Among other things, I find it humorous ( for some definition of humorous ) that in Figure 1 they show "Tiles" of Outlook Express and Explorer.
From the document. (Page 33) "FIG 1 shows an illustrative configuration of the graphical user interface of the present invention. A grid 1 consisting of 3 by 3 matrix of nine tiles demonstrates some of the different contents that tiles can display. Tile 10 points to a database of stock quotes. Tile 20 displays active folders in an electronic mail utility. Tile 30 displays a position of an alphabetic list of quoted companies.Tiles 40,50,60,70 and 80 point to websites displaying, respectively, high technology news, electronic goods for sale, categories of business news, items available for auction and Wall Street Journal. Tile 90 points to the file-viewer of a windows-based operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, and displays the accessible disk drives"
What you are talking about are tiles 20/90 and I have to say there is nothing funny about it at all. In fact its a eerily similar to the default screen in windows 8.
Google really screwed up with the naming of their devices.
For now, people will remember the differences between the Nexus 4 and 7. A year from now, I doubt it.
Better naming would be: Nexus Phone 2 Nexus Pad 3 Nexus Sound 1
Or sync the numbers and say 'screw it' to the slashdotters who complain about skipping numbers: Nexus Phone 3 Nexus Pad 3 Nexus Sound 3
I think you have missed the "winds of change". The buzzword was "platforms" now its "ecosystems". Apple have been playing the ecosystem card for a long time..."just works" means only with other Apple products. Desperate Microsoft use the word all the time today...and don't really have one yet. Google do..its android, the Nexus *brand* just shows they have a device at every "screen size" [Yeah they say that too].
Apart from about 100 apps per platform, the rest are crap universally between android, IOS and winphone. Why is "only" 100,000 apps a problem? the stats are absolutely meaningless.
Windows simply doesn't have top tier Applications either. If you were comparing top 100 applications I would care more...but I don't. I personally believe choice matters. I have even changed my main Apps browser; music player; Video player several times. I own 80+ applications, and belong to 4 Application Stores, and I'm not a heavy user. The bottom line is though your like ly to get a higher number of top tier applications on a platform with the greatest number of Applications...the reality is very few top tire apps find themselves on Microsoft platform at all.
If it was all about openness, then why no micro sd slot
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!? I in no way defend not having one. I think that cripples the devices. Seriously you could have talked about the APACHE license, or binary drivers. Merging the Linux kernel, opening up the 1st Party proprietary programs on Android, or highlight the GPL programs available on android! [use http://f-droid.org/ ]Not having a microsd slot is about creating artificial different price points for your device. The truth is when compared to the competition it is the most open.
We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
Apart from its not true. Security is a issue on EVERY platform, and Google have routinely stepped up security while allowing the...and I cannot empathise this enough the *option* of openness. Security has just become one of those words that Apple shareholders user to pretend that a closed ecosystem is somehow better...Its not it just means the company owns the device (and the content) not you. It means you get rubbish maps!
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7". I was hoping for a 4" to 4.3" screen, but Google have really pushed for that extra big handset.
Nobody not one person alive. The only people even suggesting such stupidity are those promoting Apple...and those would be better selling off their shares;). Seriously Tiny screens are awful they always were. Just for reference dual core is not better than quad-core, Less memory is just that less memory, If you do proper multitasking and want to build next generation applications these things matter NOW! Apple phones last generation phone or as Apple shareholders say "Specs don't matter"
I think its kind of sad that your forced to post in Android posts in the illusion that Apple is still relevant. Its market share has dropped from 23% to 15% says otherwise.
Wait, you need riot police, armed with guns... to recover a lost phone prototype...?
Crazy.
Tenuous Link from the article.
"Shortly after an officer-involved shooting in which a plainclothes officer shot a suspect who pulled a gun on the officer Thursday night, dozens of rioters surrounded San Francisco’s Mission District Police Station while one person vandalized the police station, according to San Francisco police."
14 people were killed in a cafe suicide bominbg in Somalia too, not sure why Google is not being blamed for than too.
Are you sure it was Google? I thought it would have been Samsung...
I kid! I kid!
You comment makes no sense on so many levels. The main one being the Phone was manufactured by LG...which I think should be bigger news than this trash piece.
Okay, so HTC took a 43% hit on total units shipped in the Autumn quarter...the same quarter that the iPhone 5 came out. How heavy a hit did they have in Summer and Spring? It's happened before that when a new iPhone comes out, that's pretty much all anyone buys for a short while. Nokia's decline, on the other hand, has been going on consistently for some years now. A 23% drop for them means, what...that they delivered 23 less phones than the previous quarter?
Apples market share has dropped from 23% all the way to 15% the iPhone does not have any relevance anymore.
for all those urging Nokia to go Android, or lamenting they didn't ?
People say that Nokia should have gone Android because its the Winner OS as opposed to Windows Phone the Loser OS. Even Apple has losing Marketshare to Android 23% to 8%
Maybe Samsung should be a regretful tail to Nokia of what they could have been.
Personally I say no reason why Nokia should have gone exclusive to windows phone not even HTC made that mistake which is why they are still profitable.
Why is nobody reporting on Apples massive losses in marketshare even after the launch of the iPhone5 where are the articles calling the iPhone a failure, and the end of Apple.
It'll take a lot of ads to pay back the $12 billion spent on Motorola (and don't forget: they lost $500 million last quarter.). Hell, I doubt they've even made up the $300 million or so they spent on android itself, never mind the continual development.
...and Money from the Play store!!:) I did notice they his the 25Billion Apps Downloaded before Apple:)
Motorola did take a loss of $500 last quarter, but most of that was one off restructuring cost!
Seriously that $300million on Android is the best money they ever spent.
Sony Loses $312m In Last Quarter On Weak Gaming And Mobile Sales
...but Sony's mobile phones are not in that Division they are in Sony has their own Game division "Mobile Products & Communications" Should we see what they say!!!
"Primarily due to the lowering of the annual unit sales forecast for PCs, sales are expected to be lower than the May forecast. Due to the above-mentioned decrease in sales and the impact of unfavorable exchange rates, operating results are expected to be significantly below the May forecast. Due to the consolidation of Sony Mobile, sales are expected to increase significantly year-on-year. Operating results are expected to deteriorate significantly year-on-year primarily due to the large remeasurement gain recorded in the prior fiscal year for Sony Mobile. On a pro forma basis, had Sony Mobile been fully consolidated from the beginning of the previous fiscal year, a significant increase in sales and a significant improvement in operating results would be anticipated."
That right ladies and gentleman Android is profitable for Sony, Microsoft Windows isn't!!
Knowing Slashdot they would then be bashed for annoying pop ups and letting advertisers track them.
Clueless users would feel IE is stalking them after seeing it pop up every 5 seconds browsing the web and would switch to Chrome so they do not have to feel tracked.
Have you read the article, because of Microsoft an opt-in privacy feature has been destroyed.When Microsoft create stealth technology in their browser to protect their users. Let me care, but right now I'm just seeming more intrusive behaviour around their own products...have you used Windows 8.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that MICROSOFT gives more of a shit about the end user than everyone else?
All that Microsoft did achieve...and all it could achieve is to have others ignore the functionality. They actually destroyed its functionality by embracing it. If Microsoft gave a shit it would be using Tor, or creating similar technology...or even just making their own OS less spyware. I was shocked at how much information Windows 8 wanted from me.
After all, he has no dog in this fight. Oh wait, he's from a competitor. Wonder if he has incentive to twist the truth a little bit? Apple seems desperate these days.
Not really convinced Apple is desperate, or that having successful products with overlapping markets excludes you from having an opinion. Now Microsoft with a new product having crippled your Desktop experience to gain a foothold in Mobile market after being overtaken in Market value by Apple and Google, could be labelled desperate.
"or is he unaware that children happily used vertical touch screens forty years ago on UIUC's PLATO System?""
You had to dig up an example from forty years ago because apparently nobody has bothered to do that since. Your forty year old exception proves Apple's contention - people generally prefer horizontal displays. There have been vertical displays in computing history but they are the negligible exceptions. For a reason.
Much as agree strongly that Pluto is a particularly good example; Vertical screens have always been my preference for certain tasks. [Miss my rotating Monitor]. Today on My large Widescreen monitor. I normally work in two vertical windows [Text Browsing], and Play in Widescreen. On my TV I want it Widescreen, and as large as possible to fill my vision. On my 7" tablet like everyone else I read vertically...ans watch movies horizontally. On my smartphone, almost everything is vertical, apart from 3D gaming, and interestingly web pages that resize badly, but again reading ebooks vertical.
Basically I think I like vertical for text, and Widescreen for 3D gaming and Video. In a 16:9 ratio.
...but to do so without knowing anything other than, "it's a competing product, and we didn't make it, therefore, it sucks balls, obviously," is just pathetic.
...but that is not what he said. He pointed out the obvious weakness of Surface, Its a confusing device. Almost everyone agrees with that assessment. Now by stating this he may have acknowledged Surface as a competing product.
They don't need to announce a new generation of consoles.
Nintendo aren't competing with Sony and MS any more - the specs of their new console won't interest "hardcore" gamers, but will be fine for casual gamers and Nintendo franchise fans.
Sony are on the brink - their company is worth a mere $12 Billion, and lost $6.4 Billion last year. They went from having the all-time best selling console (PS2) to the worst selling 7th Gen console (PS3). They can't afford another technological arms race, and must be dreading the next generation console launches.
Microsoft have been booking a healthy profit from the Xbox 360 in the last couple of years, and will continue to do so until the next-gen Sony and MS consoles are launched. They have no reason to launch early, unless they are willing to pay $$$ to kill PlayStation completely - unlikely given MS's past anti-trust woes.
IMO MS and Sony (if they are smart) have privately arranged to launch as late as possible, and at similar times, maximizing profits for both companies.
Its not that I care but don't let the figures get in the way of any facts http://www.vgchartz.com/ pegs Xbox360 at 69.1Million against Sonys PS3 67.4Million That 3% difference may make you happy as a fanboy, but from what I see there is precious little in it.
As for you comparing Sony's Financials vs Microsofts I would love to know how you did that,
Like I said is you are trying to make out a massive win for Microsoft over Sony its simply not happening. In fact by measures of financial or market share their is very little in it.
Slashdot Mirror
Because nobody in their right mind wants to buy a W8 phone?
Fixed
If only Microsoft had done that with their [that is right not your] phones Nokia would have been better off now.
Among other things, I find it humorous ( for some definition of humorous ) that in Figure 1 they show "Tiles" of Outlook Express and Explorer.
From the document. (Page 33) "FIG 1 shows an illustrative configuration of the graphical user interface of the present invention. A grid 1 consisting of 3 by 3 matrix of nine tiles demonstrates some of the different contents that tiles can display. Tile 10 points to a database of stock quotes. Tile 20 displays active folders in an electronic mail utility. Tile 30 displays a position of an alphabetic list of quoted companies.Tiles 40,50,60,70 and 80 point to websites displaying, respectively, high technology news, electronic goods for sale, categories of business news, items available for auction and Wall Street Journal. Tile 90 points to the file-viewer of a windows-based operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, and displays the accessible disk drives"
What you are talking about are tiles 20/90 and I have to say there is nothing funny about it at all. In fact its a eerily similar to the default screen in windows 8.
Google really screwed up with the naming of their devices.
For now, people will remember the differences between the Nexus 4 and 7. A year from now, I doubt it.
Better naming would be:
Nexus Phone 2
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 1
Or sync the numbers and say 'screw it' to the slashdotters who complain about skipping numbers:
Nexus Phone 3
Nexus Pad 3
Nexus Sound 3
I think you have missed the "winds of change". The buzzword was "platforms" now its "ecosystems". Apple have been playing the ecosystem card for a long time..."just works" means only with other Apple products. Desperate Microsoft use the word all the time today...and don't really have one yet. Google do..its android, the Nexus *brand* just shows they have a device at every "screen size" [Yeah they say that too].
Apart from about 100 apps per platform, the rest are crap universally between android, IOS and winphone. Why is "only" 100,000 apps a problem? the stats are absolutely meaningless.
Windows simply doesn't have top tier Applications either. If you were comparing top 100 applications I would care more...but I don't. I personally believe choice matters. I have even changed my main Apps browser; music player; Video player several times. I own 80+ applications, and belong to 4 Application Stores, and I'm not a heavy user. The bottom line is though your like ly to get a higher number of top tier applications on a platform with the greatest number of Applications...the reality is very few top tire apps find themselves on Microsoft platform at all.
No SD cad
No removable battery
You are aware that your Apple phone does not have these either! Seriously Fandroids...that doesn't even work as an insult!
If it was all about openness, then why no micro sd slot
What has openness got to do with a micro sd slot!? I in no way defend not having one. I think that cripples the devices. Seriously you could have talked about the APACHE license, or binary drivers. Merging the Linux kernel, opening up the 1st Party proprietary programs on Android, or highlight the GPL programs available on android! [use http://f-droid.org/ ]Not having a microsd slot is about creating artificial different price points for your device. The truth is when compared to the competition it is the most open.
We used to ramble about Windows, and now Android acts like the old windows system, the swiss cheese of security.
Apart from its not true. Security is a issue on EVERY platform, and Google have routinely stepped up security while allowing the...and I cannot empathise this enough the *option* of openness. Security has just become one of those words that Apple shareholders user to pretend that a closed ecosystem is somehow better...Its not it just means the company owns the device (and the content) not you. It means you get rubbish maps!
I don't know about anyone else, but I think that the size of the Nexus 4 is too big at 4.7". I was hoping for a 4" to 4.3" screen, but Google have really pushed for that extra big handset.
Nobody not one person alive. The only people even suggesting such stupidity are those promoting Apple...and those would be better selling off their shares ;). Seriously Tiny screens are awful they always were. Just for reference dual core is not better than quad-core, Less memory is just that less memory, If you do proper multitasking and want to build next generation applications these things matter NOW! Apple phones last generation phone or as Apple shareholders say "Specs don't matter"
I think its kind of sad that your forced to post in Android posts in the illusion that Apple is still relevant. Its market share has dropped from 23% to 15% says otherwise.
The real question is how long it will take Apple to sue Samsung for having one of their prototypes stolen in the same manner as one of Apple's.
Because the manufacturer is LG....about four weeks.
The real mystery is: what kind of Google employee goes to a bar?
...the kind that drink.!!!!
Wait, you need riot police, armed with guns... to recover a lost phone prototype...?
Crazy.
Tenuous Link from the article.
"Shortly after an officer-involved shooting in which a plainclothes officer shot a suspect who pulled a gun on the officer Thursday night, dozens of rioters surrounded San Francisco’s Mission District Police Station while one person vandalized the police station, according to San Francisco police."
14 people were killed in a cafe suicide bominbg in Somalia too, not sure why Google is not being blamed for than too.
Are you sure it was Google? I thought it would have been Samsung...
I kid! I kid!
You comment makes no sense on so many levels. The main one being the Phone was manufactured by LG...which I think should be bigger news than this trash piece.
Okay, so HTC took a 43% hit on total units shipped in the Autumn quarter...the same quarter that the iPhone 5 came out. How heavy a hit did they have in Summer and Spring? It's happened before that when a new iPhone comes out, that's pretty much all anyone buys for a short while. Nokia's decline, on the other hand, has been going on consistently for some years now. A 23% drop for them means, what...that they delivered 23 less phones than the previous quarter?
Apples market share has dropped from 23% all the way to 15% the iPhone does not have any relevance anymore.
for all those urging Nokia to go Android, or lamenting they didn't ?
People say that Nokia should have gone Android because its the Winner OS as opposed to Windows Phone the Loser OS. Even Apple has losing Marketshare to Android 23% to 8%
Maybe Samsung should be a regretful tail to Nokia of what they could have been.
Personally I say no reason why Nokia should have gone exclusive to windows phone not even HTC made that mistake which is why they are still profitable.
Why is nobody reporting on Apples massive losses in marketshare even after the launch of the iPhone5 where are the articles calling the iPhone a failure, and the end of Apple.
Seriously 23% to 15% that is pretty serious.
What are you talking about Googles Revenues for 2010 was $29,321,000,000 and in 2011 $37,905,000,000
They have already have revenues of $30Billion this year alone.
http://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html
It'll take a lot of ads to pay back the $12 billion spent on Motorola (and don't forget: they lost $500 million last quarter.). Hell, I doubt they've even made up the $300 million or so they spent on android itself, never mind the continual development.
...and Money from the Play store!! :) I did notice they his the 25Billion Apps Downloaded before Apple :)
Motorola did take a loss of $500 last quarter, but most of that was one off restructuring cost!
Seriously that $300million on Android is the best money they ever spent.
Sony:
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/08/02/sony-loses-312m-in-last-quarter_n_1731696.html
Sony Loses $312m In Last Quarter On Weak Gaming And Mobile Sales
...but Sony's mobile phones are not in that Division they are in Sony has their own Game division "Mobile Products & Communications" Should we see what they say!!!
"Primarily due to the lowering of the annual unit sales forecast for PCs, sales are expected to be lower than the May
forecast. Due to the above-mentioned decrease in sales and the impact of unfavorable exchange rates, operating
results are expected to be significantly below the May forecast. Due to the consolidation of Sony Mobile, sales
are expected to increase significantly year-on-year. Operating results are expected to deteriorate significantly
year-on-year primarily due to the large remeasurement gain recorded in the prior fiscal year for Sony Mobile.
On a pro forma basis, had Sony Mobile been fully consolidated from the beginning of the previous fiscal year, a
significant increase in sales and a significant improvement in operating results would be anticipated."
That right ladies and gentleman Android is profitable for Sony, Microsoft Windows isn't!!
These are the financial figures http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/index.html
Knowing Slashdot they would then be bashed for annoying pop ups and letting advertisers track them.
Clueless users would feel IE is stalking them after seeing it pop up every 5 seconds browsing the web and would switch to Chrome so they do not have to feel tracked.
Have you read the article, because of Microsoft an opt-in privacy feature has been destroyed.When Microsoft create stealth technology in their browser to protect their users. Let me care, but right now I'm just seeming more intrusive behaviour around their own products...have you used Windows 8.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that MICROSOFT gives more of a shit about the end user than everyone else?
All that Microsoft did achieve...and all it could achieve is to have others ignore the functionality. They actually destroyed its functionality by embracing it. If Microsoft gave a shit it would be using Tor, or creating similar technology...or even just making their own OS less spyware. I was shocked at how much information Windows 8 wanted from me.
After all, he has no dog in this fight.
Oh wait, he's from a competitor.
Wonder if he has incentive to twist the truth a little bit?
Apple seems desperate these days.
Not really convinced Apple is desperate, or that having successful products with overlapping markets excludes you from having an opinion. Now Microsoft with a new product having crippled your Desktop experience to gain a foothold in Mobile market after being overtaken in Market value by Apple and Google, could be labelled desperate.
"or is he unaware that children happily used vertical touch screens forty years ago on UIUC's PLATO System?""
You had to dig up an example from forty years ago because apparently nobody has bothered to do that since. Your forty year old exception proves Apple's contention - people generally prefer horizontal displays. There have been vertical displays in computing history but they are the negligible exceptions. For a reason.
Much as agree strongly that Pluto is a particularly good example; Vertical screens have always been my preference for certain tasks. [Miss my rotating Monitor]. Today on My large Widescreen monitor. I normally work in two vertical windows [Text Browsing], and Play in Widescreen. On my TV I want it Widescreen, and as large as possible to fill my vision. On my 7" tablet like everyone else I read vertically...ans watch movies horizontally. On my smartphone, almost everything is vertical, apart from 3D gaming, and interestingly web pages that resize badly, but again reading ebooks vertical.
Basically I think I like vertical for text, and Widescreen for 3D gaming and Video. In a 16:9 ratio.
A car that flew and floated, lacking other qualifiers, would be awesome.
That is a hovercraft...and yes they are awesome...but they make piss poor cars.
...but to do so without knowing anything other than, "it's a competing product, and we didn't make it, therefore, it sucks balls, obviously," is just pathetic.
...but that is not what he said. He pointed out the obvious weakness of Surface, Its a confusing device. Almost everyone agrees with that assessment. Now by stating this he may have acknowledged Surface as a competing product.
They don't need to announce a new generation of consoles.
Nintendo aren't competing with Sony and MS any more - the specs of their new console won't interest "hardcore" gamers, but will be fine for casual gamers and Nintendo franchise fans.
Sony are on the brink - their company is worth a mere $12 Billion, and lost $6.4 Billion last year. They went from having the all-time best selling console (PS2) to the worst selling 7th Gen console (PS3). They can't afford another technological arms race, and must be dreading the next generation console launches.
Microsoft have been booking a healthy profit from the Xbox 360 in the last couple of years, and will continue to do so until the next-gen Sony and MS consoles are launched. They have no reason to launch early, unless they are willing to pay $$$ to kill PlayStation completely - unlikely given MS's past anti-trust woes.
IMO MS and Sony (if they are smart) have privately arranged to launch as late as possible, and at similar times, maximizing profits for both companies.
Its not that I care but don't let the figures get in the way of any facts http://www.vgchartz.com/ pegs Xbox360 at 69.1Million against Sonys PS3 67.4Million That 3% difference may make you happy as a fanboy, but from what I see there is precious little in it.
As for you comparing Sony's Financials vs Microsofts I would love to know how you did that,
Having a look at http://www.microsoft.com/investor/EarningsAndFinancials/Earnings/PressReleaseAndWebcast/FY13/Q1/default.aspx Microsofts Profit for the last three months have been 18 Million note that is Millions with Sony in there financial statements post a loss of 45 Million not that is Million again, not good but not awful.
Like I said is you are trying to make out a massive win for Microsoft over Sony its simply not happening. In fact by measures of financial or market share their is very little in it.