Have I mentioned in a while...

...how much I dislike Macs?

I really don't like 'em, and I'll probably live with this thing for another year, and chuck it.

Outside of the aesthetics, which are clearly the best in the business, there just simply isn't any single feature of a Mac that I find superior to a PC. Quite the contrary--I find Macs sorely deficient in many areas.

Let's talk about iPhoto. Crap. I don't care what that smarmy little slickster says on the Apple ads to the dowdy looking PC guy, iPhoto stinks, plain and simple. Lame.

On a PC, if you import photos into a folder, you can always instantly turn that into a slideshow. Now, you may not have one of the lamest send-ups of a faux positive element, i.e. the automatic Ken Burns effect, but that's a plus in my book. I hate that stupid pan and dissolve crap that every slideshow automatically puts you in. Hate it. And I want to shoot my computer everytime I start hearing Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring playing behind it. It couldn't be a worse default tune for a professional musician! Anytime I start a new slideshow, I always have to go and turn that overly played wedding tune off. Irksome beyond belief to me.

What I want my computer to do is to be able to simply do a slideshow, intelligently, from any folder that contains my photos. Notice I said intelligently. Though Macs have the preview option, from any folder, the interface is the poor stepsister of iPhoto...which means it's really, really bad. I have tons of pictures from my travels, and I'm in the mood to print some more off. I don't need or want music, I don't need or want panning. And when I pause it, I don't want to see the pause button illuminated on the screen, blocking the photo. (I'm sure some Macophiles oohed and aahed the first time they saw the navigation bar appear on the screen, further confirmation that Macs are cool. Blech!) If I decide I want to toggle from one picture to the next, to try and decide which one is better, there's no need for me to see that stupid illuminated navigation bar that pops up. That drives me absolutely crazy. And in a PC, you can zoom in and out, in the middle of a slideshow incredibly easily. The sliding sizing bar is something that I think Apple should expunge from their design plans. Just use the magnifying option: click on the photo, and it gets bigger or smaller. For me, hands down, PC's are better with dealing with photos.

Oh, and here's another gripe. Why can't iPhoto simply access photos in other photo folders, without the need to import then into the iPhoto program? Aren't Apples smart enough to just find them where they are, and then use them with the iPhoto program? PC's are smart enough to do that. It takes too long to import them, if you ask me.

Another general gripe: The plus, minus, and red buttons do not work well, in my opinion. They should work as well as a PC, which makes a heck of a lot of sense. If you want the window to fill your screen, then click on the plus button. This doesn't automatically happen on Mac. I've gotten elongated vertical windows before, and other odd and strange configurations. I always have to go to the corner of the window, stretching it out by hand. PC's just do it. And there isn't an option to make it smaller, without doing the same thing.

I really find Macs maddening, and I am looking forward to the time when I have money again to buy another PC. It will be a laptop, and I'll be much, much happier. I've had enough of this computer.

OK...that's enough whining for one evening. This might be the last time you hear from me though, since it's possible this Mac will be tossed from the top of the highest building in town.

I really do hate this thing, immensely. So much so, that I might sell it for half of what I paid for it, cut my losses, and buy a PC.