...and the rest of the syncing apps should be separate installs that plug into iTunes or run with their own GUI.
Ah yes, kill the iTunes + iPod/iPhone integration, great idea there. Or do you think it would somehow be "user friendly" to have a separate syncing applications?
I'd still have to say that what Apple does on Windows (because the software updater doesn't really behave this badly on OS X) is just a fairly moderate version of what way to many "legitimate" software developers do with their Windows software. On my work laptop I get daily "OMG WidgetCorp(R) SoftFoo(R) 2011 (Remember kids, if the other guy starts releasing his software with an inflated version number, inflate yours even more!) needs immediate updating and we also recommend you install our media player, ftp client, image viewer and bathtub immediately. In fact, we've already prefetched the whole thing, the moment you hit ok or enter they will install and we will then forcefully reboot your computer for no good reason" popups. Not to mention the Windows updates where even the "extended" info on MS' website practically just states "install this or bad people will rape puppies and we won't be able to, err we mean, just install it already or the tur'rists have won!".
It's sort of like how people complain about how the look and feel for iTunes and Safar on Windows don't match the way "everything else" looks, except way too much software for windows is even more non-standard than Apple's software, and often in completely user-unfriendly ways ("You made the windows round and shiny? Why would you do that?!").
So yeah, I think Apple is just doing what they and everyone else can get away with when developing Windows software, but at least Apple can be excused on the UI issue since their software was originally written for another platform.
I've found that most bike shops are staffed by people who actually care about selling good parts, but you do need to point out your needs, if I'm buying new parts for my ancient Monark bike I ride to work and around town then I point out that I'm basically replacing parts that have completely worn out on a bike that's ten years past its prime and they generally look around and recommend what they think would fit best, I don't always agree 100% but they're hardly trying to constantly push the most expensive parts possible.
But yeah, if you come in there with a bike that has a $1500 frame and all the other parts are in a similar price range then they're probably not going to recommend the cheap run-of-the-mill parts they've got in stock, they'll be thinking "nice bike but if it was mine I'd probably put a... on it instead".
If you were selling cars assembled from any number of subsystems you -would- need to be a mechanic to offer useful advice.
I think this is an excellent point, if cars were designed and built like the common OEM computer a "car OEM" would outsource the job of creating a "cool" (most likely garish and absolutely tasteless or incredibly dull if the average computer case design is anything to go by) body design that could be adapted for anything from small trucks to a compact electric car, then they'd shop around for parts to build the car from by looking for the cheapest high-performance parts possible that actually fit into the car. Also, every couple of months when they run out of parts they'd go shopping around for new parts so a 2009 Ford Taurus could actually have any of three or four different engine models, two different models of suspension, any one of six different exhaust systems and so on in an almost infinite number of combinations.
And you know mechanics and driving instructors would scream in agony when if heard car salesmen go "Well, the suspension isn't that important, what you need to be looking for is a small steering wheel so that you can make tight turns, and you definitely need the double battery model if you plan on having the lights on a lot, like if you do a lot of night driving..
Oh yes, I had MMS on the two phones I owned prior to my iPhone 3G and I believe I sent a total of two or three images using it, I also received maybe half a dozen images. Amazingly I didn't really miss MMS on the iPhone prior to iPhone OS 3.0, I was mostly thrilled to finally have a cellphone with a decent email client that didn't explode when trying to connect to an IMAPS server, and that didn't squeeze the input field for new mails into some ridiculously tiny space. Oh, and the iPhone actually supports signatures (my previous Nokia smartphone claimed to support signatures but would mangle them to death so it was easier spending a minute or so manually adding my sig to every mail I wrote, not that I wrote all that many since the mail client sucked (Also, connecting to 3G required entering a menu, choosing to connect, choosing a network to connect to, waiting for it to connect and then quickly going back to the main menu before the phone auto-disconnected due to inactivity, gotta love the userfriendliness).
I take it you've never had XP or Vista at work just randomly decide not to shutdown and log you out instead dumping you right back at the desktop (even though all apps had been killed beforehand). This happened to me a few times with my work machines at previous employers, and when you get to the office the next day to find yourself still logged in that's kind of an "oh shit!" moment.
It's one of those odd glitches right up there with Vista flashing the desktop background image when you hit ctrl-alt-del to unlock a machine (note to those who didn't know about this: don't use anything remotely sensitive as your desktop background at work since all it takes is a video camera capable of 15 fps or so to get a clean view of your desktop).
The thing is that a lot of people find their options in life limited by financial constraints. Sure, if you lose your job five minutes from home you could just move to near your next job (if you get one!), but maybe you just spent years renovating your current home, maybe your current home is close to relatives and friends, maybe you simply can't afford a decent home near where the jobs are? Someone who doesn't have to constantly compromise due to financial constraints (and has had to do since childhood) will of course want to rid him-/herself of this limitation.
Sure, there would always be other problems in your life, but at least money wouldn't have to be one of those problems. And wouldn't you rather be able to decide between vacation destinations based solely on where you want to go than based on what you think you can afford? or to decide between what medical specialist to see based entirely on who you thought would give the better care rather than the cost? or, in the case of coding, to be able to code on whatever you felt like rather than what your boss wants you to code? or even to say to yourself "I don't feel like coding today, I think I'm gonna have a drink and go for a walk and then I'll get to work on reading $SOME_BOOK" when you wake up after sleeping in on monday morning?
I know that I'd rather make decisions based on what I think or feel is right rather than what decisions my wallet limits me to (since the latter often becomes a matter of choosing between lesser evils).
Yes, and there are even (or at least were a couple of years ago) companies selling rack-mountable x86 servers that just run a PDP-11 emulator to shops that still rely on their PDP-11 software but want to get rid of the ancient hardware. They even come (came?) with custom PCI cards for interfacing with old hardware that attached to PDP-11s.
Actually, as recently as last year I encountered a user who had OS 9 at home, running some ancient version of the mac version of IE (5.x), he was having issues with some third party websites and software but refused to accept that the problem was on his end, kind of like your average Win95/98/ME user...
If you've read my other posts in this thread then you should be aware that I am well aware of drawing boards, in fact, what I'd like is a multitouch monitor that acts like a regular drawing board. My comment about horizontal was simply because the parent poster seemed to assume that "monitor == vertical".
Your suggestion is only true for vim if you turn off a few features like bracket matching since they try to read the file you're editing over and over (I noticed this when accessing files at work through a tunnel from home, turned off bracket matching and Vim stopped freezing anytime I did anything).
As someone who's had to deal with people using D-Link equipment on various networks I'm amazed that there's actually a D-Link user who doesn't either hate D-Link or his ISP.
We used to have serious issues with D-Link ADSL modems that would talk gibberish, or NAT routers that would randomly decide to run the DHCP server on the external interface...
the trouble with a horizontal touch surface is that you still have arm fatigue, or your mouse will always be stuck down at the bottom where your elbows will end up resting.
Why use a mouse with a touchscreen? If you need to use a mouse you could just mount your screen like a regular old-fashioned screen (if the screen is small and light-weight enough to be handled that way).
Also, a full table for a screen will mean you still need a table for your papers, pencil, coffee mug, etc. You don't gain anything except neck ache.
Wow, you should tell the art dept. at your nearest college that they need to get rid of their drawing tables since they're clearly unsuitable for resting coffee mugs on. Because clearly there are no possible workarounds for this fatal flaw, it's just plain unpossible!
For people who want a stylus mode, they might as well buy a graphics tablet, much like we had before "touch" got hype. I think the whole surface stuff is useless, it will make sense in specialist areas, but those areas already had their own hardware and drivers.
Except "regular" tablets aren't monitors (except for the Cintiq and it's painfully expensive for what you get). And if the price of a touch-enabled screen with a "stylus mode" came within, say, no more than 20% over the price of a regular screen there would be a huge market for it, but as long as the hardware stays at "early adopter pricing" then the people who could easily find it useful can't afford it.
Of course, a lot of "social hub" kind of people actually "lose" that when they move to a new city (or do something similar that removes them completely from their regular social network). One reason for this, from what I can tell, is that if you've spent the last n years just maintaining your social network then it's quite hard to all of a sudden have to go out and actually make lots of new friends. It's one thing to already be the center of attention when having lots of friends, others will start to see you as someone with high status and want to be around you, it's another thing altogether to head out to the nearest bar in a completely new city and find new friends.
Yes, I've moved many times and have experienced this a couple of times, going from one city where I would determine if the weekend was going to be fun by how many people had called me by wednesday to ask where I would be partying on friday/saturday to practically only interacting with coworkers/classmates. Of course, what makes it even more odd is that it seems to be very much a matter of luck and chance...
I can spend eight hours using a tablet no problem--imagine holding your arm straight out for eight hours. Or imagine having to hunch over a monitor mounted flat on your desk--you'd destroy your neck and back within a week.
Think Cintiq, it's a monitor + tablet combo that you can have in your lap, just like a regular sketchbook. Now what I'd like is a 24-30" Cintiq that also allows me to use my fingers to move objects/windows about (when I put it into "finger mode" that is) while still allowing me to use a stylus (when in "stylus mode").
Or how about a table that can be tilted? We already have those (and they used to be quite popular with artists, architects and others who had to draw things). That's the kind of thing that could also be useful, both for an individual and when working in groups.
Well, it would probably make sense to make touch-enabled interfaces more table-like and less wall-like. That is to say, to make them horizontal.
Also, for people like artists I can definitely see how a large multitouch surface with the ability to switch between "hand mode" and "stylus mode" could be very useful, it would be like an oversized Cintiq with the ability to move things about with your hands.
Unfortunately most touchscreens coming out these days seem to be geared toward the same market segment that buys D-Link network equipment (that's the "cheaper is better even if it sucks compared to the competing product that costs 2% more" crowd) with pricing that resembles that of Wacom's professional products.
What if you need to fetch an update for your antivirus?
Go to a friend's place with a CD-R.
What if your anti-malware simply isn't capable of cleaning it up?
Call a professional or wipe the machine and start over.
What if I need Google to clean it up?
Your problem, you solve it. It's your contractual obligation to fix the problem with your equipment.
I'm gonna pay for a tech? No way!
Then fix it yourself, your ISP (at least not those I've worked for) has no responsibility to fix your malfunctioning equipment.
Warn and slow down (mutually inclusive) that's all I accept from my ISP. I mean come on, htf are we supposed to clean this thing without internet access?
If there's a will then there's a way, and it's your problem, not the ISP's, their problem is solved by cutting you off until you have fixed your equipment. Don't like it? Get another ISP, it's not like the one that has to deal with customers who refuse to clean up their own mess wants those customers, the margins are too slim for that.
Well, the procedure when I was handling abuse cases was:
Warning, user told to clean up machine and informed that further complaints or indications or malware infestation would result in temporary disconnection.
Temporary disconnection until the user contacted us and said he/she had fixed the problem.
If we reconnect the user and the problem persists, the user's connection is once again disabled and the user is told to have his/her machine properly examined and fixed by a computer store or similar professional and to fax or email written proof of this having been done.
Finally if all the previous warnings have failed the user is permanently disconnected for violating the parts of the contract that state that the user has to deal with this sort of problem with his/her equipment.
I've worked for ISPs here in Sweden and most serious ISPs here see it as standard practice to warn and then disconnect users who are running zombie machines, nothing strange or totalitarian about it, it's about protecting their network and their other customers from harm.
Semantic quibbling, there are standards used when delivering power (since it would make little sense to even be connected to the power grid if the voltage was completely random).
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...and the rest of the syncing apps should be separate installs that plug into iTunes or run with their own GUI.
Ah yes, kill the iTunes + iPod/iPhone integration, great idea there. Or do you think it would somehow be "user friendly" to have a separate syncing applications?
Did you even think this one through?
/Mikael
I'd still have to say that what Apple does on Windows (because the software updater doesn't really behave this badly on OS X) is just a fairly moderate version of what way to many "legitimate" software developers do with their Windows software. On my work laptop I get daily "OMG WidgetCorp(R) SoftFoo(R) 2011 (Remember kids, if the other guy starts releasing his software with an inflated version number, inflate yours even more!) needs immediate updating and we also recommend you install our media player, ftp client, image viewer and bathtub immediately. In fact, we've already prefetched the whole thing, the moment you hit ok or enter they will install and we will then forcefully reboot your computer for no good reason" popups. Not to mention the Windows updates where even the "extended" info on MS' website practically just states "install this or bad people will rape puppies and we won't be able to, err we mean, just install it already or the tur'rists have won!".
It's sort of like how people complain about how the look and feel for iTunes and Safar on Windows don't match the way "everything else" looks, except way too much software for windows is even more non-standard than Apple's software, and often in completely user-unfriendly ways ("You made the windows round and shiny? Why would you do that?!").
So yeah, I think Apple is just doing what they and everyone else can get away with when developing Windows software, but at least Apple can be excused on the UI issue since their software was originally written for another platform.
/Mikael
I've found that most bike shops are staffed by people who actually care about selling good parts, but you do need to point out your needs, if I'm buying new parts for my ancient Monark bike I ride to work and around town then I point out that I'm basically replacing parts that have completely worn out on a bike that's ten years past its prime and they generally look around and recommend what they think would fit best, I don't always agree 100% but they're hardly trying to constantly push the most expensive parts possible.
But yeah, if you come in there with a bike that has a $1500 frame and all the other parts are in a similar price range then they're probably not going to recommend the cheap run-of-the-mill parts they've got in stock, they'll be thinking "nice bike but if it was mine I'd probably put a ... on it instead".
/Mikael
If you were selling cars assembled from any number of subsystems you -would- need to be a mechanic to offer useful advice.
I think this is an excellent point, if cars were designed and built like the common OEM computer a "car OEM" would outsource the job of creating a "cool" (most likely garish and absolutely tasteless or incredibly dull if the average computer case design is anything to go by) body design that could be adapted for anything from small trucks to a compact electric car, then they'd shop around for parts to build the car from by looking for the cheapest high-performance parts possible that actually fit into the car. Also, every couple of months when they run out of parts they'd go shopping around for new parts so a 2009 Ford Taurus could actually have any of three or four different engine models, two different models of suspension, any one of six different exhaust systems and so on in an almost infinite number of combinations.
And you know mechanics and driving instructors would scream in agony when if heard car salesmen go "Well, the suspension isn't that important, what you need to be looking for is a small steering wheel so that you can make tight turns, and you definitely need the double battery model if you plan on having the lights on a lot, like if you do a lot of night driving..
/Mikael
Oh yes, I had MMS on the two phones I owned prior to my iPhone 3G and I believe I sent a total of two or three images using it, I also received maybe half a dozen images. Amazingly I didn't really miss MMS on the iPhone prior to iPhone OS 3.0, I was mostly thrilled to finally have a cellphone with a decent email client that didn't explode when trying to connect to an IMAPS server, and that didn't squeeze the input field for new mails into some ridiculously tiny space. Oh, and the iPhone actually supports signatures (my previous Nokia smartphone claimed to support signatures but would mangle them to death so it was easier spending a minute or so manually adding my sig to every mail I wrote, not that I wrote all that many since the mail client sucked (Also, connecting to 3G required entering a menu, choosing to connect, choosing a network to connect to, waiting for it to connect and then quickly going back to the main menu before the phone auto-disconnected due to inactivity, gotta love the userfriendliness).
/Mikael
I take it you've never had XP or Vista at work just randomly decide not to shutdown and log you out instead dumping you right back at the desktop (even though all apps had been killed beforehand). This happened to me a few times with my work machines at previous employers, and when you get to the office the next day to find yourself still logged in that's kind of an "oh shit!" moment.
It's one of those odd glitches right up there with Vista flashing the desktop background image when you hit ctrl-alt-del to unlock a machine (note to those who didn't know about this: don't use anything remotely sensitive as your desktop background at work since all it takes is a video camera capable of 15 fps or so to get a clean view of your desktop).
/Mikael
I'm assuming you're a troll but I'll bite anyway, modern Macs all run on 64-bit Intel CPUs, early Intel Macs did have 32-bit CPUs though.
/Mikael
Found this when googling for "mini displayport to displayport", took me all of two minutes.
That said, it would make sense for Apple to manufacture their own adapters...
/Mikael
The thing is that a lot of people find their options in life limited by financial constraints. Sure, if you lose your job five minutes from home you could just move to near your next job (if you get one!), but maybe you just spent years renovating your current home, maybe your current home is close to relatives and friends, maybe you simply can't afford a decent home near where the jobs are? Someone who doesn't have to constantly compromise due to financial constraints (and has had to do since childhood) will of course want to rid him-/herself of this limitation.
Sure, there would always be other problems in your life, but at least money wouldn't have to be one of those problems. And wouldn't you rather be able to decide between vacation destinations based solely on where you want to go than based on what you think you can afford? or to decide between what medical specialist to see based entirely on who you thought would give the better care rather than the cost? or, in the case of coding, to be able to code on whatever you felt like rather than what your boss wants you to code? or even to say to yourself "I don't feel like coding today, I think I'm gonna have a drink and go for a walk and then I'll get to work on reading $SOME_BOOK" when you wake up after sleeping in on monday morning?
I know that I'd rather make decisions based on what I think or feel is right rather than what decisions my wallet limits me to (since the latter often becomes a matter of choosing between lesser evils).
/Mikael
Yes, and there are even (or at least were a couple of years ago) companies selling rack-mountable x86 servers that just run a PDP-11 emulator to shops that still rely on their PDP-11 software but want to get rid of the ancient hardware. They even come (came?) with custom PCI cards for interfacing with old hardware that attached to PDP-11s.
/Mikael
Actually, as recently as last year I encountered a user who had OS 9 at home, running some ancient version of the mac version of IE (5.x), he was having issues with some third party websites and software but refused to accept that the problem was on his end, kind of like your average Win95/98/ME user...
/Mikael
If you've read my other posts in this thread then you should be aware that I am well aware of drawing boards, in fact, what I'd like is a multitouch monitor that acts like a regular drawing board. My comment about horizontal was simply because the parent poster seemed to assume that "monitor == vertical".
/Mikael
Your suggestion is only true for vim if you turn off a few features like bracket matching since they try to read the file you're editing over and over (I noticed this when accessing files at work through a tunnel from home, turned off bracket matching and Vim stopped freezing anytime I did anything).
/Mikael
As someone who's had to deal with people using D-Link equipment on various networks I'm amazed that there's actually a D-Link user who doesn't either hate D-Link or his ISP.
We used to have serious issues with D-Link ADSL modems that would talk gibberish, or NAT routers that would randomly decide to run the DHCP server on the external interface...
/Mikael
the trouble with a horizontal touch surface is that you still have arm fatigue, or your mouse will always be stuck down at the bottom where your elbows will end up resting.
Why use a mouse with a touchscreen? If you need to use a mouse you could just mount your screen like a regular old-fashioned screen (if the screen is small and light-weight enough to be handled that way).
Also, a full table for a screen will mean you still need a table for your papers, pencil, coffee mug, etc. You don't gain anything except neck ache.
Wow, you should tell the art dept. at your nearest college that they need to get rid of their drawing tables since they're clearly unsuitable for resting coffee mugs on. Because clearly there are no possible workarounds for this fatal flaw, it's just plain unpossible!
For people who want a stylus mode, they might as well buy a graphics tablet, much like we had before "touch" got hype. I think the whole surface stuff is useless, it will make sense in specialist areas, but those areas already had their own hardware and drivers.
Except "regular" tablets aren't monitors (except for the Cintiq and it's painfully expensive for what you get). And if the price of a touch-enabled screen with a "stylus mode" came within, say, no more than 20% over the price of a regular screen there would be a huge market for it, but as long as the hardware stays at "early adopter pricing" then the people who could easily find it useful can't afford it.
/Mikael
Of course, a lot of "social hub" kind of people actually "lose" that when they move to a new city (or do something similar that removes them completely from their regular social network). One reason for this, from what I can tell, is that if you've spent the last n years just maintaining your social network then it's quite hard to all of a sudden have to go out and actually make lots of new friends. It's one thing to already be the center of attention when having lots of friends, others will start to see you as someone with high status and want to be around you, it's another thing altogether to head out to the nearest bar in a completely new city and find new friends.
Yes, I've moved many times and have experienced this a couple of times, going from one city where I would determine if the weekend was going to be fun by how many people had called me by wednesday to ask where I would be partying on friday/saturday to practically only interacting with coworkers/classmates. Of course, what makes it even more odd is that it seems to be very much a matter of luck and chance...
/Mikael
I can spend eight hours using a tablet no problem--imagine holding your arm straight out for eight hours. Or imagine having to hunch over a monitor mounted flat on your desk--you'd destroy your neck and back within a week.
Think Cintiq, it's a monitor + tablet combo that you can have in your lap, just like a regular sketchbook. Now what I'd like is a 24-30" Cintiq that also allows me to use my fingers to move objects/windows about (when I put it into "finger mode" that is) while still allowing me to use a stylus (when in "stylus mode").
Or how about a table that can be tilted? We already have those (and they used to be quite popular with artists, architects and others who had to draw things). That's the kind of thing that could also be useful, both for an individual and when working in groups.
/Mikael
Well, it would probably make sense to make touch-enabled interfaces more table-like and less wall-like. That is to say, to make them horizontal.
Also, for people like artists I can definitely see how a large multitouch surface with the ability to switch between "hand mode" and "stylus mode" could be very useful, it would be like an oversized Cintiq with the ability to move things about with your hands.
Unfortunately most touchscreens coming out these days seem to be geared toward the same market segment that buys D-Link network equipment (that's the "cheaper is better even if it sucks compared to the competing product that costs 2% more" crowd) with pricing that resembles that of Wacom's professional products.
/Mikael
What if you need to fetch an update for your antivirus?
Go to a friend's place with a CD-R.
What if your anti-malware simply isn't capable of cleaning it up?
Call a professional or wipe the machine and start over.
What if I need Google to clean it up?
Your problem, you solve it. It's your contractual obligation to fix the problem with your equipment.
I'm gonna pay for a tech? No way!
Then fix it yourself, your ISP (at least not those I've worked for) has no responsibility to fix your malfunctioning equipment.
Warn and slow down (mutually inclusive) that's all I accept from my ISP. I mean come on, htf are we supposed to clean this thing without internet access?
If there's a will then there's a way, and it's your problem, not the ISP's, their problem is solved by cutting you off until you have fixed your equipment. Don't like it? Get another ISP, it's not like the one that has to deal with customers who refuse to clean up their own mess wants those customers, the margins are too slim for that.
/Mikael
Well, the procedure when I was handling abuse cases was:
/Mikael
I've worked for ISPs here in Sweden and most serious ISPs here see it as standard practice to warn and then disconnect users who are running zombie machines, nothing strange or totalitarian about it, it's about protecting their network and their other customers from harm.
/Mikael
Yeah, that's the "cup noodles" option, but what person who still possesses a tongue would eat those?
/Mikael
I'm a bit confused as to how cooking ramen would affect nearby wifi connections, unless you're eating cup noodles of course.
/Mikael
Semantic quibbling, there are standards used when delivering power (since it would make little sense to even be connected to the power grid if the voltage was completely random).
Also, it's sqrt(3) * 230.