[hart]

You know, I don't usually get all foam-at-the-mouth frenetic about being an Apple user but this annoying email just popped into my box from Dell. What's with this "unlike a Mac" business? I guess they're feeling a tad nervous about Apple and it's multimedia functionality.



(Hoping the image links properly. Uploaded it to one of my kids' game sites for storage. And of course, pardon me if this has already been chit-chatted elsewhere.)

[SpaceMonkey]

The only thing that really annoys me about Macs is that I can't film a golf swing with one.

[reader50]

The way they've written it separately suggests it's as much a trade slogan as a literal statement. Which would be a good idea, because as a literal statement, it would run up against false advertising. The things it suggests are things Macs can do. Maybe not streaming from a Win7 box, but certainly streaming from another Mac.

[hart]

I guess if you wanted to be literal minded you could run win7 on your mac too.

That nice little dash keeps it from being a whole sentence.

It's like the Fruit Loops ad in which they say "with my fruit loops I'm teleporting??" question mark question mark. They're not reeeeally saying Fruit Loops make you teleport with that careful inflection. Just sort of planting the idea in impressionable minds.

[imitchellg5]

If you resort to using unquantifiable statement to advertise, you blew it.

[Oh Cubeoid]

I'd rather drink a gallon of bleach then switch my powerbook to a pc notebook.

[Laminar]

I thought you had a MacBook Pro.

[Doc HM]

With the hyphen they are basically just saying that their machine is not like a Mac. The rest is just blurb intended to be associated with the first phrase without actually claiming anything.

Basically if your best advertising is "We know this is bollocks but it's legal bollocks" rather than just advertising the products real USP and strengths then you have a weak product.

[Big Mac]

I don't know if that's going to be too successful a marketing strategy. Being unlike a Mac isn't a particularly good trait given how well Macs have been selling lately.

[osiris]

Dell is really reaching for it. However, there should be a disclaimer indicating that the suggested limitations are not due to hardware, but because Microsoft decided to not let Macs join in on the "fun". So f*ck them and F*ck Microsoft. Hah!

[Big Mac]

It also really reinforces how much of an impact the resurgent Apple has had on the industry. Fifteen years ago no one could have possibly predicted that Dell would some day be running ads targeting Apple as its big competitor.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Oh Cubeoid 

I'd rather drink a gallon of bleach then switch my powerbook to a pc notebook.

If a PowerBook was my main machine, I'd happily switch to any recent PC notebook.

[imitchellg5]

Originally Posted by Big Mac 

It also really reinforces how much of an impact the resurgent Apple has had on the industry. Fifteen years ago no one could have possibly predicted that Dell would some day be running ads targeting Apple as its big competitor.

Dell have targeted Apple in their adverts since they started shipping with Windows 3.0.

[ctt1wbw]

Originally Posted by Oh Cubeoid 

I'd rather drink a gallon of bleach then switch my powerbook to a pc notebook.

Actually, I think my MacBook runs Windows 7 Pro via Bootcamp better than my desktop runs Windows 7 64 bit.

The ad has a point. I can't stream my iTunes from across the Internet, only from a local LAN. Unless I'm missing something.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by hayesk 

the ad has a point. I can't stream my itunes from across the internet, only from a local lan. Unless i'm missing something.

a vpn.

*Dumbass filter keeps taking the caps away.

[Oh Cubeoid]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

I thought you had a MacBook Pro.

I do, I get confused and call it a powerbook sometimes, I didn't have a notebook during the name change powerbook --> macbook pro, my last one was a powerbook.

[besson3c]

This whole "access your videos remotely" feature, I wonder why Microsoft would market this feature? In order to keep up the poor upload bandwidth provided by most ISPs in America those videos are going to either have to be low quality/small in size or there is going to have to be a lot of buffering, both of which surely would not make Windows 7 look good.

[Spheric Harlot]

No - Features and bullet-points are more important than working well (or, in fact, at all).

Have you learned nothing of the difference between Apple and the non-beleaguered companies?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

No - Features and bullet-points are more important than working well (or, in fact, at all).

Have you learned nothing of the difference between Apple and the non-beleaguered companies?

I have no personal history of working with Microsoft products, really. I have no idea whether new features in new versions of Office work as advertised, or whether anything else has gone smoothly, really. I haven't spent more than an hour in both Vista and 7 combined. I guess the only exception here would be with Internet Explorer, although I don't think that versions 7 and 8 were heavily marketed?

I have not played around with an Android phone really, so I don't know how Google is faring, although it looks like Google Chrome certainly lives up to its hype since it seems to consistently benchmark as the fastest Windows browser (I suppose that title could have gone to Safari if Apple put work into it). I'm not really a phone person in general.

What other software is marketing heavily these days?

So, yeah, I'm very naive when it comes to the marketing of any software company.

[Doc HM]

Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot 

No - Features and bullet-points are more important than working well (or, in fact, at all).

Have you learned nothing of the difference between Apple and the non-beleaguered companies?

Back to My Mac

[Spheric Harlot]

^ that works just fine for me...?

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

a vpn.

Ha ha, I didn't consider that. But seriously, do you have to install a VPN to do this on the Dell that is advertised? And can the average homeowner install, configure, and manage a VPN?

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by hayesk 

Ha ha, I didn't consider that. But seriously, do you have to install a VPN to do this on the Dell that is advertised? And can the average homeowner install, configure, and manage a VPN?

OS X has VPN built in, I don't know about Windows. I don't know about the average homeowner, can they read a manual?

Besides, aren't there 3rd party products that let you stream TV and video from home to a laptop?

[imitchellg5]

Slingbox is the big one. Works for Mac and PC.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

OS X has VPN built in, I don't know about Windows. I don't know about the average homeowner, can they read a manual?

Besides, aren't there 3rd party products that let you stream TV and video from home to a laptop?

OS X client has an IPSEC based VPN client built in, but no server AFAIK. There is no single VPN implementation, there are several different kinds each requiring different client/servers.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

OS X client has an IPSEC based VPN client built in, but no server AFAIK. There is no single VPN implementation, there are several different kinds each requiring different client/servers.

I know, but most home routers include a VPN server. Most are enabled by clicking a check box and entering a login and password.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I know, but most home routers include a VPN server. Most are enabled by clicking a check box and entering a login and password.

Really? I didn't know that... I don't think I've ever owned a router with this feature. I don't doubt that at least some do though!

[torsoboy]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I know, but most home routers include a VPN server. Most are enabled by clicking a check box and entering a login and password.

I have owned several routers (most recently purchased one about 6 months ago), and none of them have ever had this feature (including the new one). You making this up? Or am I just unlucky in my router selections? I'm sure that *some* of them might, but you said "most."

[reader50]

My older Linksys routers have VPN passthrough settings, but no VPN server.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by hayesk 

The ad has a point. I can't stream my iTunes from across the Internet, only from a local LAN. Unless I'm missing something.

Slink from Slinkware. Plug&Play VPN for all intents and purposes) with full support of all bonjour services.

See my post about it here.

-t

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

OS X client has an IPSEC based VPN client built in, but no server AFAIK.

Wrong.

OS X client has full VPN server built-in, but Apple decided to not make it accessible.

You need either good Unix / Terminal skills, or use a GUI configuration utility like iVPN to enable the VPN server on OS X client.

However, VPNs do NOT make Bonjour services available.

Hence, Slink is the better solution for anything that relies on Bonjour.

-t

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I know, but most home routers include a VPN server. Most are enabled by clicking a check box and entering a login and password.

No, most *home* routers do NOT.

There are a few, but VPN servers in routers are more office / pro features.

-t

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

No, most *home* routers do NOT.

There are a few, but VPN servers in routers are more office / pro features.

I can pick out nearly any brand and they'll have a cheap router with VPN. Netgear's cheapest router (WGR614) has VPN. It's $30. Linksys WRT54G is $40, it has VPN. D-Link DIR-655 is $55, has VPN. Belkin F5D5231 is only $50, has VPN.

What brand are you using that doesn't offer a cheap home router with VPN?

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I can pick out nearly any brand and they'll have a cheap router with VPN. Netgear's cheapest router (WGR614) has VPN. It's $30. Linksys WRT54G is $40, it has VPN. D-Link DIR-655 is $55, has VPN. Belkin F5D5231 is only $50, has VPN.

What brand are you using that doesn't offer a cheap home router with VPN?

You are mistaken. Most of these routers (I didn't bother to check all) only support VPN-passthrough.

VPN-passthrough != VPN server.

http://www.home-network-help.com/vpn-pass-through.html

-t

[reader50]

I have a Linksys WRT54G. There's VPN passthrough, but no server unless I'm blind. Where is it in the menu system?

Security -> VPN for protocol passthrough settings.

[Warhaven]

I would presume the advert is speaking of OS X Client specifically, because I'm sure everybody here knows about QTSS and Quicktime Broadcaster on the server side.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

No VPN on the DLink DIR-655.

As for the ad, I'm sure it was designed with one of the tech advertising world's greatest sure-things in mind- get Mac users to post the ad all over the internet for free by mentioning the word Mac. No one else gives a flying rip.

[ghporter]

Consumer-level routers with VPN built in are much more expensive than those without, or they use some less-desirable sort of VPN-like service. You can pass through just about all consumer routers, but to RUN a VPN, you need something more expensive.

[Spheric Harlot]

Originally Posted by CRASH HARDDRIVE 

No VPN on the DLink DIR-655.

As for the ad, I'm sure it was designed with one of the tech advertising world's greatest sure-things in mind- get Mac users to post the ad all over the internet for free by mentioning the word Mac. No one else gives a flying rip.

People still use DLink routers?

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

I dunno, do they?

Can you find a best routers list without a D-link model listed? Have at it.

[Spheric Harlot]

I figured that it would be a fairly widely known fact that your life improves once you eliminate DLink products from it - sort of like how anything music-related improves once Behringer and M-Audio are eliminated.

[CRASH HARDDRIVE]

I guess if your *life* revolves around being a slave to corporate hype and brand names.

Personally I don't care. The DIR-655 (I couldn't give a squat who slapped a label on it, which is all the brand names are) is over three years old and still tops many lists of the best routers available.

To each his own.

[ghporter]

Not every D-Link device is crap. They are the OEM for a number of other "brands" of equipment, as well. For example, Fry's Electronics' N router is a D-Link. Found that out sort of in passing but it's completely true. And the router I got "just works," especially in the situation I'm using it. Not my preferred brand, but not something I'm going to automatically ignore either.

All this VPN talk is useful and all, but let's face it, the average consumer can not set up streaming his iTunes library over the Internet. (although Slink is looking promising) The Dell advertises this - is it a real feature that mere mortals can use? If so, it's a real advantage.

[olePigeon]

Well, shoot, I guess you're all right. Sorry about that.

[turtle777]

Slink is as easy as it can get with a 3rd party solution.

Networking is always a bit involved, no matter what.
I doubt Dell makes it as easy as launching a browser.

-t

[sek929]

Windows 7 is also supposed to streamline the process of hooking in an external monitor or projector. In my experiences with two brand new Dells what is advertised and what actually happens are two different things.

Brand new Windows 7 machine took several attempts to hook up to home projector, old iBook recognized the new device and immediately starting working.

When it comes to anything involving networking on the Windows side I can say, with no exaggeration, that it will still be light years behind anything on the Mac. Hooking up two PCs takes more time than networking an entire room full of Macs.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by sek929 

old iBook recognized the new device and immediately starting working.

This was always my favorite part of giving presentations in college. Everyone else had Dells or whatever and the first 5-10 minutes of each presentation was nearly always getting the projector work. The iBook was always plug and play, 100% of the time.

[olePigeon]

Why is Windows still retarded when it comes to USB devices? It's like they hit Windows 98 and thought, "Good enough."

I guess I take for granted a USB mouse or keyboard just instantly working on my Mac, on any USB port, on the first try. When I'm in Windows, I routinely have to plug any new keyboard or mouse I get into each and every USB port, wait for it to load the drivers and become useable, just so I don't have to wait later on when I plug it in to a different port.