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I wish Apple would Think Different®

thejadedmonkey

thejadedmonkey

macrumors G3
Original poster
May 28, 2005
9,313
3,634
Pennsylvania
Am I the only one who wishes Apple would think different? I mean...lets look at their lineup. Laptops, desktops. Look at Dell...Laptops, desktops.

What ever happened to thinking different?
What ever happened to the media center (iHome) idea?

and why in G-d's name am I still using the same archaic input devices that were being used 20 years ago. the monitor is the same shape...the mouse doesn't have blocky corners, but it's still a mouse.

Right now I'm sitting on my chair, facing a 6 year old monitor. I don't want an LCD, because it would mean spending more money for a useless 6" of space. Why can't apple make touch screen LCD's for the masses. If I want to do something, I use my fingers on the screen, or say what it is that I want to appear.

Dashboard is a step in the right direction, because it is another layer to the OS, but it's just that- a step.

What I really want is a revolution. We've had 20+ years of evolution, isn't it time we had a computing revolution?

Sorry, this has just been bugging me...and now seemed like a good of a time as any to say it.
 
EricNau said:
Apple learned a long time ago that "thinking different" doesn't always get you ahead.
Click to expand...

I think this is exactly the problem. It's too risky. When Apple started, computing was for hobbyists. It was OK if things were really different, hard to figure out or a little rough around the edges. The customers didn't care because they liked figuring stuff out. The Apple II started to change that by making computers available to a wide audience.

Now, everyone has a computer and they're no more exotic to most people than a TV or a telephone. Except for the hobbyists and nerds, most people don't care that much about their computer, it's just something to get a job done. They're not willing to put in the effort necessary to adapt to something truly revolutionary.

That's not to say that things won't change/improve. Of course they will. It's just that changes will come somewhat slowly, and will be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

(FWIW, there's nothing stopping you from buying your own touch screen and hooking it up to a Mac. They're readily available and have been for a long time. Of course I realize you were just using that as an example. Speech recognition is also already built into OS X and usually works alright. I'm hoping speech synthesis and recognition get a big upgrade in Leopard.)
 
Apple is leaving most of the hardware revolutioning (storage, processors, etc.) to other people now. Much less expensive for someone else to put R&D money into it, and spread that cost over many customers (computer manufacturers). All Apple basically does now hardware-wise is put all that stuff to an awesome package. Oh, and develop/promote FireWire, and certain other connections (MagSafe). Anyways, I think they're going to keep coming up with new software stuff, particularly in the creative fields (photo, video, music, etc.) both for consumers and pros. This isn't to say, however, that they'll pull out of the hardware game. It brings in far too much money for them, and their hardware design is probably a big source of pride.


Okay, that's enough rambling for tonight. :eek:
 
Why does thinking different have to mean revolutionary?

What Apple do very well is take existing ideas and re-assemble them in a way that makes the product elegant and easy to use. At the end of the day, they are a computer company and their products must meet the needs and expectations of their customers. Where thinking different comes in is the application of creative thought and strong design in meeting these expectations. For example, there were MP3 players around before the iPod, but the combination of design and simplicity made this stand out above the others. To me, this is thinking differently.
 
No innovation in computing? Can anyone say 'digital music', 'wireless computing' and 'LCD screens'?

Think back to 10 years ago. Computers had nearly no media functionality whatsoever. The most you could do was listen to a CD on your CD drive. You couldn't store your whole music and film library on your computer and stream it to your TV/music system. Nor could you enjoy this experience without any wires, which you can now (apart from power cables, of course). A whole new dimension has been added to computers within the last 10 years. Before computing was strictly the domain of professional video editors, gamers and hobbyists. Now it can be used (on a consumer level) as the hub for an whole media experience.

How much Apple has actually played apart in adding this new dimension to computing is, of course, to be disputed. The iPod/iTunes phenomenon was obviously something the widely revolutionised the way we listen to music, but its computer systems still remain of interest only to a niche of professionals and fans.
 
I was hoping the macbook would do away with the trackpad and go touchscreen - but I'll settle for the scrolling trackpad and ctrl-click function.
 
7on said:
I was hoping the macbook would do away with the trackpad and go touchscreen - but I'll settle for the scrolling trackpad and ctrl-click function.
Click to expand...

But...imagine how filthy your screen would get :eek:

I can't see the attraction of touchscreen. But it is about time the trackpad was done away with. I really don't like them. They make your finger sore after a while. And make your index finger ache like hell.
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Am I the only one who wishes Apple would think different? I mean...lets look at their lineup. Laptops, desktops. Look at Dell...Laptops, desktops.

What ever happened to thinking different?
What ever happened to the media center (iHome) idea?

...
Click to expand...
Just because you were born yesterday doesn't mean that everyone was. There are a lot of things that have been tried already. Many of them have been tried by Apple. Some of them succeeded and are part of your computing experience today. Many things have failed. Still other things have been passed by time. Many of the things that people complain that they want have already been tried and found wanting. The touch screen, for example, was around before the personal computer.
 
mduser63 said:
I think this is exactly the problem. It's too risky. When Apple started, computing was for hobbyists. It was OK if things were really different, hard to figure out or a little rough around the edges. The customers didn't care because they liked figuring stuff out. The Apple II started to change that by making computers available to a wide audience.

Now, everyone has a computer and they're no more exotic to most people than a TV or a telephone. Except for the hobbyists and nerds, most people don't care that much about their computer, it's just something to get a job done. They're not willing to put in the effort necessary to adapt to something truly revolutionary.

That's not to say that things won't change/improve. Of course they will. It's just that changes will come somewhat slowly, and will be evolutionary, not revolutionary.

(FWIW, there's nothing stopping you from buying your own touch screen and hooking it up to a Mac. They're readily available and have been for a long time. Of course I realize you were just using that as an example. Speech recognition is also already built into OS X and usually works alright. I'm hoping speech synthesis and recognition get a big upgrade in Leopard.)
Click to expand...

I agree. Apple is first and foremost a business. And right now they would be taking a huge risk. They're at a good place right now, and something too "out there" could cripple them.
 
I think I missed my own point last night... It was more that nothing's really changed. iPod and iTunes is a great step though, plug it in, download the music, it was revolutionary. But for the most part, computers haven't changed.

Someone mentioned how you couldn't use a computer to store movies or a music collection on 10 years ago, and I beg to differ. Sure, you couldn't send it to a TV like you can now, but I used napster on 1995 era equipment, and it worked great. that's 11 years old now...

The real beaf I have is that I could install Windows 95 on my laptop, and use it to surf the net, talk on AIM, rip DVD's (if I can find a program that runs on 95), watch movies, and it would look, feel (at least on the surface), and get used just like Windows Vista, which is 12 years it's successor. That's what really gets me..

Apple specifically, the PowerBook's stayed the same for some time now (sans progressive updates and a camera)..is it really that[/] hard to make the one button touch-sensative, put a mighty-mouse-esque wheel in the middle, and have a real mouse on a laptop, or how about a wireless laptop charger (yes, it can be done) or a better way to use a laptop as a desktop while you're at the desk.

Where's the Innovation?
 
Yeah. They don't think as differently anymore. None-the-less, Steve Jobs knows what he is doing.
 
JackSYi said:
Yeah. They don't think as differently anymore. None-the-less, Steve Jobs knows what he is doing.
Click to expand...

Perhaps the reason that there hasn't been any big innovations in the way we use computers over the last 20 years or so is because it is hard to beat the desktop analogy in terms of it's intuitive appeal to most users. Sure there are other ways of inputing data, like touchscreens, but these are not really huge changes or advances in the way we use computers (think of all the PDAs out there) and they don't seem to have much mass market appeal so far.

The trouble is that so many advances will not retain the simplicity that apple brought to the market with the mac and mac OS. There's a reason not much has changed in 20 years and it's because what we have works (well it does on a mac anyway)!

Having said all of that... I think the next major innovation to computer use will be contextual keyboards. These will be keyboards for which the symbols, colours, brightness of the keys will change depending on their context of usage. Software developpers would then be free to configure inputs that are appropriate and intuitive for their software (and FCP users would have to use those silly coloured keyboards ;) ).
 
isn't it Apple who makes up at least half of the innovation in the personal computing market?
they innovate, just not in ways that cause dramatic shifts these days. its a slower progression, and considering the larger base of computer users, it has to be.
 
Satori said:
Perhaps the reason that there hasn't been any big innovations in the way we use computers over the last 20 years or so is because it is hard to beat the desktop analogy in terms of it's intuitive appeal to most users. Sure there are other ways of inputing data, like touchscreens, but these are not really huge changes or advances in the way we use computers (think of all the PDAs out there) and they don't seem to have much mass market appeal so far.

The trouble is that so many advances will not retain the simplicity that apple brought to the market with the mac and mac OS. There's a reason not much has changed in 20 years and it's because what we have works (well it does on a mac anyway)!

Having said all of that... I think the next major innovation to computer use will be contextual keyboards. These will be keyboards for which the symbols, colours, brightness of the keys will change depending on their context of usage. Software developpers would then be free to configure inputs that are appropriate and intuitive for their software (and FCP users would have to use those silly coloured keyboards ;) ).
Click to expand...

That would be cool. I can't wait for the next generation of user input devices.
 
yg17 said:
You'd have to pry my mouse from my cold dead hands. I despise touch screens
Click to expand...

I haven't touched my mouse anymore since I own a WACOM Intuos3 tablet..
 
I think that you have a very interesting point here. If, for example, you look at all those scifi movies, they've got computers that talk to them, interactive holograms and so on. Some of this stuff is actually possible now, but where is it?

I remember reading about a keyboard that was just light reflected on a tabletop. And some type of gyro mouse that you held in your hand. As far as I know neither of these products have caught on. And that's just it. People want what's familiar to them. If you shake people up too much, they get all ruffled. it's the same reason we arent watching movies with funny goggles attached to our head like in Tron. The technology is there, but no one wants to do it. You want to kick back on your couch with your buddies grab a beer and watch the tube.

What real innovation there is, has been a logical progression from point a to point b. Take for example the iPod. Its a glorified portable hard drive. The idea of putting music on a hard drive is nothing new, but how Apple executed it made it a success. The scroll wheel on the case was really good unique design. Before that there were just push buttons. But even the scroll wheel on the iPod is really just an extension of the scroll wheel on a mouse which has been around for a while.

And besides, if you think computers haven't changed, take a look at cars. Where are those floating plastic cars that drive for you and run on garbage?
 
thejadedmonkey said:
Am I the only one who wishes Apple would think different? I mean...lets look at their lineup. Laptops, desktops. Look at Dell...Laptops, desktops.

What ever happened to thinking different?
What ever happened to the media center (iHome) idea?

and why in G-d's name am I still using the same archaic input devices that were being used 20 years ago. the monitor is the same shape...the mouse doesn't have blocky corners, but it's still a mouse.

Right now I'm sitting on my chair, facing a 6 year old monitor. I don't want an LCD, because it would mean spending more money for a useless 6" of space. Why can't apple make touch screen LCD's for the masses. If I want to do something, I use my fingers on the screen, or say what it is that I want to appear.

Dashboard is a step in the right direction, because it is another layer to the OS, but it's just that- a step.

What I really want is a revolution. We've had 20+ years of evolution, isn't it time we had a computing revolution?

Sorry, this has just been bugging me...and now seemed like a good of a time as any to say it.
Click to expand...
Nice rant. We are looking for a John Everyman to rant about petty nonsensical things. Interested?
 
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