Microsoft just showed Apple how it’s done
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For the past few years I’ve been disappointed and, frankly, saddened at Apple’s lack of innovation. They do a fantastic job of waiting till the tech is ready before launching their own, extremely well thought out and polished interpretation of that technology. I love their hardware and their entire ecosystem integration. It’s magic. However, over the past few years they have turned inwards and have simply polished and refined old products while others move ahead. They focus on making a keyboard thin instead of making it a pleasure to use. They focus on making a phone bigger instead of more personal. They focus on removing ports instead of making connecting easier. Panos Panay is possibly the most annoying presenter ever, but that was an awesome reveal at the end of the Microsoft event today. Not sure about the whole Android thing on a Surface device (and dude - where’s the camera??) but it was well played.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
Not sure about the whole Android thing on a Surface device
Ok, I'll bite: wut[*]? [*] I *think* that's how it's spelled, according to the meme... [Edit - probably related...] So [this](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2019/10/02/introducing-windows-10x-enabling-dual-screen-pcs-in-2020/) just showed up...full title: "Introducing Windows 10X: enabling dual-screen PCs in 2020" I've had dual-screen PCs for decades; my NUC is currently driving 3 screens. Why should I be excited about this? I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be "enabling dual-screen *tablets* and similar devices in 2020". Because that's really all that's new here. And other than the new *hardware* we can anticipate from this, did they really have much to add to Windows itself to support this...? [Edit #2] Uh-oh. Yet another version of Windows 10. So here's my first question...is it dumbed down like Windows 10 Home, which you cannot RDP into and join domains and such, or following Pro, which allows for those scenarios? Why not just roll the features that make "10X" unique into the other versions rather than introducing yet another SKU?
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Chris Maunder wrote:
Not sure about the whole Android thing on a Surface device
Ok, I'll bite: wut[*]? [*] I *think* that's how it's spelled, according to the meme... [Edit - probably related...] So [this](https://blogs.windows.com/windowsexperience/2019/10/02/introducing-windows-10x-enabling-dual-screen-pcs-in-2020/) just showed up...full title: "Introducing Windows 10X: enabling dual-screen PCs in 2020" I've had dual-screen PCs for decades; my NUC is currently driving 3 screens. Why should I be excited about this? I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be "enabling dual-screen *tablets* and similar devices in 2020". Because that's really all that's new here. And other than the new *hardware* we can anticipate from this, did they really have much to add to Windows itself to support this...? [Edit #2] Uh-oh. Yet another version of Windows 10. So here's my first question...is it dumbed down like Windows 10 Home, which you cannot RDP into and join domains and such, or following Pro, which allows for those scenarios? Why not just roll the features that make "10X" unique into the other versions rather than introducing yet another SKU?
dandy72 wrote:
I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be
Do you mind if I use this in discussions I have with marketing folk about the need to be accurate when talking with developers? WRT to the other questions: Does it matter? Anything that moves us, even incrementally, towards a model where our apps work on all devices is a Good Thing. I don't care if it's not perfect. I'm just amazed that in 2019 we still have to write an app for Windows, then an app for Android and for iOS. The best answer to all of this is Xamarin or Javascript based apps. Javascript. Bring on Windows 10X. I don't care if they paint if purple. Just fix this pointless duality.
cheers Chris Maunder
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dandy72 wrote:
I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be
Do you mind if I use this in discussions I have with marketing folk about the need to be accurate when talking with developers? WRT to the other questions: Does it matter? Anything that moves us, even incrementally, towards a model where our apps work on all devices is a Good Thing. I don't care if it's not perfect. I'm just amazed that in 2019 we still have to write an app for Windows, then an app for Android and for iOS. The best answer to all of this is Xamarin or Javascript based apps. Javascript. Bring on Windows 10X. I don't care if they paint if purple. Just fix this pointless duality.
cheers Chris Maunder
Just keep your darn Windows off my OpenVMS.
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For the past few years I’ve been disappointed and, frankly, saddened at Apple’s lack of innovation. They do a fantastic job of waiting till the tech is ready before launching their own, extremely well thought out and polished interpretation of that technology. I love their hardware and their entire ecosystem integration. It’s magic. However, over the past few years they have turned inwards and have simply polished and refined old products while others move ahead. They focus on making a keyboard thin instead of making it a pleasure to use. They focus on making a phone bigger instead of more personal. They focus on removing ports instead of making connecting easier. Panos Panay is possibly the most annoying presenter ever, but that was an awesome reveal at the end of the Microsoft event today. Not sure about the whole Android thing on a Surface device (and dude - where’s the camera??) but it was well played.
cheers Chris Maunder
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For the past few years I’ve been disappointed and, frankly, saddened at Apple’s lack of innovation. They do a fantastic job of waiting till the tech is ready before launching their own, extremely well thought out and polished interpretation of that technology. I love their hardware and their entire ecosystem integration. It’s magic. However, over the past few years they have turned inwards and have simply polished and refined old products while others move ahead. They focus on making a keyboard thin instead of making it a pleasure to use. They focus on making a phone bigger instead of more personal. They focus on removing ports instead of making connecting easier. Panos Panay is possibly the most annoying presenter ever, but that was an awesome reveal at the end of the Microsoft event today. Not sure about the whole Android thing on a Surface device (and dude - where’s the camera??) but it was well played.
cheers Chris Maunder
As a former Apple user (I still have a MacBook Pro, but it's booting up Debian more often than not), I will have to agree with you on the innovation stagnation. The one great thing Apple had going for it was the synergy you had when you bought the entire Apple ecosystem. Everything was adjusted accordingly whether you were working on you iPhone, iPad, Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. And you had an almost flawless consistency of interface throughout the ecosystem. But what I've been seeing lately is confusing and confounding features that really aren't well thought out, and I'm seeing that Apple is sitting on their laurels more than taking the spear and leading the charge, even though they have been poised to do so for over a decade. It's almost as if Steve Jobs died with the recipe to the Secret Special Sauce and forgot to tell the folks at Apple where to find it. I did like that Microsoft will be adding AMD processors to their Surface lineup, and finally adopting Android into their world. I worry that Microsoft is on the "Extend" part of thier usual "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" game plan. Good news...if they do try to extinguish FOSS, all others have to do is fork it to survive. I think they are changing their playbook, though. The Github acquisition, for instance, is out of character. So was their release of Visual Studio Code, which has become my favorite IDE-lite text editor on just about every platform.
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"However, over the past few years they have turned onwards..." Did you mean inwards?
"They have a consciousness, they have a life, they have a soul! Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses! Save our brothers! Can I get an amen?"
Yeah. Blame the autocorrect on the iPhone ;)
cheers Chris Maunder
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As a former Apple user (I still have a MacBook Pro, but it's booting up Debian more often than not), I will have to agree with you on the innovation stagnation. The one great thing Apple had going for it was the synergy you had when you bought the entire Apple ecosystem. Everything was adjusted accordingly whether you were working on you iPhone, iPad, Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. And you had an almost flawless consistency of interface throughout the ecosystem. But what I've been seeing lately is confusing and confounding features that really aren't well thought out, and I'm seeing that Apple is sitting on their laurels more than taking the spear and leading the charge, even though they have been poised to do so for over a decade. It's almost as if Steve Jobs died with the recipe to the Secret Special Sauce and forgot to tell the folks at Apple where to find it. I did like that Microsoft will be adding AMD processors to their Surface lineup, and finally adopting Android into their world. I worry that Microsoft is on the "Extend" part of thier usual "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" game plan. Good news...if they do try to extinguish FOSS, all others have to do is fork it to survive. I think they are changing their playbook, though. The Github acquisition, for instance, is out of character. So was their release of Visual Studio Code, which has become my favorite IDE-lite text editor on just about every platform.
It's not about hardware or software anymore. The battle is currently a land grab to get as many users as possible on Azure. They are going directly against AWS and Google. Get your customers deeply embedded with TB or PB of data safely tucked away in your data centres and they won't go anywhere. Interestingly Apple doesn't even feature here, but maybe with the push for more services Apple will start to play catch up. I'm actually curious as to why Microsoft is pushing the Surface line. Obviously they want adoption of their OS and services to funnel people to Azure, so I'm wondering if building the industry's best hardware (whether true or not) is an attempt to induce a halo effect.
cheers Chris Maunder
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dandy72 wrote:
I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be
Do you mind if I use this in discussions I have with marketing folk about the need to be accurate when talking with developers? WRT to the other questions: Does it matter? Anything that moves us, even incrementally, towards a model where our apps work on all devices is a Good Thing. I don't care if it's not perfect. I'm just amazed that in 2019 we still have to write an app for Windows, then an app for Android and for iOS. The best answer to all of this is Xamarin or Javascript based apps. Javascript. Bring on Windows 10X. I don't care if they paint if purple. Just fix this pointless duality.
cheers Chris Maunder
Chris Maunder wrote:
dandy72 wrote:
I know what they meant--but if that's the case, then maybe the title should be
Do you mind if I use this in discussions I have with marketing folk about the need to be accurate when talking with developers?
Please do - I certainly don't own the patent on the idea. May you succeed where others have failed. Write back. Let us know how it turns out. Godspeed. Etc.......
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As a former Apple user (I still have a MacBook Pro, but it's booting up Debian more often than not), I will have to agree with you on the innovation stagnation. The one great thing Apple had going for it was the synergy you had when you bought the entire Apple ecosystem. Everything was adjusted accordingly whether you were working on you iPhone, iPad, Mac Pro or MacBook Pro. And you had an almost flawless consistency of interface throughout the ecosystem. But what I've been seeing lately is confusing and confounding features that really aren't well thought out, and I'm seeing that Apple is sitting on their laurels more than taking the spear and leading the charge, even though they have been poised to do so for over a decade. It's almost as if Steve Jobs died with the recipe to the Secret Special Sauce and forgot to tell the folks at Apple where to find it. I did like that Microsoft will be adding AMD processors to their Surface lineup, and finally adopting Android into their world. I worry that Microsoft is on the "Extend" part of thier usual "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" game plan. Good news...if they do try to extinguish FOSS, all others have to do is fork it to survive. I think they are changing their playbook, though. The Github acquisition, for instance, is out of character. So was their release of Visual Studio Code, which has become my favorite IDE-lite text editor on just about every platform.
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AFell2 wrote:
I worry that Microsoft is on the "Extend" part of thier usual "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" game plan.
What is this, 1997? Or have I somehow accidentally wandered onto Slashdot?
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Yeah. Blame the autocorrect on the iPhone ;)
cheers Chris Maunder
That would never happen on an Android device. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
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It's a valid worry whenever Microsoft is involved. Just because the lion has laid down with the lamb doesn't mean lamb isn't on the menu anymore. It just means that it's convenient at this time. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?
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It's not about hardware or software anymore. The battle is currently a land grab to get as many users as possible on Azure. They are going directly against AWS and Google. Get your customers deeply embedded with TB or PB of data safely tucked away in your data centres and they won't go anywhere. Interestingly Apple doesn't even feature here, but maybe with the push for more services Apple will start to play catch up. I'm actually curious as to why Microsoft is pushing the Surface line. Obviously they want adoption of their OS and services to funnel people to Azure, so I'm wondering if building the industry's best hardware (whether true or not) is an attempt to induce a halo effect.
cheers Chris Maunder
Sadly the world has changed such that you can't make money selling an OS anymore. They may want to do the whole 'join our cloud, or else' thing; but, even if they don't, they have little choice. Blame Google for all of this. When they finally figured out how to get ridiculously rich, without hardly any obligations to anyone for it, and of course by making their users their product, what was the last bird in the coffin under the bridge for companies at that level who actually wanted to sell software products. We are heading straight back to the mainframe and dumb terminal (no matter how pretty the UI is on the terminal now.)
Explorans limites defectum
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That would never happen on an Android device. /ravi
My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com
Careful there, Ravi. Apple has copyright, trademark, and patent rights on all forms of hyperbole, and they're zealous in their defense of those rights.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
AFell2 wrote:
I worry that Microsoft is on the "Extend" part of thier usual "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" game plan.
What is this, 1997? Or have I somehow accidentally wandered onto Slashdot?
No, 1984.
Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello