappy names at Microsoft – which is an improvement on the one that isn't Live. Let's call it LPG to save space. It can be downloaded free from Microsoft and in theory works with Vista and XP. We managed to get it going with XP but it stubbornly refuses to work with Vista and Microsoft don't want to know about it, in spite of the fact that people all over the world are having problems. If you can make it work LPG is OK, but it will not handle RAW files. It displays them but will not allow editing without first converting to JPEG or TIFF.
A new Mac comes with the latest version of iPhoto installed. It can also be bought as part of iLife 09 (including iMovie, iWeb and Garage Band) for $129 and works brilliantly with OS 10.5 and later. It loves RAW files, and for most people has all the editing functions you will ever need. It also has a nifty, if slightly unreliable, face recognition system that will scan your hard drive for photos of people and match their features to an identification tag – presumably a spin-off of the war on terror.
The verdict: Windows 7 is looking good, but is months from final release. In the meantime the Mac costs more but wins hands down.
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Posted by terry at June 11, 2009 10:00 AM
Worth Checking Out
Digital Cameras SydneyComments
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
Terry,
If you haven't already looked at Windows ICE (Image Composite Editor) download it and have a play. It's the first MS program I can ever say I have used where I would use the word terrific to describe it.
This program does the best job every for stitching panoramas and wait till you look at the projection perspective views. :-)
You can even export the panorama as a Photoshop .PSD file! What more could you want other than Lightroom integration?
ICE available here
http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/um/redmond/groups/ivm/ICE/
Flickr ICE group here
http://www.flickr.com/groups/922872@N23/
Check out my 18 shot hand held vertical panorama of a Mountain Ash here
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3336/3585442940_470ff9fe6a_b.jpg
Posted by: RichardR at June 12, 2009 07:49 PM