Except for perhaps the PS2 compatibility, I would hazard a guess that very few people found any of the above a *major* selling point of the PS3. As far as I know, the *major* selling point was the ability to play *PS3 games*. Possibly followed by being a decent, cheap Blu-Ray player...
The problem with Fast Startup is that you never re-run startup steps so you don't clear out some potential cruft, and never re-apply startup GPOs for the enterprise users. In Windows XP and Windows 7, you can hibernate and resume many times, but eventually you have to do a full reboot. I expect this will happen with Windows 8 as well...
They just need to recognize that once in "desktop mode" users don't want to be constantly thrown back into tablet mode. And that some users, particularly those on desktop workstations, don't really have much use for tablet mode at all. This. Make mode changes intentional and deliberate for the user. That is, let the user specifically request a mode change if desired. Let the user pick a default mode. And don't force tablet users into desktop or desktop users into tablet.
Also, let users obviously tell the OS if they're on a tablet, desktop or hybrid device and have sane settings for that selection - i.e. if on a desktop, do full reboots to rerun startup GPOs etc.
Multitouch on a small screen you carry around seems great. I don't see users interested in replacing their monitors if they're still working. Many people I know decouple monitor replacement from desktops or laptops (of course the built in laptop monitor isn't, I mean external monitors people plug in for more screen space).
So even if all monitors for sale went touchscreen tomorrow, it would take a noticeable transition period. And that's exacerbated by any price premium for multitouch monitors.
Mice were an addition to a computer setup, monitors are already there and integral. Remember, USB mice didn't replace PS2 mice in any sort of short time period. Even laser mice didn't replace ball mice. I'm sure if you could add a ~$50 thing to an existing monitor to give multitouch, it might catch on quicker if it was an obvious improvement to the computer.
Even with the hardware in place, it's not clear to me I want to try and do multi-touch with my arms extended in front of me to a monitor that (at least many cheap current LCDs) is kind of floppy so I'm worried about pushing it over... Remember, most are not designed with the idea they need to stand up to people pushing at them regularly.
I hear about the better Usability all the time, but every time I try and use OSX I get totally lost. It certainly isn't comfortable or particularly usable to me.
I posit that while there is "bad" usability, there isn't an ideal of generic usability. And there isn't an example of generic great usability in computing OSs. There are a lot of good UIs, but I'd argue they're good only within the niche they represent. And everyone has some usability blunders.
On OSX, I can't get my head around the drag to trash to unmount a filesystem - not that finding the little icon next to the clock in Windows is better, or the Linux umount, just that OSX isn't really more intuitive or usable here.
The one menu at the top of the main screen also seems strange to me. It's farther away from the window I may be working with than in Windows or Linux, so I have to move the mouse farther - also it changes depending on focus so I have to change focus before I can click on a menu option for a window. It's not a huge deal, but it certainly isn't better for someone who's not already used to it. And even when you are used to the platform's method, I can't say that one is objectively better than the other. It all seems to break down to which paradigm you are used to.
Which is why Windows 8 frankly surprises me even more. When you totally break the operating paradigm your users have, and potentially break application compatibility (like with RT and the confusion that has sown) - you force users out of the rut of doing what they've always done, simply because Microsoft is NOT LETTING them keep coasting with Windows 8. So now customers stay with Windows 7. Smart customers will evaluate Mac now as they're shown they need to re-think computing entirely according to Microsoft anyway.
Best yet, this is an unforced error. Microsoft did this of their own design. No one has been asking for a tablet experience on their desktop. Apple research bore this out with the continuing iOS vs OSX - Microsoft HAD to know this.
Getting back from my tangent, I think usability is going to end up being subjective.
This is why RAID is not Backup, also, why if I had such a SAN, I'd either have redundant SAN nodes, a hot spare disk, or at least a spare cold disk to swap in on site.
I suppose that depends on what you think an OS should be, but I personally think most people use any OS to run applications (i.e. most of the time aren't and do not want to be using the OS, but using the applications they need). Not that I'm defending Microsoft or whoever for Windows 8 or iOS etc, but I'm an IT Pro, and I only "use an OS" for configuration of whats needed to do a task, whether it's running a web browser or web server etc. . .
And we're back again to the position that in practical use, the tablets *are not* computers, or are only computers in the sense that new Dishwashers are computers.
This, by the way, is why I don't buy "name brand" tablets because I like to save my money for the new ultra consumable / disposable portable screen that's out next year.
Many of the chinese / knockoff tablets also come with an unlocked boot loader so you can flash the firmware with whatever if you want, and come with Adroid rooted for you.
There are also more niche devices more like the PARC vision for how open they are, if not for form factor - like the OpenPandora and some of the Ubuntu tablets planned.
I agree with tlhIngan above you. While much of what my Mother can do with a PC could be done with a tablet, there's a lot of edge cases that combine to really needing a PC. For instance, while Facebook / Scrabble probably would work better with a Tablet, how does she interact with her other devices?
That is, if she has a (general tablet), how does she
* get the pictures off of her 4 yr old Digital Camera (The tablet doesn't hook up to the camera as a USB Host that I'm aware, nor does it take full size SD Cards - many don't take any cards).
* How would she use her scanner for depositing checks to Ally bank (the mobile app claims to do this, but is very difficult to use with a Camera, at least for me)?
* What about putting MP3s on a USB stick to play in her car?
* Is there even TurboTax for a Tablet?
* What about printing - the best I've seen is use a PC to run a special app that the tablet prints to.
those tasks aren't critical path, or even common. So your customers don't do their taxes at home, don't use a digital camera (I guess you could use the tablet), use their tablet in the car for music?, don't ever print, and don't do online banking? Or are those tasks not critical path?
Now, my Dad, who has never used a computer and likes to drive in silence and go to the bank during the day, and has someone else do the taxes, well, he likes a tablet for audio books etc. But I think he's not at all a tech-savvy-but-not-developer sort of person. There's too many edge cases that by themselves can probably be disregarded, but together call out for most tech savvy users today to still want a general purpose computing device.
reporter who drove an EV as a regular car (which it isn't, being far more fragile and demanding.)
Does the reporter have a cellphone? Tesla should probably tell naive users to treat the car like their Cell Phone - i.e. when you're not going to be using it for a while, plug it in. Charge to 100% before going off on a period of expected long use.
Of course some offer an extension of the warranty for filling out the registration card past the standard one. I wonder if they're obligated to offer the extra 3 months or whatever if you don't fill out the card?
Verizon lets you activate a used or retail phone without a contract - at least as an existing line. Many resellers also allow you to add unlocked phones as you desire pre-paid...
The other question is does it even matter for US citizens? I'm guessing they'd still be breaking the law even if it's legal via WTO or whatever for Antigua to sell the stuff...
Or would these "pirate" works be legal in the US if bought from Antigua?
How do you all manage to jot down a phone number from a voicemail on a modern android phone? I was hoping I could use the multi window thing, but it doesn't support generic apps (which seems stupid to me anyway)...
I'd like to get away from needing a notebook and pen when going through voicemails - though if people would just call me from the # they want the reply @ it would be much easier!
I'm not adverse to Samba 4 DCs, but what I need to know is how does this work with the 3rd party AD tools? We use Netwrix to audit and provide granular roll back to our AD and GPOs - I can't see this working with SAMBA 4 unless it provides the event log data that Netwrix grabs from the Server 2008R2 DCs...
Anyway, I'm excited in terms of new deployments, but it's not dropping in to replace Windows AD quite yet.
IDK, I have no problems with my basic windows servers. I find that Server 2008R2 is very similar to our RHEL6 boxes - once you get it going, it just keeps going until you fuck with it for some reason like an upgrade of software.
And MS doesn't provide any more or less support than RedHat - if you pay for a support contract, you get the help you paid for. But as far as I can tell, you get almost nothing from any proprietary vendor just because you bought the software - you still have to pay extra for actual support.
Which is why I agree with you that buying Microsoft products because they provide support is quite naive, you buy support from a vendor because they provide support - it has nothing to do with if you bought a license.
My cheap out slow option is Technet - it gets you 2 phonecalls and unlimited forum support where actual MS reps often reply, with reasonable solutions much of the time. That only works if you can spend days on the forum, but is very cheap. Price (and hopefully support speed) go up from there.
The thing that amazes me is that at a certain point, money is like a high score or something. It's not particularly necessary or even useful in "extra" amounts. I'm not arguing that I wouldn't like more money - I suppose to some extent everyone would like to "do that one extra thing" that more money might allow. But I think the research shows pretty clearly that past a certain point, more money or more things doesn't make you happier.
I mean, I'm not even making that much on the grand scheme of things, and unless I look at entirely new classes of stuff to buy (say extra houses or something), I'm currently slightly stressed because I feel like much of the "stuff" I already have is sitting idle - I just don't have the time to use it. And even if I were to become rich enough to not work - there's only so many games I can play, so many places I can go, so many foods I can prepare, etc.
So within my "class of goods" if this makes any sense, saving 15% or whatever from a tax cut isn't going to impact me noticeably - and that's at well under the 250k most of this blathering is about. Paying an additional, what, 5% under the Clinton era rates (if you're in the average 60k a year range) is likely to be unnoticeable also, except in so far as you treat it as a score. But if your tax return goes from $1k to $700 - will you really notice? Even if the return goes to$0 - it's a once a year sort of "bonus".
I've noticed you've gone to pains to tell us what Hedge funds don't do, and to inform us how mysterious what you do is to most people, but then failed to give us any idea what it is that your class of funds *does* do...
What do you mean that Netflix Physical media is an added cost? It seemed to me that they started charging extra for streaming media! I just dumped the streaming as it doesn't work for me, and saved money on the DVD shipments.
I get that Apple doesn't have a USB port, but my Android tablet does, and also has a dongle for Ethernet if I cared. Android tablets come in all sizes with all sorts of hardware options.
The Surface, if executed properly by Microsoft will be the killer hardware / software combination especially when linked with SkyDrive.
Care to expand on this? The Surface is either roughly the same price as an iPad, with less apps, less specs, less cool / hip factor, less - well, everything I can think of in a tablet, *or* costs about what a good ultrabook does, but with less hardware and a controversial UI (being as charitable as I can be here) - but with the distinction of running Windows programs in a touch centric environment where the programs don't work all that well.
My point is the larger physical screen doesn't have any more room for icons than the 7" screen of the same resolution, unless you change the default size of the icons...
They're physically bigger, but there's no more space pixel wise.
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Except for perhaps the PS2 compatibility, I would hazard a guess that very few people found any of the above a *major* selling point of the PS3. As far as I know, the *major* selling point was the ability to play *PS3 games*. Possibly followed by being a decent, cheap Blu-Ray player...
The problem with Fast Startup is that you never re-run startup steps so you don't clear out some potential cruft, and never re-apply startup GPOs for the enterprise users. In Windows XP and Windows 7, you can hibernate and resume many times, but eventually you have to do a full reboot. I expect this will happen with Windows 8 as well...
They just need to recognize that once in "desktop mode" users don't want to be constantly thrown back into tablet mode. And that some users, particularly those on desktop workstations, don't really have much use for tablet mode at all.
This. Make mode changes intentional and deliberate for the user. That is, let the user specifically request a mode change if desired. Let the user pick a default mode. And don't force tablet users into desktop or desktop users into tablet.
Also, let users obviously tell the OS if they're on a tablet, desktop or hybrid device and have sane settings for that selection - i.e. if on a desktop, do full reboots to rerun startup GPOs etc.
Multitouch on a small screen you carry around seems great. I don't see users interested in replacing their monitors if they're still working. Many people I know decouple monitor replacement from desktops or laptops (of course the built in laptop monitor isn't, I mean external monitors people plug in for more screen space).
So even if all monitors for sale went touchscreen tomorrow, it would take a noticeable transition period. And that's exacerbated by any price premium for multitouch monitors.
Mice were an addition to a computer setup, monitors are already there and integral. Remember, USB mice didn't replace PS2 mice in any sort of short time period. Even laser mice didn't replace ball mice. I'm sure if you could add a ~$50 thing to an existing monitor to give multitouch, it might catch on quicker if it was an obvious improvement to the computer.
Even with the hardware in place, it's not clear to me I want to try and do multi-touch with my arms extended in front of me to a monitor that (at least many cheap current LCDs) is kind of floppy so I'm worried about pushing it over... Remember, most are not designed with the idea they need to stand up to people pushing at them regularly.
I hear about the better Usability all the time, but every time I try and use OSX I get totally lost. It certainly isn't comfortable or particularly usable to me.
I posit that while there is "bad" usability, there isn't an ideal of generic usability. And there isn't an example of generic great usability in computing OSs. There are a lot of good UIs, but I'd argue they're good only within the niche they represent. And everyone has some usability blunders.
On OSX, I can't get my head around the drag to trash to unmount a filesystem - not that finding the little icon next to the clock in Windows is better, or the Linux umount, just that OSX isn't really more intuitive or usable here.
The one menu at the top of the main screen also seems strange to me. It's farther away from the window I may be working with than in Windows or Linux, so I have to move the mouse farther - also it changes depending on focus so I have to change focus before I can click on a menu option for a window. It's not a huge deal, but it certainly isn't better for someone who's not already used to it. And even when you are used to the platform's method, I can't say that one is objectively better than the other. It all seems to break down to which paradigm you are used to.
Which is why Windows 8 frankly surprises me even more. When you totally break the operating paradigm your users have, and potentially break application compatibility (like with RT and the confusion that has sown) - you force users out of the rut of doing what they've always done, simply because Microsoft is NOT LETTING them keep coasting with Windows 8. So now customers stay with Windows 7. Smart customers will evaluate Mac now as they're shown they need to re-think computing entirely according to Microsoft anyway.
Best yet, this is an unforced error. Microsoft did this of their own design. No one has been asking for a tablet experience on their desktop. Apple research bore this out with the continuing iOS vs OSX - Microsoft HAD to know this.
Getting back from my tangent, I think usability is going to end up being subjective.
This is why RAID is not Backup, also, why if I had such a SAN, I'd either have redundant SAN nodes, a hot spare disk, or at least a spare cold disk to swap in on site.
I suppose that depends on what you think an OS should be, but I personally think most people use any OS to run applications (i.e. most of the time aren't and do not want to be using the OS, but using the applications they need). Not that I'm defending Microsoft or whoever for Windows 8 or iOS etc, but I'm an IT Pro, and I only "use an OS" for configuration of whats needed to do a task, whether it's running a web browser or web server etc. . .
And we're back again to the position that in practical use, the tablets *are not* computers, or are only computers in the sense that new Dishwashers are computers.
This, by the way, is why I don't buy "name brand" tablets because I like to save my money for the new ultra consumable / disposable portable screen that's out next year.
Many of the chinese / knockoff tablets also come with an unlocked boot loader so you can flash the firmware with whatever if you want, and come with Adroid rooted for you.
There are also more niche devices more like the PARC vision for how open they are, if not for form factor - like the OpenPandora and some of the Ubuntu tablets planned.
I agree with tlhIngan above you. While much of what my Mother can do with a PC could be done with a tablet, there's a lot of edge cases that combine to really needing a PC. For instance, while Facebook / Scrabble probably would work better with a Tablet, how does she interact with her other devices?
That is, if she has a (general tablet), how does she
* get the pictures off of her 4 yr old Digital Camera (The tablet doesn't hook up to the camera as a USB Host that I'm aware, nor does it take full size SD Cards - many don't take any cards).
* How would she use her scanner for depositing checks to Ally bank (the mobile app claims to do this, but is very difficult to use with a Camera, at least for me)?
* What about putting MP3s on a USB stick to play in her car?
* Is there even TurboTax for a Tablet?
* What about printing - the best I've seen is use a PC to run a special app that the tablet prints to.
those tasks aren't critical path, or even common.
So your customers don't do their taxes at home, don't use a digital camera (I guess you could use the tablet), use their tablet in the car for music?, don't ever print, and don't do online banking? Or are those tasks not critical path?
Now, my Dad, who has never used a computer and likes to drive in silence and go to the bank during the day, and has someone else do the taxes, well, he likes a tablet for audio books etc. But I think he's not at all a tech-savvy-but-not-developer sort of person. There's too many edge cases that by themselves can probably be disregarded, but together call out for most tech savvy users today to still want a general purpose computing device.
reporter who drove an EV as a regular car (which it isn't, being far more fragile and demanding.)
Does the reporter have a cellphone? Tesla should probably tell naive users to treat the car like their Cell Phone - i.e. when you're not going to be using it for a while, plug it in. Charge to 100% before going off on a period of expected long use.
Of course some offer an extension of the warranty for filling out the registration card past the standard one. I wonder if they're obligated to offer the extra 3 months or whatever if you don't fill out the card?
Verizon lets you activate a used or retail phone without a contract - at least as an existing line. Many resellers also allow you to add unlocked phones as you desire pre-paid...
The other question is does it even matter for US citizens? I'm guessing they'd still be breaking the law even if it's legal via WTO or whatever for Antigua to sell the stuff...
Or would these "pirate" works be legal in the US if bought from Antigua?
I recently tried to get some bitcoins. I did eventually succeed, but really - if you want to get around copyright law - why spend *any* money?
How do you all manage to jot down a phone number from a voicemail on a modern android phone? I was hoping I could use the multi window thing, but it doesn't support generic apps (which seems stupid to me anyway)...
I'd like to get away from needing a notebook and pen when going through voicemails - though if people would just call me from the # they want the reply @ it would be much easier!
And why not? Why isn't this a window manager issue? I mean, do linux apps really need special code to handle being in a window or full screen?
I'm not adverse to Samba 4 DCs, but what I need to know is how does this work with the 3rd party AD tools? We use Netwrix to audit and provide granular roll back to our AD and GPOs - I can't see this working with SAMBA 4 unless it provides the event log data that Netwrix grabs from the Server 2008R2 DCs...
Anyway, I'm excited in terms of new deployments, but it's not dropping in to replace Windows AD quite yet.
IDK, I have no problems with my basic windows servers. I find that Server 2008R2 is very similar to our RHEL6 boxes - once you get it going, it just keeps going until you fuck with it for some reason like an upgrade of software.
And MS doesn't provide any more or less support than RedHat - if you pay for a support contract, you get the help you paid for. But as far as I can tell, you get almost nothing from any proprietary vendor just because you bought the software - you still have to pay extra for actual support.
Which is why I agree with you that buying Microsoft products because they provide support is quite naive, you buy support from a vendor because they provide support - it has nothing to do with if you bought a license.
My cheap out slow option is Technet - it gets you 2 phonecalls and unlimited forum support where actual MS reps often reply, with reasonable solutions much of the time. That only works if you can spend days on the forum, but is very cheap. Price (and hopefully support speed) go up from there.
So far so good for me on buying IBM anyway...
The thing that amazes me is that at a certain point, money is like a high score or something. It's not particularly necessary or even useful in "extra" amounts. I'm not arguing that I wouldn't like more money - I suppose to some extent everyone would like to "do that one extra thing" that more money might allow. But I think the research shows pretty clearly that past a certain point, more money or more things doesn't make you happier.
I mean, I'm not even making that much on the grand scheme of things, and unless I look at entirely new classes of stuff to buy (say extra houses or something), I'm currently slightly stressed because I feel like much of the "stuff" I already have is sitting idle - I just don't have the time to use it. And even if I were to become rich enough to not work - there's only so many games I can play, so many places I can go, so many foods I can prepare, etc.
So within my "class of goods" if this makes any sense, saving 15% or whatever from a tax cut isn't going to impact me noticeably - and that's at well under the 250k most of this blathering is about. Paying an additional, what, 5% under the Clinton era rates (if you're in the average 60k a year range) is likely to be unnoticeable also, except in so far as you treat it as a score. But if your tax return goes from $1k to $700 - will you really notice? Even if the return goes to$0 - it's a once a year sort of "bonus".
I've noticed you've gone to pains to tell us what Hedge funds don't do, and to inform us how mysterious what you do is to most people, but then failed to give us any idea what it is that your class of funds *does* do...
What do you mean that Netflix Physical media is an added cost? It seemed to me that they started charging extra for streaming media! I just dumped the streaming as it doesn't work for me, and saved money on the DVD shipments.
I get that Apple doesn't have a USB port, but my Android tablet does, and also has a dongle for Ethernet if I cared. Android tablets come in all sizes with all sorts of hardware options.
The Surface, if executed properly by Microsoft will be the killer hardware / software combination especially when linked with SkyDrive.
Care to expand on this? The Surface is either roughly the same price as an iPad, with less apps, less specs, less cool / hip factor, less - well, everything I can think of in a tablet, *or* costs about what a good ultrabook does, but with less hardware and a controversial UI (being as charitable as I can be here) - but with the distinction of running Windows programs in a touch centric environment where the programs don't work all that well.
Seriously - what is the draw to surface?
My point is the larger physical screen doesn't have any more room for icons than the 7" screen of the same resolution, unless you change the default size of the icons...
They're physically bigger, but there's no more space pixel wise.