I've seen lots of links and stories about the kid in Paris who got glass in his eye, and apparently he won't turn over the iPod for testing. Apple says they're aware of fewer than ten incidents, and that these all seem to be caused by "external force", not battery issues.
There are millions of iPhones out there. Until there are some credibly documented cases where an iPhone exploded due to a factory defect, I'll assume that there's no story here.
...isn't it a medicinal fact that they reach puberty earlier than say.. 20 years ago?
Eh... its a hypothesis. There is strong evidence that in the U.S., girls begin puberty earlier than a generation ago, as measured by breast development or change in height, but their first periods are not earlier [2001]. And while environmental and social factors may have an effect, these are small compared to individual variation [2003], and there does not seem to be a change in onset of puberty in Europe. A sure way to delay puberty, though, is to be malnourished.
I should have made it clear that I meant iWork was mostly useless for me, not that I thought it useless for everyone. I bought a copy a few years ago and haven't really used it since. I think it's a bit bloated: there are lots of templates that few people will use, and it often feels unresponsive. Numbers especialy struggles when lots of cells have formulas, so its useful only if your documents aren't too large. I don't make presentations so I don't need Keynote, though I'm told its quite nice. Pages just doesn't fit any of my needs. Basic text editing, even simple Word documents, can be handled by TextEdit, and TextEdit has far less overhead. If I need something to look nice, I use LaTeX, which I admit isn't an option for most people. If I really need to make something look nice and it's moderately complicated, I use Illustrator, which isn't cheap. I recall finding Pages a bit restrictive when I wanted to play with the typography (kerning, maybe?) and a bit sluggish when documents were too large. But its been a while. I think Pages, like the rest of iWork, was designed for the casual home user, and I bet it works well for most of them. It isn't a replacement for Office for a business user. I do think iWork is a huge improvement over AppleWorks.
I actually admire Apple's approach with iWork and iLife: they try to make software that allows their customers to use a Mac without making them learn how it works. They are smart ideas for applications for most casual users. They're not for everyone, but they don't have to be.
Honestly, I, like most most Mac users who aren't fanatics, steer clear of discussions like this. I have no need to evangelize, and Apple doesn't need me to defend it, so there's little for me to say. That leaves forums like this at the mercy of Apple lovers and haters, who don't place much value in reasoned discussion.
Obviously Apple can do wrong. For me, I don't think the iPhone is worth an AT&T contract. I can't imagine wanting an AppleTV. Besides the big three of Mac OS X, iTunes and Safari, their (non-professional) software is really spotty. iPhoto is bloated and painful, iWork is mostly useless (albeit less aggravating than Microsoft Office), and to pick on a minor example that really really irks me, Grapher is an appalling, atrocious wart on Mac OS X, and the best current example of how even Apple can distribute pathetic software now and then. (They had a much better graphing calculator that they ditched when they bought this crap to include with OS X 10.4.) More broadly, they've had plenty of commercial failures, safety recalls, security flaws, etc, just like any other successful tech company.
What makes Apple different is that they are the only computer maker that can charge a premium for their products. Critics hate that there's nothing in their hardware (iPhone, MacBook, whatever) that isn't in cheaper products. Fans love the OS, reliability, and aesthetic. But those are really the same argument: Apple adds some value, partially tangible and partially intangible, to their products, and they charge more for them. My MacBook is amazingly physically sturdy, and I don't want to spend time maintaining the OS on my computer or learning how things work. A good GUI works how a user naively assumes it should, and Apple does a good job there. And yes, ugliness bothers me, so they earn a few more points there. You may feel differently about the value of those differences, but unlike companies that depend on volume of sales to make up for narrow profit margins, they don't need to sell everyone a computer, so they don't care if you can build your own computer and compile your own Linux distribution on it. Most of their customers don't have the time or inclination to spend doing that.
I don't understand the animosity between the camps. I don't care what computer you use, or what you think about mine. There's gotta be more interesting stuff to talk about.
Slashdot Mirror
I've seen lots of links and stories about the kid in Paris who got glass in his eye, and apparently he won't turn over the iPod for testing. Apple says they're aware of fewer than ten incidents, and that these all seem to be caused by "external force", not battery issues.
There are millions of iPhones out there. Until there are some credibly documented cases where an iPhone exploded due to a factory defect, I'll assume that there's no story here.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to x-ray my can of Pepsi.
Apple, making Android look good since 2008.
I know! I'm amazed TMobile can handle the millions of Americans switching over to use an Android phone.
...isn't it a medicinal fact that they reach puberty earlier than say.. 20 years ago?
Eh... its a hypothesis. There is strong evidence that in the U.S., girls begin puberty earlier than a generation ago, as measured by breast development or change in height, but their first periods are not earlier [2001]. And while environmental and social factors may have an effect, these are small compared to individual variation [2003], and there does not seem to be a change in onset of puberty in Europe. A sure way to delay puberty, though, is to be malnourished.
I should have made it clear that I meant iWork was mostly useless for me, not that I thought it useless for everyone. I bought a copy a few years ago and haven't really used it since. I think it's a bit bloated: there are lots of templates that few people will use, and it often feels unresponsive. Numbers especialy struggles when lots of cells have formulas, so its useful only if your documents aren't too large. I don't make presentations so I don't need Keynote, though I'm told its quite nice. Pages just doesn't fit any of my needs. Basic text editing, even simple Word documents, can be handled by TextEdit, and TextEdit has far less overhead. If I need something to look nice, I use LaTeX, which I admit isn't an option for most people. If I really need to make something look nice and it's moderately complicated, I use Illustrator, which isn't cheap. I recall finding Pages a bit restrictive when I wanted to play with the typography (kerning, maybe?) and a bit sluggish when documents were too large. But its been a while. I think Pages, like the rest of iWork, was designed for the casual home user, and I bet it works well for most of them. It isn't a replacement for Office for a business user. I do think iWork is a huge improvement over AppleWorks.
I actually admire Apple's approach with iWork and iLife: they try to make software that allows their customers to use a Mac without making them learn how it works. They are smart ideas for applications for most casual users. They're not for everyone, but they don't have to be.
Honestly, I, like most most Mac users who aren't fanatics, steer clear of discussions like this. I have no need to evangelize, and Apple doesn't need me to defend it, so there's little for me to say. That leaves forums like this at the mercy of Apple lovers and haters, who don't place much value in reasoned discussion.
Obviously Apple can do wrong. For me, I don't think the iPhone is worth an AT&T contract. I can't imagine wanting an AppleTV. Besides the big three of Mac OS X, iTunes and Safari, their (non-professional) software is really spotty. iPhoto is bloated and painful, iWork is mostly useless (albeit less aggravating than Microsoft Office), and to pick on a minor example that really really irks me, Grapher is an appalling, atrocious wart on Mac OS X, and the best current example of how even Apple can distribute pathetic software now and then. (They had a much better graphing calculator that they ditched when they bought this crap to include with OS X 10.4.) More broadly, they've had plenty of commercial failures, safety recalls, security flaws, etc, just like any other successful tech company.
What makes Apple different is that they are the only computer maker that can charge a premium for their products. Critics hate that there's nothing in their hardware (iPhone, MacBook, whatever) that isn't in cheaper products. Fans love the OS, reliability, and aesthetic. But those are really the same argument: Apple adds some value, partially tangible and partially intangible, to their products, and they charge more for them. My MacBook is amazingly physically sturdy, and I don't want to spend time maintaining the OS on my computer or learning how things work. A good GUI works how a user naively assumes it should, and Apple does a good job there. And yes, ugliness bothers me, so they earn a few more points there. You may feel differently about the value of those differences, but unlike companies that depend on volume of sales to make up for narrow profit margins, they don't need to sell everyone a computer, so they don't care if you can build your own computer and compile your own Linux distribution on it. Most of their customers don't have the time or inclination to spend doing that.
I don't understand the animosity between the camps. I don't care what computer you use, or what you think about mine. There's gotta be more interesting stuff to talk about.