rcomeau

y2an said:

Remind me, where’s the power button on an Apple TV?

On the remote. Once upon a time, there was a power button on the USB keyboard. When they got rid of that, it was a PIA for anyone whose Power mac was in an enclosed space. We use macs on mobile carts (scientific equipment) so it has to be shut down a lot while the cart is being moved. The Mini (or Studio) is kept in place with a bracket, so the power button underneath is a huge PIA. Yes, this is a niche use, but who benefitted from tucking it underneath? Absolutely no one. Who got inconvenienced, obviously some people.

Alex_V said:

I don’t believe that this was a decision to prioritise form over function. Placing the power button, either on the back, or on the front, would look perfectly fine, in keeping with the Apple minimalist aesthetic. It appears that Apple are deliberately encouraging behavioural change: “Leave it on.” And there may be good technical reasons to leave the machine on rather than turning it on and off every day.

Plenty of use cases (mobile cart for example) where the computer needs to be powered on/off routinely. Not the most common application, but to exclude large chunk of users because they want to focus on one use-case is not good design.

bloggerblog said:

Can't it be powered on from the keyboard?

The keyboard power button was a hack that did not conform to USB standards, so they took it away. I recall when that happened because we manufactured computer trolleys for a medical application and the powermac was enclosed. We had to hot-wire a power switch somewhere else as it took screws to open the cart to get to the power button. PIA. 

jimh2 said:

Nothing makes those who need medical care happier to see Apple and other companies pushing into the medical hardware companies territory. They are going to start feeling the pain of having sat on their hands, enjoyed insane margins, and been slow to innovate thinking there is no competition.

When prices drop accessibility increases.

You might want to look into how much more complex and challenging it is to actually make a medical device. The regulatory burden is very heavy and debatable how much of it actually increases safety as many of the rules are knee jerk reactions to individual past failures rather than a holistic look at how to improve safety and quality efficiently. It is very difficult for a startup to be innovative with so much regulatory weight compared to consumer level stuff. We make a device and over 20% of the build cost is essentially for regulatory compliance expenses (not counting how much more R&D costs to do it in a medical device quality management environment). May not always be the case, but being innovative in this space rather than just keep making the same thing for years is expensive.

dewme said:

I think a lot of automakers are struggling to provide differentiation in the vehicles they sell. So many new vehicles are virtually indistinguishable and only come in four colors. They want to use the dashboard to separate their vehicles from the competition now that the cup holder war has settled down.

It is also part of the overall shift of everyone making "durable products", meaning the only income is from the device sale itself to something with recurring revenue. BMW is trying to charge a monthly fee to subscribe to activating hardware features (like heated seats!). Also in the long run, they see the driver as a new passenger who will consume media while being driven around. They are jockeying for control of the delivery (and income) of the content. giving up control of the screen means losing that battle before it has started.