Category: Apple

Breathing freely

~ rbonini

This TUAW post starts by saying:

Here at TUAW, we welcome all those yearning to breathe free of Windows

Which made me laugh since it reminds me of the inscription at the foot of the Statue of Liberty:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free

The post, although short point to a ComputerWorld article by Scott Finnie entitled: “Why Microsoft Should Fear Apple”. Its a pretty good look at the Microsoft/Apple status quo. The articles main point is that Microsoft has to act instead of just copying Apple’s innovations.

There was a time when people jokingly described Apple as Microsoft’s advanced software lab. Anyone who follows operating systems — please, be objective if your knee-jerk reaction is to disagree — has to realize that Microsoft has imitated literally hundreds of features and behaviors of Apple’s OS X. Yes, there are some advantages that originated with Microsoft (such as file icon thumbnail previews). But OS X is clearly leading the desktop OS parade. Everyone is copying Apple — and with good reason.

He puts all of this down to one main reason:

The Mac is a closed hardware/software system. The OS isn’t forced to contend with a vast variety of hardware, and the hardware is carefully vetted so that it works perfectly with the software. Apple controls the horizontal; it controls the vertical. The hardware and software are a matched set.

I agree completely with that. Microsoft has too many hardware combinations to worry about instead of concentrating on Software. Microsoft are starting to change this.

First, their much rumored Surface platform will have  Microsoft hardware and software.

Second, the Xbox and the 360 are proof of what Redmond could do once freed from hardware compatibility constraints.

Third, in terms of a new consumer-level product on the scale of an OS/hardware combo, Microsoft is working with industry partners to bring Windows Home Server to market in specially built machines.

Ok, number 3 isn’t really  something you can compare to Apple, but its close. And if memory serves, Microsoft tried to do something similar with the UMPC thing – which turned out to be a disaster of epic proportions.

So, yes, Microsoft is innovating. The question is, is it fast enough? 

Surface Computing, here I come

~ rbonini

Ok, maybe I’m being over optimistic about how soon Surface will be available to the average Joe.

It is a great idea, revolutionary in scope (Apple has not yet tried coffee table sized iPhone screens) and is full of possibility. It’ll go the way of the Xbox and prove to be a sell out success. Its the natural complement to Microsoft’s suite of home focused products. Media Centre is the PVR; Home Server makes sure everything is backed up and in a central, universally accessible location; your friendly 360 also has the capacity to stream music and photos as well as play games and DVDs in Hi-Def; the Zune fits in here somewhere as well, but don’t ask me where. Now Microsoft comes in an turns the coffee table into an interactive experience that ties in with all the above and acts as a thin client for them plus bringing its own functionality to the table.

Mary Jo, while usually right on the ball with Microsoft, takes a differing view:

But do I really need a table at a restaurant (or in my home) to tell me the best food pairings for my wine choice? Or to generate for me a customized version of a map of local attractions?

Unless there are some surface-computing form factors that don’t look like a chunky coffee table or a retail-store kiosk, I have zero interest in a Surface. For now, the first iterations of Microsoft’s Surface Computer seem a lot to me like the first “Origami” ultra-mobile PCs: Products in search of a market. (And not very well-designed products, at that.)

True. But if there is no market, there no reason why one can’t be created. Microsoft is doing exactly that by starting off with enterprise-level deployment in hotels and suchlike. Once people see “the Surface” in action, they’ll be wanting one as well.

I’m not a wine buff, but I do enjoy a good meal. And have no problem taking instructions from an ultra cool coffee table (for the acronym lovers among us that’s: UCCT).

Hilary Clinton, Apple and 1984

~ rbonini ~ 1 Comment

How are they all linked (via The browser)?:

Its a classic. Couldn’t resist posting it.

They comment:

On the Web, the rules are much murkier. The standards set last yearfor Internet campaigning and advertising are largely untested. And they’re also largely irrelevant: the Hillary 1984 video has already been viewed some 400,000 times on YouTube, without anyone being able to say definitively who posted it. Even if we one day learn the person’s identity, whatever damage (or help!) the video might be able to achieve will have been done. With that kind of viral power, you can be assured we’ll be seeing a lot more “anonymous” videos like this one.

This kind of power really warps the political dynamic in a way that hasn’t really been tested before. The ability for videos like this to go viral and keep their makers anonymous gives the political operative another weapon to add to his arsenal.  With technology being used extensively in the run up to the 2008 elections, its going to be very interesting to gauge its impact on the voters.

ET iPhone Home

~ rbonini

 I’ve been wondering exactly what Apple have been thinking. Yep, another smart phone to look at. I’ve no doubt that people will look due to the  iPod halo around Apple. And I’ve no doubt when it comes to quality owing, to the reputation of his Steveness.

There are however a few disturbing things about it. Robert Scoble:

I was much more excited about the iPhone yesterday than I am today. Why? Cause reality is setting in. This thing is not as good as it seems. Paul Kedrosky has the details. He forgot a few things (he lists five):

6) Battery is only two hours up to five hours and is not replaceable (if you play video). UPDATE: sorry for getting that wrong, but tons of people, including some Mac journalists told me it’d only get two hours in video playback mode. Watch a video and your battery is dead. Now your cell phone is dead too. So, you won’t want to watch a video on a plane flight with this thing like you would with your iPod.
7) It’s Cingular only and GSM. That automatically keeps more than half of Americans from considering this and for the rest of the world? They are laughing about the iPhone now.
8) The camera sucks. It’s a 2megapixel device without flash, without zoom. Nokia’s newest cameras blow this one away.
9) No GPS. For a $600 device that really, really, really sucks.

Scobe is right about the Nokia phones being way better. I just got a Nokia N73. And it really rocks. Its tons better than the iPhone, from what I’ve heard about it.  The touchpad? Please. I mean I’d rather have keys that you can actually touch rather than a touchpad any day of the week.

Steve’s joy might be premature after Cisco sued Apple for trademark infringment.  Yep, another blog to add to my blogroll. The issue is one of principle. Not that principle is a very common thing in business.  It seems that what apple did is the business version of pie in the face, except that nobody is laughing. Can Apple shrug this one off? Possibly. Trademark cases can take quite a while.

One gets the impression that Apple is trying to  cash in as much as possible on the popularity of the iPod. Cue European Competition Comission  involvment and 600 million euro fines.