And XCode 3.x is still free with any new Mac (required to run XCode anyhow). XCode 4 will return to free status when Lion ships. The $4.99 is simply an accounting fee due to Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. Enough new features and functionality were added to XCode 4 to qualify it as a proper upgrade, and Apple hasn't been counting revenue from new Macs and OS X as "subscription" revenue needed to allow it to be released for free.
$99 a year is if you want to release apps via the App Store and have access to beta versions of the OS, along with professional developer support. The $99 includes XCode 4.
$4.99 is an accounting charge due to financial reforms passed after the Enron mess. XCode 3.x comes free with every Mac, and 4.x will come free with Lion, as it's cost is built into the overall cost of the OS.
Fair counterpoint Mr. AC, though having followed the development cycle of 4.3, it didn't delay the release by months. Apple does have the advantage of controlling the hardware and software side, and since the hardware is overall pretty similar between all iOS devices, it's easy to make a release work across them all.
Similarly, Apple, and Microsoft have no issues releasing OS updates across the board. They set up their release procedures to ensure 10.6.7 or Windows 7 SP1 will launch at the same time for everyone. Google just simply hasn't put in the effort needed to unify updates across their own supported devices, much less the devices 3rd parties make using their OS. It is possible, but Google just doesn't do it.
I can't in good faith go buy an Android device and expect it to be running the newest and latest OS, including any security fixes the updates might bring. The Google supported G1 was abandoned at 1.6, the Nexus One isn't getting timely updates even being a fully official Google device, and 3rd party routes are way worse. Until Google improves their track record here, Android remains a hackers toy in my eye. Google wants Android to be seen as a professional OS and ecosystem, but until they smooth out these processes, I can't see it as such.
Yep, AT&T charges $20 extra for tethering a month. The device will force you to sign up before enabling it, so no issues with being charged accidentally.
Do I agree with tethering charges? Not really. But it makes it easier for me to do my job on the go, without worrying about jailbreaking my device and using another method that runs afoul of my contract with AT&T.
It works. I installed 4.3 and have WiFi hotspot working off my AT&T phone with tethering. Even tethered my iPad to it, and it showed a linked icon instead of WiFi signal strength when it connected.
But 2.3 was "released" in December, so even buying direct from Google meant a 2-3 month wait on a phone barley a year old. iPhone 3GS owners (a phone nearly 2 years old now) got 4.3 the exact same day as everyone else.
To be fair (and before others point it out), Apple didn't release 4.3 for the Verizon iPhone yet. While the custom 4.2.6 build it shipped with has some of the 4.3 features, it doesn't have them all. So even Apple isn't perfect with getting updates out the door for all devices at once.
Apple's financials still show a majority of their profits come from the hardware. The App store is grouped in with the overall iTunes store, and remains a smidge over break even. That 30% Apple gets from paid apps helps to also pay for all the bandwidth free apps consume, along with the other free content in iTunes such as the podcasts they cache and help host.
Apple is able to make the iPad and other devices cheeper due to controlling the supply chain and manufacturing to a very deep level. They made a strategic investment in flash (storage) years ago to ensure they always had access to what they need. They did the same again recently for displays. Apple has also moved to making their own batteries, enclosures and other components to help strip out any unnecessary cost. The unibody design they use in so many products, including iPad helps reduce manufacturing labor quite a bit. Instead of having a worker sit there screwing together all the internals to make a frame, then slapping a case around it, they instead just screw in all the components directly to the unibody case the machine spits out.
Apple is one of the few companies out there that takes a lot of time to design everything down to the screws. A little bit of time spent paying a few designers to come up with a more efficient PCB layout and cabling assembly adds up when you make millions of a particular device.
Problem is, no mobile device (phone/tablet) is adding a real HDMI port. They are too big and bulky, and single use. The Xoom has mini HDMI, so you still need something other then a standard cheap HDMI to HDMI cable around. And of course that also assumes you have a projector with HDMI. Many are still VGA, so why not also add a bulky VGA port to the device? Because now your are adding more ports to a ultra portable device that can't afford the space to a feature very few customers will rely on all the time.
At some point you just have to deal with adaptors and converter cables to allow mobile devices to get smaller. This isn't a unique to Apple issue, it's industry wide. There isn't a way to meet 100% of peoples demands, so Apple went a route where they could meet most with dongles, and a single port with many purposes. For those that need to do something slightly out of mainstream, adaptors and dongles can be bought, and carried in a bag. Not the most ideal solution, but it still allows for a smaller travel pack when compared to a full laptop with all the right ports built in.
Using SD cards to load apps sounds like a pain in the enterprise. I haven't seen IT people running around with binders of CDs to load onto each individual desktop in ages, so I don't expect they would want to go back to that with handfuls of SD cards either. It's all about using the network now, and the iOS devices do support over the air App installs for enterprise markets.
Sadly bluetooth file transfer seems to be dead, and wifi file transfer is a PITA. Hopefully in time these will become easier to reduce the need to copy to a flash drive. The other alternative now that works well is not e-mailing the content, but e-mailing a link to a file hosted on DropBox or something similar.
I do appreciate you replying, as it does provide me a bit more insight. I haven't worked in a large enterprise in a while, so I haven't been able to see the changes in recent years with more and more consumer tech going into the enterprise. For ages, it's been the other way around, but now people are seeing work related benefits in their new consumer toys.
I have yet to see any tablet offer a USB port directly on the device that accepts a keyboard, so Apple really isn't behind or ahead anyone in this area. They do support USB keyboards when plugged in via the dock to usb adaptor, or bluetooth ones. Most other tablets have only announced support for bluetooth keyboards.
A mouse? Tablet OS from Apple, Google, HP(Palm) and RIM have no concept of a mouse. Plugging this in would do nothing, and adding support would be pretty against the overall design of any of these devices.
It sounds like you need a laptop, or for less portability, a desktop PC. There are many companies that make these devices, and they should meet your needs. Tablets are a different type of device, and as such have different ways to interface with them. Neither is a direct replacement for the other, and choices in both arenas should be available for many years to come.
The flash drive I can somewhat see. Though I find networks much more convenient, and hope iOS 5 adds some support here. The current iDisk support via an extra app kinda works, but it could be better. Passing files around via physical media is something I haven't commonly done now for well over 12 years. The network was already the main way to do it even when I was in school, when floppy disks were still common.
What is the corporate need for actual USB, actual SD and actual HDMI ports on the device? What features would each one bring that the adaptors can't bring that make them mandatory for corporate use?
USB is the most puzzling one to me, since noone ever explains what they want with it. Do you want a USB host port, or a slave port, or both? Which connector? What devices do you then expect to attach to it?
Actually, no, the Xoom doesn't do SD cards out of the box. It has a slot, but the OS ignores it.
And sure, it has a USB port that lets you add content to the device. Out of the box the iPad also comes with a cable with USB on one end that does the same, and also charges the device. The Xoom's USB doesn't charge. So whats the benefit of it over the iPad?
People keep demanding USB, but they never quantify why.
No different then the Xoom. For only $55, and a call to cancel service you didn't need, you can have WiFi on your new Honeycomb tablet. ($20 mandatory one month 3g service to enable WiFi + $35 activation fee for said 3G service).
I appreciate Apple more for not charging for WiFi, vs Google and Motorola allowing Verizon to charge for WiFi.
I don't complain about Apple's prices, because it has always been worth it for me. When I bought a Mac Pro tower in 2008, spec for spec it came in around $200 cheeper then the equivalent Dell Precision. Does this happen all the time? No, but the best time to catch Apple being competitive with pricing is right when a new system ships. Yes, I could have built a system cheaper, but I preferred to let someone else do the labor and research on what parts to integrate. This resulted in receiving a box, opening, and working within 15 minutes. And it's a very quiet machine to boot.
Here I am, with the machine approaching 3 years old, and I have no urge to replace it. I've upgraded the video card, added some more RAM, and threw in a small SSD for some apps. It's also been covered under a warranty that means I call one place if it breaks, instead of having to troubleshoot what part and deal with the vendor directly.
"You get what you pay for" does really apply to Apple. Their laptops are some of the highest quality machines I've seen, especially when surrounded by plastic creaking heavy systems at Best Buy. All the little things add up, like LED backlighting, huge touchpad, sealed in battery for longer life and so on.
Sadly NTFS is still behind HPFS in some ways. One major one is data fragmentation. Defragging manually is a joy only NTFS users have, as HPFS really never needed it.
I know a Windows admin by day that is so used to defragging, he bought an OS X defrag utility, because the concept of a filesystem avoiding massive fragmentation was new to him. He was quite shocked when I explained most filesystems don't have the fragmentations issues NTFS does. And informing him HPFS also lacked the need for manual defragging kinda lowered his faith in MIcrosoft a little. They had access to the HPFS tech, and failed to copy it properly into NT.
True Windows only people are interesting when you reveal to them how behind Microsoft is, and always has been. Said admin is slowly dabbling with Unix like systems, with his Mac helping him to dip his toe in while keeping a nice and consistent GUI. His want to explore scripting has him appreciating Unix ways a little more, and now he's also using Powershell. The 20 year late answer from Microsoft to the unix command line toolbox and bash.
Not really. The Nexus One is still running 2.2, the same OS it shipped with a year ago. The Nexus S ships with 2.3. So much for the full pure Android experience, even from a developer phone.
Apple allows developers early access to the next OS, for devices up to 3 years old. Google, no early access, and buy a new phone if you want to develop for the newest OS.
I was tempted to try Android again with a Nexus S, but considering their previous phones (Nexus One, G1) with a pure Google experience already seems abandoned, I'm still a bit weary. At least with Apple, they have been very consistant with providing updates across the entire product line. 4.0 was the first iOS release to drop support for a phone, one that was 3 years old at the 4.0 release. If I have to hack a device, especially one sold by the vendor directly just to be up to the latest release in a years time, the phone turns into a toy instead of a device I can depend on.
My photos are imported into iPhoto, backed up by Time Machine to a ReadyNAS NV+ within an hour, then overnight also backed up offsite to a Time Capsule sitting at my parents house in another state. The overnight backup works by mounting my local time machine backup disk image, mounting the remote time capsule via Back to my Mac (because I put my credentials into my parents Time Capsule), and then rsync -av from the latest backup to the time capsule. Back to my Mac takes care of creating the encrypted tunnel for me, so it's also secure.
They will make devices designed to have a short life with features like non-replaceable batteries so that you are always spending money on the newest, trendiest, toy.
I never did understand this point. When did requiring a screwdriver make a battery non replaceable? Sure, it's a little bit different then other laptops and phones, but the battery remains a replaceable component inside Apple products.
The link you pointed me to indicates iBooks doesn't support embedded fonts (dated June 23rd), then has an article this month on how to embed fonts. So in that case, it looks like Apple needed iOS 4.x to support embedded fonts properly, but didn't want to hold up the initial iBooks release.
And no, I'm not an Apple helpdesk guy, but I have worked in various support roles, from consumer support, enterprise support, and developer support. There is always a cost associated with support, and it's much higher when the product being supported isn't solid. Apple is a very lean operating company, one that doesn't want to waste anything when possible. This also leads them to being very secret about certain plans, or in this case, unfinished specs. Yes, it can suck at times if your caught outside their bubble, but they do have their reasons, and they aren't "How can we screw over the most people possible today?"
Newegg doesn't sell them, but the Apple Airport Express (and any 802.11n based Apple router) supports IPv6. $99 and up. Buffalo had one out in 2007, before their WiFi lawsuit, and has a few more out now. DLink does too.
It will be interesting to see what router manufacturers decide to be nice and offer IPv6 formware upgrades, and which ones push people towards new equipment.
I know it's cool to be anti Apple on slashdot these days, but does the hatred have to include loss of logic?
Apple doesn't publish music or books, so in the case of iTunes LP, or the latest iBooks features, they need to work them out fully first. They do this by working with a few big companies, giving them access to rough beta copies of tools and tech specs. By working togther on a few items, Apple can identify and fix issues in a tool or spec before it's widely released. If they just threw out unfinished tools and specs, people would whine about the problems, and also increase Apple's support burden. With a slow and steady rollout, they can do it right, and ensure the mass publishing market has tools or specs that work without requiring direct hand holding via Apple support.
Halo 2 and Shadowrun are bad examples. They came out right when Vista was new, and way over 90% of the Windows install base was still on XP. 71.97% of Windows gamers on Steam now have Vista or above, and people on XP are likely to have aging hardware now. I'd expect any new game project starting today to completly ignore XP, and a majority of releases by the end of 2011 to start pushing Vista/7 only support pretty hard.
So why didn't Google issue a stop ship on the Samsung Fascinate, the Galaxy S on Verizon that removes all traces of Google search and replaces it with Bing? There is no option on the phone to revert it either, and the phone does include the Market, GMail, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
And XCode 3.x is still free with any new Mac (required to run XCode anyhow). XCode 4 will return to free status when Lion ships. The $4.99 is simply an accounting fee due to Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002. Enough new features and functionality were added to XCode 4 to qualify it as a proper upgrade, and Apple hasn't been counting revenue from new Macs and OS X as "subscription" revenue needed to allow it to be released for free.
$99 a year is if you want to release apps via the App Store and have access to beta versions of the OS, along with professional developer support. The $99 includes XCode 4.
$4.99 is an accounting charge due to financial reforms passed after the Enron mess. XCode 3.x comes free with every Mac, and 4.x will come free with Lion, as it's cost is built into the overall cost of the OS.
Fair counterpoint Mr. AC, though having followed the development cycle of 4.3, it didn't delay the release by months. Apple does have the advantage of controlling the hardware and software side, and since the hardware is overall pretty similar between all iOS devices, it's easy to make a release work across them all.
Similarly, Apple, and Microsoft have no issues releasing OS updates across the board. They set up their release procedures to ensure 10.6.7 or Windows 7 SP1 will launch at the same time for everyone. Google just simply hasn't put in the effort needed to unify updates across their own supported devices, much less the devices 3rd parties make using their OS. It is possible, but Google just doesn't do it.
I can't in good faith go buy an Android device and expect it to be running the newest and latest OS, including any security fixes the updates might bring. The Google supported G1 was abandoned at 1.6, the Nexus One isn't getting timely updates even being a fully official Google device, and 3rd party routes are way worse. Until Google improves their track record here, Android remains a hackers toy in my eye. Google wants Android to be seen as a professional OS and ecosystem, but until they smooth out these processes, I can't see it as such.
Yep, AT&T charges $20 extra for tethering a month. The device will force you to sign up before enabling it, so no issues with being charged accidentally.
Do I agree with tethering charges? Not really. But it makes it easier for me to do my job on the go, without worrying about jailbreaking my device and using another method that runs afoul of my contract with AT&T.
It works. I installed 4.3 and have WiFi hotspot working off my AT&T phone with tethering. Even tethered my iPad to it, and it showed a linked icon instead of WiFi signal strength when it connected.
But 2.3 was "released" in December, so even buying direct from Google meant a 2-3 month wait on a phone barley a year old. iPhone 3GS owners (a phone nearly 2 years old now) got 4.3 the exact same day as everyone else.
To be fair (and before others point it out), Apple didn't release 4.3 for the Verizon iPhone yet. While the custom 4.2.6 build it shipped with has some of the 4.3 features, it doesn't have them all. So even Apple isn't perfect with getting updates out the door for all devices at once.
Apple's financials still show a majority of their profits come from the hardware. The App store is grouped in with the overall iTunes store, and remains a smidge over break even. That 30% Apple gets from paid apps helps to also pay for all the bandwidth free apps consume, along with the other free content in iTunes such as the podcasts they cache and help host.
Apple is able to make the iPad and other devices cheeper due to controlling the supply chain and manufacturing to a very deep level. They made a strategic investment in flash (storage) years ago to ensure they always had access to what they need. They did the same again recently for displays. Apple has also moved to making their own batteries, enclosures and other components to help strip out any unnecessary cost. The unibody design they use in so many products, including iPad helps reduce manufacturing labor quite a bit. Instead of having a worker sit there screwing together all the internals to make a frame, then slapping a case around it, they instead just screw in all the components directly to the unibody case the machine spits out.
Apple is one of the few companies out there that takes a lot of time to design everything down to the screws. A little bit of time spent paying a few designers to come up with a more efficient PCB layout and cabling assembly adds up when you make millions of a particular device.
Problem is, no mobile device (phone/tablet) is adding a real HDMI port. They are too big and bulky, and single use. The Xoom has mini HDMI, so you still need something other then a standard cheap HDMI to HDMI cable around. And of course that also assumes you have a projector with HDMI. Many are still VGA, so why not also add a bulky VGA port to the device? Because now your are adding more ports to a ultra portable device that can't afford the space to a feature very few customers will rely on all the time.
At some point you just have to deal with adaptors and converter cables to allow mobile devices to get smaller. This isn't a unique to Apple issue, it's industry wide. There isn't a way to meet 100% of peoples demands, so Apple went a route where they could meet most with dongles, and a single port with many purposes. For those that need to do something slightly out of mainstream, adaptors and dongles can be bought, and carried in a bag. Not the most ideal solution, but it still allows for a smaller travel pack when compared to a full laptop with all the right ports built in.
Using SD cards to load apps sounds like a pain in the enterprise. I haven't seen IT people running around with binders of CDs to load onto each individual desktop in ages, so I don't expect they would want to go back to that with handfuls of SD cards either. It's all about using the network now, and the iOS devices do support over the air App installs for enterprise markets.
Sadly bluetooth file transfer seems to be dead, and wifi file transfer is a PITA. Hopefully in time these will become easier to reduce the need to copy to a flash drive. The other alternative now that works well is not e-mailing the content, but e-mailing a link to a file hosted on DropBox or something similar.
I do appreciate you replying, as it does provide me a bit more insight. I haven't worked in a large enterprise in a while, so I haven't been able to see the changes in recent years with more and more consumer tech going into the enterprise. For ages, it's been the other way around, but now people are seeing work related benefits in their new consumer toys.
I have yet to see any tablet offer a USB port directly on the device that accepts a keyboard, so Apple really isn't behind or ahead anyone in this area. They do support USB keyboards when plugged in via the dock to usb adaptor, or bluetooth ones. Most other tablets have only announced support for bluetooth keyboards.
A mouse? Tablet OS from Apple, Google, HP(Palm) and RIM have no concept of a mouse. Plugging this in would do nothing, and adding support would be pretty against the overall design of any of these devices.
It sounds like you need a laptop, or for less portability, a desktop PC. There are many companies that make these devices, and they should meet your needs. Tablets are a different type of device, and as such have different ways to interface with them. Neither is a direct replacement for the other, and choices in both arenas should be available for many years to come.
The flash drive I can somewhat see. Though I find networks much more convenient, and hope iOS 5 adds some support here. The current iDisk support via an extra app kinda works, but it could be better. Passing files around via physical media is something I haven't commonly done now for well over 12 years. The network was already the main way to do it even when I was in school, when floppy disks were still common.
CmdrTaco needs to try harder then for his WoW needs:
http://media.techeblog.com/images/ipad_worldofwarcraft.jpg :-)
What is the corporate need for actual USB, actual SD and actual HDMI ports on the device? What features would each one bring that the adaptors can't bring that make them mandatory for corporate use?
USB is the most puzzling one to me, since noone ever explains what they want with it. Do you want a USB host port, or a slave port, or both? Which connector? What devices do you then expect to attach to it?
Actually, no, the Xoom doesn't do SD cards out of the box. It has a slot, but the OS ignores it.
And sure, it has a USB port that lets you add content to the device. Out of the box the iPad also comes with a cable with USB on one end that does the same, and also charges the device. The Xoom's USB doesn't charge. So whats the benefit of it over the iPad?
People keep demanding USB, but they never quantify why.
No different then the Xoom. For only $55, and a call to cancel service you didn't need, you can have WiFi on your new Honeycomb tablet. ($20 mandatory one month 3g service to enable WiFi + $35 activation fee for said 3G service).
I appreciate Apple more for not charging for WiFi, vs Google and Motorola allowing Verizon to charge for WiFi.
I don't complain about Apple's prices, because it has always been worth it for me. When I bought a Mac Pro tower in 2008, spec for spec it came in around $200 cheeper then the equivalent Dell Precision. Does this happen all the time? No, but the best time to catch Apple being competitive with pricing is right when a new system ships. Yes, I could have built a system cheaper, but I preferred to let someone else do the labor and research on what parts to integrate. This resulted in receiving a box, opening, and working within 15 minutes. And it's a very quiet machine to boot.
Here I am, with the machine approaching 3 years old, and I have no urge to replace it. I've upgraded the video card, added some more RAM, and threw in a small SSD for some apps. It's also been covered under a warranty that means I call one place if it breaks, instead of having to troubleshoot what part and deal with the vendor directly.
"You get what you pay for" does really apply to Apple. Their laptops are some of the highest quality machines I've seen, especially when surrounded by plastic creaking heavy systems at Best Buy. All the little things add up, like LED backlighting, huge touchpad, sealed in battery for longer life and so on.
Sadly NTFS is still behind HPFS in some ways. One major one is data fragmentation. Defragging manually is a joy only NTFS users have, as HPFS really never needed it.
I know a Windows admin by day that is so used to defragging, he bought an OS X defrag utility, because the concept of a filesystem avoiding massive fragmentation was new to him. He was quite shocked when I explained most filesystems don't have the fragmentations issues NTFS does. And informing him HPFS also lacked the need for manual defragging kinda lowered his faith in MIcrosoft a little. They had access to the HPFS tech, and failed to copy it properly into NT.
True Windows only people are interesting when you reveal to them how behind Microsoft is, and always has been. Said admin is slowly dabbling with Unix like systems, with his Mac helping him to dip his toe in while keeping a nice and consistent GUI. His want to explore scripting has him appreciating Unix ways a little more, and now he's also using Powershell. The 20 year late answer from Microsoft to the unix command line toolbox and bash.
Not really. The Nexus One is still running 2.2, the same OS it shipped with a year ago. The Nexus S ships with 2.3. So much for the full pure Android experience, even from a developer phone.
Apple allows developers early access to the next OS, for devices up to 3 years old. Google, no early access, and buy a new phone if you want to develop for the newest OS.
So, how's Gingerbread on the Nexus One...
I was tempted to try Android again with a Nexus S, but considering their previous phones (Nexus One, G1) with a pure Google experience already seems abandoned, I'm still a bit weary. At least with Apple, they have been very consistant with providing updates across the entire product line. 4.0 was the first iOS release to drop support for a phone, one that was 3 years old at the 4.0 release. If I have to hack a device, especially one sold by the vendor directly just to be up to the latest release in a years time, the phone turns into a toy instead of a device I can depend on.
My photos are imported into iPhoto, backed up by Time Machine to a ReadyNAS NV+ within an hour, then overnight also backed up offsite to a Time Capsule sitting at my parents house in another state. The overnight backup works by mounting my local time machine backup disk image, mounting the remote time capsule via Back to my Mac (because I put my credentials into my parents Time Capsule), and then rsync -av from the latest backup to the time capsule. Back to my Mac takes care of creating the encrypted tunnel for me, so it's also secure.
They will make devices designed to have a short life with features like non-replaceable batteries so that you are always spending money on the newest, trendiest, toy.
I never did understand this point. When did requiring a screwdriver make a battery non replaceable? Sure, it's a little bit different then other laptops and phones, but the battery remains a replaceable component inside Apple products.
The link you pointed me to indicates iBooks doesn't support embedded fonts (dated June 23rd), then has an article this month on how to embed fonts. So in that case, it looks like Apple needed iOS 4.x to support embedded fonts properly, but didn't want to hold up the initial iBooks release.
And no, I'm not an Apple helpdesk guy, but I have worked in various support roles, from consumer support, enterprise support, and developer support. There is always a cost associated with support, and it's much higher when the product being supported isn't solid. Apple is a very lean operating company, one that doesn't want to waste anything when possible. This also leads them to being very secret about certain plans, or in this case, unfinished specs. Yes, it can suck at times if your caught outside their bubble, but they do have their reasons, and they aren't "How can we screw over the most people possible today?"
Newegg doesn't sell them, but the Apple Airport Express (and any 802.11n based Apple router) supports IPv6. $99 and up. Buffalo had one out in 2007, before their WiFi lawsuit, and has a few more out now. DLink does too.
http://www.sixxs.net/wiki/Routers has a good list.
It will be interesting to see what router manufacturers decide to be nice and offer IPv6 formware upgrades, and which ones push people towards new equipment.
I know it's cool to be anti Apple on slashdot these days, but does the hatred have to include loss of logic?
Apple doesn't publish music or books, so in the case of iTunes LP, or the latest iBooks features, they need to work them out fully first. They do this by working with a few big companies, giving them access to rough beta copies of tools and tech specs. By working togther on a few items, Apple can identify and fix issues in a tool or spec before it's widely released. If they just threw out unfinished tools and specs, people would whine about the problems, and also increase Apple's support burden. With a slow and steady rollout, they can do it right, and ensure the mass publishing market has tools or specs that work without requiring direct hand holding via Apple support.
Halo 2 and Shadowrun are bad examples. They came out right when Vista was new, and way over 90% of the Windows install base was still on XP. 71.97% of Windows gamers on Steam now have Vista or above, and people on XP are likely to have aging hardware now. I'd expect any new game project starting today to completly ignore XP, and a majority of releases by the end of 2011 to start pushing Vista/7 only support pretty hard.
So why didn't Google issue a stop ship on the Samsung Fascinate, the Galaxy S on Verizon that removes all traces of Google search and replaces it with Bing? There is no option on the phone to revert it either, and the phone does include the Market, GMail, etc.
Any number of ways, depends on how you want to do it.
iPhone - Just works, all YouTube videos show up as playable due to the device pulling the H.264 version inside an MPEG container.
Android 2.1 and below (aka, ~70% of the Android platform) - Pretty much the same as the iPhone
Android 2.2 (a tad below 30%) - install Flash, or keep using the old method
Firefox - The popular way seems to be with Greasemonkey and scripts to pull down the same H.264 file. Google search Firefox youtube no flash
Chrome, Safari - Just enable the HTML 5 version. http://www.youtube.com/html5
Opera and Firefox 4 will get WebM versions via HTML5, but not many of the videos are transcoded yet.