First, I am not part of the grammar police since I don't know it well enough to carp. But you'll notice from my post above (#9) that I had trouble following what exactly this analyst was saying. If poor grammar interferes with a reader's understanding of content, I think that suggests a problem (btw, it is not only the grammar that people were complaining about).
Second, even if it was not an issue of interfering with one's understanding, I see little that is wrong -- indeed, much that is right -- in people demanding that AI articles meet some reasonable standard of decent English usage. Indeed, we should demand that in all aspect of our lives, since sloppy usage is often correlated with sloppy thinking.
Third -- even if neither argument above persuades you -- given how often links to AI articles show up at the head of the line of news aggregators such as news.google.com, I would imagine that it is in AI's interest to not come across as sloppy in its writing (and by inference, its thinking). IMHO, I actually find that sites such as arstechnica.com make a genuine effort at good language use. Indeed, I think it is time for AI to hire someone with copy editing skills to oversee some of their writing.
(For the record, English is not my first language, so I work hard at using the language as correctly as I can. I imagine it should be even easier for native speakers to do that.)
Boy, reports like this scare the living sh!t out of me!
First off, the iPhone makes a fantastic mobile device. It is prettier and has a better screen than almost anything else out there, and at a reasonable price. It offers the best mobile internet browsing experience of anything I have experienced.
But-- e-mail is crap, and the iPhone is barely functional when it isn't on Cingular's network. Travelling outside the US, these issues become a very big deal. I fear my bill, when I have not deliberately used any edge data.
If Apple doesn't fix the e-mail soon, I might be forced to go back to a Blackberry. Need real PUSH, and an e-mail client at least as good as Blackberry's far from perfect offering!
First off, the iPhone makes a fantastic mobile device. It is prettier and has a better screen than almost anything else out there, and at a reasonable price. It offers the best mobile internet browsing experience of anything I have experienced.
But-- e-mail is crap, and the iPhone is barely functional when it isn't on Cingular's network. Travelling outside the US, these issues become a very big deal. I fear my bill, when I have not deliberately used any edge data.
I agree that in light of the reports that Edge data use abroad is too expensive, Apple should address the issue in a similar manner to the airplane mode solution by allowing the user to turn off selective services such as Edge.
On the email complaint, I guess I can only be thankful that I don't need push email. I would rather read email at a time of my choosing and not be alerted every time a message arrives. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a critical email message. Because email is inherently unreliable, nothing mission critical should ever depend on it.
On the email complaint, I guess I can only be thankful that I don't need push email. I would rather read email at a time of my choosing and not be alerted every time a message arrives. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a critical email message. Because email is inherently unreliable, nothing mission critical should ever depend on it.
While at home or in the office, I would agree with you almost without hesitation. People do make too big of a deal as a business communication tool. When traveling, either for work or pleasure, sometimes being able to be notified of an e-mail (subtly) at a reasonable time interval and without draining your battery checking every 30 or 60 minutes, it can be the difference between a four week "soft" vacation and a one week "no contact" vacation.
The alternative is to have my secretary call me if anything import comes up, and that is reluctantly what I am doing right now. I get a 5-minute warning for a conference call, try and wake up and be coherent, and get back to sleep when it is over. Not the best life, but sacrifices to be made when you love scuba diving.
My gripe is that the Blackberry actually did this for me, no secretary required. Three years ago, I could never have gotten to the position I am at now without the Blackberry, unless I matched my sleeping schedule to the US when abroad, which almost completely defeats the purposes of being away.
Huh? What is this analyst report saying? I don't really follow.....
Absolutely nothing. Along with the grammatical issues noted above, the author(s) also admit that the sample size is too small to represent anything. Or as murphyweb put it:
Quote:
Originally Posted by murphyweb
I am a businessman and whilst shopping this morning i bought a tin of sweetcorn, does that mean that a tin of sweetcorn could be now classed as a business lunch??
The iPhone will never be a serious business tool until they sort out the international data situation.
At&t's charge of $20 per Mb is absolutely outrageous.
For example, to open the Apple.com home page on your iPhone costs you $14.50 when you are in France.
Apple has also not included a feature to turn off edge, so it's constantly checking stocks and weather in the background and costing you a fortune, even when you think you're not on the internet.
Comments
agreed.
Fewer complaints about grammar would be nice.
First, I am not part of the grammar police since I don't know it well enough to carp. But you'll notice from my post above (#9) that I had trouble following what exactly this analyst was saying. If poor grammar interferes with a reader's understanding of content, I think that suggests a problem (btw, it is not only the grammar that people were complaining about).
Second, even if it was not an issue of interfering with one's understanding, I see little that is wrong -- indeed, much that is right -- in people demanding that AI articles meet some reasonable standard of decent English usage. Indeed, we should demand that in all aspect of our lives, since sloppy usage is often correlated with sloppy thinking.
Third -- even if neither argument above persuades you -- given how often links to AI articles show up at the head of the line of news aggregators such as news.google.com, I would imagine that it is in AI's interest to not come across as sloppy in its writing (and by inference, its thinking). IMHO, I actually find that sites such as arstechnica.com make a genuine effort at good language use. Indeed, I think it is time for AI to hire someone with copy editing skills to oversee some of their writing.
(For the record, English is not my first language, so I work hard at using the language as correctly as I can. I imagine it should be even easier for native speakers to do that.)
First off, the iPhone makes a fantastic mobile device. It is prettier and has a better screen than almost anything else out there, and at a reasonable price. It offers the best mobile internet browsing experience of anything I have experienced.
But-- e-mail is crap, and the iPhone is barely functional when it isn't on Cingular's network. Travelling outside the US, these issues become a very big deal. I fear my bill, when I have not deliberately used any edge data.
If Apple doesn't fix the e-mail soon, I might be forced to go back to a Blackberry. Need real PUSH, and an e-mail client at least as good as Blackberry's far from perfect offering!
agreed.
Fewer complaints about grammar would be nice.
As would fewer grammatical mistakes.
First off, the iPhone makes a fantastic mobile device. It is prettier and has a better screen than almost anything else out there, and at a reasonable price. It offers the best mobile internet browsing experience of anything I have experienced.
But-- e-mail is crap, and the iPhone is barely functional when it isn't on Cingular's network. Travelling outside the US, these issues become a very big deal. I fear my bill, when I have not deliberately used any edge data.
I agree that in light of the reports that Edge data use abroad is too expensive, Apple should address the issue in a similar manner to the airplane mode solution by allowing the user to turn off selective services such as Edge.
On the email complaint, I guess I can only be thankful that I don't need push email. I would rather read email at a time of my choosing and not be alerted every time a message arrives. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a critical email message. Because email is inherently unreliable, nothing mission critical should ever depend on it.
m
On the email complaint, I guess I can only be thankful that I don't need push email. I would rather read email at a time of my choosing and not be alerted every time a message arrives. In my opinion, there is no such thing as a critical email message. Because email is inherently unreliable, nothing mission critical should ever depend on it.
While at home or in the office, I would agree with you almost without hesitation. People do make too big of a deal as a business communication tool. When traveling, either for work or pleasure, sometimes being able to be notified of an e-mail (subtly) at a reasonable time interval and without draining your battery checking every 30 or 60 minutes, it can be the difference between a four week "soft" vacation and a one week "no contact" vacation.
The alternative is to have my secretary call me if anything import comes up, and that is reluctantly what I am doing right now. I get a 5-minute warning for a conference call, try and wake up and be coherent, and get back to sleep when it is over. Not the best life, but sacrifices to be made when you love scuba diving.
My gripe is that the Blackberry actually did this for me, no secretary required. Three years ago, I could never have gotten to the position I am at now without the Blackberry, unless I matched my sleeping schedule to the US when abroad, which almost completely defeats the purposes of being away.
Huh? What is this analyst report saying? I don't really follow.....
Absolutely nothing. Along with the grammatical issues noted above, the author(s) also admit that the sample size is too small to represent anything. Or as murphyweb put it:
I am a businessman and whilst shopping this morning i bought a tin of sweetcorn, does that mean that a tin of sweetcorn could be now classed as a business lunch??
That about covers it.
anyway i've held off on buying one, got the wife one instead.
gotta have exchange for work and they won't budge on enabling imap.
i'm gonna wait for V2 and hope it's got 3G, GPS, and exchange!
btw... edge does suck completely. people are just lowering their standards because they love everything else about the phone!
At&t's charge of $20 per Mb is absolutely outrageous.
For example, to open the Apple.com home page on your iPhone costs you $14.50 when you are in France.
Apple has also not included a feature to turn off edge, so it's constantly checking stocks and weather in the background and costing you a fortune, even when you think you're not on the internet.