Thoughts on Apps vs. Web Apps / Apple approach vs. Google approach Apple seems definitely on the right track with the iCloud, but I think, as Owen's email points out, that is because they are rapidly adapting to the new hardware ecology. In a world where everyone has one or two computers, full function computers, the Google approach rocks. In a world where everyone has 15 computers and each has different levels of functionality, the Apple approach seems like it has a shot (if done right) at being a lot better. I don't, however, take it as obvious that the proliferation of computing devices owned by single individuals will continue. The cellphone/laptop hybrids, for example, might be a harbinger of things to come. If people scale back to a smaller number of multifunctional devices (perhaps quite small devices that function differently when connected to different interface devices), I think its anyone's game.
Eric On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 12:09 PM, Owen Densmore <[email protected]> wrote: > Pardon me if this is to weird for words, but our other conversation >brought out the phenomenon of Apps. Attached below this is the >original fragment. > >Basically I was surprised by the growth of "Apps", especially with the >apparent convergence of everything in the browser (Web Apps). > >It has now been explained to me by several of my friends in accademia. > Their students have, for me, an odd relationship to computers. Few >can program and generally find the idea foreign. For a while I >thought this an aberration but more evidence piled up. So why is >this? Twitter? Facebook? Lazy dumb-ass kids? > >No. > >Jobs explained it all in the WWDC keynote. He described the concept >of a file hierarchy as being a pain for most folks who simply want an >App to manage their files and to hell with the file, its name and >extension, and where it is in the file hierarchy and syncing the damn >files from/to all my devices. And setting up sync to iPad to allow >more music files (larger disk) than my iPhone (smaller >disk). Files >and their management are a bitch. > >Jobs sez that all data should have a simple App managing the data, and >actually, the data should not even be on individual devices .. instead >they should be in the cloud and managed by the OS/App pair. Better >yet, the Time Machine notion is generalized so that all backups, over >time, are also available to you. Oh, and if 10,000 people have the >same music, there is one, count it one, copy of the file in the sky >and we all share it! > >Well now, there's an idea! And I bet it works. And I bet it makes >Google run like the devil to catch up because they're still stuck in >yesterday's Web App approach. > >Well, I don't mind Web Apps and I love the convergence due to the >simplification: one solution across all browsers and OSs and >platforms. But Jobs has this right due to the explosion of devices: >phones, tvs, tablets, netbooks, desktops, laptops, servers etc. Its >just too hard to have a single web interface across them all. > >So the race is on: Will Web Apps win, or will Apps win. I'm betting >on the latter, and on iCloud to do the best job of implementing them. > >Final point: this is definitely going to up the ante to get security >right. And I'm betting Apple is hot on that, probably some sort of >key-pair approach that is made easier by King Jobs and his court. > >Let the fun begin. I'm glad I now at least have a map! > > -- Owen > >Philosophical note: The WWDC Apple keynote by Jobs made a good point. >The trend away from browser interfaces to Apps. This is not a biggie >for us, but Google's in a tight corner now. Most vanilla computer >users will want an App for every Google service. > >Jobs' comment that raw data in file hierarchies is too weird for the >general user. I thought that odd until I spoke with a few educators >who say their students despise looking around for where their files >are and launching the right app for them. Hard to believe. > >But Google really is in a tough place with the new iCloud. I was at a >talk with all of Apple engineering in the early '80s where Negroponte, >discussing Mac color displays will have to be twice as good as PCs due >to being late to the party. Well, Jobs listened and spent LOTS of >engineering time on getting color right across computers and printers. > He's going to do it right this time with iCloud. Us old farts will >hang on to our splintered unorganized world till the End Of Time. The >rest of the world is passing us by. > >============================================================ >FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv >Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College >lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > Eric Charles Professional Student and Assistant Professor of Psychology Penn State University Altoona, PA 16601
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
