I was under the impression that Apple was changing the packaging of iDevice apps so that components that were targeted at a specific screen size or resolution were packaged in separate modules that could be included or eliminated at install time...
base code
3.5" display components
9.7" display components
3.5" display components standard res
3.5" display components retina res
9.7" display components standard res
9.7" display components retina res
For example a Universal app would only download (from the app store to the device) the components needed for that specific device type. Later, when the device syncs to local iTunes and copies the app from the app to iTunes, the entire Universal package is downloaded (for other [any] device types) whenever the local iTunes connects to iTunes store.
I just checked, and this does not appear to be implemented for Apple's latest iWork and iLife apps.
I wonder if I misunderstood something I read -- or am just jumping the gun...
Maybe a natural feature for iOS 6!
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.
That's actually just an assumption. For example, the statement: I think, therefor I am, is incorrect. All we can know from it is: I think, therefor I think. It's a well known error in logic.
I guess one could ask if we really ever know anyone, but after chatting with you for many years I certainly know things about you. I don't know what you look like but that's mostly irrelevant to knowing someone. You know plenty of things about me as well, including my real name (assuming you paid attention).
In regards to tech, politics, etc. I'm certain you have a pretty good idea how I and many others here will likely respond to a given topic even before we do. I don't think you can not get to know someone after years of discourse. Internet forums can be like pen pals of yesteryear except exercised in a collective.
So yes, you do know me.
But, all I really communicate with is words. I don't really know from what, or whom, those words are flowing. So I can't assume I know you at all. I can assume you're a person, but I don't actually know that. You could be a Turing machine.
Well he has a point, you can install Ubuntu on it for goodness sakes. Plus now with the ICS available it's actually a nice tablet for media consumption and surfing. Well that is if you don't live in iTunes for your media. You can plug it into any computer, let it be an Apple, Windows, Linux, Solaris or even another tablet it mounts itself as a drive. So you can simply drag your media files over without going threw the hassle of syncin with iTunes or any other annoying program. You can play every conceivable codec on it without having to buy any additinal apps. Which most that you buy still don't play every codec so you have to buy at least 3 to match the capabilties of ICS. I'm talking media here nothing else so don't get mad at me.
If I only had two hundred dollars in my pocket the Touchpad is a very good choice. A person would be very happy with it. Sure it's not a Apple but it's still a very worthy and versatile tablet. I do know one thing for a fact your average Touchpad user is a lot more computer savy then your average Apple user so you can't call them idiots.
In fact, any Android tablets are far less usefull for the vast majority of people. WebOS tablets have almost no real utility at all, and Linux models are pretty much worthless.
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
I don't know if Dick does, but I sure do. Apple doesn't have to dumb anything down in order to do so. MS did positively the worst thing with Win8, but they had little choice.
But, all I really communicate with is words. I don't really know from what, or whom, those words are flowing. So I can't assume I know you at all. I can assume you're a person, but I don't actually know that. You could be a Turing machine.
That actually goes along with my screen name and the reason I choose it. Even if I am a Turing machine you have an idea of how I will likely respond just I have an idea on how you will respond. Knowing whether I'm short/tall, black/white, male/female do nothing to change the fact that my ideas are still presented.
Take Dan Brown and WIlliam Shakespeare. If you are familiar with some of their work but not all and I gave you work either that you were not familiar with I'm certain you could tell me which author penned the words.
Words are ideas and ideas leave a mental impression.
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
I don't know when, but I think that the OSX and iOS OSes will be unified in that they will contain a lot of common [source] code -- a common code base, if you will, where it makes sense.
Quite a few things were ported from Mac OS X, then rewritten for iOS (the way they should have been written in the first place) -- then reported back to Mac OS X,
Some things were written specifically for iOS: Location Services, for example -- then ported to Mac OS X.
The removal of "Mac: from the OS X name signifies to me that Apple's ultimate goal is to present a unified OS experience (where the OS gets out of the way from between you and your stuff).
I don't know, however, if it makes sense to combine the two, only to bifurcate them upon installation
As far as apps go, I expect that every app that Apple makes (and many of those from 3rd-party developers) will be available for both OSes... Yes, I include FCP X, Motion, etc... where it provides an advantage and the hardware can exploit it.
As to MS -- who can tell? MS has seemed to plant a seed with Windows Everywhere, that you will be able to run any app on any device -- be it Intel or ARM. That's just not true! There are legacy apps that run on Intel that will never be ported to ARM -- for lots of reasons (lost source code, developer no longer in business, limited market opportunity...).
Further, MS appears to be forcing the Metro interface onto the desktop in spite of the wishes of the developers and users (They may not be able to bypass it or disable it).
I believe that Windows Everywhere is a ruse to keep "Windows" in the hearts and minds of IT and enterprise until someone can deliver an Intel tablet that will allow desktop apps to run on a tablet...
But, that doesn't address MS's real problem: the REs -- All the MS apps, and major 3rd-party apps will need to be rethought, redesigned and rewritten to run with a full screen multitouch interface to be viable on a tablet (whether Intel or ARM).
So far, MS is two years behind Apple (and Android is just now delivering a usable tablet OS). MS doesn't really have a platform in place -- and won't for 1-2 more years (if ever).
By then, Will anybody care or even notice?
Here's a pretty good analysis of Windows 8 by Christian Cantrell -- a product manager at Adobe. (I have had personal dealings with Christian -- he's a good guy... honest, helpful and forthright!).
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
Quote:
Originally Posted by melgross
I don't know if Dick does, but I sure do. Apple doesn't have to dumb anything down in order to do so. MS did positively the worst thing with Win8, but they had little choice.
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Does anyone know if you can have two applications running at the same time, side by side on the screen like in Android or do you still have to have things in layers.
Does anyone know if you can have two applications running at the same time, side by side on the screen like in Android or do you still have to have things in layers.
iPad == one app at a time on the display -- though some apps can run in the background.
I didn't know that Android had a side-by-side capability for anything but widgets.
Windows 8 ARM has a "snap" implementation where two general apps can [potentially] run side-by-side... though the apps would, likely, need to be setup to dynamically reconfigure their display to fit in 1/2 the space. This could be a screen size fragmentation nightmare squared!
I do like, the concept, however... Apple could easily provide this capability and it would be fairly easy for developers because of a single display size (albeit 2 resolutions).
That actually goes along with my screen name and the reason I choose it. Even if I am a Turing machine you have an idea of how I will likely respond just I have an idea on how you will respond. Knowing whether I'm short/tall, black/white, male/female do nothing to change the fact that my ideas are still presented.
Take Dan Brown and WIlliam Shakespeare. If you are familiar with some of their work but not all and I gave you work either that you were not familiar with I'm certain you could tell me which author penned the words.
Words are ideas and ideas leave a mental impression.
But that still wouldn't tell me anything about the person who wrote it, other than an era in which they lived. Either could be anyone. Not even a man. It wouldn't tell me anything about their backgrounds, where they lived, which is a product of their personalities, etc.
In other words, all I would know about either of them was that the books were associated with these names, the person from which they are assumed to be taken, possibility not existing at all.
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Well, you said something's that we're useful, and true. I just replied quickly. I agree with most of what you said.
But I could go further, and I'll do so in a few sentences.
I believe Apple will eventually combine the OS's. I've said this in a number of posts over the years. I think the OS will be a universal one, but one that will add features as the device needs, and can handle it. A smooth increase in power and feature set.
I believe the apps (or whatever we'll call them all), will also install as the hardware needs. So a word processor will allow reading and a few minor edits on an iPhone. Much more could be done on an iPad, and the full panapoly of features and power will be released on a more powerful machine. All the documents, of course, would reside in the cloud, and all edits would be moved to each device.
This should allow people to move from their iPhone, to their iPad, and finally to their notebook, iMac or Mac Pro without having to learn something completely different, just more features as one goes upwards. The opposite in the other direction of course.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is close to being screwed. I read in a few places that Win 8 may be a threat to OS X and iOS. I read that about every OS release that MS has made over the years, but here we are, with Windows sales slowing down, and OS X growing at a steady 25% a year.
MS needed to come out with Win8. They had to. They had no choice to do it any other way. Why? Because they see Apple with a significant marketshare in the iPhone. A marketshare that continues to grow. They see Android with a huge marketshare, though it's growth has slowed down.
They see the iPad selling like hotcakes, and that growth exploding for individuals, business, education, and even the military and government.
But MS has almost no presence in either area, and has no look at one in the near future. Metro has proven so far to be highly Unpopular, with no growth. Tablets? Feh!
So Metro seems to have no future. No one, from the Zune HD, to WP7 seems to want a device based on it. So what do they have to do? They have to get it out there so that people must see it, and use it. So therefor, Win8. They are hoping that once people need to upgrade to a new computer, they will find Win8 to be pleasing, and so will buy tablets and phones based on it.
It's kind of risky. So far, more people don't like Win8 than do, and that's in the Windows techie group. What will the average person think?
One problem is that they spent so much time on metro they didn't have enough to spend on the Win7 Desktop which is still in there. Some upgrades, but nothing all that major. Faster start-up, no Start button. Nothing much else. It's: two (clap), two (clap), two favors, I mean OS's in one! That's ok for gum, but I don't think it will chew, I mean fly, here.
I suspect that several innovative site designs will emerge that will attract hits by delivering a better user experience by catering to the iPad retina display -- things like:
bigger controls/slide-outs for easier navigation
full screen mode for better user immersion
larger/more readable text
higher quality images
higher quality video
In the last several years we defined the default browser screen size to be 1024 x 768 (15" ~ 17") monitors. We therefore designed websites as 1000 px wide to allow for scroll bars.
Even with the iPhone4s retina, the regular sites still needed to be zoomed and panned to be legible. Now, with iPad the 3rd, we have the first device that actually has equivalent res to a cinema display but in a quarter of the physical screen real estate.
If we were to build a custom website for the new iPad we would design it 1500 px wide so that in the portrait view it was 100% to scale. Then you make the largest pictures that same width. The objective is to have the web page load at the optimal size on the iPad screen. But what do you do about the fonts? With all that extra space the fonts will seem rather small. Screen text is defined as either em, pt, % or px. Most designers have used px so that they have pixel perfect fit for their layouts. Unfortunately that attribute is not scaleable. For the new iPad I think we should convert to either em or percent so that the type scales to balance the layout size.
Since I am not sure how all of this is going to shake out, I figured the only way to know for sure is to get my hands on a new iPad and test it out. I wasn't going to worry about buying a new one until all the early adopters reported in but my curiosity got the better of me so I drove over to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, (normally I try to take the bus but it is really raining today). I walked into the Apple Store and requested a black AT&T 64 GB with a leather Smart Cover, paid and walked out in 15 minutes. No wait, no lines.
Well, you said something's that we're useful, and true. I just replied quickly. I agree with most of what you said.
But I could go further, and I'll do so in a few sentences.
I believe Apple will eventually combine the OS's. I've said this in a number of posts over the years. I think the OS will be a universal one, but one that will add features as the device needs, and can handle it. A smooth increase in power and feature set.
I believe the apps (or whatever we'll call them all), will also install as the hardware needs. So a word processor will allow reading and a few minor edits on an iPhone. Much more could be done on an iPad, and the full panapoly of features and power will be released on a more powerful machine. All the documents, of course, would reside in the cloud, and all edits would be moved to each device.
This should allow people to move from their iPhone, to their iPad, and finally to their notebook, iMac or Mac Pro without having to learn something completely different, just more features as one goes upwards. The opposite in the other direction of course.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is close to being screwed. I read in a few places that Win 8 may be a threat to OS X and iOS. I read that about every OS release that MS has made over the years, but here we are, with Windows sales slowing down, and OS X growing at a steady 25% a year.
MS needed to come out with Win8. They had to. They had no choice to do it any other way. Why? Because they see Apple with a significant marketshare in the iPhone. A marketshare that continues to grow. They see Android with a huge marketshare, though it's growth has slowed down.
They see the iPad selling like hotcakes, and that growth exploding for individuals, business, education, and even the military and government.
But MS has almost no presence in either area, and has no look at one in the near future. Metro has proven so far to be highly Unpopular, with no growth. Tablets? Feh!
So Metro seems to have no future. No one, from the Zune HD, to WP7 seems to want a device based on it. So what do they have to do? They have to get it out there so that people must see it, and use it. So therefor, Win8. They are hoping that once people need to upgrade to a new computer, they will find Win8 to be pleasing, and so will buy tablets and phones based on it.
It's kind of risky. So far, more people don't like Win8 than do, and that's in the Windows techie group. What will the average person think?
One problem is that they spent so much time on metro they didn't have enough to spend on the Win7 Desktop which is still in there. Some upgrades, but nothing all that major. Faster start-up, no Start button. Nothing much else. It's: two (clap), two (clap), two favors, I mean OS's in one! That's ok for gum, but I don't think it will chew, I mean fly, here.
Just a few sentences, yup!
Good reasoning and things to consider!
As you say MS (Windows) future looks pretty bleak.
I believed that HP was in the catbird seat to span Windows on the desktop and ARM tablets -- with WebOS being the glue that ran on both.
They screwed that up immensely!
As I see it Google has a problem (at least for the next few years) in that it has no desktop apps and their (or anyone's) cloud apps are not, yet, robust enough... and their tablet solution is too fragmented -- so the enterprise is off limits.
It is certainly Apple's game to win... or lose.
I wonder if MS should say FTW and either/both:
1) Buy HP and build their own hardware * -- knowing that the Windows OEMs have no real choice but to stay as Windows OEMs
* People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware - Alan Kay -
2) Draw a line in the sand and say: the buck (legacy app support) stops here (Windows 7). Then go full bore adding skinnied-down desktop apps (and OS features) to Metro (their own apps & pay third parties for key apps). This could be [mostly] done by end of year 2012 and, IMO offers the best chance to salvage something from the current state of affairs.
If I were MS, I would get a re-implemented Office on iPad ASAP -- and on Androis as soon as practical -- these will be MS's customers... bringing them back into the Windows fold is left for another day.
As you say MS (Windows) future looks pretty bleak.
I believed that HP was in the catbird seat to span Windows on the desktop and ARM tablets -- with WebOS being the glue that ran on both.
They screwed that up immensely!
As I see it Google has a problem (at least for the next few years) in that it has no desktop apps and their (or anyone's) cloud apps are not, yet, robust enough... and their tablet solution is too fragmented -- so the enterprise is off limits.
It is certainly Apple's game to win... or lose.
I wonder if MS should say FTW and either/both:
1) Buy HP and build their own hardware * -- knowing that the Windows OEMs have no real choice but to stay as Windows OEMs
* People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware - Alan Kay -
2) Draw a line in the sand and say: the buck (legacy app support) stops here (Windows 7). Then go full bore adding skinnied-down desktop apps (and OS features) to Metro (their own apps & pay third parties for key apps). This could be [mostly] done by end of year 2012 and, IMO offers the best chance to salvage something from the current state of affairs.
If I were MS, I would get a re-implemented Office on iPad ASAP -- and on Androis as soon as practical -- these will be MS's customers... bringing them back into the Windows fold is left for another day.
MS is in a tough position. Whatever they do, they've got to do it fast. Doing things fast is not the MS way. Win8 is a holding pattern. Apple has the luxury of having a new OS update every year, slowly integrating things carefully, while users get used to them. MS had to jump in all at once.
They are also going to confuse people with their tablet strategy. A "real" x86 based Win 8 tablet, plus a not really Win8 ARM based Metro tablet. How will anyone be able to tell them apart in the store? Will the sales people really understand the differences? Supposedly, MS will now make the situation even more confusing, by having the Desktop in the Metro tablet as well, even though it won't really do much of anything. Not that it will do much in an x86 tablet either.
Oh, I can see people opting for a Metro tablet because it's cheaper, smaller and lighter, only to find it doesn't run Windows programs. That should be good for a laugh!
In the last several years we defined the default browser screen size to be 1024 x 768 (15" ~ 17") monitors. We therefore designed websites as 1000 px wide to allow for scroll bars.
Even with the iPhone4s retina, the regular sites still needed to be zoomed and panned to be legible. Now, with iPad the 3rd, we have the first device that actually has equivalent res to a cinema display but in a quarter of the physical screen real estate.
If we were to build a custom website for the new iPad we would design it 1500 px wide so that in the portrait view it was 100% to scale. Then you make the largest pictures that same width. The objective is to have the web page load at the optimal size on the iPad screen. But what do you do about the fonts? With all that extra space the fonts will seem rather small. Screen text is defined as either em, pt, % or px. Most designers have used px so that they have pixel perfect fit for their layouts. Unfortunately that attribute is not scaleable. For the new iPad I think we should convert to either em or percent so that the type scales to balance the layout size.
Since I am not sure how all of this is going to shake out, I figured the only way to know for sure is to get my hands on a new iPad and test it out. I wasn't going to worry about buying a new one until all the early adopters reported in but my curiosity got the better of me so I drove over to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, (normally I try to take the bus but it is really raining today). I walked into the Apple Store and requested a black AT&T 64 GB with a leather Smart Cover, paid and walked out in 15 minutes. No wait, no lines.
So I'm off to unbox. Peace Out!
Interesting...
I am not knowledgeable enough to offer an opinion on a text solution...
I wonder if you could design a web site for both portrait and landscape and have it reconfigure itself based on how the user is using the device -- similar how mail on the iPad switches between side-by-side and overlay panels when you switch from landscape to portrait.
Check out the week.com site on an iPad. It offers a touch interface front end that looks like an iPad with big tiles & sideways scroll. Then when you select a tile it goes to a fixed (not zoomable) format for the selected story... Not great but a good start.
If you are into web design, I'd like to hear your feedback (here, anywhere or PM) on what and how web sites can be tailored to exploit the user's experience on the device of choice.
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Oh yea MS Windows 8 is a complete mess. I do like the Metro UI though. It makes a fantastic phone OS and it will probably a good tablet one as well but this mixture of classic windows and Metro just sucks. I mean choose one guys. One minute I'm in a fancy new UI and the next Im back in Windows 7, back and forth, back and forth excuse me I feel sick.
About this convergence that's going on between OSX and iOS, you guys don't feel just a little upset that iOS is locked up tighter then Fort Knox and this is possibly what the future will bring when there is only one OS. Basicly shut up and use it and no outside food alowd, meaning everything must be bought threw iTunes.
As to MS -- who can tell? MS has seemed to plant a seed with Windows Everywhere, that you will be able to run any app on any device -- be it Intel or ARM. That's just not true! There are legacy apps that run on Intel that will never be ported to ARM -- for lots of reasons (lost source code, developer no longer in business, limited market opportunity...).
Further, MS appears to be forcing the Metro interface onto the desktop in spite of the wishes of the developers and users (They may not be able to bypass it or disable it).
I believe that Windows Everywhere is a ruse to keep "Windows" in the hearts and minds of IT and enterprise until someone can deliver an Intel tablet that will allow desktop apps to run on a tablet...
But, that doesn't address MS's real problem: the REs -- All the MS apps, and major 3rd-party apps will need to be rethought, redesigned and rewritten to run with a full screen multitouch interface to be viable on a tablet (whether Intel or ARM).
So far, MS is two years behind Apple (and Android is just now delivering a usable tablet OS). MS doesn't really have a platform in place -- and won't for 1-2 more years (if ever).
By then, Will anybody care or even notice?
Here's a pretty good analysis of Windows 8 by Christian Cantrell -- a product manager at Adobe. (I have had personal dealings with Christian -- he's a good guy... honest, helpful and forthright!).
I think a lot of people are being overly harsh on Microsoft. I just bought a new iPad but even being the huge apple fan that I am, I think win 8 is a better tablet design for an os. Apple will obviously and already have copied a lot of the ideas they've come up with, but at this point in time it's still better.
The biggest problem Microsoft have is although metro is great for a tablet and even great for a home use laptop, it's awful for business. Full screen apps are awful for doing actual work, and thats why you still have the desktop, task bar, snap and all the other stuff that make windows great for working. Having 2 os's in 1 though is not user friendly and creates confusion, but at the same time having 2 separate os's is also confusing, people will want to know which one is the future and ignore the other.
So that's my opinion, MS have created the ideal ui for students and other home users to be able to Skype someone while watching Netflix, go on the web etc with the split pane ui. Or just do things full screen without os x's stupid button that is way to close to a hot corner action. And they also have windows 7 which has features I miss every time I use os x for working. But they are at complete opposites and will only sell if there in 1 product. I think people will love the tablets and hate the desktop (at work)
MS is in a tough position. Whatever they do, they've got to do it fast. Doing things fast is not the MS way. Win8 is a holding pattern. Apple has the luxury of having a new OS update every year, slowly integrating things carefully, while users get used to them. MS had to jump in all at once.
They are also going to confuse people with their tablet strategy. A "real" x86 based Win 8 tablet, plus a not really Win8 ARM based Metro tablet. How will anyone be able to tell them apart in the store? Will the sales people really understand the differences? Supposedly, MS will now make the situation even more confusing, by having the Desktop in the Metro tablet as well, even though it won't really do much of anything. Not that it will do much in an x86 tablet either.
Oh, I can see people opting for a Metro tablet because it's cheaper, smaller and lighter, only to find it doesn't run Windows programs. That should be good for a laugh!
I agree -- MS: either get in the pool or get out, Now!
The people that MS's current tablet plans won't fool is IT and enterprise. From what I read, the majority of enterprises are moving the "meat" of their applications to the iPad. At some point, what they currently do on the desktop will diminish and migrate to the back room, like Payroll, where it can [eventually] be outsourced to someone like ADP.
I do believe that "enterprise" will retain their database, but that, likely will be in the back room and percolate up to the cloud then trickle back down to the back room -- providing a balance between access anywhere and access speed. MS could do this as well as or better than anyone.
God... I do enjoy exercising these atrophying brain cells
Comments
I was under the impression that Apple was changing the packaging of iDevice apps so that components that were targeted at a specific screen size or resolution were packaged in separate modules that could be included or eliminated at install time...
- base code
- 3.5" display components
- 9.7" display components
- 3.5" display components standard res
- 3.5" display components retina res
- 9.7" display components standard res
- 9.7" display components retina res
For example a Universal app would only download (from the app store to the device) the components needed for that specific device type. Later, when the device syncs to local iTunes and copies the app from the app to iTunes, the entire Universal package is downloaded (for other [any] device types) whenever the local iTunes connects to iTunes store.I just checked, and this does not appear to be implemented for Apple's latest iWork and iLife apps.
I wonder if I misunderstood something I read -- or am just jumping the gun...
Maybe a natural feature for iOS 6!
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
How could you...
Sol only believes in the existence of self
solipsism |ˈsälipˌsizəm| noun
the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist.
That's actually just an assumption. For example, the statement: I think, therefor I am, is incorrect. All we can know from it is: I think, therefor I think. It's a well known error in logic.
I guess one could ask if we really ever know anyone, but after chatting with you for many years I certainly know things about you. I don't know what you look like but that's mostly irrelevant to knowing someone. You know plenty of things about me as well, including my real name (assuming you paid attention).
In regards to tech, politics, etc. I'm certain you have a pretty good idea how I and many others here will likely respond to a given topic even before we do. I don't think you can not get to know someone after years of discourse. Internet forums can be like pen pals of yesteryear except exercised in a collective.
So yes, you do know me.
But, all I really communicate with is words. I don't really know from what, or whom, those words are flowing. So I can't assume I know you at all. I can assume you're a person, but I don't actually know that. You could be a Turing machine.
Well he has a point, you can install Ubuntu on it for goodness sakes. Plus now with the ICS available it's actually a nice tablet for media consumption and surfing. Well that is if you don't live in iTunes for your media. You can plug it into any computer, let it be an Apple, Windows, Linux, Solaris or even another tablet it mounts itself as a drive. So you can simply drag your media files over without going threw the hassle of syncin with iTunes or any other annoying program. You can play every conceivable codec on it without having to buy any additinal apps. Which most that you buy still don't play every codec so you have to buy at least 3 to match the capabilties of ICS. I'm talking media here nothing else so don't get mad at me.
If I only had two hundred dollars in my pocket the Touchpad is a very good choice. A person would be very happy with it. Sure it's not a Apple but it's still a very worthy and versatile tablet. I do know one thing for a fact your average Touchpad user is a lot more computer savy then your average Apple user so you can't call them idiots.
In fact, any Android tablets are far less usefull for the vast majority of people. WebOS tablets have almost no real utility at all, and Linux models are pretty much worthless.
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
I don't know if Dick does, but I sure do. Apple doesn't have to dumb anything down in order to do so. MS did positively the worst thing with Win8, but they had little choice.
But, all I really communicate with is words. I don't really know from what, or whom, those words are flowing. So I can't assume I know you at all. I can assume you're a person, but I don't actually know that. You could be a Turing machine.
That actually goes along with my screen name and the reason I choose it. Even if I am a Turing machine you have an idea of how I will likely respond just I have an idea on how you will respond. Knowing whether I'm short/tall, black/white, male/female do nothing to change the fact that my ideas are still presented.
Take Dan Brown and WIlliam Shakespeare. If you are familiar with some of their work but not all and I gave you work either that you were not familiar with I'm certain you could tell me which author penned the words.
Words are ideas and ideas leave a mental impression.
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
I don't know when, but I think that the OSX and iOS OSes will be unified in that they will contain a lot of common [source] code -- a common code base, if you will, where it makes sense.
Quite a few things were ported from Mac OS X, then rewritten for iOS (the way they should have been written in the first place) -- then reported back to Mac OS X,
Some things were written specifically for iOS: Location Services, for example -- then ported to Mac OS X.
The removal of "Mac: from the OS X name signifies to me that Apple's ultimate goal is to present a unified OS experience (where the OS gets out of the way from between you and your stuff).
I don't know, however, if it makes sense to combine the two, only to bifurcate them upon installation
As far as apps go, I expect that every app that Apple makes (and many of those from 3rd-party developers) will be available for both OSes... Yes, I include FCP X, Motion, etc... where it provides an advantage and the hardware can exploit it.
As to MS -- who can tell? MS has seemed to plant a seed with Windows Everywhere, that you will be able to run any app on any device -- be it Intel or ARM. That's just not true! There are legacy apps that run on Intel that will never be ported to ARM -- for lots of reasons (lost source code, developer no longer in business, limited market opportunity...).
Further, MS appears to be forcing the Metro interface onto the desktop in spite of the wishes of the developers and users (They may not be able to bypass it or disable it).
I believe that Windows Everywhere is a ruse to keep "Windows" in the hearts and minds of IT and enterprise until someone can deliver an Intel tablet that will allow desktop apps to run on a tablet...
But, that doesn't address MS's real problem: the REs -- All the MS apps, and major 3rd-party apps will need to be rethought, redesigned and rewritten to run with a full screen multitouch interface to be viable on a tablet (whether Intel or ARM).
So far, MS is two years behind Apple (and Android is just now delivering a usable tablet OS). MS doesn't really have a platform in place -- and won't for 1-2 more years (if ever).
By then, Will anybody care or even notice?
Here's a pretty good analysis of Windows 8 by Christian Cantrell -- a product manager at Adobe. (I have had personal dealings with Christian -- he's a good guy... honest, helpful and forthright!).
Windows 8: A Giant Misstep Forward
A little off subject here but do you think Apple is slowly converging iOS with OSX like what Microsoft is doing with their desktop and mobile OS. If so do you think that is a good thing? Will we see a smarter phone/tablet OS and a dumber desktop OS, well not dumber just more iOSified, so yea dumber.
I don't know if Dick does, but I sure do. Apple doesn't have to dumb anything down in order to do so. MS did positively the worst thing with Win8, but they had little choice.
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Does anyone know if you can have two applications running at the same time, side by side on the screen like in Android or do you still have to have things in layers.
iPad == one app at a time on the display -- though some apps can run in the background.
I didn't know that Android had a side-by-side capability for anything but widgets.
Windows 8 ARM has a "snap" implementation where two general apps can [potentially] run side-by-side... though the apps would, likely, need to be setup to dynamically reconfigure their display to fit in 1/2 the space. This could be a screen size fragmentation nightmare squared!
I do like, the concept, however... Apple could easily provide this capability and it would be fairly easy for developers because of a single display size (albeit 2 resolutions).
That actually goes along with my screen name and the reason I choose it. Even if I am a Turing machine you have an idea of how I will likely respond just I have an idea on how you will respond. Knowing whether I'm short/tall, black/white, male/female do nothing to change the fact that my ideas are still presented.
Take Dan Brown and WIlliam Shakespeare. If you are familiar with some of their work but not all and I gave you work either that you were not familiar with I'm certain you could tell me which author penned the words.
Words are ideas and ideas leave a mental impression.
But that still wouldn't tell me anything about the person who wrote it, other than an era in which they lived. Either could be anyone. Not even a man. It wouldn't tell me anything about their backgrounds, where they lived, which is a product of their personalities, etc.
In other words, all I would know about either of them was that the books were associated with these names, the person from which they are assumed to be taken, possibility not existing at all.
Anyone here noticed that their new iPad doesn't make kb clicks even though they are turned on in settings?
We have all 3 versions of iPads -- only the one new iPad & it is the only one that doesn't make kb clicks
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Well, you said something's that we're useful, and true. I just replied quickly. I agree with most of what you said.
But I could go further, and I'll do so in a few sentences.
I believe Apple will eventually combine the OS's. I've said this in a number of posts over the years. I think the OS will be a universal one, but one that will add features as the device needs, and can handle it. A smooth increase in power and feature set.
I believe the apps (or whatever we'll call them all), will also install as the hardware needs. So a word processor will allow reading and a few minor edits on an iPhone. Much more could be done on an iPad, and the full panapoly of features and power will be released on a more powerful machine. All the documents, of course, would reside in the cloud, and all edits would be moved to each device.
This should allow people to move from their iPhone, to their iPad, and finally to their notebook, iMac or Mac Pro without having to learn something completely different, just more features as one goes upwards. The opposite in the other direction of course.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is close to being screwed. I read in a few places that Win 8 may be a threat to OS X and iOS. I read that about every OS release that MS has made over the years, but here we are, with Windows sales slowing down, and OS X growing at a steady 25% a year.
MS needed to come out with Win8. They had to. They had no choice to do it any other way. Why? Because they see Apple with a significant marketshare in the iPhone. A marketshare that continues to grow. They see Android with a huge marketshare, though it's growth has slowed down.
They see the iPad selling like hotcakes, and that growth exploding for individuals, business, education, and even the military and government.
But MS has almost no presence in either area, and has no look at one in the near future. Metro has proven so far to be highly Unpopular, with no growth. Tablets? Feh!
So Metro seems to have no future. No one, from the Zune HD, to WP7 seems to want a device based on it. So what do they have to do? They have to get it out there so that people must see it, and use it. So therefor, Win8. They are hoping that once people need to upgrade to a new computer, they will find Win8 to be pleasing, and so will buy tablets and phones based on it.
It's kind of risky. So far, more people don't like Win8 than do, and that's in the Windows techie group. What will the average person think?
One problem is that they spent so much time on metro they didn't have enough to spend on the Win7 Desktop which is still in there. Some upgrades, but nothing all that major. Faster start-up, no Start button. Nothing much else. It's: two (clap), two (clap), two favors, I mean OS's in one! That's ok for gum, but I don't think it will chew, I mean fly, here.
Just a few sentences, yup!
I suspect that several innovative site designs will emerge that will attract hits by delivering a better user experience by catering to the iPad retina display -- things like:
In the last several years we defined the default browser screen size to be 1024 x 768 (15" ~ 17") monitors. We therefore designed websites as 1000 px wide to allow for scroll bars.
Even with the iPhone4s retina, the regular sites still needed to be zoomed and panned to be legible. Now, with iPad the 3rd, we have the first device that actually has equivalent res to a cinema display but in a quarter of the physical screen real estate.
If we were to build a custom website for the new iPad we would design it 1500 px wide so that in the portrait view it was 100% to scale. Then you make the largest pictures that same width. The objective is to have the web page load at the optimal size on the iPad screen. But what do you do about the fonts? With all that extra space the fonts will seem rather small. Screen text is defined as either em, pt, % or px. Most designers have used px so that they have pixel perfect fit for their layouts. Unfortunately that attribute is not scaleable. For the new iPad I think we should convert to either em or percent so that the type scales to balance the layout size.
Since I am not sure how all of this is going to shake out, I figured the only way to know for sure is to get my hands on a new iPad and test it out. I wasn't going to worry about buying a new one until all the early adopters reported in but my curiosity got the better of me so I drove over to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, (normally I try to take the bus but it is really raining today). I walked into the Apple Store and requested a black AT&T 64 GB with a leather Smart Cover, paid and walked out in 15 minutes. No wait, no lines.
So I'm off to unbox. Peace Out!
Well, you said something's that we're useful, and true. I just replied quickly. I agree with most of what you said.
But I could go further, and I'll do so in a few sentences.
I believe Apple will eventually combine the OS's. I've said this in a number of posts over the years. I think the OS will be a universal one, but one that will add features as the device needs, and can handle it. A smooth increase in power and feature set.
I believe the apps (or whatever we'll call them all), will also install as the hardware needs. So a word processor will allow reading and a few minor edits on an iPhone. Much more could be done on an iPad, and the full panapoly of features and power will be released on a more powerful machine. All the documents, of course, would reside in the cloud, and all edits would be moved to each device.
This should allow people to move from their iPhone, to their iPad, and finally to their notebook, iMac or Mac Pro without having to learn something completely different, just more features as one goes upwards. The opposite in the other direction of course.
Microsoft, on the other hand, is close to being screwed. I read in a few places that Win 8 may be a threat to OS X and iOS. I read that about every OS release that MS has made over the years, but here we are, with Windows sales slowing down, and OS X growing at a steady 25% a year.
MS needed to come out with Win8. They had to. They had no choice to do it any other way. Why? Because they see Apple with a significant marketshare in the iPhone. A marketshare that continues to grow. They see Android with a huge marketshare, though it's growth has slowed down.
They see the iPad selling like hotcakes, and that growth exploding for individuals, business, education, and even the military and government.
But MS has almost no presence in either area, and has no look at one in the near future. Metro has proven so far to be highly Unpopular, with no growth. Tablets? Feh!
So Metro seems to have no future. No one, from the Zune HD, to WP7 seems to want a device based on it. So what do they have to do? They have to get it out there so that people must see it, and use it. So therefor, Win8. They are hoping that once people need to upgrade to a new computer, they will find Win8 to be pleasing, and so will buy tablets and phones based on it.
It's kind of risky. So far, more people don't like Win8 than do, and that's in the Windows techie group. What will the average person think?
One problem is that they spent so much time on metro they didn't have enough to spend on the Win7 Desktop which is still in there. Some upgrades, but nothing all that major. Faster start-up, no Start button. Nothing much else. It's: two (clap), two (clap), two favors, I mean OS's in one! That's ok for gum, but I don't think it will chew, I mean fly, here.
Just a few sentences, yup!
Good reasoning and things to consider!
As you say MS (Windows) future looks pretty bleak.
I believed that HP was in the catbird seat to span Windows on the desktop and ARM tablets -- with WebOS being the glue that ran on both.
They screwed that up immensely!
As I see it Google has a problem (at least for the next few years) in that it has no desktop apps and their (or anyone's) cloud apps are not, yet, robust enough... and their tablet solution is too fragmented -- so the enterprise is off limits.
It is certainly Apple's game to win... or lose.
I wonder if MS should say FTW and either/both:
1) Buy HP and build their own hardware * -- knowing that the Windows OEMs have no real choice but to stay as Windows OEMs
* People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware - Alan Kay -
2) Draw a line in the sand and say: the buck (legacy app support) stops here (Windows 7). Then go full bore adding skinnied-down desktop apps (and OS features) to Metro (their own apps & pay third parties for key apps). This could be [mostly] done by end of year 2012 and, IMO offers the best chance to salvage something from the current state of affairs.
If I were MS, I would get a re-implemented Office on iPad ASAP -- and on Androis as soon as practical -- these will be MS's customers... bringing them back into the Windows fold is left for another day.
Good reasoning and things to consider!
As you say MS (Windows) future looks pretty bleak.
I believed that HP was in the catbird seat to span Windows on the desktop and ARM tablets -- with WebOS being the glue that ran on both.
They screwed that up immensely!
As I see it Google has a problem (at least for the next few years) in that it has no desktop apps and their (or anyone's) cloud apps are not, yet, robust enough... and their tablet solution is too fragmented -- so the enterprise is off limits.
It is certainly Apple's game to win... or lose.
I wonder if MS should say FTW and either/both:
1) Buy HP and build their own hardware * -- knowing that the Windows OEMs have no real choice but to stay as Windows OEMs
* People who are really serious about software should make their own hardware - Alan Kay -
2) Draw a line in the sand and say: the buck (legacy app support) stops here (Windows 7). Then go full bore adding skinnied-down desktop apps (and OS features) to Metro (their own apps & pay third parties for key apps). This could be [mostly] done by end of year 2012 and, IMO offers the best chance to salvage something from the current state of affairs.
If I were MS, I would get a re-implemented Office on iPad ASAP -- and on Androis as soon as practical -- these will be MS's customers... bringing them back into the Windows fold is left for another day.
MS is in a tough position. Whatever they do, they've got to do it fast. Doing things fast is not the MS way. Win8 is a holding pattern. Apple has the luxury of having a new OS update every year, slowly integrating things carefully, while users get used to them. MS had to jump in all at once.
They are also going to confuse people with their tablet strategy. A "real" x86 based Win 8 tablet, plus a not really Win8 ARM based Metro tablet. How will anyone be able to tell them apart in the store? Will the sales people really understand the differences? Supposedly, MS will now make the situation even more confusing, by having the Desktop in the Metro tablet as well, even though it won't really do much of anything. Not that it will do much in an x86 tablet either.
Oh, I can see people opting for a Metro tablet because it's cheaper, smaller and lighter, only to find it doesn't run Windows programs. That should be good for a laugh!
In the last several years we defined the default browser screen size to be 1024 x 768 (15" ~ 17") monitors. We therefore designed websites as 1000 px wide to allow for scroll bars.
Even with the iPhone4s retina, the regular sites still needed to be zoomed and panned to be legible. Now, with iPad the 3rd, we have the first device that actually has equivalent res to a cinema display but in a quarter of the physical screen real estate.
If we were to build a custom website for the new iPad we would design it 1500 px wide so that in the portrait view it was 100% to scale. Then you make the largest pictures that same width. The objective is to have the web page load at the optimal size on the iPad screen. But what do you do about the fonts? With all that extra space the fonts will seem rather small. Screen text is defined as either em, pt, % or px. Most designers have used px so that they have pixel perfect fit for their layouts. Unfortunately that attribute is not scaleable. For the new iPad I think we should convert to either em or percent so that the type scales to balance the layout size.
Since I am not sure how all of this is going to shake out, I figured the only way to know for sure is to get my hands on a new iPad and test it out. I wasn't going to worry about buying a new one until all the early adopters reported in but my curiosity got the better of me so I drove over to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, (normally I try to take the bus but it is really raining today). I walked into the Apple Store and requested a black AT&T 64 GB with a leather Smart Cover, paid and walked out in 15 minutes. No wait, no lines.
So I'm off to unbox. Peace Out!
Interesting...
I am not knowledgeable enough to offer an opinion on a text solution...
I wonder if you could design a web site for both portrait and landscape and have it reconfigure itself based on how the user is using the device -- similar how mail on the iPad switches between side-by-side and overlay panels when you switch from landscape to portrait.
Check out the week.com site on an iPad. It offers a touch interface front end that looks like an iPad with big tiles & sideways scroll. Then when you select a tile it goes to a fixed (not zoomable) format for the selected story... Not great but a good start.
If you are into web design, I'd like to hear your feedback (here, anywhere or PM) on what and how web sites can be tailored to exploit the user's experience on the device of choice.
TIA
Dick!
I wish I'd answered the question as concisely as you did!
Oh yea MS Windows 8 is a complete mess. I do like the Metro UI though. It makes a fantastic phone OS and it will probably a good tablet one as well but this mixture of classic windows and Metro just sucks. I mean choose one guys. One minute I'm in a fancy new UI and the next Im back in Windows 7, back and forth, back and forth excuse me I feel sick.
About this convergence that's going on between OSX and iOS, you guys don't feel just a little upset that iOS is locked up tighter then Fort Knox and this is possibly what the future will bring when there is only one OS. Basicly shut up and use it and no outside food alowd, meaning everything must be bought threw iTunes.
As to MS -- who can tell? MS has seemed to plant a seed with Windows Everywhere, that you will be able to run any app on any device -- be it Intel or ARM. That's just not true! There are legacy apps that run on Intel that will never be ported to ARM -- for lots of reasons (lost source code, developer no longer in business, limited market opportunity...).
Further, MS appears to be forcing the Metro interface onto the desktop in spite of the wishes of the developers and users (They may not be able to bypass it or disable it).
I believe that Windows Everywhere is a ruse to keep "Windows" in the hearts and minds of IT and enterprise until someone can deliver an Intel tablet that will allow desktop apps to run on a tablet...
But, that doesn't address MS's real problem: the REs -- All the MS apps, and major 3rd-party apps will need to be rethought, redesigned and rewritten to run with a full screen multitouch interface to be viable on a tablet (whether Intel or ARM).
So far, MS is two years behind Apple (and Android is just now delivering a usable tablet OS). MS doesn't really have a platform in place -- and won't for 1-2 more years (if ever).
By then, Will anybody care or even notice?
Here's a pretty good analysis of Windows 8 by Christian Cantrell -- a product manager at Adobe. (I have had personal dealings with Christian -- he's a good guy... honest, helpful and forthright!).
Windows 8: A Giant Misstep Forward
I think a lot of people are being overly harsh on Microsoft. I just bought a new iPad but even being the huge apple fan that I am, I think win 8 is a better tablet design for an os. Apple will obviously and already have copied a lot of the ideas they've come up with, but at this point in time it's still better.
The biggest problem Microsoft have is although metro is great for a tablet and even great for a home use laptop, it's awful for business. Full screen apps are awful for doing actual work, and thats why you still have the desktop, task bar, snap and all the other stuff that make windows great for working. Having 2 os's in 1 though is not user friendly and creates confusion, but at the same time having 2 separate os's is also confusing, people will want to know which one is the future and ignore the other.
So that's my opinion, MS have created the ideal ui for students and other home users to be able to Skype someone while watching Netflix, go on the web etc with the split pane ui. Or just do things full screen without os x's stupid button that is way to close to a hot corner action. And they also have windows 7 which has features I miss every time I use os x for working. But they are at complete opposites and will only sell if there in 1 product. I think people will love the tablets and hate the desktop (at work)
MS is in a tough position. Whatever they do, they've got to do it fast. Doing things fast is not the MS way. Win8 is a holding pattern. Apple has the luxury of having a new OS update every year, slowly integrating things carefully, while users get used to them. MS had to jump in all at once.
They are also going to confuse people with their tablet strategy. A "real" x86 based Win 8 tablet, plus a not really Win8 ARM based Metro tablet. How will anyone be able to tell them apart in the store? Will the sales people really understand the differences? Supposedly, MS will now make the situation even more confusing, by having the Desktop in the Metro tablet as well, even though it won't really do much of anything. Not that it will do much in an x86 tablet either.
Oh, I can see people opting for a Metro tablet because it's cheaper, smaller and lighter, only to find it doesn't run Windows programs. That should be good for a laugh!
I agree -- MS: either get in the pool or get out, Now!
The people that MS's current tablet plans won't fool is IT and enterprise. From what I read, the majority of enterprises are moving the "meat" of their applications to the iPad. At some point, what they currently do on the desktop will diminish and migrate to the back room, like Payroll, where it can [eventually] be outsourced to someone like ADP.
I do believe that "enterprise" will retain their database, but that, likely will be in the back room and percolate up to the cloud then trickle back down to the back room -- providing a balance between access anywhere and access speed. MS could do this as well as or better than anyone.
God... I do enjoy exercising these atrophying brain cells