Enjoy.

Another year has flown by.  It’s Christmas time again. I hope you’re enjoying this season.  As I reflect on the significance of this holiday, I’m reminded of a passage out of Isaiah,

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…

This is a time of giving gifts.  And the reason we give is because God has given the ultimate gift – His son.  I praise God for this immeasurable gift.  For through Jesus I have been made right with God and have a hope of eternal life. I hope you too take the opportunity to reflect on the reason for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

PC World names MacBook Pro as one of the notable notebooks of 2007. They say,

“The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year is a Mac.”

MacBook Pro appears among other notebooks selected by PC World for notable features. The main thing that amazed the folks at PC World is the speed of this polished piece of machinery.

“The fastest Windows Vista notebook we’ve tested this year–or for that matter, ever–is a Mac. Not a Dell, not a Toshiba, not even an Alienware.”

What is more amazing is that this designation comes from a Windows centric web site. You would expect such praise from the Mac faithful, but not from those who mainly focus on Windows. In most cases die hard Windows users look for every opportunity to find reasons to put down Macs. However, PC World provides a positive review of Apple’s MacBook Pro. Apple must be doing something right, that even mainly Windows centered web sites recognize the power and beauty of a Mac.

In a few days ago, I made an observation about quality products. It appears to me that quality products hold their appeal and style for a much longer time. I was thinking about cars that are considered to be of high quality, such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz. These cars look appealing and stylish even after several years of use. A 5 year-old Mercedes or BMW is still attractive and convey a sense of style and class. I then transfered this line of thinking to computers. Apple is known for high quality computer products that are stylish and classy. And this is true about Apple computers not only when they are sitting on a shelf in the Apple Store, but after several years of use. When you see a PowerBook or an iMac from a couple of years ago, they still look attractive. Yes, you can tell they are not new, but they still retain that “high quality” presence about them.

May be I’m totally off. But I think there is something about quality that endures. What do you think? Do Macs retain their appeal longer than their counterpart Windows computers? Are Windows computers unappealing to begin with?

The combination of Art and Office, makes me wonder why Microsoft would pursue such an online community and a method to showcase its Office software suite for the Mac. I suspect that MacBU at Microsoft is responding to the newly released iWork ’08. By including a spreadsheet program in the iWork ’08 suite, Apple has brought it to a level where it can be considered a viable alternative to Office as a productivity suite. Notice that this Art of Office web site targets only the Mac version of Office. iWork ’08 is not a threat to MS Office on Windows, since it runs only on a Mac.

Microsoft’s MacBU could have chosen to showcase Office in a different way. However, they decided to emphasize the creative aspect of Office. Art of Office is not promoting the number crunching superiority of Office, but rather its ability to be used for creative, artistic projects. Apple has always been associated with creativity and art and continues to be heavily used by the creative professionals. I would argue that this group of Mac consumers will be the first to consider moving away from Office in favor of iWork.

I believe that the launch of Art of Office is clearly in response to the increasing threat of competition from iWork to Microsoft Office for Mac.

What do you think about the launch of Art of Office? Share your opinion in the comments.

Well, today I came across an article that explores what seems to be a side-effect of Apple popularity in the consumer market. Donna Fuscaldo, the author, notes that “the popularity of Apple’s Macintosh computers is morphing into increased interest from corporations – and not only from the graphic arts departments, where Apple products traditionally have been popular.” If this trend continues, this could mean that the corporate market may become part of Apple’s business strategy.

The CNNMoney.com article points out further that even though “Apple has less than 3% of the U.S. corporate market, according to some estimates, and isn’t clear if being a player there is a priority for the company. However, corporations appear to be interested.” Personally, I think corporations should consider the Mac seriously. And some are, such as the Auto Warehousing Co. (AWC), who is moving their entire company to the Mac platform. And this is not a small mom and pop shop. AWC is the largest full-service auto processing company in North America. The original article on this story can be found at Computerworld.com.

I think this example and the many satisfied Mac consumers are an indication that Apple is delivering a solid operating system tightly integrated with high quality hardware. A formula that has come to be associated with stability, superb performance and class.