I think MS is being victim of what it obliterated its competitors with on the desktop: nobody needs a third wheel. iOS and Android are enough. WinPhone is nice, but not nice enough to warrant its existence: it does what the other 2 do, no more, no less,so why bother with it ? If it weren't for Nokia's solid hardware and paid-for fidelity, Winphone would be history already.
Also, I think veteran smartphone users have reserves of ill-will against MS for the ergonomics catastrophe that was Winphone before 7.x, and for having tried it I find even the current Winphone somewhat clunky (which way do I scroll again ? oh, depends...).
Actually, this statistic matters only to Apple, Samsung, and their ilk. WHat matters to users is unit sales, because those are the least-bad indicator of how healthy an ecosystem is, and how much developper/content owner attention it will attract.
There's a huge number of apps for both platforms, way beyond what any individual could possibly use. It's time journos grew up moved from a "size" contest to a "quality" contest: it's not about who has the most apps anymore, but about who has the best amongst the 20 that real people actually use (mail, web, maps, FB, twitter, ebooks, video, music, office...). Too bad that's soooo much harder to do articles on: it requires research, tests, hands-on experience....
Because you can't trust a project which 1- pushes out features that are way out there for most of us, and obviously mainly there to make devs look cool to their devs peers, not to be useful to users. That's a basic failing of governance that spells trouble for the project in the medium-long term, and sends me a strong message to steer clear 2- pushes out very broken *releases* (not betas, not alphas: releases !), reinforcing 1-
There are plenty of good alternatives that don't seem to be so ego-driven, nor to value features checklists over... actually working.
Good handling of "regular" PC situation is missing from iOS and Android: - full keyboard handling (shortcuts...) - full mouse handling (multitouch, right click, even scrolling...) - some multitasking control, at least the ability to sticky apps, maybe "services" - maybe some basic "windowing", like Win8 does with a fixed split screen.
I feel that's my profile: I'm sales, and somewhat technical: I used to dabble in assembly/basic/C as a kid, have a few Linux PCs around and build+admin my family's PCs... I usually take jobs in fairly technical companies, including in fields I originally have no clue about.
You do need to recruit sales rep are are somewhat technically inclined and competent. Some sales rep literally cannot do mental calculations....
Here's what helps me: - not being threatened and treated as an idiot. My first batch of questions are bound to be idiot ones. Snickering at them will just shut me up and make me look for another job. - having pre-sales tech support with me on a handful of outings. Not other sales rep, unless they are *very* technical, but a true (non-autistic) tech guy. First I listen, then I parrot with supervision, then I no longer need supervision. - having time to read the docs, and to play with the product with a tutor - taking the same training class as our customers, having time to read the materials. - include a frank presentation of competing products. Our product is *bound* to have strong and weak points. Not warning me about our weak points (and workarounds ?) will just make me look like a clueless idiot.
Or, if you're a premium-salary, in-the-spotlight kinda guy, you get a machine that looks good because looking good is an important criterion. More then tech specs, sturdiness...
Gimmicky because the cards look cool, but using them requires lots of full-screen redraws, whereas a start menu a la win7 provides the same functionnality, in a much faster/resource efficent, if less cute, way. Hence gimmicky: it provides no functionality but only a "oh, shinyyyyy !" effect.
Your analogy is wrong. Nobody handed their credit card to no one. The correct analogy is that Google used telephoto lenses to take pictures off someone's credit card and PIN, and said it was in plain sight.
Also, the contrary of right is not "stupid", it is "wrong". One can be intelligent AND right, intelligent AND wrong, stupid AND right, or stupid AND wrong. The relationship of "right vs wrong" to "good vs evil" is less orthogonal than that. A lot less.
I indeed found the Cards model 100% gimmicky. Requires a full screen redraw every time you want to switch apps, including cutesy animations for just a bit more delays. Looks nice the first handful of times, makes you want to beat some sense into the damn machine afterwards. Apart from those Cards, I'm not sure I noticed anything much to justify all the hoopla about WebOS. Sold my Touchpad and got an Android Tablet. Best thing that can happen is those guys get mixed into the Android team and enrich it.
There's gradients of evil, and stealing credentials does not rank very high, but still, its neither good nor neutral, and the people whose credentials and IDs they stole probably disagree with you. Also, it might be argued that evil can also be not about harming others, but about straying from the virtuous path for oneself, which Google undoubtedly did here, in multiple ways and over time.
It's the principle of the thing: - Google originally said they didn't snoop, in fact they did; - Google originally said they didn't know, in fact they did; - Google still say they're not evil, in fact...
the VIA stuff has RAM (512MB), a small HD/SSD (2GB), and an SD slot. x86 MB+CPU combos usually have neither. so a *working* x86 setup does turn out 2-3 times more expensive, let alone bigger, noisier, and more power-hungry. even the lowliest of x86 will give you a lot more power, I/O, OS choice... though.
Actually, if that thing gets traction, the interesting thing would be to replace android with a regular Linux, and use it as a home server, a media station... I've got a couple of PCs that could easily replaced by this.
3- except if I'm typing a document, and need to look up something in an email which contains a link to some stuff on the web (launches a web browser), Android might well decide to close my document by the time I'm reading the linked info on the web. As soon as you open 2-3 extra apps, which happens quite often in my workflow, there's no telling what gets shut down.
4- except once my tablet/phone is docked and I'm working on keyboard+mouse, reaching for the touchscreen or, even worse, the tablet's buttons, is really not convenient. It's far away, and pushing buttons or even touching the screen has a tendency to move the tablet/dock back instead of registering a press (let alone pressing and holding). Once I have keyboard and mouse connected, these A- need to be a self-sufficient means of control the tablet/phone B- need to offer all the amenities of a desktop OS, esp. keyboard shortcuts.
I'd love for 2012, or even 2013, to be the year of Android on the desktop. It's not there yet, it could get there... or it could be beaten to the punch by Win8 and WinRT, which seem to have all that already.
The proof is in the pudding: despite their process advantage, Intel hasn't made any inroad in phones/tablets yet.
Also, people don't routinely solve linear equations. FP math is not really used by the vast majority of users, as are many of the more advanced things Atom can do, so the Atom's more advanced capabilities re probably rather irrelevant. On the other hand, ARM does the things people actually use more efficiently: from http://www.androidauthority.com/why-intel-atom-medfield-is-still-far-from-being-competitive-with-arm-chips-59065/: "A dual core 1.5 Ghz Krait chip has a 0.75W TDP under maximum load, while Atom has 2.6w TDP in “idle mode” alone (when your phone does nothing), and 3.6W when playing a 720p video. So that’s around 4, maybe 5 times less efficient than the best ARM chip right now."
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I think MS is being victim of what it obliterated its competitors with on the desktop: nobody needs a third wheel. iOS and Android are enough. WinPhone is nice, but not nice enough to warrant its existence: it does what the other 2 do, no more, no less,so why bother with it ? If it weren't for Nokia's solid hardware and paid-for fidelity, Winphone would be history already.
Also, I think veteran smartphone users have reserves of ill-will against MS for the ergonomics catastrophe that was Winphone before 7.x, and for having tried it I find even the current Winphone somewhat clunky (which way do I scroll again ? oh, depends...).
When a bank is robbed, its customers don't lose money. When a bitcoin repository is robbed... ?
Thank you for this reasoned and informed post. I'm convinced !
Actually, this statistic matters only to Apple, Samsung, and their ilk. WHat matters to users is unit sales, because those are the least-bad indicator of how healthy an ecosystem is, and how much developper/content owner attention it will attract.
There's a huge number of apps for both platforms, way beyond what any individual could possibly use. It's time journos grew up moved from a "size" contest to a "quality" contest: it's not about who has the most apps anymore, but about who has the best amongst the 20 that real people actually use (mail, web, maps, FB, twitter, ebooks, video, music, office...). Too bad that's soooo much harder to do articles on: it requires research, tests, hands-on experience....
You do understand the difference between years and quarters ?
Because you can't trust a project which
1- pushes out features that are way out there for most of us, and obviously mainly there to make devs look cool to their devs peers, not to be useful to users. That's a basic failing of governance that spells trouble for the project in the medium-long term, and sends me a strong message to steer clear
2- pushes out very broken *releases* (not betas, not alphas: releases !), reinforcing 1-
There are plenty of good alternatives that don't seem to be so ego-driven, nor to value features checklists over ... actually working.
Good handling of "regular" PC situation is missing from iOS and Android:
- full keyboard handling (shortcuts...)
- full mouse handling (multitouch, right click, even scrolling...)
- some multitasking control, at least the ability to sticky apps, maybe "services"
- maybe some basic "windowing", like Win8 does with a fixed split screen.
I feel that's my profile: I'm sales, and somewhat technical: I used to dabble in assembly/basic/C as a kid, have a few Linux PCs around and build+admin my family's PCs... I usually take jobs in fairly technical companies, including in fields I originally have no clue about.
You do need to recruit sales rep are are somewhat technically inclined and competent. Some sales rep literally cannot do mental calculations....
Here's what helps me:
- not being threatened and treated as an idiot. My first batch of questions are bound to be idiot ones. Snickering at them will just shut me up and make me look for another job.
- having pre-sales tech support with me on a handful of outings. Not other sales rep, unless they are *very* technical, but a true (non-autistic) tech guy. First I listen, then I parrot with supervision, then I no longer need supervision.
- having time to read the docs, and to play with the product with a tutor
- taking the same training class as our customers, having time to read the materials.
- include a frank presentation of competing products. Our product is *bound* to have strong and weak points. Not warning me about our weak points (and workarounds ?) will just make me look like a clueless idiot.
Indeed, I have mine setup like XP.
Yes, but the issue is that people think that "the right thing to say" is the superstitious one, not the scientific one.
Or, if you're a premium-salary, in-the-spotlight kinda guy, you get a machine that looks good because looking good is an important criterion. More then tech specs, sturdiness...
Gimmicky because the cards look cool, but using them requires lots of full-screen redraws, whereas a start menu a la win7 provides the same functionnality, in a much faster/resource efficent, if less cute, way. Hence gimmicky: it provides no functionality but only a "oh, shinyyyyy !" effect.
Your analogy is wrong. Nobody handed their credit card to no one. The correct analogy is that Google used telephoto lenses to take pictures off someone's credit card and PIN, and said it was in plain sight.
Also, the contrary of right is not "stupid", it is "wrong". One can be intelligent AND right, intelligent AND wrong, stupid AND right, or stupid AND wrong. The relationship of "right vs wrong" to "good vs evil" is less orthogonal than that. A lot less.
I indeed found the Cards model 100% gimmicky. Requires a full screen redraw every time you want to switch apps, including cutesy animations for just a bit more delays. Looks nice the first handful of times, makes you want to beat some sense into the damn machine afterwards.
Apart from those Cards, I'm not sure I noticed anything much to justify all the hoopla about WebOS. Sold my Touchpad and got an Android Tablet.
Best thing that can happen is those guys get mixed into the Android team and enrich it.
There's gradients of evil, and stealing credentials does not rank very high, but still, its neither good nor neutral, and the people whose credentials and IDs they stole probably disagree with you.
Also, it might be argued that evil can also be not about harming others, but about straying from the virtuous path for oneself, which Google undoubtedly did here, in multiple ways and over time.
In fact doing something illegal, knowingly, and lying repeatedly about it IS evil. You need to be an idiot not to get it.
Well.. idiotic might be to miss that the main issue is maybe not only doing it, but also lying repeatedly about it.
Also, If that's not evil, do you mean it's good ? Or indifferent ?
It's the principle of the thing:
- Google originally said they didn't snoop, in fact they did;
- Google originally said they didn't know, in fact they did;
- Google still say they're not evil, in fact...
this is under $50, and do you have examples ?
the VIA stuff has RAM (512MB), a small HD/SSD (2GB), and an SD slot. x86 MB+CPU combos usually have neither. so a *working* x86 setup does turn out 2-3 times more expensive, let alone bigger, noisier, and more power-hungry. even the lowliest of x86 will give you a lot more power, I/O, OS choice... though.
Nope. The pi is meant for software hacking above all.
Actually, if that thing gets traction, the interesting thing would be to replace android with a regular Linux, and use it as a home server, a media station... I've got a couple of PCs that could easily replaced by this.
3- except if I'm typing a document, and need to look up something in an email which contains a link to some stuff on the web (launches a web browser), Android might well decide to close my document by the time I'm reading the linked info on the web. As soon as you open 2-3 extra apps, which happens quite often in my workflow, there's no telling what gets shut down.
4- except once my tablet/phone is docked and I'm working on keyboard+mouse, reaching for the touchscreen or, even worse, the tablet's buttons, is really not convenient. It's far away, and pushing buttons or even touching the screen has a tendency to move the tablet/dock back instead of registering a press (let alone pressing and holding). Once I have keyboard and mouse connected, these A- need to be a self-sufficient means of control the tablet/phone B- need to offer all the amenities of a desktop OS, esp. keyboard shortcuts.
I'd love for 2012, or even 2013, to be the year of Android on the desktop. It's not there yet, it could get there... or it could be beaten to the punch by Win8 and WinRT, which seem to have all that already.
The proof is in the pudding: despite their process advantage, Intel hasn't made any inroad in phones/tablets yet.
Also, people don't routinely solve linear equations. FP math is not really used by the vast majority of users, as are many of the more advanced things Atom can do, so the Atom's more advanced capabilities re probably rather irrelevant. On the other hand, ARM does the things people actually use more efficiently: from http://www.androidauthority.com/why-intel-atom-medfield-is-still-far-from-being-competitive-with-arm-chips-59065/: "A dual core 1.5 Ghz Krait chip has a 0.75W TDP under maximum load, while Atom has 2.6w TDP in “idle mode” alone (when your phone does nothing), and 3.6W when playing a 720p video. So that’s around 4, maybe 5 times less efficient than the best ARM chip right now."