Gruber Versus

This, um, conversation (to use the word generously) is interesting. And I just wanted to pipe in on it myself.

Gruber starts off his piece quoting Larry Page from Google I/O as saying:

Every story I read about Google is ‘us versus some other company’ or some stupid thing, and I just don’t find that very interesting. We should be building great things that don’t exist. Being negative isn’t how we make progress. Most important things are not zero sum, there is a lot of opportunity out there.

And then proceeds to break down Page's argument with a quick and concise two-paragraph response. Fair enough. But the plot thickens when Ian Betteridge quotes Steve Jobs as saying:

“We have to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose,” Jobs said. “We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job. If others are going to help us, that’s great. Because we need all the help we can get. […] The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over.”

And then Betteridge turns Gruber's argument back on itself showing (at least in Batteridge's view) how Gruber holds Apple and Google to different standards. The comments from Betteridge's detractors all seem to be focused around zero-sum and how Jobs' quote needs to be placed in context. I think this is a red herring distracting us from Gruber's actual argument.

Everyone is comparing these two segments:

Jobs:

The era of setting this up as a competition between Apple and Microsoft is over.

Page:

Most important things are not zero sum, there is a lot of opportunity out there.

This is the wrong segment to focus on. No one is arguing that Jobs ever said any market is "zero-sum", or at least I'm not and I doubt John Gruber is either. I think the crux of the argument should be focus around these two segments:

Jobs:

We have to embrace the notion that for Apple to win, Apple has to do a really good job.

Page:

We should be building great things that don’t exist.

Apple collectively and Jobs specifically have never maid the claim that they single-handedly invented any market. Rather, they reinvented the personal music player (iPod), music purchase (iTunes Music Store), cell phone (iPhone), tablet (iPad), and, arguably, laptop design (MacBook Air) industries. Whereas Google is claiming to be making things never seen before. And if the essence of the argument is found where it ought to be, Gruber's commentary takes weight and Betteridge's falls flat.

Objectivity In Journalism

Back in November MG Siegler posted a piece entitled Never Apologize For Having An Opinion - Especially When You're Right. Of course this is yet another response to the strange trend of false objectivity.

I think before one can make blanket statements about anyone's opinion being valuable (worth my time to read) we have to note the very important different between opinion and presupposition.

Take, for example; this joke of a piece by Connor Simpson(emphasis mine):

The legal war between Samsung and Apple is going really well and they're both behaving like civil, reasonable adults. Ha, no, not really. Apple just threw a tantrum because they were ordered to tell Samsung a bunch of secrets that could potentially help Samsung keep their products on the shelves.

'Tantrum'? Did Apple throw an Annie Edison-style fit? The word 'crusade' is trotted out later in the piece. The whole thing has a decidedly anti-Apple slant, but there's no basis given for any of it. The author just seems to hate Apple from the outset. Not only is this kind of opinion is useless, it ruins any possible reporting that may have actually occurred in the piece.

In no way am I trying to say Siegler was wrong, but his comments need to be taken in context. If something's awesome, say so. If something stinks, say so. But let's do our best to rise above our presuppositions and make useful judgments based on whatever it is we're examining at the time.

Not all opinions are created equal.

Differences in 'Open'

Stephen Fry

Google and some of the smaller Android OEMs might well sleep uneasily in their beds… Word is Samsung already have a prototype OS well into development.

This is why Google's 'open' approach in mobile and Microsoft's 'open' approach in computing are completely different. Microsoft never had to worry about this.

But I'd wager Google would still count these things as Android 'activations'.

iTunes Holdouts and the Love of Money

Some artists have given in to the iTunes Store juggernaut (Metallica, The Beatles, AC/DC), others still hold out (Garth Brooks, Def Leppard, Bob Seger), and some can't decide (Kid Rock). But what they all agreed on, at least at some point, was that they did not want their albums sold off piecemeal. Why? Because, as Garth Brooks put it:

I don't want singles 'cause you make an album for a reason, an album is a reflection of who the artist is at that time.

Sorry Garth, as much as I love your music (and I do, Much Too Young, for example, has a permanent spot on my playlist) this excuse is bunk. And I'll give two good reasons to back up my assertion that the whole "album as a reflection of an artist" thing is bunk.

  1. Hits
  2. Ultimate Hits

These compilations do not represent who you were at the time you recorded the albums because the tracks span many years, and I suppose some argument could be made for hand-selecting a cohesive career retrospective, but these albums are simply collections of your most popular songs. And this isn't to pick on Garth Brooks exclusively, Bob Seger and Def Leppard are just as guilty.

Don't make some artistic stand, just call it what it is, Apple uses iTunes content to make iPods more attractive because they want the money that selling those iPods brings in. But artists also want the money whole albums bring in. It's all a money game. And right now everyone's losing.

Update: As Paul Rumens notes in the comments, Def Leppard are arguing with the label, not Apple.

Market Fundamentals

Dmitry Fadeyev:

If this is the view of the market that Microsoft subscribe[s] to, then Windows 8 is the answer to that...It’s an OS that assumes that most computing will be done on devices that resemble powerful tablets with detachable keyboards, not on the laptops and the desktops of today. It’s an OS that tries to serve everyone at once, to cover all use cases and all markets....

But this only holds if the original premise is correct, that the tablet is the evolution of the laptop, and I just don’t think that’s right. Where the division lies is not a[t] the desktop and the mobile level, or between the laptop and the tablet, but between professional use (i.e. content creation), and light/entertainment use (i.e content consumption). While tablets are not necessarily used purely for content consumption, their limitations (small screen size and lack of a hardware keyboard) mean that this will always be their main use.

This is what Apple has demonstrated an uncanny understanding of since 2007, and it's why they're making money hand over fist.

Fight Piracy with Indignation

Megan McArdle:

You are not forced into piracy because you can't get a television show at the exact moment when you want to see it; you are choosing piracy.

If that's not wrong, then hey, no need to write long articles about how they've really backed you into a corner. If you think it is wrong, then act like a grownup and wait until you can buy it legally. And really, if you wouldn't write an op-ed urging storeowners to stay open 24/7 lest they drive their customers to a little light B&E, then please don't write essentially the same thing about cable networks.

This isn't the issue, at least I don't think it is. And the comparison, while ethically accurate, is irrelevant. Downloading via torrent files is free and very easy. Not only that, but the threat of repercussion is very, very small given the payoff (HD content available within hours of original airing).

Now I do not mean to say that stealing is okay, because it obviously is not, but taking a moral stand and talking about 'acting like a grownup', while noble, is useless.

What needs to happen is that, like the introduction of the iTunes Music Store, studios need to compete with piracy, not ignore it. Make it obscenely easy to be honest. Provide content to your customers at accessible prices and as soon as possible. I believe most folks want to be honest, but they aren't passionate about it.

In short; get off your high-horse of righteousness and get down in the pit to fight piracy on it's own turf.

(via Jim Dalrymple)

The Race for Mediocre

I was catching up on some Macalope Weekly back-issues today and couldn't help but think, several weeks further into this whole Surface fiasco, that the Macalope is more right than ever about Microsoft's current direction under Ballmer:

Well, yeah, OK, but what if not doing things really well—just kind of trying to cover all your bases and then shoving something out the door—was kind of your thing? What then, smart guy?

Live long and prosper, @TheMacalope.

On Setting Up Windows Machines

At work I'm required to use a Windows laptop. As, perhaps, many of you are. And yes, a little piece of me does die every day. I've decided to get a Mac anyway to do actual work, and I can use this PC to interface with the small handful of Windows-only applications I am required to use. Incidentally my iPad has become a huge part of my workflow since being given this HP Pavillion g Series with a sweet AMD Quad-Core processor. Let me just say that not all Quad-Cores are created equal.

All that to say that this is not the point of my post. The point is that when I first got this computer I had to, obviously, set it up for actual use. This took me the better part of the day. Seriously it took almost 5 hours.

First things first. The computer booted into Windows 7 which, as far as Windows goes, is fairly nice, but it has subtly changed enough from XP that I get confused about things like "Personalizing" my desktop. But when it boots you need to go get some basic tools like an anti-virus package. I went with Windows Security Essentials - why is this not bundled? Security software is essential for Windows - it should be included standard. Once that's downloaded I double-click to open and then start doing something else... downloading Chrome, I think. After several minutes I notice that WSE still has not installed. So I click on the yellow install shield in the task bar and the screen goes black... after a few seconds a warning dialogue pops up that asks if it's okay that the program I just launched makes changes I click 'yes' and only then will the program actually install. Then Windows needs to restart. Fine. Restart. When Windows loads up again it it begins installing update 1 of 75. That took about 10-15 minutes. Then it restarted again. Then it installed a few more updates, probably around 10-15. Then it restarted again and booted into the actual OS after a while. Then I installed Office (I use iWork on my Macs) and it reminded me about how much I love authentication... 'cause one cannot copy-paste off the back of the Office packaging. Fine.

Then, because the built-in trackpad on this HP box is so horrendous I bought a wireless mouse (with USB dongle, of course) and as soon as it was plugging in, it just worked... no, no it didn't. Windows needed to reboot again. Reboot.

Install Dropbox, C-Cleaner, and Defraggler. No restart. Nice.

Then came the death blow. Installing programs I use every single day...

  • Reeder? No. Windows alternative... none.
  • Fantastical? No. Windows alternative... none.
  • Cobook? No. Windows alternative... none.
  • Coda? No. Windows alternative... Dreamweaver: $399
  • Pixelmator? No. Windows alternative... Photoshop: $699 or GIMP: Shoot Me
  • Motion? No. Windows alternative... After Effects: $999
  • Aperture? No. Windows alternative... Lightroom: $149
  • Mail.app? No. Windows alternative... Postbox: $39 or Outlook: Shoot Me

That's $290 in Mac software that would cost $2290 to replace most of in a Windows world.

After about two month of this I broke down and bought a Mac. I still have that HP in the corner. And I use it occasionally for a small handful of Windows-only tasks. But it sure looks awful lonely.

Windows users... I don't know how you put up with these machines. The constant rebooting. Updates a-plenty, all requiring a reboot. Software makers that assume you're trying to steal everything (but with those prices I can understand why). Even the OS assumes it's been stolen until proved otherwise.

You know the best part? No one in my office thought it was at all weird that I spent my whole first day setting up my machine. No one.

When I bought my new Mac I had it set up in an hour.

Google Maps for iOS

Jake Smith:

The question is: will Apple accept [Google's maps app]?

I disagree. The question is: what are we giving up? Maps needs access to some rather important information. Like your address book (Contacts) and location data. This means that Maps can report back to Google routes you use on a regular basis as well as stores and other shopping opportunities nearby. People you know, and things they're into will help Google provide you with eerily specific ad targeting. I just don't know that I want Google to have access to where I am at any given time (when I'm getting directions). I also doubt that I want Google to know who I am friends with, but I require Facebook for my job, so I just assume I've already lost that battle.

Short of the long is this: we are for sale. And the more info Google has about us, the more valuable we are to Google's customers.

Office for iOS & Android

Free, but it requires a Microsoft account, and only allows viewing (which iOS already does, without a Microsoft account). And if you want "basic editing" it'll cost $4/month. Or, if you want more advanced editing you can just buy the whole iWork suite for $30 in the App Store. This sounds like the stupidest thing ever. How did it possibly take Microsoft 4 years to come out with this?

(via The Verge)

Space on RT

Justin Rubio:

Microsoft has revealed exactly how much free space new Surface owners are left with after taking into account Windows RT and system-related files. For the 32GB version of the new tablet, users have access to only 16GB of storage, with the remaining half taken up by Windows recovery tools, Windows RT, Microsoft Office, and built-in apps.

What's most amazing about this to me is that this is the stripped-down version of Windows designed exclusively for tablets. How unreal will the space requirements for Windows for Surface Pro be!?

Tim Cook on Compromise

Microsoft was chanting the mantra of "No Compromises" at it's Surface Launch Event. But that's just delusory nonsense. Even Tim Cook, whose company has been leading the charge in almost every profitable & popular emerging area of personal computing said (via Joanna Stern):

One of the toughest things you do is make hard tradeoffs and decide what a product should be, and we’ve done that with the iPad.

It's not about 'no compromise' it's about the right compromise.

High-Risk Permissions

Ellen Messmer via Jim Dalrymple:

Of the 412,222 Android apps evaluated from Google Play, Bit9 says more than 290,000 of them access at least one high-risk permission, 86,000 access five or more and 8,000 apps access 10 or more permissions “flagged as potentially dangerous.”

While I've no doubt that "wallpaper" apps don't need access to anything on one's phone this excerpt seems unfair to Android. We all remember Path-gate, and the outrage over that. It happens in iOS as well. And if you read through what Bit9 says are 'high-risk permissions' some of these very permissions are available to devs on the iOS platform as well. Like GPS location data and Contacts data. Granted, iOS now requires users to expressly approve any application's access to this data, but that by no means makes the average user totally safe from an app maliciously crafted by a devious developer.

What I think would be more interesting would be an analysis of 412,222 applications on the iOS App Store to see how many of them access 'high-risk permissions' the difference there would be a much more honest comparison.