There was an article a while back on/. about how much time people spend sorting their email into folders. The basic gist of it was that there are two different types of people when it comes to email inboxes. One type, the type that spends time manually moving everything into folders, is doing it because they use their inbox as a sort of to-do list. The act of moving a message into a folder is their way of marking the message done.
For these types of people, the label approach is useless.
You want a screen on the front. Ok it will be flat in front. Yet before Apple, every smartphone and tablet had substantial bezels encroaching the screen to "protect" the screen if you put it face down, plus give you a space to grab onto. Apple made significant design impact that changed the market radically.
You want to minimize cost. Ok as few elements as possible Actually, Apple has spent far more to achieve the minimalist design. This is common as minimalist designs (from products to architecture) usually require far more expensive manufacturing processes to achieve more precise tolerances since any minor manufacturing mistake is much harder to hide. Also, sacrifices must be made to assembly parts, often requiring all new parts be created to meet the form-factor constraints. Not to mention labor costs in design are much higher.
You want to use it flat on a desk. Ok it will be flat in the back. Is Apple really challenging a flat back? Didn't think so.
You want it to fit in a pocket. Ok it will be rectangular There have been many different ratios of screensize and device. Apple's particular ratios were not common in mobile devices pre-iPhone.
Now, combine everything together so that the design patents are seen as a whole, and yes, Apple made a fairly innovative product that has dramatically changed the smartphone market (including triggering the downfall of RIM and Palm). Pretending that what Apple did is somehow uninovative because other products had this or that feature before is ignoring reality.
And here's the big kicker. So what if Samsung had internal prototypes and designs that look similar to the iPhone before the iPhone launched? Apple got to market first, and used the Design Patent system as it is intended to protect their design from knock-offs and wannabees. Sucks to be Samsung, but thats how this is meant to work.
What labels don't do (and this drives me nuts in Google docs) is exclusions.
For example, apply a label. The item still appears in your main list. Move something into a folder. The item no longer appears in your main list.
I've got a whole bunch of documents I work on with a non profit. I have them all labeled. Google Docs even goes as far as to show me a "folder" representing that label. But what I don't have is a view that shows me everything that's unlabeled. Maybe I forgot to tag one of those documents. Maybe I want to look at a list of my other docs that aren't associated with the non profit. These are use cases that are not supported by labels. (They could be, but it depends on the UI developers providing work-around solutions)
So the entry-point machine from 5 years ago doesn't run the latest and greatest? Big surprise. My 2007 Macbook Pro will run Mountain Lion just fine.
I challenge you to find a $600 PC from 2004 that would run Windows7 when it launched in 2009. You can even ignore 64bit Win7 and just focus on Win7 32bit Home Basic if you want. (As you yourself said, Mountain Lion is exclusively 64bit).
You're absolutely correct. And I think the fact that it was a painless upgrade through their App store made it so quick for adoption.
Compare to Microsoft's download options for Win7 where you had to find which online store you could actually purchase a download from, then download the disc image, find and download another app to turn that into something you could boot from, reboot the machine, and pray things would choke during the reformat. Not to mention the multiple price points and versions.
The Mountain Lion upgrade on the other hand was: 1) Open App store. 2) Click install next the Mountain Lion. 3) Pay $20 (or redeem an install code between steps 1 and 2) 4) After download completes, launch the App from you Applications Folder 5) Click ok, ok, agree, ok 6) Wait for restart.
Easiest OS upgrade I have ever seen. Even Windows service packs are more complicated.
On the flip side, the significantly larger quantities of aluminum (as opposed to plastic) probably offset the glue removal in the cost balance equation.
EPEAT defines specific processes for recycling and doesn't acknowledge other alternatives or new technologies. Even with the glue, the brand new Macbook Pro I'm typing on right now is more recyclable than any laptop which uses screws to attach batteries to the chasis.
LEED (green building construction) is a much better model for certifications like this because it's flexible. No one single "dirty" technique would cost you certification. Instead, you earn points for doing a myriad of different things for cumulative score used for certification.
Adhering to strictly-defined standards results in stagnant products and services, since the government is rarely pressured to update their certification requirements.
Existing data of other treatments can be used as your "control", especially if any of those treatments are the "standard" treatment in practice.
So you just need to test to see if your results are better than the standard. You don't need to test if your results are better than no treatment, or bandage-only treatments.
If Microsoft locked down their software to their own hardware, people would be jumping ship to Linux and Android left and right.
No they won't. No one chooses Windows because they love Dell. You said so yourself, They tolerate it because of the 3rd party software, OEM, and other industries where Windows is the only supported OS. As long as your business-critical software is Windows only, you aren't switching. Right now most Windows users don't care whether their machine is a Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, ePC, or Toshiba. Why would they care that now it's a Microsoft-branded hardware?
I know a lot of people do rendering... I used to do a ton of photrealistic 3D-rendering myself. 10-15 years ago, all pro-level rendering was done on SGI, Sun, or equivalent workstations because the performance couldn't be had out of desktop PCs. That was a niche market that is coming back (but this time it will be 64bit Intel).
But rendering is one of the last high-performance frontiers for computing. 10 years ago even simpler apps like Photoshop or Illustrator would push the limits of a machine. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to create a PSD that would bring a modern laptop to its knees.
And when it comes to rendering (both 3D and video processing) serious content producers have moved all the heavy lifting to a server farm. Even if it's just 1 person with 2-3 computers sitting in a closet, it's a much better performing and cost-effect solution than doing it all with your primary workstation. I used to spec and build them out using cheap Shuttles. Once you switch workflows, it saves a ton of hassle, and makes it easier to share resources with multiple people.
I didn't say the PC is dying, I said the desktop computer is dying. Not sure why you decided to drag the MacBook into this, or why you're so dismissive of tablets.
Go to a modern college and do a survey of computer ownership. The majority of students will be using laptops (Apple, Dell, HP, or otherwise) and only a small minority of gamers, and those with high-performance requirements will be using desktops.
The fact is that the kind of work most people used to need laptops for (email, web browsing, casual computing, etc while on the go) is shifting to tablets because the mobility outweighs the performance or feature needs. Likewise, laptop use is eclipsing desktop use because the mobility is outweighing the performance needs for most users. Hence, those who still need performance will still by desktops, but they'll become a niche market. This has already happened within the Apple ecosystem, and is rapidly occurring in the Winintel ecosystem as well. Laptop sales already far outpace desktop sales.
There's a lot of stuff that used to need a desktop that no longer does.
The desktop is going to become niche product, just like high-performance SGI or Sun workstations used to be a niche product compared to the ubiquitous PC.
Tablets and smartphones will replace laptops for most casual use, and laptops will replace the desktop for most daily use. Of course if you have need for cutting-edge space, memory, processing, or video requirements, you'll need a machine that isn't encumbered by form factor. But that will become the specialized workstation, not the norm.
Funny, after years of dealing with cross-platform fonts as a web developer, I've found that thin fonts can look incredible on a Mac and be horrendously pixelated crap on a PC. Helvetica Neue Ultralight comes to mind as a perfect example.
Hate to break it to you... but today's laptops are consumer electronics. Even 99% of desktop computers will go un-upgraded over the course of their lifespan.
TVs may never have been upgradeable, but you don't upgrade your laptop battery either. It used to be expected that you would service the TV to replace parts (like vacuum tubes) several times over the lifespan of the product.
Slashdot Mirror
There was an article a while back on /. about how much time people spend sorting their email into folders. The basic gist of it was that there are two different types of people when it comes to email inboxes. One type, the type that spends time manually moving everything into folders, is doing it because they use their inbox as a sort of to-do list. The act of moving a message into a folder is their way of marking the message done.
For these types of people, the label approach is useless.
You want a screen on the front. Ok it will be flat in front.
Yet before Apple, every smartphone and tablet had substantial bezels encroaching the screen to "protect" the screen if you put it face down, plus give you a space to grab onto. Apple made significant design impact that changed the market radically.
You want to minimize cost. Ok as few elements as possible
Actually, Apple has spent far more to achieve the minimalist design. This is common as minimalist designs (from products to architecture) usually require far more expensive manufacturing processes to achieve more precise tolerances since any minor manufacturing mistake is much harder to hide. Also, sacrifices must be made to assembly parts, often requiring all new parts be created to meet the form-factor constraints. Not to mention labor costs in design are much higher.
You want to use it flat on a desk. Ok it will be flat in the back.
Is Apple really challenging a flat back? Didn't think so.
You want it to fit in a pocket. Ok it will be rectangular
There have been many different ratios of screensize and device. Apple's particular ratios were not common in mobile devices pre-iPhone.
Now, combine everything together so that the design patents are seen as a whole, and yes, Apple made a fairly innovative product that has dramatically changed the smartphone market (including triggering the downfall of RIM and Palm). Pretending that what Apple did is somehow uninovative because other products had this or that feature before is ignoring reality.
And here's the big kicker. So what if Samsung had internal prototypes and designs that look similar to the iPhone before the iPhone launched? Apple got to market first, and used the Design Patent system as it is intended to protect their design from knock-offs and wannabees. Sucks to be Samsung, but thats how this is meant to work.
What labels don't do (and this drives me nuts in Google docs) is exclusions.
For example, apply a label. The item still appears in your main list.
Move something into a folder. The item no longer appears in your main list.
I've got a whole bunch of documents I work on with a non profit. I have them all labeled. Google Docs even goes as far as to show me a "folder" representing that label. But what I don't have is a view that shows me everything that's unlabeled. Maybe I forgot to tag one of those documents. Maybe I want to look at a list of my other docs that aren't associated with the non profit. These are use cases that are not supported by labels. (They could be, but it depends on the UI developers providing work-around solutions)
So the entry-point machine from 5 years ago doesn't run the latest and greatest? Big surprise.
My 2007 Macbook Pro will run Mountain Lion just fine.
I challenge you to find a $600 PC from 2004 that would run Windows7 when it launched in 2009. You can even ignore 64bit Win7 and just focus on Win7 32bit Home Basic if you want. (As you yourself said, Mountain Lion is exclusively 64bit).
You're absolutely correct. And I think the fact that it was a painless upgrade through their App store made it so quick for adoption.
Compare to Microsoft's download options for Win7 where you had to find which online store you could actually purchase a download from, then download the disc image, find and download another app to turn that into something you could boot from, reboot the machine, and pray things would choke during the reformat. Not to mention the multiple price points and versions.
The Mountain Lion upgrade on the other hand was:
1) Open App store.
2) Click install next the Mountain Lion.
3) Pay $20 (or redeem an install code between steps 1 and 2)
4) After download completes, launch the App from you Applications Folder
5) Click ok, ok, agree, ok
6) Wait for restart.
Easiest OS upgrade I have ever seen. Even Windows service packs are more complicated.
Hard to claim?
Click on link on Apple homepage. Fill in contact info and serial number (Apple Menu->About This Mac.... copy/paste). Click submit.
A day or two later, get an email with a redemption code for the App store.
Input redemption code, click install.
Which of course is clearly inspired by this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
Why not use a desktop scanner with a feed tray and process that? Eliminate the need for the fancy camera rig, arduino, legos, etc.
You could still do all the python processing, but it would be far mor efficient and less prone to bugs.
On the flip side, the significantly larger quantities of aluminum (as opposed to plastic) probably offset the glue removal in the cost balance equation.
EPEAT defines specific processes for recycling and doesn't acknowledge other alternatives or new technologies. Even with the glue, the brand new Macbook Pro I'm typing on right now is more recyclable than any laptop which uses screws to attach batteries to the chasis.
LEED (green building construction) is a much better model for certifications like this because it's flexible. No one single "dirty" technique would cost you certification. Instead, you earn points for doing a myriad of different things for cumulative score used for certification.
Adhering to strictly-defined standards results in stagnant products and services, since the government is rarely pressured to update their certification requirements.
This is just Facebook trying to blame their shoddy implementation on someone else.
None of the bugs and issues reported by users are HTML5 caused problems.
Existing data of other treatments can be used as your "control", especially if any of those treatments are the "standard" treatment in practice.
So you just need to test to see if your results are better than the standard. You don't need to test if your results are better than no treatment, or bandage-only treatments.
About the size of the Hawaiian island Lanai
I'm sure there's enough statistical studies out there that show skin cancer doesn't just disappear.
So control group not necessary.
No they won't. No one chooses Windows because they love Dell. You said so yourself, They tolerate it because of the 3rd party software, OEM, and other industries where Windows is the only supported OS. As long as your business-critical software is Windows only, you aren't switching. Right now most Windows users don't care whether their machine is a Dell, HP, Lenovo, Sony, ePC, or Toshiba. Why would they care that now it's a Microsoft-branded hardware?
I know a lot of people do rendering... I used to do a ton of photrealistic 3D-rendering myself. 10-15 years ago, all pro-level rendering was done on SGI, Sun, or equivalent workstations because the performance couldn't be had out of desktop PCs. That was a niche market that is coming back (but this time it will be 64bit Intel).
But rendering is one of the last high-performance frontiers for computing. 10 years ago even simpler apps like Photoshop or Illustrator would push the limits of a machine. Today, you'd be hard-pressed to create a PSD that would bring a modern laptop to its knees.
And when it comes to rendering (both 3D and video processing) serious content producers have moved all the heavy lifting to a server farm. Even if it's just 1 person with 2-3 computers sitting in a closet, it's a much better performing and cost-effect solution than doing it all with your primary workstation. I used to spec and build them out using cheap Shuttles. Once you switch workflows, it saves a ton of hassle, and makes it easier to share resources with multiple people.
I didn't say the PC is dying, I said the desktop computer is dying. Not sure why you decided to drag the MacBook into this, or why you're so dismissive of tablets.
Go to a modern college and do a survey of computer ownership. The majority of students will be using laptops (Apple, Dell, HP, or otherwise) and only a small minority of gamers, and those with high-performance requirements will be using desktops.
The fact is that the kind of work most people used to need laptops for (email, web browsing, casual computing, etc while on the go) is shifting to tablets because the mobility outweighs the performance or feature needs. Likewise, laptop use is eclipsing desktop use because the mobility is outweighing the performance needs for most users. Hence, those who still need performance will still by desktops, but they'll become a niche market. This has already happened within the Apple ecosystem, and is rapidly occurring in the Winintel ecosystem as well. Laptop sales already far outpace desktop sales.
There's a lot of stuff that used to need a desktop that no longer does.
The desktop is going to become niche product, just like high-performance SGI or Sun workstations used to be a niche product compared to the ubiquitous PC.
Tablets and smartphones will replace laptops for most casual use, and laptops will replace the desktop for most daily use. Of course if you have need for cutting-edge space, memory, processing, or video requirements, you'll need a machine that isn't encumbered by form factor. But that will become the specialized workstation, not the norm.
Funny, after years of dealing with cross-platform fonts as a web developer, I've found that thin fonts can look incredible on a Mac and be horrendously pixelated crap on a PC. Helvetica Neue Ultralight comes to mind as a perfect example.
4x4GB is not what Apple is installing. Apple is installing 2x8GB.
So, for $80 difference in price, it comes pre-tested, pre-installed, and soldered in. Doesn't sound like that bad of a markup to me.
Where do you get $1000 from? The price difference for 8GB vs 16GB of soldered-on RAM is $200.
The lawyers cost the same whether they're saying "no", or handing over the clerk's reports.
Hate to break it to you... but today's laptops are consumer electronics. Even 99% of desktop computers will go un-upgraded over the course of their lifespan.
TVs may never have been upgradeable, but you don't upgrade your laptop battery either. It used to be expected that you would service the TV to replace parts (like vacuum tubes) several times over the lifespan of the product.
Yes it is. Or have you missed the ongoing 3D wars and the emerging "smart tv" market with internet and on-demand content?
Just because you don't care about these things doesn't mean the market isn't fundamentally changing while you aren't looking.
Exactly, it isn't available yet. Just like that retina display.
You can't compare the pricing on unique components with unique features to readily available versions that lack those features.
And don't compare a 2x4 =8 pricing with the MBPro's onboard... that's essentially a 2x8 = 16.