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Apple Mac: No need to switch for professional videos

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Watching Apple’s Get a Mac campaign you’d think you must use an Apple Mac to create professional quality business videos. This is false.

PC and Mac characters
Apple’s much commented “Get a Mac” ad campaign ran from 2006 to 2010 and featured John Hodgman as PC and Justin Long as Mac. The campaign seemed to imply you needed a Mac for creative work like creating videos.

There are some excellent tools for Windows that are easily capable of creating the professional quality videos we need for our business.

Sell to Camera is here to give practical tips to business professionals learning to present on video. The majority of business organizations around the world are using Windows (sorry Apple fans!). So…

I hereby declare that Sell to Camera will focus on the Microsoft Windows platform. My platform position is open and clear from the very start.

As I write this post I have Windows XP SP3 on my main desktop machine, with Windows Vista on my notebook. While it might be nice to switch from Windows to Mac at some point, that is a project for the future and outside the scope of the Sell to Camera blog.

While Sell to Camera will focus on tools running on Windows, I will link to some Mac-related blogs and websites on occasion. What I am not going to do, however, is repeat everything for both Windows and Mac.

OK?

 

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My new blog for technical presenters

Facing a projector and empty chairs prior to a presentationOur success as technical presenters depends on our ability to get audiences to take action. After all, without action it’s just entertainment!

I’ve given hundreds of technical presentations at all levels in the software industry and have learned that although creating action’s hard, it’s not impossible. I share my experience by curating the best tips and tricks, examples and resources from the web at Tech Presenting. Please join me.

 

6 Comments and counting

Even though Sell to Camera is retired, if you’ve anything to add please post your comment below or get in touch with me direct. Thanks.

  1. Jp

    September 6th 2009 at 02:56

    It’s just that Macs work, have no viruses and are much easier to create content on.

    But other than that… Keep on your path so you can charge more for things that should be free… :)

    • Andrew Biss

      September 6th 2009 at 16:14

      @Jp,

      Thanks for your comment, the very first comment posted on Sell to Camera!

      Creating content on the Mac might be easier than on Windows, but most business professionals do not have Macs. My goal with Sell to Camera is to help people make the first step to presenting on video for their business — using the Windows platform they already have.

      Once the basic skills are in place, and their organizations recognize the value of business video, then a switch to Mac for specific applications (such as video) might be easier to justify.

      The point I wanted to make was that it is not necessary to switch from Windows to Mac before starting with video.

      Thanks again for your comment,

      Andrew.

      • Don

        September 6th 2009 at 20:30

        Andrew, I fully believe that not only is it possible to make business videos with Windows-based computers, but that people can make great videos with such computers. However, you can make them easier, more creatively, and without malware on the Mac. In short, I would say that the Mac is a better tool for creating videos.

        That’s why I have to respectfully reject your argument. You’re saying to business, “don’t buy a calculator because I make wonderful pencils.” It’s true, with a pencil you can do everything that can be done with a calculator. However, the calculator does it more quickly, efficiently, and accurately. Those functions make it more cost effective to get a calculator rather than a super-duper pencil.

        What you’re doing is selling pencils that will result in higher expenses. In a capitalist market, not making clear what you’re doing is commonplace. However, considering the number of people and businesses that will be financially harmed by this, I find your argument somewhat unethical.

        I’m not saying you shouldn’t market your product. Indeed, do it as best as you can. I’m just saying don’t try to con people with dubious arguments supporting their predisposed beliefs. Just because a marketer takes the word “sugar” off of “Sugar Pops” doesn’t make the cereal any more healthy.

        • Andrew Biss

          September 7th 2009 at 08:35

          Hi Don,

          Thanks for your comment.

          I think it is OK to suggest business professionals can start the the process of learning to create business video with their existing Windows systems.

          While many consider the Mac as the best platform for video, it is not the platform that most business people have available to them today. In most cases their business is Windows-based and a change of platform is not something that can happen overnight. Inertia is a serious barrier to change in the business world; we see this very well with the continued survival of IE6.

          I do not want to imply that business professionals should never switch to Mac, only that it is not a pre-requisite to getting started.

          Andrew.

          ps: All content here on Sell to Camera is free, and will remain free in the future.

    • Andrew Biss

      September 6th 2009 at 16:25

      @Didier,

      Thanks for the update on Camtasia.

      Dave Kaminski from Web Video University recently did a video review of Camtasia for Mac. Seems that the Mac version of Camtasia is a lot cheaper than the Windows version, but does not have as many features.

      The low price is also no doubt because TechSmith have to compete against the large installed base for ScreenFlow, a leading screencasting product on the Mac. (Dave’s review was captured using ScreenFlow.)

      Andrew.

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