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Animated features

France is homeland or a contributor to many forms of arts, and the French are especially valuable in this fast-growing cultural industry: animated features. Each year, the Festival d'Annecy draws game and animation professionals to the French Alps. A good place for Macs too, although for a long time, the main contender has been SGI rather than Microsoft. As more and more high-end 3D tools make their way to Mac OS X, G4s and iLuxos are bound to take increasing momentum in that industry. "That's not the point anyway," American artist John Lasseter explained to a bunch of young animators at a recent conference in Annecy. "Forget the machines. The story is everything." His point was that the machines can do the work now, so forget a bit about them. And when he ultimately came back to machines, what do you think he quoted as the ultimate computer for fast, simple video editing?

Mac Press

Of course the Mac community has its own press too. Still considered a reference -- although it's being hit hard by Web information -- SVM Mac is the ancestor to all Mac monthly reviews in France. The French version of MacWorld recently merged with Univers Mac, a second-generation monthly Mac zine. The former Golden, named after the most common apple species, disappeared a long time ago. Lacking visible quality, Icones never quite managed to impose itself. Although it lives on a small budget as well, the newcomer Ë Vos Macs gained respect by the Web for directly usable information. Not a model of modern press, the magazine seems to offer users the info they really want: a cheap printed version of what they could find on the Web by searching it several hours a day.

And as anywhere else in the world, the Web is catching up with magazines in terms of quality, and has long overtaken even daily papers in terms of responsiveness. As time goes by, specialized sites about Mac maintenance or its history are giving way to other types of sites that are more ambitious, built on dynamic content, and put together by real teams. Seemingly the most professional of them, the Swiss and French made MacGeneration has drawn many users as an excellent information source. It now holds some of the most active French-speaking Mac forums. A young site, and surely one of the most ambitious in terms of vulgarization, ProjectOmega.com has made many enemies among Francophiles for being written in English, of all languages.

 

  

An old French Love Story

There's more to Apple than just Macs. Several French names are attached to the French Mac story, Jean-Louis Gassee's being the most famous. Less famous, yet one that is essential is Jean-Marie Hullot, who worked on the NeXT operating system and their development tools, [today known as Mac OS X and Cocoa]. Just like in the legend, Hullot actually spent much time working in his garage. And there are many other names. Of course, many French people work at Apple's offices in Paris's southern suburbs. America still draws many workers from Europe, especially in the IT market. Money is a big lever, but it doesn't explain everything. Different ways of training play a role too, by making young graduates prone to really bring fresh blood into companies. Then there's this apple-logoed company that just happens to be in sync with French spirit.

And as anywhere else in the world, the Web is catching up with magazines in terms of quality, and has long overtaken even daily papers in terms of responsiveness. As time goes by, specialized sites about Mac maintenance or its history are giving way to other types of sites that are more ambitious, built on dynamic content, and put together by real teams. Seemingly the most professional of them, the Swiss and French made MacGeneration has drawn many users as an excellent information source. It now holds some of the most active French-speaking Mac forums. A young site, and surely one of the most ambitious in terms of vulgarization, ProjectOmega.com has made many enemies among Francophiles for being written in English, of all languages.

An old French Love Story

There's more to Apple than just Macs. Several French names are attached to the French Mac story, Jean-Louis Gassee's being the most famous. Less famous, yet one that is essential is Jean-Marie Hullot, who worked on the NeXT operating system and their development tools, [today known as Mac OS X and Cocoa]. Just like in the legend, Hullot actually spent much time working in his garage. And there are many other names. Of course, many French people work at Apple's offices in Paris's southern suburbs. America still draws many workers from Europe, especially in the IT market. Money is a big lever, but it doesn't explain everything. Different ways of training play a role too, by making young graduates prone to really bring fresh blood into companies. Then there's this apple-logoed company that just happens to be in sync with French spirit.