PC bloggers and reporters pound pavement pushing for shorter iPad battery lifetimes on iPad to restore parity with poor PCs
There has been an onslaught of "social" and "news" people attacking the iPad during its first 24 hours.While shills have been of interest to the head of the FCC for most of the past year, let us look at this special case and how they have treated it, and see if it passes the sniff test.
- iPad detractors universally deploring iPad for features not are not built-in
- iPad detractors not making any inquiries about whether adapters or Bluetooth support can add these features in a simple way
- iPad detractors not questioning or concerned whether doubling the amount of hardware peripherals would drastically reduce the time an iPad can go without a battery charge
- iPad detractors unconcerned about topic of virus and other malware vulnerabilities despite the MS Windows & MS Internet Explorer revelations of the first 3 weeks of this month
Face it 2008-2010 have been an unparalleled disaster for computing and the blame lies squarely at Microsoft's door. In the first three weeks of this brand new year arose revelation after revelation about the secret life of Microsoft system software screw-ups.
Internet Explorer, which has been getting away with users bank accounts for years got a really greedy streak last year. It stole millions of dollars from school districts, small businesses, a catholic church, etc.
Seemingly of its own volition it seemingly declared a virtual jihad on its own users bank accounts, using on them. It turned on them, using every trick in the book to remove money from their bank accounts. Very often, it got away with huge sums.
But in reality, Internet Explorer was not evil. It was just incredibly flawed. Easily compromised. Frequently taken over by overseas criminal gangs. Used as a tool for espionage and fraud.
Microsoft's CEO shrugged it off as something that just happens every day in the world in which we live in.
Microsoft's head of security & privacy tried to keep users from switching from his "free" addled web browser to the more hygienic, free, open source Firefox web browser. In a desparate gambit, he asserted that Firefox was more dangerous than Internet Explorer. News flash: Firefox is way safer than Internet Explorer. Cybercrime gangs do try to target Firefox. And, boy do the fail! The only thing that keeps them in business is Internet Explorer. Literally.
It turns out Firefox generally gets attacked as much as Internet Explorer. The attacks just silently, miserably fail in almost every case. On Internet Explorer, the attacks are devastatingly successful. Depending on which version of IE you are talking about, the success rate is about 1/10 up to as high as about 2/3. The moral is clear: IE users are a cash cow for organized cybercrime gangs. They are not a revenue stream - they are the revenue stream.
We learned that Microsoft typically takes over half a year to patch critical vulnerabilities after they are reported to Microsoft by outsiders. That is really crucial because if you paid attention or bother to go back and look, most of the really excruciating flaws that have been exploited in IE were found by people outside of Microsoft. Suddenly, it makes a lot of sense how it gets exploited so much before there is any patch available.
Bluntly put, Microsoft depends on criminals not looking for exploitable flaws in IE - while at the same time, it depends on the kindness of security "researchers" to find those same flaws and secretly report them to it.
Lately, the norm is the latter do that and Microsoft "sits on" the flaw so long that malware authors hear about it or find out about it themselves and exploit it. So, even the best case scenario is not working!
In light of these facts, it makes no sense that the head of Microsoft and its head of security would struggle so hard to say these hacks are normal. And it is a violation of the latter's job description to tell people not to switch from one supposedly free browser to another when the former is getting them robbed.
But here is a little revelation: IE only runs in MS Windows, MS Windows costs hundreds of dollars, Microsoft gets tens to hundreds of dollars of revenue for every single copy of Windows sold, and some of Microsoft's commercial software products and web sites only work with Internet Explorer!
What we have is a scenario very much like the vintage scifi and horror flicks fifty years ago, when the evil mad scientist on an island says everything possible to keep a group of visitors to his island from leaving! He does not care that his insane creation is killing them. In some cases, he is even feeding them to it! After each one gets killed, he either hides the body, or tries to pass it off as some random accident that could happen anywhere, any day. In a pig's eye, buddy!
So, interesting indeed it is to note that some of these writers, some of them paid professionals are not asking the question: what are the factors that might lead iPad to get infected by drive-by viruses compared to Internet Explorer on the Windows PC? They do not ask that question because they already know the answer, and they are not even supposed to bring it up! Shocking, really.
Considering how often they write about the Windows & IE malware problems when not discussing iPad, you know it is on their minds but something apparently forbids them to talk about it when the page is discussing iPad.
Now, look at what they are focusing on and why these are stupid nitpicks:
- no integral webcam - drains power from battery, is incredible security risk when built-in unless physically covered or else irreparably destroyed.
- SD memory card port - small adapter sold by Apple for years plugs directly into the standard iPad/iPod adapter port and nobody has ever had a problem with this
Look at what they overlook:
- Bluetooth 2.1 - universal wireless interface designed for connecting with a legion of inexpensive peripheral devices such as (get this): web cams, full-sized keyboards, etc.
- Office applications - Inexpensive office applications; word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program for only $9.99. I have used the previous generations of both. If things have not changed, MS Office applications are more powerful than most people even use, and iPad iWork applications are easier to use and more fulfilling to most people, but a few "specialists" will pine for features in MS Office, at least at first. MS Office was written for A/C powered desktop computers though and has not been completely rewritten for netbooks/tablets. So I foresee a possibility that it will quickly drain batteries on these Windows 7 powered mobile devices.
- Productivity applications - some of the personal information minders included free -such as calendar are, at the moment, even more feature rich than the ones Apple includes with the Macintosh! It would be interesting to see how Outlook Express stacks up to iPad's mail and calendar applications, and how many viruses can affect "each" one.
- Other applications - do you really need the same desktop applications on your mobile device? Do you want to pay twice for the same expensive applications? Are you more likely to run different applications when you are away from the office.
- Affordable applications - the iPad revolutionized software pricing by taking advantage of the efficiency and economy of the low-overhead iTunes store, creating the famous app store. No need for software boxes, bulky manuals taking up crowded shelf/desk space. No desktop "retreads" masquerading as mobile apps. Just real, honest-to-goodness, fast, efficient, easy to use mobile apps.
- Games - iPad games are made to run on an iPad type device. The iPhone finger-driven user interface is the same as the iPad uses. Independent iPhone software developers wrote 140,000 apps practically custom made for the iPad for nearly two years without even knowing it. Truly a master stroke of cunning by Mr. Jobs and company, and likely to land another pleasant revenue winfall for iPhone/iPad app developers. So far, over 3 billion iPhone apps have been downloaded, and over 250 million iPhones have been sold. Contrast that with the sales of the Microsoft Zune: 2 or 3 million sold. Microsoft is no better at grasping the mobile computing market with its products than IBM was when it introduced its desktop PC and almost instantly lost control of it.
- Standing up - is how Steve Jobs and some other executives & entrepreneurs demoed iPad. Do executives sit down when they meet with subordinates? I hardly ever see executives doing this. They prefer to remain standing while they briefly visit people, chair meetings, etc. One thing you cannot do very well or safely is use a netbook standing up. You need three hands to hold it up and operate it. The iPad can be used easily simply by holding it with one or two hands, and using fingers and/or thumbs to make gestures on its surface. Netbook designers, by contrast, must do everything sitting down and expect everyone to do the same all the time all the time. Guess what. People do not sit down all the time. As a motile species, we wish we could stand up more often. Computers have trapped our butts in our chairs and notebooks/netbooks/laptops have not freed us from this. Only iPads and other tablets can do this.
- Keyboards - Apple pointed out at the product introduction that there is an inexpensive dock that has a full sized keyboard, charges your system, and has some I/O ports on it with a sale price of under $50; they also said iPad works fine with the Bluetooth wireless keyboard Apple has been selling for years.
- Can operate a presentation video-projector such as many office conference rooms and convention meeting halls use these days. With Keynote for iPad selling for only $9.99, that is quite useful to know.
The iPad operates for 10 hours of use on a single charge. In standby mode, that is when you are not using it to do things, its charge will last 30 days. So you can work all day long and then some, and your iPad is not going to need a charge until you go to bed.
Windows 7 based netbooks and tablet computers have hilariously short battery lifetimes. Netbooks only work for 5 hours on a charge. Turn yours on in the morning when you get to work. Even if you use it sparingly during the day, it is going to die during your 3 p.m. meeting.
Just imagine 3 people on a conference room with netbooks all fighting over the two power sockets in the room. Know what I mean?
Oh, and the tablet Windows 7 computer systems are even worse. They have shorter lifetimes. One that was promoted recently only works for 1.5 hours on a single charge. There are many meetings and presentations that last longer than that!
Imagine having to drape the charger cord for your glass-constructed tablet or flimsy netbook across the walkway. Sure, people will only trip over it some of the time, but won't it suck when that time comes around?
Replacing broken, stolen, and hopelessly infected Windows 7 tablets and netbooks will be a goldmine for Windows 7 OEMs, who are no doubt drooling at the prospect.
Now, let us look at the good things and bad things about Windows 7 tablets and netbooks.
- MS Office is available - but it costs $499 and there are no "upgrade price" discounts anymore, plus Word & Excel document viruses are a specialty of malware writers; conversely, you can use Google Docs apps and/or Open Office apps for free, which many people & offices do nowadays
- Internet Explorer is built-in - this is a liability for your company, for you, and for everyone/everything on the same corporate network as you - as the wildly successful industrial espionage at 34 Silicon Valley companies over the Christmas holidays shows
- Anti-virus programs - malware is like MRSA/AIDS, there is no cure for it anymore; at best they reduce your risk but are of no help against the latest strains which nowadays avoid detection/blocking/removal with ease - the Silicon Valley computers were robbed/usurped by exploiting flaws against which no Windows or anti-virus updates exist - and that is normal now for Windows systems.
- Product warranty - if you notice your operating system is defective, you cannot sue Microsoft but you are entitled to a refund of the price of the media (10 cents) or $5, whichever is less. I think we all know you are getting the 10 cents, which is less than the price of the postage stamp your expensive lawyer will put on the expensive letter your lawyer's paralegal will send to Microsoft, and then bill you $150 to thousands of dollars.
- Can run three apps at once instead of just one - an interesting proposition. Undoubtedly, desktop and notebook users are going to find the limit of just 3 applications a little inconvenient. Subnotebook computing is not for multitaskers, apparently. It will be like a low ceiling they sometimes bump their head on. Just being able to run one app at a time on the iPad seems at first like more of a limitation. However, it turns out the Mac is using solid state memory for everything. So, the Mac powers on instantly and I suspect that apps will start up almost that fast.
- Screen size: very small on netbooks and iPad (10-inch diagonal). It might be larger on the HP Slate tablet computer. It is hard to say for sure because slate seems to be a vaporware product.
- Poor sales: Windows 7 tablets are just not selling. See Microsoft partners not feeling the tablet love. Microsoft's tablet gambit might have failed, completely backfiring on these Windows OEMs - costing the huge capital outlays for hardware and device driver engineering, with negative profits to show for it. Maybe they were just used as "useful idiots" by Microsoft who needed them to build product "props" to discourage disgruntled Windows notebook users from staging an "exodus". Look how popular Blackberries and iPhones are today, and how much people can get done when they use them while away from their desks. Even the president uses one.
HP Slate might be just another Longhorn or Windows Mobile 8, or Internet Explorer 9. Something so far off that it might as well not exist: because it doesn't, and it might never. Even if it does, there is a good chance it will not be what was promised in "mockups" and carefully controlled brief demos.
Microsoft has a habit of dragging out product intros for several years after they demo them: Chicago (shown in 1992, it arrived in 1995), Longhorn (shown in 2003, it half arrived few years later as ill-fated Vista and the remaining half in 2009, which was 7 years and about $598 later), Windows Mobile 8 (appeared in presentations starting a couple years ago and expected in 2008, it has now slipped out to at least 2011), many versions of MS Office (not unusual for MS to slip release date back on Office), and Internet Explorer 9 (announced in 2009 it is not going to be out until at least 2011, Microsoft says).
Microsoft demos, describes, and shows screenshots and photos of products years before they have a product they can sell. They do this when they don't have a product they can sell and the competition does. They are hoping you, the customer, will go for a whole product generation life cycle without buying the competition's product. If you do, they know you will be happy with it, the competition will make money, and Microsoft will not get a sale. They would rather lie than have happen, and lie they have.
Sadly, some journalists and technical bloggers seem to have sold out, perhaps in a tangible way to an aging dinosuar factory of disease ridden beasts that is more than a bit past its prime.
Microsoft is only two years older than Apple. But when you see how mobile computing is being supported by both companies, it seems like the two companies are operating in different eras. One company has some real gems (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, iPod, app store, book store). Their portable products sell, their portable software vendors produce - and rake in profits. Their built-in anti-malware technology works.
The other has only anachronisms (Zune, malware, electricity-guzzling desktop OS on small devices powered by tiny expensive batteries, kitchen sink of hardware and software features most people do not even use but hackers exploit for espionage/theft).
Apple let its customers and the press play with iPads when they introduced it. HP let Steve Ballmer play with Slate when they introduced it. I think that makes it pretty clear who is going to be using which product this year - and how.
Labels: blogging, ipad, mobile, mswin
posted by John Collins @ 9:08 AM
