Where's my Snow Leopard?

I pre-ordered Snow Leopard from Amazon. Got a good deal here. Only $25 for one machine and $44 for 5-user license.

But, it hasn't come! In fact it hasn't shipped (28 Aug 09) today! Weep! Weep! Amazon says "Shipping Soon" and it won't let me cancel the order. This might be the first time I have not had the latest OS X release as soon as it appeared. I'm not sure this was worth saving the cost of a Starbucks Latte. Especially given the fact I'm lactose challenged. What made me pre-order instead of just heading down to the nearest Apple Store on release day? I have no idea except that I wanted to support Laugh 2 Life since it is owned by the person sitting behind me. LOL!

On the positive side, I might as well clone my hard drive n preparation for the SL's arrival.I use SuperDuper by Shirt Pocket for these types of jobs. Yes, I could use Time Machine. My Macs are all using Time Machine, I just like the idea of having a clone. That way I can easily boot off of that drive in case of an emergency.

SuperDuper is an excellent backup utility that easily creates a clone of your hard drive on another drive you have laying around. I use it for all of the computers we have around here whenever I perform a major upgrade. Yes Marsha, Snow Leopard is a major release. There isn't much in the way of new features but the underlying pinnings will allow some amazing future feature and performance gains. SL is more for future proofing OS X then putting more eye candy on your desktop. And I want the future today, not Shipping Soon!

Speculation on the Mac Air future

With the rumours of an Apple Tablet floating around, a friend suggested that the MacBook Air just might be dropped from the Apple line up. At first, I discounted the idea. Our house has an Air. A first generation that is going strong. Strong enough to withstand the constant use and abuse of a teenager. The only downside with that machine is its paltry 80G hard drive. Being a 1G, I can't easily upgrade the drive either as it is a 1.8" ide drive that is thinner then most 1.8" hard drives.

I got to thinking whether my friend was right? How are Air sales doing? Unfortunately, Apple does not report out individual product sales. So all we can do is take speculate based on available data that may have no association with reality. Apple shows the Air in it's "Top Sellers" Mac products on their website. This month (August 09) it sits at number 6 just behind the Mac Pro. Mac Pro? Who buys those things except professionals? Sure, I want one, but then I want a lot of things. Most of my Apple purchases are made on need first then want. Weird thing is AppleCare is at number 7. I'd expect the extended warranty would do better then that. Hmm... maybe top sellers is based on revenue and not individual sales.

How about Amazon's 100 Best Selling Computer and Accessories? A few Apple products make it into the top 100 including AppleCare. Here are the standings for Apple computers:

17. Apple MacBook Pro MB990LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
35. Apple MacBook Pro MB991LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
39. Apple MacBook Pro MC118LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop by Apple
46. Apple iMac MB418LL/A 24-Inch Desktop by Apple
59. Apple Mac mini MB463LL/A Desktop by Apple
66. Apple MacBook MB466LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple
78. Apple MacBook MC240LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop by Apple

Notice what is missing? Yep, the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro 17" and that beautiful monster the Mac Pro. All missing from the top 100 Computer and Accessories sold on Amazon. What does all of this mean? I'm not sure. i I do know, the Air is sweet and there have been many times while traveling on business I wish I had brought the Air instead of my ole MacBook Pro. I also know that I need a new iPhone. My first gen jumped out of its sock and into a glass of water this morning. Strangest thing I've ever seen.

Quello e tutto per oggi!

Passion in Words

At the Apple Quarterly Conference call the other day, Tim Cooke, Apple's interim CEO, was asked how Apple would continue to function without Steve Jobs. Tim Cooke responded with passion befitting a leader that truly believes in his purpose, the companies mission and the products Apple produces. If these words express Tim Cooke's heart, then Apple has nothing to fear going forward.

All accomplishments arrive through the work of great leaders. Those leaders may only lead one person, themselves. They may lead large groups or they may lead whole companies. In each instance, there is some driving force that is there pushing for delivery. Encouraging during darkest of times, inspiring when the last slice of pizza has been sitting out for 3 hours.

At times there is only one leader, leading their own self. The sole artist, the garage scientist, the student working out the latest hack to Facebook. These people are leaders too. Leading their own hands and mind. But leaders with a passion and vision that can produce the unimaginable. Others lead small groups and live with the uninspiring name of "project manager", hampered by budgets, time constraints and the inevitable nay sayer. Yet, these project managers are responsible for inspiring folks to deliver inventions against all odds. Finally, there are company leaders. They inspire, question and reward their colleagues to deliver for the good of the company and their customers. The best ones are the true heart of a company. They attract leaders so that their companies can dream up the truly amazing products. Is Apple one of those companies? Is Tim Cooke one of those leaders? If his words are any indication then perhaps, just maybe ... yes.

I found the following by Adam Lashinsky of Forbes here: http://gowest.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/01/22/the-cook-doctrine-at-apple/

I paste the bit that got me to blog here -- but head over to Forbes for the full article.

We believe that we are on the face of the earth to make great products and that’s not changing. We are constantly focusing on innovating. We believe in the simple not the complex. We believe that we need to own and control the primary technologies behind the products that we make, and participate only in markets where we can make a significant contribution. We believe in saying no to thousands of projects, so that we can really focus on the few that are truly important and meaningful to us. We believe in deep collaboration and cross-pollination of our groups, which allow us to innovate in a way that others cannot. And frankly, we don’t settle for anything less than excellence in every group in the company, and we have the self-honesty to admit when we’re wrong and the courage to change. And I think regardless of who is in what job those values are so embedded in this company that Apple will do extremely well.

I find these words to strike a cord with my view of my own company. Tim has put to words what I feel about our mission, he has put his passion into words that resonate and for that I thank him

Quello e tutto per oggi!