Thoughts on the new iPad

The image above sums up my thoughts,  I ordered a 64Gb WiFi only iPad 3rd generation as soon as they were available for pre-order in the UK. As the owner of a 32Gb first generation iPad that I use every day it didn’t take much consideration. I recently read 35 years of the weekly UK comic 2000AD (over 1700 issues) on my iPad, and as a subscriber to the comic I can’t wait to see it on the 3 megapixel HD+ display. I want to see how much better HD video looks , and photo’s, and text. That’s enough reason for me to want one asap, without the huge processing and graphical  performance boost over the first iPad. Decent camera with iMovie and iPhoto? This just highlights the different approach Apple takes to the competition. It’s not about the hardware specifications, it’s about what you can do with the device.

The one thing I can’t grasp is how some news sources have claimed the new iPad (iPad G3) offers little more than “incremental improvements”. Sure, the iPad G1 had a good screen, and the iPad G3 has a better screen, but that’s like saying 1080p HD is just a little jump over standard definition. The iPad G3 camera can be described as just an improvement over the iPad G2 version. That doesn’t acknowledge that the iPad G2 camera was poor and the iPad G3 camera is a 5 megapixel version of the iPhone 4S camera, one of the best phone camera’s currently available.

I don’t use the Android operating system, but I am happy that it exists and continues to be very popular. Likewise, I’m happy that Microsoft has a Windows 8/Metro strategy that looks credible. Aggressive competition is good for the consumer, and drives innovation. Unfortunately some people just can’t seem to spot a killer product that has in previous models twice proved to be a massive success.

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Mozilla blocks Microsoft’s Firefox plugin

Monday mornings are not known for amusing news, but today is different. I fired up Firefox on my work Laptop and up poped a dialogue warning me that the Windows Presentation Foundation had been disabled.

The Windows Presentation Foundation plugin caused a stink earlier this year when it was installed into Firefox by a Microsoft update without the users consent or knowledge. Uninstalling the plugin proved initially difficult (later resolved with another update) and last week Microsoft announced it contained a critical security vulnerability.

The block came into effect late Friday, but since I’m a Macintosh user at home I do not (yet) suffer intrusive Microsoft updates that install components without my permission.

Windows 7 RC released

The Windows 7 Release Candidate is now available to the general public, having been offered to MSDN and Technet subscribers for a few days. I downloaded the ISO image earlier today from the Microsoft web site. The most surprising thing for me about this was that it was done on a Mac using Firefox, but I guess Microsoft is taking web standards a bit more seriously these days.

VMware Fusion has just finished installing Windows 7RC using the Windows Vista profile. The install went very smoothly and surprisingly fast using the easy install feature and the release candidate serial Microsoft emailed. There’s no Aero 3D at the moment but that’s not a big loss. The most impresive thing having played for a few minutes is that simple tasks like changing display preferences are easily accessible with one right click on the desktop. Windows 7 even picked up when I made VMware full screen and automatically adjusted display resolution to 1680×1050.

Windows 7 Build 6956

This week I had a chance to play with the latest (available) Windows 7 build, 6956. The new style taskbar that was a hack in the previous 6801 version is now standard, and surprisingly includes the Windows explorer by default. There are some tweaks and graphical changes to the installation and startup screens but nothing massively different to the previous build. Techradar have a nice guide to what to expect from Windows 7 so I won’t repeat it all here. Read on for a screenshot gallery, and remember that these were taken running in VMware so there’s no Aero effects.

Microsoft talks ‘Windows Cloud’

It looks like Microsoft is taking the idea of cloud computing seriously. Steve Ballmer yesterday announced that a new version of Windows will be launched at the end of October, currently titled ‘Windows Cloud’ with a final name to follow. Opinions from the web seem to differ on what the new OS will include, with reports ranging from an OS for Cloud developers to one based on Windows server with cloud services integrated. Google and Apple are already embracing the Cloud so it’s no surprise The Redmond Giant want a slice of the action.

Also mentioned by Ballmer was the existence of Midori, a research project looking to build the OS that may one day replace Windows.

Windows 7 previewed at D6

Biggest news today is that Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer last night previewed Windows 7 at the All Things Digital conference. From the details revealed, the future of Windows is multi-touch in a big way. Full details of the interview and video can be found at engadget (and here), osnews and allthingsdigital.

While it looks very impressive, I’m a bit puzzled at the big focus on multi-touch interfaces. While they work great for a handheld device, or a tablet PC, they’re not so great for a desktop PC where lifting your arms to the screen constantly would quickly become tiring for a lot of users. Tablet PC’s have so far met little success, so does this mean they will become the focus again for Windows 7? I can’t see big business adopting multi-touch interfaces any time soon, where home users are more likely to embrace a tactile interface. Hopefully someone is developing a fingerprint resistant screen to go with this.

Multi OS comparison by opinions

Not quite as objective as my recent comparison of Linux/Mac OS/XP/Vista, Computerworld has a piece titled ‘OS Smackdown: Linux vs. Mac OS X vs. Windows Vista vs. Windows XP’. There’s no numbers involved, just the opinions of four computer journalists. It’s an interesting read if only for the way some of the writers manipulate or ignore the facts about the other operating systems.

Leopard vs XP vs Vista vs Linux part 1

Leopard vs XP vs Vista vs Linux part 2

Modular Windows

When details of the next version of Microsoft Windows first started appearing, there was much talk of it being a lot more modular in nature. There were even Microsoft demo’s’ of a bare bones ‘MinWin’ that removed the many layers of Vista and gave a fast and compact core that used 40Mb or Ram and 25Mb of disk space. For once it sounded like Microsoft’s engineers were leading the development of Windows 7 instead of the marketing teams.

Unfortunately thing don’t seem to be going the way I had hoped. Arstechnica has an article titled ‘Why modular Windows will suck for Microsoft and suck for you’ that makes a good argument for why it’s not a good idea. It’s all about the way in which Windows will become modular, using software or services that are bought individually or subscribed to. If you want the full Windows package you end up paying more for it, or users who want to strip out the bits they don’t use could get a cheaper deal.

Leopard vs XP vs Vista vs Linux part 2

In part 1 I looked at results from Geekbench, Photoshop and VLC to see how much of an impact the operating system has on application speed. For part 2 I used two more cross platform test, the first person shooter Doom 3 and 3D modeller and renderer Blender.

OS wars: which is the best?

The ‘my OS is better than yours’ arguments have been a bit quiet lately, so PCmag have done their bit to restart the flames. The article compares Mac OS Leopard, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Ubuntu 7.10 across a number of aspects to pick which is the best for a range of different user types, as well as the best overall. I won’t spoil the surprise here so have a read to see who they rate the highest.