Comments for Neil Mix

Comment on Tablet Prediction by David Lowe

David Lowe — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:35:13 +0000

Rats, no handwriting recognition. I agree, this makes it DOA for me personally.

Maybe it’s time to resurrect the chorded (one-handed) keyboard for multi-touch screens? That’s a different approach to the problem… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorded_keyboard

(FWIW, I had a chorded keyboard for some time, and could type reasonably quickly with it. But the first time I tried coding in C with it, I gave up — the semicolon was a two-step chord!)

Comment on Threading in JavaScript 1.7 by iresha

iresha — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:15:58 +0000

javascript multi-threading doesn’t have to be a pointless exercise. Here is a fantastic example.

http://codediaries.blogspot.com/2009/12/real-javascript-multithreading-using.html

Comment on Software on the shelf by Andy

Andy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 20:07:54 +0000

“I kept approaching implementation with a sense of urgency framed by the Internet, and my approach didn’t fit in with the rest of the team.”

I hadn’t considered the team’s background on the overall sense of project urgency. That was interesting, thanks.

Comment on It takes guts to do that by Matt Martel

Matt Martel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:55:05 +0000

Absolutely agree. As you say, Joe voted with his feet. More power to him. Rather see that than continued complaining from folks on the sidelines, ones without a stake in the game.

Comment on Solve the right problem by Vincent Roman

Vincent Roman — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:41:58 +0000

Greta post and right on the money.

Comment on Please stop whining about App Store review by Neil

Neil — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:39:56 +0000

@Chris: you’re right — over time, developers may vote with their feet (like Joe did) and force Apple’s hand. Until that happens, what’s going to cause Apple to change? Nothing.

@Joe: No point in comparing? I couldn’t disagree more. Let’s compare Apple’s system with *all* previous systems including the web and the desktop, and let’s see which ones fare the best. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, right? As for the best possible system — from who’s perspective? My whole point is the the review process isn’t developer friendly, but that’s irrelevant as long as it’s not hurting Apple’s product and the end consumer. So what’s best for the end consumer? Is the “wild west web” with no single distribution point, no standards of conduct, and no consumer recourse really best for consumers? I’m not so quick to jump on that bandwagon. Same goes for the desktop.

Comment on Please stop whining about App Store review by Joe Hewitt

Joe Hewitt — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:02:00 +0000

I see no point in making comparisons to less than ideal systems of the past. Let’s imagine what the best possible system is and compare against that. Yes, Apple’s approval process is far easier than, say, getting approval for a Nintendo or Playstation game. That doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.

Comment on Please stop whining about App Store review by Chris Doherty

Chris Doherty — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:14:41 +0000

“name the platforms for which indy developers were writing apps prior to the App Store’s existence”

Blackberry and the Danger Sidekick? I believe the former was all user-installed, and the Danger “review process” was just technical (making sure your app didn’t kill the backend service) and marking adult apps appropriately. None of this “duplicates an existing app’s functionality” or “you can load the Kama Sutra, therefore your e-book reader is inappropriate” nonsense.

I would never expect to see *users* leave the iPhone–they don’t care, they don’t usually know about apps that aren’t available. But I’d expect developers over time to think twice before putting significant time and effort (and hence money) writing an iPhone app without knowing whether they’ll be able to sell it.

Comment on The Problem of Trust by Donny Viszneki

Donny Viszneki — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:49:57 +0000

You want to talk about an SSL usability problem? Almost no SSL technology I’ve used has a comfortable user interface accepting known-to-be-compromised SSL certs. You either have to lump them in with the trusted certs, or reject them entirely.

Comment on Redacted?!? by Peter Edstrom

Peter Edstrom — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:00:53 +0000

I’d agree, the whole thing stinks.

On one hand, I sortof agree with Apple in that it alters the way voicemail and sms work. But only if you can turn a blind eye to the fact that it is a different phone number than your iPhone number, and that voicemail and sms continue to work unchanged. It’s just that contacts might cease to use the iPhone number in favor of the gVoice number. There aren’t any hacks of the iPhone native apps in any way.

What I think it’ll come down to is wether or not the iPhone is considered a “product” or is considered a computer. If it’s a general-purpose computer, then Apple will need to back down. They obviously can’t restrict applications in OS X, and probably shouldn’t be on the iPhone either.