Bill Gates unimpressed by Apple iPad - Page 8

Building previews isn't fast with Aperture, either. I shudder to think how long it's going to take to upload and build previews after my upcoming 3 week trip to New Zealand with my new 18 MP 7D. Especially because I'm not taking a laptop with me and will have to upload them all when I get home.

On the one hand, it'd be nice to have something as small/lightweight as an iPad to have all that done by the time I get home. On the other hand, the thought of uploading that much data over USB/dock is kinda painful, too. (Not to mention that the iPad's camera connection is probably going to be pretty slow compared to my ExpressCard reader.)

Dammit, you are ruining my iPad buzz.

I dunno, after using another one of his brain childs, the Canon Cat, I'm not sure he is the best reference to hold to...


This. I think you nailed it. Far more people want an appliance over a general purpose computer. Most people have been forced into them simply because there hasn't been an alternative.

And it's not like general purpose computers are going to go away! I fail to understand why so many people are obviously threatened by the iPad - are they expecting someone to confiscate the computer they have now and replace it with an iPad? Talk about being insecure....

Exactly. I will still keep my Mac Pro for Aperture and Final Cut Studio, but outside of those things instead of this MacBook Pro (that cuts into my wrists - talk about stupid design choice!) I look forward to replacing it with an iPad.

No, but then, who is the ultimate authority? I just thought it was interesting that the trend may be going back towards some of his basic concepts.

But at least they happen in the background


I was hoping for a hard drive version of the iPad for this reason - would love to dump my photos while shooting. Actually, with the wi-fi grip from Canon (or the newer Eye-fi that can work with ad-hoc wireless) and a hard drive based iPad in my backback....

Where's that homer drool icon???


lol - time will tell. Actually, instead of importing what if iAperture just did a "referenced master" thing with the RAW files? Suck in the smaller JPEGs for basic organization, but leave the larger RAW files alone? Yeah, you would need more cards and it wouldn't give you that often desired second copy, but it could be a useful compromise.

Naw, on second thought I like my wi-fi/hard drive iPad vision better

It appears that the case Apple is selling with it will do that. And of course third party vendors will have a multitude of cases, some of which certainly will have a keyboard pocket/flap that drops down to typing position while the rest of the case holds the iPad up to typing position--perhaps even with an adjustable angle. See, just like a laptop or 'netbook, no worries. The big scary iPad won't bite you complainers. (not referring to you, nkhm)

Better to name-drop Alan Kay, who I think deserves more press than Raskin ever did.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay

Classic quote from Gigaom:

http://gigaom.com/2010/01/26/alan-ka...ule-the-world/

When the Mac first came out, Newsweek asked me what I [thought] of it. I said: Well, its the first personal computer worth criticizing. So at the end of the presentation, Steve came up to me and said: Is the iPhone worth criticizing? And I said: Make the screen five inches by eight inches, and youll rule the world.

Excellent observation - it is indeed sad that I didn't consider him

Zillions? .... just a little exaggeration on your part, don't you think? ... but then I suppose, in this case, even if you had said 10 it would still classify as an exaggeration.

Jailbreak your iPhone and use MyWi to create a wireless network for the iPad to use.

Why should you? .... not like it hasn't happened before .... and with good reason, I might add. \

Excellent point. and the optional keyboard makes it ideal for students. they can carry just the iPad in a backpack/case at class for notes, read their course books anywhere, and then sit down at a desk that evening with the keyboard for "homework," papers, etc. the one other thing needed for that is blutooth printing, which i have to think the iPad will support too.

of course they can also use it to have fun anytime.

gosh, what a hard sell.

While it can be used a stand alone system it's far from ideal if you can't back up the system, import your media into the iPod app, sync it with your iPhone/iPod, use an external HDD, or back up via Time Machine.

Right now, the device is positioned only as an accessory device to a proper PC where it can sync with iTunes. Everything is setup for all those things to happen quickly, but this is Apple, they start with a small focus and build out from there. Part of that focus is for the consumer's benefit. The "it can do almost everything but none of it very well" v. "it can very specific things very well" philosophies.

Also, while think what you two say is inevitable we have to consider that Apple doesn't want a $500 device cannibalizing their MacBook and MacBook Pro sales. I think it would be a trojan horse entry that would more than likely people into more Macs, but they might not see it that way, at least right away.

the vast majority of XBox and PS3 are used only as game consoles, not media extenders. TiVo's are media extenders too, but few are used that way. it would be interesting to see an actual survey of those households that really use anything as a "media extender" a lot - the breakdown among the many varieties of hardware that are available. and now limited versions of media extension are being built directly into TV sets too.

that said, no question AppleTV is falling behind the competition overall. being a part of the Apple iTunes ecosystem is nice, but there is no other compelling capability that sets it apart.

aTVFlash shows its potential, with a browser, some applications, and linkages to many other streaming services. but the UI is still old school on-screen cursor. and the hardware is underpowered, still running a version of Tiger OS.

i hope to see later this year an overhauled ATV with more power, a Leopard-based OS, and a new kind of optional UI using an iPhone/iPad, all allowing for touch control of a browser and apps displayed on your big screen TV, along with all the standard media extender functions. that could be compelling, not just a "hobby."

Raskin never did get any press, certainly not more than Alan Kay, so that's kind of a deceptive statement. Besides, it isn't a competition.

So the iPad is just a bigger iPod Touch? And that's a bad thing?

Is the 17" MBP just a bigger 13" MBP? And is that a bad thing too?

It's still weeks away, at least 6(?)before the iPad is released and people argue over what it will have and what it won't. It's kinda fun reading some of these posts. I'll take the wait and see approach. Maybe MacWorld will have some goodies revealed for the iPad. I see some starting to show up now.

http://www.cnet.com/2300-31324_1-10002409.html

well i think parents are buying a lot of cheap netbooks for students now, only upper income households get them MacBooks. so for every one student MacBook sale cannibalized, several more iPads will be bought instead of a netbook. overall, a net gain.

plus Apple's 30% cut of all sales activity on the platform has to be adding up to some real money. maybe even $1 billion a year now just for the iPhone. add all the iPad's new services and this continuing annual revenue stream from each device begins to be really significant for the long term. most "pundits" and "analysts" haven't caught on to this part of Apple's business strategy yet. but just run the numbers. if there are 100 million iPhone/touch/iPad users in 2011 spending an average of just $100 a year each on whatever, that totals $10 billion - with Apple taking its $3 billion cut off the top. and the growth potential to increase that to a lot more per user each year is tremendous.

the PC synch will back up the iPad and the other things you mention, so i don't see the problem there. if there is no other computer in the house they can't use an iPad anyway. college students away from home will share PC's if they need to.

[CENTER]and...
What exactly does the iPad do that any number of other (more capable/versatile) 'devices' do far better at a much lower price point?

Exactly... Nothing! (at least at this point)[/CENTER]

Too bad, so sad when they have to nit pick!!

I like the thought of more real estate on the desktop. That's why last year I replaced my 20" iMac to a 24" iMac. The iPad with a bigger screen might be good for some of us with older eyes too.

The Kickback stand and the bluetooth keyboard are my accessories of choice.

No, no, no... you upgraded from a 20" to a 24"? How unimpressive!

I was skimming and I misread Robin Huber's and your reply to infer that it could be a standalone device. I was going much further and seeing potential for this being the only device in certain households. eg: People that typically do the most rudimentary of computing (mail and safari), and students who are on a tight budget. Hence my comments about would would need to happen to make this a stand alone machine.

Like hell - name dropping serves no other purpose than imagined competition.

As far as press, every time the late Mr. Raskin opened his mouth it was to remind people he started the Macintosh project. For every, single, year after he left Apple, and in every book about Apple (there's more than 1 - and they come off printing presses). Google and find out for yourself. In the meantime, Kay, the person who accomplished far more at Xerox from coming up with portable computing to the whole fundimental concept of UI (as opposed to Raskin's "look I'm a UI god too" rants which are also all over the net) never went out of his way to self-promote himself or grouse about all the ways he didn't get the "credit he deserved".

History is written by the winners. If that's not competition - what is? Example: Go to China - ask the winners about Tiananmen Square, Tibet, or Taiwan.

It would have been the 27" iMac but unfortunately I bought the 24" iMac before they were announced. No complaints. Btw, to some, size doesn't matter.

The iPad will blow everything else away.

It will set a new mark for game/content/communication/information devices.

Steve jobs is a true visionary.

Apple makes the most insanely great/coolest/best products in the world.

/R

I suspect that a hard drive would just not allow for the sleek form factor, would impact battery life, and just be out of place. If Apple could have done this with hard drive components, the iPad would have come to market sooner than this. Apple waited for flash memory to come down enough to make this work, not to mention battery technology to catch up to the targets this device meets.

Down the road this device might well be able to work well for photography but that time isn't now. Still, you have to start somewhere.

Huh? I mentioned Raskin because of his UI theories, which (ironically, if you will) may be the direction Apple is headed today. As I said, I thought had he lived that he might feel vindicated with the release of the iPad, which I meant literally, since he certainly seemed to feel like Jobs crushed him under his heal. Which he did.

Anyhow, yes, I know how annoying he could be about his role in the Mac project. I met him at MWSF once. Saw his badge, did a double-take and stopped to talk with him for awhile. When I introduced myself the first thing he said was "Welcome to my show!" So I knew what I was in for. But we did have an interesting conversation after that. He sent me a copy of his book .

The only way an SSD would fit in the iPad was if it was a 1.8" HDD, not a2.5" drive. As I recall, the power usage stats aren't shown to be that different on the MBA with a 1.8" HDD compared to a 1.8" SSD. The drive is so small and designed to be more power efficient for handhelds, it's the larger drives that need all the power. But that is beside the point since Apple isn't likely using an expensive SSD solution, but NAND built right onto the logic board. This offers cost savings while also allowing it to be more efficient in several way.


Flash memory was the only way to go going into the future. The new NAND 3-bit design will add 50% more capacity for the same volume. Then there is halving of the size. I don't think it'll be more than 2 years before we start seeing 2.5" HDDs being bested in capacity (not price) by 2.5" SSDs of the same height. HDDs just doing increase that much.

The 1.8" HDDs are growing even slower. The maximum is 160GB for the drive that came out in September. Intel already matches that size with a 160GB SSD and I think they did that before the 160GB single platter HDD was announced. So we're already seeing HDDs get taking in capacity for the same size drive.

If we consider that 2.5" SSDs are 7mm instead of the 9.5mm found in notebooks right now and lose a platter to do a direct comparison we see that the game is even closer. Of course, notebooks do have spaces for 9.5" drives (Apple's ODDs are 9.5mm, too) so that point is moot, but eventually they will want to go thinner and they will see SSDs and no ODDs as the way to do it so I wouldn't be overly surprised to see Apple sport HDDs with one less platter in them.

I understand that, but I think it is more because of your influence than your parents free will

What I'm trying to say is - I doubt your parents - or my parents, matter of fact - would walk into IT shop on their own and decide to get iPad, without your (mine) guiding... so in a way, it is more your decision than theirs.

But that being said, yes I do see iPad (or anything like it) great for parents category. My mother is using computer only to Skype with me, and will type an email once in a month or so (sending some recipes to my wife sort of emails). However, she is kind of dinosaur - a generation that didn't catch Internet/personal computing virus. I'm pretty sure in her age I'll still demand much more from my computing appliances, whatever they turn to be in 20 or 30 years time. Of course iPad 15, available then, will be much more than this one, but as a general principle I'd like this iPad to be closer to Mac than to iPod - that's all.

I am ruining my iPad buzz as well! That is what I keep saying - I'd like iPad form with decent processing power (Core 2 Duo ULV?) and trimmed OSX optimized for touch interface, still capable of running full desktop apps (like Aperture or Lightroom)... with, say, one or two USB ports for attaching external USB HDD.

Aww...

So how's 7D working for you? I envy you so much!

iPad hard drive...... drooooolllll......

But there is a point - much more people will want iPad for browsing web and such, than for dumping, organizing and procesing RAW images... so... \

That IS cool. I like Nerderatti stories. I've met Woz a couple of times - but he's Apple's semi-official spokesnerd which means anyone is guaranteed to run into him more times than any metaphor involving swinging cats anywhere between Los Gatos and San Francisco. Tip tho - anywhere he's at - Andy Hertzfeld is probably nearby, and he's also a good talker. For another ego contrast - compare Howard Warshaw to Al Acorn (both of Atari fame). The later is always good for a comment at CAX, and adds great insight on any of the panels he's been on (different stories everytime too - like the fact he interviewed Steve Jobs when he was hired at Atari - that one's hillarious). The former sells life-story DVDs and wears T-Shirts espousing himself. Talk about wearing it on your sleeve.

Talk about popping off with factual incorrect information...

It will probably work well.
What other tablets are less expensive than the iPad? The Archos 9 is a POS, and costs more.

I wouldn't discount Mobile.Me. Right now you can add content via the iTunes and App Store applications - it isn't inconceivable that a student could sync the iPad at home to kick it off and then maintain it via the cloud or mobile.me. We just don't know, but I guarantee Apple has plans - they are building that big data center for something

It would be a niche market, certainly, but I would think that Apple would welcome broadening the device's appeal over time. It's going to take a while but technology marches on and an expansion of the iPad's capabilities is inevitable.

I spent around $300 last year for a netbook, specifically to have a place to store lots of HD video footage while on vacation. This isn't something that I need to do on a regular basis, unlike a lot of other people who do, so I can consider replacing my netbook with the iPad but it would be great to have the option of using the iPad to do something that the cheaper netbook handled with ease.

Long-term, I have to think that Apple would love to add functionality that helps out photographers and videographers. Not a priority, maybe, but on Apple's radar.

The iPad will be like everything else in Apple's stable of products, a forever evolving technology. It's the starting point, not the final destination.

Microsoft didn't invent DOS. They bought that from Seattle Associates for a pittance after promising it first to IBM.

Microsoft didn't even invent Windows NT either. That was a DEC project. You think that Microsoft had the capability to port their OS to something other than x86? As part of a deal with DEC, DEC gave Microsoft what became NT on the promise that Microsoft would continue to support their DEC Alpha chip. Microsoft barely did so.

I agree, that's why I didn't expect it \ It still would have been nice. Who knows, maybe I can attach a USB hub and plug in a USB hard drive and reader at the same time and do everything I want - with 20 minute battery time


While I agree you have to start somewhere I don't ever expect Apple to add a hard drive. Frankly I'm surprised the iPod classic has survived as long as it has. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple doesn't buy all the capacity for Intel and Micron's new 25nm flash technology and put a couple hundred gigs or more in an iPad within the next year - that would be more likely to me than seeing them put in a hard drive. Part of me wishes for this more - while it will take longer than just slapping a hard drive in there now, in the long run it will drive the costs for flash down that much faster with Apple's legendary volume.

A lot of patents with Stephen P Jobs' name on them say otherwise.