How many APPLE products have you owned?

Agree, but I don't think it can happen to a freely assembled machine. For instance some ATMs run Windows CE, but the hardware never changes, the firmware rarely changes, and users are only allowed to run 1 program. Extremely stable (although I do like the Win98 BSOD image on an old ATM ) The newer ones are even locked down to the point that it uses a HORM image (Hibernate Once Resume Many) so no matter what you do, on the next power cycle it will be exactly the same as it was from the factory.

If you sold consumer level PC's with a HORM boot image, and another partition for data, it would still not work too well. Users could use the pre-installed programs (most likely Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office) to do things, but they could not install programs that require access to the OS. They could not install new hardware that require new drivers. They could install "portable" style apps which are all self contained, but that's it.

So basically you get into a situation where you need to make it sort of HORM-y in that anytime you change the OS files the user needs to verify that it really should be changed. Voila, the birth of UAC. But as we know, PEBKAC. They just click yes all the time and then it is pointless.

If you make something locked down then idiot users as well as super users can't do anything. The only current solution I see is to make Administrator accounts not the default. When you get a PC, you have a normal user group policy setting that locks you out. If you are a super user, you will know how to change it to Administrator mode and do what you will. But if you just surf the web and install lots of "free games" then you are stuck with normal user and it wipes all the crap without your consent.

 

This was my biggest problem with Vista (that and the fact that I *like* menus). Yes, I'm sure I want to delete that file. Yes, I'm really sure. No, I haven't changed my mind. Yes, I've thought about it, and I really do want to delete it.

I'm willing to bet the boys in Redmond were watching 2001 and said "Hey, let's do THAT!"

 

We are starting to see computers become more appliance-like with the advent of smart phones and tablets. Less is being done on the device itself and more out in the cloud. That means that the user's computer can be reloaded or replaced without the loss of applications and user data.

My PS3 is a good example. It updates itself when necessary, and I don't have much say about it unless I want to stop using it online. Mostly it just works. On the other hand, if something goes wrong there isn't much I can do about it, and my options are very limited for customization. I believe these are trade-offs most end users are willing to make. Most people don't know how to do anything advanced with their computers, so they just want them to work like an appliance.

Tom

 

I didn't read all the posts, but Jimbo is one of the very few to have an Apple product before me:
Apple //c (1984)
Mac Classic (1991)
Perfoma 631CD (1995)
iMac G3 (1998)
lampshade iMac (2004) - in use until last month, survived years of web browsing by my son
Intel iMac (2009) - my current computer
iPad (2011) (cheapest one available)

Then my son:
iPod Touch (last year?)
MacBook Pro (last month)

My wife:
iPod nano (last month)

Parallels does the same on the Mac, but it's not free (not expensive though, a lot cheaper than the Windows license).


And on to the main topic as it is currently:
The Apple I and Apple II were revolutionary in many respects (switching power supply, self-contained unit with keyboard in a molded plastic frame instead of the standard metal boxes, of course Wozniak's wizardry with the graphics and circuit board).

The Macintosh was revolutionary in introducing the GUI and mouse. (Yes, they stole the idea from Xerox, but they had an agreement with Xerox in exchange for selling them shares to the venture capital unit. Also, Xerox actually came to market with their GUI first, but it was in a $16K machine with a clunky interface and the product flopped).

After that, Microsoft was brought kicking and screaming into the graphical age. After Windows NT they started catching up nicely and today are very competitive. But I have spent years with Final Cut Express and don't really care to buy a new program and relearn how to edit movies. iPhoto is a really useful tool for me, as is GraphicConverter (2/3 of photoshop for 1/8 the price, only available on Mac). I was also pleasantly surprised when Mac Mail in OS X could read all the e-mail formats I had used for the previous decade (eudora, outlook express, etc.) and imported everything (except elm, I think, but I didn't really have much if anything in that). With my genealogy research, I'd hate to lose my e-mail. I've never had a hard drive crash, ever.

They're still innovating in some areas, primarily OS/Software now - I really like their Time Machine, which is simply the right way to handle backups. Also, they were using drag-and-drop to burn a CD when PCs were still clumsily using a complicated Roxio interface to burn a CD.

It's not for everybody and that's okay. If you want to spend less and listen to that fan always running on a box you want to hide under the desk or in a corner, that's your choice. Oh, and I don't have to worry about viruses or opening possibly rogue e-mail attachments. With a teenage son, that's worth the price of admission right there. But capability wise, the two systems are now quite similar.

 

I see it just like you do. It's only on their portable devices that they've disabled Flash, since it's the main cause for apps dying. That only affects my iPad, but I could install a VPN to my Mac if it was a problem. (My phone is an Android, which is no better than an iPhone, but I'm not switching networks for that).

 

Flash is evil, even on desktop computers. It's always been a resource hog, and often unstable. The sooner it gets replaced by HTML5 the better, I say.

Tom

 

+1

Flash and PDFs... I love the idea of PDFs but it is sad when a 3rd party add on can view them better and more robustly than vendor specific software for a vendor specific format. At least with "Adobe X" they have fixed the constant crashing, but new joys of not redrawing screen boundaries are now present!

 

Adobe has produce a lot of crap software over the years. Much of it has been innovative, but often not robust. Their ports for Windows have been particularly bad in this regard.

Tom

 

I can't really say too much I suppose as I have at least 10 PDFs open in various browser tabs, one open natively, Photoshop and then Dreamweaver running...

I do like Photoshop. Probably because I have used it for forever. Only reason I use Dreamweaver is because it came with the bundle lol.

 

If appliances worked like most computers, we'd have gone back to iceboxes and beating our clothes on rocks down by the river.

Most people have no idea how their appliances work, either. How many people do you know who listen to and understand the whole explanation of how a refrigerator works, without their eyes glazing over or their mind blowing a fuse?

 

I use them too. I no longer use Photoshop, since there are many good alternatives. I often read and create PDFs, but I use open source software for that. And I too have an older copy of Dreamweaver that I find useful for some forms of web development. Of course Dreamweaver wasn't an Adobe product originally. It came with the acquisition of Macromedia.

Tom

 

First was an iPod nano that my employer gave me as some kind of safety prize. It was the old one that looked like a stretched domino. Loaded some MP3's and used it at the gym....was impressed. I retired the old Archos HD-based MP3 player.

The old nano went missing under mysterious circumstances, so I got a new one, the little one with the built in clip. Still works fine.

On impulse, bought a new iPod touch when they first came out. Very cool toy. It's now the MP3 server that stays in the Prius armrest.

My first cell phone was the 3W Motorola analog that was OEM installed in my BMW 7 series. I have yet to have a mobile phone that worked as well as that one. Always a signal, always clear sound. Several handhelds later, the same old number was on a work-supplied Blackberry. Switched jobs, so I needed to buy one to house my 14 year old number. Bought a iPhone 3GS. Loved it. Knew then the RIM is toast.

Job switch also cost me my laptop, so I had to finally buy one of my own. Bought an early MacBook Air. Pulled the HD, and installed a flash-based storage. Installed Win 7 because I wanted to be able to run PC software and view all webpages.

Retired the 3GS and bought a iPhone 4 for no good reason.

Bought an iPad on a whim. 64GB and 3G. Use it at work to keep personal email and browsing off the company LAN. It's a great information delivery device, but cannot do real work on it. Still fun. I carry it instead of the laptop when traveling on vacation. One power supply can then work for it and the phone too.

Home PC is still hand built (by me). Core i7, Asus mobo, Corsair RAM, WD velociraptors, all the good stuff to run FSX and other games.

I don't know why people complain about Apple stuff. Those Chinese child laborers do good work.