Comments on: Apple reinventing file access, wireless sharing for iPad

By: gslusher

gslusher — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:25:26 +0000

I’m not sure that this is “re-inventing file access,” since this is precisely the way that Palm OS handled (and still does) file access. Files are stored in application-specific “folders” (some applications can search across folders–e.g., find any images) and accessed from within the application. The filenames are often very cryptic, given the severe limitations of Palm OS, but are represented in the applications with the names the user gives. (E.g., I use Documents to Go to putt AppleWorks files on my Palm TX. I don’t give a damn where the files are or what their filenames are–I just pick the one I need from a list within the Palm side of Documents to Go.)

By: Apple, iPhone, iPad и всичко останало. « Мързеливец и Co.

Apple, iPhone, iPad и всичко останало. « Мързеливец и Co. — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:24:55 +0000

[...] Цялата концепция на така наречения iPhone OS е да избяга от сложността на компютрите. Daniel Eran Dilger има интересни коментари накъде са тръгнали нещата и защо от Ябълката се опитват да предефинират как хората работят с файлове. [...]

By: miloh

miloh — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:50:15 +0000

amorton — I don’t think the app-centric workflow was necessarily confusing so long as one stayed within the app. I think the issue arose when people started sharing files between applications. I don’t foresee a whole lot of that occurring on the iPad, however. I think the intention is for such things to stay in the domain of the computer.

By: amorton

amorton — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:30:53 +0000

The first thing that struck me about this way of organising documents is it’s the same way I did it on my Apple II back in the ’80s, in the days before PCs had hard drives. If I was doing word processing I’d boot up Appleworks from a floppy disk and load and save files on the same disk. Ditto if I was creating pictures or music or whatever. Even when hard drives came along, each application you installed commonly had its own ‘documents’ folder where you saved everything.

In essence it’s a move from document-centred workflow back to application-centred workflow. Funny thing is I’m sure people decided some 10 to 20 years ago that the latter was illogical and confusing for users. So I can see why whmlco is concerned. But I guess we’ll just have to keep an open mind until we’ve used it for a while.

By: miloh

miloh — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 03:05:17 +0000

@ulicar — You seem to be overlooking the fact that the term “best” is highly subjective. For some people in some situations, the iPad may very well be the best way to browse the web. For others it may not. If you think it’s unsuitable for your purposes, fine. You’re entitled to that view. But so are others entitled to theirs.

By: ulicar

ulicar — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:10:32 +0000

@miloh It can’t do everything a BROWSER can do, let alone a computer. And yes, Apple claims the iPad is the best way to browse web, hands down, and it quite obvious IS NOT. It cannot do dumbest things other browser do. They might wanted to “reinvent the file access”, but what they came up with is a load of c**p that my grandmother would think through better, who never used a comupter and is dead. If you think it is somehow my fault to expect THE MINIMUM of what Apple claims they will deliver, you are as thick as developers of iPad.

By: miloh

miloh — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:37:32 +0000

@ulicar — What’s your point? That the iPad cannot do all that a computer can? Did Apple ever claim it was supposed to?

By: ulicar

ulicar — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:04:16 +0000

Steps to reproduce:

1 make a masterpiece photo using
iPhone
2 go to imageshack and try to upload the
image
3 get frustrated because file upload is not working mostly due to this ingenuity of file system
4 dump the image on pc and do it the old way
5 listen to funbois saying it is somehow ageshack error
6 film aliens landing video using iPhone
7 try to upload it to the fb and hit the same problem
8 listen to the fanbois claiming it is gb err

By: miloh

miloh — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:15:10 +0000

@adamk359 — You’ve touched on an interesting aspect of human behavior that I struggle with almost constantly in the R&D business. When a person gets accustomed to something and it becomes second-nature to them, they generally stop recognizing what it is they are actually doing (assuming they knew in the first place). They run around so much on auto-pilot that they’re unaware of the complexities to which they’re subjected. The result is typically a distorted sense of their own needs. Thus, when faced with something new like the iPad, they often have difficulty gauging its worth since they don’t really have a good understanding of that which they value to begin with.

In the corporate world, we all get nervous when the efficiency consultants are brought in because it usually means there will be layoffs. While that’s often true, their actual job is to identify waste so that things can be streamlined. Being an outsider with a fresh perspective, it’s all new to them and so there’s little risk of floating along on cruise control. It’s easier for them to be objective.

Apple is the efficiency expert in this case. They’ve looked at how a lot of people actually use computers, removed the unnecessary bits, and improved upon the rest. For a great number of users, a full-featured filesystem is unnecessary. A 500GB hard-drive is superfluous. The process of buying, unpacking, installing, and launching applications is too complicated. Many disagree with that assessment, but do they really understand their average computer use? Or do they only think they do?

By: adamk359

adamk359 — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:34:48 +0000

As an added side note, the MacBook Touch (I also envision the iMac to follow this “touch trend”) will likely utilize a “touch-enhanced” version of OS X that mimics a lot of the interface decisions used throughout the iPad’s version of iPhone OS…perhaps to the point of getting rid of the precious top 20 or so pixels of our beloved global menu utilizing it only for status/notifications. Gasp…I know.