http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/On-Apps-and-Browsers-tp6462875p6465576.html
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 <[hidden email]>
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.
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Eric Charles
Professional Student and
Assistant
Professor of Psychology
Penn State University
Altoona, PA
16601
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College