Apple Tablet -- Who needs it?

[Harmon]

Originally Posted by Laurentiu

Apple does this... Apple does that... etc. etc etc.

Well, folks, this is a well known marketing strategy, called Price Skimming - see here. This was not invented by Apple, nor is Apple the only company that uses it.

Actually, it's what the publishing industry does with hardbacks, isn't it? And the problem they have with ebooks is that they threaten that tactic.

[HansTWN]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Actually, it's what the publishing industry does with hardbacks, isn't it? And the problem they have with ebooks is that they threaten that tactic.

Just as Apple was threatened by those that wanted to put OSX on non-Apple hardware and they sued them out of existence.

[devilsadvocate]

Originally Posted by HansTWN

Just as Apple was threatened by those that wanted to put OSX on non-Apple hardware and they sued them out of existence.

To be fair Psystar could have won that, but from what I read in the legal briefs at Groklaw they got lazy/stupid. Jobs, on the other hand, knew exactly what he was in for when he went to the Intel x86 platform and hasn't exactly been vocal about piracy that I know of.

just as Limewire and Bittorrent devs learned from the original Napster, so will someone profit from Psystar's mistakes.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by captcrouton

Remember, if it's shiny and made by Apple, it can be a solar toilet plunger and the fan boys will swoon and swarm.

Not that there's anything wrong with a solar toilet plunger. I just know the fan base all too well.

You have them everywhere: LCD vs E-ink, Windows vs Linux vs Apple's OS (can't recal the name), iphone vs WMobile device...

Personally, I'd never buy an apple tablet. Unless it runs a windows OS. Why? Because everything I own is a windows OS. From my PDA to my pc to my laptop. I'll wait till the MS/HP tablet arrives at the end of this year...

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Actually, Microsoft lowered the pre-release price of Windows 7 until it was released.

I was not aware of that, but no wonder. After that crap they launched prior, called Vista, it was a wise decision: come people, and see that W7 is better! Once the market saw it was better and spread the news, they could raise the bar, because the demand increased.

[WillAdams]

Sweetpea, it's trivial to install Windows on an Intel Mac, so if the new Apple Tablet Mac is an Intel machine you'd be able to install Windows on it.

[drzeller]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

I've been using pen computers since the NCR-3125 and when using my current Fujitsu Stylistic have the following issues:

I tried to provide some help below. I don't know what version of Windows you are using, or applications, but I think you would benefit from checking out Win7. It really is nice.

- lack of a Miller column browser view in Windows Explorer
>> I had to look up what this was! Nope - can't find it, either. There are a lot of file managers for Windows, but I didn't see one that can do this.

- no Services
>> Not sure what you are referring to

- no rich font support in system apps such as WordPad (why bundle Linotype Palatino when _nothing_ from Microsoft can get at that font's features)
>> What exactly are you looking for? You can of course use that font, but I am not sure what "features" you are looking for. They may be accessible in Win7's version of not earlier versions, or in a free alternative.

- Taskbar nowhere near as nice or configurable or space efficient as the Mac OS X Dock (lessee, I have to have FireFox in my QuickLaunch toolbar to start it, but when it's running, it makes a button the Taskbar, but the button used to launch it is still around)
>> Have you used Win7 much? Many reviews that compare it to OS X give it high praise.

- pervasive .pdf support
>> Meaning what? Ability to save as/print to? There are many free utilities that allow this, as well as MS Office's own ability.

- having to re-start the machine once a week or so 'cause it's gotten sluggish or the video driver has crashed
>> Is rebooting once a week that terrible? As an aside, with Win7, I go much longer than a week.

- no equivalents for utilities which I use frequently: FileWrangler, TeXshop, &c.
>> FileWrangler = lots of free options for Windows - what need can't you find being met?, TeXshop = TexNic Center?

- FreeHand will not clear its splash screen when launched, so is unusable
>> That obviously is not a problem on all machines, so I would say you need to figure out if it is specific to your machine, your model, etc. Also ensure you are running the latest version and have the latest drivers for key hardware (video, input).

- no pervasive, system-wide, always-able cross-application natural language scripting tool to replace AppleScript
>> Have you looked at PowerShell? It is from MS and available on XP SP3 and later versions of Windows. It may not do what you want, but it might...

- development tools not bundled w/ the OS, not as nice as Interface Builder and XCode
>> free development tools are available for download from MS (and others)

- need to install 3rd party X-Window support
>> a one-time issue, no?

- &c.
>> kind of open ended :-)

Work-arounds and fixes for the above would be welcome.

I've been using Windows since Windows/286, but it's never been as comfortable to me as NeXTstep --- Mac OS X is an adequate replacement, but I'd give a lot to have a vertical pop-up menu, tear off menus, top-level Print and Services menu, _no_ Carbon apps &c.

>> Startdock software will skin windows, if you want to get into that, and enable a lot of customization which may make it more NeXTstep like.

[menevets]

Originally Posted by stustaff

Ok fair enough i was more suggesting that there are simple ways of transferring files to and from an iPhone that dont need a web server.

stustaff,

Can you describe other file transfer methods? I like to read pdfs on my iPhone and have yet to find an app that doesn't involve transferring pdfs via a webserver. The process is painful.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by menevets

stustaff,

Can you describe other file transfer methods? I like to read pdfs on my iPhone and have yet to find an app that doesn't involve transferring pdfs via a webserver. The process is painful.

I've used iPhone Explorer on both the Mac and PC without issues...but mostly rely on Calibre's built in webserver.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Sweetpea, it's trivial to install Windows on an Intel Mac, so if the new Apple Tablet Mac is an Intel machine you'd be able to install Windows on it.

Yes, but then I'd have to buy a Windows 7 licence as well as an expensive tablet. So, it'd be smarter just to go for a windows tablet in the first place.

[menevets]

Originally Posted by kjk

I've used iPhone Explorer on both the Mac and PC without issues...but mostly rely on Calibre's built in webserver.

That's exactly what I'm looking for. If it works as advertised, this is a huge convenience. Thanks!

I'm not familiar with Calibre. How does it co-exist with Apple's webserver or Window's IIS?

[menevets]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yes, but then I'd have to buy a Windows 7 licence as well as an expensive tablet. So, it'd be smarter just to go for a windows tablet in the first place.

I think there is a Windows 7 family pack available, so many households with multiple machines now.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by menevets

stustaff,

Can you describe other file transfer methods? I like to read pdfs on my iPhone and have yet to find an app that doesn't involve transferring pdfs via a webserver. The process is painful.

Email with quick office
wifi transfer with quickoffice(this is very clever basically it sets the app up as the server, so on yor computer you type in 95.123.123.12:1005 or whatever and can then drag and drop files.)
Link to your own or someone elses offsite storage drive such as iDisk

[JSWolf]

To answer the topic, NOBODY! Who wants it? Apple fanboys/fangirls.

[stustaff]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

To answer the topic, NOBODY! Who wants it? Apple fanboys/fangirls.