Open Letter to Apple

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I am not expecting a response from apple, but I do hope they visit the forums.

I realize that I am only a minister and not a marketing genius, but I do have a thought. If I am apple and my goal is to get as many people to switch as possible - I should want to make it as easy as possible. You would think they have done that if you visit their site and read about switching. However, the two things that most people need to switch are : address and calendar. The very two things that are the most difficult on the apple. Hard to believe that in 2006 you would not have a way to do that.

I think apple should provide a shareware /software on their site to make that happen if you are not going to accept a common windows export. It needs to be something that I can download on my mac and read the csv files.

There is a $10 piece of software that I can load on the windows side to make happen : O2M I think. However, I cannot load software on a company laptop - against policy. Do not use the palm so that leaves out MissingSync. Besides - should you have to pay just to switch the basics? So all that is just about left is to enter each item.

That is just enough to make me want to take my new macbook back. I love my new MacBook, but we have got to make it easier.

Thanks for letting me vent.
 
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well... how much trouble can you get in for installing it, using then uninstalling it.

or just telling your IT guy. hey, i'm doing this to update my thingy then i'm just going to uninstall it.

do they put a gun to your head and scour your .reg?






about switching, i would say that addresses and phone numbers are periphery. its in my phone, i just sync'd it with iSync and boom. its done.
THE REAL ISSUE with switching is learning to ignore my 'PC INSTINCTS'

Macs are so.. simple. so streamlined. for instance. i'm putzing around with my iPod, right? i got this totally sweet widget that grabs Album art and puts it on the track for you. so i'm updating my library, and when i grab my pod for the go, i notice some tracks have art and some don't. but they all have it in iTunes. at first i'm thinking, how am i going to manually change every single (insert colorful language here) song i've got! (18 gbs worth)

then i realize... hey wait. this is a Mac. i go to preferences, i uncheck 'show album art'. i unplug/replug in the pod, i check "show album art', it automatically deletes all and then replaces the art work.
everything works now.

Mac needs to make a pamphlet expousing you to rethink the way you think about computers. its not pulling teeth like windows XP (or even worse... 98se )
 
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If your a minister what company do you work for? Jesus inc.
 
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MacMania55 said:
If your a minister what company do you work for? Jesus inc.

that is an aweful joke, cant say i didnt laugh though.

to play devils advocate, why must microsoft make their stuff so that you can not import it to your mac, why are we just blaming apple and not microsoft?
-chris
 
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Again, playing Devil's Advocate.....

So to make things "easier"... a company has to make their product more like the market leader's? What then is the point of changing your operating system?
And I would have to disagree that the most important things for switchers are addresses and calendars.

Bottom line is that Mac OS is different from Windows. It always has been and always will be. Apple's goal is not to make "switchers" out of consumers, their goal is to sell computers. If someone doesn't want to use Mac OS then that is just fine by Apple. They have been around just as long as Microsoft has and they are not going anywhere.
Personally, I have never "switched", I have always used mulitple operating systems. :black:
 
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D3v1L80Y said:
Again, playing Devil's Advocate.....

So to make things "easier"... a company has to make their product more like the market leader's? What then is the point of changing your operating system?
And I would have to disagree that the most important things for switchers are addresses and calendars.

Bottom line is that Mac OS is different from Windows. It always has been and always will be. Apple's goal is not to make "switchers" out of consumers, their goal is to sell computers. If someone doesn't want to use Mac OS then that is just fine by Apple. They have been around just as long as Microsoft has and they are not going anywhere.
Personally, I have never "switched", I have always used mulitple operating systems. :black:

Jesus inc - did get a grin.

You both brought up very valid points. Mac is different than Windows and I agree that is a good thing. At this point in the game if you do want to sell computers you do have to make an effort to get people to switch. Windows does have the lead in number of sales - so if my business is to make money - than I want to do everything I can to take away business from Windows. Is Mac for everyone - no, but you do have to have a marketshare to make a profit.

If you look at apple's web site you see that they do go after people wanting to make a switch - they market that pretty heavy even on TV. Are Address and Calendar THE most important - maybe not - but enough of a factor to warrent more consideration than it seems Apple has given them. I still think for most people they rank pretty high.
 
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Why not just copy your contacts etc over by typing them up? Unless you have loads... :/
 
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what program do you have your contacts in on your windows pc? Outlook?
 
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I just export all the addresses on my pc as v-cards into a shared folder, connect to it on the mac, then highlight them all, drag, and drop them into the address book. Works for entourage as well.
 
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Saint Mark said:
...I think apple should provide a shareware /software on their site to make that happen if you are not going to accept a common windows export. It needs to be something that I can download on my mac and read the csv files. ...

From the Help File in Address Book:

APPLE ADDRESS BOOK HELP FILE said:
Importing contacts into Address Book
Address Book can import address information in the following formats:


vCard

LDIF format

tab-delimited file

comma-separated values (CSV) file
To import contact information from another application, you need to save or export a file in one of these formats. You can export addresses in LDIF format from Netscape, and vCards from Palm desktop, Entourage, Outlook, and others.

Most databases allow you to export text files in tab-delimited or CSV format. Address Book uses field labels in text files to know how to import the information into your address book. For example, Address Book uses the label "Last name" to match up that field in the imported text file with the "Last name" field in your card template. (If your database doesn’t include labels in the exported file, you can manually identify the information fields while importing the file into Address Book.)

To identify the kind of file you are trying to import, select the document and choose File > Get Info. Before importing a .txt or .cvs file, verify that the file does not contain line breaks, which might cause the import to fail. You can use any text editing application to find and remove line breaks.


To import addresses from other applications:
Export your addresses from the other application in one of the formats supported by Address Book.
When exporting a tab-delimited or CSV file, you may want to write down the order of the information fields. This will help you in step 4 if the exported file doesn’t contain labels.

In Address Book, choose File > Import and choose the format of the exported file from the submenu. Choose "Text file" for a tab-delimited or CSV file.
Select the file that contains the exported addresses.
If you are importing a text file, use the pop-up menus in the Text File Import dialog that appears to specify how to import the data.
If the first record contains labels instead of information for a contact, select the "Ignore first card" checkbox.

Use the left and right arrows to see different records in the file you're importing. This helps you determine how to set the pop-up menus. If you don't want to import a field, set the pop-up menu to "Do not import."

To set the pop-up menus for address fields, choose the type of address (home, work, or other) in the pop-up menu next to the first item of the address. Then use the address pop-up menus that appear to choose the corresponding data for each address field.


To import many addresses at once, create a vCard that has multiple contacts (if the other application supports it).

When exporting data from Palm Desktop, use the default column layout.

To see the last batch of addresses you added to Address Book, click Last Import in the Group column. The list of most recently imported addresses will be updated the next time you import addresses. Use the View menu to show or hide the Last Import item in the Group column.

You can also use iSync to import contacts from your Palm device. For more information, open iSync and search iSync help for "Palm."

Clearly, you can use a CSV file. Did this not work for you?
 
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The problem with calendars is, there never was a standard for storing this information, each App handled it differently. This will change with Leopard, where iCal will support CalDav Imports, which is also used in a couple of other Calendar programs. Unfortunately, Microsoft thinks it's too good for standards, so you guessed it: Outlook doesn't support CalDav. But Vista "Windows Calendar" will.
 
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I knew someone would take my joke the wrong way and give me a neg. reputation point! I didnt mean it to be offensive just funny :)
 
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MacMania55 said:
I knew someone would take my joke the wrong way and give me a neg. reputation point! I didnt mean it to be offensive just funny :)

Yeah, unfortunatly some people here cannot take a joke. Or criticizim. They feel the need to lash out and give you bad feedback. Like, OMG... I wont be able to post today if i get back feedback...or whatever...

Let me balance out the karma here...ill give ya good feedback.

::::edit:::; this CLEARLY hit a nerve with some one because the bad feedback police are out in force today... I've got more little red dots today from this post... just goes to show...some people REALLY DONT like humor or to be criticized in any way. They really are not very tolerant of other people I guess...
 
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Saint Mark said:
I am not expecting a response from apple, but I do hope they visit the forums.

I realize that I am only a minister and not a marketing genius, but I do have a thought. If I am apple and my goal is to get as many people to switch as possible - I should want to make it as easy as possible. You would think they have done that if you visit their site and read about switching. However, the two things that most people need to switch are : address and calendar. The very two things that are the most difficult on the apple. Hard to believe that in 2006 you would not have a way to do that.

I think apple should provide a shareware /software on their site to make that happen if you are not going to accept a common windows export. It needs to be something that I can download on my mac and read the csv files.

There is a $10 piece of software that I can load on the windows side to make happen : O2M I think. However, I cannot load software on a company laptop - against policy. Do not use the palm so that leaves out MissingSync. Besides - should you have to pay just to switch the basics? So all that is just about left is to enter each item.

That is just enough to make me want to take my new macbook back. I love my new MacBook, but we have got to make it easier.

Thanks for letting me vent.


To the OP.
I'm a PC tech who's done a LOT of switches for people. There are ways to do it fairly easy. You just have to think outside of the box. (before anyone asks how, I'm sorry but I'm in business to make money. Right now since theres no software solution to just drag and drop, my method is part of my business model and I won't give that out. I've gotten referals because of my method working as well as it does.)

The one thing that gets me is that if I remember right, you could at one point import the PST file from Outlook on the PC into Entourage on the Mac. Microsoft is the one continually making it harder to get stuff switched over to the Mac.

Stepping back a bit, hmmm... theres a thought lurking back in the back of my head and it needs to form better. But its along these lines:
People switching are quick to blame apple, but thats only because they're coming from MS. I've pointed this out to clients before when they get frustrated. I ask them, you left Windows for a reason...what was that? "because it was so frustrating..." was the general answer. Well why would you expect them to make leaving their platform any easier?

"Oh." Is 99 out of 100 responses. And then they smile as they finally get it. MS those dirty rotten scoundrels.

Then I point to the Mac (at which point they've had for at least 1 week) and I ask them, "And how many legit problems have you had with this this week?"

And people finally get it, and they're in even more of a rush to dump the windows box.

I learned a long time ago, and I'm sure that all here would agree, that NOTHING worth having comes easy. Switching to Mac IS about making your computing life easier, but you WILL have some struggles to get there.

Hope this helps.
Bishop
 
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bishopazrael said:
To the OP.
You just have to think outside of the box.
Bishop


I agree. Few people do this nowadays though. It's shame.
 
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MacMania55 said:
I knew someone would take my joke the wrong way and give me a neg. reputation point! I didnt mean it to be offensive just funny :)

Really did not bother me and I was the one who started the post? I got it - people wear feelings on cuff nowadays
 
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bishopazrael said:
To the OP.
I'm a PC tech who's done a LOT of switches for people. There are ways to do it fairly easy. You just have to think outside of the box. (before anyone asks how, I'm sorry but I'm in business to make money. Right now since theres no software solution to just drag and drop, my method is part of my business model and I won't give that out. I've gotten referals because of my method working as well as it does.)

The one thing that gets me is that if I remember right, you could at one point import the PST file from Outlook on the PC into Entourage on the Mac. Microsoft is the one continually making it harder to get stuff switched over to the Mac.

Stepping back a bit, hmmm... theres a thought lurking back in the back of my head and it needs to form better. But its along these lines:
People switching are quick to blame apple, but thats only because they're coming from MS. I've pointed this out to clients before when they get frustrated. I ask them, you left Windows for a reason...what was that? "because it was so frustrating..." was the general answer. Well why would you expect them to make leaving their platform any easier?

"Oh." Is 99 out of 100 responses. And then they smile as they finally get it. MS those dirty rotten scoundrels.

Then I point to the Mac (at which point they've had for at least 1 week) and I ask them, "And how many legit problems have you had with this this week?"

And people finally get it, and they're in even more of a rush to dump the windows box.

I learned a long time ago, and I'm sure that all here would agree, that NOTHING worth having comes easy. Switching to Mac IS about making your computing life easier, but you WILL have some struggles to get there.

Hope this helps.
Bishop

I agree with alot of what you said, but look at it from the non-tech person. When I go from driving a chevy to a BMW - I have high expectations for the BMW. There are certain expectations that are there - fed from Apple.

If you decide to develop a software to make this switch happen - you could make a lot of us happy.
 

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