People who bought them had a use for them, which will still be possible, as they are still government-issued ID cards, regardless of which actual government issued them.
Sorry dear, but you're over-analysing what I've said.
My claim is fairly straightforward: I've tried products (phones, laptops etc) from various manufacturers. I prefer the Apple ones.
In my opinion (which you refer to as nonsense, thanks for that) the Apple products are better because Apple designed both the software and the hardware. They control pretty much the whole show.
It's vendor lock-down of the highest order, sure, and for that reason alone for many it's something not to purchase.
And it's not just the 'shiny buttons' and 'nifty graphical effects' I like, it's the sum total of all the effort they shove into their product that makes it preferable to me. That tends to be how I decide to purchase something. I'll have a play around with it first, if I like it, I'l buy it.
Other manufacturers are free to create the same experience if they want, there's no technical limitation. But I've yet to try a product from another manufacturer that offers the same experience, so there must be some other barrier in the way. Perhaps it's because they don't build both the software and the hardware...?
But thankfully we have an open marketplace, where you can buy the products from the other vendors if you prefer.
PS I'll avoid the opportunity to call out your claim that I can't migrate to some other platform as I see fit as 'complete nonsense';-)
This is also why "no one else should buy an iPad".
It's why you shouldn't buy an iPad, sure, but to be fair, being dependant on Apple is one of the things that makes this device appeal to me. Simple reason being, I've seen Apple products time and time again trump their competitors in terms of usability, and that's the one thing that matters to me.
I buy it knowing full well it's locked down like fort knox, but it's their control over the thing that makes it as easy to use as possible.
But, I don't know if I'm simply blind to some hidden factor but I don't see the appeal of the iPad. I don't mind Apple products (I'm listening to an iPod touch on my desk at the moment)
You don't see the appeal? - the album art will be waaaaay bigger than on that iPod touch you've got!
However the confusing part is that they allow the browser to use CSS, Javascript and even some HTML 5 components, thus making web based applications that don't drain battery life or blow a security hole wide open...
Just yesterday slashdotters laughted how Microsoft is burning money on their online division like Bing and other properties, how it's completely useless. Which one it is now, to think long term or not to think?
But Bing is just playing catchup with Google. It's a decent search engine that's come out the thick end of a decade since Google became recognised as the world's go-to engine of choice.
Zune is just playing catchup with iPod. It's a decent mp3 player that's come to market long since Apple claimed the portable music crown.
These innovations are great and all, except they're not really innovations. They are examples of a company scrambling to make up ground in areas they didn't have their eye on, maybe because they're so huge they just aren't nimble enough.
What we want is for Microsoft to release something truly revolutionary. Or, even if it isn't revolutionary, at least market it in such a way that it feels revolutionary (like Apple do). I don't think that's a big ask for the world's biggest software company. They should be awesome at this.
I want to feel excited by a Microsoft product again. The last time I had actual fun using a Microsoft product was, I think, Midtown Madness.
The green button is a "zoom to fit" button. The plus sign inside might be suboptimal, but there are no "fiery logic hoops" involved. If the window is larger than the "fit" size, it shrinks. The button's behavior is quite consistent--the destination is always the same.
Except in Mail, TextEdit, Dictionary, Font Book, Image Capture, System Profiler, and Disc Utility it maximises the window to full screen.
In iTunes, it changes the window to a mini-player view.
In Calculator, it changes the view between Basic, Scientific, and Programmer.
Other than that, the button's behaviour is indeed quite consistent and the destination is always the same.
They all work very well... for people who know what address bars and tabs are
I agree that these things can be complex for an average joe, but don't all browsers have these things? How does this make the browser ballot screen a bad idea, especially if all the choices come with tabs and address bars?
Seriously, you're setting the bar way higher than the average user.
Plugins? What's a plugin? Why is this asking me to download something? How do I install something?
Again, all browsers use plugins, don't they? If I visit a site in IE that needs the silverlight plugin, won't I be prompted to download it, just as I would if I visit the same site in Firefox, Opera, Safari etc? I'm not sure how IE is any easier here.
Ever tried to install flash in firefox? You have to download and run an executable, it terrifies people, they don't know if the site they're getting it from might be hacked, the usually don't know how to find the file they've downloaded to run it.
Agreed - it's things like this that make the web overly complicated. Now, I don't know what it's like to download flash in firefox (or IE, or any other browser), but from what I can tell browsers other than IE tend to do a better job of helping people find the file they've downloaded. Firefox has a download window, and Chrome seems to go one better with a download bar at the bottom of the screen.
That doesn't stop the whole episode being a shambles though. But again, I really don't see how IE is better in this regard.
Disclaimer: last used IE about 5 years ago, feel free to correct me into oblivion
Firefox and opera certainly function better on sites *I* visit than say my 70 year old father and his wife. The websites I visit are built for people with the assumption they might not use IE. But my dad's wife manages to find these odd flash game sites that never work right in anything other than IE.
OK, that's fair enough point, but that does sound like that site should be shut down. It must be designed pretty horrifically. There's absolutely no way that the vast majority of the web doesn't work in non-IE browsers.
And they run their computer on a 20 inch monitor in 800x600 mode because well, it makes everything look bigger, so they can read it better. Good luck getting webpages designed for the young tech savy firefox user to behave nicely in 800x600 (except google).
Doesn't a site look the same in IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome etc in 800x600 on a 20" monitor? How does IE perform any better and more user friendly in this situation?
To anyone capable of reading, the menu screen shouldn't be hard, but it is. It causes regular users to panic and look for a 'get me the fuck away from here' button. It's how all the phishing/internet security 2010 type attacks succeed unfortunately.
You're absolutely right.
People want appliances.
And appliances they should have. Unfortunately, computer's aren't appliances. They just aren't.
They're scared of choices they aren't capable of making in an informed fashion.
Like I say, it's the sort of thing that makes sense on a new computer. People *expect* and accept that on a new computer they will have to learn a new of way of doing things and learn new stuff.
I thought that this was only going to be rolled out on new computers, I didn't know it would be forced onto existing ones. I agree with the thrust of your comment completely- it would be wrong to make this screen appear for existing computers, and I hope they decide against this.
Slashdot Mirror
People who bought them had a use for them, which will still be possible, as they are still government-issued ID cards, regardless of which actual government issued them.
Actually, no... "The cards will be invalidated with no refunds to purchasers. Those wishing to travel will need to purchase a passport instead".
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_identity_card_(United_Kingdom)
They might yet turn out to be right.
Shame on those who preside over the patent system for allowing that to happen.
...the year of Linux on the desktop, uh I mean phone.
Sorry dear, but you're over-analysing what I've said.
;-)
My claim is fairly straightforward: I've tried products (phones, laptops etc) from various manufacturers. I prefer the Apple ones.
In my opinion (which you refer to as nonsense, thanks for that) the Apple products are better because Apple designed both the software and the hardware. They control pretty much the whole show.
It's vendor lock-down of the highest order, sure, and for that reason alone for many it's something not to purchase.
And it's not just the 'shiny buttons' and 'nifty graphical effects' I like, it's the sum total of all the effort they shove into their product that makes it preferable to me. That tends to be how I decide to purchase something. I'll have a play around with it first, if I like it, I'l buy it.
Other manufacturers are free to create the same experience if they want, there's no technical limitation. But I've yet to try a product from another manufacturer that offers the same experience, so there must be some other barrier in the way. Perhaps it's because they don't build both the software and the hardware...?
But thankfully we have an open marketplace, where you can buy the products from the other vendors if you prefer.
PS I'll avoid the opportunity to call out your claim that I can't migrate to some other platform as I see fit as 'complete nonsense'
This is also why "no one else should buy an iPad".
It's why you shouldn't buy an iPad, sure, but to be fair, being dependant on Apple is one of the things that makes this device appeal to me. Simple reason being, I've seen Apple products time and time again trump their competitors in terms of usability, and that's the one thing that matters to me.
I buy it knowing full well it's locked down like fort knox, but it's their control over the thing that makes it as easy to use as possible.
It's not for everyone, I know.
But, I don't know if I'm simply blind to some hidden factor but I don't see the appeal of the iPad. I don't mind Apple products (I'm listening to an iPod touch on my desk at the moment)
You don't see the appeal? - the album art will be waaaaay bigger than on that iPod touch you've got!
Just don't press play.
You read "petabytes", and think "pedophile"? Seems someone has a problem...
And why does Chrome think petabytes is a misspelling and want me to change it to gigabytes?
You spelled pedophile wrong.
Damn.... what we need is a stylus!!!
However the confusing part is that they allow the browser to use CSS, Javascript and even some HTML 5 components, thus making web based applications that don't drain battery life or blow a security hole wide open...
Addition mine ;-)
Just yesterday slashdotters laughted how Microsoft is burning money on their online division like Bing and other properties, how it's completely useless. Which one it is now, to think long term or not to think?
But Bing is just playing catchup with Google. It's a decent search engine that's come out the thick end of a decade since Google became recognised as the world's go-to engine of choice.
Zune is just playing catchup with iPod. It's a decent mp3 player that's come to market long since Apple claimed the portable music crown.
These innovations are great and all, except they're not really innovations. They are examples of a company scrambling to make up ground in areas they didn't have their eye on, maybe because they're so huge they just aren't nimble enough.
What we want is for Microsoft to release something truly revolutionary. Or, even if it isn't revolutionary, at least market it in such a way that it feels revolutionary (like Apple do). I don't think that's a big ask for the world's biggest software company. They should be awesome at this.
I want to feel excited by a Microsoft product again. The last time I had actual fun using a Microsoft product was, I think, Midtown Madness.
April 1.0
I was one of those 5.0 children.
They're even censoring the smell of rubbish!
And he thought being poked on facebook was fun...
while Cernan noted he was 'disappointed' to have been the last person to land on the moon.
I'm sure they could fake another one. The sfx these days are much better than 1969. Avatar looked stunning!
This guy clearly has no moral compass.
Yeh, it's going to be awful for browsing the web without those annoying banner ads.
..and it's actually an awful choice for #3.
Look, there's only three things Flash is good for,
1) Ads
2) Games
3) Video
With the biggest video site on the web, YouTube, using HTML5 video, and more and more browsers supporting HTML5 video, Flash can die already.
I've used Click2Flash for ages to hide Flash when I'm browsing the web, and I haven't missed it yet.
I know IE6 is dead, but I can't help but think it will pop up again.
'messing up pages shown to Opera'
The code they used was supposed to randomise which browser got served the messed up HTML.
Unfortunately the method they used favoured Opera more.
I'm really not sure the RIAA has any intention of reducing piracy. Piracy is their source of income.
In fact, I'd bet they hope to increase it. Then they can bring more cases against more 'infringers'.
They only have to win a handful of the cases they make in order for their efforts to be worthwhile.
The green button is a "zoom to fit" button. The plus sign inside might be suboptimal, but there are no "fiery logic hoops" involved. If the window is larger than the "fit" size, it shrinks. The button's behavior is quite consistent--the destination is always the same.
Except in Mail, TextEdit, Dictionary, Font Book, Image Capture, System Profiler, and Disc Utility it maximises the window to full screen.
In iTunes, it changes the window to a mini-player view.
In Calculator, it changes the view between Basic, Scientific, and Programmer.
Other than that, the button's behaviour is indeed quite consistent and the destination is always the same.
...and didn't even pay for it.
This is great news!
A sure sign that Apple will approve the other pending Adobe apps.
They all work very well... for people who know what address bars and tabs are
I agree that these things can be complex for an average joe, but don't all browsers have these things? How does this make the browser ballot screen a bad idea, especially if all the choices come with tabs and address bars?
Seriously, you're setting the bar way higher than the average user.
Plugins? What's a plugin? Why is this asking me to download something? How do I install something?
Again, all browsers use plugins, don't they? If I visit a site in IE that needs the silverlight plugin, won't I be prompted to download it, just as I would if I visit the same site in Firefox, Opera, Safari etc? I'm not sure how IE is any easier here.
Ever tried to install flash in firefox? You have to download and run an executable, it terrifies people, they don't know if the site they're getting it from might be hacked, the usually don't know how to find the file they've downloaded to run it.
Agreed - it's things like this that make the web overly complicated. Now, I don't know what it's like to download flash in firefox (or IE, or any other browser), but from what I can tell browsers other than IE tend to do a better job of helping people find the file they've downloaded. Firefox has a download window, and Chrome seems to go one better with a download bar at the bottom of the screen.
That doesn't stop the whole episode being a shambles though. But again, I really don't see how IE is better in this regard.
Disclaimer: last used IE about 5 years ago, feel free to correct me into oblivion
Firefox and opera certainly function better on sites *I* visit than say my 70 year old father and his wife. The websites I visit are built for people with the assumption they might not use IE. But my dad's wife manages to find these odd flash game sites that never work right in anything other than IE.
OK, that's fair enough point, but that does sound like that site should be shut down. It must be designed pretty horrifically. There's absolutely no way that the vast majority of the web doesn't work in non-IE browsers.
And they run their computer on a 20 inch monitor in 800x600 mode because well, it makes everything look bigger, so they can read it better. Good luck getting webpages designed for the young tech savy firefox user to behave nicely in 800x600 (except google).
Doesn't a site look the same in IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome etc in 800x600 on a 20" monitor? How does IE perform any better and more user friendly in this situation?
To anyone capable of reading, the menu screen shouldn't be hard, but it is. It causes regular users to panic and look for a 'get me the fuck away from here' button. It's how all the phishing/internet security 2010 type attacks succeed unfortunately.
You're absolutely right.
People want appliances.
And appliances they should have. Unfortunately, computer's aren't appliances. They just aren't.
They're scared of choices they aren't capable of making in an informed fashion.
Like I say, it's the sort of thing that makes sense on a new computer. People *expect* and accept that on a new computer they will have to learn a new of way of doing things and learn new stuff.
I thought that this was only going to be rolled out on new computers, I didn't know it would be forced onto existing ones. I agree with the thrust of your comment completely- it would be wrong to make this screen appear for existing computers, and I hope they decide against this.