The Apple I was much closer to a modern all-in-one system,
Not really. Not even close. Aside from the fact that it was less complete than other offerings at the time, even purchased assembled (assuming any of the 200 were sold that way) There were already products on the market that were MUCH closer to a modern system like the AIM-65 that had, at purchase, an integrated display, keyboard, power-supply, etc. The Apple I was a bag of parts and a circuit board. It didn't even have a case option.
The Apple II is very likely the machine that you're thinking of, though they were just another me-too player in 1977. Apple would have had a helluva time if it weren't for VisiCalc. Had that been produced initially for a different system, computer history would look very different. VisiCalc drove the adoption of the personal computer in business and, as a consequence, drove sales of the Apple II.
The TRS-80 Model 1 (the worlds first mass-produced personal computer) sold for less than half the Apple II in 1977. Had Bricklin written VisiCalc for the TRS-80 instead, Apple may have vanished like so many other early players.
the real advantage of the A2 was the availability of lower cost, higher capacity, easier to use disk drives, [...] That in turn made Visicalc practical. Even though it was first on the Apple ][, Visicalc simply didn't work as well on a PET or TRS-80.
A strong argument. Though you have to admit that had it been created for a different computer first, it would have advantaged Commodore or Tandy over Apple in that rush to adoption. Woz's disk drive was brilliant, I won't argue that. However, I don't believe that having that edge at the time would have moved Apple's over cheaper alternatives. At the time, if you wanted VisiCalc, you bought an Apple not because it ran the software better, but because Apple became associated with that program. Had VisiCalc not been produced for the Apple II at all, I don't know that they'd have survived into the 1980's.
...and yet you pointed to the Altair, which really had little influence.
What? It's the single most influential computer of the time! It was the 8800 on the cover of Popular Electronics that inspired Bill Gates and the old Traf-O-Data crew to create a BASIC for the machine and later found Micro-soft corporation. It sparked an entire industry of peripherals and countless companies like CroMemCo to say nothing of clone machines like the IMSAI 8800. It even set the first de facto personal computer industry standard: the S-100 Bus!
Even the famous Homebrew Computer Club was founded in response the Altair. That club had a very heavy influence on Woz, who claims that the club renewed his interest in computers. Would Apple even exist without the Altair and the HCC? I very seriously doubt it!
If there's any computer that can be credited for starting the personal computing revolution, it's the MITS Altair 8800.
Now, MITS was seriously influential itself (though all due to the success of the Altair and the industry it created) pioneering not only an entire industry by releasing the first affordable personal computer, but also virtually every aspect of the early industry including magazines, shows, retail sales, user groups,... the list goes on.
To say that the Altair hardly had any influence is just absurd. It would be difficult to overstate its influence!
That Apple is an industry giant today says nothing about their importance in those early days. The Apple I was simply not very (at all?) influential. It's only important now in that it was the first product of a company that would later become very influential in the industry. The revolution, however, was sparked by the Altair -- the Apple I was hardly a contributor. It's real a stretch to say that that particular machine had *any* influence at all.
We go with hand woven silken asswipes these days. Hand woven by thai child prostitutes for the extra smooth feeling.
I think it's just awful that you have to suffer with such medium-quality asswipes. I'll be sure to write my congressman about your plight so that you can get a much deserved tax-cut.
Why would they be proud of the fact that they're selling four years of education which can apparently be done in less than two?
They'd be proud of attracting a quality student.
Besides, it's undergraduate work, so the only thing stopping the average student from finishing early is process (not a problem in this case) and motivation.
Er, the Apple I didn't really revolutionize anything. (The Apple II was easily the more influential Apple computer, but even then that was mostly due to VisiCalc.)
Why not "the MITS Altair of broadcast", ars? You know, a computer that had a real influence on the personal computing revolution.
If they just wanted something really early, why not "the Kenbak-1 of broadcast" or "the H8 of broadcast"?
Before everyone accuses me of worshiping at the alter of a dead cult-leader like Roberts, here's what I'm thinking: They picked the Apple I to attract clicks from readers who would otherwise have no interest in software defined radio.
and websites will be coded against the lowest common denominator, which is whatever iOS & Android WebKit supports
Except they don't. See, most of the internet is not optimized for mobile, they're optimized for the average PC user. Fortunately, the PlayBook offers a desktop-like browsing experience. It's brilliant having a *good* implementation of Flash for all the sites that use something like springboard for media, or that use webGL, or that make use of new features to provide a richer or smoother experience with a web-based application. You simply don't get that with, say, iOS. It's really nice being able to have a website 'just work' instead of hunting down a special app or wishing the site operators would "fix it so it would work" and giving up and visiting the site on a desktop.
You as a user may not care about the web browser, but I sure as hell do. I can access more the web that I could on other platforms. That makes me happy.
On the other hand, you know why I absolutely love Chrome on Android? Not only it syncs my bookmarks and history between my phone, my tablet and my desktop, but it also lets me see what tabs I have opened on any other device , so if I had, say, 10 open tabs on desktop researching something and then had to leave elsewhere, I can continue right from the point where I left from my tablet when I'm waiting elsewhere.
Unless those sites don't play well with your tablet. See, that's why I care about the browser! It's true that that you can't sync bookmarks between your tablet/phone/desktop with BB -- though that's not an important feature for me. On my phone, the browser is for looking things up on the go or emergency work in a pinch. On the tablet it's play or emergency work. On the desktop, it's work first then play. I have a few (6 or so) bookmarks on the tablet, none on the phone, and a zillion on the desktop. Bookmark syncing is of no interest or benefit to me. I do like the "open on the tablet" feature I have though. So I can open a URL or file on my phone w/ my tablet. Handy, that.
Isn't that fun? Feature X is great! Feature X isn't important, feature X.a is essential!. Feature X.a is irrelevant to me, but feature Y is very cool.
Pointless waste of time that accomplishes nothing, wouldn't you say?
The difference is that, if you actually have facts and numbers to back your position, a well-composed post with references for every statement has a good chance of being modded up (and hence read by more people) even if it goes contrary to the groupthink
Don't be silly. I've had well-considered posted modded down for going against the group think, and I've had nonsense rants modded +5 insightful. I usually end up with a mix of positive and negative mods in either case. Excepting threads more than 2 deep, which generally get ignored no matter how much effort goes in to them.
Well, at the moment I can't seriously consider PlayBook for the simple reason that it's the only tablet for which there's no Skype app.
Considering that we were talking about the UI, I don't see how that's in any way relevant. Interesting. It fits the spirit, if not the letter, of my prediction.
but ultimately I care about what the device can do, not - beyond a certain point - how convenient it is to control
So, the UI isn't important. Okay. Well, the only two points I offered was that the year-old hardware is still competitive (it is) and that the UI was superior.
As for "what it can do" if you mean "run a few specific apps" that's clearly not a limitation of the platform! it's up to MS and Amazon to provide Skype and Kindle apps. Though a recent interview with RIMs Adam Stanley shows us that they're not just sitting around waiting for them to bring apps to the platform, RIM is actively working with 100 or so "big name" groups to bring popular apps to the BB10 platform. Do you need me to look up the interview for you?
The platform itself, again, is no limitation! Technically speaking, it's the most capable mobile platform out there. There's plenty of technical stuff to dig through if you're actually interested. (Why do I have no interest in giving specifics? Because anything I offer will be dismissed as being "no big deal" or "irrelevant to consumers" or any number of pointless wastes of time. Like above, "the UI is great" / "the UI doesn't matter" or more specific like "the gesture suite on the PB is superior to the gestures used on iOS and Android" / "Android has a bunch of gestures too!" WTF? It's ridiculous waste of bits that accomplishes nothing. We could go all the way down to something like task-switching and I'll bet the results would be the same. "Task switching is superior because of x,y,z" / "You can switch tasks in [other platform] too!" or [ignoring reasons x and z] "y doesn't matter!" You've seen it. It's a stupid waste of time.)
And lest you accuse me of preaching and not practicing, here [slashdot.org] is an old post of mine that I consider a solid proof of how you can argue against groupthink and win.
Nobody wins when you argue on the internet. Even in your link you don't get a concession, just more descent. The closest I've ever seen to productive argument is on c2, and that's a stretch most of the time.
The best you can do is offer an alternative opinion. On the viability of RIM, no on gives a shit about facts, so what's the point? You'll find lot's of posts from back in 2010 declaring RIM is dead / will be dead in under a year even though they were still the #1 selling brand at the time. Pointing out that fact then was a waste then. Pointing out how well the company is actually doing today is also a waste of time (they're in absolutely no danger of becoming insolvent any time soon.) and you're officially "delusional", no matter how many numbers you offer up.
Well reasoned post with facts and data or frustrated rant? There doesn't seem to be any difference. One is easier to write, however. Today i don't care enough to bother.
If they were, they'd be doing well. Which they obviously aren't.
Nonsense.
I don't know how many posters here have told me that just having the better technology isn't enough and point out the zillions of superior technologies that have flopped in the market. Now I get this, the other side, that says that having the superior technology is a guarantee of success!
Besides, RIMs user-base is still growing (every quarter, there are MORE blackberry users than the previous quarter, not less.) What's hurting RIM in NA are their poor marketing and training efforts, not their technology. Well, and idiot minimum-wage sales reps, but I'll chalk that up to poor training.
The things RIM has historically done well were communication, security, and remote management. They're still leaders in those areas. I don't know that anyone actually disputes that.
What kept RIM behind was the sometimes slow UI and poor web-browser. (To be fair, their browser was average as far as phone browsers were concerned until iOS upped the standard.) Today, the UI on their legacy OS is smooth as silk, and their mobile browser is top-notch (on tablets, they're unmatched in html5 support -- and WAY ahead on BB10 from what we've seen so far.) They don't have the same problems they did a year ago. Sure, the most I can say is that their new products are solid, if decidedly average. Their new platform, however, is unquestionably ahead of the curve.
That leaves them as good as the competition in just about every area important to consumers. The only issue now is apps, though that is becoming increasingly less important as AppWorld is growing rapidly thanks to RIMs very successful developer outreach programs.
So, yes, RIM is delivering what consumers want, even though they struggled with the changing market in the past. RIM today is not the same RIM as last year, or even the year before (when they were still the #1 best selling brand.) Times have changed.
I don't hate RIM; far from it. I would very much like more competition against iOS and Android.
I'm not buying it. Why come here are repeat memes otherwise? Maybe it's just me you hate. I don't blame you, I can be a real jack-ass. Still, who really cares?
. You actually did a decent write-up on BES before, but your posts about BB10 and PB do read like mindless fanboi drivel, unfortunately.
Yeah, I quit caring. Facts don't mean shit to anyone here. I'd rather not get in to a flame war over tedious, unimportant, issues with irrational idiots on slashdot.
I could compare their suite of gestures, for example, to iOS and Android but I'd just be wasting my time.
Now, with you specifically, I don't think I'll get anywhere. I don''t believe there is anything that I can write that could possibly sway you from your current position. I encourage you to take a second look at the PlayBook's UI and compare it to iOS and Android, though I'm sure that your only goal then would be to find something that the platform doesn't do as well as one of the others (though you'll have a hard time finding such a thing) and ignore things that it does so much better than the others. (This is, oddly enough, why I'd be wasting my time here. It doesn't matter if everything was better except feature X -- feature X is all the hater would care about. Stupid waste of my time.)
I figure fan-boy ranting is just as effective as a well-thought-out response here. Heh, and just as reasonable as the irrational, thoughtless, repeated memes RIM-is-dead / everything-they-make-sucks.
If you want numbers, look them up. While there is obviously no way to tell exactly how many developers have started targeting the BB platform, you can find a minimum by looking at Jam session attendance numbers. The FACTS are that thousands of new developers are committed to the platform and response to their new development tools has been overwhelmingly positive. This isn't limited to individual developers, obviously. You'll find op-eds from several game publishers extolling the virtues of the new platform and tools as well. The quickly-rising tide of new apps in AppWorld also supports my assertion. (Want numbers? Look them up yourself! Your ignorance isn't my problem.)
It looks to me like you'd rather live in your delusional little world than face reality. Why are you so desperate to believe that RIM is dying? Why would you even care? Are you afraid that their new platform will take attention away from your favorite mobile OS? Why should that matter?
RIM has an amazing new platform and a fantastic suite of new development tools. Developers seem to love it and are turning to the platform at a rate unimaginable a year ago. Get over it.
But they are vastly superior in whys people actually care. Take a look at the incredible benefits Balance offers corporate users, or their historically superior communication tools.
Their best in security and remote management, sure. Average users care about the UI and communications. RIMs new UI is clearly superior to the competition, and they've ALWAYS been the best as far as communication goes (no one really disputes that).
What users don't care about is Apps, the data suggests that apps aren't as important as many people seem to think. Still, the app-gap is closing and RIM is quickly approaching 100k apps in the market. Their development tools are top-of-the-line and developer response to their new tools has been overwhelmingly positive.
Yeah, they're ahead of the game in virtually every conceivable way. I'm sorry that your (inexplicable) pathological hatred for a company blinds you to the obvious.
No, that's from RIM's ridiculously poor marketing and training efforts.
The tech-press panned the device for lack of a native email client, which over-shadowed the otherwise glowing reviews of the UI, leaving sales personal with the impression that it was a worthless pile of garbage.
So, bad marketing coupled with gross incompetence on the part of sales personnel is why it didn't sell well. The product itself is still, more than a year after it's release, one of the best tablet products you can buy.
Go ahead and try one out. You'll wish you'd never seen it. It's just impossible to go back to the second-rate UI on Android or iOS and feel even a little bit satisfied after an experience so vastly superior.
Not really my opinion...just look at the numbers...customers already voted with their wallets.
They didn't buy a product they couldn't buy? Interesting...
Seriously, take 5 minutes to think about all of the technologically superior products that didn't make it
Being the best is not a guarantee of failure.
BB10 is truly revolutionary, and sets the new standard for what a mobile OS should be. Even the UI is light-years ahead of iOS and Android. Just look at the mess that iOS has turned in to. Just look at the ridiculously bad suite of gestures they use. One-handed use virtually impossible. How many functions are jammed in to the home button now? iOS just can't adapt. It's at a technological and UI dead-end, and has been for a while. It's the past, not the future.
Android is behind, but has a better chance of surviving just because they can more easily adapt -- Android can break with the past in a way that iOS never can. It remains to be seen, however, if Google will see the writing on the wall.
Sorry, RIM adopting Android is a horrible idea. They'd be taking a massive step backward. BB10 sets the new standard. It's a truly revolutionary mobile platform.
And give up their objectively superior new OS, years of effort, and awesome suite of development tools (including their NDK)? Let's not forget the massive advantages on the UI front!
Android just can't do what BB10 does. It's a ridiculously bad idea. They'd be taking a massive step backward.
I remember I had this discussion with a friend when RIM announced that the Playbook relied heavily on Flash.
That never happened. Well, the discussion may have happened, but he announcement never did.
Adobe AIR was one of several different ways to develop for their new platform, and still is, but the PlayBook does not and has never "relied heavily on Flash". Again, no announcement was ever made, that was all in your imagination.
On Flash: However, having good flash support on the tablet is fantastic. Lots of sites are accessible to me that are not accessible on iOS (due to Apples hubris) or Android (due to shitty flash support). It's fantastic. I don't need an app for every media-centric website. I can just use the damn website!
On the future post Flash: It's also nice having access to the leading-edge of the web with the best HTML5 support on any tablet in the market. Call me when iOS gets webgl support. I won't be waiting.
Lol! Developers are flocking the the new platform, which is very developer friendly. RIM is also having a great deal of success with their developer outreach programs.
That is, the facts don't seem to support your assertion.
After using a PB for any length of time, trying to use any Android or iOS device is like stepping back in time.
Apple uses know that "it's all about the experience". Well, RIM has that nailed as far as tablets are concerned, and all signs point to a revolutionary UI on the new BB10 handsets.
Unless you're working to get android on your hardware, you might as well pack it up and go home right now.
Yeah, being a "me too" player in a crowded market with a second-rate OS is a great plan. A shame that they're sticking with the most advanced mobile OS in the industry. That'll kill 'em to be sure...
Honestly, what on earth could possibly make you think moving to Android would be a good move for RIM?
Slashdot Mirror
Forgot to mention this bit.
The Apple I was much closer to a modern all-in-one system,
Not really. Not even close. Aside from the fact that it was less complete than other offerings at the time, even purchased assembled (assuming any of the 200 were sold that way) There were already products on the market that were MUCH closer to a modern system like the AIM-65 that had, at purchase, an integrated display, keyboard, power-supply, etc. The Apple I was a bag of parts and a circuit board. It didn't even have a case option.
The Apple II is very likely the machine that you're thinking of, though they were just another me-too player in 1977. Apple would have had a helluva time if it weren't for VisiCalc. Had that been produced initially for a different system, computer history would look very different. VisiCalc drove the adoption of the personal computer in business and, as a consequence, drove sales of the Apple II.
The TRS-80 Model 1 (the worlds first mass-produced personal computer) sold for less than half the Apple II in 1977. Had Bricklin written VisiCalc for the TRS-80 instead, Apple may have vanished like so many other early players.
the real advantage of the A2 was the availability of lower cost, higher capacity, easier to use disk drives, [...] That in turn made Visicalc practical. Even though it was first on the Apple ][, Visicalc simply didn't work as well on a PET or TRS-80.
A strong argument. Though you have to admit that had it been created for a different computer first, it would have advantaged Commodore or Tandy over Apple in that rush to adoption. Woz's disk drive was brilliant, I won't argue that. However, I don't believe that having that edge at the time would have moved Apple's over cheaper alternatives. At the time, if you wanted VisiCalc, you bought an Apple not because it ran the software better, but because Apple became associated with that program. Had VisiCalc not been produced for the Apple II at all, I don't know that they'd have survived into the 1980's.
...and yet you pointed to the Altair, which really had little influence.
What? It's the single most influential computer of the time! It was the 8800 on the cover of Popular Electronics that inspired Bill Gates and the old Traf-O-Data crew to create a BASIC for the machine and later found Micro-soft corporation. It sparked an entire industry of peripherals and countless companies like CroMemCo to say nothing of clone machines like the IMSAI 8800. It even set the first de facto personal computer industry standard: the S-100 Bus!
Even the famous Homebrew Computer Club was founded in response the Altair. That club had a very heavy influence on Woz, who claims that the club renewed his interest in computers. Would Apple even exist without the Altair and the HCC? I very seriously doubt it!
If there's any computer that can be credited for starting the personal computing revolution, it's the MITS Altair 8800.
Now, MITS was seriously influential itself (though all due to the success of the Altair and the industry it created) pioneering not only an entire industry by releasing the first affordable personal computer, but also virtually every aspect of the early industry including magazines, shows, retail sales, user groups, ... the list goes on.
To say that the Altair hardly had any influence is just absurd. It would be difficult to overstate its influence!
That Apple is an industry giant today says nothing about their importance in those early days. The Apple I was simply not very (at all?) influential. It's only important now in that it was the first product of a company that would later become very influential in the industry. The revolution, however, was sparked by the Altair -- the Apple I was hardly a contributor. It's real a stretch to say that that particular machine had *any* influence at all.
Yeah, it's not like they just posted their 5th straight quarterly loss or anything.
Oh, wait...
We go with hand woven silken asswipes these days. Hand woven by thai child prostitutes for the extra smooth feeling.
I think it's just awful that you have to suffer with such medium-quality asswipes. I'll be sure to write my congressman about your plight so that you can get a much deserved tax-cut.
Why would they be proud of the fact that they're selling four years of education which can apparently be done in less than two?
They'd be proud of attracting a quality student.
Besides, it's undergraduate work, so the only thing stopping the average student from finishing early is process (not a problem in this case) and motivation.
?
I was talking about the computer's influence on the personal computing revolution, not how competitive it was in the market.
Er, the Apple I didn't really revolutionize anything. (The Apple II was easily the more influential Apple computer, but even then that was mostly due to VisiCalc.)
Why not "the MITS Altair of broadcast", ars? You know, a computer that had a real influence on the personal computing revolution.
If they just wanted something really early, why not "the Kenbak-1 of broadcast" or "the H8 of broadcast"?
Before everyone accuses me of worshiping at the alter of a dead cult-leader like Roberts, here's what I'm thinking: They picked the Apple I to attract clicks from readers who would otherwise have no interest in software defined radio.
and websites will be coded against the lowest common denominator, which is whatever iOS & Android WebKit supports
Except they don't. See, most of the internet is not optimized for mobile, they're optimized for the average PC user. Fortunately, the PlayBook offers a desktop-like browsing experience. It's brilliant having a *good* implementation of Flash for all the sites that use something like springboard for media, or that use webGL, or that make use of new features to provide a richer or smoother experience with a web-based application. You simply don't get that with, say, iOS. It's really nice being able to have a website 'just work' instead of hunting down a special app or wishing the site operators would "fix it so it would work" and giving up and visiting the site on a desktop.
You as a user may not care about the web browser, but I sure as hell do. I can access more the web that I could on other platforms. That makes me happy.
On the other hand, you know why I absolutely love Chrome on Android? Not only it syncs my bookmarks and history between my phone, my tablet and my desktop, but it also lets me see what tabs I have opened on any other device , so if I had, say, 10 open tabs on desktop researching something and then had to leave elsewhere, I can continue right from the point where I left from my tablet when I'm waiting elsewhere.
Unless those sites don't play well with your tablet. See, that's why I care about the browser! It's true that that you can't sync bookmarks between your tablet/phone/desktop with BB -- though that's not an important feature for me. On my phone, the browser is for looking things up on the go or emergency work in a pinch. On the tablet it's play or emergency work. On the desktop, it's work first then play. I have a few (6 or so) bookmarks on the tablet, none on the phone, and a zillion on the desktop. Bookmark syncing is of no interest or benefit to me. I do like the "open on the tablet" feature I have though. So I can open a URL or file on my phone w/ my tablet. Handy, that.
Isn't that fun? Feature X is great! Feature X isn't important, feature X.a is essential!. Feature X.a is irrelevant to me, but feature Y is very cool.
Pointless waste of time that accomplishes nothing, wouldn't you say?
The difference is that, if you actually have facts and numbers to back your position, a well-composed post with references for every statement has a good chance of being modded up (and hence read by more people) even if it goes contrary to the groupthink
Don't be silly. I've had well-considered posted modded down for going against the group think, and I've had nonsense rants modded +5 insightful. I usually end up with a mix of positive and negative mods in either case. Excepting threads more than 2 deep, which generally get ignored no matter how much effort goes in to them.
Well, at the moment I can't seriously consider PlayBook for the simple reason that it's the only tablet for which there's no Skype app.
Considering that we were talking about the UI, I don't see how that's in any way relevant. Interesting. It fits the spirit, if not the letter, of my prediction.
but ultimately I care about what the device can do, not - beyond a certain point - how convenient it is to control
So, the UI isn't important. Okay. Well, the only two points I offered was that the year-old hardware is still competitive (it is) and that the UI was superior.
As for "what it can do" if you mean "run a few specific apps" that's clearly not a limitation of the platform! it's up to MS and Amazon to provide Skype and Kindle apps. Though a recent interview with RIMs Adam Stanley shows us that they're not just sitting around waiting for them to bring apps to the platform, RIM is actively working with 100 or so "big name" groups to bring popular apps to the BB10 platform. Do you need me to look up the interview for you?
The platform itself, again, is no limitation! Technically speaking, it's the most capable mobile platform out there. There's plenty of technical stuff to dig through if you're actually interested. (Why do I have no interest in giving specifics? Because anything I offer will be dismissed as being "no big deal" or "irrelevant to consumers" or any number of pointless wastes of time. Like above, "the UI is great" / "the UI doesn't matter" or more specific like "the gesture suite on the PB is superior to the gestures used on iOS and Android" / "Android has a bunch of gestures too!" WTF? It's ridiculous waste of bits that accomplishes nothing. We could go all the way down to something like task-switching and I'll bet the results would be the same. "Task switching is superior because of x,y,z" / "You can switch tasks in [other platform] too!" or [ignoring reasons x and z] "y doesn't matter!" You've seen it. It's a stupid waste of time.)
And lest you accuse me of preaching and not practicing, here [slashdot.org] is an old post of mine that I consider a solid proof of how you can argue against groupthink and win.
Nobody wins when you argue on the internet. Even in your link you don't get a concession, just more descent. The closest I've ever seen to productive argument is on c2, and that's a stretch most of the time.
The best you can do is offer an alternative opinion. On the viability of RIM, no on gives a shit about facts, so what's the point? You'll find lot's of posts from back in 2010 declaring RIM is dead / will be dead in under a year even though they were still the #1 selling brand at the time. Pointing out that fact then was a waste then. Pointing out how well the company is actually doing today is also a waste of time (they're in absolutely no danger of becoming insolvent any time soon.) and you're officially "delusional", no matter how many numbers you offer up.
Well reasoned post with facts and data or frustrated rant? There doesn't seem to be any difference. One is easier to write, however. Today i don't care enough to bother.
If they were, they'd be doing well. Which they obviously aren't.
Nonsense.
I don't know how many posters here have told me that just having the better technology isn't enough and point out the zillions of superior technologies that have flopped in the market. Now I get this, the other side, that says that having the superior technology is a guarantee of success!
Besides, RIMs user-base is still growing (every quarter, there are MORE blackberry users than the previous quarter, not less.) What's hurting RIM in NA are their poor marketing and training efforts, not their technology. Well, and idiot minimum-wage sales reps, but I'll chalk that up to poor training.
The things RIM has historically done well were communication, security, and remote management. They're still leaders in those areas. I don't know that anyone actually disputes that.
What kept RIM behind was the sometimes slow UI and poor web-browser. (To be fair, their browser was average as far as phone browsers were concerned until iOS upped the standard.) Today, the UI on their legacy OS is smooth as silk, and their mobile browser is top-notch (on tablets, they're unmatched in html5 support -- and WAY ahead on BB10 from what we've seen so far.) They don't have the same problems they did a year ago. Sure, the most I can say is that their new products are solid, if decidedly average. Their new platform, however, is unquestionably ahead of the curve.
That leaves them as good as the competition in just about every area important to consumers. The only issue now is apps, though that is becoming increasingly less important as AppWorld is growing rapidly thanks to RIMs very successful developer outreach programs.
So, yes, RIM is delivering what consumers want, even though they struggled with the changing market in the past. RIM today is not the same RIM as last year, or even the year before (when they were still the #1 best selling brand.) Times have changed.
I don't hate RIM; far from it. I would very much like more competition against iOS and Android.
I'm not buying it. Why come here are repeat memes otherwise? Maybe it's just me you hate. I don't blame you, I can be a real jack-ass. Still, who really cares?
. You actually did a decent write-up on BES before, but your posts about BB10 and PB do read like mindless fanboi drivel, unfortunately.
Yeah, I quit caring. Facts don't mean shit to anyone here. I'd rather not get in to a flame war over tedious, unimportant, issues with irrational idiots on slashdot.
I could compare their suite of gestures, for example, to iOS and Android but I'd just be wasting my time.
Now, with you specifically, I don't think I'll get anywhere. I don''t believe there is anything that I can write that could possibly sway you from your current position. I encourage you to take a second look at the PlayBook's UI and compare it to iOS and Android, though I'm sure that your only goal then would be to find something that the platform doesn't do as well as one of the others (though you'll have a hard time finding such a thing) and ignore things that it does so much better than the others. (This is, oddly enough, why I'd be wasting my time here. It doesn't matter if everything was better except feature X -- feature X is all the hater would care about. Stupid waste of my time.)
I figure fan-boy ranting is just as effective as a well-thought-out response here. Heh, and just as reasonable as the irrational, thoughtless, repeated memes RIM-is-dead / everything-they-make-sucks.
I don't even know why I bother with you.
If you want numbers, look them up. While there is obviously no way to tell exactly how many developers have started targeting the BB platform, you can find a minimum by looking at Jam session attendance numbers. The FACTS are that thousands of new developers are committed to the platform and response to their new development tools has been overwhelmingly positive. This isn't limited to individual developers, obviously. You'll find op-eds from several game publishers extolling the virtues of the new platform and tools as well. The quickly-rising tide of new apps in AppWorld also supports my assertion. (Want numbers? Look them up yourself! Your ignorance isn't my problem.)
It looks to me like you'd rather live in your delusional little world than face reality. Why are you so desperate to believe that RIM is dying? Why would you even care? Are you afraid that their new platform will take attention away from your favorite mobile OS? Why should that matter?
RIM has an amazing new platform and a fantastic suite of new development tools. Developers seem to love it and are turning to the platform at a rate unimaginable a year ago. Get over it.
But they are vastly superior in whys people actually care. Take a look at the incredible benefits Balance offers corporate users, or their historically superior communication tools.
Their best in security and remote management, sure. Average users care about the UI and communications. RIMs new UI is clearly superior to the competition, and they've ALWAYS been the best as far as communication goes (no one really disputes that).
What users don't care about is Apps, the data suggests that apps aren't as important as many people seem to think. Still, the app-gap is closing and RIM is quickly approaching 100k apps in the market. Their development tools are top-of-the-line and developer response to their new tools has been overwhelmingly positive.
Yeah, they're ahead of the game in virtually every conceivable way. I'm sorry that your (inexplicable) pathological hatred for a company blinds you to the obvious.
Indeed. Unlike Apple, RIM makes solid products that work.
Telling their customers that they're doing something wrong would just confuse them.
It's not my responsibility to correct your gross ignorance. Try this site.
You'll find that developer response to BB10 has been overwhelmingly positive, and that developer Jam sessions are consistently sold-out.
Try learning something about a product before you mindlessly bash it.
No, that's from RIM's ridiculously poor marketing and training efforts.
The tech-press panned the device for lack of a native email client, which over-shadowed the otherwise glowing reviews of the UI, leaving sales personal with the impression that it was a worthless pile of garbage.
So, bad marketing coupled with gross incompetence on the part of sales personnel is why it didn't sell well. The product itself is still, more than a year after it's release, one of the best tablet products you can buy.
Go ahead and try one out. You'll wish you'd never seen it. It's just impossible to go back to the second-rate UI on Android or iOS and feel even a little bit satisfied after an experience so vastly superior.
So ... you think they should lock themselves in to an inferior technology because their new, objectively superior, tech is going to be delayed a bit?
Yeah, that makes perfect sense...
Not really my opinion...just look at the numbers...customers already voted with their wallets.
They didn't buy a product they couldn't buy? Interesting...
Seriously, take 5 minutes to think about all of the technologically superior products that didn't make it
Being the best is not a guarantee of failure.
BB10 is truly revolutionary, and sets the new standard for what a mobile OS should be. Even the UI is light-years ahead of iOS and Android. Just look at the mess that iOS has turned in to. Just look at the ridiculously bad suite of gestures they use. One-handed use virtually impossible. How many functions are jammed in to the home button now? iOS just can't adapt. It's at a technological and UI dead-end, and has been for a while. It's the past, not the future.
Android is behind, but has a better chance of surviving just because they can more easily adapt -- Android can break with the past in a way that iOS never can. It remains to be seen, however, if Google will see the writing on the wall.
Sorry, RIM adopting Android is a horrible idea. They'd be taking a massive step backward. BB10 sets the new standard. It's a truly revolutionary mobile platform.
And give up their objectively superior new OS, years of effort, and awesome suite of development tools (including their NDK)? Let's not forget the massive advantages on the UI front!
Android just can't do what BB10 does. It's a ridiculously bad idea. They'd be taking a massive step backward.
On what world does anybody believe that whatever Blackberry's doing is "the most advanced mobile OS in the industry"
On Earth. Sol-3, if you prefer. Check it out, it puts Android and iOS to shame from a technical perspective. Go. Read, and be enlightened.
I remember I had this discussion with a friend when RIM announced that the Playbook relied heavily on Flash.
That never happened. Well, the discussion may have happened, but he announcement never did.
Adobe AIR was one of several different ways to develop for their new platform, and still is, but the PlayBook does not and has never "relied heavily on Flash". Again, no announcement was ever made, that was all in your imagination.
On Flash:
However, having good flash support on the tablet is fantastic. Lots of sites are accessible to me that are not accessible on iOS (due to Apples hubris) or Android (due to shitty flash support). It's fantastic. I don't need an app for every media-centric website. I can just use the damn website!
On the future post Flash:
It's also nice having access to the leading-edge of the web with the best HTML5 support on any tablet in the market. Call me when iOS gets webgl support. I won't be waiting.
Lol! Developers are flocking the the new platform, which is very developer friendly. RIM is also having a great deal of success with their developer outreach programs.
That is, the facts don't seem to support your assertion.
That's the Apple reply. Moron customers, always holding their products wrong...
Have you used one? There is no comparison.
After using a PB for any length of time, trying to use any Android or iOS device is like stepping back in time.
Apple uses know that "it's all about the experience". Well, RIM has that nailed as far as tablets are concerned, and all signs point to a revolutionary UI on the new BB10 handsets.
Unless you're working to get android on your hardware, you might as well pack it up and go home right now.
Yeah, being a "me too" player in a crowded market with a second-rate OS is a great plan. A shame that they're sticking with the most advanced mobile OS in the industry. That'll kill 'em to be sure...
Honestly, what on earth could possibly make you think moving to Android would be a good move for RIM?