26 years later

[andrewducker]

via pope_guilty

Comments

[andrewducker]

If you don't know the reference click here

[rm.livejournal.com]

I remember seeing the 1984 ad when it was broadcast. I was twelve and my dad worked in advertising and we were both dumbstruck. It was like the most important thing that had happened in advertising EVER.

[andrewducker]

It is a classic. I didn't see it when it first appeared (I don't think it aired in the UK), but it seems to have seeped into my consciousness anyway, presumably through a retrospective of some kind.

[rm.livejournal.com]

It's talked about all the time. It only aired as a commercial (it's aired in coverage of its existence) that one time.

It's sorta strange now, because I know a lot of people younger than me who love it in a kitschy sort of old-school way, but when it aired it wasn't funny. It was really scary and moving and like "WTF the fuck is this?"

[guybles.livejournal.com]

You confused me for a moment, as I tried to work out what the reference to 1994 was.

[andrewducker]

Fixed!

[guybles.livejournal.com]

Why yes, I am hugely pedantic. Why do you ask?

[andrewducker]

It was a pretty stupid mistake - considering that the number of years was rather the point.

[sbisson.livejournal.com]

LOL

[mb2u]

This has all happened before, it will all happen again--Battlestar Galactica

[undeadbydawn.livejournal.com]

Is it scary that I agree wholeheartedly with this image, and think it's a good thing?


[based mostly on the current uses of technology being a crushing great mess for anyone that hasn't spent several years studying computer science]

I spoke to my ex-wife about the iPad today. I expected her to slam it with razor sharp critiques of Apples chronic control and iffy hardwear issues. Instead - to my utter astonishment - she declared it [as a woman just finishing her HND in Windows Based Computer Stuff and Tech Fixing Thingy] the best thing that's happened in the lat 20 years. It's the first Apple device she actively wants to buy and own and use herself (a while back I gave her my old iMac), and would actively encourage other people to buy.

The iPad is also, despite what flaws are making themselves obvious, exactly what I have been waiting for. Perfect place between my Mac Pro and iPhone. It isn't a paradigm shift, it's the next sensible step.

if I'm wrong I will happily eat my own arse. won't know until I've tried it, obviously. the iPad, I mean. Not eating...

[andrewducker]

I do think that computing appliances are a good thing for some users - a simple device that doesn't get in the way and just gives you the applications you want without having to understand anything is just fine.

Personally, I have no use for it - I'm not going to use anything that's locked down that much, and I'd find the lack of multitasking crippling. For people that don't care about either of those things, I can see the appeal.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

iPhone OS doesn't lack multitasking; it's just locked down so that the clueless users can't get at it. Under the hood it's BSD running on a Mach microkernel just like OS X on the Mac; and Apple's own apps do multitask (e.g. the ipod app can play music in the background while you're reading an ebook in Stanza, the phone app has background hooks so that if someone calls you it's there when you hit the "answer" button) and so on.

[andrewducker]

"Lacks multitasking that I can use to listen to Spotify while I check where I'm going on Google Maps" is, from a functional point of view "lacks multitasking". I don't care what functionality a phone has that I can't actually use.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

It does, however, suggest that the functionality can be enabled in a later OS update if there's a change of policy. Or by jailbreaking.

This machine isn't that much more locked-down than the original Mac 128K was in 1984. When reality collides with Steve's walled garden of earthly delights, we'll see who wins.

[andrewducker]

If Lord Jobs deigns to grant the right to run any app, and multitask them then I might gain an interest in the iPhone - and then I'd have to actually think about what phone to get when my current contract runs out. Thankfully that isn't looking very likely right now.