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PureOS is convergent

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Re: PureOS is convergent

#151

Post by tombert »

threatofrain wrote: post #141
squarefoot wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"but I feel incredibly limited in what I can actually do with my iPhone" That's because they're intended to work as media consumption devices rather than productivity ones. If someone feels productive on a phone, he or she has very likely adapted herself to the device than the other way around. I had to struggle yesterday with my GF new phone because her lawyer sent her a paper in .doc format using Whatsapp (no kiddi…

I certainly think that companies have been optimizing the phone for media consumption use, but I think it's because that's actually the only thing the phone is good for due its limited form factor. Even if the phone becomes a more open platform, and we can snap our fingers and get superb battery life, better CPU, better screen, better storage, etc., typing even a few sentences on the phone is still pretty awful. Noth…

That's why I would like to have the option to "hop in" to the desktop version of the app. I realize that most of the time I'll want the more-consumer version, but I would definitely prefer to be able to utilize my tools when needed. Ubuntu Touch was great about this, but obviously it didn't do well.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#152

Post by notonmywatch »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #146
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #20

My primary concern with this is that different applications are inherently optimized for the platform on which they were originally designed. There are some applications that have a very dense UI because there's simply alot of functionality that the program handles (think of a video editor, an IDE, etc). Trying to slim down those applications to make them reactive so that they will scale onto a phone or tablet just s…

I'm actually becoming convinced that the right approach is pretty much the opposite and we should be making GUIs that are composable. If you think about it, no one knows the user's use case better than they themselves do. So who is in a better position to determine what functionality is most important to have on their tiny phone screen? Which components need to be bigger and more prominent or smaller and less promine…

But users don't want to be UI designers. I could see a case for an AI that watches the user use the app for a few weeks and automatically designs a UI for them based on their needs. But in general, users don't want to have to do work on top of the work they already do. It's the same reason that despite DVDs having multiple angles for years, and 360° video being easily renderable, almost nobody uses these features. I don't want to direct the movie while I'm watching it!

Re: PureOS is convergent

#153

Post by jraph »

jimktrains2 wrote: post #86
fwip wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>"Why in god's name would I want to run vim on my phone?" To be fair, I've used vim on my phone over SSH and it was actually a pretty good experience. Editing is a bit more deliberate of an affair than with a hardware keyboard, but still easier than trying to visually select text on the touchscreen, and no complex chorded keybindings to try to enter.

I've done the same, and after a minute or two it makes sense. Especially in a situation where you're not doing a ton of editing, just a line here or there, it can be a life saver. A now-dead sibling asked about an escape key; on Android at least there are keyboards that have the meta buttons (no affiliation: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.pocketwork... is one example).

Termux does provide an additional row of keys that can be customized to add missing arrows and other keys easily.

https://wiki.termux.com/wiki/Touch_Keyboard

I found vim is actually the most convenient editor to use on Android to edit code without hardware keyboard compared to any editor that I found on f-droid. And I don't use vim on a regular computer.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#155

Post by nothal »

grawprog wrote: post #149
AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #20

My primary concern with this is that different applications are inherently optimized for the platform on which they were originally designed. There are some applications that have a very dense UI because there's simply alot of functionality that the program handles (think of a video editor, an IDE, etc). Trying to slim down those applications to make them reactive so that they will scale onto a phone or tablet just s…

>I mean, if someone said, "I've successfully ported Vim to Android!", my first thought would be, "Why in god's name would I want to run vim on my phone?"* Vim is available on android through termux. I've used it to write a few things. I actually used it to wrote an app to access my city's transit api because I wasn't a fan of the available ones. With the right keyboard installed it's actually not too bad. Best progra…

At that point why not pull out a laptop? Are you programming on a tablet?

Re: PureOS is convergent

#156

Post by bibyte »

It seems really familiar to the decision of going with many repos vs a mono repo.

Slightly OT but I hope PureOS doesn't lock down root access like Android does. Or at least release an official way to root their devices.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#157

Post by notonmywatch »

squarefoot wrote: post #81
tombert wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have the GPD Win that I bought a couple years ago, which is more or a less a Nintendo-DS-Sized computer running "real" Windows, and I love it. I can do programming on the train, even while standing up, as well as use all the tooling that I like, including Vim actually. The only limitation for me has honestly been Windows, since I'm more of a Unixey guy. Something that has always bothered me is that smartphones are…

"but I feel incredibly limited in what I can actually do with my iPhone" That's because they're intended to work as media consumption devices rather than productivity ones. If someone feels productive on a phone, he or she has very likely adapted herself to the device than the other way around. I had to struggle yesterday with my GF new phone because her lawyer sent her a paper in .doc format using Whatsapp (no kiddi…

>> "but I feel incredibly limited in what I can actually do with my iPhone"

> That's because they're intended to work as media consumption devices rather than productivity ones. If someone feels productive on a phone, he or she has very likely adapted herself to the device than the other way around.

What are you talking about? Literally millions of people use their phones to create every day. They take pictures and post on Instagram, create videos with apps like Clips, iMovie, SnapChat, make music with GarageBand, and yes, also consume video. But iPhones are every bit intended to be creation devices as much as desktops. The form factor lends itself to a different type of content creation, but it's stellar at letting users create in addition to consume.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#158

Post by JohnFen »

wanderfowl wrote: post #77

The exciting part of this to me is not the ability to run the same software on two devices, but the potential to run two 'kinds' of software on one single device. This unlocks what is for me the most appealing computing fantasy: I have exactly one device to compute with. At home or work, I plug it into my dock, where it pairs to an eGPU/monitor, external storage, keyboard, and mouse, and is my desktop computer. There…

> And considering we're now currently paying $4000+ for the trio of a laptop, tablet, and smartphone

Wha? My main laptop, tablet, and smartphone combined don't total up anywhere near $4000.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#159

Post by eitland »

joshvm wrote: post #135
squarefoot wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"but I feel incredibly limited in what I can actually do with my iPhone" That's because they're intended to work as media consumption devices rather than productivity ones. If someone feels productive on a phone, he or she has very likely adapted herself to the device than the other way around. I had to struggle yesterday with my GF new phone because her lawyer sent her a paper in .doc format using Whatsapp (no kiddi…

> apparently that practice is widespread among non IT professionals, and I find it rather dangerous. The privacy implications should raise some big alerts. Is using an end -to-end encrypted service worrying? I assume whatsapp encrypts media as well as messages (I hope so). If you sent that document to any kind of corporate email account (many people use work accounts for non work stuff) it's liable to be opened by yo…

> Is using an end -to-end encrypted service worrying?

I trust tptacek that WhatsApp is end-to-end encrypted. But it definitely leaks metadata. Nobody is denying that.

Facebook now knows gf is communicating with a lawyer.

Your threat model may vary, but my assumption is Facebook will sell that info to anyone who pays. (Not directly, but definitely using some sneaky ad targetting: all girls, 27-35, this zip code, this education, etc, and who has contacted to a lawyer recently.)

If this isn't possible it is just because they are so busy doing all kinds of worse things that they haven't gotten around to it yet ;-)

I'm only halfway joking: this is the company that fools people who try to be secure into giving up their mobile phone number, then shortly after starts using it for targetting.

Re: PureOS is convergent

#160

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

notonmywatch wrote: post #152
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm actually becoming convinced that the right approach is pretty much the opposite and we should be making GUIs that are composable. If you think about it, no one knows the user's use case better than they themselves do. So who is in a better position to determine what functionality is most important to have on their tiny phone screen? Which components need to be bigger and more prominent or smaller and less promine…

But users don't want to be UI designers. I could see a case for an AI that watches the user use the app for a few weeks and automatically designs a UI for them based on their needs. But in general, users don't want to have to do work on top of the work they already do. It's the same reason that despite DVDs having multiple angles for years, and 360° video being easily renderable, almost nobody uses these features. I…

Users of casual consumption applications don't, that's true. I can't see myself caring to be either. But if they use a tool consistently, they often are driven to customize it for their needs if they can.

The first class of application probably won't run in to any issues with just designing for a smartphone UI and not bothering with anything else.

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