Computers are everywhere now, not every computer has to be a multi-purpose device. You want multi-purpose ? Buy a Mac. You want a handy, well designed device for playing games, browsing, etc. ? Buy an iOS device. This isn't rocket science.
iOS devices are made in the spirit of Raskin at Apple :
"Users do not care about what is inside the box, as long as the box does what they need done." "As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product."
It's called "eating your own dogfood." Besides it's a good way to promote the Mac App Store by showing it can handle the load that the Lion release is going to put on their servers: millions of people all trying to buy and download a >4Gb file at once.
And yeah, I expect them to become more hostile and move the restrictive platform up the stack, locking out more developers. Boy, I'd hate to have grown up with a locked down iMac as my family computer. I'd never have gotten into software development.
Because Apple got where they are by being complete idiots right ? Apple is incredibly developer friendly. Not only do they ship that "locked down iMac" (sic) with a world class IDE and compiler (with a lineage that stretches back to the NextStep days) as well as the most used developer tools (python, perl, etc) for free but they actively keep adding technologies to OSX to make it easier for developers to create great apps: Core Video (10.4), Core animation (10.5), Grand Central Dispatch (10.6), etc. etc.
You think the New York Times doesn't have an account manager at Apple who can help them expedite this kind of thing ? These are high profile, highly visible clients for Apple. They'll have someone a just phone call away at all times.
No one is paying for it, that's why there's a huge deficit. Unless american start excreting gold bricks they'll never get out from under that debt (like most european nations too) so they'll do what empires always do when they run out of credit: default. Like the spanish kings that wiped out the Fugger banker family.
If you buy third party stuff, be it a library or an application or whatever, you are always assuming the seller doesn't misrepresent the product. People who can't handle that level of trust should go exclusively open source (and buy a tinfoil hat.)
Why wouldn't they be ? Compiling to several different architectures is somewhat old hat on mac, people have been doing it for years to create fat binaries for ppc and intel, why should this be any different ?
Over time history has shown that open platforms tend to spur multiple 'killer apps'
The first application to be dubbed "killer app" was Visicalc, for Mac. Then there was Lotus 1-2-3, for the IBM PC, no clones around at that time. I don't think the "openness" of the platform has anything to do with it, "developer friendliness" might but that's a completely different matter (though they can overlap.) Look at Linux, self proclaimed kings of openness, where's the glut of killer apps for them ?
Tinkerers and garage companies have more access to Android development and that will lead to thousands of niche apps that won't be available on iPhone. Not to mention in-house software when businesses start to seriously explore integrating their smart phones to their existing in-house networks.
It seems every day there's a new story about someone doing something cool with the iPhone. People use the hardware they have to tinker with and an awful lot of people have iPhones. As to companies, Apple has the Enterprise Developer Program that allows distribution of in-house applications and enterprise mobile device management solutions. Something I'm not sure exists in the Android world.
That's the whole point of the Pablo Picasso quote famously used by Jobs : "Bad artists copy. Great artists steal." Imitation is a good learning tool but it doesn't become innovation until you steal what's good and put it together in a novel way to create something new and improved. I guess the argument against duplication goes that imitation without innovation could actually stifle progress by rewarding knockoffs over original thought. It's a difficult line to draw though.
I've posted this before, but what the hell. Everyone with common sense can see Samsung was imitating the iPhone was recent releases. It was so blatant that reviewers couldn't fail to mention it. It doesn't matter where you fall on the issue, who you think should win or if there should even be a lawsuit at all, that much should be clear.
You want to talk irony ? All the things you mention in your post are things people absolutely hated about windows. The fact that you had to reinstall it, then tweak it, then download a ton of applications to make it useful, etc. People spent decades lamenting the fact Windows won out and now it's being held up as a paragon, a shining example of why Android will win over iOS. Now THAT'S irony.
And that itself was influenced by Apple's Newton. It's all a mishmash of influences. What matters is that eventually Palm hit on the definitive UI in the stylus era and iPhone finally hit the sweet spot in the touchscreen era.
We're in the silver age of music piracy. The golden age was Napster: everyone had their mp3's in folders instead of managed by applications like iTunes and everything was shared by everyone by default. You could find the most obscure songs. To me it was like a preview of what the internet always promised: a huge library where you could access any data (in this case music) that was out there. A little glimpse of the internet's true potential.
I can't empathize, I'm from a country with 3 official languages: (Flemish) Dutch, French and German. If you're on a higher education track in school you'll learn at least two and probably 3 of those (to varying degrees of fluidity) plus the lingua franca English. I have no trouble whatsoever crossing borders. Learning at least one language other than the main language of your geographic location and your mother tongue should be obligatory I think.
The stock market is a chaotic system too but it's pretty easy to predict how a market would react if you were to reintroduce (sell) a huge amount of stocks that had been held privately for a long time to the market all at once: the dumping of stocks would have a destabilizing effect. Now long term those market moves might wind up being beneficial on the whole but short term things would become very "interesting." In terms of climate things becoming "interesting" even for a period which would be relatively short on a geological scale would be devastating to humanity.
Slashdot Mirror
Computers are everywhere now, not every computer has to be a multi-purpose device. You want multi-purpose ? Buy a Mac. You want a handy, well designed device for playing games, browsing, etc. ? Buy an iOS device. This isn't rocket science.
iOS devices are made in the spirit of Raskin at Apple :
"Users do not care about what is inside the box, as long as the box does what they need done."
"As far as the customer is concerned, the interface is the product."
Humane interfaces for users, not technocrats.
It's called "eating your own dogfood." Besides it's a good way to promote the Mac App Store by showing it can handle the load that the Lion release is going to put on their servers: millions of people all trying to buy and download a >4Gb file at once.
And yeah, I expect them to become more hostile and move the restrictive platform up the stack, locking out more developers. Boy, I'd hate to have grown up with a locked down iMac as my family computer. I'd never have gotten into software development.
Because Apple got where they are by being complete idiots right ? Apple is incredibly developer friendly. Not only do they ship that "locked down iMac" (sic) with a world class IDE and compiler (with a lineage that stretches back to the NextStep days) as well as the most used developer tools (python, perl, etc) for free but they actively keep adding technologies to OSX to make it easier for developers to create great apps: Core Video (10.4), Core animation (10.5), Grand Central Dispatch (10.6), etc. etc.
It's called venture capital for a reason.
venture (noun) : an undertaking involving chance, risk, or danger; especially : a speculative business enterprise
You think the New York Times doesn't have an account manager at Apple who can help them expedite this kind of thing ? These are high profile, highly visible clients for Apple. They'll have someone a just phone call away at all times.
No one is paying for it, that's why there's a huge deficit. Unless american start excreting gold bricks they'll never get out from under that debt (like most european nations too) so they'll do what empires always do when they run out of credit: default. Like the spanish kings that wiped out the Fugger banker family.
I was thinking more along the lines of this. (It's not a fucking goatse)
But whatever.
-1 Flamebait
If you buy third party stuff, be it a library or an application or whatever, you are always assuming the seller doesn't misrepresent the product. People who can't handle that level of trust should go exclusively open source (and buy a tinfoil hat.)
Why wouldn't they be ? Compiling to several different architectures is somewhat old hat on mac, people have been doing it for years to create fat binaries for ppc and intel, why should this be any different ?
Maybe their editor was woken up by the sound of champagne corks popping.
Hackers on steroids !
I'd expect a "#goodnightsweetprince" hashtag from real script kiddies.
The issues aren't "very trivial" I think, but otherwise I tend to agree. I just don't like it when people deny the obvious.
Over time history has shown that open platforms tend to spur multiple 'killer apps'
The first application to be dubbed "killer app" was Visicalc, for Mac. Then there was Lotus 1-2-3, for the IBM PC, no clones around at that time. I don't think the "openness" of the platform has anything to do with it, "developer friendliness" might but that's a completely different matter (though they can overlap.) Look at Linux, self proclaimed kings of openness, where's the glut of killer apps for them ?
Tinkerers and garage companies have more access to Android development and that will lead to thousands of niche apps that won't be available on iPhone. Not to mention in-house software when businesses start to seriously explore integrating their smart phones to their existing in-house networks.
It seems every day there's a new story about someone doing something cool with the iPhone. People use the hardware they have to tinker with and an awful lot of people have iPhones. As to companies, Apple has the Enterprise Developer Program that allows distribution of in-house applications and enterprise mobile device management solutions. Something I'm not sure exists in the Android world.
There's a nice quote I read on a blog once: "Those who learn the lessons of history are doomed to try to repeat it."
That's the whole point of the Pablo Picasso quote famously used by Jobs : "Bad artists copy. Great artists steal." Imitation is a good learning tool but it doesn't become innovation until you steal what's good and put it together in a novel way to create something new and improved. I guess the argument against duplication goes that imitation without innovation could actually stifle progress by rewarding knockoffs over original thought. It's a difficult line to draw though.
I've posted this before, but what the hell. Everyone with common sense can see Samsung was imitating the iPhone was recent releases. It was so blatant that reviewers couldn't fail to mention it. It doesn't matter where you fall on the issue, who you think should win or if there should even be a lawsuit at all, that much should be clear.
First Look: Samsung Vibrant Rips Off iPhone 3G Design
Review: The IPhone Look Alike Samsung Eternity SGH-A867 (AT&T)
Samsung Galaxy S Review : "In the time we’ve been carrying the Galaxy S, more than a few people – geeks included – have mistaken it for an iPhone 3GS. The glossy black plastic and metal-effect bezel both echo Apple’s second/third-gen smartphone"
Check out the comparison shot in the first link and tell me that isn't of a whole different order than your comparison picture.
You want to talk irony ? All the things you mention in your post are things people absolutely hated about windows. The fact that you had to reinstall it, then tweak it, then download a ton of applications to make it useful, etc. People spent decades lamenting the fact Windows won out and now it's being held up as a paragon, a shining example of why Android will win over iOS. Now THAT'S irony.
And that itself was influenced by Apple's Newton. It's all a mishmash of influences. What matters is that eventually Palm hit on the definitive UI in the stylus era and iPhone finally hit the sweet spot in the touchscreen era.
We're in the silver age of music piracy. The golden age was Napster: everyone had their mp3's in folders instead of managed by applications like iTunes and everything was shared by everyone by default. You could find the most obscure songs. To me it was like a preview of what the internet always promised: a huge library where you could access any data (in this case music) that was out there. A little glimpse of the internet's true potential.
I can't empathize, I'm from a country with 3 official languages: (Flemish) Dutch, French and German. If you're on a higher education track in school you'll learn at least two and probably 3 of those (to varying degrees of fluidity) plus the lingua franca English. I have no trouble whatsoever crossing borders. Learning at least one language other than the main language of your geographic location and your mother tongue should be obligatory I think.
The TSA has just successfully unionized so it's no big surprise to see official opinion on them as voiced by the big US propaganda outlets do a 180.
Learning other languages broadens the mind.
The stock market is a chaotic system too but it's pretty easy to predict how a market would react if you were to reintroduce (sell) a huge amount of stocks that had been held privately for a long time to the market all at once: the dumping of stocks would have a destabilizing effect. Now long term those market moves might wind up being beneficial on the whole but short term things would become very "interesting." In terms of climate things becoming "interesting" even for a period which would be relatively short on a geological scale would be devastating to humanity.