81–90 of 104 posts
If HN ever wanted to make some money, I would be glad to pay to not have to see articles like this one. Seriously though, the article is pretty good -- I can feel the stickiness of the jizz on his keyboard.
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Your essay is great. It makes me feel less alone in this world. I didn't find it full of vehemence. ` It is okay to speak with force. At times force is needed to cut through layers of of mental resistance. New ideas that we don't understand scare us. We fear what we don't understand. The points you are trying to make are over the head of most people. 99.9999999% don't get "it". If they did we would have more companie…
> The iPad is not a solution to the question of: whats a better computer or whats a better phone. Just as the iPhone wasn't a better Razor. The iPad is a consumer device in the truest sense of the word. It's a device that was built to make it as easy as possible for the user to consume media whether it's the Web, movies, music, photos, etc. Plain and simple. Oh, and comparing the iPhone to the Razr is a bit of a stra…
I also really don't like it when people get all uppity about 'copying.' "Who copied who" is a tired game in the software/hardware industry. The real issue is when someone copies something and claims it as their own, not when someone copies something. People adopting the techniques and methods of others is how progress is made.
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I work at a school considering a laptop program. This was our first question, and we couldn't find anything in specs that explicitly talked about this. I have to assume that you will be able to print wirelessly, but there's that tiny fear that somehow you can't as a protective feature for the ebooks. Silly question, but can you print from a Kindle or a Nook?
I've never seen a way to do so from a Kindle. I'd imagine it would be risky for them to offer that service: What's there to stop you from printing your own book?
I'll explain what I mean. From about 1995 to about 2007, the copmuter industry was predictable. Microsoft dominated the desktop and the laptop. A user interface in 1995 (e.g. Windows 95) looked and worked much the same as one in 2007 (e.g. Ubuntu 7.10). Sure, Microsoft had competitors, but Linux and Mac OS were niche systems that seemed likely to continue to be so.
But now, we have new user interface paradigms, e.g. the gesture systems used by the iPhone and iPad. We have new computing devices, particularly smartphones. We have new killer applications -- telephony and TV and books are all merging into computers, i.e. becoming a program you run on your computer.
It's even exciting on the programming language front, with new languages like Clojure, Erlang, Haskell, F#, etc having the possiblity of breaking out into the staid corporate computing world dominated by Java and C#.
Microsoft's dominance no longer seems assured. Apple or Google could easily exceed their market capitalisation in a few years. And platforms are doing deals with search engines: Firefox with Google, Ubuntu with Yahoo. Everything seems up in the air, uncertain, exciting.
> Other companies are selling computers. Apple’s selling magic. Which one would you rather have? I'd rather have a computer, which is why I don't like Apple products. However, I understand why this puts me in the minority.
> They figure the only people who won’t want an iPad are people who don’t like magic. Now I understand why I don't want one. I don't like magic in my reality. I prefer tech.
I agree with the article, but I understand the reaction here. HN is a group of very smart people, and logical genius, that despise the power of emotions. Human beings are not machines, and one of the most important things is how they feel. Apple knows that,that is what marketing is all about and this means for me that Ipad is going to be a success because: 1)When you rotate the screen, it feels responsible instantly.…
Not to nitpick, but ITYM responsive.
> Other companies are selling computers. Apple’s selling magic. Which one would you rather have? I'd rather have a computer, which is why I don't like Apple products. However, I understand why this puts me in the minority.
Last time I looked, Apple's market share of computers and laptops was a good deal <50%
You say that the entire world wants an iPad. I disagree. I think this will appeal to a specific (but fairly common) kind of computer user. Namely, the sort of person who really doesn't know what they're doing on a computer, and only uses their PC for very basic tasks. This kind of person will be able to replace their laptop (or even their desktop) with an iPad, and I think it will be a fantastic solution for them. Th…
"Namely, the sort of person who really doesn't know what they're doing on a computer, and only uses their PC for very basic tasks." From my personal experience of being "that computer guy" for countless friends, relatives, and random people on the street, that statement accurately describes over 90% of the home computer market (i.e. everything but business/professional use).
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Last time I looked, Apple's market share of computers and laptops was a good deal <50%
Given that Apple is primarily in the business of selling magic devices rather than computers, their share of the computer market isn't really relevant here.
Funny how hard it is for geeks to let go of thinking that the worth of a product is defined by how many features it has!