Thurrott Thinks Highly of iLife '06 Too

iLife '06: Why Can't the PC Do This?

Paul Thurrott's opinion of the latest version of the iLife Suite is nicely summed up in the title of his short review/overview of the package, published for Connected Home Media: "Why Can't the PC Do This?"

"Every year, Apple issues a new iLife upgrade, and every year, I stare in wonder at my Mac's monitor, noting the improvements and wondering why Microsoft and the PC industry can't create something as impressive as iLife for the Windows realm. Three years after the initial iLife release, iLife '06 is now available, and it's better than ever. Quite simply, there's nothing on the Windows side of the fence that approaches the quality of iLife '06," Thurrott writes.

Well, the reason for that is a rather simple one, Apple is passionate about what they do, they make products that they, and their users would like to use. The main focus is not making something to sell, but creating a product that the user will want to use.

As for nothing like it existing on the Windows running boxes, that will soon be remedied as Microsoft is hard at work on its clone, err� version, err... application that is exactly like iPhoto, but different and innovative, which will be found in Vista. Sure, it's only a small piece of the iLife Package, but they only had a couple of years to work on it�

"What you can't get from this short overview is how well these applications integrate. If you want to make a movie from your photo collection, your iPhoto-based photos appear in iMovie. Likewise, you can do something similar from iDVD. Each of these applications can reach into the other applications' databases and extract content, as needed, in a similar and integrated fashion," Thurrott goes on to write.

Indeed, it is this integration that is the key to getting a great experience out of iLife, and incidentally it is the same thing that has made the iPod such a great success, the integration with iTunes and the iTunes Music Store. It is something that stretches over pretty much the entire Mac use experience, Everything was designed to work together, as it normally should.

"Best of all, iLife '06 is cheap. It comes free with any new Mac, but if you have a previous version, the full retail version is just $79, while a Family Pack, which lets you install the suite on as many as five Macs, is a bargain at $99. Why Microsoft can't duplicate this functionality-along with the low-ball pricing-is beyond me," Thurrott concludes.

Well, you said it, not me and 'duplicate' is exactly the word for it. Why they can't do it? It's all about computer culture, or lack of. The difference between 'let's make something that we can sell to the information workers,' and 'let's make a great product that everyone will love working with.'