Travel Technology - Hello iPhoto, meet "Max". Another Microsoft ripoff of an Apple product.

http://www.microsoft.com/max/

Max! Meet Bob. Bob, make some room.

Timothy

Max! Meet Bob. Bob, make some room.

Timothy
:D

http://www.microsoft.com/max/

Since MS has an overwhelming market share, they really don't need to innovate as much as successfully imitate those ideas that are already wildly successful.

And Apple created their software out of nothing, completely on their own, isolated from any outside influences. Maybe microsoft is offering a very similar product, but, why not? Apples shuffle was an old idea.

And Apple created their software out of nothing, completely on their own, isolated from any outside influences. Maybe microsoft is offering a very similar product, but, why not? Apples shuffle was an old idea.

They were the first to:

- offer real-time re-sizing of the photo library for easy, efficient browsing of thousands pf photos
- offer integrated photo album design and purchasing
- integrate iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand with iPhoto to allow easy use of photos in other media and other media in photos
- integrate iPhoto with an easy to use web page template and web services tool, simplifying sharing pictures over the web

They were the first to:

- offer real-time re-sizing of the photo library for easy, efficient browsing of thousands pf photos
- offer integrated photo album design and purchasing
- integrate iTunes, iMovie, iDVD and GarageBand with iPhoto to allow easy use of photos in other media and other media in photos
- integrate iPhoto with an easy to use web page template and web services tool, simplifying sharing pictures over the web


I may be wrong, but I think I remember items 1 & 2 in photoshop first.

Has Apple opened up the API on iTunes, iDVD, GarageBand & iPhoto? I can't see #3 being capable of being done by anybody but Apple.

And what about ACDSee? This is superior to any other photo management tool I've seen. There is no web integration however...

I may be wrong, but I think I remember items 1 & 2 in photoshop first.

Has Apple opened up the API on iTunes, iDVD, GarageBand & iPhoto? I can't see #3 being capable of being done by anybody but Apple.

iTunes has an API, not sure about the others.

I may be wrong, but I think I remember items 1 & 2 in photoshop first.

Has Apple opened up the API on iTunes, iDVD, GarageBand & iPhoto? I can't see #3 being capable of being done by anybody but Apple.

You might be right about #2, but #1 is unique to iPhoto. Many have done similar interfaces, where you can scroll through all your pics, but none where you can smoothly re-size while browsing. Hard to explain, but reviewers were quite taken with it when it originally came out.

[mandatory anti-Microsoft rant]

I use the 2009 version of Windows: I have last year's Macintosh.

[/mandatory anti-Microsoft rant]

[begin real post]

Three facts:

1. Nobody, other than computer historians and company employees looking for bragging rights, cares who had X first. What people care about is whether or not a vendor has it now. (To some extent we care if "now" means "since last Thursday," since things may need time to stabilize, but the principle is basically true.)

2. Nobody, and this includes Apple, has invented a finished product out of whole cloth. The basic concepts of the original Mac OS (previously tested on the Lisa) came from Xerox PARC, which got them from Stanford Research Institute, where they were hardly ready for prime time. Everyone builds on what everyone else has done before. Some (e.g., Apple) are better than others at turning ideas into the first real product of their kind. Others (e.g., Microsoft) are better at adding an incremental change and convincing the world that they invented it. But here again, the principle applies to everyone. We all stand on the shoulders of, if not giants, at least those who went before.

3. If you pioneer something and nobody copies it, either it's not very important or it's not very good.

[/real post]

Max is a technology demonstrator, not a real product. Take a look at its system requirements! I guess the team wanted to create something useful, but it's there to show off what's coming in Vista rather than to compete with iPhoto.

I kinda thought Google's Picasso was a rip off of iPhoto.

eh, all software is a ripoff of something before it. maybe some products are more of a ripoff than others ;)

won't work without sp2 on XP, have to find a differant machine to test it on.

iTunes has an API, not sure about the others.

I think Real Networks might beg to differ about how useful it is.

I think Real Networks might beg to differ about how useful it is.

Having an API is not the same as opening up your DRM.

I kinda thought Google's Picasso was a rip off of iPhoto.

Several friends own iBooks and Powerbooks, so I have always been envious of iTunes and iPhoto. Obviously, XP users get iTunes now but until recently, we have been denied a good picture management program (easy to use for beginners).

Picasa2 undeniably borrows from iPhoto and works wonderfully, I use it exclusively now. For those interested in checking it out:

http://picasa.google.com/index.html

I'm just happy to have an easy to use program for photos :D