>>>Ok, but like it or not, I think the general consensus is . . . the iPhone interface was radically better (and now people are copying it and in some ways leapfrogging it).
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>>>I'd like to see a survey of VFP developers who've worked with ADO and other data access techniques in other languages and see how much support you get for your "their methods were neither inferior nor superior to what we were doing with VFP" statement. Frankly, I'm surprised you make a statement like that. You did use VFP, right? <g>
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>>>Obviously, we need to be open to change. I've been using a MacBook Pro since December. I use VMWare Fusion to run a Win7 VM on top of Snow Leopard. Having been a Mac fan from way back - but not really able to program for the Mac due to market share realities - I expected to love it. I don't. One reason is that Windows has gotten so much better. It was easy to see how the Mac beat DOS and early Window versions. These days the differences are more subtle. But there's also the issue of the Mac doing things that aren't as intuitive or as integrated as the Mac fanboys like to proclaim. I've found a number of frustrating issues that aren't about just being set in my Window ways. So despite trying to be open and going into it with a positive view of the Mac OS, I've found it to not be all it's cracked up to be (not that I hate it completely). Likewise with .NET . . . just because someone doesn't like .NET data handling doesn't mean they are just wanting it the old way. They might be very open to it and still feel that it is harder than it needs to be. Why does something have to be difficult to make people feel it's powerful and sophisticated?
>>>
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>>Yes, the differences between Windows Vista / Windows 7 and Mac OS X are much more subtle. But why is that? Here is an amusing take on it --
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>>
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT6YO30GhmQ>
>Yeah, I saw that awhile back. Very funny. But after using OS X and Win7, I really feel like Win7 is easier to get around in. OS X has some really stupid things like now allowing you to just press the Delete key to delete a file or folder. There are a lot of little things that they do that are just stupid and stubborn, like the refusal to let you resize a window from any side. And then there was the time I tried to edit a video in iPhoto, where I had imported it from my iPhone. It seemed to let me do it, but then I couldn't find the edited copy. Turns out they were just firing up QuickTime to allow the editing, but then when you saved, it was not saved back to the iPhoto database. What you had to do was then move it out of the iPhoto database folder, then import it to iPhoto. So much for integration. With Automation in Windows, it'd be possible to let another app edit the video, but then get it saved back so that the original app could see it and use it. On the Mac it just seems that wasn't a thought that occurred to them. They let you "Edit" but you're not really editing the way you think you are, so getting what you really want involves extra steps. Just poor interface and integration, but never try to tell an Apple fanboy that. Apple is god, of course.
I do not consider myself a fanboy at all. I just think they make very good products. User design is in their DNA.
Here is a case in point. Last night I was listening to the iPod and realized how nice it felt in my hand. (No comments, wise guys). Not too light, not too heavy, just exactly heavy enough, curved around the edges. It had a really satisfying heft. And you can bet someone out in Cupertino thought about it.
Apple can be stubborn, occasionally to their own detriment. It goes with their independent streak. (Not for nothing did the original Mac team work out of a building with a pirate's flag flying over the entrance). They are convinced they know what we want before we know we want it. They do not do focus groups. They trust in themselves and put out a lot more hits than misses.
Fanboy or not fanboy? ;-) --- I have an iPad on order, due to ship at the end of the month. If my contract is not renewed or converted to employment I may cancel the order. In the meantime I am licking my chops.
