[Macworld]

Post your comments for Macworld Best of Show winners announced here

[fibercut]

If you out in some web links the article would have been better. I do agree with your choices.

[MackyMoto]

This article is obviously a result of too many late nights or too many parties or both. It's not even an article, it's like a phone book. It's just a meaningless list. What do these things (software, hardware, ???) do? How about a description or at least a web link so we can do the investigation if you aren't going to explain what the stuff is.

[Philip Michaels]

fibercut said:

If you out in some web links the article would have been better.

I couldn't agree more. To that end, the article has been updated with more descriptive information outlining the reasons for our choices as well as links.

[Jason Snell]

Too many parties and late nights! There's truth in that. We're working hard but sometimes we try to post quickly and then follow up with detail. Hope the new version of the story works better for you. And thanks to Phil for the update.
-jason

[MackyMoto]

Excellent summary! Thanks for sharing your show insights with us. Some pretty cool stuff. I've added Dictate and Eye-Fi to my wish lists. Go get some well deserved rest guys!

[dancingbrook]

Are you folks OmniFanboys? Come on now. $80 for a task manager? You can buy iWorks for that. Or iLife. And at least those apps work together. OnmiFocus and OmniPlan are obvious collaborators but nope, they can't do that. Someday they say. And you want us to spend $80? I guess that could mean more ad revenue. At $80 a pop there's a lot of room for marketing in that. What about Bento for $50? A much better deal, integrates very well, very flexible.

And why can't you get the facts straight re BusySync? It is a great product at a great price. And Apple should have built that into iCal. But Leopard Server isn't the only alternative; You've (MacWorld) have said so yourself:
http://www.macworld....opard_ical.html
Any "CalDAV-compliant program" will work. Nevermind that if you already have a .Mac account, you can pretty much accomplish the same thing for a small group (but that takes innovation, something pundits are often short in). Further, "The "latest version ( does not ) also lets you sync iCal with Google Calendar." (your poster wouldn't allow brackets) That version is supposed to be released in February. "BusySync 2.0 ? Coming Soon!:
http://www.busymac.com/busysync2.html

Maybe you should wait until a product ships before giving it Best of Show, or at least wait to announce it's features that aren't shipping; remember Project X (2006)? It shipped over a year later.

Try not to fall all over yourselves.

[veggiedude]

"Parallels Server, from SWSoft"
I thought they changed their name? Shouldn't it be "Parallels Server, from Parallels"?
http://www.parallels...ess-releases/id,16683

[SeaFox]

"And yet [the MacBook Air] really is a full-fledged Mac,

...
Sure, you have to give up an optical drive, Ethernet, FireWire, stereo speakers, and a few other amenities."




We must have different definitions of what a "full-fledged Mac" is. Take away the DVI out and you have a device with the same connectivity as an iPhone, actually less since the MacBook Air can't use AT&T's data service.

[Jason Snell]

Respectfully, I disagree with almost everything you wrote.

dancingbrook said:

Are you folks OmniFanboys? Come on now. $80 for a task manager? You can buy iWorks(sic) for that. Or iLife.

I fail to see how either iWork or iLife serves as a task manager.

>OnmiFocus and OmniPlan are obvious collaborators but nope, they can't do that.

I wouldn't say that combining personal task management with project management is a must-have feature. I know I wouldn't use it. A nice-to-have? Sure.

>What about Bento for $50?

Why buy blue for $80 when you can buy tickle for $50? You are comparing unlike things.

Quote

And why can't you get the facts straight re BusySync?

We got the facts right.

>But Leopard Server isn't the only alternative; You've (MacWorld) have said so yourself. Any "CalDAV-compliant program" will work.

And that will be great once anyone actually sees a CalDAV server. Besides which, to use a CalDAV server you must have a -- gasp! -- server running all the time. With BusySync you can use existing Macs as they turn on and off, or use Google Calendar as your server. And yes, there are other competitors -- Spanning Sync being the best example -- but the existence of competitors doesn't make BusySync any less cool.

>Nevermind that if you already have a .Mac account, you can pretty much accomplish the same thing for a small group

I couldn't disagree more.

>Further, "The "latest version ( does not ) also lets you sync iCal with Google Calendar." (your poster wouldn't allow brackets) That version is supposed to be released in February. "BusySync 2.0 ? Coming Soon!:

Yup. That's the latest version to be announced. It's in beta. It's been demoed. That's what we meant.

> Maybe you should wait until a product ships before giving it Best of Show

That's not what Best of Show is. Best of Show is for products being shown at the Expo. BusySync 2 qualifies.

>or at least wait to announce it's features that aren't shipping; remember Project X (2006)? It shipped over a year later.

You forgot the ModBook. But again, that's not what Best of Show is. We already have awards for products that are shipping and have been reviewed by Macworld reviewers. It's called the Eddy Awards. Best of Show is something entirely different, as I believe we've made clear every single year we do it.

[Jason Snell]

SeaFox said:

We must have different definitions of what a "full-fledged Mac" is. Take away the DVI out and you have a device with the same connectivity as an iPhone, actually less since the MacBook Air can't use AT&T's data service.

Oh, come now. It runs Mac OS X. It's meant to be used as a primary computer, not a crippled second computer with syncing software to mate it to a desktop Mac.

You may not like the MacBook Air's features, but it's a real Mac.

>Take away the DVI out and you have a device with the same connectivity as an iPhone

While you're at it, take away the keyboard, the large display, the USB port, the hard drive, the ability to run the full version of Mac OS X, the ability to run Mac apps...

[SeaFox]

bq. Jason Snell wrote: Oh, come now. It runs Mac OS X. It's meant to be used as a primary computer, not a crippled second computer
I actually thought that was what Apple was marketting this machine as; the ultra-portable for the mobile professional when they're away from their desk.
bq. with syncing software to mate it to a desktop Mac.
Isn't that exactly what happens when you use the optical drive sharing software? You've now mated your MacBook Air to another computer to make up for a lack of functionality.
bq. While you're at it, take away the keyboard, the large display, the USB port, the hard drive, the ability to run the full version of Mac OS X, the ability to run Mac apps...
The iPhone has a keyboard, just a different type of keyboard. Oh, I take back the "remove the DVI out" bit since an iPhone can be hooked up to a T.V., and the docked iPhone hooks up to the USB port on a mac, so I count the dock connector as a USB port.

[Martian]

I guess it is mandatory for a big Apple hardware introduction to win, so the Air had to win by default.
There are too many things it can’t do to qualify as a real computer--it's really just a Super iPod. Just what advantage was gained by deleting standard ports and a battery door? its footprint is too big to be ultra-portable.
The issue isn't whether or not you can live with its ridiculous deletions, it is why should you even have to since there was no offsetting gain in real portibility. How long till the Air II or Air Pro comes out with real connectivity and a battery door?

[zeejay]

I just got Vector Designer as a part of the Macheist promotion. I just did a clean install of Leopard, and am waiting for my IT department to give me the media for the CS3 suite, so I thought I'd try Vector Designer in the meantime, being that you guys awarded it a Best of Show.

FTA: "At $70, it?s an intriguing competitor to Adobe Illustrator."
Not quite, dude. It's like somebody started selling TextEdit for $70 and called it a simple, intuitive word processor that's an alternative to Word. This would be a fine lil' app for $14.99 -- how they have the gall to charge $70 bucks for it is utterly baffling. The Flickr integration is a cute touch, but c'mon, it's useless for any projects in the real world.

Macworld credibility: -1.