Re:Because of the kind of people who buy Apple
on
Why Apple Is So Sticky
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Is this a serious point of view?
As a software developer, OSS advocate, multiple-os user, I couldn't disagree more.
My personal laptop is a 1st-gen MacBook Pro when they first made the Intel switch, and I'm using an iPhone 3G. Never used an Apple product until they made the intel switch, and I've loved every minute of OS X.
I still use Windows, Linux and Solaris for personal use, work use and for any other purpose, but if I had a choice I would undoubtedly choose OS X.
Why? Simple, it doesn't suck. I won't say "it just works", but it sucks a hell of a lot less then Windows or Linux. Surely, we can agree on Windows here, and Linux I'm not going to go into some kind of argument, but suffice to say my time is valuable (if not to others, to myself), I don't want to invest tens to hundreds of hours into simply configuring Linux to do what I want, when OS X does out of the box, with a cleaner and (more) unified interface.
Why did I get an iPhone instead of a phone with WebOS, Android or Symbian? Same goddamn reasons, WebOS is a tiny market, Android is fragmented and destroyed by the vendor specific distributions (sad, really, I wish this weren't the case -- or else i'd have gone here). When iPhone 3.0 came out, I was able to upgrade my phone instantly. When iPhone 4.0 beta came out, I was able to upgrade my phone isntantly. My buddy at work with his Android phone? He's stuck on something ridicuously old at 1.5 because he's at the mercy of the combination of his cell provider and handset maker to update their proprietary version of Android.
We all know that the cell phone providers have a long way to go in order to "catch up" with the technology we all want to use; and that's why I went with apple here. They used their brand power to strong-arm a major cell provider into giving them unified control. Sure, I'm "locked in" to Apple for my iPhone. But what do I get for that?
- Free (in a sense, not at additional charge) software and OS ugprades - Largest app store by an order of magnitude (i seldom pay for anything, tons of free stuff available that do what I want) - Unified interface to sync/get content (Sure, you see iTunes as locked in, but the app is free, purchased music is DRM free and there is simply no better alternative on any OS. So what the hell are you complaining about? Make a better competitor and maybe someone will use it.) - The UI is smoother and more intuitive then any other device - Flash? What? Android doesnt even run flash (except in latest betas, i believe, which wont see an actual piece of hardware for who knows how long, so dont give me that BS)
Until someone else can compete at this level (and that wont be for some time, if they are lucky), then I'll stick with my "locked in" platform, which, has more free and better tools available then the OSS alternatives.
By the way... small share of the market? Apple has moved (literally) over 50 million iPhones, and I believe significantly more iPod Touch's, and the US has a population of what.. roughly 330 million people, and lets say we make some broad assumptions that only about 1/3 (110 million) of those (cut out children, elderly) are even eligible iphone customers, thats nearly 50% market penetration. Small? Are you on crack?
Yes, that's 50 million world wide, but that is just a comparison to put it into perspective.
I had to decide to go with with an iPhone or a G1. As a developer, both are appealing.
However, I went with the iPhone for a few reasons:
T-Mobile 3G coverage in NE is non-existent (obvious show stopper)
Android market doesnt appear to be a real way to make any money.
Sure, it's hit or miss with the Apple app store, but atleast there you have a chance of having a hit.
http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/
Best host I have ever used.
You pay for the bandwidth/storage that you use. That's it.
My personal domain I use for development and testing and selling small website services to people... I initially put $10 in my account with them over a year ago, $6.50 still remains.
A website I designed and maintain for a singer/songwriter friend who has a good amount of traffic, costs her roughly $1 - $2/month (she gets ~ 10-20gb of traffic per month.)
Re:I love Python, but...
on
Guido Goes Google
·
· Score: 3, Informative
Python is self documenting. You should be documenting it as you go along. Everything in python is an object, and every object has a doc string, therefore EVERYTHING in python has documentation built into it. Variables, functions, classes, anything and everything.
Slashdot Mirror
Is this a serious point of view?
As a software developer, OSS advocate, multiple-os user, I couldn't disagree more.
My personal laptop is a 1st-gen MacBook Pro when they first made the Intel switch, and I'm using an iPhone 3G. Never used an Apple product until they made the intel switch, and I've loved every minute of OS X.
I still use Windows, Linux and Solaris for personal use, work use and for any other purpose, but if I had a choice I would undoubtedly choose OS X.
Why? Simple, it doesn't suck. I won't say "it just works", but it sucks a hell of a lot less then Windows or Linux. Surely, we can agree on Windows here, and Linux I'm not going to go into some kind of argument, but suffice to say my time is valuable (if not to others, to myself), I don't want to invest tens to hundreds of hours into simply configuring Linux to do what I want, when OS X does out of the box, with a cleaner and (more) unified interface.
Why did I get an iPhone instead of a phone with WebOS, Android or Symbian? Same goddamn reasons, WebOS is a tiny market, Android is fragmented and destroyed by the vendor specific distributions (sad, really, I wish this weren't the case -- or else i'd have gone here). When iPhone 3.0 came out, I was able to upgrade my phone instantly. When iPhone 4.0 beta came out, I was able to upgrade my phone isntantly. My buddy at work with his Android phone? He's stuck on something ridicuously old at 1.5 because he's at the mercy of the combination of his cell provider and handset maker to update their proprietary version of Android.
We all know that the cell phone providers have a long way to go in order to "catch up" with the technology we all want to use; and that's why I went with apple here. They used their brand power to strong-arm a major cell provider into giving them unified control. Sure, I'm "locked in" to Apple for my iPhone. But what do I get for that?
- Free (in a sense, not at additional charge) software and OS ugprades
- Largest app store by an order of magnitude (i seldom pay for anything, tons of free stuff available that do what I want)
- Unified interface to sync/get content (Sure, you see iTunes as locked in, but the app is free, purchased music is DRM free and there is simply no better alternative on any OS. So what the hell are you complaining about? Make a better competitor and maybe someone will use it.)
- The UI is smoother and more intuitive then any other device
- Flash? What? Android doesnt even run flash (except in latest betas, i believe, which wont see an actual piece of hardware for who knows how long, so dont give me that BS)
Until someone else can compete at this level (and that wont be for some time, if they are lucky), then I'll stick with my "locked in" platform, which, has more free and better tools available then the OSS alternatives.
By the way... small share of the market? Apple has moved (literally) over 50 million iPhones, and I believe significantly more iPod Touch's, and the US has a population of what.. roughly 330 million people, and lets say we make some broad assumptions that only about 1/3 (110 million) of those (cut out children, elderly) are even eligible iphone customers, thats nearly 50% market penetration. Small? Are you on crack?
Yes, that's 50 million world wide, but that is just a comparison to put it into perspective.
Last time I checked, chrome, firefox, safari all did this?
Symbian and Android have 60% of the smartphone market? What? Where?
They just need to land a USPTO contract. Just a few months ago, they used a Polaroid with instant film to take my passport photo.
I had to decide to go with with an iPhone or a G1. As a developer, both are appealing. However, I went with the iPhone for a few reasons: T-Mobile 3G coverage in NE is non-existent (obvious show stopper) Android market doesnt appear to be a real way to make any money. Sure, it's hit or miss with the Apple app store, but atleast there you have a chance of having a hit.
iPhone/iPod Touch dev already supports ad-hoc distribution. The army wouldnt need any special privileges to do this, you or I can do it right now.
Try to setup the SMS for phone alerts... Verizon is the only carrier not listed. Why is the US's largest wireless carrier not an option?
You don't have to use google ad's for them to notice you are doing well.
http://www.nearlyfreespeech.net/ Best host I have ever used. You pay for the bandwidth/storage that you use. That's it. My personal domain I use for development and testing and selling small website services to people... I initially put $10 in my account with them over a year ago, $6.50 still remains. A website I designed and maintain for a singer/songwriter friend who has a good amount of traffic, costs her roughly $1 - $2/month (she gets ~ 10-20gb of traffic per month.)
Python is self documenting. You should be documenting it as you go along. Everything in python is an object, and every object has a doc string, therefore EVERYTHING in python has documentation built into it. Variables, functions, classes, anything and everything.
I just wouldn't care.
Marble madness was my childhood. Fond memories of that dank video rental store.