15 Mar
2017
15 Mar
'17
10:50 a.m.
On 15 Mar 2017, at 16:37 , Noel Chiappa via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
I was hoping, for the longest time, that Linux or the various BSDs would break the Windows
dominance. That never happened, except for in certain areas, like server and HPC
applications.
As for smart-phones, it was Apple that introduced the idea of having smart-phones that
were almost all battery and display, and using a purely graphical/touch interface. That
class of device might have emerged eventually without Apple, but it's a fact that most
of the mobile phone vendors had to do a lot of redesign in a short time after the iPhone
was introduced (or a few months before, in the case of Google).
If you haven't guessed, I like Apple ? for several reasons, but mainly because they
make good, solid products that work well, and they actually work well for both ordinary
users and enthusiasts. I have absolutely no problem with paying a little extra for a
computer that lasts a little longer, keeps its value longer and works better in many ways,
both subtle and obvious.
From: Raymond Wiker
Steve Jobs ... was also a stickler for perfection
and largely unwilling
to make compromises.
Absolutely; and that's a large part of the reason for the success of Apple.
His products were just really well done.
It's also, I think, a big part of the causality for another Apple
characteristic: their push for closed systems. The thing is that Steve wanted
to make the user experience as good as possible (another hallmark of Apple
stuff) - and when the 'system' includes pieces being independently sourced
from multiple entities, it's hard to make that happen - there will be
glitches, etc. So that's why he usually wanted to bring the entire thing
inside the Apple envelope.
So, Steve Jobs ... should get some of the credit
for the fact that
we're not all running Windows on variations of crappy PC hardware.
I think that's not accurate; Linux may not have a large user base among
non-technical people in the laptop area, but it does show that there are other
alternatives. And when it gets to smart-phones, of course, things which are
neither Apple nor uSloth are the majority there, no?