Now look, it *REALLY* isn't good enough. The iPad has been out all of two months and not one of you has made any attempt to take all the Flash code off of your websites so that all the rich Applites can enjoy the fulfilled browser experience promised to them by Uncle Stevie.
So please stop what you're doing, take down all your Flash-laden web sites and please have them rewritten and coded in HTML5 by close of business tomorrow.
So in your words then, Apple products are designed for non-technical people who have no idea about product specifications or capabilities, and therefore no idea what they're actually buying.
A netbook with one or two spare batteries would give somewhere near 18 hours battery life for half the cost of an iPad - and play and store all the stuff I already own without my having to re-buy it on the iTunes store.
Sorry, but the iPad is totally useless to someone like me.
I already have servers, desktops, laptops and netbooks communicating with each other on my home network with the ability to transfer all my existing music, movies and eBooks between each other - Windows or Linux, they can transfer files between each other using open established protocols like SSH, NFS and SAMBA, plus all of them have at least one USB port so I can plug in a USB stick or drive and transfer stuff to and from them portably.
So where does the iPad fit into all of this? Okay, it will take my MP3 music and play it pretty much piecemeal but if I want to play movies on it then I'll either have to sit here for hours picking my nose while it converts it to an acceptable format or re-buy if from the iTunes store.
And as the owner of a (free) iPod Touch, I've never found an easy way of transferring documents to or from it, unless I feel like jailbreaking it and putting an SSH client on it...
It doesn't *REPLACE* what a computer can do because it cannot *DO* a basic task of what other computers can do, namely exchange common format files using common protocols.
It's a white elephant that's only sold so many so far because fanbois will pay good money for anything with the logo on it that appeals to their need to be in an exclusive elitist club.
The way I look at it, as a grumpy old gamer myself, is that if I think about some of the great games I've played in the past, from my days with the ZX Spectrum, then Commodore Amiga, through to the PC, then all of those platforms have had games that have had me totally hooked and immersed for hours, even days, at an end.
Those that were disappointing were such because maybe they just weren't implemented very well, maybe the computer AI was rubbish, maybe the game didn't have much depth... but I can't remember any that didn't grab me because their graphics weren't good enough.
I just think now the games industry is really struggling for new ideas in games, hence the endless sequels, and are therefore looking at any gimmick they can just to sell more of the same.
I don't think games these days are any better or worse than old games, it's just then there was less money involved in making them and game creators were prepared to take more of a risk with an innovative new idea for a game, so consequently there was a greater variety to choose from.
But ultimately 3D is just a gimmick to present an old idea in a prettier way...
If you use Google services, google knows where you surf, drive, who you email, what times of the day you search, what you search, where you login, who your friends are, what words you click... All to sell you ads.
But surely the opportunity to buy stuff from one of the many vendors who are advertised at you is still better than being fully locked into buying from just one vendor?
Over a quarter of a century plus of using computers, I believe the job of an operating system is to just boot the machine up and to then leave you alone to do what the hell you want to do with it; I don't believe it's job is to dictate what other software you use or where you buy it from, so if you want to use free stuff you can, likewise if you want to use commercial software then you can also - even create it yourself if you want...
On small portable devices, Linux gives you that freedom and stability, Windows does to a degree also but it's not very good, Apple stuff locks you in completely.
Therefore I like Android because it happens to be the best compromise between freedom and functionality, but have absolutely no comprehension as to why anyone would pay a premium price to be locked into one vendor. If something more open than Android came out on portable devices, then I'd naturally gravitate towards that because freedom is the most important thing to me.
So, yes, I'm a "fanboi" of freedom and choice, commercial or open source, but it doesn't have to be Android that gives me that.
OS X is built on a BSD core but it is *NOT* UNIX as the parts of a UNIX system you would normally adapt to suit what you need to do are hidden away from you.
The entire philosophy of UNIX is that you embrace its power because you're able to use one or more of a myriad of simple tools to do what you need to, yet the marketing philosophy behind OS X is that it's simple to use, even simpler than Windows.
If truth be known, I think the majority of you Apple people are "lazy elitist posers".
I'm not overly keen on the Microsoft way of doing things which is why I set out to learn UNIX and Linux many years ago. It was a steep learning curve but now I enjoy the best of both worlds because I use Linux most of the time and Windows for the bits that Linux cannot do as well - but technically I know a lot about both OSes.
Apple users want to do the anti-Microsoft thing as well but generally cannot be bothered with the learning curve - and all credit to Steve Jobs here because he's made himself a very rich man capitalising on that by doing all the hard work for you and charging a premium for it, as well as ensuring once you're in his clutches, you can never leave. The other thing that gives you is the ability to sneer down your noses at the great unwashed because you know that most people either cannot afford or won't pay the ridiculous prices that Apple want. If anything, the *LAST* thing you want is the widespread usage of Apple products because then you lose being part of your elitist little club.
I don't hate Apple because the only Apple product I've ever owned is an iPod Touch that my missus gave me when she upgraded to an iPhone - it's a neat little device but I certainly wouldn't have paid over £200 for it. If anything, Apple have *NEVER* actually made anything that I ever wanted to buy...
But I do get annoyed by the fanbois who try to convince the rest of us how using Apple products is about technical excellence and reliability when, in reality, I doubt many of you would know what a disk partition or a command-line was if they hit you in the face.
Even a good friend of mine here in the UK, on the day he got his iPad from the US, the first thing he did was post on Facebook how he was posing with it in a local coffee bar...
You love open and hate closed, so you bought a phone with Sense UI? A proprietary closed source UI slapped over an open product? Umm...
Good point, I don't have an answer to that except that within Android itself I can install whatever apps I like from wherever I like.
But I should also say I'm not totally anti-closed source, I just prefer open. I run (and work with) Linux most of the time but I still run Windows XP (and quite like it) because I'm a gamer and have a few commercial closed-source apps I cannot do without.
Anyway, since you're non US I'm assuming you have a GSM hero? Here's 2.1 for you.
Thanks very much for the link, most appreciated. Yes, I'm in the UK and GSM should do fine.
Who in this thread wants Apple to wipe any competitors off the map?
Ahem.
They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent/. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.
Like I said, why does anyone who buys a device purely for their own satisfaction really care about what the vendor's stock price is doing or whether that vendor is destroying the competition or not? Unless of course they are buying the device purely to seek the acceptance of others...
They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent/. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.
And there you have, in a nutshell, what separates "informed user" from "fanboi"... namely that an informed user looks at what they just purchased, enjoys using it and feels he/she has got good value for money. But only a fanboi is so ardently rabid that he/she wants their manufacturer of choice to wipe every other competitor off the map, like it actually changes a damned thing with the actual product.
Don't get me wrong, I love Open and hate Closed...
I've never once bought an Apple product and have no intention of ever being Jobs' bitch...
I like Google and the stuff they do, even bought a HTC Hero phone that I'm chuffed to bits with...
But as usual, because I'm not in the USA, I've got to sit here and fucking wait with my fingers crossed in the hope that I'll see an Android 2.1 release for my phone this side of Armageddon...
My missus gave me her iPod Touch when she upgraded to an iPhone and, don't get me wrong, it's a neat little device, despite the fact I've never had the urge to buy anything from Apple.
However, as a mainly Linux and ex-GP32 user, I can definitely see the Touch going on eBay and the money I get for it going towards one of these - it may be quite a bit bigger than a Touch but as far as I'm concerned, "portable" means that it just needs to fit into a pocket, and closed locked-down devices where I can't do what I want with it just don't float my boat these days.
I'm British, BP is British and I think those short-cutting, profiteering fucks should be nailed to the wall over this.
I'm actually disgusted that the US government has passed legislation making BP only liable for the first $500,000,000 of the cleanup operation - as far as I'm concerned, BP should pay for all of the cleanup AND compensate those who have had their livelihoods affected by this.
And if the money runs out, hell, sell the BP execs houses, cars, Learjets and everything else they own - the oil companies have been price-fixing for years, its time for the tide to turn (if you'll excuse the pun).
That's one thing I am very pleased with Microsoft about - that certainly up to and including Windows XP (I've not used Vista or 7 yet), you can set the default interface to be the "Classic" one as in Windows 2000 and 95. Yes, the interface has it's limitations but I'm used to them and can work round them now - plus as a mainly Gnome and Linux user, it's an interface that can be closely replicated in Gnome to keep some kind of commonality between the two.
I have NEVER EVER understood the popularity of the default desktop setup in Windows XP, it is unusable.
Someone should tell those xkcd guys to take a bit more care before posting their cartoons - they seem to keep missing out the final frame which is the one that would normally contain the final punchline thus causing the reader to find it funny.
Slashdot Mirror
Why do you think jobs controls what goes into an iphone or ipad.
Because wads of money make him stiff as a board?
It actually might only prove that Apple fanboiism is so rampant that whenever Apple release anything new, lots of people will swarm in to buy it.
Dear Web Developers
Now look, it *REALLY* isn't good enough. The iPad has been out all of two months and not one of you has made any attempt to take all the Flash code off of your websites so that all the rich Applites can enjoy the fulfilled browser experience promised to them by Uncle Stevie.
So please stop what you're doing, take down all your Flash-laden web sites and please have them rewritten and coded in HTML5 by close of business tomorrow.
Thanks.
No, that's right. I can sit here picking my nose for hours while I wait for all the movies I've already ripped to DivX or Xvid to be converted...
So in your words then, Apple products are designed for non-technical people who have no idea about product specifications or capabilities, and therefore no idea what they're actually buying.
Well at least we agree on something...
So by the same logic, since there are far fewer OS X users than Windows users, then OS X must be attempting catchup to Windows.
A netbook with one or two spare batteries would give somewhere near 18 hours battery life for half the cost of an iPad - and play and store all the stuff I already own without my having to re-buy it on the iTunes store.
Sorry, but the iPad is totally useless to someone like me.
I already have servers, desktops, laptops and netbooks communicating with each other on my home network with the ability to transfer all my existing music, movies and eBooks between each other - Windows or Linux, they can transfer files between each other using open established protocols like SSH, NFS and SAMBA, plus all of them have at least one USB port so I can plug in a USB stick or drive and transfer stuff to and from them portably.
So where does the iPad fit into all of this? Okay, it will take my MP3 music and play it pretty much piecemeal but if I want to play movies on it then I'll either have to sit here for hours picking my nose while it converts it to an acceptable format or re-buy if from the iTunes store.
And as the owner of a (free) iPod Touch, I've never found an easy way of transferring documents to or from it, unless I feel like jailbreaking it and putting an SSH client on it...
It doesn't *REPLACE* what a computer can do because it cannot *DO* a basic task of what other computers can do, namely exchange common format files using common protocols.
It's a white elephant that's only sold so many so far because fanbois will pay good money for anything with the logo on it that appeals to their need to be in an exclusive elitist club.
The way I look at it, as a grumpy old gamer myself, is that if I think about some of the great games I've played in the past, from my days with the ZX Spectrum, then Commodore Amiga, through to the PC, then all of those platforms have had games that have had me totally hooked and immersed for hours, even days, at an end.
Those that were disappointing were such because maybe they just weren't implemented very well, maybe the computer AI was rubbish, maybe the game didn't have much depth... but I can't remember any that didn't grab me because their graphics weren't good enough.
I just think now the games industry is really struggling for new ideas in games, hence the endless sequels, and are therefore looking at any gimmick they can just to sell more of the same.
I don't think games these days are any better or worse than old games, it's just then there was less money involved in making them and game creators were prepared to take more of a risk with an innovative new idea for a game, so consequently there was a greater variety to choose from.
But ultimately 3D is just a gimmick to present an old idea in a prettier way...
If you use Google services, google knows where you surf, drive, who you email, what times of the day you search, what you search, where you login, who your friends are, what words you click ... All to sell you ads.
But surely the opportunity to buy stuff from one of the many vendors who are advertised at you is still better than being fully locked into buying from just one vendor?
Over a quarter of a century plus of using computers, I believe the job of an operating system is to just boot the machine up and to then leave you alone to do what the hell you want to do with it; I don't believe it's job is to dictate what other software you use or where you buy it from, so if you want to use free stuff you can, likewise if you want to use commercial software then you can also - even create it yourself if you want...
On small portable devices, Linux gives you that freedom and stability, Windows does to a degree also but it's not very good, Apple stuff locks you in completely.
Therefore I like Android because it happens to be the best compromise between freedom and functionality, but have absolutely no comprehension as to why anyone would pay a premium price to be locked into one vendor. If something more open than Android came out on portable devices, then I'd naturally gravitate towards that because freedom is the most important thing to me.
So, yes, I'm a "fanboi" of freedom and choice, commercial or open source, but it doesn't have to be Android that gives me that.
Just to correct you...
OS X is built on a BSD core but it is *NOT* UNIX as the parts of a UNIX system you would normally adapt to suit what you need to do are hidden away from you.
The entire philosophy of UNIX is that you embrace its power because you're able to use one or more of a myriad of simple tools to do what you need to, yet the marketing philosophy behind OS X is that it's simple to use, even simpler than Windows.
No, I was talking about fanbois in general - but if the cap fits then by all means wear it yourself.
If truth be known, I think the majority of you Apple people are "lazy elitist posers".
I'm not overly keen on the Microsoft way of doing things which is why I set out to learn UNIX and Linux many years ago. It was a steep learning curve but now I enjoy the best of both worlds because I use Linux most of the time and Windows for the bits that Linux cannot do as well - but technically I know a lot about both OSes.
Apple users want to do the anti-Microsoft thing as well but generally cannot be bothered with the learning curve - and all credit to Steve Jobs here because he's made himself a very rich man capitalising on that by doing all the hard work for you and charging a premium for it, as well as ensuring once you're in his clutches, you can never leave. The other thing that gives you is the ability to sneer down your noses at the great unwashed because you know that most people either cannot afford or won't pay the ridiculous prices that Apple want. If anything, the *LAST* thing you want is the widespread usage of Apple products because then you lose being part of your elitist little club.
I don't hate Apple because the only Apple product I've ever owned is an iPod Touch that my missus gave me when she upgraded to an iPhone - it's a neat little device but I certainly wouldn't have paid over £200 for it. If anything, Apple have *NEVER* actually made anything that I ever wanted to buy...
But I do get annoyed by the fanbois who try to convince the rest of us how using Apple products is about technical excellence and reliability when, in reality, I doubt many of you would know what a disk partition or a command-line was if they hit you in the face.
Even a good friend of mine here in the UK, on the day he got his iPad from the US, the first thing he did was post on Facebook how he was posing with it in a local coffee bar...
You love open and hate closed, so you bought a phone with Sense UI? A proprietary closed source UI slapped over an open product? Umm...
Good point, I don't have an answer to that except that within Android itself I can install whatever apps I like from wherever I like.
But I should also say I'm not totally anti-closed source, I just prefer open. I run (and work with) Linux most of the time but I still run Windows XP (and quite like it) because I'm a gamer and have a few commercial closed-source apps I cannot do without.
Anyway, since you're non US I'm assuming you have a GSM hero? Here's 2.1 for you.
Thanks very much for the link, most appreciated. Yes, I'm in the UK and GSM should do fine.
Who in this thread wants Apple to wipe any competitors off the map?
Ahem.
They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent /. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.
Like I said, why does anyone who buys a device purely for their own satisfaction really care about what the vendor's stock price is doing or whether that vendor is destroying the competition or not? Unless of course they are buying the device purely to seek the acceptance of others...
They're selling a gazillion iPads, Apple's stock continues to move upward, and I believe that a recent /. story highlighted the fact that Apple is gaining grounds on the higher ranked cell phone providers.
And there you have, in a nutshell, what separates "informed user" from "fanboi"... namely that an informed user looks at what they just purchased, enjoys using it and feels he/she has got good value for money. But only a fanboi is so ardently rabid that he/she wants their manufacturer of choice to wipe every other competitor off the map, like it actually changes a damned thing with the actual product.
Don't get me wrong, I love Open and hate Closed...
I've never once bought an Apple product and have no intention of ever being Jobs' bitch...
I like Google and the stuff they do, even bought a HTC Hero phone that I'm chuffed to bits with...
But as usual, because I'm not in the USA, I've got to sit here and fucking wait with my fingers crossed in the hope that I'll see an Android 2.1 release for my phone this side of Armageddon...
My missus gave me her iPod Touch when she upgraded to an iPhone and, don't get me wrong, it's a neat little device, despite the fact I've never had the urge to buy anything from Apple.
However, as a mainly Linux and ex-GP32 user, I can definitely see the Touch going on eBay and the money I get for it going towards one of these - it may be quite a bit bigger than a Touch but as far as I'm concerned, "portable" means that it just needs to fit into a pocket, and closed locked-down devices where I can't do what I want with it just don't float my boat these days.
I'm British, BP is British and I think those short-cutting, profiteering fucks should be nailed to the wall over this.
I'm actually disgusted that the US government has passed legislation making BP only liable for the first $500,000,000 of the cleanup operation - as far as I'm concerned, BP should pay for all of the cleanup AND compensate those who have had their livelihoods affected by this.
And if the money runs out, hell, sell the BP execs houses, cars, Learjets and everything else they own - the oil companies have been price-fixing for years, its time for the tide to turn (if you'll excuse the pun).
That's one thing I am very pleased with Microsoft about - that certainly up to and including Windows XP (I've not used Vista or 7 yet), you can set the default interface to be the "Classic" one as in Windows 2000 and 95. Yes, the interface has it's limitations but I'm used to them and can work round them now - plus as a mainly Gnome and Linux user, it's an interface that can be closely replicated in Gnome to keep some kind of commonality between the two.
I have NEVER EVER understood the popularity of the default desktop setup in Windows XP, it is unusable.
Someone should tell those xkcd guys to take a bit more care before posting their cartoons - they seem to keep missing out the final frame which is the one that would normally contain the final punchline thus causing the reader to find it funny.
I accept the Apple Lisa was not popular outside the US but the Amiga had a much higher percentage of users in Europe than in the US.
...Russian sharks with FRICKING TASER BEAMS in their heads!
I often think that Slashdot should not allow AC posts containing words like "fuck", "shit", etc. as it just encourages the trolls.