Steve Jobs has penned another detailed missive, this time on Flash and how/why Apple doesn’t support it on it’s mobile devices. It’s a 1600 word opus that breaks down the argument in to 6 reasons – openness, full web, reliability (and security/performance), battery life, touch, and platform issues.
I can’t argue with most of the points, however this one is not entirely accurate:
Adobe’s Flash products are 100% proprietary. They are only available from Adobe, and Adobe has sole authority as to their future enhancement, pricing, etc. While Adobe’s Flash products are widely available, this does not mean they are open, since they are controlled entirely by Adobe and available only from Adobe. By almost any definition, Flash is a closed system.
The Flash plugin is proprietary, but anyone can build an application that exports to the Flash format. Applications like Swish and others offer Flash creation tools that export to the Flash format. It’s a minor point to quibble with, as the Flash plugin is proprietary.
It will be interesting to see how Adobe responds to this. Adobe, from the CEO on down, has been dissing Apple’s mobile offerings lately in hopes of preserving it’s Flash kingdom. Having Steve Jobs and his 1600 word megaphone broadcast a detailed defense of why Apple avoids Flash can’t go unanswered. Can it?
Category: News,Opinion
WWDC has been finally announced. June 7th – June 11th @ the Moscone West. With only 40 days from announcement to event, there isn’t much time for developers to make arrangements for this years event.
This year Apple is offering five technology tracks:
- Application Frameworks
- Internet & Web
- Graphics & Media
- Developer Tools
- Core OS
There’s an expectation that Apple will debut the next iPhone at WWDC, but I wouldn’t bank on it. Apple has an event scheduled for late june at Yerba Buena Gardens, and that venue/date will probably serve as the launch event.
The more concerning issue is the lack of Mac focus at this years event. The Mac is shut out of the Apple Design Awards, and there aren’t many conferences that are Mac specific this year. The question is whether this is a one year fluke, since Mac OS X 10.7 is nowhere near being ready to preview, or is this the start of Apple’s planned Mac desktop obsolescence?
Category: News,Opinion
So, the world is awash in iPad fever. A little over 24 hours from now, the first real people in the world will get their hands on the new device, and the web will be flooded with those users impressions. Being the rabid early adopter that I am, you are probably expecting me to be one of those users. This time out, I will not.
The iPad looks amazing. Apple took what everyone thought the OS on a device like this would look like, and proceeded to raise the bar. More importantly, judging from the first batch of early iPad apps, iPhone OS Developers raised the bar as well. Most of the apps I’ve seen that started as iPhone apps have had completely revamped interfaces for their iPad versions. I believe a large part of the iPad’s success hinges on developers treating the iPad as a seperate device, and not just as a large iPod Touch.
I am going to get an iPad, but I’m waiting.
Waiting for what, you ask?
Well, first off, the 3G version. $130 extra is nothing for the added convenience of getting data when there is no WiFi available. The fact that Apple negotiated such a great deal with AT&T on both rates and contract terms (there aren’t any), means I can enable, use, and cancel the service at will. The cherry on top is that Apple made it painless to perform all of those steps, as they can be done straight from the iPad. Bravo!
The other thing I am waiting for is iPhone OS 4.0. We all know it’s close (unless of course, Apple delays it from the usual summer time launch coinciding with their next gen iPhone).
The one feature I feel I need that is missing from an iPad is multitasking. On the iPhone, I can forgive it’s absence most of the time. But on a device like the iPad, I can’t justify it’s use if it is going to lock me down to a single task at once (or more aptly, a single 3rd party task at one – Mail, iPod all run in the background). If I’m spending $830 on a computing device, I damned well better be able to stream audio from Pandora or the MLB app in the background while I surf the web or work in Pages. Multitasking is the missing feature I just can’t brush aside on an iPad.
So, assuming Apple realizes this and has multitasking slated for iPhone OS 4.0 and a summer release, that puts me in to the wait and see camp. For once, I’ll let everyone else work out the bugs while I wait (im)patiently on the sidelines.
Category: Opinion
So, the technology world is abuzz about an unconfirmed Apple event scheduled (supposedly) for January 26. During this event, it is expected that Apple will reveal the mythical tablet computer the world has expected them to build for years.
I, for one, hope they do not.
I’m not going to get in to hypothetical discussions about hardware that hasn’t been announced. There’s no point to that. However, I will examine Apple’s current hardware and price points, and share my opinions about a potential new product that might fill a spot in what I like to call “the middle”.
“The middle” is the price point between the high end and the low end. Apple would probably argue that the middle of their product map currently is the 13″ Macbook Pro. At $1299/$1599, it very well may be the absolute middle, price wise. But operating on the assumption that we are talking about consumer devices, I think it is safe to remove the Mac Pro from the equation (at $2500), and look at the high end consumer device being a $1700-$2000 iMac. The low end of Apple’s consumer offerings are their iPod Touch models. That puts “the middle” at a price point of $700 – $1000.
And here’s where things get sticky.
That price point is currently occupied by the polycarbonate Macbook. While it retails for $999, Education customers can get the white plastic Mac for $899, and in some schools, a bit lower.
Can Apple really introduce what is essentially a larger iPod touch, at a price point that is at or near a Macbook Pro? Is there an audience for such a device? Obviously, it would have to have a few more features than an iPod Touch. A web cam would be a nice addition. Being a somewhat mobile device, one could also imagine that it would have 3G capability (of course, with the wedding to a wireless provider). Most of the speculation though hinges on what OS it would run – Mac OS X, or OS X Touch. Being a tablet, it is probably safe to assume it would use the latter. OS X Touch was built for touch screen devices. And while that gets Apple a tablet computer with over 100,000 apps, it also makes for a pricey machine with reduced functionality.
I’m sure Apple would love to move more of their user base off of Mac OS X and on to OS X Touch devices. After all, Apple controls the experience of OS X Touch to a higher degree than they do with Mac OS X. And here is where my enthusiasm for the Apple tablet dies.
Simply put, everything I dislike about the iPhone is wrapped up in the control Apple exerts on approving 3rd party applications. When Apple created the iPhone application approval process, the argument for exerting total control over the approval process was pitched as a necessary evil, because a rogue 3rd party app could “bring down an entire phone network1“. A tablet device that doesn’t offer telephony features has no chance of causing this, but yet I doubt Apple will change the App Store for one OS X Touch device.
Then there’s the cannibalization question. Would a $700-$1000 tablet device cannibalize sales of the Macbook? In this economy, I would have to give that question a resounding yes. However, if you are Apple, would you rather sell a $1000 device like the Macbook, or a $800 device like the tablet, where you earn 30% off of every app sold for it? Granted, it takes a lot of app sales to bridge that $200 difference, but I would bet in Apple’s eyes, it’s a wash. The tablet would give them greater control over the entire user experience, right down to the app level, and I’m sure to Apple, this is very appealing.
But for me as a user, it is not.
I’ll reserve judgement, of course, until I see if this mythical device does anything I couldn’t do with a Macbook (apart from navigate it with my fingers touching the glass). Apple obviously has a way of making ordinary products seem extraordinary, so anything is possible.
But count me as one of the people who aren’t excited at the prospects of a $1000 OS X Touch device occupying Apple’s product line up.
1: OK, Jobs made the comments “You don’t want your phone to be an open platform. You need it to work when you need it to work. Cingular doesn’t want to see their West Coast network go down because some application messed up.” back in 2007 before the App Store. But you see where I’m coming from.
Category: Opinion
Somewhere in Silicon Valley, Larry Ellison is watching the Chrome OS Webcast thinking, “Dudes, I pitched this shit back in 1997.”
Category: Opinion
Snow Leopard is a different kind of beast for Apple. Previous Mac OS X releases have focused on adding new features to the operating system. Past releases have given us features like Spotlight, Time Machine, QuickLook, Expose, and more. WIth Snow Leopard, Apple decided to take a feature “time out”, and instead focus on performance, underlying plumbing, and usability tweaks to more than 90% of the apps that make up Mac OS X.
Apple has done a terrific job with Snow Leopard. However, there are still annoyances that make me scratch my head and wonder “Why hasn’t Apple fixed this?”. Here’s a list of said issues.
- Desktops & Screensavers. Want a solid color for your desktop background? Apple has a few for you to choose from. Want a color that’s not on the menu? Better get out your favorite image editor and create it, because Apple still hasn’t given you the ability to select a custom color for a background image. Sure, you can create one and export it as a JPG, TIFF or PNG. But come on Apple – you have the Color Picker at your disposal. Allowing users to select a custom color would have taken all of 20 lines of code to enable.
- Finder Preferences, Color Labels. Again, here is another instance where 20 lines of code would have given users the ability to set their own custom color for Finder labels. Instead were stuck with the same 7 colors Apple deems appropriate to be displayed on your Finder items.
- FTP in the Finder. Still. Broken. Sure, you can mount FTP volumes in the Finder, but you can’t write to them. It’s 2009. 8 years after Mac OS X was birthed, and this is still broken. Can someone tell me why you can mount and view an FTP volume, but not write to it? It makes no sense to me.
- Finder Sidebar. You still can’t rearrange the order of the main top level categories of Devices, Shared Items, Places, and Search for.
- Mac OS X Help. Still exists as a floating Window above all other windows. I understand wanting the Help window to be easy to find among all your other windows, but if I click another on another window behind the Help window, I expect that window to come to the fore front.
- iChat. Still no unified Chat window when using different chat protocols/accounts. This is the one feature that keeps me using Adium. I want one window for all my buddy lists, not one for each protocol.
- Sound/Sound Effects. We’re still using the same notification sounds that shipped with Mac OS X back in 2001. Many of these are the same sounds that shipped with Mac OS 9 and earlier. Apple produces two of the coolest sound editing/creation apps with Soundtrack Pro and Logic. Would it have killed them to refresh the system alert sounds?
So, in my quest to write a “Top 10 Snow Leopard Grievances” article, I could only come up with seven. I think that speaks volumes about how polished Snow Leopard is. Although I’ve been a huge supporter of every Mac OS X release to date, I can honestly say, this one is the most polished operating system releases by any company producing said product.
Category: Opinion
From C|Net’s Ross Catanzariti comes an article with the headline:
“The Palm Pre Will Be an iPhone Killer”
OK. So you would assume that Mr. Catanzariti has used the device and can speak to how it compares to the iPhone. You would assume wrong. Third paragraph in:
“Although we haven’t yet had a chance to get our hands on this hot new smartphone, the reports coming out of the US have been largely positive so far. In particular, the webOS operating system is reportedly intuitive, easy to use and visually appealing, and looks like the closest competitor to the iPhone yet.”
Look, the Pre might be an iPhone killer. I certainly hope it does well, as competition can only push Apple to make the iPhone better. But if there’s one thing the Blackberry Storm has taught us, it’s that stock photos and hitting key “features” is not enough to make a phone that will dethrone the iPhone. Before proclaiming a certain product a “killer” you may want to have at least used it first and formed an opinion based on usage, not on a press release.
Category: Opinion
Paul Thurrott, on his bullshit laden “SuperSite for Windows” espouses:
“Microsoft today will announce its plans for the various Windows 7 product editions it will sell when that OS is released to the public sometime this year. And I am thrilled to reveal that it’s good news for a change. Here’s what’s happening.”
For those who haven’t heard, Microsoft is simplifying things by going from 6 versions of Vista, to 5 versions of Windows 7. This. Is. Progress? According to Thurrot, yes.
“Unlike with Vista, where Microsoft crowded the market with too many mainstream product editions, Windows 7 will ship in just a handful of common-sense product editions. And also unlike with Vista, these product editions are all true supersets of each other, so there are no overlapping feature sets (which is good) and upgrades will be much simpler (which is even better).”
I’ll give Microsoft credit for removing the overlapping feature sets, but come on. 5 editions of a product (not counting the inevitable Server edition, which brings us back up to 6) is not how you simplify things. You simplify things by going to one version.
Of course, Thurrott is a Microsoft shill, so his cheerleading on this unimpressive “change” is not surprising.
Category: Opinion
Contrary to popular belief, Mac users and tech enthusiasts are not all Democrats. Most reputable tech news outlets understand this, and as such, don’t use their platform to launch political hack attacks against those who don’t share their politcal beliefs.
Enter John Gruber, who has risen to the top of the Mac punditry with his “Daring Fireball” site. An unashamed leftist, it’s no secret who Gruber is pulling for in the election. That Gruber is an Obama supporter (after switching allegiance from Hillary) wasn’t the least bit surprising.
However, today, when the non-story broke about Governor Palin’s 17 year old daughter’s unplanned pregnancy, I was a little surprised to read this on his site:
Sarah Palin’s 17-year-old daughter Bristol is five months pregnant. McCain campaign claims he was aware of this before selecting Palin as his VP, despite evidence and rampant speculation that Palin was not seriously vetted. Governor Palin is a strong supporter of abstinence-only sex education.
Tom Eagleton lasted 18 days before withdrawing from the McGovern ticket in 1972. My money says Palin doesn’t last that long.
Governor Palin is also a pro-life candidate, and put her money where her mouth is. Apparently the fact that her values transferred over to her daughter seem to cause shock for some liberals.
Whatever happened to the rule that children of the candidates were off limits? Of course, that rule must only apply to Republicans, as this is the second time a Republican candidate for Vice President has had their children’s private life dragged through the press. I will give Obama credit though, as today he stayed out of this story. We’ll see if that holds. My guess is that Biden, the “attack dog” will bring it up before the campaign is over.
As to Gruber’s psuedo “bet” that Palin doesn’t last 18 days before she withdraws from the Vice President nomination: I’ll take that bet. Name your terms, John. Gruber obviously doesn’t understand conservatives. And he seems to understand “Barracuda” Palin even less. We were jazzed about the pick of Palin on Friday, and everybody I know is even more jazzed about her today. I was lukewarm about McCain, but have now backed the ticket with my time, energy, and more importantly money. That her 17 year old daughter is pregnant has in no way diminished my enthusiasm for a Palin Vice Presidency. Actually, the media and leftist attack on her has had the opposite effect.
Gruber should stick to writing what he knows about – the Mac, technology, and Stanley Kubrick. Whenever he ventures in to the field of politics, he not only shows how inept he is at the topic, but he also alienates his conservative readers.
Count me as one of those alienated.
Category: Jackassery
When Nullriver introduced NetShare, the iPhone app that allows you to tethter your laptop to it for internet access, appeared on the App Store, many were surprised. Then, without any explanation, it vanished.
On Friday it returned. Those who were smart downloaded it and were able to put it to use. By Saturday, the app had disappeared. Again. With no explanation at all.
While Apple’s control of the App Store can be viewed as a mostly positive thing, the NetShare debacle highlights what most of us suspected: When Apple holds all the cards, people tend to get steamrolled. In this case, the people are the developers at Nullriver. Most of what I’ve read seems to indicate that NetShare doesn’t vioalte the terms of the App Store in any way. So why ban it? And then why reinstate it for 24 hours, only to ban it again?
What’s going to happen to the users who have bought the app already? How are they going to get updates? Will they get refunds if updates aren’t provided?
Apple’s really been stepping in it lately, and unfortunately, this is just the latest example.
Category: iPhone,Opinion
