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New Mac Pro? I’m waiting patiently
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He’s referring to using anything else other than a MacPro, which if it doesn’t get refreshed, is going to slip even more behind the current generation technology.
For some reason, in the last two posts I’ve read of yours, you seem unable pick up on people’s points, even when it’s been explained to you.
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[Gary Huff] “He’s referring to using anything else other than a MacPro, which if it doesn’t get refreshed, is going to slip even more behind the current generation technology.
For some reason, in the last two posts I’ve read of yours, you seem unable pick up on people’s points, even when it’s been explained to you.
“It’s quite obvious I’m a fool. In dealing with online interactions, subtleties are lost as there is no visual feedback. Non verbal communication informs much of a conversation, therefore humor and exaggeration are often lost in text, unless of course you take the time to explain your facial contortions, use a nonverbal proxy in the form of an emoticon, or surround a word in asterisks to make it blatantly obvious to us simpletons your full emotinal intent, *hint*. I can then relate to you via described non verbal communication, through words.
I also found Herb’s post to be simply untrue, hence my confusion. If there was a joke, I missed it, sorry.
The MacPro is still on sale.
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] ” unless of course you take the time to explain your facial contortions, use a nonverbal proxy in the form of an emoticon, or surround a word in asterisks to make it blatantly obvious”
While a little OT, although “off-topic” might be a possible new name for this forum, I’d like to quibble with this.
For hundreds of years people have communicated solely thru the written word without the use of emoticons or asterisks, often to people they have never met in person. They wrote on paper and they often called this type of correspondence a letter, named I suppose after the symbols of the alphabet. Often the letters were witty and full of humor and one wonders how it was possible to understand them without seeing the writers face, or a symbol thereof. Perhaps the thickness of the ink clued the reader in to the emotional state of the writer. Or perhaps these “letters” (they did use parentheses) were better written. It’s a mystery.
[Jeremy Garchow] “Herb’s post to be simply untrue, hence my confusion. If there was a joke, I missed it, sorry. The MacPro is still on sale. “
What was untrue?
There was no joke.Yes the MacPro is still on sale, but, as per this thread, probably not for too long. If you need any of the items I mentioned previously for your post workflow then, while OSX may be perfectly keen, the hardware necessary for that workflow will soon be gone. Investing in the purchase of a dying ecosystem does not make that much sense, talking as someone who might have to buy a used MacPro in the next 2 months. If PPro comes out with a way to directly read FCP projects I can avoid buying one of these zombie boxes, otherwise I’m stuck pissing my money away for a short term need. No joke indeed.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
[Jeremy Garchow] “What I think about is a lot of After Effects artists. I know a fair amount and they are Mac folks through and through. I’m not super terribly worried about a Windows switch. It’s going to suck, it’s going to be expensive, and it’s going to take a lot of time, but I’m sure we can do it if we fracking have to. Some of the AE folks aren’t going to be very happy at all. “
That’s exactly the position I was in. I was a Mac guy, and I wasn’t happy about the prospect of using Windows because of my opinions dating back to Windows XP (and before).
Turns out I was being dumb. I started doing creative work on Windows 7 three or four months ago — and everything was fine.
I’ve found Windows 7 to be stable, secure, and easy-to-use. It’s a different experience than OS X, and that requires a little adjustment, but that doesn’t make it bad.
Several folks here have very good reasons for not wanting to switch away from OS X, but it sounds like a lot of others have just accepted the FUD about Windows without actually trying it for themselves.
Criticizing Windows for blue screens, registry edits, and DLL hell is like criticizing OS X for kernel panics, Terminal hacks, and permissions repair. Sometimes bad things happen on both platforms, because modern computers are enormously complex systems with zillions of failure modes — but they’re not part of the ordinary, every day experience.
I think a lot of the so-called conventional wisdom creatives hold about Windows systems goes back to older versions of the operating system, or mass-market machines with poor drivers or tons of unneeded preloaded software. Working on a well-built workstation with good hardware and no shovelware gives a very smooth user experience.
I’ve been seriously impressed with the Z800 that HP sent me — it’s well-designed, it’s solid, and it works. I’ll bet that machines like DRW’s ProMax One are also impressive. There are legitimate alternatives to the Mac Pro, and those AE artists you know should consider the high-performance options available to them on the PC platform from committed vendors who demonstrably care about the DCC segment.
Honestly, I think I was foolish to not go cross-platform sooner.
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Tim Wilson] “Ironically, what finally tipped the balance away from Mac for me after 20 years of active Windows-bashing was Fusion. Running Mac and Windows side-by-side made come to resent every moment I had to spend in the Mac OS.”
Just the opposite for me. Win7 in Fusion reminds me constantly that OS X is a vastly superior UX for me. Nearly everything about the Windows UX rubs me the wrong way, and though I have my complaints about OS X, I’ll take it any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
So like you said, YMMV.
Best,
Andy -
[Herb Sevush] “For hundreds of years people have communicated solely thru the written word without the use of emoticons or asterisks, often to people they have never met in person. They wrote on paper and they often called this type of correspondence a letter, named I suppose after the symbols of the alphabet. Often the letters were witty and full of humor and one wonders how it was possible to understand them without seeing the writers face, or a symbol thereof. Perhaps the thickness of the ink clued the reader in to the emotional state of the writer. Or perhaps these “letters” (they did use parentheses) were better written. It’s a mystery. “
When you had to send a messenger across land to send a note, I’m sure the descriptors were much more clear than in these limited word “posts” we have today.
Perspective can be described.
[Herb Sevush] “Yes the MacPro is still on sale, but, as per this thread, probably not for too long. If you need any of the items I mentioned previously for your post workflow then, while OSX may be perfectly keen, the hardware necessary for that workflow will soon be gone. Investing in the purchase of a dying ecosystem does not make that much sense, talking as someone who might have to buy a used MacPro in the next 2 months. If PPro comes out with a way to directly read FCP projects I can avoid buying one of these zombie boxes, otherwise I’m stuck pissing my money away for a short term need. No joke indeed.”
I guess I see it differently. CUDA is available on the Mac, and if you look at Nvidia’s recent driver updates for 10.7.3, it seems they are actively supporting it, which seems to be sort of a newish venture for them.
I don’t see this as being over. Perhaps you do. My guess is that we will know something soon. Apple is not one to wait around for no reason. I prefer to look at tea leaves and take the positive from it. I believe Shane, and I believe his reliable sources, but I don’t think it’s going to be a complete cut and run situation. Apple would have cut already, which is why I linked the Xserve document. As Craig said, perhaps we won’t like the “alternative” MacPro or whatever form factor it’s going to be. Perhaps there’s a chance Apple will license OSX to certain manufacturers to run on something other than Apple manufacturers hardware. That’s a long shot, admittedly. We haven’t heard anything officially, so I can’t make any official decisions. We are still running fcs3 and will probably continue to do so for a while yet.
Other’s in the shop are not looking forward to a switch to Windows either, and I guess we are lucky to have the luxury to rest on our laurels. Our network, SAN and otherwise, could be swapped to Windows fairly easily in terms of swapping CPUs. All of our hardware is cross platform, we would have pick new a new NLE and color grading system, but the rest of our content creation tools have widows versions right now, today. Also, NAB is right around the corner, so perhaps there’ll be news that will push us in some sort of a direction. For now, we don’t have to move.
We will have to keep a Mac around for legacy transfers, of course.
Jeremy
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I hear that, Walter. The AE artists I talk to aren’t interested, and they don’t have the render garden you have either. 😉
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[Jeremy Garchow] ” As Craig said, perhaps we won’t like the “alternative” MacPro or whatever form factor it’s going to be. Perhaps there’s a chance Apple will license OSX to certain manufacturers to run on something other than Apple manufacturers hardware. That’s a long shot, admittedly. We haven’t heard anything officially, so I can’t make any official decisions.”
Aye, there’s the rub, nobody’s heard anything official but we still have to allocate resources and plan. That’s why threads like this one get started. I don’t really care about the form factor, if Tbolt can handle the I/O for my raid and blackmagic card, the GPU is something like a Quadro 4000 and I can add 24meg of Ram, the box can look like a turtle and quack like a duck and I’ll still buy it.
The idea of Apple licensing out to manufacturers is a pipe dream — and I’d like a hit off that pipe. Even if Apple comes out with a high end revised system after June it will be too late for me, I will have committed my budget elsewhere and will be long gone. I don’t think I’m alone in that either, NAB is a deadline for a lot of people.
Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf -
[Herb Sevush] “. I don’t think I’m alone in that either, NAB is a deadline for a lot of people.”
Rumor has it that Apple is going to take over the “FCPX it Not” mini meet.
Should be interesting!
Can’t forget this: 😀
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[Herb Sevush] “Even if Apple comes out with a high end revised system after June it will be too late for me, I will have committed my budget elsewhere and will be long gone. I don’t think I’m alone in that either, NAB is a deadline for a lot of people.
“I think that’s a good deadline. I just bought what may be my last Mac–17″ Macbook Pro–based on the notion that I WILL be migrating back to Windows for much of my editorial, but that I’m currently ensconced where I am by factors beyond my control. I see that changing over the Summer and into the Fall as various clients, allies, and co-workers adjust themselves. A lot of these people are looking at NAB as a deadline, as well.
I’m at a point where I would be happy if no new Mac Pro comes out in the next few weeks, and for that matter, into the summer. I think it would be a reasonably clear signal, and some of the change that needs to take place might begin.
Personally, I just don’t think that Apple is in this business anymore. I just don’t see any good argument for it, and many, many arguments against it.
On a personal note, I’ve been enjoying the recent iteration of the Apple TV and the new iPad. I really like my iPhone (other than I wish it were a slightly better phone.) And, I can see keeping my personal computers/laptops in the OS X world, too. I don’t have to completely move from the platform.
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