Please wait...
Nope. I like to catch up and see where things stand. I've owned a number
of Android devices over the years. I've even have a Chromebox.... I'm probably
more objective than you'd think. Yes, I still think Apple offers a superior
experience overall, but that doesn't stop me from trying things out, nor does
it put me in the fanboi catagory....
Surface and Apple products offer nice and smooth UX, because they're not running
Java with its excessively high overhead and freakishly weird UI model and
stop-the-world garbage collection. Objective-C and COM are native and explicitly
managed technologies (although Objective-C these days has automated management
through some compiler tricks, under the hood it's still explicitly managed
memory).
But, Android is winning because devices are "good enough." The same reason, when you think about it, why the IBM PC/XT dominated the home computer market back in the day, especially compared to its competition back then.
But, Android is winning because devices are "good enough." The same reason, when you think about it, why the IBM PC/XT dominated the home computer market back in the day, especially compared to its competition back then.
One thing Apple did right was to decide that ARM would be the native architecture
for iOS, and this provided a way to avoid having to use Java/Davlik/.NET/whatever
like Google and Microsoft did. (Of course, Apple has an advantage here:
its users are a cult who will obediently replace all of their hardware and
software the moment an architecture change is announced; see also: Mac OS
68000-->PowerPC-->AMD64.)
You *can* publish native apps on Android, and some do, particularly game developers who need that little extra bit of performance. At this point, Google should just declare ARM to be the official architecture for Android, and start phasing out the interpreter. Microsoft could do the same, even if they had to pay for replacement devices for both of the people using their mobile platform.
iOS still feels "foreign" to me. I doubt anything will change that. And I do like Android, I just wish they'd ban the Facebook app.
You *can* publish native apps on Android, and some do, particularly game developers who need that little extra bit of performance. At this point, Google should just declare ARM to be the official architecture for Android, and start phasing out the interpreter. Microsoft could do the same, even if they had to pay for replacement devices for both of the people using their mobile platform.
iOS still feels "foreign" to me. I doubt anything will change that. And I do like Android, I just wish they'd ban the Facebook app.
You've said the same about OSX, that it feels "foreign" - I don't see a huge
difference between the Android and iOS for *most* things - although I think
that Android's home screen is it's biggest problem. Stuff just shows up there,
it's too similiar looking to other screens, so you're not 100% sure where
you are....
Apple's architecture changes haven't been a huge problem, as they generally support older stuff for a couple of generations. You could run PowerPC apps on the x86 boxes for years after the switch.
I'd actually say they've done a better job than Android guys have in making sure that older tablets are still useful.... Lots of them NEVER see upgrades, they just assume you'll buy another one. It's almost what kept me from buying the S3.
Speaking of which - I just got the keyboard for the S3. WTF? If you open it like a book (which 99% of people are going to do) and want to flip the keyboard to just use the screen, the home keys are on the top, not the bottom. They build the damn thing backward.
They also didn't put a hole in for the camera. Another sad oversite.
At least they included a little stick on stylus holder - something better than Apple did with their keyboard on the Pro line.
It's also better than Microsoft's with the Surface - which is purely magnetic.
Very easy to knock off.
Back to bashing MS- the problem is they still insist on Windows being the answer. Apple and Google proved long ago that people have no problem switching between devices.
The only thing I really like from a design standpoint on the Surface is the build in kickstand. It's solid and works well. Apple and at least Samsung handle it kind of hooky, but they both have better keyboards in the end.
Apple's architecture changes haven't been a huge problem, as they generally support older stuff for a couple of generations. You could run PowerPC apps on the x86 boxes for years after the switch.
I'd actually say they've done a better job than Android guys have in making sure that older tablets are still useful.... Lots of them NEVER see upgrades, they just assume you'll buy another one. It's almost what kept me from buying the S3.
Speaking of which - I just got the keyboard for the S3. WTF? If you open it like a book (which 99% of people are going to do) and want to flip the keyboard to just use the screen, the home keys are on the top, not the bottom. They build the damn thing backward.
They also didn't put a hole in for the camera. Another sad oversite.
At least they included a little stick on stylus holder - something better than Apple did with their keyboard on the Pro line.
It's also better than Microsoft's with the Surface - which is purely magnetic.
Very easy to knock off.
Back to bashing MS- the problem is they still insist on Windows being the answer. Apple and Google proved long ago that people have no problem switching between devices.
The only thing I really like from a design standpoint on the Surface is the build in kickstand. It's solid and works well. Apple and at least Samsung handle it kind of hooky, but they both have better keyboards in the end.
I've been using a Surface Book as my laptop for about a year or so now.
I rarely remove the tablet from the keyboard, and it functions pretty much like a normal laptop.
But, Microsoft occasionally pushes updates that break things. Things like how you go about logging into it. Important things.
Millions of people will agree that the usability hit that Windows took on
"regular" computers, in order to accommodate its use on tablets, has been
a net-negative for Windows in general. Ask anyone with a laptop or desktop
why the "Settings" menu is full of stuff that only applies to smartphones,
and unless they're technical you will get a blank stare. None of it makes
sense.
I'm giving some consideration to switching my desktop OS from Windows 10 to Windows Server 2016. Or perhaps just ditching the desktop entirely and doing everything through my VDI instance.
I'm giving some consideration to switching my desktop OS from Windows 10 to Windows Server 2016. Or perhaps just ditching the desktop entirely and doing everything through my VDI instance.
There was some talk of Apple adding iOS like features into OSX. I thank God
they haven't done it.
I'm pretty tired of all the major OS's changing for the sake of change and not really getting better in the process.
I'm pretty tired of all the major OS's changing for the sake of change and not really getting better in the process.
Yes. That. Until everyone contracted the "touch-enable everything" cancer,
the whole desktop universe was converging on the RISC OS style user interface
with a tray/taskbar on the bottom of the screen. Microsoft peaked at Windows
95, Linux with KDE2/GNOME2 (but icewm got there first). Apple got close with
OS X, but I've never liked the behavior (now mimicked by Microsoft) where
there is only minimal visual indication of the difference between a program
that is available for quick launch and a program that is running.
The purpose of an operating system is to launch programs and then get out of the way. Everyone has forgotten.
The purpose of an operating system is to launch programs and then get out of the way. Everyone has forgotten.
The touch-bar is programmed to by the OS or specific apps. It can be there,
or not. It doesn't affect the usability elsewhere.
It too is a dumb idea.
It too is a dumb idea.
It too is a dumb idea.
I made a response to this, but it's in a local room only on Uncensored! named Apple Bashing. I think there's sufficient material to warrant a separate room. ;)
(Why a new Apple Bashing room and not just put it in Crapple/Macintrash?
We are equal opportunity bashers here.)
Every computer manufacturer, every OS vendor, every wireless carrier, every ISP, pretty much every technology company knows, but will never deliver on, this one fundamental truth: we really just want products and services that sit quietly in the background, do their job, and get out of the way. None will ever deliver that, because they want us to be immersed in their "ecosystem" of products and services.
That's why my work computer, which I use to design, build, and maintain IT services, contains a "Mixed Reality Portal" (complete with a game controller icon) that I can't uninstall. It's why most mobile OS won't let you change the browser. It's why almost no ISP's offer a simple "dumb pipe" with no extra services mixed in.
It's also why when you get a new device it takes hours to make all the CRAP go away, to make the experience at least slightly tolerable.
Every computer manufacturer, every OS vendor, every wireless carrier, every ISP, pretty much every technology company knows, but will never deliver on, this one fundamental truth: we really just want products and services that sit quietly in the background, do their job, and get out of the way. None will ever deliver that, because they want us to be immersed in their "ecosystem" of products and services.
That's why my work computer, which I use to design, build, and maintain IT services, contains a "Mixed Reality Portal" (complete with a game controller icon) that I can't uninstall. It's why most mobile OS won't let you change the browser. It's why almost no ISP's offer a simple "dumb pipe" with no extra services mixed in.
It's also why when you get a new device it takes hours to make all the CRAP go away, to make the experience at least slightly tolerable.
Largely because I didn't know of the existance of Crapple/Macintrash. Feel
free to move the message as appropriate.
Done and done. I've also installed the Ubuntu system fonts on my Windoze
machine, which is probably illegal in several states but it looks pretty good.
2017-07-12 16:04 from IGnatius T Foobar @uncnsrd
Done and done. I've also installed the Ubuntu system fonts on my
Windoze machine, which is probably illegal in several states but it
looks pretty good.
Don't you think they look kind of dated?
"dated" seems like an odd measure of the quality of a font. Ubuntu Mono seems to render much more readably in my terminal than anything included with Windoze, particularly at small sizes. My favorite looking font was a TTF rendition of the IBM 3270 font, but it wasn't a very good quality rendition and didn't look good unless I made the characters very big. ProFont and Monaco suffer the same problem. Droid Sans Mono comes close, but Ubuntu Mono was the only one that looks super clean every time I come back to it.