Hard News: Do Want?
356 Responses
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Including my number one reason for not ever giving Jobs any of my money: openness. For me, it's an absolute deal-breaker. I object strongly to anyone telling me what I can and cannot do with things that I have bought.
I presume you don't own any gaming consoles or mobile phones then?
The concept of "There is only one true way - the way of the iJobs - and no other way shall be made in the least bit convenient" is anathema to how I view tech. For as long as Apple is run by a control freak, producing control-freak products, no matter how beautiful (I fully heart the top-end Apple displays, and am quite happy to admit it), they're not the products for me.
It's ironic, given the implication that Apple's customers are starry-eyed loons, how much of the argument against the products comes down to emotion.
The other way of looking at it is that Apple under Jobs has been a brilliant product innovator, introducing new technologies (first computers to ship with wi-fi, first commercial use of multitouch) and even creating new materials (the plastics in the first few generations of iMac were developed for the purpose). But you've acknowledged that, so fair enough.
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Will people have libraries with them - hell yeah. Good grief when MP3 devices first came out people laughed at the idea that you'd ever want more than a couple of albums worth of music to carry with you - much the same way people are scoffing at the idea of having more than one (real) book with you.
I think Bart has this right about digital readers. It's not to read the latest novel curled up on the couch that they'll be big. People are going to use these sorts of things in their employment - technical manuals, architectural plans, salespeople. Software that you tap a bunch of different recipes and it creates a complete shopping list for you. Looking up reviews of products while in the actual shop.
etc etc etc.
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It really grates when you have paid good money for a machine that has been deliberately crippled and the software is locked down to stop you doing what you want with something you have paid for.
Precisely. A friend just bought an iPhone, and commented that she's seen lots of problems with stability with jail-broken phones with some of her friends. I couldn't say I was surprised, but jail breaking happens for a reason. Apple's insistence on absolute control means that a really good experience and really good functionality are pretty much mutually exclusive. That's something of a fail, but they get away with it because people love the UI experience so much. However, because they insist on absolute control, people who want to get most of that UI experience but also get extra functionality are left out in the cold. That is, IMO, pretty shitty customer service.
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Then all you had to do was recite the paternoster backwards, while constructing a mental image of the Earthly Paradise in your head, before sacrificing a chicken to the spirits of the ether.
Don't be silly, that went out with Ubuntu 7.2.4.5.7 rc. The Chicken has been replaced with a Heron.
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This is the part I'm interested in. Why read books on this and not actual books?
I'm joining the discussion late and haven't finished reading through it yet.
I would never use the iPad instead of reading my newest shiny paperback. However I could easily carry my 40 odd kg collection of Roleplaying books in one small bag. I have 50-60 Greek and Roman classics on my self that weigh in at a few megs in text format. Carrying that round uni would have been sweet.
One thing I'm looking forward to is games, especially two player+ games. It can lie flat on the table and be any game you like. People can sit round these in a way that's not practical for a laptop.
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I have a distant memory of saying something similar in an old thread GARGH !cant. say. name...
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One thing I'm looking forward to is games, especially two player+ games. It can lie flat on the table and be any game you like. People can sit round these in a way that's not practical for a laptop.
I would get onto that one quick if I were you before Mr. Jobs sees your post.
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I presume you don't own any gaming consoles or mobile phones then?
Gaming consoles, no. I own a mobile phone that's so old that nobody develops for it any more, but the apps that are available can be run at my choosing without having to hack the phone and void the warranty. I will make similar choices when I finally upgrade, namely that I choose what runs, and the manufacturer says to developers "Here's the API, here's the phone's specs, now develop to your hearts' content". No need to work around imposed limitations that deny access to full functionality.
It's ironic, given the implication that Apple's customers are starry-eyed loons, how much of the argument against the products comes down to emotion.
A lot of Apple's customers are "starry-eyed loons", though, Russell. Look at how many people queue in the shittiest possible weather for hours, if not days, just so that they can get "The next Apple gadget", even though history says that the first release will be buggy, glitchy, maybe even have sub-standard hardware. That's some serious dedication to a product that you can be nearly certain will be defective to some extent.
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Apple's insistence on absolute control means that a really good experience and really good functionality are pretty much mutually exclusive. That's something of a fail, but they get away with it because people love the UI experience so much. However, because they insist on absolute control, people who want to get most of that UI experience but also get extra functionality are left out in the cold. That is, IMO, pretty shitty customer service.
Yes, Apple's App Store lockdown can be frustrating -- but I'm not sure that mobile vendors have historically been the sharing type anyway.
But it also works , and way, way beyond just the UI.
There are more than a hundred thousand applications for the iPhone. Many of them are trivial, many are not -- and many are serious and useful in completely new ways. The stone cold fact is that no one else has been able to do what Apple has in creating a mobile applications platform, and a market for it.
There are legitimate complaints about the App Store from developers. But compare the world before the iPhone, and after. There just isn't any comparison. For one thing, Apple made it possible for the people who developed this here site to move into mobile application development, where they now have an international market. No one else did that.
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While we're discussing all things Apple and geekery and whatnot...
A guy I knew at university who was working on his Masters in Engineering Science (or maybe doctorate) when I was an undergrad, and with whom I have caught up with a few times since has made a really cool iPhone 3GS app / game "Sky Siege".
The game's website's kinda retro, but it tells you what you need to know.
The guy's been in the news lately for some impressive work he's done in his day job, but as his name's not on the site nor in the domain name profile, I don't think I'll reveal any more.
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A lot of Apple's customers are "starry-eyed loons", though, Russell. Look at how many people queue in the shittiest possible weather for hours, if not days, just so that they can get "The next Apple gadget", even though history says that the first release will be buggy, glitchy, maybe even have sub-standard hardware. That's some serious dedication to a product that you can be nearly certain will be defective to some extent.
Depends how you define "a lot", I suppose. Apple certainly benefits from the keenness of its core fans to have the new thing first. But, as I noted before, via iTunes, Apple has 120 million active customer accounts and dominates at least one major media sector and might well do the same with others. It has $40 billion in cash reserves.
The idea that it's all driven by desperate fanbois who worship at Steve's feet might be comforting to y'all. It just doesn't happen to be supportable on the numbers.
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Russell, I will point out that I explicitly stated that they were my reasons for not buying Apple products. I know a lot of people like what Apple does, and that's fine, but I'm pointing out that there are very valid reasons for not jumping on the bandwagon. Those of us who treat interoperability as non-negotiable will never be comfortable with Apple as it currently exists, no matter how amazing their products may be.
Also, this is the same Apple that's being sued for misleading marketing over the displays in 20" iMacs. Not everything they produce is top quality, even though they charge like it is.
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The problem with Apple's products is less that they're defective and more that the parts that work are designed to fuck you over. Apple is the king of the antifeature. Some people do find that an acceptable trade, and it's not necessarily because they're starry-eyed (though that happens too). It's still an undesirable position and not something that should be encouraged.
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Anyway, must tidy up and make dinner. I will leave you with perhaps the greatest piece of commentary on the consumer electronics industry ever, from the Onion News Network.
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Don't be silly, that went out with Ubuntu 7.2.4.5.7 rc. The Chicken has been replaced with a Heron.
That was three release cycles ago. It's a Koala now. Keep up!
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One thing I'm looking forward to is games, especially two player+ games. It can lie flat on the table and be any game you like. People can sit round these in a way that's not practical for a laptop.
Ooh, now I'm picturing spacies, old-school. New peripheral market for the iPad: cocktail tables with a bespoke niche in them?
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There are legitimate complaints about the App Store from developers. But compare the world before the iPhone, and after. There just isn't any comparison. For one thing, Apple made it possible for the people who developed this here site to move into mobile application development, where they now have an international market. No one else did that.
And one reason why Apple is still consistently preferable to Linux, who as yet have provided no way for developers to earn the fruits of their labour. Ubuntu/Canonical are considering changing their app store model to allow for that, but a strong community adherence to the free software ethic is causing caution.
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If Apple can engender real passion in their customers, more power to them. It wasn't so long ago the the personal computing industry was characterised as one massive effort to catch up with Apple. As of Windows 7, Microsoft may have finally caught up.
I like the wow factor of some of Apple's products. The iPod and the iPhone have really cool interfaces that seem really intuitive the first time you use them. A few years ago a workmate was extolling the features of his iRiver. You could mount it as an external drive etc. I told him he'd traded cool for functionality. He didn't get it.
Me, I've only got the one - an iPod mini (thanks again, Mr Slack) - but I can certainly see the benefits of the other products in the Apple stable.
Right now, the iPad doesn't fit with my needs. Sure, it would be great to have one floating around so you can surf while watching TV, but unless it can run those Facebook apps my wife and daughter are so fond of, it remains a non-started. Maybe version 2.0...
I'm not so bothered about the openness of it, if I want open then I'll stick to my laptop.
Flash is a vampire and Adobe needs to fix it.
Maybe the iPad should simply support Silverlight instead ?
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Here I was trying to have a hiatus, and you go and start an Apple Love thread.
I've been playing with them Apples since I was 13. After learning to programme sin waves on a ZX81, using tape disks, for various reasons I was fortunate enough to get my hands on one of the earliest Apple computers to have a mouse (they didn't invent it, but the MacIntosh was one of the first widely available computers to utilise it), and also the Apple Lisa. The latter was probably trying to multi-task as a ship's anchor, but I do recall it having an accessory that plugged in called a Tablet (I know!) which allowed you to draw pictures into Superpaint and I think even converted writing into text. But my logic board is a bit fuzzy today, so I might have been dreaming.
Frankly I think 30 years is a bit too long for all this technology to reach the point it is in now, but that's the way the corporate world of IT works I suppose. My iPhone has changed the way I live, that's probably ridiculous, but it may be true. I can genuinely multi-task, in spite of statistical evidence to the contrary, and lunch time is now PAS catch-up time, and Tennis watching can coincide with reading online news.
I run Windows XP under Parallels to operate MYOB on a Mac, which doesn't have a Multi-User Apple version, and it works fine, although I'd rather not have to. I've also been a Windows Server Administrator and provided IT support for a whole school on Windows 95, and then 2000 computers. If I never have to break into Dos and try and clean out a DLL corruption again, it will be too soon. The two world's don't have to be mutually exclusive, although some people seem to think they do. Mostly us starry-eyed loons I suppose.
Umm, has anyone used iWhisperPad yet (I presume it's as silent as an iPhone)? And I was going to say they should change the Apps to iApplicator, but that was done on Twitter 12 hours ago. Hey, it's still day one, right?
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A few years ago a workmate was extolling the features of his iRiver. You could mount it as an external drive etc. I told him he'd traded cool for functionality. He didn't get it.
I know what you mean, but that's perhaps not the best example. iPods have been able to be mounted as Firewire or USB drives from day one.
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Umm, has anyone used iWhisperPad yet (I presume it's as silent as an iPhone)? And I was going to say they should change the Apps to iApplicator, but that was done on Twitter 12 hours ago. Hey, it's still day one, right?
I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around the text "pad".
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I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around the text "pad".
You could have a chapter on the speed with which ideas from twitter get merchandised. iMaxiPad is on a T-shirt already.
And can I add, I just told my better half about this, and her immediate reply was 'Where are they meant to put it? That was a bunch of men'.
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I'm doing my thesis on gender-mediated discourse around the text "pad".
I'll supervise if you'll have me.
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I'm more interested in the e-book aspect of the iPad and the iBookstore. For one thing, ebook readers like Sony's or the Kindle aren't available in N.Z., so this may open up the market. However, while LED screens are really good for most media, it might be more difficult on the eyes for intense reading. I think a device with an e-paper screen would be better in that respect.
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ebook readers like Sony's or the Kindle aren't available in N.Z., so this may open up the market.
I thought the Kindle was in fact available in NZ. I was spammed by Amazon on this very subject not two weeks ago.
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