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Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

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Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#31

Post by jsz0 »

astine wrote: post #29
huangm wrote: post #25

I know the author's intent is to weaken Jobs' arguments, but to me he seems to strengthen them. The vast majority of people driving cars never need to drive on country roads. Anyone that needs to drive on country roads is by no means forced to drive an iCar - they are free to choose whatever car they want.

Which is why I choose not to buy an iPhone or an iPad. When someone complains about an inadequacy of a product and you replay that they should buy something else, you are missing the point. The ability to buy a real car, does not make an iCar useful. Many, many people live in areas where they could get away with using public transit only, most of them still own cars because sometimes they still need or want them. Onl…

You're claiming inadequacy on your own perspective. I'm sure off-roaders think compact cars are inadequate for their needs. They may choose gas milage or design over off-roading capabilities. As such I think the don't like it? don't buy it argument is a good way to be a consumer.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#32

Post by grinich »

sendos wrote: post #19
th wrote: post #2

I like the parody but it's not really a fair comparison. In many cases paved roads evolve out of country roads while nothing can ever evolve out of Flash.

Of course no analogy is perfect, but I fail to see the relevance of your point. Country roads can evolve into paved roads and content that is currently coded in Flash can evolve into content that is coded in HTML5. But today , when I want to turn on to a country road / visit a site with Flash, the iCar / iPad won't let me. I, as a consumer, don't care what that ugly/bumpy thing might evolve into. I care whether I can…

Is there a phone on the market today that runs Flash?

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#34

Post by pohl »

I grew up in rural Nebraska, where most of the country roads are fairly well maintained. Despite this, there are cars on the market that are horribly suited to driving on many of these roads, especially during the rainy season when deep ruts form, and thereafter when the ruts harden.

Far away from this setting, in the more urban environments, there is a phenomenon where consumers take vehicles - even those that might otherwise be suitable for these roads - and they modify them to make them exceedingly unfit by lowering the suspension. It has been going on for so long that the song "Low Rider" by the band War is used as a cliched reference to the 70s.

I know of someone, in the 2000s, who had a terrible time finding an apartment because his Jetta, modified at great expense, couldn't survive an apartment with speed-bumps in the parking lot. Not long afterward, he totaled his car - going over a speed bump he did not see.

At the other end of the suspension-spectrum we have millions of SUVs on the road, many of them capable of taking all manner of abuse, only to be driven exclusively on concrete to tame destinations like grocery stores and shopping malls. These vehicles are a suburban male peacock display: the suspension serves no function other than to signal virility.

I'm not trying to extend the analogy by mentioning any of this. But I do think that if we're looking to the automobile industry for guidance we should probably take note of the diversity and realize that there's probably room in the mobile computer space for devices without Flash.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#35

Post by euroclydon »

ahoyhere wrote: post #30

People made the same arguments when Jobs killed the floppy. And serial ports. And OS 9. And built-in modems. Surprisingly, nobody misses them. Yawn. More histrionic nerd-posturing. It will be forgotten soon enough.

That's funny. When you said: "built-in modems", I turned my Macbook up to the side, and sure enough... no modem.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#36

Post by CamperBob »

ahoyhere wrote: post #30

People made the same arguments when Jobs killed the floppy. And serial ports. And OS 9. And built-in modems. Surprisingly, nobody misses them. Yawn. More histrionic nerd-posturing. It will be forgotten soon enough.

Killing Turing equivalence is a bigger deal than killing RS-232 ports and floppy drives.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#37

Post by pohl »

pedalpete wrote: post #28

Very interesting, but I think most of the comments are missing the point that this isn't about the technology. It is about telling the user where they can and cannot go. We wouldn't accept that in a car for any reason. Wanna go to Yosemite, great! But that parking lot isn't paved, so you can't stop there. You can drive by and see the rest of it from the highway though! Oh, that highway is nice and paved, but it leads…

We wouldn't accept that in a car for any reason.

Really? I see these on the road all the time and I would have no trouble whatsoever finding a road they couldn't handle.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_(automobile)

Consumers do, in fact, willingly buy cars that limit their travels. Heck, a lot of people willingly buy cars that don't have enough oomph to take an entirely paved route over the rocky mountains.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#38

Post by senko »

grinich wrote: post #32
sendos wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course no analogy is perfect, but I fail to see the relevance of your point. Country roads can evolve into paved roads and content that is currently coded in Flash can evolve into content that is coded in HTML5. But today , when I want to turn on to a country road / visit a site with Flash, the iCar / iPad won't let me. I, as a consumer, don't care what that ugly/bumpy thing might evolve into. I care whether I can…

Is there a phone on the market today that runs Flash?

Yes, Nokia N900.

Re: Steve Jobs, circa 2020: "Thoughts on country roads"

#40

Post by natrius »

boredguy8 wrote: post #33

This parody did more to convince me of Jobs' point of view than anything I've read so far. If my car were as impressive an improvement over the status quo car as the iPhone is over the phone, I'd gladly give up the ability to drive on rural roads.

That's ridiculous. The iPhone was a huge improvement over the status quo, but there are plenty of phones today that are comparable, if not better.

All of the goals Jobs mentioned in the article could be achieved just as easily by imposing those restrictions on the App Store, but still allowing users to install apps on their own. Apple's policies are harmful to its users compared to the alternatives.

With that said, a car that couldn't drive on rural roads would make sense if it drove itself, but required infrastructure that wasn't universal.

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