Posted on 06/10/2010 1:19:11 AM PDT by Swordmaker
Dear Macintosh,
I hate to tell you this, but my guess is you’ve probably been sensing it already. I don’t know any good way to say it so let me just be blunt: You’ve been dropped. Dumped. It’s over.
I’m sorry. I know this hurts. But you need to face up to the truth–Steve Jobs just broke up with you. This happened yesterday at the World Wide Developers Conference. I know–why couldn’t he just do it in private? Well, you know Steve. He loves the spotlight.
So what did he talk about? He talked about iPads, and the App Store, and iBooks, and videogames. He talked about the new iPhone 4, with new video-chat software called FaceTime and a gyroscope that lets you shoot missiles into outer space and take pictures of Saturn or something. And he had lots and lots to say about his new mobile-phone operating system, which used to be called iPhone OS and now has changed its name to iOS 4.
But one thing Steve didn’t have much to say about was you. In fact, he didn’t talk about you at all. That’s not how it used to be. Remember the old days?
Why it seems like only yesterday that you, Mac, were all Steve wanted to talk about. You and your wonderful stable operating system that was so much better than Windows.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Anyhow, I think a more suitable comparison to what some Windows machines looked like, especially about five to ten years ago, is found in the movie Idiocracy, on Frito's big-screen TV.
I agree. How long before we get a notebook with a glass back like the iPhone?
Completely wrong, all right.
The MacBook Pros just underwent a remarkable upgrade that included several new technologies resulting in class-leading performance and jaw-dropping battery life.
That’s not the sort of thing a major corporation would do for a dying product line.
Let’s face it, if the Mac and OS X had been the focus of WWDC, the headlines would be about how “Apple is rolling-over and giving up in the face of Android’s triumphant assault.” That would be bullshiite but folks like this troll at Newsweek specialize in that. Instead, Apple (which after all has multiple major events every year) chose WWDC to focus on its remarkable innovations in the field of mobile OSes. In particular, Apple’s insistence on the full user experience was very much on display. For example, the new iPhone 4 has a front-facing camera. Ho-hum, right?— some Android models have them too, right? Yes, but the critical point is: you can’t use them to do anything useful. The hardware exists but not compelling software to make video calling easy and worthwhile. That was what is so remarkable about FaceTime and the way it was presented, with that really wonderful video. It wasn’t about hardware. It’s about the experience, about the integration with its users’ lives. No one does that better than Apple. And behold: like tablet computers that existed but went nowhere, now Apple has done the same for video calling. A whole new medium, unfolding before your very eyes. No one does that better than Apple, too.
Similarly, in other matters it’s the rest of the world trying to catch up to Apple and still missing the mark. For example, consider the fact that a hundred million iPhones have been sold, and nearly a quarter million apps are available (many for free) in the App Store. Jobs went beyond those simple facts, adding an adjective that I’m sure Mr. Newsweek Troll would not have noticed: he described the App Store as “curated.” Now, what’s remarkable about that is that the apps you download from the App Store have been inspected and vetted and are signed for authenticity. Thus there is an end-to-end mechanism to ensure that the powerful computers we’re carrying around in our pockets remain secure. Compare this to Google’s copycat Android Marketplace, which has already been home to a trojan-horse app that set up a botnet involving more than 8,000 Android phones within a few days of its posting. Because no one’s minding the store there— Google doesn’t check for insecurities or bugs or anything else (even though it skims the same percentage of each paid app’s price for itself that Apple does).
Steve Jobs is a unique entrepreneur: he has built, revolutionized and reinvented multiple markets. Most entrepreneurs are lucky to succeed at building a single business. Sometimes they get to do two. But entire markets? In Jobs’ case they include personal computers, personal media, animated entertainment, personal computers (again), music distribution, smartphones, and now tablet computing. And as he’s matured as a businessman and as a person, he’s learned to balance and integrate all of these and keep the ball rolling for each of them, and he’s built such an effective team that he’s succeeded despite two near-death experiences and a half-year hiatus.
Happily for the world, his act is not over. Nor is the Mac’s.
I believe that "NewsWeak" is dead. They have been ignoring their readers for years.
I think I read that NewsMax had a bid in for them, which would save them, unless the iPad model somehow keeps them alive. If it were not for Doctor and Hospital waiting rooms, they probably would have been gone a long time ago.
Ugly cars? I’ll up your bounty.
Not today. But tomorrow. BIG THINGS. Stay tuned...
My Gaming Community welcomes the Noobs.. Easy Frags for all!
There is one more possible reinvention. I think he reinvented server storage. I could be wrong, but I think the XServe RAID was the first enterprise-class rack RAID storage to use cheap desktop drives instead of expensive SCSI or fiber drives. They’re not good for highly transactional loads like OLTP database, but perfect for client backup, video work, file share, near-line storage, etc., places where you need vast capacity and throughput, but not so much access speed.
Apple doesn’t sell that anymore, but now most major storage vendors offer a product that takes high-capacity SATA drives, even 5400 rpm ones. You can get 30 TB raw capacity in a single 3U now. Amazing.
Can someone explain the hostility to Mac that so frequently develops after Mac introduces new products?
I really do not understand it. We don’t see such hostility to new cars, appliances, etc. I don’t get what is going on, psychologically, with the Apple haters.
Some people hate anyone/anything that exemplifies achievement and excellence.
I can understand that in the DBM, but here on Free Republic? I didn’t think folks here qualified for hate and envy of success, and certainly didn’t think the left hung around here long, (except to troll, of course).
Yet, every Mac related thread seems to bring them out, like lake flies after a summer rain.
I, personally, LOVE my Macs, and agree with your statement about the strange Apple hatred we find here.
That being said, though, they are WAAAAAAY overdue on their Mac Pro towers.
I can’t use the iMac as it’s not expandable and their glossy mirror screen is unusable.
Every Tuesday I log onto Apple’s site and look for a refresh to their outmoded Mac “Pro” and am continuously disappointed.
C’mon, Steve, update the friggin’ Pros!!
Ed
Perhaps because Apple is a benevolent dictatorship.
The hammerlock control Jobs has over an entire segment of the computer market is scary. His will defines and directs everything from server specs to which free fart apps are allowed. As conservative/libertarian types we have an instinctive impulse to attack such potential oppression.
Thing is, it works. Jobs does grok the whole subject, and his iron will serves the vast majority of users very well. Hence many of us submit to the control because we are freed from the drugery of trying to “make it work” because the Apple paradigm “just works” and we can get on with other things. What little crap there is we put up with, even defend, because that’s the price of the rest working so well.
Between the two of them, there is cognitive dissonance. The haters attack ever harder because they can’t stand to see the “oppressive regime” make any positive progress, and the fanboys defend the oppression because it is working out so very well.
Benevolent dictatorships are rare. Jobs, like Singapore, is one of the few such that work.
Rue the day Jobs leaves his post.
Hey, come on now! You said:
“Hence many of us submit to the control because we are freed from the drugery of trying to “make it work” because the Apple paradigm “just works” and we can get on with other things.”
We certainly fall into that category. For us self-employed folk, (solo practitioner architect and wife), we don’t have the time or excess cash lying around to mess around “making it work”.
We need that time to “get on with other things”, like managing our projects, satisfying our clients that their money is well spent, and getting the drawings finished on time.
We thank Apple every day for not tying up our time with our efforts to “control” our computers.
This guy is a maroon!!!
I’m willing to bet that the Macs in the Newsweek offices outlast Newsweek. Any takers?
Of course I'm a major fan of the old Philco Predicta TVs. I don't know how much this would cost if it went into production, but then the old Predictas weren't exactly cheap for their time either (like $2,000 equivalent today for the base Holiday model).
He talked about iPads, and the App Store, and iBooks, and videogames. He talked about the new iPhone 4, with new video-chat software called FaceTime and a gyroscope that lets you shoot missiles into outer space and take pictures of Saturn or something. And he had lots and lots to say about his new mobile-phone operating system, which used to be called iPhone OS and now has changed its name to iOS 4.The next iteration seems to be obvious enough -- an iPad-like desktop model with 21" touchscreen (with larger sizes in the future) and (eventually) no mouse, no mouse at all.
I ordered my first official Mac (technically, my iPhone was my first). It arrives tomorrow. A Mini, with the wireless keyboard, and the wireless “magic mouse”, which apparently, does the touch gestures. It should be an interesting learning experience.
While some of your assertions are likely very accurate - I just don't think the above reflects an understanding of the iOS vs. Apples OS X.
iOS, at its basic core is fundamentally a very scaled-down version of OSX (unless I am nuts). Will the UI grow more similar - maybe so.
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