Tikkabik

There are just some problems using computers that don't parse at all for Mac users. Digital cameras are definitely one of those things. Integration is so tight in the operating system, I don't think those of us with digital cameras really give it a second thought. You just plug in the camera, turn it on, and something happens pretty much automatically.

In my case, putting an SD card from my point and shoot into an ExpressCard adapter I have in my MacBook Pro, or connecting a USB cable to my camera, results in the same thing happening: Aperture automatically opens and prepares to import the images into my most recently created project. This is because the Image Capture utility included with Mac OS X has been configured to do just that. After the transfer is done, it asks me if I want to blank the card or just eject it. If I tell it to blank the card, Aperture warns me again that I'm going to delete the contents. That's smart.

I've occasionally seen print and TV ads telling people that they can get help if they need to figure out how to get images off their digital cameras, and I've never understood the point. Not being a regular PC user, I admit, it's a blind spot for me. But after speaking with a few friends who own PCs, have digital cameras, and are stumped, I guess I shouldn't be anymore.

I have one friend who bought a digital camera last year, took a hundred pictures or so, filled up the card she bought with the camera, and couldn't figure out how to make it work on her system -- a fairly latter-day computer running a relatively recent version of Windows. She got scared that the pictures were going to go somewhere on her hard drive she'd never find again, and figured they were safer in the camera. So there it sits -- a significant personal investment, gathering dust. She hasn't found the time to sit down with me so I can show her what to do -- she's resorted to picking up disposable cameras to record memories.

Turns out this is not an uncommon occurrence.

Now, certainly, this isn't standard operating procedure for all PC users, or even most of them. And in all fairness to Microsoft, Windows XP does do a decent job of supporting devices that are recognized as mass storage systems, as most cameras are. And Vista is better still. But few consumers have upgraded to Vista, and many won't until they buy a new computer. Which could be years from now, depending on how much they use the system they have and how long it will take them to grow tired of it or just outgrow it.

Until then, as far as I'm concerned, the advantage stays in the Mac's court.