Windows 2 Apples Episode 6

Windows 2 Apples 6

iLife 08 is installed and I have had a chance to experiment with iMovie, GarageBand iPhoto and iWeb. As a relative iMac newbie, I suspect my comments regarding the new iMovie maybe a bet less harsh than those heaped on it by long time Apple users and admirers.

I bought into the Apple hype and waited to really spend much time learning iMovie until I upgraded to the much-ballyhooed iMovie 08. As some may recall I hoped Apple would not follow the lead of Windows developers and just heap on a pile of unnecessary new features just to make a compelling argument to buy the latest upgrade. In the Windows world we have grudgingly grown expect code bloat and feature overload.

Well it does seem I had nothing to worry about from that quarter. Many old line Apple users are a bit miffed, to say the least, that Apple actually striped features in the name of enhanced easy of use. Some bloggers and forum contributors somewhat despairingly refer to the new iLife 08 audience as grandparents wanting to through together a movie even as their brains are turning to a demented mush.

I had not spent much time with iMovie 06, but when I did open it and play with it as well as the 08 version I realized why the frustration and even feelings of betrayal are so frequently expressed in blogs and forums. The new “improved” iMovie is a bit bewildering to me and seems so crippled that it is best left to put together a quickie clip for YouTube. iMovie 06 on the other hand seems a fairly good choice for producing semi-professional videos. Even though Apple kept the 06 version on my Mac I lost the quick start PDF file and 06 help now references iMovie 08 only. Of course Apple seems to have also removed the iMovie 06 video tutorials. Would have been awfully nice of Apple to have shipped the iLife 06 tutorials with my iMac.

So now I have both 06 and 08 iMovies to work with but virtually no documentation on using iMovie 06. I did find and down load the 06 PDF documentation but even after a new down load and install of 06 from Apple, I have seem to be unable to regain the iMovie 06 help files. Oh well as they say be careful for what you wish for.

iWeb and GarageBand for me have improvements that are almost worth the $80. I love the ability to easily splice in html code and to be given a choice of where to load and save my iWeb domain files. The Magic in GarageBand does not do much for me but I do like the opportunity to inspect and modify the auto-assembled scores. I most appreciate the ability to directly save my podcast file as an MP3! One nick picking and personal observation regarding the Magic GarageBand feature, to me it makes the program look a bit more like a toy or game than the true podcast workhorse it is for many including myself.

iPhoto still appears to have no option for overlaying text or graphics on photos. This seems so peculiar to me. I use that feature all the time on my windows machines and there must be half a dozen programs including the free Windows paint program that offer that option.

After playing with iMovie I took another look at the Microsoft moviemaker software shipped with windows and I am impressed with its ease of use and features compared to the Apple programs. If Microsoft could offer an counter part to GarageBand and continue with the free Office Works series it would make Vista machines a far better out of the box experience than the iMac. Well almost, I also need to add that Microsoft would have to improve stability and have more vendors on line fully supporting and running in Vista. Vista is still sending me to a nasty blue screen crash about every 6 to 8 weeks and would be hard to trust on a machine I intend to use in making a living.