What people really want is a laptop-sized tablet with all the electronics built into the screen, a flip-down stand, a remote, a detachable or blutooth keyboard and mouse, a full operating system, and the ability to plug in a second display to stretch the desktop, so they can treat it like any other computer when they want to, or use the touch screen when that's all they need to use is a "tablet computer".
that device has been on the market for decades in various iterations and been a spectacular failure to consumers. The iPad came out and has completely dominated the tablet space by being precisely the opposite of what you outline here. I think you are confusing what us geeks want with what the other 99 percent of people will actually buy.
I use Dropbox to synchronize my files between my iPad, my Xoom, my Droid, and my Ubuntu laptop. For my 30 GB of music, I loaded it all into music.google.com and now it just seamlessly integrates into the media players off all of my devices. For documents, there's Google Docs and for videos, there is YouTube, hulu, Netflix and, er, other places.
If you're on a 2.2 device using it as a tablet then, yes, there are superior experiences to be had. For you, I'd suggest the Asus Transformer with dock. 16 hours of battery, great keyboard, 1280x800 screen, honeycomb 3.2. A friend of mine has it and he dropped his ipad like a rock.
Your companies sales reps probably hate the tablets
I'm sorry the reps you've dealt with are having such a hard time. And you're right, it is always possible that mine are blowing smoke when they say they like our system. Consider this though, our tablets are completely optional. We still print paper catalogs, and accept faxed in orders. We have to keep that legacy system since we work with independent sales group companies, we have a website that is actually slightly more up to date (24 hours) than what is on the tablet, and we have an FTP server that hosts all of our catalog pages in PDF form. Despite all of this, I'd say 90 percent of our people use the tablets exclusively.
I wrote the software so let me tell you what problems it solves for them. First of all, we carry upwards of 6000 products (sports apparel and knick knacks) and keeping up with what is in stock, out of stock, etc. On a daily basis with a printed catalog is a nightmare. There is nothing worse than selling a product, having the customer mentally set aside the cash then having to tell them you can't ship that product. With the tablet, they download a diff nightly that is about 6 megabytes and the problem is solved. Also, in the fashion game, trends happen fast then they're gone. Our largest seller this season has been Ugg style boots with various team logos on them. With the tablet, you know what is new and you know it now. There is an icon on the main screen labeled "new products" and another one labeled "best sellers" both automatically generated when the database difff is respun every night. You don't get that with a printed catalog. The tablets are much faster and lighter too. Imagine a 3 ring binder with a thousand pages. Now imagine a stack of them. Now replace that with a 1.5 pound electronic gizmo.
next consider doing the math on an order. Tablet does it for you. Customer database and autofill? Tablet has that. Automatic filing of orders and customer receipt? Tablet. What has this customer bought before? What is their average purchase? When was I here last? Tablet. Tablet. Tablet.
and the bottom line? The customers love it and the spend more money!
I'm posting this on an iPad. My current boss hired me to write the Android sales and catalog software that our reps use in the field. All of them are carrying Acer A500 Android tablets and we buy them by the case. The largest orders our company has ever made have been taken on the tablets and if our sales people are anything to go by, that was a direct result of how easy the tablets have made their jobs and the enthusiasm the customers are showing for buying products through the devices.
This iPad I'm holding is the most elegant computing device I have ever laid my hands on. Everything just flows. It doesn't do everything but for what it does do, the thing is positively addictive. I have a Xoom too and it has some capabilities the iPad doesn't, especially the built in Google stuff is much better than the iPad versions. I'm expecting ice-cream sandwich to match the elegance of the iPad and when it does, there will be two top notch contenders in the marketplace. To specifically address your point, you may not be seeing tablets yet but that probably has something to do with the price for good ones still being somewhat in the luxury realm. When that drops, and it will, expect to see more tablets than anything else.
Do you not think I realize that one of the main reasons Linux is locked out of the market is piracy? I understand perfectly well that Bill Gates would rather you pirate windows than use an alternative. Why do you think that I rail against it? I wish piracy could be stamped out completely. Then maybe some free alternatives might stand a better chance. You need to learn how to read between the lines to see when somebody is on the same team rather than lashing out.
So, if Wal-Mart says it's cool to allow a certain amount of shoplifting and that it is good for their business thereby legitimizing it, Target should probably be okay with that, right?
I don't even know why I'm responding to you but here it goes. The person I responded has a uid in the 800,000's. If he's been around here that long, it's safe to say he has heard of Ubuntu and I was just reminding him of the option.
Why not just cut to the chase? Had I linked ubuntu.com, somebody would have bitched about that. Had I linked to the direct download somebody would have bitched about server load. So I linked to the official torrent and somebody bitches.
And yes, linux distros are generally dependent on repositories, but you get to pick which mirror, including your own internal one.
You can always just download the entire repos in one shot and have them at the ready whenever you want. All of Debian, for example, can be downloaded to something like 8 DVD's.
I just hacked in and checked your browser history. Good God, man! Don't you know just thinking about that shit is illegal in all but like 3 countries??
Google for example has a semi-new feature that when you press scroll down the JS captures your keypress and pushes your focus to the next search result. This is horrible and I don't see a way to disable it.
Go into your Google settings and turn off "Instant" and the arrow keys will return to normal functionality. Why instant and the scroll thing are related, I don't know.
He's not even on the level of "that guy". Hairyfeet has a little computer store somewhere where he tricks grannies out of their money installing registry cleaners and shit. He's a joke. A clueless know-nothing moron that spouts off about shit he has no idea about.
What kind of voice plan did you have to buy in order to qualify to buy a data plan with free tethering?
I own the phone so I got the lowest voice/data plan they had at $59 per month. Tethering isn't specifically mentioned but it does come on the phone so I assume if they had a problem, they would have said something as they sell the phone in their stores. I've had this for quite a while and they haven't said a word yet.
I guess a lot of fanboy arguments try to answer the question of what to buy if one has the money or the carrying space for only one product and not both.
Indeed. I actually got the Xoom for free to develop an app for my company and I received the iPad from a sales lady that dumped it on me for $150 after she liked the Acer Iconia A500 we gave her so much better. Lucky me.
Tethering plans are expensive in the United States
I have a Nexus S. Tethering is free with the cost of the data plan and built in.
offline development tools don't need them.
You are arguing different use cases. A helicopter doesn't need a boat anchor~
A revision control system lets the user work locally and sync when the user happens to be at Wi-Fi.
Er, great! I use one all the time.
I agree on this. But AC was recommending trying to shove laptop use cases, such as writing a computer program in a text editor and testing it, onto an iPad connected to a shell account.
Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch. I have a rooted Xoom with a bluetooth keyboard and the scripting layer for android installed. I even have vim, screen, etc. and I still only use it from occasionally for any hardcore editing. The issue for me is, a, moving from app to app on the Xoom is nowhere near as efficient as doing it with alt+tab on a normal computer. And, B, sometimes, I need to look at documentation side by side with the text I'm working on which is difficult (though not impossible) to make happen on the Xoom. Basically, when you pimp out your tablet to make it more and more useful as a full fledged computing platform, you end up with...da dum...a full fledged computing platform, i.e., a laptop. Albeit, a low powered one. For its use cases though, an iPad is hard to beat. I love curling up on the couch with mine. In case you're wondering why I'm jumping back and forth between xoom and ipad, I have both.
Stops working the moment the user moves out of Wi-Fi range.
I use ssh on my iPad and Android tablets all the time and never have this problem as the tablets are always tethered to my Android phone. My sessions don't really run long enough to matter anyway. I'm usually checking something small like the status of my servers, whether a script ran correctly, etc. and it only takes a few minutes. Which is kind of the point of a mobile device. You pick it up, do your thing and get out. Different use case than a laptop almost entirely.
Yeah, sure. Whatever buddy. I'm sure the BBC are just a bunch of Google fanboys hating on Facebook, right? Ripping apart AC shills that feign ignorance is so much fun, I might just make it my new hobby!
I would bet my last dollar he is a shill. He picked up that particular mantle right around the time "cgeys" stopped posting. Almost certainly the same person working in the same firm.
Wow, that's some hardcore sleuthing! I can't believe these guys would continue polluting the internet with their fake crap. Actually, I can believe it sadly.
Slashdot Mirror
Or maybe Android tablets are a ground floor opportunity and right now is the precise time a consultant should be paying attention.
What people really want is a laptop-sized tablet with all the electronics built into the screen, a flip-down stand, a remote, a detachable or blutooth keyboard and mouse, a full operating system, and the ability to plug in a second display to stretch the desktop, so they can treat it like any other computer when they want to, or use the touch screen when that's all they need to use is a "tablet computer".
that device has been on the market for decades in various iterations and been a spectacular failure to consumers. The iPad came out and has completely dominated the tablet space by being precisely the opposite of what you outline here. I think you are confusing what us geeks want with what the other 99 percent of people will actually buy.
I keed. I keed.
If you're on a 2.2 device using it as a tablet then, yes, there are superior experiences to be had. For you, I'd suggest the Asus Transformer with dock. 16 hours of battery, great keyboard, 1280x800 screen, honeycomb 3.2. A friend of mine has it and he dropped his ipad like a rock.
Your companies sales reps probably hate the tablets
I'm sorry the reps you've dealt with are having such a hard time. And you're right, it is always possible that mine are blowing smoke when they say they like our system. Consider this though, our tablets are completely optional. We still print paper catalogs, and accept faxed in orders. We have to keep that legacy system since we work with independent sales group companies, we have a website that is actually slightly more up to date (24 hours) than what is on the tablet, and we have an FTP server that hosts all of our catalog pages in PDF form. Despite all of this, I'd say 90 percent of our people use the tablets exclusively.
I wrote the software so let me tell you what problems it solves for them. First of all, we carry upwards of 6000 products (sports apparel and knick knacks) and keeping up with what is in stock, out of stock, etc. On a daily basis with a printed catalog is a nightmare. There is nothing worse than selling a product, having the customer mentally set aside the cash then having to tell them you can't ship that product. With the tablet, they download a diff nightly that is about 6 megabytes and the problem is solved. Also, in the fashion game, trends happen fast then they're gone. Our largest seller this season has been Ugg style boots with various team logos on them. With the tablet, you know what is new and you know it now. There is an icon on the main screen labeled "new products" and another one labeled "best sellers" both automatically generated when the database difff is respun every night. You don't get that with a printed catalog. The tablets are much faster and lighter too. Imagine a 3 ring binder with a thousand pages. Now imagine a stack of them. Now replace that with a 1.5 pound electronic gizmo.
next consider doing the math on an order. Tablet does it for you. Customer database and autofill? Tablet has that. Automatic filing of orders and customer receipt? Tablet. What has this customer bought before? What is their average purchase? When was I here last? Tablet. Tablet. Tablet.
and the bottom line? The customers love it and the spend more money!
So, when can I sign you up? :)
This iPad I'm holding is the most elegant computing device I have ever laid my hands on. Everything just flows. It doesn't do everything but for what it does do, the thing is positively addictive. I have a Xoom too and it has some capabilities the iPad doesn't, especially the built in Google stuff is much better than the iPad versions. I'm expecting ice-cream sandwich to match the elegance of the iPad and when it does, there will be two top notch contenders in the marketplace. To specifically address your point, you may not be seeing tablets yet but that probably has something to do with the price for good ones still being somewhat in the luxury realm. When that drops, and it will, expect to see more tablets than anything else.
capice
What do you think you're in the mob, asshole? Fucking jackass.
Do you not think I realize that one of the main reasons Linux is locked out of the market is piracy? I understand perfectly well that Bill Gates would rather you pirate windows than use an alternative. Why do you think that I rail against it? I wish piracy could be stamped out completely. Then maybe some free alternatives might stand a better chance. You need to learn how to read between the lines to see when somebody is on the same team rather than lashing out.
I didn't say it wasn't "topical". I was just making a point.
So, if Wal-Mart says it's cool to allow a certain amount of shoplifting and that it is good for their business thereby legitimizing it, Target should probably be okay with that, right?
I don't even know why I'm responding to you but here it goes. The person I responded has a uid in the 800,000's. If he's been around here that long, it's safe to say he has heard of Ubuntu and I was just reminding him of the option.
Of course. Debian?
Have you considered this?
And yes, linux distros are generally dependent on repositories, but you get to pick which mirror, including your own internal one.
You can always just download the entire repos in one shot and have them at the ready whenever you want. All of Debian, for example, can be downloaded to something like 8 DVD's.
I just hacked in and checked your browser history. Good God, man! Don't you know just thinking about that shit is illegal in all but like 3 countries??
Google for example has a semi-new feature that when you press scroll down the JS captures your keypress and pushes your focus to the next search result. This is horrible and I don't see a way to disable it.
Go into your Google settings and turn off "Instant" and the arrow keys will return to normal functionality. Why instant and the scroll thing are related, I don't know.
He's not even on the level of "that guy". Hairyfeet has a little computer store somewhere where he tricks grannies out of their money installing registry cleaners and shit. He's a joke. A clueless know-nothing moron that spouts off about shit he has no idea about.
What kind of voice plan did you have to buy in order to qualify to buy a data plan with free tethering?
I own the phone so I got the lowest voice/data plan they had at $59 per month. Tethering isn't specifically mentioned but it does come on the phone so I assume if they had a problem, they would have said something as they sell the phone in their stores. I've had this for quite a while and they haven't said a word yet.
I guess a lot of fanboy arguments try to answer the question of what to buy if one has the money or the carrying space for only one product and not both.
Indeed. I actually got the Xoom for free to develop an app for my company and I received the iPad from a sales lady that dumped it on me for $150 after she liked the Acer Iconia A500 we gave her so much better. Lucky me.
Tethering plans are expensive in the United States
I have a Nexus S. Tethering is free with the cost of the data plan and built in.
offline development tools don't need them.
You are arguing different use cases. A helicopter doesn't need a boat anchor~
A revision control system lets the user work locally and sync when the user happens to be at Wi-Fi.
Er, great! I use one all the time.
I agree on this. But AC was recommending trying to shove laptop use cases, such as writing a computer program in a text editor and testing it, onto an iPad connected to a shell account.
Yeah, that's a bit of a stretch. I have a rooted Xoom with a bluetooth keyboard and the scripting layer for android installed. I even have vim, screen, etc. and I still only use it from occasionally for any hardcore editing. The issue for me is, a, moving from app to app on the Xoom is nowhere near as efficient as doing it with alt+tab on a normal computer. And, B, sometimes, I need to look at documentation side by side with the text I'm working on which is difficult (though not impossible) to make happen on the Xoom. Basically, when you pimp out your tablet to make it more and more useful as a full fledged computing platform, you end up with...da dum...a full fledged computing platform, i.e., a laptop. Albeit, a low powered one. For its use cases though, an iPad is hard to beat. I love curling up on the couch with mine. In case you're wondering why I'm jumping back and forth between xoom and ipad, I have both.
Stops working the moment the user moves out of Wi-Fi range.
I use ssh on my iPad and Android tablets all the time and never have this problem as the tablets are always tethered to my Android phone. My sessions don't really run long enough to matter anyway. I'm usually checking something small like the status of my servers, whether a script ran correctly, etc. and it only takes a few minutes. Which is kind of the point of a mobile device. You pick it up, do your thing and get out. Different use case than a laptop almost entirely.
Calm down before you burst a blood vessel, buddy. I didn't say one word about Google+ good or bad. Now you just sound like an asshole.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-13374048
I would bet my last dollar he is a shill. He picked up that particular mantle right around the time "cgeys" stopped posting. Almost certainly the same person working in the same firm.
Wow, that's some hardcore sleuthing! I can't believe these guys would continue polluting the internet with their fake crap. Actually, I can believe it sadly.