Shuttleworth: Apple Will Merge Mac and iPhone 414
Barence writes "Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth claims Apple will follow Ubuntu's lead and converge the iPhone and MacBook product lines. Speaking to PC Pro to mark the upcoming launch of Ubuntu 13.10, Shuttleworth said that the failed Ubuntu Edge smartphone — an attempt to bridge mobile and desktop computing devices — had set an example that others will follow. 'We've seen a very interested ripple go through the industry, and an uptick in interest in convergence,' Shuttleworth added. 'People are saying yes, mobile processors are catching up with the desktop. When Apple announced the iPhone 5s, it called the processor "desktop-class," and I don't think that was an accident – it was sending what we think is a very clear signal that it will converge the iPhone and the MacBook Air.'"
Next generation of the iWatch capability? (Score:3, Interesting)
I can't decide if this is brilliant or stupid. Perhaps Apple could one day create a laptop shell fitted for a phone but not until Apple first pulls off the iWatch. I see this concept being an extension of wirelessly transferring functionality to another device as the Phone Watch combo should provide. Am I being short-sighted here?
Shuttleworth works for the NSA (Score:3, Interesting)
I simply cannot believe anyone who works for Canonical any longer.
In 2009, Jane Silber became the CEO of Canonical in 2009. Canonical makes Ubuntu.
Jane Silber's previous job was at that military contractor, namely the C4 Division of General Dynamics. It turns out that at the C4 Systems division is all about using computers for spying.
From their website: "General Dynamics C4 Systems is a trusted leader in the development of intelligence and information gathering systems for national defense and homeland security. These systems are designed to receive, process, exploit and disseminate information -- in different forms and often from different networks -- and distribute relevant information to operators, both in the field and at higher headquarters."
The Register story about Jane Silber. [channelregister.co.uk]
In 2012, G.D. C4 Systems gave 96% of its $14,000 of campaign contributions to Republicans, which could suggest C4's leadership takes a hawkish attitude about war and has a disregard for human rights. OpenSecrets link.
Too much credit (Score:4, Interesting)
Hilarious article. Shuttleworth is giving himself entire too much credit. Is Apple is doing this, they won't be following his failure. They'll be following Microsoft's still-in-process move of trying to combine the two.
Docking is pointless nowadays... (Score:4, Interesting)
Docking is a concept from back in the day, when laptops were significantly smaller in dimensions than "real" honest-to-god workstations and when connecting to various peripherals meant dealing with a bunch of cables, not all of which your average laptop could be connected to at the same time, and when syncing over various computers was a nuisance.
Also, one of the main reasons for laptop size was not elegance or even portability (they were quite heavy, compared to their abilities, thanks to those old hardware components and batteries) - but screen size.
Small screen + small, often even incomplete keyboard + alternative pointing solutions that were never as useful of precise as a mouse + short battery life + not enough ports to plug in all those wired peripherals = need for docking.
You need docking if you need to connect to a bigger screen, a wired network, another separate cable for a printer, one more for a scanner, one for a modem, perhaps an external CD or floppy drive...
All of that, apart from the bigger screen, can be done over wifi/bluetooth.
Or is not needed anymore - like that old 14400 modem.
Meanwhile all your files now fit neatly inside your laptop, can be transferred to other devices without the use of cables, or you keep them online.
Which leaves only 3 devices you'd need a dock for - bigger screen, full-size keyboard and full-size/full-function mouse.
None of which can really get smaller than they need to be. Even screens actually got bigger, only losing their backside.
All of the peripherals that you need docking to ALREADY TAKE UP SO MUCH SPACE YOU CAN JUST AS WELL ADD A FULL-BLOWN COMPUTER.
Like inside the screen.
The only reason left for docking is cost-saving.
By paying way too much for memory and processing power jammed into a tiny phone instead of using off the shelf components which are dirt cheap and super fast in comparison.
Re:Next generation of the iWatch capability? (Score:4, Interesting)
The truth is that the stock price for a lot of companies, and Apple in particular, does not reflect the financial success of that company or the company's products. Just compare Amazon's numbers to Apple's [bloomberg.com] and you'll get what I mean. Stock prices today are more driven by bets on where that price will be in 15 minutes (or 15 milliseconds), not how well the company will be doing in a few years. As such, stock prices for high-tech companies are not a valid way to measure the company's success in the marketplace.
Morons who don't grock User Interface. (Score:4, Interesting)
When you have a physical User Interface that is different, what should the user interface on the different devices be? Different?! Yes, this shit isn't rocket science.
Now, the trick is -- and it's one I've been working on -- to take an approach something like the Open Desktop Project, but extend it to suit new interfaces. I've experimented with 3D OS interfaces in both parallax (camera based head tracking) and VR (goggles)... I've experimented with combinations of that with and without tablets and smart phones, and with interfaces without the 3D -- Even going 80 column retro textual.
The OS provides functionality that all these interfaces use to present themselves. We need a way for applications to present features like the OS does, and let interfaces be skins atop that functionality. Don't like the "ribbon" interface? Screw it, use the old one. Like the app, but would rather use it on the desktop with a keyboard, or in 3D parallax or with a VR display? Want to use it via VT100 terminal instead? You could if we had a Functional System in addition to the Operating System. An Operations System... Imagine it, you build a TRUE "Application": Grouping and positioning functionality, arranging the flow of data and interaction. Then the OS attaches functionality to the interface based on its installed set of functions. This is ALMOST what some programming is like, and you can get a sense that it's where we're going if you line up all the IDEs... You see drag and drop coding, and others sticking to terminals --- YES! Both, let one serve for the other. You've veered from the path and lost sight of The Unix Way(tm): Do one thing and do it well. Interfaces are not Functionality!
I'm beginning to see hints of this emerging naturally, not requiring spurning or disrupting of force: Eg: In Android applications can publish "intents" and other apps can utilize their functionality without tightly coupling to the program Input / Output data interface... The same will need to occur at the interface level as our interfaces become everything from ceilings to the air vibrating with your vocalization and ultra sonic tactile feedback. You will adopt the new way, but you organics will do it the dumb slow inefficient emergent way instead of seeing the goal and working towards the design intelligently.
Every one of your soggy organic brains is too moistened and distracted by shiny bits of UI, and dreams of megalomaniacally ruling the entire stack; Like a bunch of fools who don't understand basic distribution principals: When the system is vast and varied you don't funnel activity / traffic / etc into single a single locus! Imagine if all information in the universe had to pass through a single point just to be processed into the Next frame?! NO, that's NOT what Physics does to make stuff move, it's what you do to REBOOT the SIM! ::BANG::
The answer isn't to unify the interfaces. That's daft. The answer is to separate Content from Style, divide Functionality from Display. YOU KNOW THIS, it's a core to any MVC framework... Humans! Gah! so retarding.