iPad anyone?

[Dan Millar]

Okay, the iPad, eighth wonder of the world, becomes available south of the border on Saturday. Anybody screaming down to Watertown/Plattsburgh to pick one up? Or will you wait until Canada gets some in "late April"? I know some people will be on that 7 a.m. drive south on Saturday, the "early adopters"' the "rest of us" will just have to wait... sigh.

So, speak up. We are all, presumably, Mac fans, so we will all love this little device - won't we?

Is it another game-changer? Is it a new category? Will the netbook criticisms ever go away? Or, is it just a big iPod, with limited appeal and functionality. Will the "early-adopters" be the "only-adopters"? Have we heard the last reference to feminine hygiene products?

Opinions? Let's liven this board up a bit!

"The iPad is just a recycled idea of an iPod that will tie more users into the Apple iTunes/iBooks eco-system, it has no place in the "netbook" space". HP/Dell/Sony has an iPad-killer up their sleeves anyway. Discuss!

Happy Mac'ing...

Dan

[ben schmidt]

The iPad sounds great for consuming media. It'll bring email out from the upstairs study where the PC lives, and down onto the coffee table in the family room. It may be all the computer that our parents need. Especially if their needs are around receiving email, light sending, and light browsing.

• I'd love to have more detail on how printing will work.


• I'd also love to understand the workflow options with respect to photos. The iPad is ideal for sharing photos when friends visit. But do you upload your photos directly into your iPad? Or into your computer? Or, yech, do you have to upload them to both? Can you move photos easily between the iPad and your computer?

[Dan Millar]

Latest reports - April 24th-ish for Canada...

Happy Mac'ing

Dan

[Dan Millar]

Some details on printing from an iPod/iPhone/iPod Touch:

http://www.activeprint.net/

Happy Mac'ing!

Dan

[ben schmidt]

Some details on printing from an iPod/iPhone/iPod Touch:
http://www.activeprint.net/

Careful before anyone buys this one:
"With ActivePrint on your iPhone all you need is a network or internet connection, something to print, and the free ActivePrint System app which will run on any Windows PC."
...http://www.activeprint.net/apple-iphoneipadipod-touch/

[ben schmidt]

While there may be 3rd-party apps that work with specific apps, the official Apple position for now seems to be: no direct printing, send your file to your computer to print.

iWork for iPad: How to print
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4073

"In order to print, you first need to send your file to your computer."

[Dan Millar]

Hi Gang,

Boy, it's quiet around here! I know the weather's been stellar, but I'm pretty sure we're not all on vacation or at the cottage - right? How about some comment on iPhone OS 4? The new MacBooks? The Sens? I'm gonna focus on iPhone OS 4 right here, but please, let's hear some lively chatter!

First off - no mention of printing under the seven "tentpoles" of the OS. So, we're stuck with third-party solutions for now, and there are many - printershare, etc. - but none that make it simple, i.e., a print icon in the dock.

Second - multitasking for third party apps - this looks like a real winner - best implementation on ANY mobile device. Android and WinMo will have to struggle to make their multitasking this slick.

Third - folders - bit of a yawn really - and why don't they look like folders? Yawn. But I will welcome them, just don't get why they can't look a little more folder-ish, and less generic.

Fourth - unified mailboxes - YEAH! A big win for us, the users! I really didn't like having to leave one mailbox to view another, and this is now solved.

Fifth - iAd. Apple's getting silly with the "i" thing. And anything that brings more ads to your phone/pod/pad is probably not a benefit to us, but the ads demo'd so far look like they may actually be more like mini-apps, so more work for phone/pod/pad developers!

Last, Mobile Device Management. Looks like Apple does want their phone/pod/pad in the enterprise - this gives Apple more corporate possibilities than any other device except, maybe, the Crackberry.

I know an iPhone/pad/pod is not a Mac, and this is a Mac user group, but come on, where's Apple headed with this? Does any of this spill over onto our Macs? Is the iPad the new Mac for the "rest of us"? What is it you do on your Mac that the Pad can't/won't ever do? Do you think we'll still have Macs running Mac OS X in five years, or will some be running iPhone OS X? Imagine the next generation of MacBook running an ARM processor with iPhone OS 5... is that a good thing?

Happy Mac'ing!

Dan

[Dan Millar]

Well, I see no one has any opinion on the iPad. Perhaps you haven't heard about it yet? Check Apples's web page, you can find it, without google, at www.apple.com. I can't be the only one who's seen it, or has some idea what it's all about. Where's z-mac? He MUST have an opinion?

Anyway, as I said previously, it's kind of humorous how companies like HP and Dell have been announcing so-called
iPad killers ( see here: http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/cdn/News.asp?id=57316 ), but none of them have a product on the shelves 'til September or later, and they're still pinning their hopes on Android, because Microsoft's WinMo is now going through a Vista-like upgrade - and no one's buying it, just like Vista.

iPod -> iPhone -> iPad, it's a powerful, and now large group of users, enough to make Adobe worried about Apple's stance against Flash. And by September, Apple will have rolled out iPhone OS 4, so the "others" will have a very long row to hoe to even mke an imprint on the market.

Happy Mc'ing

Dan

[z-mac]

Well, I see no one has any opinion on the iPad. I can't be the only one who's seen it, or has some idea what it's all about. Where's z-mac? He MUST have an opinion?

I am shocked... SHOCKED, I say... to find Mr Millar pleading for attention. Won't you just send me a direct message to let me know the next time you're feeling blue? (o:

it's kind of humorous how companies like HP and Dell have been announcing so-called iPad killers, but none of them have a product on the shelves 'til September or later, and they're still pinning their hopes on Android

I don't have many years experience drinking deep of the Infinite Loop Kool-Aid (ILKA). The fact is that a tablet's hardware could be better than what the current iPad offers. As a developer, I would rather used Android (Linux) than a closed OS. The quick evolution and adoption of Android suggests that there are many who agree. In short, there is an *opportunity* to make a better, more open e-reader/surfing tablet -- and the technology is on the street.

In the terminology of boardroom suits, who can "execute"? HP and Dell are both capable. Google is a kingmaker. This has many superior features: http://wepad.mobi/en/product-comparison

I think there will be better alternatives to the iPad *if* there is a sufficient market. The value proposition has yet to be proven beyond the multitude of ILKA drinkers.

Open source software will defeat commercial development. The only proven way to combat it is to build a protected channel ("walled garden") and enclose users and applications.

iPod -> iPhone -> iPad, it's a powerful, and now large group of users, enough to make Adobe worried about Apple's stance against Flash. And by September, Apple will have rolled out iPhone OS 4, so the "others" will have a very long row to hoe to even mke an imprint on the market.

Here is some substance to balance your Rapture.

Flash has more market share than ANY Apple technology. However, Flash has many enemies, and for good reason. Web developers have been waiting for HTML5 for a long time. Users just "want video" and don't care how it's delivered as long as it doesn't hog the CPU and require an unreasonable amount of care and feeding.

The iPhone is a significant player and it does own more share of its own market than OS X does. Apple is now in third place in "smart phone" shipments, behind Nokia, RIM and "other".

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/04/30/smartphone_sales_jump_50_apple_3rd_largest_vendor_globally.html

How this will drive the growth of the iPad is clear. How it will drive the success of the iPad is not clear, except in the eyes of visionaries (and their swooning acolytes). Apple doesn't "own" any of the markets in which it plays, but it does have a "walled garden" where its children pay to play. 

And such happy, prattling children they are. (o;

[Dan Millar]

Well, finally, someone took the bait. I was beginning to think no one cared. I have to say I agree with some of your points, as I too am a big fan of open-source and its benefits. However, would you fly an airline built from open-source components? I didn't think so. Controlled products bring us "closed environments", but there are definite benefits from using these products over and above their open-source equivalents, or they just would not continue to exist. There are some great success stories in open-source, but they are few - Linux is probably the most widely taken-up, and even it's not making any impression on the general public.

Your other post re: Weird Week points out some interesting developments in the "other" camps, i.e. HP and MS both abandoning their slate/tablet/whatchamacallits in the same week, and Apple taking the high ground in mobile devices, while simultaneously "outing" Adobe on Flash. Adobe's response to Apple's public statement on Flash was weak, and their CEO came off sounding foolish, referring to Adobe products as "open", and inferring that problems with Flash are actually problems with the Mac OS. In a subsequent interview with the Wall Street Journal, he went on to say that Adobe believes in a "multi-platform" world, and Apple is threatened by this. Pure Bunk.

Adobe started as a one-horse pony, only building products for the Mac, because no other computer at the time had the tech or audience for their products. Multi-platform? Unless of course you call Windows multi-platform, Adobe is NOT an "open-platform" company. There's no Creative Suite for Linux, or even just PhotoShop. And all the "open-source" alternatives for Linux "suck", so where's the good of "open-source"? Even when there is so-called "parity" between Mac and Windows versions of Adobe products, the Mac versions have been lagging in performance and features ever since Adobe began courting Windows customers in the late 90's. You can blame it on the Mac's "closed" OS, but that would be wrong, Windows is in no way more "open" than Mac OS - just ask anyone who has developed on both platforms.

Flash is to multimedia what BASIC was to programming - a highly abstracted method of accomplishing results without requiring the heavy lifting of assembler code mechanics. The cost of abstraction - reduced performance. BASIC was good enough for quick, small programs, but when production time came, that BASIC routine would need to be re-coded. Why? A simple loop written in BASIC would execute a hundred times slower than an assembler, and with hundreds of iterations, thousands of times slower. BASIC was never meant for performance, but to teach programming concepts to "noobs". Flash, in my opinion, is the modern equivalent. I could go on about how it breaks basic HTML etiquette - but it isn't the technology itself, of course, it's the users that are largely responsible.

Ninety percent of the Flash on the web is redundant, i.e could be replaced by "open" alternatives - animations and videos do NOT need Flash. The only place I see Flash used where it is necessary are places like TVOKids, HULU and others, where the ENTIRE website is coded as a Flash project. I have no doubt that these sites could easily be replicated using JS, CSS3, and HTML5, and that the result would be much more "open".

It really wouldn't take much to knock Adobe off their pedestal, and Apple has more reason to want this than most, but as Adobe's CEO said - let the customers decide. I would love to ditch my Adobe Creative Suite in favour of something else - as long as it works. I really have no interest in Creative Suite 5, CS4 barely works, and yet, here they come with new, improved blah blah blah. Know what? CS1 did more than I needed it to do, and Adobe hasn't added anything substantial since before that - just more questionable features without the bug fixes.

To return for a moment to the original topic - what was it again? - oh yeah, the iPad. Not revolutionary, not magic, but definitely pushing out a new product space that others, it would appear, are afraid of. Angels go where devils fear to tread.

By the way, get off the "Kool-aid" metaphor, I haven't drank any of the corporate kool-aid, and Mr Jobs hasn't needed to use the RDF since the 80's. Dismissing rational argument by the use of personal slurs just muddies the waters. Besides, isn't "open-source" just free koolaid for all the peace-love-and-understanding types? ;-}

Happy Mac'ing,

Dan

[z-mac]

However, would you fly an airline built from open-source components? I didn't think so.

You thought wrong. Why would I NOT want to use open-source components to run an airline? Can you make a rational argument instead of purveying unsubstantiated, quasi-anecdotal assertions?

But then I do recall that you wanted to "liven up" the discussions. Bravo! (o:

and Apple taking the high ground in mobile devices, while simultaneously "outing" Adobe on Flash. Adobe's response to Apple's public statement on Flash was weak, and their CEO came off sounding foolish, referring to Adobe products as "open", and inferring that problems with Flash are actually problems with the Mac OS. In a subsequent interview with the Wall Street Journal, he went on to say that Adobe believes in a "multi-platform" world, and Apple is threatened by this. Pure Bunk.

HTML5 will be better for Web development (and for the Web) than Flash, we can agree. I suppose this is what you mean by Apple taking the "high road" and "outing" Adobe like the villain in a B movie. (Sounds as though you've poured a little ILKA into your flask...) You don't like Adobe, I infer. 

Adobe started as a one-horse pony

I have heard of a one-trick pony and a one-horse town, but not this. Does Creative Suite have a Metaphor-Mixer plug-in? (o:

Multi-platform? Unless of course you call Windows multi-platform, Adobe is NOT an "open-platform" company.

Adobe has a few excellent products and they also do cross-platform development runtimes. But your  paragraph quickly descends into something remarkably similar to an ILKA rant.

I'll pass, except to say that I have programmed on both platforms. And I have worked with the C/C++ API of one major Adobe product. I don't know what you know about C/C++ development but I can tell you that maintaining a large C/C++ code base is expensive and if one is going to do it, it makes most financial sense to do it for M-Windows. It makes no financial sense to try closed-source development in the GPL-GNU/Linux world. And as far as Apple's marketshare in personal computing... it isn't very much. Love or hate Adobe, they put their money on the horse that's winning the race.

I have no doubt that these sites could easily be replicated using JS, CSS3, and HTML5, and that the result would be much more "open".

You are right and I agree. The facts of the marketplace are what they are nonetheless.

oh yeah, the iPad. Not revolutionary, not magic, but definitely pushing out a new product space that others, it would appear, are afraid of. Angels go where devils fear to tread.

{bright red Adobe Flash object} ILKA ALERT! ILKA ALERT! {/object}

Besides, isn't "open-source" just free koolaid for all the peace-love-and-understanding types?

I think you are attempting to paraphrase the meaning of "ubuntu". (o:

[Dan Millar]

Still can't believe I wrote "one-horse pony". Duh.

There's rational argument against open-source development versus closed "eco-systems", like the iPhone, right under our noses - Android. Say I come up with a new feature for my company's phone - i.e., if a phonemaker innovates for competitive advantage , how does he implement it, without sharing the innovation with the rest of the Android world? Where's his competitive advantage? He can't have one.Where is the impetus to innovate? Nowhere. Where's his financial reward if he does? Oh, he's sharing it with his "friends" at Nokia/Erickson/LG? Not! Yes, it a level playing field, but it's the sub-basement level.

If open-source, cross-platform development is so great - what happened to Java? Name one, just one, open-source innovation that has succeeded. Besides Linux - by far the exception, and hardly an innovation, as it was simply a clone of an existing product. By the way, I do agree that open-sourcing is a good thing, especially for products where the market just isn't big enough (I'm thinking of a recent development in prosthetic limbs, done through open-sourcing) to justify the expense of development, but to imply that it is somehow superior to closed products is just a quasi-anecdotal and completely unsubstantiated claim (barring of course, my own anecdote).

I used to love and admire Adobe, much more so than Apple, in the late-80's, early 90's. And I was happy to pay the Adobe "tax" on every PostScript-equipped product, for a while. I think unfortunately, Adobe ended up with a very large amount of money and got into the acquisition game, which is where a lot of people who relied on Adobe products to make their living began to get frustrated. PageMaker, InDesign or FrameMaker(if not Quark)? GoLive or DreamWeaver? FreeHand or Illustrator (Frustratored yet?) LiveMotion and SVG or Flash and FLV? PressReady? Acrobat Mac or PC? - at one point two entirely different products. PostScript or PDF or FlashPaper (finger down throat, gagging sounds)? Which level/version? Whither AuthorWare and Director?

Since when does "bigger market"="better product"? I can't believe you went with that old acorn. Apple has already sold a million iPads in its first month, and over 60 million iPhones in the last three years - if bigger is better as you say, then Apple is already poised to be best-in-market - the mobile computing market that is. The general public don't care about all the techno-babble, they want value for their money, and the value proposition Apple has put together with MobileMe, AppleCare, iTunes, iLife, the iPhone OS,and Mac OS X, is hard to beat, if not unbeatable.

Oh yes, the evil "walled garden" - when did this metaphor become unique to Apple? What about GM? IBM? BMW? and all the other famous acronyms, including M$. Does it really disturb people they can't put a Maserati transmission in their Ford Escort without voiding the warranty? Are they shocked and dismayed that this wasn't explained to them when they bought their Ford Escort, that this is "buried in the fine print"? Apple's wall is not so high that people cannot see the beautiful flowers, and want to be in that garden.

I did not mean to descend into a rant - I presented a few well-known facts about Adobe's turncoat behaviour. As a long-time Mac user, I have never "bet on the winning horse". It's opinion that makes horse races, and you'll rarely make a cent betting on the consensus.

Cross-platform, open-development is not ever going to produce a superior product - you said it yourself - "it makes most financial sense to do it for M-Windows".

I rest my case. Have to get more Kool-Aid! :•)

Happy Mac'ing,

Dan