Why tablets suck, and have set us back over a century

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Tablet computers are being marketed as one of the most innovative computing devices yet, but, in my opinion, there are some fatal flaws with the concept, as a mainstream computing device.

There are applications where such devices are useful, but the trend towards tablets as potentially replacing desktop and laptop personal computers, or “tabletification” of those platforms (see what’s going on with Windows 8 for an example of that) is, in my opinion, hazardous.

So, I’d like to discuss why this is such a bad idea. I won’t bring up any specific tablet OS, other than as examples to illustrate my point, however – this isn’t meant to be a slam against specific OSes, but rather against the trend of tabletification itself. Jump past the break for a breakdown of what I see wrong with the tablet concept. Continue reading “Why tablets suck, and have set us back over a century”

Why Apple is evil: Shutting AdMob (and others) out of iOS

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Interesting change of terms in the iOS agreements…

Basically, Apple’s requiring that ad providers that do any sort of analytics have their main business be mobile advertising. They specifically name that mobile ad providers that are affiliated with mobile OS developers don’t count.

Isn’t that kinda anti-competitive, Apple?

Source: Gizmodo

Why Apple is evil: Their business model is contagious

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This isn’t news either, but I’m posting it anyway.

Many have made the argument that it’s OK if Apple makes a walled garden, because there’s always other choices.

The problem is when Apple’s walled garden is wildly successful, competing platforms may switch to a walled garden model. And, Microsoft, which is quite often accused of copying Apple at every opportunity, well, they’re copying Apple on this one.

Windows Phone 7 will be a walled garden, too. Sure, there’s some Windows Mobile 6.5 devices out there, and they’ll continue past Windows Phone 7’s release, but let’s face it – 6.5 is crap.

And, AT&T’s first Android device, the Motorola Backflip, requires some hacking to get apps from outside of the Android Market installed. Granted, they didn’t do a good job of securing it, but they did try.

Arguably, this is more of a “why Microsoft and AT&T evil,” but this points out why Apple’s walled garden is dangerous for everyone, even if you’re not an Apple customer.

Source: Engadget

Scary thought of the day: Windows Mobile is the most open smartphone operating system.

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You’re probably thinking, “what? How can that be? Android has to be the most open, it’s open source, right?”

And you’d be right… until you get into actual Android devices that are for sale. Other than the Google Dev Phone 1 (which has some other restrictions,) all of the devices are locked down at least somewhat.

There is one exception to my point – in one or two ways, Palm OS is more open than Windows Mobile. However, Palm OS is irrelevant nowadays, but I’ll include it in the comparison anyway. Continue reading “Scary thought of the day: Windows Mobile is the most open smartphone operating system.”