5 ms·

Hardly. The two services you're mentioning aren't ones that huge droves of people care about. MacBooks still sell without FireWire. iPhones still sell without c

by unalone 18y ago

Hardly. The two services you're mentioning aren't ones that huge droves of people care about. MacBooks still sell without FireWire. iPhones still sell without copy & paste. It's only a weakness if somebody else DOES implement c&p while retaining the beauty and simplicity of the iPhone. That's the only case in which Apple has a chance of losing. If that scenario does come up, though, then Apple can take whatever that innovative solution is and use it for its own. We've seen bulky computers with FireWire, and complex phones with copy and paste. The fact that Apple's gaining ground despite not having those specific things is a sign that Apple's vision is more important than those specifics.

stcredzero 18y ago
The two services I'm talking about? How about the one button mouse? That's the primary example. Going against the grain that far is a bit too much. As people use phones in ever more sophisticated ways, the lack of cut & paste will become an issue just as big as the one button mouse. (Of course, cut & paste is not the right way to do it. What people really want to do is to move certain pieces of information between applications. There must be a better, more elegant way to do that.) I would agree that the vision if valid. But remember, I'm talking about an Achilles' Heel. Maybe it's a little (but exploitable) flaw in something that's overall great.
- jshen 18y ago
  " As people use phones in ever more sophisticated ways, the lack of cut & paste will become an issue just as big as the one button mouse." Wow, this is a tired meme. How is the one button mouse a big issue? You buy a new mouse. Hell, you don't even need to do that these days with imacs which come with a mighty mouse. The lack of two buttons is a giant non-issue just like white space in python.
  - stcredzero 18y ago
    You've just proved my point. A lot of people want the two-button mouse. The Mighty Mouse is effectively a two button mouse. The one-button mouse is so undesirable people buy a different one. It's not an issue in using a mac. I never said it was. However, it reveals a cognitive blind-spot in Steve Jobs.
    - jshen 18y ago
      Actually, you said that the one button mouse was a BIG issue. It isn't, and that was my point.
      - stcredzero 18y ago
        Okay, I did use the words "big issue." But I didn't mean that the way you took it. I'm a mac user since the 128k mac days as a child. It's not an actual big issue in most cases when using the OS and machine. It's perceived as a big issue by those used to something different. It's not a marketing plus -- it's actually the opposite! The fact that Jobs "stuck to his guns" for so long when it was apparent that the one button mouse was a big loser is the salient point. My point isn't that macs are crap because of the one-button mouse. It's clearly trivial in practice. The fact that Jobs kept up with that for so long, even featuring it as a key marketing point, in the face of overwhelming preferences the other way is a big potential Achilles' heel. (As I said before, it's also his strength. The trick would be to get him going against the grain in a way that actually matters.)
- unalone 18y ago
  People complain about the one-button mouse, but Apple's done a great job of making it unnecessary to have anything more. Apparently the one-button mouse with right-clicking turned on works splendidly. (I haven't tried it yet, sadly, but next week if I don't like it I'll retract this statement.) In either case, I think they have the right idea. Same with cut-and-paste: I hope they'll have an elegant solution if it becomes necessary to have one. Achilles' Heel I can see. I'd hope Apple's learned from its past mistakes, but hey: there's always a chance of things going wrong.

by unalone 18y ago

stcredzero 18y ago

The two services I'm talking about? How about the one button mouse? That's the primary example. Going against the grain that far is a bit too much. As people use phones in ever more sophisticated ways, the lack of cut & paste will become an issue just as big as the one button mouse. (Of course, cut & paste is not the right way to do it. What people really want to do is to move certain pieces of information between applications. There must be a better, more elegant way to do that.) I would agree that the vision if valid. But remember, I'm talking about an Achilles' Heel. Maybe it's a little (but exploitable) flaw in something that's overall great.

jshen 18y ago
" As people use phones in ever more sophisticated ways, the lack of cut & paste will become an issue just as big as the one button mouse." Wow, this is a tired meme. How is the one button mouse a big issue? You buy a new mouse. Hell, you don't even need to do that these days with imacs which come with a mighty mouse. The lack of two buttons is a giant non-issue just like white space in python.
- stcredzero 18y ago
  You've just proved my point. A lot of people want the two-button mouse. The Mighty Mouse is effectively a two button mouse. The one-button mouse is so undesirable people buy a different one. It's not an issue in using a mac. I never said it was. However, it reveals a cognitive blind-spot in Steve Jobs.
  - jshen 18y ago
    Actually, you said that the one button mouse was a BIG issue. It isn't, and that was my point.
    - stcredzero 18y ago
      Okay, I did use the words "big issue." But I didn't mean that the way you took it. I'm a mac user since the 128k mac days as a child. It's not an actual big issue in most cases when using the OS and machine. It's perceived as a big issue by those used to something different. It's not a marketing plus -- it's actually the opposite! The fact that Jobs "stuck to his guns" for so long when it was apparent that the one button mouse was a big loser is the salient point. My point isn't that macs are crap because of the one-button mouse. It's clearly trivial in practice. The fact that Jobs kept up with that for so long, even featuring it as a key marketing point, in the face of overwhelming preferences the other way is a big potential Achilles' heel. (As I said before, it's also his strength. The trick would be to get him going against the grain in a way that actually matters.)
unalone 18y ago
People complain about the one-button mouse, but Apple's done a great job of making it unnecessary to have anything more. Apparently the one-button mouse with right-clicking turned on works splendidly. (I haven't tried it yet, sadly, but next week if I don't like it I'll retract this statement.) In either case, I think they have the right idea. Same with cut-and-paste: I hope they'll have an elegant solution if it becomes necessary to have one. Achilles' Heel I can see. I'd hope Apple's learned from its past mistakes, but hey: there's always a chance of things going wrong.