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I've been talking about this a lot recently. It doesn't surprise me at all that so many beautiful iOS apps are created in XCode, which is certainly the most be

I've been talking about this a lot recently. It doesn't surprise me at all that so many beautiful iOS apps are created in XCode, which is certainly the most beautiful IDE I've ever used. With Android, on the other hand, it's hardly a surprise when you look at Eclipse that the apps produced are... uninspired. It's also echoed by Linus Torvalds when he evangelized the MacBook Air a few months ago. That article led directly to me buying an Air (which had been on my mind anyway) in favor of lugging around the bigger Macbook Pro supplied by my employer. The Air is completely silent, has stunningly beautiful lines, and a screaming fast SSD. I could use a couple more gigs of ram but 4GB is workable and the trade-off is one I'm happy with. Outside my craft, I have a real passion for high quality tools that are made to last a lifetime. Truly good knives in the kitchen, a good set of enameled cast iron and stainless cookware, beautiful and simple appliances like the Vitamix and Moccamaster. In the bathroom a high quality badger hair shaving brush and a classical safety razor. In the garage high-quality tools that feel good in your hand and won't break when you're using them. I could go on for another 5 paragraphs. Suffice to say, +2 from me.

mistercow 14y ago
>It doesn't surprise me at all that so many beautiful iOS apps are created in XCode Seems like a spurious correlation to me. Both Xcode and the iOS frameworks were designed by Apple, a company known for their excellent interface design and aesthetically pleasing look and feel. iOS apps aren't beautiful because Xcode is beautiful. iOS apps and Xcode are beautiful because Apple designed their interface elements.
slurgfest 14y ago
Apple's great achievement has been the cultivation of this intense variety of brand tribalism. The purchase is not merely an exchange of money for a product that gives pleasure or does what it's expected to. It certainly isn't the guilty pleasure of someone who recognizes that they are consuming more than they really need to. No, it has a kind of ceremonial importance. It is a badge of social honor and distinction, a proof of discerning taste which sets the buyer apart from the grubby masses and puts them in the company of Personalities even as they enjoy the new-box smell and savor the kinds of product claims that we are jaded to in most advertising. So it is that a post about configuring free tools for productivity results in a paean to Linus Torvalds, MacBook Air, Vitamix, Moccamaster, and your real passion for beautiful, most beautiful, stunningly beautiful, truly good, beautiful, simple, high quality, high-quality, feel good. The 99 names of Apple.
- ccourteau 14y ago
  You're being aggressively unfair and selective in how you interpreted his comment. Why don't you go through the reasons WHY he thought his purchases were beautiful, most beautiful, stunningly beautiful, truly good, beautiful, simple, high quality, high-quality, feel good? His Macbook air is completely silent and has a screaming fast SSD. He likes garage tools that feel good in the hand and that don't break when using them. These are perfectly practical and valid reasons to like one's tools that have nothing to do with brand tribalism or hero worship.
  - slurgfest 14y ago
    I'm not talking about computers and I have no interest in going through a laundry list of marketing claims for any computer. Many computers are silent and SSDs are fast in general. People are entitled to do what they want with their money and if it gives them joy then that is great.
- batista 14y ago
  >The purchase is not merely an exchange of money for a product that gives pleasure or does what it's expected to. It certainly isn't the guilty pleasure of someone who recognizes that they are consuming more than they really need to. No, it has a kind of ceremonial importance. It is a badge of social honor and distinction, a proof of discerning taste which sets the buyer apart from the grubby masses and puts them in the company of Personalities even as they enjoy the new-box smell and savor the kinds of product claims that we are jaded to in most advertising. Mumbo jumbo --are you into "french social theory"? I, for one, used OS X when it was quite a novelty (10.2 days), and I use it now that everybody and his dog uses it. Neither popularity nor exclusivity has anything to do with it. I don't care about "badges of social honor", I _do_ care that it's a fucking full blown UNIX with all the commercial programs I need also available, and that doesn't require constant tinkering to get basic things like close-lid/sleep or GPU acceleration or multimedia working. That the hardware is well made also counts for a lot. Nothing about "blindly buying a brand". Apple can also make flops: pre mighty mouse Apple mice, Apple TV, the Finder, XCode, FCP X 1.0, Safari (ho hum), pricy adapters, and lots of other things. There are like 100,000,000 million Apple stuff owners in the US. You seriously believe those are 100 million fanboys???? (not to mention that if your explanation includes "mass hysteria" then you have to know you're talking BS). They are just people that bought a specific fucking brand, because that what they wanted to buy, given the alternatives. The "reality distortion field", "fanboys" etc, mostly BS from people trying to justify being cheapskates, or feeling some envy for others that can afford more expensive gear.
SkyMarshal 14y ago
Completely agreed. It's basically the 'buy it for life mentality'. But a very high quality product once, take good care of it, use it for life. No more crappy throw away culture. If it's any indication of that being a budding trend, there's even a subreddit for it: http://reddit.com/r/buyitforlife http://reddit.com/r/buyitforlife
Flow 14y ago
Did you get the 11" or 13" MBA?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]

mistercow 14y ago

>It doesn't surprise me at all that so many beautiful iOS apps are created in XCode Seems like a spurious correlation to me. Both Xcode and the iOS frameworks were designed by Apple, a company known for their excellent interface design and aesthetically pleasing look and feel. iOS apps aren't beautiful because Xcode is beautiful. iOS apps and Xcode are beautiful because Apple designed their interface elements.

slurgfest 14y ago

Apple's great achievement has been the cultivation of this intense variety of brand tribalism. The purchase is not merely an exchange of money for a product that gives pleasure or does what it's expected to. It certainly isn't the guilty pleasure of someone who recognizes that they are consuming more than they really need to. No, it has a kind of ceremonial importance. It is a badge of social honor and distinction, a proof of discerning taste which sets the buyer apart from the grubby masses and puts them in the company of Personalities even as they enjoy the new-box smell and savor the kinds of product claims that we are jaded to in most advertising. So it is that a post about configuring free tools for productivity results in a paean to Linus Torvalds, MacBook Air, Vitamix, Moccamaster, and your real passion for beautiful, most beautiful, stunningly beautiful, truly good, beautiful, simple, high quality, high-quality, feel good. The 99 names of Apple.

ccourteau 14y ago
You're being aggressively unfair and selective in how you interpreted his comment. Why don't you go through the reasons WHY he thought his purchases were beautiful, most beautiful, stunningly beautiful, truly good, beautiful, simple, high quality, high-quality, feel good? His Macbook air is completely silent and has a screaming fast SSD. He likes garage tools that feel good in the hand and that don't break when using them. These are perfectly practical and valid reasons to like one's tools that have nothing to do with brand tribalism or hero worship.
- slurgfest 14y ago
  I'm not talking about computers and I have no interest in going through a laundry list of marketing claims for any computer. Many computers are silent and SSDs are fast in general. People are entitled to do what they want with their money and if it gives them joy then that is great.
batista 14y ago
>The purchase is not merely an exchange of money for a product that gives pleasure or does what it's expected to. It certainly isn't the guilty pleasure of someone who recognizes that they are consuming more than they really need to. No, it has a kind of ceremonial importance. It is a badge of social honor and distinction, a proof of discerning taste which sets the buyer apart from the grubby masses and puts them in the company of Personalities even as they enjoy the new-box smell and savor the kinds of product claims that we are jaded to in most advertising. Mumbo jumbo --are you into "french social theory"? I, for one, used OS X when it was quite a novelty (10.2 days), and I use it now that everybody and his dog uses it. Neither popularity nor exclusivity has anything to do with it. I don't care about "badges of social honor", I _do_ care that it's a fucking full blown UNIX with all the commercial programs I need also available, and that doesn't require constant tinkering to get basic things like close-lid/sleep or GPU acceleration or multimedia working. That the hardware is well made also counts for a lot. Nothing about "blindly buying a brand". Apple can also make flops: pre mighty mouse Apple mice, Apple TV, the Finder, XCode, FCP X 1.0, Safari (ho hum), pricy adapters, and lots of other things. There are like 100,000,000 million Apple stuff owners in the US. You seriously believe those are 100 million fanboys???? (not to mention that if your explanation includes "mass hysteria" then you have to know you're talking BS). They are just people that bought a specific fucking brand, because that what they wanted to buy, given the alternatives. The "reality distortion field", "fanboys" etc, mostly BS from people trying to justify being cheapskates, or feeling some envy for others that can afford more expensive gear.

SkyMarshal 14y ago

Completely agreed. It's basically the 'buy it for life mentality'. But a very high quality product once, take good care of it, use it for life. No more crappy throw away culture. If it's any indication of that being a budding trend, there's even a subreddit for it: http://reddit.com/r/buyitforlife http://reddit.com/r/buyitforlife

Flow 14y ago

Did you get the 11" or 13" MBA?

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]