MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - I'm glad Apple isn't making an ebook reader

pan.sapiens · 11-21-2009, 01:39 AM

@ Yoshi:
Yeah I noticed that after writing

.
My real point was that having to learn additional software interfaces, such as itunes, does not make things easier -it makes things harder. The fact that I did this the wrong way first time round illustrates this. This is doubly the case where extra software interfaces are needed to get other files (like text files) onto the device. Each of these software interfaces just works to overcome the locked down nature of the device -they do not "add value" in the sense of letting you do anything you couldn't do anyway if the device was more open. If the phone just appeared as removable storage when I plugged it in, and allowed me to drag and drop files as normal, I could use it out of the box, without having to RTFM. Yes, I should RTFM, but if I have to it doesn't "just work".

edit: I'll add that using the most popular device, here iphone, is generally the way to go IMHO, just because the of the better software development (both official and unofficial) which goes with a wide user base. So there are pros and cons here. I'm not trying to apple bash here, I just wish apple products were more open.

11-21-2009, 01:39 AM	#62
pan.sapiens Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: none	@ Yoshi: Yeah I noticed that after writing . My real point was that having to learn additional software interfaces, such as itunes, does not make things easier -it makes things harder. The fact that I did this the wrong way first time round illustrates this. This is doubly the case where extra software interfaces are needed to get other files (like text files) onto the device. Each of these software interfaces just works to overcome the locked down nature of the device -they do not "add value" in the sense of letting you do anything you couldn't do anyway if the device was more open. If the phone just appeared as removable storage when I plugged it in, and allowed me to drag and drop files as normal, I could use it out of the box, without having to RTFM. Yes, I should RTFM, but if I have to it doesn't "just work". edit: I'll add that using the most popular device, here iphone, is generally the way to go IMHO, just because the of the better software development (both official and unofficial) which goes with a wide user base. So there are pros and cons here. I'm not trying to apple bash here, I just wish apple products were more open. Last edited by pan.sapiens; 11-21-2009 at 01:44 AM.