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"The good news is the upper class is growing."

In volume (# of people, ideally as a percentage of total population) or in net worth?

The stats look different to what you are saying. Read this and come back to me: am happy to discuss.

As always with Android support durations: Android Support vs iOS Support which is in turn an update of Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support

It's not that iOS is good -- compare it to how long Microsoft support a Windows version. It's that Android OEMs are shocking.

See this page, which has much more information, graphical breakdown of who gets what, etc.

Not even big musicians ever got $10-$15. Artists typically would get anywhere from 8 to 14 percent and major stars would get 20 percent of album sales. Even after inflation adjustments you're only talking about $5 per album at the high end. What happened was album prices went down - If albums stayed in line with inflation they'd be $100 per album now. http://theunderstatement.com/p...

Book prices are going the opposite direction! A mass market paperback in 1975 cost $1.35, adjusted for inflation that's about $5.97. The average mass market price now? Around $8. 25% higher. The issue with books is that publishers create these insane contracts to allow them to suck every last penny out before cutting a royalty cheque. So if you take the adjusted amount a 1975 author could typically expect $0.59 per copy sold, today's author should be able to expect $0.80 per copy sold right? In reality because of the contract loopholes they end up getting at most $0.32 per copy sold.

So authors are typically being payed 60-70% less than in 1975. In addition to this the number of titles published per year has skyrocketed - 135,000 titles are published every year now. That's a lot of competition just within the industry let alone competing for peoples most valuable thing: time. There's going to be a major contraction in the book market to correct for this regardless of what Amazon does.

>And yes, everything that consumes finite resources is everybody's business, that's why water and energy policies are so often in the news -- you can't separate water and energy from consumption, since whether it's food, lumber, or home automation equipment, everything needs water and energy to create.

I propose we create a system that will regulate how society allocates limited resources to people. We could even set it up so that people who contribute more to society are given more allocations, in order to incentivize them to contribute to society instead of just consuming resources. We could even create a secondary market for allocations, so people could choose what interests them more - energy, housing space, water, location, etc. We could even set up the government to operate by just taking percentages of these allocations, and trading those allocations to accomplish things like building roads and parks.

We could call this system "money".

That sounds like a wonderful system -- I'm curious about your plan to ensure that those who contribute more to society are given more allocations of this so called "money" rather than money being used to reward those that already have money.

http://theunderstatement.com/post/3999331289/us-wealth-distribution-visualized

Why would you think that? Google has a terrible record of supporting old devices.

http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support

Just because we are familiar with conventional vehicles does not mean that they don't take any special considerations. Try starting that diesel engine on a cold day and going pedal to the metal as soon as you start. Or just shutting a turbocharged vehicle off immediatley after a hard drive.

I never drove diesel cars or turbocharged cars. I don't know what would happen if I use them without training. But this is not relevant. We are discussing one specific car, as furnished by the manufacturer for a preplanned trip. If the driver was not told certain things by the manufacturer's rep when he got the keys then it is assumed that he doesn't need to know those certain things. Either they are not applicable or they are presumed to be known already. The latter is impossible with an all-new car. We are left with the former: no special instruction was necessary.

Perhaps you should just admit you hate electric vehicles?

How could I do that if I own one already (a hybrid, admittedly) and I like it very much? What I don't like in Tesla and other EVs is their limitations, that are severe. The range of a Leaf would be not good enough for me, but this Tesla car can be OK. The price is, of course, off the charts - nobody in his right mind will buy a $80K car to save $100 on gas (even if that.) I also don't like the PR (usually lies) of the manufacturers who have to lie because otherwise their product is seen for what it is - not good enough yet.

Look at Toyota. They built their Prius well - so well that it was selling as hot cakes. They didn't have to lie, the car performs exactly as advertised, and there is nothing fundamental to complain about. Prius sells because it is a good car, and because it is reasonably priced. Not dirt cheap, mind you, but that is not even expected - you have to pay for quality. I did, and no regrets. I drive the car in the city, in the hills, on freeways, for hundreds of miles per day - and it works exactly as it should.

You can say that we are just conditioned, trained to use gas cars correctly. But in reality the gas cars for the mass market are simple beasts; they require a simple and quick charge when the indicator shows low fuel. That's it. No other special considerations. No need to watch the thermometer; no need to run around, in darkness, with extension cables, or play with 480V voltages or 200A currents. No need to babysit the car. No range anxiety; if I want to, I can carry cans of gas with me. No worries about battery life, overcharging, or undercharging. It's that simple. Drivers are used to simple cars; it would be an uphill battle to sell them a car that requires extra care - and all EVs, even Volt, a hybrid, require that extra care because their Li-Ion batteries do not forgive mistakes. Several Tesla Roadsters were bricked because the owners couldn't or wouldn't charge them often enough.

The Tesla EV is slowly getting there; it is already perfectly usable for many city drivers who occasionally need a 100 mile drive to the airport and back, to pick someone up. The cost doesn't make any sense, though. I'm not against all EVs, but I am strongly against bad EVs. This one is bad. The company's response - essentially an accusation that the reporter lied - is much worse, on par with Steve "you are holding it wrong" Jobs. It was wrong to say then, and it is wrong to say now. The customer is always right, even when he is wrong. The company needs positive PR; but at the moment Tesla looks like a holding tank for incompetents and a-holes. If the reporter truthfully reported what he was told to do by Tesla, their customer support is lacking indeed. And there can be no excuse for Elon Musk's flinging of tantrums; he can be triply right, but you never, ever call your customer an idiot and a liar. If you do that, every potential customer of yours will mentally try this treatment on themselves - and will not like it at all.

every iteration of WinPhone has abandoned its users to no upward compatibility and no further support

Most Android phones are also not getting a lot of longtime support without damaging the platform. To the contrary - Android is growing quite nicely.

Android Orphans: Visualizing a Sad History of Support is almost a year old now, but it does a great job of illustrating the difference between iPhone versions and common Android devices.

Other than the original G1 and MyTouch, virtually all of the millions of phones represented by this chart are still under contract today. If you thought that entitled you to some support, think again:

• 7 of the 18 Android phones never ran a current version of the OS.
• 12 of 18 only ran a current version of the OS for a matter of weeks or less.
• 10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two year contract period.
• 11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after release.
• 13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped selling the device or very shortly thereafter.
• 15 of 18 don’t run Gingerbread, which shipped in December 2010.
• In a few weeks, when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out, every device on here will be another major version behind.
• At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich.

I believe it's gotten a little better since then, but those numbers are horrible. 39% never ran a current version. 67% only ran a current version for a matter of weeks (keep in mind that most of these would be on a 2 year contract). 83% weren't on the version that was released almost a year prior. 72% stopped getting updates while they were still being sold.

Compared to that, the 3+ year old 3GS missing a few newer features doesn't sound so bad. I do wish my old 3G was still supported, but it's honestly so much slower that I don't like using it much anyway.

I really think that your ire should be directed to who your cell phone manufacturer is and not with Google, per se.
http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support

And in a way, this makes sense. Companies don't make money on support. Once the product has shipped, they don't want to deal with it since they want to move on to the next "big" thing. This certainly makes Apple the odd ball here. Certainly, Motorola has a history of not providing too much support, but it appears that HTC at least makes a token effort to keep their stuff up to date.

First off, I want to say that I own a Nexus One and really like my Android phone. I have no intention of going iPhone. I get to hands-on with iPhones all the time and I still like Android better. I both iPhone and Android to everyone, they are both awesome compared to old stupid phones and Blackdeathberry.

That being said, the truth is that Apple does a much better job at releasing updates and supporting older phones than ANY Android phone manufacture out there.

Obviously, Apple has a much much easier time since they have fewer phone models than you do fingers, where the various Android manufactures have hundreds if not more than a thousand phones to choose from. Those manufactures do a very poor job of releasing updates for their phones.

The last update Google/HTC released for the Nexus One was 2.3.6 (GRK39F) in September of 2011. The phone is not yet three years old now and it's basically dead from a development standpoint. I have to go to community mods and rooting my phone for a better experience.

Meanwhile, Apple releases updates for three years. The 3GS, which came out before the Nexus One, is still fully supported by the latest iOS!

Reference: http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support

I want everyone to know this because it will force the Android phone makers to shape up. Why buy an Android, which will barely get one year of feature updates, if ANY OS feature updates, when an iPhone will last you three years (assuming you don't break it first).

You're comparing a year old iOS version to the latest and greatest Android this is on all of two brand new shipping devices (Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X) and maybe two other previous devices (Galaxy SIII, Transformer Prime)? You have to be kidding.

Remember Gingerbreak? Know how many devices it -still- works on because carriers and manufacturers let Android devices rot without updates? How about DroidDream? Same trouble. I refer you to here here and here for a comparison of device update percentages.

The gist of the article is that Apple's app review process is better and therefore there's no malware, and that's true - but they don't take into account jailbroken software, which is a valid point - JB introduces OpenSSH bugs if you install that and keep default settings, and opens up the possibility of other software from Cydia that is potentially malicious. But you know what device has no malware right now? iPhone 4s on 5.1. There's no jailbreak, no bootrom exploit, and no malware in the appstore except by the metric of "Downloaded a social app; had my contacts uploaded." While skeevy, that's not malware except by the most inane and permissive definition.

Stable code? Tell that to everyone with the Galaxy Nexus accelerometer glitch. It's fixed in the latest Android you say? Well look at that! So is the iOS "website root"! Solid permissions? Well, sure. Except with ROP code in a malicious app, you can write an app for Android and put it in the market that will write garbage to your entire SD card and steal all of the other app's data while you're at it. There's still no sandbox for Android like there is in iOS. Yes, that enables you to do nifty things like change launchers and change keyboards and Android is open and customizable and so on and so on. Awesome. You're on slashdot, so you're already way above Grandma and the 99% (that would be a great band, by the way) and you can take care of yourself. For most folks, iOS is still safer and more secure.

Quote from the article to which Jeremiah linked, Tesla's 'Brick' Problem:

"The amount of time it takes an unplugged Tesla to die varies. Tesla's Roadster Owners Manual [Full Zipped PDF] states that the battery should take approximately 11 weeks of inactivity to completely discharge [Page 5-2, Column 3: PDF].

"However, that is from a full 100% charge. If the car has been driven first, say to be parked at an airport for a long trip, that time can be substantially reduced. If the car is driven to nearly its maximum range and then left unplugged, it could potentially "brick" in about one week. Many other scenarios are possible: for example, the car becomes unplugged by accident, or is unwittingly plugged into an extension cord that is defective or too long.

"When a Tesla battery does reach total discharge, it cannot be recovered and must be entirely replaced. Unlike a normal car battery, the best-case replacement cost of the Tesla battery is currently at least $32,000, not including labor and taxes that can add thousands more to the cost."

It's bunk. If the battery pack is completely discharges, tow it to a charger, plug it in and wait.

Just RTFA'd and am coming back to rebut you a second time.

Unfortunately, BasilBrush, you seem to not have read the full text of Michael Degusta's article which documents that five Tesla roadsters have been bricked in the US. Furthermore, if you had read through Degusta's post you would understand why one cannot simply tow a bricked Tesla roadster to a charger.

According to Michael Degusta (author of The Understatement blog), five Tesla Roadsters have been bricked in the US. Degusta's source is "a regional service manager with Tesla".

Degusta also claims if the Roadster battery completely discharges, one cannot tow the disabled vehicle by conventional means.

After battery death, the car is completely inoperable. At least in the case of the Tesla Roadster, it’s not even possible to enable tow mode, meaning the wheels will not turn and the vehicle cannot be pushed nor transported to a repair facility by traditional means.

You, BasilBrush, are suggesting that people should RTFA, and I totally agree (about to go do so myself). I recommend something similar to you which is that you read Degusta's assertions and address those points directly rather than relying so heavily on a reaction to Degusta's post.

The $48k battery pack must be replaced if it completely drains. Insurance and warranty do not cover this.

The feature grid on the wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_iOS_devices) should underscore how non-homogeneous the platform is.

If you look at the cold, analytical cross product of everything that Apple sell then you are right. However if you apply some "reasonable" weightings, such as limit the models to those that are actually sold and supported today as well as take into account the fact that most customers upgrade to the latest version of iOS http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support then I would say that intuitively iOS is the most homogeneous of all the platforms. Of course, games consoles are in a class of their own when it comes to homogeneity.

This link discusses the degrees of freedom of fragmentation: http://newspano.com/news/how-google-has-lost-control-of-android
and this link debunks it somewhat :-) http://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/01/14/fragmentation-is-not-the-end-of-android/

To me at least, "expanse of choice" and "fragmentation" are two ways of saying the same thing, one negative, one positive. So of course Android has both properties and Apple/iOS much less so.

Apple devices are consumer electronics, they're designed to be replaced every year. You're supposed to go out and buy another iPhone or iDevice at the next keynote speech. That's what you're supposed to do.

You are wrong in so many ways that it's pretty amazing. Apple supports iPhones with OS upgrades for at least three years, historically. And you're signed in for a two year contract so no, you're not supposed to buy a new one every single year.

I prefer to have a device that is rugged and the vendor is not just trying to milk me into buying the next one.

You're taking offense to the fact that Apple is trying to entice people into buying their new phone? Tell me what vendor you're using that isn't trying to get you to buy the next one. If you say HTC I'll smack you. And as per that chart above, good luck finding another vendor with the long term support of OS upgrades.

Planned obsolescence is an Apple feature.

Ah, so that's why Apple are suing the other manufacturers: everyone else does that feature better.

Look at this chart, tiny bit longer doesn't quite cover it. Though of course for some this will be a completely acceptable trade-off it'd be better if most people were on a recent version of the OS just from the security standpoint. We've already seen with Windows XP what having a large group of outdated computers on a public network does and it's not pretty.

But on the whole support by Android devices of new version of the software is atrocious :

"7 of the 18 Android phones never ran a current version of the OS.
12 of 18 only ran a current version of the OS for a matter of weeks or less.
10 of 18 were at least two major versions behind well within their two year contract period.
11 of 18 stopped getting any support updates less than a year after release.
13 of 18 stopped getting any support updates before they even stopped selling the device or very shortly thereafter.
15 of 18 don’t run Gingerbread, which shipped in December 2010.
In a few weeks, when Ice Cream Sandwich comes out, every device on here will be another major version behind.
At least 16 of 18 will almost certainly never get Ice Cream Sandwich."

Is it because the handset manufacturers don't make any money from the software and are probably more interested in selling you a new phone? After a year or so of support, they've generally shown almost no interest in pushing out additional upgrades as they probably don't even sell that particular model of phone any longer. Unless it's a Nexus phone, or a particularly popular model, support is pretty sketchy. There are a lot of promises to update phones to ICS, but I won't be surprised when a lot of those plans get canceled or delayed indefinitely.

Wading through the code and carrier requirements certainly tacks on some additional time, but considering that these companies don't have much incentive outside of brand loyalty, which may not even exist to any serious extent, to update their old hardware, I don't think that they try too terribly hard to get it done in a timely fashion.

Ye gods, some of people need to look at numbers not just blogs interpreting the twittersphere.

Ok first. If you go find the growth graph, you'll see that Androids growth is coming entirely at the expense of feature phones. iPhones come at the expense of Blackberries and Palm. Second, if you see http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphans-visualizing-a-sad-history-of-support , you'll also notice the same treatment by the companies that make feature-phones. They are literately making "feature android phones", not smartphones. They don't care to update the operating system at all, just like feature-phones.

Lastly, grab a user-agent database of any website. You'll find iOS somewhere in the top of the list, while not a single Android version+model is anywhere to be seen. Hell if I check my own sites I manage here's what I get:

This is a list of agents 11-24. Collectively the iOS devices outnumber Opera. But also collectively the Android devices don't even outnumber just the iPhone and are tied with obsolete browsers browsers.
          0.84% Opera 9.x
          0.55% Firefox 6
          0.47% iPod
          0.40% Microsoft Internet Explorer 7
          0.37% iPad
          0.35% iPhone
          0.24% Safari 4
          0.23% Firefox 4
          0.23% Firefox 5
          0.21% Android 2.3 series
          0.21% Firefox 8
          0.14% Android 2.2 series
          0.14% Firefox 3
          0.12% Microsoft Internet Explorer 6
(dozens of agents then skipped)
          0.03% Android 2.1 series
This is from the core site.

It's not worth breaking down the Android models by type because they won't register more than 0.01%

At the time I edited webalizer's configuration to break down all the different agents, I did a breakdown for blackberries, and most of them barely tie with the Nintendo DSi (which ranks above the Android 2.1 devices.)

I bought a Nexus One from Google and had to return it to an HTC service center twice in the first year of ownership. The main board needed to be replaced the first time. The second time I had to return it for a bad power switch. Apparently when the service center installed the board, a faulty switch was used, or they crimped the ribbon. Either way, it's bad QC on the board, the switch and the labor.

I really like my N1 and I find FY to be a pretty snappy OS, but I'm not supper impressed with the longevity of the devices. There are no plans to roll the next major OS version for the N1 which doesn't speak too highly of Google or HTC's expectations of longevity. The iPhone line on the other hand has all the products on the latest version of the OS even if every phone doesn't support the latest and greatest features. It would be nice to see a greater commitment to lasting hardware from Google and the various phone makers. I expect a mobile to last around 3 years of normal use; perhaps I'm being too optimistic in the current age of accelerated obsoleteness.

Ultimately, the problem with Android is that very few phones ship with a current version of Android. Even those that ship with a current version rarely keep up. Michael DeGusta created a great graphic showing this. My wife's HTC Droid Eris is virtually unusable even though it's still on a two-year contract. Hence my sig line.

I find it charmingly naive of you to believe that the USA doesn't already have that. 43% of wealth in the USA is owned by 1% of the population. The bottom 80% of the population share only 7% of the country's money. How does that not sound like a cleptocracy where those at the top gain riches beyond measure while the vast majority of the people receive a tiny fraction of the wealth? Put a shiny democracy sticker on it and label it capitalism and suddenly it's okay for the rich to steal from the poor? I wish I lived in your dream world, I really do :-)