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[Tobor]

Gruber with the big picture:

AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION

Used to be that to drive a car, you, the driver, needed to operate a clutch pedal and gear shifter and manually change gears for the transmission as you accelerated and decelerated. Then came the automatic transmission. With an automatic, the transmission is entirely abstracted away. The clutch is gone. To go faster, you just press harder on the gas pedal.

That’s where Apple is taking computing. A car with an automatic transmission still shifts gears; the driver just doesn’t need to know about it. A computer running iPhone OS still has a hierarchical file system; the user just never sees it.

That’s not to say there aren’t trade-offs involved. Car enthusiasts (and genuine experts like race car drivers) still drive cars with manual transmissions. They offer more control; they’re more efficient. But the vast majority of cars sold today are automatics. So too it’ll be with computers. Eventually, the vast majority will be like the iPad in terms of the degree to which the underlying computer is abstracted away. Manual computers, like the Mac and Windows PCs, will slowly shift from the standard to the niche, something of interest only to experts and enthusiasts and developers.

http://daringfireball.net/

 

[Blackhead]

I'm curious; is anybody here getting an iPad as their main, or only, computer? Or is anybody buying a 3G model for a parent/relative/someone and telling them to ditch their monthly internet bill and pay for AT&T's unlimited service for the iPad instead?

Are there any differences between the WiFi only and 3G enabled iPads (besides the $130)? I don't see mention of size or weight differences even though the iPhone is much larger than an iPod Touch...

 

[bridegur]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

That sounds awful. The Macbook Wheel is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.

 

[gcubed]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

i agree that for the vast majority of users, a home computer is overkill, the ipad isnt quite the replacement yet though, there is going to be some kind of middle ground. I know for the most part for myself, i have no real use for a home computer, the only thing i really use on it that isnt the internet is for my brewing recipes and inventory, but someone could easily convert that to an app

 

[mrkgoo]

I'm curious; is anybody here getting an iPad as their main, or only, computer? Or is anybody buying a 3G model for a parent/relative/someone and telling them to ditch their monthly internet bill and pay for AT&T's unlimited service for the iPad instead?

Are there any differences between the WiFi only and 3G enabled iPads (besides the $130)? I don't see mention of size or weight differences even though the iPhone is much larger than an iPod Touch...

I pondered about that earlier - like as a 'computer' for my parents. But he more I thought about it, the more it can't really be used on its own. How are you supposed to get photos onto it? Or music? The only way is to buy it, or use the dongles from a camera, and I'm not sure you want to dump your on copies of things on this device.

Nope, I think it's a sync device that you need another computer for (thus adding fuel to the fire for the 'what's it good for argument').

 

[Liu Kang Baking A Pie]

That sounds awful. The Macbook Wheel is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.

Right, and gay marriage means we'll eventually marry animals.

Everything isn't black or white, 0 or 1.

 

[captive]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

apple fanboy loves the ipad, shocking.

 

[Reginald P. Linux]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

Sounds like he's on the payroll or something.

 

[NinjaFridge]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

Not the best way of explaining it.

 

[Tobor]

That sounds awful. The Macbook Wheel is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality.

Why would it matter to you? You'll just buy a "manual transmission" like you always have.

There's one flaw in the analogy, and that's the ability to sync other devices to the iPad, instead of having to sync everything to a standard computer. I assume that will be corrected in a future revision.

 

[Raistlin]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

That's not a particularly good analogy.

Using an automatic means you may lose some performance, it doesn't mean you'll lose features. This is more like a car that's missing AC and power windows, but damn is it ever pretty

 

[Tobor]

That's not a particularly good analogy.

Using an automatic means you may lose some performance, it doesn't mean you'll lose features. This is more like a car that's missing AC and power windows, but damn is it ever pretty

Again, big picture. He's talking about an overall style of computing. The iPad will be iterated on and competitors will have their versions.

 

[titiklabingapat]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

I think this is where computing is heading too but the iPad(in its current iteration at the very least) ain't gonna do it. And i think smartphones started it already, not tablets.

 

[Raistlin]

Again, big picture. He's talking about an overall style of computing. The iPad will be iterated on and competitors will have their versions.

Yeah, I understand what he was getting at, I'm simply stating the analogy was poorly constructed.


To be honest, I'm a little confused what his point is ... as in, how is this news? Isn't this basically always been how Apple approaches things? They attempt to abstract the mechanics of things in order to make them more user-friendly, and it's generally at the cost of features, etc.

To state this is the general direction everyone is heading in is hardly a revelation.

 

[Blackhead]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

Poor analogy. It's Apple's choice; if they wanted they could offer a way for people who so desired to jailbreak and run and share their own apps while still making it easy to use. It's not an either-or case here. I've mentioned the OLPC XO laptop already that's easy to use and still open. The WebOS is another path that Apple couldn't have taken with official blessing for jailbreaks and stuff. I'll link to another article on the topic:

On the iPad

For years, me and thousands of other techies have been wondering what comes after the Personal Computer as we’ve known it. Yesterday, in Apple’s iPad, we caught a glimpse. If I had to pick one predominant emotion in reaction, it would be “disturbed”.

The iPad is an attractive, thoughtfully designed, deeply cynical thing. It is a digital consumption machine. As Tim Bray and Peter Kirn have pointed out, it’s a device that does little to enable creativity. As just one component of several in a person’s digital life, perhaps that’s acceptable. It seems clear, though, that the ambitions for the iPad are far greater than being a full-color Kindle.

The tragedy of the iPad is that it truly seems to offer a better model of computing for many people – perhaps the majority of people. Gone are the confusing concepts and metaphors of the last thirty years of computing. Gone is the ability to endlessly tweak and twiddle towards no particular gain. The iPad is simple, straightforward, maintenance-free; everything that’s been proven with the success of the iPhone, but more so.

From iPhone to iPad

The iPhone can, to some extent, be forgiven its closed nature. The mobile industry has not historically been comfortable with openness, and Apple didn’t rock that boat when it released the iPhone. The iPhone was no more or less open than devices that preceded it, devices like those from Danger that required jumping similar bureaucratic hurdles to develop for.

That the iPad is a closed system is harder to forgive. One of the foremost complaints about the iPhone has been Apple’s iron fist when it comes to applications and the development direction of the platform. The iPad demonstrates that if Apple is listening to these complaints, they simply don’t care. This is why I say that the iPad is a cynical thing: Apple can’t – or won’t – conceive of a future for personal computing that is both elegant and open, usable and free.

The iPad was pitched by Steve Jobs yesterday as a response to netbooks. It is not a mobile device, per se. Rather, the iPad is competing with full-fledged (if small and ugly) computers capable of running arbitrary programs and operating systems. Play all the category games you want, but the iPad is a personal computer. Apple has decided that openness is not a quality that’s necessary in a personal computer. That’s disturbing.

Tinkerer’s Sunset

The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital economy.

Perhaps the iPad signals an end to the “hacker era” of digital history. Now that consumers and traditional media understand the digital world, maybe there’s proportionally less need for freewheeling technological experimentation and platforms that allow for the same. Maybe the hypothetical mom doesn’t need a real computer. As long as real computers stick around for people who do need them, maybe there’s no harm in that.

Wherever we stand in digital history, the iPad leaves me with the feeling that Apple’s interests and values going forward are deeply divergent with my own. There’s nothing wrong with that; people make consumer decisions every day based on their values. If I don’t like the product that the iPad turns out to be once released, I’m free to simply not buy it. These things have a way of evolving, and I won’t preclude the possibility that Apple eventually addresses concerns about the openness of the device.

For now, though, I remain disturbed. The future of personal computing that the iPad shows us is both seductive and dystopian. It’s not a future I want to bring into my home.

 

[Zachack]

Again, big picture. He's talking about an overall style of computing. The iPad will be iterated on and competitors will have their versions.

I think part of the issue is that he makes Apple out to be the train conductor when really they're just a passenger (with a 1st class ticket). And my analogy doesn't work because there are a lot of trains going in every direction.

Ok better example: Apple is a yellow plane in Flight Control. The HP Slate is probably a red jumbo jet. Maybe the MS Courier is a blue helicopter, along with the Kindle/Nook.

And the secret fingers controlling everything? This man.

 

[mrklaw]

I didn't really think about this aspect before but I think I'm starting to agree with this. The lack of having a mini-USB port on it makes the whole dongle thing cumbersome. Without it, it keeps the thing issolated in so many ways.

I agree to a point, but I think we're heading into power user territory again. Thinking of it as a lifestyle web browser type device, I'm not sure USB host mode works in that context.

You have to sync it with your PC, but then also using it to pass data back and forth with ipods? I think that would be confusing for many people.

I think thats perhaps why the camera/SD card dongles are separate accessories, so you buy them if you want to use it as a photo tank while out and about, or for viewing etc. Its not a core feature.

 

[mrklaw]

Does it really matter if it's a single model? The fact is people are moving away from desktops, and moving more towards laptops and netbooks as their main computer. Those things are part of the daily lifestyle and I'm sure most people would not be able to live without it.

While the iPod is something that will probably never be duplicated by Apple again, the iPhone as big as it is, still only has about 13% marketshare. Big number in itself, but still only a fraction of the total market. Netbooks have been huge and you just need to look at the sales numbers on those for the proof of that. That's why everyone has been pushing Apple on a cheaper mobile computing device.

Most people don't buy multiple computers for various scenarios. They tend to buy one computer for their needs. That is the general non computing consumer which this device is aimed at. No matter how great or easy the UI is to use for that type of consumer, the second you start taking away functionality but charging a higher price, you start to risk success in that market. People are jumping on to netbooks for a reason. It does what they want to do, at a cheap cost and I'm not sure if the iPad in its current form offers enough to pull a lot of people in.

For the record I'm not saying nobody will buy it. You can always find someone who will buy something. You can always find someone who will find it perfect for what they want. Conversely, you can always find someone who will never touch it cuz Apple made it, or you will find someone who will have issues with it. My points are never aimed at these types of people. My points when I comment on this device are aimed at the likelyhood of how successful it will be among the masses.

I'd like to see research/numbers on netbook households. I would fully expect netbooks to be at least a second computer in the house, if not a third. I would think netbooks as the only computer to be a tiny minority.

Netbooks were sold primarily on portability, trading larger screen and performance for compactness, and to a degree, battery life. They took off IMO because of the logical extension of the move away from desktops -> laptops as you pointed out. People realised they wanted the convenience of a computer anywhere they are, and they didn't need the 'power' of a desktop.

Thats where ipad comes in IMO. Its taking the logical and clear point that people are moving towards or are in, a web browser based world, with a few key, focused lifestyle apps, and focusing on how to improve that, assuming (IMO rightly) that interacting directly with a webpage is better than using a mouse. It works on ipod touch, it should work much better on a larger device.

 

[border]

The thing that bothers me most about the iPad is this: if I had an iPad rather than a real computer as a kid, I’d never be a programmer today. I’d never have had the ability to run whatever stupid, potentially harmful, hugely educational programs I could download or write. I wouldn’t have been able to fire up ResEdit and edit out the Mac startup sound so I could tinker on the computer at all hours without waking my parents. The iPad may be a boon to traditional eduction, insofar as it allows for multimedia textbooks and such, but in its current form, it’s a detriment to the sort of hacker culture that has propelled the digital economy.

I had a Speak N' Spell as a kid - I bet their evil closed platform was the reason I never became a programming genius! :lol

The technological literacy of kids is probably 20 times what it was just 15 years ago. I don't understand this concern at all. You can hack the shit out of the iPhone too, so I don't see how a bigger iPhone represents "the death of hacker culture" or whatever this guy is complaining about. I know people with unlocked/jailbroken iPhones that wouldn't have even understood the concept of "locked" hardware prior to the iPhone.

 

[Boonoo]

Thats where ipad comes in IMO. Its taking the logical and clear point that people are moving towards or are in, a web browser based world, with a few key, focused lifestyle apps, and focusing on how to improve that.

I think this is right. The trouble is that they're delivering a gimped web browser and locked down OS that necessitates the use of apps (that they have complete control over).

Edit: My main worries, as someone that was never going to buy an apple tablet in the first place, is that this is bad for the internet as a whole.

 

[Juice]

I think part of the issue is that he makes Apple out to be the train conductor when really they're just a passenger (with a 1st class ticket). And my analogy doesn't work because there are a lot of trains going in every direction.

Ok better example: Apple is a yellow plane in Flight Control. The HP Slate is probably a red jumbo jet. Maybe the MS Courier is a blue helicopter, along with the Kindle/Nook.

And the secret fingers controlling everything? This man.

Only problem is that in ten years no one's going to remember the HP Slate or the MS Courier.

 

[Flo_Evans]

I had a Speak N' Spell as a kid - I bet their evil closed platform was the reason I never became a programming genius! :lol

The technological literacy of kids is probably 20 times what it was just 15 years ago. I don't understand this concern at all. You can hack the shit out of the iPhone too, so I don't see how a bigger iPhone represents "the death of hacker culture" or whatever this guy is complaining about. I know people with unlocked/jailbroken iPhones that wouldn't have even understood the concept of "locked" hardware prior to the iPhone.

Kind of funny my 1st PC was an Apple][c. I used to write stupid BASIC and LOGO programs all day on that thing! :lol

 

[mrklaw]

I think this is right. The trouble is that they're delivering a gimped web browser and locked down OS that necessitates the use of apps (that they have complete control over).

gimped from lack of flash? Maybe, I can live with that. I'd like plugin support for mail notifiers etc, but its still 99% of what you need most days.

Controlled apps? There are more apps, covering a wider range of subjects than on the 'open' OSX

 

[Juice]

The technological literacy of kids is probably 20 times what it was just 15 years ago. I don't understand this concern at all. You can hack the shit out of the iPhone too, so I don't see how a bigger iPhone represents "the death of hacker culture" or whatever this guy is complaining about. I know people with unlocked/jailbroken iPhones that wouldn't have even understood the concept of "locked" hardware prior to the iPhone.

This couldn't be further from the truth. The problem isn't what can kids do, it's what do they perceive that they can do. And to a lesser extent, what do they want to do.

Having a wife who teaches high school gives me the pseudo-authority to pass along "kids these days" stories on this topic.

Kids these days generally exhibit absolutely no interest in how anything works because just about everything is too advanced to just start diving in and tinkering.

If you're in your 20s or 30s, you grew up with the technology and likely had a good chance to get in early enough to start with DOS or one of the you-basically-have-to-program-it-to-use-it competitors like the Amiga or TI 99/4A. Each upgrade to a machine or OS was understandable in plain English. Recent improvements aren't even covered in the news like they were when the 386's math coprocessor rocked our socks. Why? Because nobody is ever going to explain what good LLVM does for the average person. And you certainly won't perceive it in the software, as all new technologies do is enhance the degree of abstraction from the details.

As software has become more complex, the abstractions (i.e. the desktop paradigm) have diverged further and further from people's actual aptitude. Kids today often have no clue how to manage files, sign up for arbitrary web sites, read a control panel prefpane, etc, etc. They can get to Facebook and Word and print. And sometimes they can't print.

I think it all comes back to Arthur C. Clarke's quote: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic". Things are so advanced and tools are so powerful that there's almost no perceivable entry point to start learning them short of a phenomenal self-motivation.

It's why CS enrollment keeps tanking in the US in spite of the huge disparity of available jobs versus just about every non-health-sector major.

Edit: I didn't really express an opinion on this because I don't think one is necessary. I don't think my grandpa is upset that I never bothered to learn how a car ran because it was so much more complex than when he was ten. This is just the way of things. I think it's too bad kids aren't interested in science generally, and I'd love for people to be able to appreciate what I do for a living as a developer, but that's not cause for me to stand in the way and demand that folks should absolutely learn more than they need to do what they need to do.

 

[Teddman]

Can't you say exactly the same thing about websites viewed in browser? You're being needlessly skeptical about it.

No. Websites don't have to go through an Apple approval & consumer buying process before I can visit them.

At least, on everything but an iPhone or iPad.

 

[captive]

Only problem is that in ten years no one's going to remember the HP Slate or the MS Courier.

you dont know that.
The courier could come out and completely blow away the ipad.

 

[Boonoo]

gimped from lack of flash? Maybe, I can live with that. I'd like plugin support for mail notifiers etc, but its still 99% of what you need most days.

Controlled apps? There are more apps, covering a wider range of subjects than on the 'open' OSX

Gimped compared to other standard browsers. I mean no one is championing IE 6. Why are they OK with the iPad's browser.

Isn't there a certification process for apps? So that in the end Apple has a say on what apps can be put up. That's what I mainly meant by closed. I really don't know how they work.

 

[Juice]

you dont know that.
The courier could come out and completely blow away the ipad.

Wanna place a 6 month ban bet on that?

If iPad's shipped units in its first year is greater than Courier's shipped unit count in its first year then I win.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

He's got a point-- people still remember the Newton, but few of the other pre-Palm devices that also flopped. :lol

 

[Teddman]

Controlled apps? There are more apps, covering a wider range of subjects than on the 'open' OSX

No way. Maybe if you count apps that do the same thing a web browser handles in regular OS X.

 

[blu]

On the iPad

i think the author has it slightly confused: the ipad is not the creator's tool, it's the content medium, i.e. the delivery tool. the ipad is the audio cassette of the digital era - 'inferior' to prior media in almost all aspects but one - accessibility. if you asked audiophiles - the audiocassette was the devil's spawn. but for everybody else it was the way to consume music records. and just as the mini cassette stimulated the records industry, so will the ipad stimulate the digital content industry, just by exposing more people to said content.

 

[border]

No. Websites don't have to go through an Apple approval & consumer buying process before I can visit them.

At least, on everything but an iPhone or iPad.

If a website wants to charge for access to its content, I'm pretty certain they can do it within a browser. To claim that "Ohhhh websites going to start charging for their apps!" is just dumb skepticism because not only would it be suicide, but it's not like they can't already charge for access.

 

[Flo_Evans]

i think the author has it slightly confused: the ipad is not the creator's tool, it's the content medium, i.e. the delivery tool. the ipad is the audio cassette of the digital era - 'inferior' to prior media in almost all aspects but one - accessibility. if you asked audiophiles - the audiocassette was the devil's spawn. but for everybody else it was the way to consume music records. and just as the mini cassette stimulated the records industry, so will the ipad stimulate the digital content industry, just by exposing more people to said content.

Guess you never made a mixtape.

 

[Juice]

He's got a point-- people still remember the Newton, but few of the other pre-Palm devices that also flopped. :lol

"Crazy ones... can't ignore them", etc.

Even if the iPad sells zero units, if the narrative moves towards more and more abstract usage paradigms for computers for the VAST VAST MEGA HUGE majority of people (and it will), then iPad will be remembered as seminal.

That will not be true of Courier or HP's we-called-it-slate-because-we-thought-apple-might-name-it-iSlate. Seriously. Even if the Slate's remembered it will be because they named it something based on a rumor that Apple was using the term. That's how influential Apple is.

 

[Teddman]

If a website wants to charge for access to its content, I'm pretty certain they can do it within a browser. To claim that "Ohhhh websites going to start charging for their apps!" is just dumb skepticism because not only would it be suicide, but it's not like they can't already charge for access.

Regardless, I think you are being disingenuous to try and say the App Store approach is just as open and all encompassing as a regular web browser where nothing is inherently subject to Apple approval or a la carte sales model.

 

[WillyFive]

Gruber with the big picture:



http://daringfireball.net/

That is a fantastic article,and puts things in perspective.

Apple and Nintendo, leading the way in making the hardcore mad, but everybody else happier.

Although the iPad won't be great for me, it will be for everybody I know in real life. It's genius.

 

[blu]

Guess you never made a mixtape.

i've made more than a few. i've never sold any, though. and i thought we were speaking of markets here.

 

[border]

It's why CS enrollment keeps tanking in the US in spite of the huge disparity of available jobs versus just about every non-health-sector major.

I think CS enrollment is tanking because there's a continued perception that your job will be shipped to India sooner or later.

At any rate, I think the author kinda overstates the situation both in the past and in the future. Most kids were not writing their own programs in BASIC just because you were. And most of today's computers still have tons of settings for you to fuck up and compiler programs for you experiment with. The tablet is not the singular future of computing -- it's a highly focused device intended for a few common tasks. You might as well complain that you couldn't program a Speak N' Spell.

 

[wolfmat]

Again, big picture. He's talking about an overall style of computing. The iPad will be iterated on and competitors will have their versions.

Are you kidding? This is not the big picture. The iPad is a momentary occurence.

Maybe it'll set trends with the interface for about 5 years or so in a segment of the market. But that doesn't make it the big picture.

The big picture is and always will be desktop computing, at least until someone can completely abstract that. And we're not there yet.

This is a toy at best. I like toys, yeah, but to call it part of the big picture is completely false.

 

[Reginald P. Linux]

That is a fantastic article,and puts things in perspective.

Apple and Nintendo, leading the way in making the hardcore mad, but everybody else happier.

Although the iPad won't be great for me, it will be for everybody I know in real life. It's genius.

The iPad isn't even suitable for my mother since she can't use it to sync her Shuffle. Genius!

 

[border]

Regardless, I think you are being disingenuous to try and say the App Store approach is just as open and all encompassing as a regular web browser where nothing is inherently subject to Apple approval or a la carte sales model.

I'm not saying that the App Store is open. I'm just saying that the imagined "threat" of pay-to-play YouTube and Facebook applications is phony....or at the least, it's no more of a threat than it is if you were using only a browser.

 

[wolfmat]

Another misconception: The big picture doesn't have much to do with home use - only in a transitional sense.

That means that home use can be a trendsetter, just like personal computers were.

But the pivotal aspect of the market is professional use, and that's where we play ball.

 

[Burger]

you dont know that.
The courier could come out and completely blow away the ipad.

Yeah I guess the courier could come out, but I doubt it will.

 

[Ignatz Mouse]

"Crazy ones... can't ignore them", etc.

Even if the iPad sells zero units, if the narrative moves towards more and more abstract usage paradigms for computers for the VAST VAST MEGA HUGE majority of people (and it will), then iPad will be remembered as seminal.

That will not be true of Courier or HP's we-called-it-slate-because-we-thought-apple-might-name-it-iSlate. Seriously. Even if the Slate's remembered it will be because they named it something based on a rumor that Apple was using the term. That's how influential Apple is.

I actually agree that this thing will be remembered-- either as a success *or* a failure. And the paradigm is already moving toward abstract usage, the iPhone will get credit for that, not this thing.

 

[Jamesfrom818]

I just read on Engadget that "iPad" is already taken by Fujistu. :lol

 

[WillyFive]

The iPad isn't even suitable for my mother since she can't use it to sync her Shuffle. Genius!

Well, my mom and her mom can't comprehend the concept of the buttons on the top right corner of windows for turning it of or making it bigger.

They browse the internet in windowed mode because they don't know how to make it bigger, and when they try, they end up closing it.

 

[mrklaw]

Are you kidding? This is not the big picture. The iPad is a momentary occurence.

Maybe it'll set trends with the interface for about 5 years or so in a segment of the market. But that doesn't make it the big picture.

The big picture is and always will be desktop computing, at least until someone can completely abstract that. And we're not there yet.

This is a toy at best. I like toys, yeah, but to call it part of the big picture is completely false.

Do you mean literally 'desktop' computers, or just 'proper' computers in general?

Because the big picture hasn't been desktops for a while now. Almost nobody in offices that have to travel has a desktop - unless you're a coder and have a permanent setup. And its the same in the home.

 

[Vennt]

No. Websites don't have to go through an Apple approval & consumer buying process before I can visit them.

At least, on everything but an iPhone or iPad.

I think once you start to suffer websites looking like the below more and more such as many do, you'll realise the halcyon days of the open and free web are on their way out anyway.

 

[wolfmat]

Do you mean literally 'desktop' computers, or just 'proper' computers in general?

Because the big picture hasn't been desktops for a while now. Almost nobody in offices that have to travel has a desktop - unless you're a coder and have a permanent setup. And its the same in the home.

The vast majority of computers is in boxes you don't put on your lap, with a separate monitor.

And that is the big picture.

Sure, laptops are a big deal nowadays. But they still don't compete with them ugly grey boxes, and that is so because they can't compare in a few areas..

The market makes most of its money with big firms that have thousands of cubicles.

The focus is on cheap hardware, low energy footprint and modularity.

I know it doesn't look that way because of all the ads on TV and stuff, but that's how it is.

I'm sure that'll change down the line - maybe from 2020 onwards?

 

[Teddman]

True, I am taking a U.S.-centric approach to my criticisms.

I guess if most of the flash content out there wasn't playable in my country anyway, this might not be as big a deal.

Maybe Jobs could come up with a "Sorry, Videos Are Not Currently Available in Flash" disclaimer?