Interesting insight into the multitasking model for Windows RT apps. The implication is that desktop apps follow the old model - this is borne out by my experience - after prolonged periods of time in a metro app, upon return to the desktop, nothing has to resume or reconnect. The more I watch these videos, the more I get the sense that Microsoft culture has placed the desktop firmly in the past.
This is a follow-up of sorts to the original post, iPhone.
Since having bought an original iPhone, shipped from Manhattan in 2007, a lot has changed. As time rolled on, updates to the iPhone OS, now dubbed ‘iOS’ enabled many of the features I had hoped for in the original post - over the air calendar and contacts sync, third party applications, unlocked iPhones sold directly from Apple, and so on.
Despite Intel’s claims to the contrary, Linux support in their new Clover Trail atom chipset will not come into play where it matters. You will not see a Windows 8 tablet onto which you can install Linux. Graphics and power management drivers will not be provided and are not part of Intel’s open source portfolio. You’ll buy a tablet that can only run Windows 8, and perhaps a second variant that WILL run Android, but the bootloader will be locked, and it will only be sold by phone companies.
“To some, this repetition is now boring. But I think Apple looks at it the opposite way: they’re perfecting their trick.” Refining and perfecting have always been some of Apple’s best methods. Consumers often expect a revolution with every new computing device - Apple takes the appliance approach. This is a device you’ll want to use for the long run, and it shouldn’t change radically until it’s time for change. As for why each subtle refinement costs $500 is a subject of another blog post.
The new iPhone is an incremental improvement over the previous generation. Highlights:
A thinner phone with a software update. A 4" screen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, as previously featured by the Sony XPeria line of smartphones Panorama mode within the camera, as previously featured by Samsung and other Android vendors Facebook integration, so they can collect information on what you do with your phone The offensive remark that they know best how to make a comfortably sized phone, and the consumer just doesn’t get it.
Windows 8’s new start screen would likely not affect my workflow a great deal, as I typically run applications by banging the Windows key and typing the name of the program I want to start (this works for me under GNOME 3 and Windows 7 alike). Microsoft’s policy of restriction is what is absurd. They know that if systems administrators were given a group policy to disable the new Windows 8 start screen, or at least push it to the background, they’d do it en-masse.
In an effort to avoid demise, RIM is now complying with the Indian government’s spying demands with added vigor. While it previously argued that its Blackberry services were not designed to permit even lawful interception, they have now proven that this is not the case, and that the implementation is simple. On top of this, RIM has built interception facilities while denying their existence for over a year. The takeaway here is that even Blackberry Enterprise Server is not secure, never was, and both businesses and end users alike should be aware that their devices are now compromised, that RIM is not honest with anyone about its network security, and has intentionally compromised it in a desperate bid to remain profitable.
Microsoft is making the same old mistake. A competing product with proprietary features that will work for some people, but not everyone - the philosophy here will be to make Outlook.com your go-to place for communication. Will you be able to video chat with a GMail user? No. Why? Because it’s technically impossible? No, because some guy in a suit decided that wouldn’t be a good idea. Will you be able to export your mail to a local disk?
Quick note to those experiencing gadget lust after Apple WWDC and Google I/O: In the UNIX world, root is the most common term for the user in total control of a system. Root is the owner of /, the root of the filesystem, the namespace within which UNIX operates. Apple’s and Google’s devices are based on this 40+ year tradition. Only you don’t have root on the device you’re eagerly investing hundreds of dollars in.
Digital technology is reinventing our whole world, in service of you and me. It’s free enterprise on steroids. It’s bypassing the gatekeepers and empowering each of us to invent our own civilization for ourselves, according to our own specifications.
This quote alone inspires me - that’s how I feel about computers and their limitless capabilities, and why I’m so concerned with devices like iPad and Microsoft Surface, which are designed from the ground up to protect obsolete business models at the expense of an owner’s right to use his computer as fully as he has the skill to.
