Life Is Rich

If Android wasn’t enough, now we have Google Chrome OS. Welcome to the wonderfully bland, drab and unpleasant world of ubiquitous web applications. You can pry my native applications and my OS tailored for user experience (not one tailored to said companies cloud services) from my cold, dead fingers. Funny, one of my longest posts, and likely much better written than this sleep-deprived rant, follows a similar vein – when Steve Jobs told us that developers could do great things with the iPhone – you don’t even need an SDK, just use the web! It took less than a year for those words to be eaten. How many native applications are now available on the iPhone? (More than 50,000)

On a side note, I’m sure Chrome will run well on those netbooks that everyone is returning after realizing that they are nothing more than really bad web browsing calculators (and yes, I have used one). It has all the limitations of my iPhone AND my laptop with the benefits of neither. It’s the worst of both worlds.

For some reason, this news just really bums me out. Web apps are the dregs of computing. The lowest common denominator. We should be moving in a different direction. Using the web as the distributor of information head-ended by native applications that can take full advantage of the hardware and resources available to the end-user – i.e. web services. The answer is not to try to cram more crap through a browser (i.e. HTML5, Silverlight, Flash, Java applets, etc).

This is why I use a Mac. User experience. Thoughtful design. Great applications – both those provided by Apple with iLife and the OS as well as those from third-party developers who care about the user experience and quality. No matter how much functionality you add, you can only do so much with a browser. Not to mention, you have to fight long and hard as a developer to attain every inch. I did web apps for over five years – it sucks. You work your butt off to build an application that can never attain the level of quality, fit, and finish that is the goal of every good developer. It’s depressing. Your handicapped from the get-go.

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you will see every problem as a nail.” Abraham Maslow

Not to knock some incredible work that people have done on the web (I mean, look at the .me Mail app – it’s amazing, but I wouldn’t in a million years choose it over its native counterpart). But no matter what examples you may have of amazing web sites, it’s not the norm, nor is it easy to accomplish. The browser wasn’t meant for this. We’ve bastardized it as the platform for all app delivery (or at least Google has). Please, let the insanity stop! This is not the world I want to live (develop) in!

Maybe computing is now like Wal-Mart or mass-produced plasticky crap that always breaks after two weeks. Lowest common denominator, cheap, thoughtless. Native applications, innovation and thoughtful design are relegated to the antique dealers and the rare specialty shops of craftsman made products – sequestered to the incredibly small minority of people who seem to care or haven’t been brainwashed in expecting so much less from their computing experience.

UPDATE: Someone in the mainstream press apparently agrees. I had over 200 visitors to this site in an hour after a link to this page found it’s way to the linkback section of the original Google Blog article. Interestingly, I had no comments. Either my post really really sucked, or everyone generally agreed and didn’t have anything to comment about. Probably a little of both.

So, the keynote is over, and it was pretty unexciting. Phil just doesn’t have the RDF (reality distortion field) working for him. Probably good that this was the last keynote: no Mac Minis, no Apple Cinema Displays, no updated Mac Pros or iMacs, and no mention of Snow Leopard. Some of that hardware hasn’t been updated in years, and really needs to be. iWork and iLife both look awesome as usual, but spending almost 75% of a two hour keynote demoing them?

But, the real travesty… a laptop with non-serviceable battery? Are you kidding me? I don’t care if it is supposed to last for 1000 charges and 3+ years! It’s supposed to last 3x current batteries. I’ve had some current batteries only last 3-6 months. Going to meetings twice a day, I may have 3 charge cycles a day – that would be less than a year. What do you do when it’s dead? It sounds like you have to exchange your laptop for a new one. Even if it is depot-replaceable part, you’re going to be out a computer for some period of time… not to mention going through the frustrating technical support process that Apple has foisted upon us.

Apologizing in advance, but this is rant worthy… Apple support is HORRIBLE for equipment repair and service. I grimace every time I have a failure because I know it means — signing up for an appointment at the Genius Bar, generally during an inopportune time, fighting crowds at the mall to get to the Apple store, waiting an hour or more with a bunch of other pissed off and frustrated customers because they’re behind and understaffed, then having a Genius ask me a bunch of questions like I’m an idiot then tell me that he’ll have to send it off for repair and I’ll get it back in a few days (which often ends up being a week). I don’t know if it’s just bad luck or what, but I’ve had to do this with almost every laptop both my wife and I have owned from Apple and one desktop. With practically every “real” PC vendor, I’ll have a repair or replacement in 24 hours and I don’t have to go anywhere (and that’s not BS. That is the type of service I received when I purchased Dell). I would even pay a premium for that service (even though I feel like I’m already paying a premium for Apple hardware and the laughable AppleCare). If Apple had real service plans or reasonable exchange programs, then the thought of a non-customer serviceable battery might not be that bad.

I (usually) really like Apple hardware, but it’s frustrating as a Mac user to wish that Dell sold equipment with Mac OS X on it… (or Dell sold Apple equipment with Dell’s service plan). It’s even more frustrating when you’re trying to push Mac OS X in the enterprise… How do you think the above flies with IT departments? It doesn’t. Apple’s response? You need to have your IT staff certified as Apple techs so you can order / warehouse replacement parts and do the repairs yourself. What do we do? Keep spare laptops on hand and have a constant train of repairs going back to an Apple Service Center (that is not an Apple store, so you can drop it off and pick it up a week later without a scheduled appointment and wasting a half hour with a Genius).

Ridiculous. How I hope Apple wakes up to the needs of professionals, enterprise users, and normal everyday people who don’t want to be treated like cattle… By the way, of all the time I’ve spent in an Apple store (which is quite a bit) – including Apple Stores in London, San Francisco, Atlanta, etc, I’ve never seen someone leaving a Genius Bar satisfied. Never. Never. I’ve never left a Genius Bar satisfied. I’ve never spoken to someone who has left a Genius Bar satisfied. I always see displays of frustration. I always see unhappy, upset customers (not to say that all customers are nice / happy people). No matter, nice, knowledgeable Genius Bar folks don’t make up for the fact that this process is broken and is more fitted to broken B&W TVs in the 1960s than modern, expensive computers – nearly boutique computers. Aren’t Apple Computers the BMWs or Mercedes of the computer world? Not by the way they treat their customers in respect to hardware repair.

Rant over… Guess I’ll be heading to the Apple Store soon to pick up my iLife / iWork…

Update: The battery is “supposedly” replaceable by an Apple service center for $179. The price is fine, although it better be a 5 minute Genius Bar appt. The big question now – it appears that the memory and hard drive are not user-serviceable either, meaning your stuck buying memory from Apple (at 6x the current price everywhere else) and not able to flip in and out hard drives as you like – which I find indispensable on my new Macbook Pro. These are huge steps backward if true. Still trying to find out…

Update 2: …representatives who Ars spoke with on the Macworld Expo floor went with an “anywhere between one or two hours, up to a week.” Still no word on memory and HD.

A few months back I started receiving Wired magazine pretty much of out of the blue. I’ve never ordered it. Maybe it’s some wayward gift from one of my many (i.e 0.5) followers. No matter, not to look a gift-horse in the mouth (what in the world does that cliché really mean), I read it. I even enjoyed it. Wired features thick glossy paper that feels good to the finger and features a production value that would seem more appropriate in the Chinese Olympics. Vibrant colors, fancy charts and graphs, beautiful women – I mean, it has it all. The articles are obviously nerd-relevant, making it even an interesting read. What nerd wouldn’t like an article on the latest gadgetry, lifting fingerprints from bullets, or the ultimate poker-playing bot?

I’ve noticed with regularity that I end my Wired reading sessions feeling somewhat dirty – almost like I had been perusing some plastic-wrapped pornographic skin-mag from the top-shelf of the local Kroger (which I would never do of course). Today, while breaking from my winter reading sprint, I decided to catch up on the two Wired magazines gathering dust on my desk.

It was while reading a sardonic reflection of a modern “Great Depression” where futuresque bums roam the streets with their Guitar Hero axes and find rest in trashed Aeron chairs that it hit me. Wired is written by a bunch of smug, arrogant asshats who think they are better than everyone else (no, I’m really *not* talking about myself here) – and cater to those who wish to feel better of themselves by reading said self-professed elitism of thought. I thought maybe this was purely a response to one very snobbish piece, but after reading the pretentious responses to some customer feedback and reading a number of other articles in the same light, my conclusions were confirmed. Even though the topics that Wired covers are (sometimes) relevant, and often portray views that I may (sometimes) agree with,they approach these topics in such a high-browed, arrogant manner that it’s almost impossible to be able to trust or feel good about anything you are reading.

In the end, real nerds don’t need thick paper, fancy graphics, and lots of conceited pomposity to be happy about ourselves. We already know how awesome we are! …and for whomever supplied the subscription – thanks, but next year I’ll take Horticulture. Plants tend not to be terribly haughty…

In the business world, rules are for the lowest common denominator. They are meant to establish a baseline of behavior. In dangerous jobs or generally low-performance or low-paid areas, these rules may be required. Not to denigrate customer support or call-centers, but I imagine this high-turnover position probably requires a hefty set of rules. Doctors and nuclear power plant operators, who have our lives in their hands, must follow an extensive set of well-researched and proven operating procedures.

Unfortunately, in most highly skilled positions (like software engineers), the only people who usually need said rules are the lowest performers anyway – those who should probably be fired. The high performers don’t need to be reminded of the lowest common denominator expectations. Insultingly low-bar rules would likely just stifle creativity and lower morale. So if you just fired the poor performers, why do you need the rules at all?

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It has been hot as hell here the last couple weeks. On the way back from lunch one day this week, I came across 6 older businessmen in suits on a street corner. In the midday sun, the temperature was near 100 degrees with the high humidity of a Nashville summer. They were sweating like stuffed pigs and I could only imagine the level of discomfort they were experiencing.

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I’ve commented pretty extensively about the problems facing the oft-proclaimed panacea of open-source (parts 1, 2, 3), and in particular, the GPL.

The GPL crew is crawling out of the woodwork to denounce Sun’s announcement that some parts of the MySQL source code base will be closed and no longer open-sourced (in reality, actually a very small amount – some backup software particularly). The ignorance of licensing and why a company hides its greed behind the noble face of GPL is lost on many unfortunately.

A Slashdot user named martenmickos claiming to be the actual Marten Mickos, former CEO of MySQL and now SVP at Sun has a very interesting explanation of the reasons. They have to make money. This actually makes some sense and is very likely authentic. My problem with GPL is the deceptiveness of a corporations primary goal – “give away” software with an archaic restrictive license (GPL) then charge for the ability to actually use it under a more reasonable license – all the while taking ownership of the charitable work of others. Why can’t they just be honest? Why couch it in “we’re better than those people who believe the efforts of developers have intrinsic value”, then take those efforts and sell them back in a dark alley? Why foster a community that lashes out at anyone who wishes to make a fair wage from software development then actually profit from the charity of others? Because apparently it works.

Ah well. I don’t particularly like Sun, but maybe they are at least being a little bit more honest about their purchase. Maybe those supporters of Open Source “companies” will think a little better about it. Stop kidding yourselves. It’s not open or free, and it’s certainly not noble.