countless makers of now standard instrument shapes would have been forbidden from building such instruments unless they simply obtained permission to do so
Just like Samsung could make perfect replicas of iPhones were Apple to give them permission to do so. Apple, of course, would never allow it. Knowing they could adds nothing of value to this discussion.
When, fuck I dunno, Warmoth Guitars decided it wanted to make guitar necks with the characteristic "Fender Stratocaster headstock design", it asked Fender for permission, Fender said "yeah OK, here are our terms, pay up and you're good". Warmoth said "OK" and now makes guitar necks with a genuine Fender Stratocaster headstock shape.
If Fender had said "no" then Warmoth would have had to either (a) go ahead and do it anyway and risk getting taken to court, or (b) make necks with an obviously non-Fender headstock design.
Similarly, if Samsung had wanted to legally make smartphones with the characteristic "Apple iPhone design", it could have asked Apple for a licence and then, if rejected, gone with (a) or (b). But it didn't even ask. It just went straight to (a), and it's now in court.
countless makers of now standard instrument shapes would have been forbidden from building such instruments unless they simply obtained permission to do so
You want a screen on the front. Ok it will be flat in front. You want to minimize cost. Ok as few elements as possible You want to use it flat on a desk. Ok it will be flat in the back. You want it to fit in a pocket. Ok it will be rectangular..... form follows function. Similar function means similar form.
Yet strangely enough no-one actually did all this totally-obvious stuff with a phone before the iPhone was released.
The Fender Stratocaster was released in 1954 and totally changed the then-new electric guitar market. You can look at well-known electric guitar designs like the Telecaster and the Les Paul and just SEE that they were created before the Stratocaster was released. And you can look at a metric fucktonne of electric guitar designs and just SEE that they were created AFTER the Stratocaster was released. There's a clear point at which the "before Strat" electric guitar industry became the "after Strat" electric guitar industry. The shape of the Fender Stratocaster - influenced by pre-existing stringed instruments like the cello, but still new and unlike any electric guitar made before - became what electric guitars look like.
Fender did not pursue the Strat-clone manufacturers in court; and then after attempting to trademark the iconic Statocaster contours decades later, a court ruled in 2009 that "the body shapes were generic and that consumers do not solely associate these shapes with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation". The ruling went so far as to say "in the case of the [Stratocaster] body outline, this configuration is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary." (bolds mine)
Apple's goal is not to make money, but to make good products, said Jonathan Ive, senior vice president of industrial design at Apple, speaking at the British Embassy's Creative Summit.
"We are really pleased with our revenues but our goal isn't to make money. It sounds a little flippant, but it's the truth. Our goal and what makes us excited is to make great products. If we are successful people will like them and if we are operationally competent, we will make money," he said.
how come, with its huge market share, with the (well promoted) 10 billionth Android Market app download and the millions and millions of Android users, that there's so little actual *money* for Android app developers? Yes, I know Google doesn't like to share, but still, not even a few pennies for developers?
I mean, there's almost no money in the Android app business.
Right after (Schmidt's speech) an entrepreneur walked up to me with his app, which looked like Instagram. He wondered why the press doesn’t cover apps not designed on iOS. I said “come with me.”
We walked around the street at LeWeb. First person I ran into was Ayelet Noff. She is one of Israel’s top community connector types. Runs a blog called “Blonde 2.0.” But that doesn’t really explain her role in the tech scene.
“What kind of phone do you use?” “iPhone.”
Next up? Cathy Brooks, who does the same thing in SF? “iPhone.”
This continued with person after person until we got about 10 people. I think we saw one Android phone, nine iPhones, and no WP7s. This was a crowd of European entrepreneurs and tech passionates.
“Had enough yet?” I asked the entrepreneur.
This matches what I have seen at conference after conference.
It's a self-sustaining cycle. People who have money and are happy to spend it gravitate to the platform that has the coolest apps. The coolest apps get made for the platform from which developers can make the most money. Apple ensures that the developers can write the coolest apps by supporting old hardware for YEARS after obsolescence, and maintaining a system whereby most users upgrade to the latest version of iOS within days of release. What's ICS userbase now - has it made double figures yet? Hell, it's already an OLD version of Android.
Until Android stops being a fragmentation fuckfest, it's always going to be the platform of choice for poor people, hackers, and freeloaders. That's not a market that matters to a business. Therefore, while Apple has a minority share of the overall phone market, it totally dominates the segment of that market that counts. People who have and spend money.
Xbox has lost MS between 8 billion and 20 billion depending on how critically you crunch the numbers. By any sane measurement Xbox is one of the biggest failures in the history of consumer technology.
Ride's partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy, will be denied federal benefits because the Defense of Marriage Act says that was an unrelationship, not like the real relationships that good Christian hetero real Americans have.
Uniloc is basically one guy, Ric Richardson, who is the epitome of the borderline-Aspergers nerd type idolised on Slashdot. He works out of a van because an office is too distracting.
There will be no future archaeologists. How can they assume a huge cultural discontinuity that would require archaeology? The only reason we have any archaeology is because people didn't write anything down.
I can find out precisely when a building was built, sold, and how many times it was repaired, just by visiting the online city hall archives.
I wish I could be as optimistic, but I have a pretty cynical view of human nature. The human race lobotomized itself after two thousand years of scientific and mathematical development because a significantly large number of people decided that nothing in this world is important and that loving Jesus is the only thing that matters. Libraries were destroyed, people were burnt at the stake, and we went from civilization back to being afraid of the dark because TEH DEBBIL!!1 might come and get us.
What has happened before can happen again. And where the phenomenon of doing insane things because Jebus tells you to is concerned, well the USA is only ever one rich charismatic white Christian demagogue away from Dark Ages Mk II.
A migration from Siberia 15,000 years ago? I'm calling bullshit. If it happened, it would be in the Bible. And as if the Earth even existed 15,000 years ago!
Slashdot Mirror
When, fuck I dunno, Warmoth Guitars decided it wanted to make guitar necks with the characteristic "Fender Stratocaster headstock design", it asked Fender for permission, Fender said "yeah OK, here are our terms, pay up and you're good". Warmoth said "OK" and now makes guitar necks with a genuine Fender Stratocaster headstock shape.
If Fender had said "no" then Warmoth would have had to either (a) go ahead and do it anyway and risk getting taken to court, or (b) make necks with an obviously non-Fender headstock design.
Similarly, if Samsung had wanted to legally make smartphones with the characteristic "Apple iPhone design", it could have asked Apple for a licence and then, if rejected, gone with (a) or (b). But it didn't even ask. It just went straight to (a), and it's now in court.
countless makers of now standard instrument shapes would have been forbidden from building such instruments unless they simply obtained permission to do so
FTFY
You want a screen on the front. Ok it will be flat in front. .... form follows function. Similar function means similar form.
You want to minimize cost. Ok as few elements as possible
You want to use it flat on a desk. Ok it will be flat in the back.
You want it to fit in a pocket. Ok it will be rectangular.
Yet strangely enough no-one actually did all this totally-obvious stuff with a phone before the iPhone was released.
The Fender Stratocaster was released in 1954 and totally changed the then-new electric guitar market. You can look at well-known electric guitar designs like the Telecaster and the Les Paul and just SEE that they were created before the Stratocaster was released. And you can look at a metric fucktonne of electric guitar designs and just SEE that they were created AFTER the Stratocaster was released. There's a clear point at which the "before Strat" electric guitar industry became the "after Strat" electric guitar industry. The shape of the Fender Stratocaster - influenced by pre-existing stringed instruments like the cello, but still new and unlike any electric guitar made before - became what electric guitars look like.
Fender did not pursue the Strat-clone manufacturers in court; and then after attempting to trademark the iconic Statocaster contours decades later, a court ruled in 2009 that "the body shapes were generic and that consumers do not solely associate these shapes with Fender Musical Instruments Corporation". The ruling went so far as to say "in the case of the [Stratocaster] body outline, this configuration is so common that it is depicted as a generic electric guitar in a dictionary." (bolds mine)
Apple ain't making that mistake.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-07/30/jonathan-ive-revenue-good-design
I work in marketing, and this whole non-story reeks of a publicity campaign for the author's book.
Apple has almost 100% of the market that counts - people who spend money. See: http://brianshall.com/content/are-android-users-simply-cheap
So developers develop for the platform where they can make money. That's iOS. See: http://scobleizer.com/2011/12/12/viral-coefficients-store-feature-branding-influencers-cool-apps-on-ios-first/
It's a self-sustaining cycle. People who have money and are happy to spend it gravitate to the platform that has the coolest apps. The coolest apps get made for the platform from which developers can make the most money. Apple ensures that the developers can write the coolest apps by supporting old hardware for YEARS after obsolescence, and maintaining a system whereby most users upgrade to the latest version of iOS within days of release. What's ICS userbase now - has it made double figures yet? Hell, it's already an OLD version of Android.
Until Android stops being a fragmentation fuckfest, it's always going to be the platform of choice for poor people, hackers, and freeloaders. That's not a market that matters to a business. Therefore, while Apple has a minority share of the overall phone market, it totally dominates the segment of that market that counts. People who have and spend money.
Apple doesn't care about market share. Apple cares about making products.
Xbox has lost MS between 8 billion and 20 billion depending on how critically you crunch the numbers. By any sane measurement Xbox is one of the biggest failures in the history of consumer technology.
"Since when has Google done anything other than try and offer the best experience they can on any device?"
That's a joke, right?
"Apple lost major in the UK"
Judge: "no-one would confuse a Samsung tablet with an iPad, the Samsung is obviously nowhere near as good"
Boy Samsung must've been thrilled with that victory.
Apple's already beaten 'em pretty comprehensively, wouldn't you say? Maybe Apple just got bored.
They came out about a year prior to everyone else adopting the tech.
Wow, what a coincidence. Everyone adopting the tech after Apple released a hit product like that.
Ride's partner of 27 years, Tam O'Shaughnessy, will be denied federal benefits because the Defense of Marriage Act says that was an unrelationship, not like the real relationships that good Christian hetero real Americans have.
U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Uniloc is basically one guy, Ric Richardson, who is the epitome of the borderline-Aspergers nerd type idolised on Slashdot. He works out of a van because an office is too distracting.
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/aussie-inventor-settles-with-microsoft-in-patent-dispute-20120315-1v5zc.html
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/biz-tech/one-man-v-microsoft-a-day-in-the-dickmobile-another-day-in-court-for-aussie-inventor-20110106-19h25.html
He sued Microsoft for infringing this patent, and Microsoft lost to the tune of $388 million in damages.
This is just a sad testament to what GW Bush helped to destroy -- a land of the free and home of the brave.
Let's be honest: what every sitting president since Eisenhower has helped to destroy.
Spot the guy who hasn't read the article or watched the video.
There will be no future archaeologists. How can they assume a huge cultural discontinuity that would require archaeology?
The only reason we have any archaeology is because people didn't write anything down.
I can find out precisely when a building was built, sold, and how many times it was repaired, just by visiting the online city hall archives.
I wish I could be as optimistic, but I have a pretty cynical view of human nature. The human race lobotomized itself after two thousand years of scientific and mathematical development because a significantly large number of people decided that nothing in this world is important and that loving Jesus is the only thing that matters. Libraries were destroyed, people were burnt at the stake, and we went from civilization back to being afraid of the dark because TEH DEBBIL!!1 might come and get us.
What has happened before can happen again. And where the phenomenon of doing insane things because Jebus tells you to is concerned, well the USA is only ever one rich charismatic white Christian demagogue away from Dark Ages Mk II.
US Car sales are down. House sales are down. Employment is flat. Why should PC sales be different?
Gartner says Apple Mac sales are up. And that doesn't include iPad, which I hear has sold a few units lately.
This post coming to you from a 400MHz PowerMac G4. Perfectly usable for general net stuff.
I guess the PC industry can be made to look bad... if you deliberately omit all references to Apple.
A migration from Siberia 15,000 years ago? I'm calling bullshit. If it happened, it would be in the Bible. And as if the Earth even existed 15,000 years ago!
In conclusion, Jesus.
But you can only look at one side at a time. So it's just very quick focus switching.
Because Google seems unable to remember it either?
Do no evil!