So yes, the iPad is ready for business, if you use it for what it is good at. Nobody ever said it would do everything, so stop tying to compare it to that irrelevant standard.
QFT. Also worth mentioning, the same critiques have been leveled at the Mac over the decades. If it lacks any one function that someone, somewhere needs or wants, it's automatically a toy in their opinion. This immediately translates into the illogical statement, "it's okay if you are only doing ____." (Should be no need to elaborate on this point -- anyone who's been a Mac user for any period of time has heard this canard hundreds of times.) It's such a closed definition of usefulness. I guess some people like to eat peas with a knife. If they can't, the knife must be a toy.
i also don't agree. there are core apps on my phone that i wouldn't switch unless there were good alternatives on the other platform. This is exactly what apple is fighting for, unique experience and not the one app all platform strategy that adoble was trying to push out.
I think what is missing here is the corporate perspective. In part I think many corpirations have realized now that standardizing on one PC OS has had a negative impact on their overall IT structure. In a sense they got locked into a platform that went downhill pretty fast.
In the mobile space I think (hope) that thy realize that getting locked into one platform is bad. Even if RIM does an excellent job, history has shown that being tied to closely with one service can be a big negative. So i can see the corporate workd trying to play one manufacture against the others to get short term contracts.
Think about it as a service and how corporations handle other service prividers. It could be the cleaning crew the calibration lab or the help desk, these are often services contracted out. Further contract awards and terminations can be based on things beyound the simple cost of the contract. In any event it would not surprise me at all to see a company use the iPhone platform for two years and then throw it all away for another option down the road. The expense for an individual employee is trivial. After all for many cell phones are a requirement as is some sort of mobile computing device. For employees in the field these are often replaced on schedule anyways.
In any event the last thing people in the corporate world want is a lock in and standardization like happened with PCs.
QFT. Also worth mentioning, the same critiques have been leveled at the Mac over the decades. If it lacks any one function that someone, somewhere needs or wants, it's automatically a toy in their opinion.
This has certainly been the case in the past but I do think that OS/X gets far more respect these days. It is sort of like the people that look down on my pickup because it only has a V6 because all real pickups must have a 6 liter diesel engine in their mind.
Quote:
This immediately translates into the illogical statement, "it's okay if you are only doing ____." (Should be no need to elaborate on this point -- anyone who's been a Mac user for any period of time has heard this canard hundreds of times.) It's such a closed definition of usefulness.
I started out with Mac on a Mac Plus so you can imagine what I've heard. I got very disappointed with Apple during the dark years and went the Windows route for a short time before switching to Linux. You would hear the same BS if you achnowledged your use of Linux. At the time though Linux did everything I wanted to do very well. The switch back to Macs (on my laptop only) has likewise been very fruitful as it does everything I want it to do. Compared to the Windows platforms at work it does it much better.
Quote:
I guess some people like to eat peas with a knife. If they can't, the knife must be a toy.
Or they simply like to argue. One thing about my background with Linux is that it lets me leverage Mac OS/X in ways that many don't. Max OS/X is far more powerful than many want to acknowledge with its UNIX facilities. So I have to laugh a bit at the people that claim another OS is more capable.
In any event back to iPad. IPad is built around a very powerful software stack and as such should not be underestimated by the detractors. It might not pass as UNIX but the underpinnings are there. What limits iPad right now is the limited RAM and the rev one nature of the device. Even though many of us sit here wishing for more RAM, we can't rationally deny just how useful the iPad can be.
Another way to look at this is that a pick and a shovel can both be used to dig in dirt. How you go about using them and the results you get are completely different. If you grab an iPad and expect to use it like a laptop then you have already lost. Just as a pick requires a different swing than that of a shovel, to get any work done, so to does the iPad.
Now that doesn't stop people from trying to use a shovel like a pick but those you identify by the missing toes. You might not loose your fingers by not grasping how to use the iPad but you might end up posting negative comments on public forums.
In any event my iPhone has highlighted to me the importance of learning to leverage a devices good points and not dwell on the negative. Plus one has to acknowledge a devices limitations. After all I coukd try to pull a ten ton trailer, at 100 mph, with my V6 powered truck but it might not be very wise to do so.
Comments
So yes, the iPad is ready for business, if you use it for what it is good at. Nobody ever said it would do everything, so stop tying to compare it to that irrelevant standard.
QFT. Also worth mentioning, the same critiques have been leveled at the Mac over the decades. If it lacks any one function that someone, somewhere needs or wants, it's automatically a toy in their opinion. This immediately translates into the illogical statement, "it's okay if you are only doing ____." (Should be no need to elaborate on this point -- anyone who's been a Mac user for any period of time has heard this canard hundreds of times.) It's such a closed definition of usefulness. I guess some people like to eat peas with a knife. If they can't, the knife must be a toy.
i also don't agree. there are core apps on my phone that i wouldn't switch unless there were good alternatives on the other platform. This is exactly what apple is fighting for, unique experience and not the one app all platform strategy that adoble was trying to push out.
I think what is missing here is the corporate perspective. In part I think many corpirations have realized now that standardizing on one PC OS has had a negative impact on their overall IT structure. In a sense they got locked into a platform that went downhill pretty fast.
In the mobile space I think (hope) that thy realize that getting locked into one platform is bad. Even if RIM does an excellent job, history has shown that being tied to closely with one service can be a big negative. So i can see the corporate workd trying to play one manufacture against the others to get short term contracts.
Think about it as a service and how corporations handle other service prividers. It could be the cleaning crew the calibration lab or the help desk, these are often services contracted out. Further contract awards and terminations can be based on things beyound the simple cost of the contract. In any event it would not surprise me at all to see a company use the iPhone platform for two years and then throw it all away for another option down the road. The expense for an individual employee is trivial. After all for many cell phones are a requirement as is some sort of mobile computing device. For employees in the field these are often replaced on schedule anyways.
In any event the last thing people in the corporate world want is a lock in and standardization like happened with PCs.
QFT. Also worth mentioning, the same critiques have been leveled at the Mac over the decades. If it lacks any one function that someone, somewhere needs or wants, it's automatically a toy in their opinion.
This has certainly been the case in the past but I do think that OS/X gets far more respect these days. It is sort of like the people that look down on my pickup because it only has a V6 because all real pickups must have a 6 liter diesel engine in their mind.
This immediately translates into the illogical statement, "it's okay if you are only doing ____." (Should be no need to elaborate on this point -- anyone who's been a Mac user for any period of time has heard this canard hundreds of times.) It's such a closed definition of usefulness.
I started out with Mac on a Mac Plus so you can imagine what I've heard. I got very disappointed with Apple during the dark years and went the Windows route for a short time before switching to Linux. You would hear the same BS if you achnowledged your use of Linux. At the time though Linux did everything I wanted to do very well. The switch back to Macs (on my laptop only) has likewise been very fruitful as it does everything I want it to do. Compared to the Windows platforms at work it does it much better.
I guess some people like to eat peas with a knife. If they can't, the knife must be a toy.
Or they simply like to argue. One thing about my background with Linux is that it lets me leverage Mac OS/X in ways that many don't. Max OS/X is far more powerful than many want to acknowledge with its UNIX facilities. So I have to laugh a bit at the people that claim another OS is more capable.
In any event back to iPad. IPad is built around a very powerful software stack and as such should not be underestimated by the detractors. It might not pass as UNIX but the underpinnings are there. What limits iPad right now is the limited RAM and the rev one nature of the device. Even though many of us sit here wishing for more RAM, we can't rationally deny just how useful the iPad can be.
Another way to look at this is that a pick and a shovel can both be used to dig in dirt. How you go about using them and the results you get are completely different. If you grab an iPad and expect to use it like a laptop then you have already lost. Just as a pick requires a different swing than that of a shovel, to get any work done, so to does the iPad.
Now that doesn't stop people from trying to use a shovel like a pick but those you identify by the missing toes. You might not loose your fingers by not grasping how to use the iPad but you might end up posting negative comments on public forums.
In any event my iPhone has highlighted to me the importance of learning to leverage a devices good points and not dwell on the negative. Plus one has to acknowledge a devices limitations. After all I coukd try to pull a ten ton trailer, at 100 mph, with my V6 powered truck but it might not be very wise to do so.
Dave