Arguments for a locked down OS

[drjsway]

The difference between a computer and a consumer electronics device is you expect a computer to crash once in a while. However, while it may happen, you don't expect your phone, gaming console, GPS, or alarm clock radio to ever crash.

While most people have and tolerate computers, a large majority would be better served with a consumer device that can handle most of their computing tasks.

What are the rules for this device?

1. It can't EVER crash.

Locking down the OS would be essential as all software and hardware must be integrated perfectly. This means all apps must be approved (like through the App Store approval process).

2. Minimal tech support required

Don't you get frustrated when your mother has a problem and calls you to fix it? And I'm sure she's more frustrated than you. Time is money. Even a minute of tech support (or scouring the internet to find a solution) is a waste of time.

3. The user can't do anything to degrade performance or harm the computer.

This includes accidentally deleting essential files or messing up the OS. This also means no multitasking (or better yet, controlled multitasking). People can't be allowed to slow down the system in anyway. This also means no flash until Adobe fixes the bugs.

4. It should require minimal computing knowledge to access all features.

Time is money. Time spent learning how to perform a task is time wasted.


Now, OS X and Windows will not disappear and will still be necessary for people who need to do more advance tasks but if the iPad can offer a basic consumer computer for the masses while removing the frustrations of traditional computing, it will be Apple's biggest success.

 

[miles01110]

1. It can't EVER crash.

Haha. Good one. Every OS tries to implement "it won't crash!" The only OS that doesn't crash is the one that doesn't do anything useful.

2. Minimal tech support required

With a locked down OS, when something does go wrong you're forced to go to the Apple Store for help. Great....

3. The user can't do anything to degrade performance or harm the computer.

Maybe...

4. It should require minimal computing knowledge to access all features.

It should, but people still won't be able to figure some things out. Just look at the number of stupid threads in the Mac Basics forum.

 

[MacModMachine]

The difference between a computer and a consumer electronics device is you expect a computer to crash once in a while. However, while it may happen, you don't expect your phone, gaming console, GPS, or alarm clock radio to ever crash.

While most people have and tolerate computers, a large majority would be better served with a consumer device that can handle most of their computing tasks.

What are the rules for this device?

1. It can't EVER crash.

Locking down the OS would be essential as all software and hardware must be integrated perfectly. This means all apps must be approved (like through the App Store approval process).

2. Minimal tech support required

Don't you get frustrated when your mother has a problem and calls you to fix it? And I'm sure she's more frustrated as you. Time is money. Even a minute of tech support (or scouring the internet to find a solution) is a waste of time.

3. The user can't do anything to degrade performance or harm the computer.

This includes accidentally deleting essential files or messing up the OS. This also means no multitasking (or better yet, controlled multitasking). People can't be allowed to slow down the system in anyway. This also means no flash until Adobe fixes the bugs.

4. It should require minimal computing knowledge to access all features.

Time is money. Time spent learning how to perform a task is time wasted.


Now, OS X and Windows will not disappear and will still be necessary for people to need to do more advance tasks with their computers but if the iPad can offer a basic consumer computer for the masses while removing the frustrations of traditional computing, it will be Apple's biggest success.

your first 1 and 3 are wrong.

it can crash, not easily...but it definitly can.

i have had my iphone slow down to a crawl and crash several times.

every os will have flaws....thats a fact....

 

[spinnerlys]

Those are quite good points, but I hope that some form of multitasking will be implemented in a good way, as copying some text from one app to another might be quite the hustle, when one has to wait for an app to start again. We'll see when the iPad arrives how it does handle missing multitasking, maybe it even works without.

I disagree about the "not crashing" part though. iPod Touch apps quit quite often, more than Mac OS X applications.

 

[drjsway]

Haha. Good one. Every OS tries to implement "it won't crash!" The only OS that doesn't crash is the one that doesn't do anything useful.

The iPhone OS itself has never crashed on me. I have had apps take me back to the home screen, which most people won't interpret as a crash. My Wii and PS3 has also never crashed.

your first 1 and 3 are wrong.

it can crash, not easily...but it definitly can.

i have had my iphone slow down to a crawl and crash several times.

every os will have flaws....thats a fact....

Is your iPhone jailbroken? While rare crashes will always happen, locking down the OS and approving all software helps.

Those are quite good points, but I hope that some form of multitasking will be implemented in a good way, as copying some text from one app to another might be quite the hustle, when one has to wait for an app to start again. We'll see when the iPad arrives how it does handle missing multitasking, maybe it even works without.

I'm confident multitasking will be in 4.0, but it will be controlled, which is necessary. I once had a female friend over and she kept complaining how slow her MacBook was. I looked at it and there were over 50 applications open! I don't think she ever closed an app since she bought the machine.

I disagree about the "not crashing" part though. iPod Touch apps quit quite often, more than Mac OS X applications.

While apps might quit, have you ever had to reboot?

 

[miles01110]

The iPhone OS itself has never crashed on me. I have had apps take me back to the home screen, which most people won't interpret as a crash. My Wii and PS3 has also never crashed.

...who cares? I've never been in a car accident, that doesn't mean it's not possible.

 

[MacModMachine]

The iPhone OS itself has never crashed on me. I have had apps take me back to the home screen, which most people won't interpret as a crash. My Wii and PS3 has also never crashed.



Is your iPhone jailbroken? While rare crashes will always happen, locking down the OS and approving all software helps.



I'm confident multitasking will be in 4.0, but it will be controlled, which is necessary. I once had a female friend over and she kept complaining how slow her MacBook was. I looked at it and there were over 50 applications open! I don't think she ever closed an app since she bought the machine.



While apps might quit, have you ever had to reboot?

what is jailbroken?

i have my ps3 freeze once in awhile too.

i know very well what crashing is, i have made a few iphone apps for in house robotics projects.

 

[spinnerlys]

While apps might quit, have you ever had to reboot?

Yes. When an application was not working properly, I had to reboot, even when a restart of the application did not work, several times.
Mostly with Safari though, that buggy little piece of .... .

 

[FCDP]

1. It can't EVER crash.

Locking down the OS would be essential as all software and hardware must be integrated perfectly. This means all apps must be approved (like through the App Store approval process).

This one is certainly incorrect. I don't know about others, but my iPhone has had apps crash on it far more often then both my MacBook Pro, and Windows machine over the same period of time. In fact, my Windows machine crashes less than my MBP which I always find shocking.

Though the reason for it? It has nothing to do with the OS, but the Applications running on them, and their quality of development and QA. The fact that Apple "approves" apps before going to the App store, and some still crash, nulls out that reason for having such a process.

Closed platforms aren't for the users benefit. They are intended to maximize revenue.

 

[drjsway]

This one is certainly incorrect. I don't know about others, but my iPhone has had apps crash on it far more often then both my MacBook Pro, and Windows machine over the same period of time. In fact, my Windows machine crashes less than my MBP which I always find shocking.

Though the reason for it? It has nothing to do with the OS, but the Applications running on them, and their quality of development and QA. The fact that Apple "approves" apps before going to the App store, and some still crash, nulls out that reason for having such a process.

Closed platforms aren't for the users benefit. They are intended to maximize revenue.

I have about 150 apps and have found the iPhone OS very stable so I'm disappointed to hear that. Regardless, I think my rules still stand if Apple wants the iPad to be successful.

 

[ct2k7]

Apps will probably not crapple the device.

 

[miles01110]

Regardless, I think my rules still stand if Apple wants the iPad to be successful.

They're not even rules. They're just generic talking points that practically every OS on every device ever aspires to achieve.

 

[chriszzz]

1. It can't EVER crash.

Locking down the OS would be essential as all software and hardware must be integrated perfectly. This means all apps must be approved (like through the App Store approval process).

Yeah, like thats going to happen. I can't think of a single device I currently use that has not crashed at some point in time. Macs, PCs, iPhones, game consoles. They all crash. Software is not perfect.

2. Minimal tech support required

Don't you get frustrated when your mother has a problem and calls you to fix it? And I'm sure she's more frustrated than you. Time is money. Even a minute of tech support (or scouring the internet to find a solution) is a waste of time.

A closed system creates for tech support. With little to no diagnostics available, there aren't many solutions other than restoring the device or having it swapped out under warranty. What do you do when a user just finished typing up something in Pages and now the device will not boot? Recover the data? Pull the drive? Nope.

3. The user can't do anything to degrade performance or harm the computer.

This includes accidentally deleting essential files or messing up the OS. This also means no multitasking (or better yet, controlled multitasking). People can't be allowed to slow down the system in anyway. This also means no flash until Adobe fixes the bugs.

This is true if they run legit. But then if they attempt something like jailbreaking, they have the ability to screw things up even worse.

 

[wikoogle]

The iPhone does crash and crash hard. A few months ago, I was browsing Internet on my iPhone when it crashed. The entire phone rebooted and when it finally loaded up again, all the data on my phone was gone including all the phone numbers and my notes. Strangely all the apps were still there but none of the saved games were.

If it was a computer, I could have easily used partition magic to recover the data on the HDD, but since it was an iPhone, I was stuck. For that same reason tech support wasn't able to recover my data either.

So yes iPhone OS does crash and unlike with OSX or Win 7 it's impossible to recover lost data. And no, my phone was never jailbroken. I've similarly had many many problems with my xbox 360 and even my wii on one occasion.

So 1-3 on your list do not apply. I do agree with you that 4 is very important for a lot of people though.

However there is absolutely no reason why an open OS can't be dead simple to use as well

 

[drjsway]

Yeah, like thats going to happen. I can't think of a single device I currently use that has not crashed at some point in time. Macs, PCs, iPhones, game consoles. They all crash. Software is not perfect.

So everybody disagrees that having a closed OS reduces the rate of crashes?

Am I the only one who hasn't experienced this "everything crashes all the time" phenomenon? For me, consoles and the iphone are much more stable than PCs.

 

[MacModMachine]

So everybody disagrees that having a closed OS reduces the rate of crashes?

Am I the only one who hasn't experienced this "everything crashes all the time" phenomenon? For me, consoles and the iphone are much more stable than PCs.

no one said it wouldent reduce crashes...it will..


but you said it would NEVER crash.....big difference.

everything crashes....i have had my alarm clock freak out on me a few times.

 

[pacmania1982]

The iPhone OS itself has never crashed on me. I have had apps take me back to the home screen, which most people won't interpret as a crash. My Wii and PS3 has also never crashed.

But this still means that the app has crashed...even if most people don't interpret it as a crash.

pac

 

[ct2k7]

But this still means that the app has crashed...even if most people don't interpret it as a crash.

pac

I would say that it could be a stack fault which for most people, is a crash.