I don't think android is like the desktop linux situation. My mom & dad are happily using android phones, paying for all these wonderful apps and enjoying the phone. They would not really have the same experience with any linux installation.
The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
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Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#12Desktop Linux has been getting better each year, though (at least on average). If it still hasn't crossed the threshold of being good enough for the mainstream, it's because their standards have also been increasing.
Yes, if something is great since day one, it probably stays away from the improving motivation. If you are willing to pay a price for what is being offered, you will get more pleased when it gets better and costs you nothing...
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#13Linux is getting better each year, Android is getting better each year.
But MS is getting better each year too, like Apple.
The main difference is that MS and Apple improve he overall user experience while Linux and Android center themselves on geeks. Witch is great, for geeks, but not as good for other people.
On Linux I can easily record any sound-video a program plays-displays , I can't do it on windows or Mac because of DRM. It's great for me, normal people don't care.
People care about being able to easily classify their weeding photos using face recognition tech like iphoto does. Linux could do it in complex( and more powerful) ways that my mom can't use.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#14It depends on what criteria is used to judge greatness of course. By my evaluation, the iPhone's notifications and multitasking UI have been horrible since day one. That hasn't stopped Apple from oveloading push and local notifications with third-party multitasking, all without much change to the fundamental problems, making the experience worse over time. Marco's focus on the simple and shiny, at the expense of the functional and robust, indicates that we have different standards for greatness.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#15Why does this get on HN? It's one of three canned Android/iPhone articles. Yes, Android is free and the UI/UX has suffered at the hands of Google's engineers and rapid development. We get it.
I'll just be laughing when this argument sounds silly in 6 months after Gingerbread.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#16I've always admired some of the things marco writes about, this is not one of them. While article is a depressingly one-sided article (marco's prerogative, totally fine with me), he misses a very big point, that for the sake of full disclosure should at least be expounded upon beyond a dry-wit analogy to Desktop Linux. Android and iOS are moving in two different directions, and have benefits for two different crowds.…
Speaking of having benefits for different crowds: when he mentioned the "why-is-this-here moments" his inability to understand that different people like different things became pretty clear. Why is it so hard to believe that some people may actually want a physical keyboard? Yes, it typically makes the phone bulkier and/or uglier, but for some people the extra utility it provides is worth it.
Apple's approach has often been "we'll tell you what's good for you". That's how we got iMacs only available in Steve Jobs's favorite shade of blue (later more colors were added) the green "resize this window to Apple approved dimensions" button in Mac OS X, and now the one-size-fits-all iPhone.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#17I strongly believe that desktop Linux is just waiting for a paid, commercially supported variant that comes with limited, supported hardware options. That is, like Apple. Vertical integration.
OS X is different ... it is based on Darwin, which is a kernel inheriting parts from BSD ... but Apple fully controls its development and Darwin maintains binary compatibility. Also when they released OS X, they also distributed it with a compatibility layer for older OS 9 apps, and they also shipped the Carbon APIs for legacy code.
Unfortunately the Linux kernel itself breaks binary compatibility quite often, so you can't distribute binary blobs if you want to keep up-to-date (and you want that, since newer kernel versions have more hardware drivers). Linux distributions in general have a bad history on maintaining backwards-compatibility.
And without third-party proprietary applications being distributed for this "commercially supported" OS, it's not going to make any inroads.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#18The iPhone was a poor device on day one. Limited to a poor carrier, it was a poor phone, with only a handful of built-in apps, no GPS, etc.
The Nexus One was a quite a nice device from day one, and in my opinion better than the iPhone 3GS.
But this is apples to oranges. The way a device is from day one is less relevant when the race is long. What was important in competing with Apple's first move was being first to a viable second place, which then iterates rapidly in a "aim, fire, ready" style. If Google had waited until they had a perfect second place, they'd still be starting with a tiny marketshare (hence lack of apps etc.), and perhaps Palm wouldn't have failed as it did. But Google didn't wait, and they're solidly in second place, and gaining.
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#19It's a bad call to compare to Desktop Linux. A better comparison is looking at "iOS vs. Android" as "Mac OS vs. Windows" - - The strategy for iOS is very similar to the strategy of Mac OS and the strategy of Android is similar to the strategy of Windows.
Longer down the road I think Android will have a much larger market share (just like Windows) - - while iOS will provide a better and more streamlined experience (just like Mac OS).
Re: The difference between iPhone + Android: Great since day one
#20You know why people make stuff like this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg
Because you can't just get an Android phone and use it and be happy with it. There's always some hipster or yuppie or desperate-to-be-cool nerd that'll start going on and on and on about how amazingly great their iPhone is, was and always will be and how they have taste which you, as a non-Jobs product buyer, obviously don't. A lot of people like me switched from the iPhone to Android because we like it better, get over it. Also, there'll be more people that like and use Android than iOS, get over that as well.
And since we're reaching for snarky old jokes (ie desktop linux), how about this one: What can Android users do that iPhone users can't? Shut the fuck up.