Posted on 08/23/2010 4:29:31 AM PDT by Swordmaker
But to activate Windows you need to use the Internet or a telephone, so you have some missing essentials there as well.
I think a case could be made for the iPod touch and the iPhone... indeed also for the Android phones and many other smartphones as "personal computers." However, not the more dedicated devices of the straight iPod/Zune/Creative/Samsung multi-media/game players.
The availability of the software on iPad/iPhone/iPod touch/Android is the only limiting factor of what can be done with them, not their capability. Certainly, third party peripherals might be considered a limiting factor, but WIFI and Bluetooth peripherals as well as peripherals that are accessed by the 30 pin USB/charging port are already available for all three devices in the Apple eco system from simple stereo sound systems all the way to automobiles. Some of these peripherals interface wirelessly... transparently. The iPad/iPhone/iPod touch interfaces and can control digital xRay machines, cameras by Bluetooth, both WIFI and Bluetooth computer peripherals such as printers, keyboards, mouses, input devices, etc. My iPad came with a hardware connected keyboard that interfaces via the 30 pin connector. That keyboard works with my iPhone just as easily. Both will sync to my Mac's BlueTooth keyboard. Both the iPad and the iPhone can output 720p HD video content to my 47inch High Def TV with a 30 pin to HDMI adaptor I purchased from Apple... just as my iMac will (actually the iMac will do 1080p). I'm told the iPod touch will do the same. The iPhone and the iPod touch, can do almost as much (and more in some areas for the iPhone, since it does have the built in hardware phone capability which the iPod touch and iPad do not, although both can make phone calls using third party software such as Skype) as the iPad. Size and form factor are the only major differences between the tablets and touch screen and keyboarded smartphones and the iPod touch.
Content creation is completely within the capability of the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch lines, and indeed many are doing it. Programing is merely another aspect of content creation that simply requires additional software that Apple has chosen not to make available directly, again for marketing reasons. Such programing tools ARE available for jailbroken iPhones and iPads. Again, that shows the devices are completely capable of doing what a PC is capable of doing.
For those who are claiming that the iPad requires connection to another computer, that, too, is a choice made by Apple merely for activation and updates because of the tie in to the Apple iTunes store and the Apple Eco system. Once the activation has occurred, all Apple App Store apps are downloadable over 3G or WIFI from a stand alone iPad. There is no physical reason, except marketing, why the iPad requires connection at any time to another device... any more than a PC or Mac requires connection to another computer over a network for updates. The only other time I have ever plugged my iPad into my Mac was to update from iOS 3.0 to iOS 3.1, then to 3.2 and then 3.2.1, and 3.2.2. Each time I did the updates, my iPad was backed up as well. That's it. Apple could have made the choice to do updates over WIFI... they did not... but that is not an inherent incapability of the iPad. Merriam Webster's Dictionary defines a Personal Computer, a PC, as:
"Definition of PERSONAL COMPUTERWikipedia defines it as follows:: a general-purpose computer equipped with a microprocessor and designed to run especially commercial software (as a word processor or Internet browser) for an individual user
A personal computer (PC) is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator. ...
The University of Melbourne Library resource defines it as:
A small, relatively inexpensive computer designed for an individual User, although PCs are commonly linked together to form a network. In terms of power, there is great variety. At the high end, there is little distinction between PCs, Laptops and Workstations.
Of course, none of those is an economic market definition... but iPads, iPhones, Android smartphones, and iPod touches all meet those general definitions of a "Personal Computer" and, I think, would fall under the broadest definition of the economic market of personal computer... but then be subdivided down within that market in to sub-markets.
Yes. :^)>
Dusty, I would agree that 11 years ago, INITs and getting their order correct could be an absolute nightmare. Sometimes just identifying which INIT was the culprit could take hours and multiple restarts as you worked your way down the list looking for the non-cooperative combination... and hope that just re-ordering the start-up sequence of INITs would solve the problem.
However, that is ancient history. A Modern Mac has no such problems. INITs are gone into the dustbin of computer history. They do not exist anymore. Apple OS9 and under and Apple OSX have no code in common... and are totally unrelated except in name. OSX is UNIX.
But, given the opportunity, didn't.
Looks like 12.4 million US Windows PCs vs 1.7 million Apples. Have they shipped 12 million ipads?
My GPS receiver has all these as well.
When classifying or comparing devices I prefer to go with the state as sold. You introduce far too many variables when you start hacking stuff. Remember that iPhone virus a bit back? Yeah, irrelevant to the question of Apple's security since it only affected hacked iPhones.
There is no physical reason, except marketing, why the iPad requires connection at any time to another device... any more than a PC or Mac requires connection to another computer over a network for updates.
Yet they do. A personal computer is supposed to be independent. You buy it, you plug it in (if necessary), turn it on, set it up, and you're rolling. It is capable of being your only computer. In other words, can a person who doesn't own or have access to a PC buy an iPad, turn it on, set it up, and then have a working personal computer?
Apple tying it to a PC means it is a satellite device. But I don't expect that to last forever. The iPad already has iTunes, OTA update technology is the norm these days, and Apple can easily offer a free subset of Mobile Me keeping it backed up*. Open the box, turn it on, let it guide you through getting on a network, set it up with Apple over the Internet, and you have your independent tablet computer.
Android devices won't require tying to a computer though. A 10" Android tablet can be everything a computer is, including the ability to be your sole computer. While I can't get an iPad due to my kids' and wife's addiction to certain Flash content, one would be perfect for my grandmother if it weren't for the requirement of a computer. No, I don't live close enough to sync it off of mine.
* Apple wouldn't need up to 64 GB for the storage for each of millions of iPads. Much of the content on an iPad would be iTunes content, and for that Apple just needs a pointer to the appropriate item in the store, not the media file. If you have iTunes-ripped music on it, one song file ripped by iTunes and unaltered thereafter is the same too, requiring only keeping an original and pointers to it. This would basically be implementation of the file-level de-duplication common on more advanced storage systems these days.
You have to have itunes on a computer to set up the iPad? Apple support has never been able to help me get itunes running on my Vista or Win 7 boxes. The installs fail every time.
I was going to get an ipad. Oh well.
Apple doesn't have to beat the total. This is NOT an operating system comparison. It is a comparison of hardware manufacturers. Apple just has to beat the #5 worldwide ASUS to get on the worldwide top 5 list. They just have to beat #1 domestic HP to top the domestic top 5 list.
What a whiner! You need to get out of your mom's basement, child. My dog pisses on every tree in the yard after the others visit. It's his yard.
This is our yard, and isn't defined by whining children trying to get attention. Go back to your playground...
Microsoft saved Apple’s bacon? I wasn’t aware of that.
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said today 
that the software giant will invest $150 million in Apple and will develop and ship future versions of its Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, and development tools for the Macintosh.
Gates, who appeared via satellite link, and Apple director Steve Jobs made the announcement here today at the Macworld Expo trade show.
Both Apple and Microsoft executives denied that the Microsoft investment represents a path to converging the companies' operating systems. However, they said they had agreed to work out a settlement to a long-standing dispute over whether Microsoft's Windows operating system infringes on any of Apple's patents.
More important, Microsoft said it has pledged to offer the Office business productivity software suite for the Macintosh platform for the next five years. Mac Office 98 is expected to debut by the end of the year.
"This deal strengthens Apple's viability. It's a new era in terms of Apple and Microsoft working together," said Apple chief financial officer Fred Anderson, who has been assigned to run the company's daily operations until a successor to outgoing CEO Gilbert Amelio is found.
  Fred Anderson, Apple CFO, on Apple-Microsoft collaboration |
Observers say the deal, while a shot in the arm for Apple, also may help Microsoft by keeping antitrust charges at bay. Apple represents one of the only alternatives to Microsoft's Windows and the Microsoft-Intel hegemony.
Microsoft chief financial officer Greg Maffei discounted such talk. "Frankly, we weren't driven as much by those kind of considerations as looking at it as a platform for our applications," he said.
Dwight Davis, editor of the Windows Watcher newsletter, said the real benefit for Microsoft is that it gains an ally against Sun Microsystems' Java programming language. "Apple has not been the bogeyman to Microsoft in a long time. They are more than happy to have a legitimate threat to their business, and it's called Java."
For Apple's part, Anderson said, "Microsoft Office is very important to our Mac customer base, and this deal provides for continued availability of the outstanding Microsoft Office product on the Mac platform."
More than 8 million customers use Microsoft Office for the Macintosh, making it "the single largest revenue Mac application," Maffei said. "It's a very important application for Apple and its customers, and it's a very important application for Microsoft and its customers. It's a several-hundred-million-dollar item."
Analysts said that Microsoft's assurance of providing its latest applications on the Macintosh may be more important to the company's long-term viability than the $150 million investment.
"The decision to produce Office on the Mac will be a big boost for Apple. It has been a year-to-year waiting game in the past as to whether Microsoft would support the Mac with new versions," Davis said.
"Gates even suggested that Microsoft might produce the next version of Office first for the Mac. That's a notable commitment from Microsoft. If they withdrew Office support, that would have been the straw to break Apple's back."
Davis also said that given the size of Microsoft, a $150 million commitment amounts to little more than good public relations. "Remember, they spent $450 million on WebTV. The investment still doesn't give Apple a coherent strategy for turning things around."
The companies also agreed to collaborate on the Java programming language and other programming languages to ensure they run consistently on both Windows and Macintosh platforms. In addition, Apple agreed to make Microsoft's Internet Explorer the default browser for the Macintosh platform.
The news, coupled with Steve Jobs's announcements of new Apple board members, pushed the company's stock up more than 40 percent in morning trading. Apple gained more than 8 points in early trading over its closing price yesterday of 19-3/4. (See related story)
"It's very exciting to renew our commitment to Apple," Gates told attendees via satellite.
Jobs, who took the stage to a standing ovation, said that the Microsoft
Anderson on how Jobs put the MS deal in motion |
Davis said the investment means that Apple will now toe Microsoft's line on Java. "If Java is a threat to Windows, and all operating systems, then it's a threat to Apple and the Mac OS."
The agreement includes no commitments for Apple to use Windows NT, Microsoft's corporate operating system, although previous discussions on the topic have been held, Anderson said.
"NT was not part of this agreement and there are no current plans on this, but this doesn't forego something in the future," Anderson said. He noted there have been no discussions with Microsoft to license Windows CE, the operating system designed for handheld devices, settop boxes, and other non-PC products.
Anderson said that while Internet Explorer will become the default browser on the Mac OS, Apple has a browser distribution agreement with both Netscape (NSCP) and Microsoft.
"Although the default browser will be Internet Explorer, it doesn't preclude the use of [Netscape's browser]...The Netscape deal will continue," Anderson said.
Apple, which ended its third quarter with $1.2 billion in cash, will use the additional $150 million to invest in its core markets of education and creative content, Anderson said. He added that the company expects to gain a higher percentage of its revenues from software and services in these core markets in the future.
Microsoft paid a share price slightly below the market but an average of the recent trading, Maffei said. He confirmed that the software giant has agreed to hold onto its shares for at least three years.
Apple expects to close the investment deal in the next few days.
Thanks for the info, Sword. I am reaching the point of being so disgusted with the way that Microsoft handles their OS releases and other software, that I am willing to consider an Apple again, cost notwithstanding.
I have heard that the newer Apple OS’ were better, but that one issue with the inits is what held me back. I appreciate the info.
FReegards,
Dusty
Mac rulz and you droolz! How's ur mom?
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