RIM is a one trick pony. If they don't innovate like Apple, they will be irrelevant very quickly.
What's really wrong with BlackBerry
51–60 of 76 posts
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#52"Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead." If that is true, why doesn't the Linux desktop have the unit lead? I mean its free, installable on everything, and easily obtainable. This kinda of reasoning simply does not hold. There a loads of reasons why Android is doing well, but I don't thin…
The reason linux has never taken off on the desktop is the lock-in from MS propietary formats. There is no such lock in for mobile devices.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Windows vs. Mac is now Android vs. iPhone. Microsoft slacked off, and lost its place to the equally-ambitious Google. Desktop Linux never had a Google to push its adoption.
Google Chrome OS
Should Chrome OS really count as a desktop OS, considering it doesn't even use a desktop metaphor?
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ironic, given my perception of Linux as doing good things in a mediocre way...
Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…
Just my own ignorance here, but I'd love to hear what you like better about linux than BSD. I don't know a lot about the advantages of linux.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#55"Yes, Android is doing well, but neither RIM nor Apple is giving away its operating system, so it was close to inevitable that Android would eventually get the unit lead." If that is true, why doesn't the Linux desktop have the unit lead? I mean its free, installable on everything, and easily obtainable. This kinda of reasoning simply does not hold. There a loads of reasons why Android is doing well, but I don't thin…
I've no figures to back it up, but my initial thought is that the simple cost of the OS isn't the deciding factor. For a PC people expect the Windows name, to see Windows on it, and for all their Windows software to work. That leaves using Linux as an unseen cost to the supplier. For a phone most people probably don't see an OS (with the probable exception of Apple), and don't have legacy software. They just see a phone they want that does shiny things. Therefore the OS chosen might not have such a hidden cost making the fact that Android is free a bigger advantage.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was actually pretty hopeful about RIM on the QNX and TAT acquisitions, but I am worried about the emphasis on AIR on the Playbook. I just don't see anyone reliant on a cross platform environment (more than a framework) as being able to get the most out of the unique features of their system. It also might not be a happy choice for their existing Java developers.
I have a ... friend ... who has been doing Blackberry Java Development, and this ... friend ... was less than impressed by RIM hopping into bed with Adobe. I think what exacerbated the situation was that when RIM announced the development kit for the new playbook, they led with the AIR kit, with no defined date for when they'll get Java on there. Which is probably good news for Flash developers, but doesn't look good…
This kind of platform volatility doesn't bode well for developers. Who wants to invest their time learning something that will just be deprecated shortly after? Before RIM started hyping playbook, 8 months ago they were hyping OS 6. Now you don't hear anything about OS 6.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…
The thing you mention though hasn't happened -- nobody's taken Linux to anywhere near the level of polish found in OS X. I think Canonical is the obvious front-runner in that regard, and while they're making leaps and bounds, I've found nothing in Ubuntu that comes anywhere near the level of fit and finish available in almost every single OS X application. Functionally, the Ubuntu equivalents are close, but from a us…
From my experience, I've found a good Linux setup to be about as good as Windows. It doesn't have to be Ubuntu of course, just that (probably) Ubuntu is less work to put into that state.
But my needs are modest, email, web browser, text editor and a compiler. I'm much more interested in the _stability_ of an OS install than tinkering with its innards. I don't want it doing strange stuff to itself when I'm not looking.
None of the big three OSes is perfect, all are improving. Typically in different ways, depending on the core values of their developers and user base.
Canonical _cannot_ beat OS X at what OS X is good at (integration), without ditching its Linux values (freedom for the developer to do whatever he wants). Because that kind of deep integration requires one person (or a group that all thinks the same way) to stand up and say "this is how it is going to be". On Linux, even _Linus_ cannot do that.
On the other hand, you can do what OS X did with BSD - put lipstick on the pig. They build on a foundation of open source tools, but then they commit to providing a slew of (moderately consistent) GUIs for those tools. Note: the command line didn't go away in OS X, but infrequent tasks are much easier with a consistent GUI than if you have to read 20+ pages of man in order to figure out the correct invocations... in that regard, for the 'non-fiddlers' like me OS X is the best of both worlds.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apologises for 'wall of text'(tm) (patent pending) TLDR: move along, nothing to see here If you're one of the people who likes fiddling around with your computer, and having very fine grained control over the OS, then Linux is pretty near perfect. If you just want to use your computer to do work , if you want an integrated and unified user experience * that makes it easy to move from one app to another, if you are...…
Just my own ignorance here, but I'd love to hear what you like better about linux than BSD. I don't know a lot about the advantages of linux.
I'm making the argument that Linux (with a larger developer base) is capable of matching any feature in BSD, while still having cycles to spare for improving its own base in terms of speed, reliability, web pages served etc.
I didn't realise this was still controversial, my impression was that benchmarks had shown back in 2006 (or earlier) that Linux had caught up to BSD, and since at that time it had a faster rate of change, I assumed that would continue, and extrapolated the trend.
It has been so long since I saw a serious discussion about whether Linux or BSD was better that I assumed it was a moot point by now. If that is _not_ actually the case, then mad props to the BSD devs for doing more with less. I don't follow Linux development trends, if the number of kernel developers has fallen off in the last couple of years that would be a shame, but perhaps not surprising, as a lot of dev work gets moved behind closed doors (cough Google and other 'cloud' companies uncough) or you might argue that once Linux gets to a certain percentage of 'perfection' that there are fewer and fewer 'itches to scratch', and less urgency to scratch them (as a kludgy workaround may present itself)
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have a ... friend ... who has been doing Blackberry Java Development, and this ... friend ... was less than impressed by RIM hopping into bed with Adobe. I think what exacerbated the situation was that when RIM announced the development kit for the new playbook, they led with the AIR kit, with no defined date for when they'll get Java on there. Which is probably good news for Flash developers, but doesn't look good…
This kind of platform volatility doesn't bode well for developers. Who wants to invest their time learning something that will just be deprecated shortly after? Before RIM started hyping playbook, 8 months ago they were hyping OS 6. Now you don't hear anything about OS 6.
This looks to me like almost exactly the same situation as with Nokia and Symbian. At this point, it's fairly obvious MeeGo is the way forward for the company, and they're trying to put Symbian out to pasture gently, but there's really no way to do it without the appearance of platform volatility.
Re: What's really wrong with BlackBerry
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
The thing you mention though hasn't happened -- nobody's taken Linux to anywhere near the level of polish found in OS X. I think Canonical is the obvious front-runner in that regard, and while they're making leaps and bounds, I've found nothing in Ubuntu that comes anywhere near the level of fit and finish available in almost every single OS X application. Functionally, the Ubuntu equivalents are close, but from a us…
From my experience, I've found a good Linux setup to be about as good as Windows. It doesn't have to be Ubuntu of course, just that (probably) Ubuntu is less work to put into that state. But my needs are modest, email, web browser, text editor and a compiler. I'm much more interested in the _stability_ of an OS install than tinkering with its innards. I don't want it doing strange stuff to itself when I'm not looking…
"email, web browser, text editor and a compiler" and Ubuntu manages to screw up even this. I somehow find that Ubuntu seems to have less vertical space on the same laptop than Windows. Too many window bars etc. The consolas programmer-friendly font renders better under Windows (maybe patent problems), so my preferred way to work "on Linux" is to ssh using a full-screen putty to a tmux session running on Linux.
It almost seems like all the elves left the world of Unix in the early 80s, and nothing imagined after the 80s is actually of any use (X11 onwards).
And I take it you don't own a smartphone and hence are uninterested in viewing/organizing photos and videos (forget editing videos!). Ubuntu's tools have always been pathetic.
The ease of use of iPhoto and iMovie is ASTOUNDING. And from the "tinkering" point of view, apparently Apple provides scriptable APIs for almost all of iPhoto's functionality; and in the worst case you can just 'cd' into the iPhoto database (all photos in a single giant file!) with command line tools (like 'find', 'cp' etc) and DIY.