Hard News: Do Want?
356 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 … 11 12 13 14 15 Newer→ Last
-
Apropos reinventing file systems: this is no invention. Palm OS and the old Newton have worked just like this for years and years. It's a good idea though! Nice to see it get mainstream traction.
I seem to remember it was actually one of the main bitches that Apple fanboys had about Windows For Workgroups, that it didn't simply expose the file system.
I, for one, will always thank Apple for popularizing the modern GUI. Taking things back to appliance is something that isn't really innovative, although it may be practical, particularly if you want to make big $ from it. I'm personally reasonably happy with a netbook running Windows - all my software is free, except for Visual Studio (which I wouldn't dream of even trying to use on a little lappie), same as my workstation, so there's no real hassle involved in using it.
-
And now the future where kids have no idea and think computers are just magic is upon us. /me sobs with overwhelming angst and premature nostalgia.
LOL, you're under-rating kids, like us oldies always do. The kids who are interested will know more than we ever did about computers. Well, OK, some arcane skills will be a lot less commonplace, coding in assembly language will be a bit like making horseshoes, and spaghetti code will become as indecipherable as ancient scrolls (particularly since we come from storage poor days, where putting remarks in code was extravagant). But overall, they just have all the advantages. Bless them. Our gift to them is that we did the hard, shitty, yards. They will not appreciate that, of course, one of the things that has been crap about getting old since time began. Christ, I came from a time before the internet, when training oneself had to be done with books, and the only search engine was the index at the back, and the library card catalog.
-
the modern GUI
thanks, xerox
-
thanks, xerox
... and, for the things we click, thank you, Susan Kare.
Her influence is incalculable... and, she created Clarus the Dogcow.
Moof
-
thanks, xerox
:-) I was pretty careful to say popularized rather than invented . Although it might be more accurate to thank MS for unpopularizing command lines.
-
popularized
noticed
unpopularizing
agreed
-
Seems a tension between iPad being a shared home lounge device and a mobile one. Imagine the scraps when one person wants to take it out?
-
is it too Luddite
to posit in this thread that
electricity and proprietary
machines and systems
are possibly an
evolutionary dead end? -
Precisely zero workplaces I've worked in have had any Apples.
That's interesting. Every place I've worked at except one has at least started off with Macintoshes, or else didn't use little computers because they hadn't been invented yet. Ah, galley pulls, Grant Projectors, non-print pencils. I miss you all. Even SnoPake and Cow Gum.
And the places that have dropped Macs (usually at the behest of accounts) have always shown a subsequent decline in the quality of their product, although Adobe's PC version of InDesign is mitigating that now, I think -- it simply disregards Microsoft's text and colour management routines.
It's not all magazines, newspapers and books, though. At The Meeting I attended in Santa Monica in July everyone brought their own MacBook, except for the physics guy there -- the only person in the room older than me, and the only one with a Dell.
Thanks, Xerox
It's amusing that some of the features of modern GUIs invented by Apple, such as dropdown menus, overlapping windows, spatial file organisation and even keyboard shortcuts are missing from the iPad. You could say it's the most Xeroxy computer since 1980.
Have a look at this and this, which discuss some of the things we take for granted that weren't invented at Xerox PARC, as well as the ones that were.
-
... and, for the things we click, thank you, Susan Kare.
Her influence is incalculable...
Absolutely. And she's still working.
-
If we accept the limits of our perception,
the possibilities are endless.Electricity is free and abundantly available. It's just in the wrong hands ;-)
Can't we view the 'platform' as the foundations of a 'perfect world'?
Then it is up to the developers whether that's 'magic' or otherwise. -
You could say it's the most Xeroxy computer since 1980.
Let's pretend that's what I meant. :)
-
Electricity will stay available if oil is used as lubrication and manufacturing base rather than fuel.
-
Anyone wants to come take my electricity off me, than don't forget to take my washing machine also.
We might run out of magnets though, and I suppose I'll have to 'lubricate it' eventually. Oh, yeah and some storage. Maybe I'll line up some Laptop batteries. We're sweet for Lithium aren't we? 1775 years? We might have invented some other forms of power by then.
Anyway, back to the iPad. SDK 3.2 has been released already with a simulator for the iPad OS, so Apps developers should get cracking. Not forgetting the 100,000 odd iPhone Apps that will work. Has this been mentioned? Sorry, if so.
-
I suppose I'll have to 'lubricate it' eventually
NASA swears by Sperm whale oil
- doesn't freeze in space
(I heard on the radio at the weekend)Maybe that's what the Japanese whalers
are really doing...
...Keeping the land-'lubers' running -
Did someone mention Whale oil?
Moving right along, I just received a panic call from someone who has lost their iPod 'Mothership', and wants to know how to re-create it from scratch with all the music on the iPod.
Umm, where do I start? Well, you can get this thing called... three hours later and my last words are 'stick to CDs'.
Which somewhat negates my entire world view. Now, which rock did I crawl out form under?
-
3410,
What is an iPod "Mothership"?
-
The popular iGen term for it is iTunes, but I used the metaphor because it also includes the computer on which iTunes resides. If that dies, gets removed to 'elsewhere', or the software gets corrupted (this was a PC we're talking about, just to be clear) then you are left with an iPod that remains in it's present state until further notice, or it dies too, in which case your music, as you know it, is gone.
Provided you are someone, like me I must admit, that still keeps the original CDs, and backup your iTunes purchases, this can be recoverable, but it is by no means a simple task, and if you are willing to pop round your friends house to facilitate the process of recovery, then all power to you. You can also retrieve the files off the iPod using some freeware utilities, but the whole library structure takes quite a lot of rebuilding, if you have the 200+ CDs that many have. Also newer iPods and iPhones are not so forgiving when it comes to being synced with another version of iTunes.
So should we throw it all away and go back to CDs? No, definitely not. What will happen, IMhO, is that future iTunes files will include an 'Off-site Backup Copy' on some remote server which you can synchronise with your system whenever you need to. Some people may have this already. This needs more bandwidth though.
It is an area that will have to be addressed in the 'New World' we are embarking on. As we increasingly depend on these new devices for storage of Photos, Videos, Music, Books, Television, Magazines, Research Papers etc, the responsibility for the long term integrity of 'data' needs to be taken seriously, or it will all become so many random bits in the ether* before we know what's hit us.
*Otherwise known as Twitter and Facebook.
-
3410,
Right, I thought that's what you meant.
Podlift is a good tool that will at least rescue the music files from an orphaned iPod. It's free, easy to use, and it works.
-
Thanks. iPodviewer isn't too bad either, which is what I'll use when I pop round to my friends to recover their files. D'oh!
There is a PC version at Tucows too I see.
It's just not what you'd call 'intuitive' is it? Although I've always found it ironic that the programme to copy stuff off your iPod, which apple seems to want to make difficult for you, is stored on mac.com, which I assume is an official Mac domain?
-
the programme to copy stuff off your iPod, which apple seems to want to make difficult for you
Which... just... grrr. Danielle smash. (Also, you know who *didn't* make that really difficult? Creative. Or iRiver.)
-
'Off-site Backup Copy' on some remote server which you can synchronise with your system whenever you need to. Some people may have this already.
-
Although I've always found it ironic that the programme to copy stuff off your iPod, which apple seems to want to make difficult for you, is stored on mac.com, which I assume is an official Mac domain?
Like, in the case of music, Apple really cares?
The hobbling of the iPod's ability to act as a transfer device was, according to Jobs, part of winning over the record companies. I think Apple doesn't have a great interest in taking down that kind of software. It'll probably lose interest in chasing jailbreakers too.
-
Just back from Kiwiburn, so I don't know much about the details on the iPad. Apologies if this was discussed somewhere in pages 3-10.
Basically, it's a locked device, right? Apps have to be approved by Apple and distributed through the App Store.
For me, that's a worry. Having devices in mass consumer hands that can be programmed to do anything by anyone with the skills is important.
What's the betting that Apple will try and move the App Store paradigm up the functionality chain until either Mac OS is a locked system, or the Mac is replaced by machines running an iPad derived OS?
Once that happens, it'll be easy legally and commercially for Microsoft to do the same thing with Windows. (It's already trivial technically) You then have an ecosystem where all software has to be released through monopoly channels that decide what is and isn't acceptable.
Sure, we will still have Linux. But that will never reach more than a tiny percentage of personal computing devices. Apps like BitTorrent will be stuck in a ghetto of geek usage, and the majority of users will be stuck with the apps that the powers that be want us to have.
-
As we increasingly depend on these new devices for storage of Photos, Videos, Music, Books, Television, Magazines, Research Papers etc, the responsibility for the long term integrity of 'data' needs to be taken seriously, or it will all become so many random bits in the ether before we know what's hit us.
Eggs. Basket.
Baskeggset.
Omelet... it be
it's all ova when something
wicker this way comes
Post your response…
This topic is closed.