Things are changing at work.
We're finally replacing our 9 year old Accom Strataspher editors. All 3 of them. And our Quantel EditBox (which I hate). We're going to get 4(!) Avid Media Composers with shared storage.
This ROCKS!!!! The whole stored storage means we're not tied down to one room for a project. Start a project in Suite 2, finish in Suite 4. It's more like it's one edit bay with 4 terminals. Very cool.
The bad side is that we're getting the Windows™© version.
I'm pretty much a Mac advocate, but not so much that I won't work on a Windows box. It's more of a very strong preference.
Still, I'm disappointed because our Chief Engineer said that the platform didn't matter to him. He said this just last Friday, but changed his mind for maintenance purposes.
My problem with the situation is that they didn't ask the operators of the gear (my department of 3 editors and a couple of promotions guys) what we would prefer. They decided that since they have to fix it when it's broken that it should be on a platform that they know.
So in other words, the guys who don't have to work on the machines day in and day out get what they want.
And I can't say anything about how I feel because in their eyes it'll be because I'm the "Mac Guy", not because I have any real concerns about my work flow.
[/whiner]
2 comments:
What a shame, especially given the fact that they'll probably have to expend more money, time, energy in the long run because, in my experience, the frequency of Mac hardware an OS failures compared to the same with the Windows OS is disproportionately small.
The College of Business is a Windows only environment but I was able to get several Macs for my office and department via a grant. (I've got them all in my office, known as Mac Central.) The college's system admin. hates that because we've made ourselves independent from her problem-prone WIndows environment, but can so easily integrate ourselves into her network. While other professors in the department are constantly calling for support because of host of problems, we happily work unfettered. I've got an amazing set-up for audio and video creation/editing. (But I haven't even begun to use video stuff, since I'll have to teach myself Final Cut Pro first.)
I've owned Macs exclusively since 1989 (7 so far, plus the G5 from work I get to keep at home for now) and the only time I had to pay for a hardware repair was when a freak accident caused me to spill half of a cup of coffee in my Clamshell.
And now that it's out of warranty, I can tell the story of the time I this very Powerboook (1 GHz Titanium) on which I type slipped from my arms and hit the very hard concrete floor of my building as I entered a classroom to teach. The cmoputer was ON (but asleep). I gasped, everyone gasped. I put it on the podium, lifted the screen, and it woke right up, never missing a beat. I think some of my students moved a little closer to conversion that day. I KNOW some have since converted.
A second affirmation of the wonders of my Mac came the day my daughter knocked it off the table while it was on and awake. Again, no problems, except for cosmetic damage. The first incident caused the paint to chip and crack off on one corner. The second fall bent and dented the bottom case frame.
In management classes, your taught that no good purchase decisions are made by ignoring input from the end users. And I'll bet that in the long run, from a cost-benefit perspective, the Macs would have been a better choice.
But then again, I'm very, very biased. But with good reason.
Sorry to go on so long! Maybe I'll do a post on my blog in praise of Macs. In the meantime, I'm feeling your pain!
I take care of all the Macs at work now but when one of the Windows machines goes I'm gonna call the IT guys just like the Chief engineer expects. I ain't fixxin' nuthin' no more!
But on a good side, one of the Avid demo guys gave me a Avid keychain with a 128 meg Jumpdrive on it!!!!
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