MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/62609
COMMENTARY line this year, and perhaps one of the surprises will be the highest resolution screens yet seen on a laptop? Interestingly, textat true 300 dpi can be made to appear to be higher in resolution than it really is, through the use of subpi anti-aliasing, as provided by OS X's Quartz xel and Microsoft's ClearType. Boosters claim that resolution is effectively tripled. Therefore, antialiased text on 300 dpi screens should look like 1200 dpi. It doesn't, because the claim is only partly true. In any case, subpixel antialiasing is notused in IoS. A glaring fact remains: antialiasing, no matter how good, does soften and distort letterforms. If you're stuck with low resolution, anti-aliasing is usually more comfortable. But in an ideal world, we'd have displays capable of 1200 dpi resolution. One day, we'll have it. Just don't hold your breath! And yes, even at 1200 dpi, we'll still need hinting technology or a more advanced replacement. Or 2400 dpi. We're also thrilled to see that the iPad 3 is such a great match with Verizon's cellular network, which we have always preferred to AT&T's. For superfast broadband and tethering, your best choice is Verizon's LTE network, which has four times as much coverage as AT&T. For detailed coverage of this immensely significant product, see Ric Getter's assessment on page 48. Foxconn in perspective Fortunately, we didn't care thatmuch (how many of us threw our iPhones out the window?), because three months later, in March, NPR revealed that parts of those reports were exaggerated and even falsified. On balance, it appears that Apple is doing more good than harm in that part of the world. And that's good! And although Mike Daisey's untruths are regrettable, they did achieve what he was after: intense public scrutiny and prompt action from Apple. So it looks like a win for everyone. Whew! Now we can go back to enjoying Apple products with a good conscience. Kinda. After all, working at Foxconn is not exactly a passport to heaven. On the other hand, what job is? Meanwhile, take the case of neo-Whig Alice Rawsthorn, design critic for the International Herald Tribune. She bossily informs us that we consumers will abandon Apple the minute a more 'ethical' company offers a decent product. No we won't, Alice. We don't give a damn about anything except great products that do the job and don't break down. And none of us is going to spend a penny more than we have to in order to get those great products. We don't care where a product comes from. We just want it to work. Microsoft Office dreaded its inevitable proliferation onto the Mac. But astonishingly, Microsoft is making the ribbon work in the latest office suites — on both platforms. And for lovers of fine typography, we're glad to report that after having invented OpenType in 1996, Microsoft has finally made its fine typography features available. The implementation is very nice indeed! We're delighted to award Office on both platforms and happy to see Microsoft successfully dealing with the complex issues any big suite brings forth. Now all we need is for Microsoft to allow Adobe to bring its Multiple Master capabilities into OpenType. Back in 1996, MS felt it had to drop MM support out of OpenType because it would have been impossible to bring full OT support to the Office Suite and still maintain stability and speed. Heck, even without MM, it took 15 years, an eternity in technological time, to bring full OT to office. It's time to put MM back on the roadmap. Well, last we heard, it was still on Adobe's private roadmap, but it will be a long struggle to get it onto Microsoft's. And it will be an even longer struggle before either of them figure out how to implement it to be friendly to users. Only Apple and Lari Software have ever managed to do that — in the late 1990s — by partnering Apple's QuickDraw GX with Lari Software's innovative and prophetic LightningDraw, which was also the first illustration program to have transparency — years before Illustrator, Freehand, or Corel offered it. We all — kinda — believed the awful reports about working conditions in Apple's overseas factories. Who wouldn't? Office for Mac 2011 and for Windows 2010 are revelations: the sleekest, fastest, most capable releases of these suites ever. We were uncomfortable with the ribbon interface in Windows Office 2007, and Pundits everywhere have been commenting on Microsoft's renaissance. The more danger the company is in, the more competition it has, the better its products get. This is Microsoft's best year in a long time, and it looks like the trend is going to continue for a while. We totally support OpenOffice and the like, but we're not going to be switching when Microsoft is making software as good as this. Icing on the cake for Mac users? The Mac versions are always just that much more refined. Microsoft has done a textbook perfect job in making the Mac and Windows products compatible yet different. Contrast that with dual platform apps like Creative Suite and QuarkXpress, where the manufacturers do everything they can to make the products exactly the same. Microsoft proves you don't have to think that rigidly. Wow. Maybe we need to give this company more credit for intelligence and creativity? 110 MacDirectory