Adobe has a new application called Adobe Encore DVD, and it's Windows-only. Adobe Album is Windows-only too. More and more software will become Windows-only, and more and more perhipherals will be Windows-only.

Apple Stores aren't really bring more market share. They are still under 4%.

I see Apple becoming another SGI. The consumer and education markets are lost. Apple's buying high-end apps to try and keep the content creators and video professionals. It's not working because Apple's hardware isn't fast enough for these professionals.

I use After Effects all day. A dual Xeon is over twice as fast as a dual G4 Mac with AE 5.5. It's the same app, but with more plug-ins on the Windows side, and it's a lot faster.

Given that, and the fact that OS X is still too slow even on the fastest Mac when sorting files in the Finder, etc., I see doom for Apple.

We've been saying, "Just wait..." for years now, anticipating something new that will make the Mac superior in all ways. It hasn't happened. Maybe OS X 10.3 on an IBM 970 will be worth the money for a content creator. Maybe not. But ma and pa don't care about OS X 10.3 and 64 bit processors. All they know is they can get a faster computer for half the price with a good enough OS and a lot more software.

Doom.

Gateway 632? That's worse then 381 so the sentence is confusing.

As topic, Apple will do much better the latter part of this year and will rock next year. Let's play again then, shall we?

IBM is No. 9, Microsoft is No. 15, Dell is No. 50, HP is No. 109, Sun is No. 213

now do you get it? Ignore gateway. Funny how you have to explicitly point out simple things sometimes...but then your probably one of those people who are labeled "special". Have a good day.

Yah, "Apple is Doomed"... that's what they said back in 1998, and I probably would have agreed (almost) Now, here we are five years later, and I hear of the Mac more now then ever, and it's not negative in any stretch of the imagination.

Adobe Photoshop Album
That programs reminds me of this other little application that comes FREE from apple. It's called iPhoto. I would rather save the $50 and just use the free application... and so would most people. Granted, iPhoto may not have some of the cool gizmos that Adobe Photoshop Album has, but give it time...

Adobe Encore DVD
That program reminds me of a few applications Apple has... DVD Studio Pro, iDVD... We will see if it competes with Apple in this area...

Did you ever think that Adobe doesn't make applications that directly compete against Apple applications because it doesn't want to waste it's time.

"Yah, "Apple is Doomed"... that's what they said back in 1998"

Apple's market share is smaller than it was in 1998, and their computers are much slower compared to PCs now.

"That programs reminds me of this other little application that comes FREE from apple. It's called iPhoto."

iPhoto is incredibly slow. Very slow. Dreadfully slow. Famously slow. Go ahead and start taking tons of pictures and use iPhoto in OS X after 100-200 pictures have been taken. Sllloooooooowwwwwww.

On Windows, there are several apps to choose from. Considering the Mac hardware to run iPhoto costs hundreds more than a PC, I'd say that iPhoto is not free.

"That program reminds me of a few applications Apple has... DVD Studio Pro, iDVD."

DVD Studio Pro is very weak and costs $995. Encore is $595 and looks much, much better (read the PDFs). It's an Adobe app that is integrated with the apps I use - Photoshop and After Effects. DVD Studio Pro looks like what it is - an app Apple bought from someone else that hasn't been updated in a while.

iDVD is great stuff, if you buy a new Mac with a SuperDrive.

Again, there are many, many great consumer DVD apps for Windows, and they are fast, not slow.

"Did you ever think that Adobe doesn't make applications that directly compete against Apple applications because it doesn't want to waste it's time."

I'd buy Encore DVD today if it was available for the Mac since I use Photoshop, After Effects, Illustrator, and LiveMotion.

Adobe isn't investing in the Mac because they see their Mac market share go from 50% to 28% in just a few years. They see the truth, which is Apple is doomed.

All those Apple Stores and iMacs sold and yet they are still at 3.8%. Sad.

I would love to see a really fast Mac with a fast OS X with lots of software and the latest video cards for $1,000. It can't compete. Heck, for $749, you can get a 2.4 Ghz Pentium 4 from Dell! $1,499 for a G4 Mac that is slower! Get real. Apple is doomed.

so if you're so happy with your windows machine and think apple is doomed, what the h*** are you doing wasting your time making these comments here? we don't give a sh*t what you think about apple. we like apple, and will continue to support them. go away.

p.s. - how can you call dvd studio pro weak? there are NO programs on the windows side with comparable features at that price. the sonic programs are more expensive. besides, have you even used it? doesn't sound like it. i've put together many many dvd's for clients and even a full-featured dvd for a short film. it IS a powerful program. get over it.

... I like Mac, I want it to succeed, but to say that "Oh it is doing great!" would be a lie... Apple would soon enjoy a niche product status ....

#1 The lack of a robust encoder - apple's plug in encoder is not flexible at all - requiring the use of a several hundred dollar software encoder (Cleaner Pro for example) to get even marginal flexibility, and performance is slow at best!

#2 DVD sp just creates a project flow, and multiplexes the files into the DVD format - that's it! There is nothing fancy here to justify multiple 'Levels' of commercial DVD software ie PRO VS. NOT PRO - geez, it's just some photoshop layers and remote control button assignments.

#3 DVD studio Pro offers no way to append MPEG files without buying MPEG append shareware for (if i recall correctly) about $60 OSX version - and it doesnt work whenever apple upgrates the OS (ie 10.2.3 to 10.2.4)

If you want to see real DVD authoring and encoding - look to Scenarist and Minerva

"The lack of a robust encoder"

sure, it's not the greatest, only constant bit rate encoding, but where else are you going to get a software encoder that can encode an mpeg2 5 times faster than the source material? cleaner will easily take 10 to 20 times as long to encode the same material. believe me, i've done it. i have both products and know what i'm talking about.

"DVD sp just creates a project flow, and multiplexes the files into the DVD format - that's it!"

um, i think thats what all authoring programs do. they create your video_ts and audio_ts folders, and can burn them for you or you can burn them yourself. and it's completely scriptable, so you can do a lot more than just "photoshop layers and remote control button assignments"

"f you want to see real DVD authoring and encoding - look to Scenarist and Minerva"

well, no sh*t. scenarist costs $7999. minerva costs waaaaay more than that.

http://www.dvdinsider.com/industry/premastering/systems.asp

"DVD Professional XL
Encoding: Minerva Compressionist 250 and Minerva Audio Compressionist
Authoring: Daikin Sceanarist NT
Platform: Windows NT
Hardware included: Compressionist and Audio Compresionist rack-mount units.
Price: $169,995
Notes: Daikin Informer proofing system also included.

Minerva DVD Professional SL
Encoding: Minerva Publisher 300
Authoring: Daikin Sceanarist NT
Platform: Windows NT
Hardware included: Publisher 300 desktop unit.
Price: $99,995
Notes: Daikin Dolby AC3 Software encoder included which compresses audio from AIFF files.

Minerva DVD Professional EL
Encoding: Minerva Publisher 200
Authoring: Daikin Sceanarist NT
Platform: Windows NT
Hardware included: Publisher 200 desktop unit.
Price: $49,995
Notes: Aimed at coporate and educational users. Daikin Dolby AC3 Software encoder included which compresses audio from AIFF files."

are you just stupid? you think people don't know that there is better out there? you obviously are lost in some pc fantasy land where you think just because there are better products that exist for windows, apple sucks, even though the windows products cost more than most automobiles? the whole point of dvd studio pro is that it has all its features for a small price of $999. it is not intended for authoring big budget hollywood releases where money is not an issue. keep your head out of your a** and in reality.

I agree that DVDSP needs an update.

Sonic's other software does what DVDSP does for a lot less money. Heck, the Vegas 4 and DVD bundle does it too!

Adobe's Encore looks very nice. You people who think that everything Apple sells is the best should read Adobe's PDFs on this software, especially if you are using Photoshop and AE.