If there were an iTablet which had a bit more than basic apps and a decent size (say, the screen part of the Airbook, or maybe half that) you could use it in pen mode. If Apple were bright enough to incorporate a decent Bluetooth stack you could then add a keyboard to it, in which case the laserprojected keyboards would come in handy (although I've not used on, maybe the stuff doesn't work that well).
That way you could travel light and still have decent computing facilities with you.
As for tablets, I just hope it's not like HP ELitebooks. I had one foistet upon me on a project, and it was utter, complete *rubbish* at digitising - you just could not calibrate it accurate enough to have the pen where you put it on the screen so it was unusable. Add to that that MS in its infinite wisdom decided that as soon as you're pen capable you MUST have that keyboard image visible on login (so, just watch which keys are pressed during login to get the password, and no, an ability to disable that is not available) and it made me decide I'd not use that for my own work where possible. That laptop was twice the price it was worth because of the fancy screen. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.
I thus hope Apple can do better. If they do I may even buy it. I just use what works for me:-).
I designed that a good 10 years ago as a means to multiply the use of military comms equipment - the idea was to combine processing units if more computing horse power was required in theather. However, it emerged that volume was more interesting than flexibility (why sell one device if you can get paid for two)..
If that gets you angry you better not use Google's web albums. I wonder why on earth the NSA gets so much money for IT taps where Google is already doing everything required.
That's not all, have you ever read their Terms of Service? If not, I suggest a quick read of specifically point 11 and see if you understand what happens if you use ANY Google service..
Searching, fine. Anything else - avoid, it is most certainly NOT free..
As soon as you become a formal carrier, a whole lot of extra rules kick in, such as the requirement to provide legal intercept (if you search long enough you'll find that in any telco license, globally).
I don't think they're quite ready to set up a full telco..
With the bodies they probably have from all that rescue work (it IS very hard and risky) and the scandalous absence of funding it's more logical to assume they're *providing* it..:-)
Like it or loath it, Apple has seriously shaken up the mobile phone industry, and got away with something nobody else ever managed: taking a big slice of the carrier's cake on top.
If Appe brings out a sensible iTablet that actually works and is smart enough to work with the laser keyboard (the Bluetooth version does proper HID support) I cannot see that fail, and it will probably nuke the market Dell is looking at.
The tablet in itself goes into markets at present taken by ebook stuff like the Kindle, and with a proper remote keyboard it hits the portable market - why take a whole system if it's that portable.
So I'd wait a bit - let's see what Apple is up to. I hope I'm right - it's about time for such a device.
It appears you don't always have a choice in operators in the US. Otherwise it appears AT&T would have been without customers quite a while ago (well, at least the smart ones).
I'm not sure, however, I don't live in the US so I have no idea how their coverage overlaps. Anyone?
I mean, if they're busy destroying everything that makes it more usable than MS Office they MUST introduce something like it. Maybe use an animated Gnu, that'll keep Stallman quiet.
NOT without a "old UI" option. PLEASE do not make the same c*ckup as MS did - Office 2007 lost them a lot of clients.
Make OOo lighter, more portable - that's a win. Not the UI.
The problem is not new design, it's disabling those who are used to the existing layout.
Properties and document variables are hidden several levels (or clicks) deep into the menu structure whereas they used to be two clicks away - I don't call that improvement. That would have been OK if it was possible to load the "old" UI on startup which is (AFAIK) not that hard to do. Instead, users got this rammed down their throat with no regard for timing or even basic training, and THAT is what's wrong with any new design - a total lack of migration strategy.
To this I have to add the destruction of the help facility: with the standard "offline" version you stood a chance if looking for something because it was just a limited set of data you were searching. Try finding "document fields" in the online enabled version and it's like an "I feel unlucky" version of Google where the first link is guaranteed NOT to be the thing you're after.
There is a reason I switched to OOo - no new UI. It appears OOo is working on reasons to make me go for MS Office. Other than Outlook there was for me no reason to use MS Office - it appears Ooo is working on providing me one. Shame.
You were right - it comes up with exactly the opposite. Given that it is not POSSIBLE to find such a review I can thus only conclude it even writes this crap on demand:-)
If there is any truth to the rumours, there is IMHO a good chance that the upcoming new gadget from Apple is going to hit that market, and hard. iTunes works, so setting up a book stream is going to be a simple upgrade, and Apple can do good things with design, although I'm not always convinced about their usability, it's occasionally too much surface and no depth (no multitasking on the iPhone, for instance).
I'll wait until I've seen what Apple is up to before I'd buy any of them, and only if I can use open content. I can lend a book to a friend, I should be able to do that electronically - and I should be able to load my own content (for me mainly TXT, PDF and ODF).
I've spent 8 f*cking years fixing other people's mistakes in Word (I used to be a consultant) - the mess you can get yourself into with Word is unbelievable:
1 - Approach. Content / format, but in Word your thinking is disrupted continuously by formatting, grammar and spelling questions which is incredibly counterproductive.
2 - Templates. Good idea, but try to change as little as possible. Not this consultancy, it had someone permanently working on "updating" the corporate report template and it had fantastically dangerous features in. Oh, and there were, of course, no instructions to go with it, nor were users consulted in the creation.
3 - Styles. Use them or not use them - you think. First off, users are not instructed on how to write in Word, so only a few people understand how styles work (the basis of structured formatting). Secondly, cut & paste can carry foreign style formatting into the document which can create an incredible mess. This is what I liked about WordPerfect, you could open up that can of worms and take the ones out that were causing the problem - not with Word, it just does the traditional MS thing to destroy hours of work: it crashes. Which brings me to the final point:
4 - Automatic save - doesn't. Only the latest version of Word has a recovery feature that works to some degree - Word "recovery" after the numerous crashes (increasing as the size -and thus criticality- of document grows) meant swearing and prompted a frequent use of Ctrl-S to keep a working file.
So, all in all, it has my vote for dying. It inhibits creative writing by getting in the way with constant interruptions and mothering to a degree that even the UK government cannot match, and it doesn't do the job it was meant to do. What saddens me is that OOo is trying to imitate this pile of dung, but I guess they need some starting point. Oh, and irony of irony: what do you use to fix a Word document that has gotten itself into a mess to the point of crashing on load? Yup, OpenOffice. Unwieldy as it is, for me It Just Works..
Good point - especially since there is no way NOT to receive SMS. I get a nice demonstration of SMS spam courtesy of O2 (UK operator) - every time I am as much as NEAR a border I get all their marketing about international call charges.
It's so bad I'm considering changing operator for when I'm in the UK..
Any other way to cut out AT&T to reliably send and receive SMS messages is something they would stop immediately.
They can't stop the cheaper alternative called email unless they do something stupid with their data plans. They're fresh out of luck - the world moves on (thankfully).
It's actually quite fun to see major monopolies suddenly lose their ability to gloriously rip people off - especially since they have been behaving like it's an entitlement.
OK, so why isn't anyone jumping into that market opportunity? Maybe because it isn't an opportunity? Where have all the hobbyists gone?
I'm bored to the eyeballs with what I'm doing right now, so maybe it's worth it for me to investigate - however, I wonder if that need isn't serviceable by a web shop..
I agree with you 100% - and I'm no expert like you:-). There is so much more to creating a good looking document with positioning, spacing, kerning etc etc - on the few occasions I need to do it I tend to use Scribus or (if it really has to be to) I pay someone to do it for me.
Ironically, however, its PRECISELY the (ab)use of Word for layout purposes that has kept it installed against cheaper alternatives such as OpenOffice. People get upset if the layout is subtly different, indicating a worrying increasing importance of presentation over content.
I am not convinced about the positive effect of break in interface approach. People like to use what they're used to, and it's only the "you must use what we shove down your throat" power of executive decision that has allowed the new MS Word interface to survive.
For anyone who has been using Word over time and has developed a degree of sophistication in their uses (i.e. go past the normal 5% of functionality) the new interface was an unmitigated disaster - it was the time I switched permanently to OpenOffice instead. I could not afford to lose all that time to look for functions which used to be easy to find (I tried for a good 5 months before I finally had enough).
That's 100% right - I only occasionally buy a CD but there's so much less that's interesting. The other factor is that on the movie side they actively go out of their way to STOP me buying movies.
When I'm travelling for work, I sometimes get bored. So I'd go and buy something. What can I not buy? Movies! They won't work when I'm home other than by using a player that bypasses the region limiting - in other words, I should stay home, or buy pirated stuff (which I don't do out of principle). Well, fine. So I can't buy exactly at the very time I would still have an incentive to get a DVD - at home it's all electronic.
I can't quite work out if they're deliberately running their own industry down or that they are just plain dumb. Given the sheer dedication to doing absolutely stupid things I can only conclude it must be deliberate.
Errm, that's what you sign up for if you buy DRM infested products. Amazom mishandled this IMHO, but it's easy to judge from the sidelines. I would have provided at least a replacement.
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If there were an iTablet which had a bit more than basic apps and a decent size (say, the screen part of the Airbook, or maybe half that) you could use it in pen mode. If Apple were bright enough to incorporate a decent Bluetooth stack you could then add a keyboard to it, in which case the laserprojected keyboards would come in handy (although I've not used on, maybe the stuff doesn't work that well).
That way you could travel light and still have decent computing facilities with you.
As for tablets, I just hope it's not like HP ELitebooks. I had one foistet upon me on a project, and it was utter, complete *rubbish* at digitising - you just could not calibrate it accurate enough to have the pen where you put it on the screen so it was unusable. Add to that that MS in its infinite wisdom decided that as soon as you're pen capable you MUST have that keyboard image visible on login (so, just watch which keys are pressed during login to get the password, and no, an ability to disable that is not available) and it made me decide I'd not use that for my own work where possible. That laptop was twice the price it was worth because of the fancy screen. Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish.
I thus hope Apple can do better. If they do I may even buy it. I just use what works for me :-).
I designed that a good 10 years ago as a means to multiply the use of military comms equipment - the idea was to combine processing units if more computing horse power was required in theather. However, it emerged that volume was more interesting than flexibility (why sell one device if you can get paid for two)..
If that gets you angry you better not use Google's web albums. I wonder why on earth the NSA gets so much money for IT taps where Google is already doing everything required.
That's not all, have you ever read their Terms of Service? If not, I suggest a quick read of specifically point 11 and see if you understand what happens if you use ANY Google service..
Searching, fine. Anything else - avoid, it is most certainly NOT free..
As soon as you become a formal carrier, a whole lot of extra rules kick in, such as the requirement to provide legal intercept (if you search long enough you'll find that in any telco license, globally).
I don't think they're quite ready to set up a full telco..
With the bodies they probably have from all that rescue work (it IS very hard and risky) and the scandalous absence of funding it's more logical to assume they're *providing* it.. :-)
Like it or loath it, Apple has seriously shaken up the mobile phone industry, and got away with something nobody else ever managed: taking a big slice of the carrier's cake on top.
If Appe brings out a sensible iTablet that actually works and is smart enough to work with the laser keyboard (the Bluetooth version does proper HID support) I cannot see that fail, and it will probably nuke the market Dell is looking at.
The tablet in itself goes into markets at present taken by ebook stuff like the Kindle, and with a proper remote keyboard it hits the portable market - why take a whole system if it's that portable.
So I'd wait a bit - let's see what Apple is up to. I hope I'm right - it's about time for such a device.
I mean, until now we'd have some boring benevolent mechanism if the assembled computing power became sentient a la SkyNet.
Now we *really* have to worry about things, but it's at least interesting..
Isn't knowledge human software?
Sorry to confuse matters :-)
Amusingly appropriate to display a plane HUD on an internal propeller :-)
It appears you don't always have a choice in operators in the US. Otherwise it appears AT&T would have been without customers quite a while ago (well, at least the smart ones).
I'm not sure, however, I don't live in the US so I have no idea how their coverage overlaps. Anyone?
I mean, if they're busy destroying everything that makes it more usable than MS Office they MUST introduce something like it. Maybe use an animated Gnu, that'll keep Stallman quiet.
NOT without a "old UI" option. PLEASE do not make the same c*ckup as MS did - Office 2007 lost them a lot of clients.
Make OOo lighter, more portable - that's a win. Not the UI.
All IMHO, of course.
The problem is not new design, it's disabling those who are used to the existing layout.
Properties and document variables are hidden several levels (or clicks) deep into the menu structure whereas they used to be two clicks away - I don't call that improvement. That would have been OK if it was possible to load the "old" UI on startup which is (AFAIK) not that hard to do. Instead, users got this rammed down their throat with no regard for timing or even basic training, and THAT is what's wrong with any new design - a total lack of migration strategy.
To this I have to add the destruction of the help facility: with the standard "offline" version you stood a chance if looking for something because it was just a limited set of data you were searching. Try finding "document fields" in the online enabled version and it's like an "I feel unlucky" version of Google where the first link is guaranteed NOT to be the thing you're after.
There is a reason I switched to OOo - no new UI. It appears OOo is working on reasons to make me go for MS Office. Other than Outlook there was for me no reason to use MS Office - it appears Ooo is working on providing me one. Shame.
You were right - it comes up with exactly the opposite. Given that it is not POSSIBLE to find such a review I can thus only conclude it even writes this crap on demand :-)
That's would be an ace warranty claim: the device works, but the abuse sensors are broken. :-)
Not true. The key to joining one appears to be Windows :-)
If there is any truth to the rumours, there is IMHO a good chance that the upcoming new gadget from Apple is going to hit that market, and hard. iTunes works, so setting up a book stream is going to be a simple upgrade, and Apple can do good things with design, although I'm not always convinced about their usability, it's occasionally too much surface and no depth (no multitasking on the iPhone, for instance).
I'll wait until I've seen what Apple is up to before I'd buy any of them, and only if I can use open content. I can lend a book to a friend, I should be able to do that electronically - and I should be able to load my own content (for me mainly TXT, PDF and ODF).
I've spent 8 f*cking years fixing other people's mistakes in Word (I used to be a consultant) - the mess you can get yourself into with Word is unbelievable:
1 - Approach. Content / format, but in Word your thinking is disrupted continuously by formatting, grammar and spelling questions which is incredibly counterproductive.
2 - Templates. Good idea, but try to change as little as possible. Not this consultancy, it had someone permanently working on "updating" the corporate report template and it had fantastically dangerous features in. Oh, and there were, of course, no instructions to go with it, nor were users consulted in the creation.
3 - Styles. Use them or not use them - you think. First off, users are not instructed on how to write in Word, so only a few people understand how styles work (the basis of structured formatting). Secondly, cut & paste can carry foreign style formatting into the document which can create an incredible mess. This is what I liked about WordPerfect, you could open up that can of worms and take the ones out that were causing the problem - not with Word, it just does the traditional MS thing to destroy hours of work: it crashes. Which brings me to the final point:
4 - Automatic save - doesn't. Only the latest version of Word has a recovery feature that works to some degree - Word "recovery" after the numerous crashes (increasing as the size -and thus criticality- of document grows) meant swearing and prompted a frequent use of Ctrl-S to keep a working file.
So, all in all, it has my vote for dying. It inhibits creative writing by getting in the way with constant interruptions and mothering to a degree that even the UK government cannot match, and it doesn't do the job it was meant to do. What saddens me is that OOo is trying to imitate this pile of dung, but I guess they need some starting point. Oh, and irony of irony: what do you use to fix a Word document that has gotten itself into a mess to the point of crashing on load? Yup, OpenOffice. Unwieldy as it is, for me It Just Works..
I mean, the level of bacteria traditionally present in every student dorm - logical conclusion, no? No more power problems! :-)
Good point - especially since there is no way NOT to receive SMS. I get a nice demonstration of SMS spam courtesy of O2 (UK operator) - every time I am as much as NEAR a border I get all their marketing about international call charges.
It's so bad I'm considering changing operator for when I'm in the UK..
Any other way to cut out AT&T to reliably send and receive SMS messages is something they would stop immediately.
They can't stop the cheaper alternative called email unless they do something stupid with their data plans. They're fresh out of luck - the world moves on (thankfully).
It's actually quite fun to see major monopolies suddenly lose their ability to gloriously rip people off - especially since they have been behaving like it's an entitlement.
OK, so why isn't anyone jumping into that market opportunity? Maybe because it isn't an opportunity? Where have all the hobbyists gone?
I'm bored to the eyeballs with what I'm doing right now, so maybe it's worth it for me to investigate - however, I wonder if that need isn't serviceable by a web shop..
I agree with you 100% - and I'm no expert like you :-). There is so much more to creating a good looking document with positioning, spacing, kerning etc etc - on the few occasions I need to do it I tend to use Scribus or (if it really has to be to) I pay someone to do it for me.
Ironically, however, its PRECISELY the (ab)use of Word for layout purposes that has kept it installed against cheaper alternatives such as OpenOffice. People get upset if the layout is subtly different, indicating a worrying increasing importance of presentation over content.
I am not convinced about the positive effect of break in interface approach. People like to use what they're used to, and it's only the "you must use what we shove down your throat" power of executive decision that has allowed the new MS Word interface to survive.
For anyone who has been using Word over time and has developed a degree of sophistication in their uses (i.e. go past the normal 5% of functionality) the new interface was an unmitigated disaster - it was the time I switched permanently to OpenOffice instead. I could not afford to lose all that time to look for functions which used to be easy to find (I tried for a good 5 months before I finally had enough).
That's 100% right - I only occasionally buy a CD but there's so much less that's interesting. The other factor is that on the movie side they actively go out of their way to STOP me buying movies.
When I'm travelling for work, I sometimes get bored. So I'd go and buy something. What can I not buy? Movies! They won't work when I'm home other than by using a player that bypasses the region limiting - in other words, I should stay home, or buy pirated stuff (which I don't do out of principle). Well, fine. So I can't buy exactly at the very time I would still have an incentive to get a DVD - at home it's all electronic.
I can't quite work out if they're deliberately running their own industry down or that they are just plain dumb. Given the sheer dedication to doing absolutely stupid things I can only conclude it must be deliberate.
Nobody is THAT stupid, no?
Hmm, I think you've got a hit there (it's of about the same level of insightful comment as most other stuff I hear).
Just sign here, thanks. :-)
Errm, that's what you sign up for if you buy DRM infested products. Amazom mishandled this IMHO, but it's easy to judge from the sidelines. I would have provided at least a replacement.