innate's Profile

After his bout with cancer, I’m sure Steve Jobs is well aware of the succession issues and has a protégé ready. I hope that person, whoever it may be, will become more prominent soon, so that there’s an heir apparent at Apple. For Microsoft, it’s clear what would happen if Bill Gates were hit by a delivery truck: Ballmer would continue running the company.

If you think Intel was Apple's beeyotch, look at how Microsoft was presented. Jobs avoided even saying the word "Microsoft," their name was in small print at the bottom of the giganto-screen, and of course, Roz Ho didn't help matters with her nervous mannered speech.

I agree with you, kefka, that Cocoa and OS X are highly productive. Unfortunately that is just one piece in a large puzzle. When I said ease-of-adoption, I was using business-speak. It’s easy for *management* to adopt. So, you want to use Cocoa in your corporate programming job. First step, buy a Mac. Just call your company’s hardware vendor. Whoops, Dell doesn’t sell Macs. So you have to get your company to approve a purchase from Apple, even though Apple doesn’t offer features stability. “Features stability” is business-speak meaning the vendor guarantees they will sell you a particular product model for a set period of years. Purchasing departments need this, but Apple does not do it, which is one reason corporations don’t buy from them. So you manage to get a Mac. Now you write some kickass Cocoa apps. Next step, deploy your Cocoa apps. Oops, all 15,000 employees currently have Windows PCs that don’t run OS X software. Etc., etc., etc. By contrast, there is a massive supply chain supporting both Windows and Java development in the corporate environment. If Apple was interested in the corporate desktop they would need to start developing their supply chain. Of course they need to make it easier for big companies to buy Macs (features stability, etc.). They also need higher-profile certification programs so you can hire a Mac flunkie from your temp agency, just like you can hire a Windows or Java-certified flunkie. They also need more tool vendors -- all the oddball 3rd-party tools that .NET developers use. And something like .MSI or WebStart for distributing changes. And the ability to buy hardware from more than one vendor. (Even if your company doesn’t buy Windows PCs from more than one vendor, they can put price pressure on the vendor because they COULD switch.) And they need a whole ecosystem of middlemen, a.k.a. resellers, who make commissions by telling lazy managers what to buy. It is much easier for small and medium-sized businesses to switch to Apple, where they aren’t tied to this huge beaureaucratic structure that I’ve described. But even those businesses benefit from, e.g., having a ready supply of cheap Windows or Java programmers, whereas it’s relatively harder to find a Cocoa programmer at your local temp agency.

Quicken absolutely sucks, but there is no serious alternative. Cashbox and the like are good for *very basic* checkbook balancing, but can't compare when it comes to the advanced stuff like loan amortization, portfolio tracking, and on-line payments. MS Money (Windows only) is very nice. It’s better than Quicken for Windows or Mac. If I still had a Windows PC that’s what I would use.

The way you use Windows is not similar to the way you use a Mac! To use your own example, about manipulating files and folders, a Windows user is discouraged from doing this. Try to open your hard disk and you'll receive a message saying something like "These files are hidden for your protection and should not be modified." The Windows user is at least one level farther away from actually controlling the computer.

Apple could have released a tablet a long time ago but they are waiting for something. I think that something is an iTunes deal with movie studios. It goes well beyond portable video, competing with TiVo, movies on demand, Blockbuster and Netflix. You could buy or rent a movie from the comfort of your living room and stream it to your home entertainment center. There is definitely a market for that. And of course you could still do tablet stuff like taking notes and browsing the web. It's just that the iTunes Movie Store is the feature which will differentiate it from all the Windows tablet failures.