Mac in AV

As we have all seen, Apple computers- Macbooks, iMacs, etc... have become the computer to have. Surprisingly, this seemingly new found ubiquity has been lost on most of our manufacturers. Name a vendor who allows you to program their systems from a Mac without virtualization? Savant doesn't count, as they are totally Mac based. Harmony doesn't either, as its primarily web based. I bet most of you are struggling to answer that and virtualization doesnt always work. I don't know of many either.

Controlling systems and integrating to Mac's is a challenge as well. Here are just a few examples: Audio ReQuest and their integration to iTunes on Mac is a labor intensive process that is NOT intuitive. At least they have something for the Apple lover. Kaleidescape has their conductor software to send your music from your K-Scape to a computer and it's PC only. Crestron JUST came out with Xpanel for Mac, years and years after you could control your system on a Windows box. Meridian's software configuration is Windows only, and programming a Niles system is a Windows affair as well. I can go on and on and on.

The point is, while everyone seems to jump on the iPhone bandwagon, most of our vendors in the industry seem to be recalcitrant in their support of the OSX platform on the actual computers like iMac and MacBook Pro. In the age of 'global' Intel hardware on both Mac and Windows boxes, why aren't more manufacturers and vendors at least starting to make the push? Everyone seems to be overhauling their software for the latest and greatest features and newest buzzwords, but why forget a growing part of the computer using population on both sides of the industry?

I do applaud Savant for taking the Mac approach, but then they are a Mac based system. With that being said, using their product on PC is equivalent to all the examples i've listed above, on the other side of the mirror.

The industry needs to get on board. These aren't the days of the Apple Lisa and the Apple Pippen; Apple has an ever increasing markets share, and more and more people have a comfort level with Mac that they have NEVER had with a PC. Its time to at least embrace everyone. If you're going to do a major software revision take the time to do it on a Mac, it can't hurt.

- JTM

Full disclosure- Written on a Mac