More Dashboard
I thought I would try out DashBlog to see how it worked. I may never again open my browser to post here, assuming this delivers things as well as the usual interface.
posted by Andrew Purvis @ 3:39 AM
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Previous Posts
- Dashboard, Baby! Oh Yeah, and Bridge!
- Falling In Love For The Xth Time
- Too Much
- Staying On Task
- London
- O'Connor
- Airplanes And Ashes
- What Month Is It?
- 2,000!
- My Stone Tablets
Blogs I Like
National Report
Twelve Two Two Fondue
Winged Nuts and Sobering Screws
Scrivenings
Russian Violets
jo(e)'s page
Xaotica
Everybody Seems to be Kerbabbled!
Trampled Flat
(a)musings of a grad student
7 Comments:
Don't give up aesthetic control, just so you can use a spiffy program that looks neat.
There is also the matter of time. Time to learn and test it, compared to any time savings it promises.
I'm giving up this cause, but I turned off my colors for a sec, and the colors of your blog still look horrible. You should confer with X as to aesthetics.
I have to give up some control if I am going to meet the requirements to be posted at Apple.
Regarding this look, well, IE doesn't render this properly (Netscape 4.x through 7, Opera, iCab, Safari, and Firefox all are fine), so I am going to revert to a basic look soon and modify slowly from there. Since I know that IE Mac also has the rendering problem, I can test it without sullying my hands.
I was talking about DashBlog. I think you're talking about widgets.
Maybe Apple is trying to give more control to end users, to remedy a major criticism of Apple.
I think you come pretty close to the position that Apple can do no wrong. But then how do they improve and gain ground on Microsoft?
And Apple should gain ground. Microsoft’s near monopoly hurts.
DashBlog has no effect on presentation, so that doesn't concern me.
Regarding Apple, I have never come close to suggesting that Apple can do no wrong. The company has screwed up tremendously many times, but their errors have mostly been business errors. From the standpoint of operating systems, the MacOS has almost always been years ahead of Windows. The one (and only, in my experience) consistent argument against the MacOS has been the sheer numbers advantage Windows has in terms of application.
Personal preferences come into play with the UI, but I have always preferred the consistency of Apple's. From day one, I have known where to find which information. In this, Windows has essentially caught up. Apple stagnated with the System 7/MacOS 8 transition, and during that time, Windows passed it in features. But consider where things are now.
Microsoft initially promised that Longhorn, the next version of its operating system (it just got a new code name, but I can't recall it right now) in 2004. Microsoft missed, and MacOS X 10.3 came out with some of the features slated for Longhorn. MS pushed the release back to 2005 and began cutting back on the number of promised features. Apple released MacOS X 10.4, an OS that contains essentially everything that Longhorn was originally to have, though MS has cut about half of the promised features. Now, MS has promised Longhorn in the second half of 2006, before which Apple will release 10.5 and begin the migration to Intel chips.
Given that I have on my little machine essentially every feature MS originally promised would be available last year in Longhorn and that I will, before the release of Longhorn, have another full upgrade (my third since Longorn became overdue), I would say that however much wrong Apple is now doing, it's nothing next to the unfulfilled promises of Longhorn; the bloated code of Windows; and the repeated, grievous security problems present in Windows.
Please, though, if you are going to talk about end-user control, get into the 21st century. With the OS X public beta, Mac users had more control than Windows users ever had. The UNIX command-line environment is now and always has been more extensive than any command-line environment provided by MS, including DOS. Actually, Mac users always had at least the same level of control as DOS and Windows users, but they had to know where to look to find it. Macs were always customizable and capable of running in command-line mode, all the way back to the first Macs in 1984.
Microsoft's monopoly is an issue, but we have seen a steady erosion of that monopoly over the last half decade. Part of the misconception about this stems from market share reporting. If 98% of computers sold in a given year have Windows installed, the OS has a 98% market share. This is accurate, but it does not reflect active install base. The most recent figures I have seen from third-party sources (I can't recall, but I think it was the Gartner Group) show the MacOS with a 16% install base. This means that 16% of computers being used today are running some version of the MacOS. Furthermore, the last year has seen measureable increases in both market share and install base for the MacOS, and as the iPod has increased brand awareness and reputation, and as more developers than ever in the history of the MacOS are making software for the platform, the predictions of the bulk of the experts (including many of those who are stunned quarter after quarter that their doom-and-gloom predictions for Apple are soundly trounced) are predicting snowballing growth. I'll take that. And my IRA is loving it.
I, however, was concerned about DashBlog’s effect on presentation, since I wanted to blame someone (you, Andrew) for the colors that hurt my eyes ;P
But, you’ve changed that, hooray! Looks fresh, and apple green and real nice. Although you should tweak it a little to make it less generic. For example, I would do away with the braided bar under the title.
Apple.
The sheer number advantage of Windows over Apple has been a vicious cycle. At the same time the number difference is the reason (according to Microsoft) for Windows’ security problems. Another reason would be Microsoft’s incompetence.
I hope Apple holds the momentum. Still, by all indications, for you Apple can do no wrong, particularly technology-wise. Maybe you’re glossing over Apple’s shortcomings as you dream starry-eyed about Apple’s final victory.
Business and technology are not so disjoined in this field. If Apple had been sufficiently superior (technology-wise), they wouldn’t be the underdog. But Apple was no common underdog, for a long time it was a very sick puppy struggling on the verge of extinction. I reckon Microsoft does more wrong than Apple, particularly technology-wise. Although Microsoft blunders lots, Apple hasn’t delivered a solid blow to Mr. Gates yet.
Microsoft is still in a vastly better position than Apple and it won’t sit and wait for Apple to forge ahead. Now Apple is diverting more into the I-pod. Is it looking for an escape or for more resources with which to carry on the fight?
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