"... the fact that it doesn't exist just shows how they continue to be out of touch with what their consumers want."
No, it's proof that they don't give a shit want we want and that they don't care enough about us to make things easy for us. Believe me, they've got tons of smart and talented engineers who want all the same things we want.
> Speaking as a former mechanic, fuck you very much.
I'm glad you were a good mechanic, but this is one of those cases where "it's just the 99% that makes the other 1% look bad." Everyone knows that finding a good mechanic is like finding a needle in a haystack--it's been a cliché for decades and it's totally true. I just spent several hundred dollars across two visits to find out why the "check engine" light was on.
And for the elevnty-hojillionth freaking time, MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER! Not EVERYONE needs to do EVERYTHING! Plenty of people CAN get by with a very limited device.
[Engineers and designers at Apple] take something small, simple, and painstakingly well considered. They ruthlessly cut features to derive the absolute minimum core product they can start with. They polish those features to a shiny intensity. At an anticipated media event, Apple reveals this core product... Then everyone goes back to Cupertino and rolls. As in, they start with a few tightly packed snowballs and then roll them in more snow to pick up mass until they've got a snowman. That's how Apple builds its platforms. It's a slow and steady process of continuous iterative improvement...
Look at the original iPod. Kinda pricey, Mac only, FireWire only--wow, look at crazy Apple, they're selling something that doesn't even work with all the computers they've sold in the last few years! But they added Windows support, and USB, and photos, and videos, and then they made them in different sizes, and according to Wikipedia they've sold over a QUARTER BILLION of them in less than ten years. So you'll have to excuse Mr. Jobs if he doesn't trip over himself to listen to your advice or anyone else's.
Geeks like Woz but the other Steve is plenty smart too. If you've got a little time, read this 1996 interview with Steve Jobs. Look at how much he got right: "The most exciting things happening today are objects and the Web. The Web is exciting for two reasons. One, it's ubiquitous. There will be Web dial tone everywhere. [emphasis added] And anything that's ubiquitous gets interesting. Two, I don't think Microsoft will figure out a way to own it."
And there were networks and ways to share documents before the WWW, but look how that's taken off. Being able to do things that used to require expensive, proprietary systems with free, open, standards-based methods is ALWAYS worth hype. You want lightning? Wait until we can do fabulous things on ALL mobile devices with just a good browser and NO additional software from any particular company. "Lightning" happens when millions of people can do something for free that only thousands of paying customers used to be able to do.
...it's best to ignore what [people] say and concentrate on what they do.
I agree. One good way to do this is to wait until events have actually happened. This analyst is saying that "sub-12-inch machines will sell 45.6 million units in 2011"? Really? REALLY? You can predict, to within 100,000 units, how many netbooks will sell in the span of time 7-19 months from now? (Plus he also seems to know what will happen from 1/2013-12/2013.) Wow, Kreskin, you should get out of the "crappy columnist" business and start investing or betting on sporting events!
It would take HOURS to convince me that these numbers have any basis in reality. Has anyone ever predicted what would happen in the computer industry 3 years out? (Bonus fun fact: what we call "netbooks" today--starting with the Eee--are not even three years old yet.) When I get to work on Monday, I'm going to print this out, tack it to my cube wall, and keep track of how many netbooks and iPads sell from now until 12/2013.
Wow, talk about needing a "-1, factually incorrect" moderation option. Check out http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy if you have an iPhone or iPod touch (not sure about iPad, and if you're on a desktop, at least you can watch a video of it). I'm only posting this one example because I see there are already other replies with additional examples.
Also, check this out: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/mobile_demos_fp10.1/popup18.html It's a Flash game being played on a touch device. But look how simple it is! It's just a very basic tower defense game that can be played with just taps. No fast and accurate mousing or keyboarding needed. Even if Flash were working 100% on mobile devices, most current games wouldn't work ANYWAY!
I know this thread is about HTML5 versus Flash, not WIMP versus touch UIs, but it's related because this is where the world is going. Once upon a time there were relatively few computers--mainframes and such--and when they went to desktops, the number of computers in use grew by several orders of magnitude. Now everyone in the world who wants a desktop or laptop has one, and we're moving away from general-purpose computers to more limited computer-based devices and the number of users will again grow greatly. You say "Show me an even remotely decent HTML5-based game on par with a remotely decent Flash-based game" and I'll say "Show me a 'remotely decent Flash-based game' that's playable on a touchscreen device in the first place."
"I think one reason is to do with software maturity. We've seen things like Adobe slip -- we'd originally scheduled for something like 2009." ARM and Adobe signed a partnership in late 2008 that was intended to see Flash Player 10 and Air -- both rich web platforms -- optimised for ARM-based systems. That work is only likely to come to fruition in the second half of this year, when an optimised version of Flash comes out for Android smartphones.
Go read Norman's The Design of Everyday Things and be on the lookout for the phrase "design award." Many things that truly, measurably, objectively, demonstrably suck have won design awards.
Sweet! Now I can finally get my site, "anosfeliz.es" off blacklists!;-)
(For the non-Spanish speakers out there: "feliz" means happy (and adjectives come after nouns, like Rio Grande [big river] or El Camino Real [the royal road]), "años" means "years" and "anos" means "anus." So instead of "happy years" it would be... something else entirely.)
Didn't VNC used to come with the ability to go to host:5900 or:5800 (whichever isn't the default) with a browser and get a Java viewer, like, forever ago?
I read an article ages ago (citation needed, I know) that described something else that no one has bothered to do since then: make the typing realistic. They actually programmed the computer so that Matthew Broderick could press any key on the keyboard and the right letter would appear on the screen, so the typing sounds matched exactly to what was showing up. How totally trivial would that be to do today with Flash or even JavaScript?) And yet today, every single movie shows someone pounding away on a keyboard and a few characters appear on the screen--and, as often as not, at totally even intervals.
Also, the producers loaned him a Galaga machine to practice on while making the movie. When you see him playing in the movie, he's really playing.
I think this was from an issue of Dynamite way back when.
That's one thing I'd love to see systemwide on the iPhone. Dragon is pretty sweet though. Does Android's voice recognition run locally or is it server-based like Dragon?
They could, but they're announcing very publicly that they won't.
"Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices."
I would love nothing more than to see HP return to its old greatness and produce great products. I love my iPhone and plan to get an iPad but it is, believe it or not, physically possible for other companies to do good things too.
Bzzt, wrong, but thanks for playing. I saw my first USB port on a Compaq Presario 3020 in summer/fall 1996. (I know because that Presario was an unusual model, and we had one at a place where I worked in mid-late 1996 only.) Over the course of the next two years, I saw approximately zero USB devices in stores. Then the iMac shipped in late 1998 and suddenly USB devices were everywhere--printers, scanners, etc. (Many of them translucent greenish-blue.) By shipping a popular computer with USB only, manufacturers were forced to move forward if they wanted to sell peripherals to the millions of people who bought this new, popular computer. The USB consortium did very little to push their standard. A bold move like what Apple did was required to get lazy companies to retool. Think about it: if every computer has USB and Parallel ports, is there any reason for Epson to spend the money to start making USB printers in addition to Parallel ones? No. But if USB is the only way to sell printers to the two million people who bought iMacs in the first twelve months then yeah, they'll retool.
In short: Invented? No. Almost single-handedly popularized? Yes.
I feel your pain, but seriously, this whole "Apple is ignoring their core/pro consumers!" meme needs to DIE. Yes, "pro" consumers were once upon a time Apple's bread and butter but that is no longer the case. I know how you feel but Apple doesn't really "owe" you anything for keeping them going. The fact is, the company is changing. Look at this chart, it's right there in black and white. (And blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, and green.) Apple makes the bulk of its money from the iPhone--a product that has only been available for less than three years. Next up is the ENTIRE Mac line, a fraction of which are "pro" machines. Next on the revenue hit parade comes the iPod--a 100% non-computer device that again only existed for the last few years. Followed by iTunes--TV shows, movies, and apps; I'll let you guess which of those is the smallest--and finally software (everything from iLife to Final Cut Pro) and peripherals (mainly mice and keyboards) at the end.
Apple still makes computers, and pro computers, but computers in general and pro gear in particular are NOT their bread and butter anymore. Their "core" market is now the HUGE consumer market. If Apple quit making computers tomorrow and ONLY did iPod, iPhone, and the iTunes store, they'd STILL be making more money than they were a few years ago for EVERYTHING.
* which now includes the slightly computer-y iPod touch.
Problem is the rest of the industry is as miserable as HTC in this regard...
I know the anti-Apple sentiment runs high on slashdot these days, but might I point out that they're only just now dropping support for three-year-old phones, and that when an update comes out, it's available for all users, new and old, on Day 1?
I wouldn't consider this "easy to follow"--I can't make heads or tails of it at all!;-)
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(It's really funny because those are, in fact, instructions on how to fix something on Windows.)
I've got as much crap laying around as anyone but I do wish I had one more piece--a big purple SGI deskside, I think like this one that really would have been a perfect end table. Unfortunately, I didn't have room for it at the time it was available, and by the time I did, the guy who had it moved away and the machine had been tossed.
Slashdot Mirror
"... the fact that it doesn't exist just shows how they continue to be out of touch with what their consumers want."
No, it's proof that they don't give a shit want we want and that they don't care enough about us to make things easy for us. Believe me, they've got tons of smart and talented engineers who want all the same things we want.
> Speaking as a former mechanic, fuck you very much.
I'm glad you were a good mechanic, but this is one of those cases where "it's just the 99% that makes the other 1% look bad." Everyone knows that finding a good mechanic is like finding a needle in a haystack--it's been a cliché for decades and it's totally true. I just spent several hundred dollars across two visits to find out why the "check engine" light was on.
And for the elevnty-hojillionth freaking time, MORE IS NOT ALWAYS BETTER! Not EVERYONE needs to do EVERYTHING! Plenty of people CAN get by with a very limited device.
As for the rest of your rant, read this.
[Engineers and designers at Apple] take something small, simple, and painstakingly well considered. They ruthlessly cut features to derive the absolute minimum core product they can start with. They polish those features to a shiny intensity. At an anticipated media event, Apple reveals this core product... Then everyone goes back to Cupertino and rolls. As in, they start with a few tightly packed snowballs and then roll them in more snow to pick up mass until they've got a snowman. That's how Apple builds its platforms. It's a slow and steady process of continuous iterative improvement...
Look at the original iPod. Kinda pricey, Mac only, FireWire only--wow, look at crazy Apple, they're selling something that doesn't even work with all the computers they've sold in the last few years! But they added Windows support, and USB, and photos, and videos, and then they made them in different sizes, and according to Wikipedia they've sold over a QUARTER BILLION of them in less than ten years. So you'll have to excuse Mr. Jobs if he doesn't trip over himself to listen to your advice or anyone else's.
Geeks like Woz but the other Steve is plenty smart too. If you've got a little time, read this 1996 interview with Steve Jobs. Look at how much he got right: "The most exciting things happening today are objects and the Web. The Web is exciting for two reasons. One, it's ubiquitous. There will be Web dial tone everywhere. [emphasis added] And anything that's ubiquitous gets interesting. Two, I don't think Microsoft will figure out a way to own it."
And there were networks and ways to share documents before the WWW, but look how that's taken off. Being able to do things that used to require expensive, proprietary systems with free, open, standards-based methods is ALWAYS worth hype. You want lightning? Wait until we can do fabulous things on ALL mobile devices with just a good browser and NO additional software from any particular company. "Lightning" happens when millions of people can do something for free that only thousands of paying customers used to be able to do.
Ob. Broken Arrow: "I don't know what's scarier: losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it."
I'm picturing Jonathan Ive, rushing into Steve Jobs' office: "Steve, we've got a broken telegraph!"
I left my belt in a hotel once so I know what this is like.
...it's best to ignore what [people] say and concentrate on what they do.
I agree. One good way to do this is to wait until events have actually happened. This analyst is saying that "sub-12-inch machines will sell 45.6 million units in 2011"? Really? REALLY? You can predict, to within 100,000 units, how many netbooks will sell in the span of time 7-19 months from now? (Plus he also seems to know what will happen from 1/2013-12/2013.) Wow, Kreskin, you should get out of the "crappy columnist" business and start investing or betting on sporting events!
It would take HOURS to convince me that these numbers have any basis in reality. Has anyone ever predicted what would happen in the computer industry 3 years out? (Bonus fun fact: what we call "netbooks" today--starting with the Eee--are not even three years old yet.) When I get to work on Monday, I'm going to print this out, tack it to my cube wall, and keep track of how many netbooks and iPads sell from now until 12/2013.
Wow, talk about needing a "-1, factually incorrect" moderation option. Check out http://mrgan.tumblr.com/post/257187093/pie-guy if you have an iPhone or iPod touch (not sure about iPad, and if you're on a desktop, at least you can watch a video of it). I'm only posting this one example because I see there are already other replies with additional examples.
Also, check this out: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplayer/articles/mobile_demos_fp10.1/popup18.html It's a Flash game being played on a touch device. But look how simple it is! It's just a very basic tower defense game that can be played with just taps. No fast and accurate mousing or keyboarding needed. Even if Flash were working 100% on mobile devices, most current games wouldn't work ANYWAY!
I know this thread is about HTML5 versus Flash, not WIMP versus touch UIs, but it's related because this is where the world is going. Once upon a time there were relatively few computers--mainframes and such--and when they went to desktops, the number of computers in use grew by several orders of magnitude. Now everyone in the world who wants a desktop or laptop has one, and we're moving away from general-purpose computers to more limited computer-based devices and the number of users will again grow greatly. You say "Show me an even remotely decent HTML5-based game on par with a remotely decent Flash-based game" and I'll say "Show me a 'remotely decent Flash-based game' that's playable on a touchscreen device in the first place."
Speaking of mobile devices... Smartbooks have failed to materialise due to delays in Flash optimisation [emphasis mine], a lower-than-expected uptake of Linux on netbooks, and the sudden emergence of tablets, ARM's marketing chief has said.
"I think one reason is to do with software maturity. We've seen things like Adobe slip -- we'd originally scheduled for something like 2009." ARM and Adobe signed a partnership in late 2008 that was intended to see Flash Player 10 and Air -- both rich web platforms -- optimised for ARM-based systems. That work is only likely to come to fruition in the second half of this year, when an optimised version of Flash comes out for Android smartphones.
Go read Norman's The Design of Everyday Things and be on the lookout for the phrase "design award." Many things that truly, measurably, objectively, demonstrably suck have won design awards.
Thus resulting in a lower price on the new i7 MacBook Pro!
waiting... waiting...
Sweet! Now I can finally get my site, "anosfeliz.es" off blacklists! ;-)
(For the non-Spanish speakers out there: "feliz" means happy (and adjectives come after nouns, like Rio Grande [big river] or El Camino Real [the royal road]), "años" means "years" and "anos" means "anus." So instead of "happy years" it would be... something else entirely.)
Didn't VNC used to come with the ability to go to host:5900 or :5800 (whichever isn't the default) with a browser and get a Java viewer, like, forever ago?
I read an article ages ago (citation needed, I know) that described something else that no one has bothered to do since then: make the typing realistic. They actually programmed the computer so that Matthew Broderick could press any key on the keyboard and the right letter would appear on the screen, so the typing sounds matched exactly to what was showing up. How totally trivial would that be to do today with Flash or even JavaScript?) And yet today, every single movie shows someone pounding away on a keyboard and a few characters appear on the screen--and, as often as not, at totally even intervals.
Also, the producers loaned him a Galaga machine to practice on while making the movie. When you see him playing in the movie, he's really playing.
I think this was from an issue of Dynamite way back when.
That's one thing I'd love to see systemwide on the iPhone. Dragon is pretty sweet though. Does Android's voice recognition run locally or is it server-based like Dragon?
I was thinking of James Garner or Tom Cruise.
Just a new surface on an old polygon.
DAMN you're a geek. And I mean that in the nicest possible way. :-)
Don't they? Palm bought Be in 2001. http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-271718.html&tag=tp_pr
They're going to revive BeOS!
They could, but they're announcing very publicly that they won't.
"Palm's innovative operating system provides an ideal platform to expand HP's mobility strategy and create a unique HP experience spanning multiple mobile connected devices."
I would love nothing more than to see HP return to its old greatness and produce great products. I love my iPhone and plan to get an iPad but it is, believe it or not, physically possible for other companies to do good things too.
The second is a result of the USB Consortium.
Bzzt, wrong, but thanks for playing. I saw my first USB port on a Compaq Presario 3020 in summer/fall 1996. (I know because that Presario was an unusual model, and we had one at a place where I worked in mid-late 1996 only.) Over the course of the next two years, I saw approximately zero USB devices in stores. Then the iMac shipped in late 1998 and suddenly USB devices were everywhere--printers, scanners, etc. (Many of them translucent greenish-blue.) By shipping a popular computer with USB only, manufacturers were forced to move forward if they wanted to sell peripherals to the millions of people who bought this new, popular computer. The USB consortium did very little to push their standard. A bold move like what Apple did was required to get lazy companies to retool. Think about it: if every computer has USB and Parallel ports, is there any reason for Epson to spend the money to start making USB printers in addition to Parallel ones? No. But if USB is the only way to sell printers to the two million people who bought iMacs in the first twelve months then yeah, they'll retool.
In short: Invented? No. Almost single-handedly popularized? Yes.
I feel your pain, but seriously, this whole "Apple is ignoring their core/pro consumers!" meme needs to DIE. Yes, "pro" consumers were once upon a time Apple's bread and butter but that is no longer the case. I know how you feel but Apple doesn't really "owe" you anything for keeping them going. The fact is, the company is changing. Look at this chart, it's right there in black and white. (And blue, purple, red, orange, yellow, and green.) Apple makes the bulk of its money from the iPhone--a product that has only been available for less than three years. Next up is the ENTIRE Mac line, a fraction of which are "pro" machines. Next on the revenue hit parade comes the iPod--a 100% non-computer device that again only existed for the last few years. Followed by iTunes--TV shows, movies, and apps; I'll let you guess which of those is the smallest--and finally software (everything from iLife to Final Cut Pro) and peripherals (mainly mice and keyboards) at the end.
Apple still makes computers, and pro computers, but computers in general and pro gear in particular are NOT their bread and butter anymore. Their "core" market is now the HUGE consumer market. If Apple quit making computers tomorrow and ONLY did iPod, iPhone, and the iTunes store, they'd STILL be making more money than they were a few years ago for EVERYTHING.
* which now includes the slightly computer-y iPod touch.
If the value of the property exceeds $400, more serious charges of grand theft can be filed.
How much you want to bet they launch the iPhone this summer with a starting price of $401? :-)
Problem is the rest of the industry is as miserable as HTC in this regard...
I know the anti-Apple sentiment runs high on slashdot these days, but might I point out that they're only just now dropping support for three-year-old phones, and that when an update comes out, it's available for all users, new and old, on Day 1?
I wouldn't consider this "easy to follow"--I can't make heads or tails of it at all! ;-)
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(It's really funny because those are, in fact, instructions on how to fix something on Windows.)
I've got as much crap laying around as anyone but I do wish I had one more piece--a big purple SGI deskside, I think like this one that really would have been a perfect end table. Unfortunately, I didn't have room for it at the time it was available, and by the time I did, the guy who had it moved away and the machine had been tossed.