Greg Lippert on Microsoft, start your engines - 'Ladies and gentlemen start your photocopiers (remember that?)'
on Saturday Apple video: Why Steve Jobs bought Pixar (1996) - '@PED I have the theatrical debut of Toy Story as November 19, 1995 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood followed the domestic release three days later throughout the US.'
on Microsoft, start your engines - 'I do not believe for one second that Microsoft is going to cede the PC market to Apple, or IT departments the corporate market, if for no other reason than that AI has to run on something. Ironically in the case of IT departments, of course, they’re already pretty much doomed by AI…. The. problem for Microsoft is that just doing AI isn’t going to be enough if you can’t get a decent ROI from it. In addition, AI that isn’t safe is going to become a huge issue. In fact, it’s turning out to be a big problem for computing in general, with AI already showing that it is very adept at getting around computer security issues. Apple, to its credit, has been focused like a laser on personal data protection. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they haven’t been working on a solution to the AI security problem for years, which puts them years in front of their competitors, including Microsoft.'
on Saturday Apple video: Why Steve Jobs bought Pixar (1996) - 'I always thought that what he had was really good sense – that SHOULD have been common – AND the intellectual integrity to not be swayed from it by others. The sense that what I was trying to see – he saw.'
on Apple's Neo opens the door to a $32 billion market - '”Does Mohan remember the Mac Duo from the 1990s?” I do. PowerBook Duo 630. I travelled a lot on business back then (US, Europe, China, Canada, Mexico). I loved how my “desktop” (101 keyboard, mouse, company 10/BaseT Ethernet and 21” display) became a “laptop” when I pulled it out of the 630 chassis. Today’s laptops would be perfect for that kind of setup.'
on Microsoft, start your engines - 'Yeah, at MITRE the Mac community was self-supporting. I think there was one guy at corporate who had Mac skills, he was needed for hardware problems. (George Providakes, who used to participate here, was also at MITRE at that time. Hi, George, if you’re still with us!)'
on Microsoft, start your engines - 'And being in a similar position at the last company I worked at, knowing Macs where the IT department knew Wintel but had no clue about Macs, I also became the informal IT support for others with Macs. The abiity for one guy to quickly keep a bevy of computers working right (while the Windows crowd were always having problems) , and my constant proselytizing, eventually got the notice of upper management. It became much easier to get Macs then. IT was not happy 😉'
on Apple after 50 - 'I feel or relate to another observation about the 1998 Apple vs the 1976 Apple: When I first joined my company in 2000, I was a fresh out of school materials science engineer with a great interest in what we could do with materials. Makes sense, right? So I entered into semiconductor manufacturing because I had an interest in Process, Structure, Property relationships (passed down to me from my doctor mother and her doctor father – academic language). Very theoretical, somewhat applicable. But suddenly I was a manufacturing engineer. Very different. In this case, process *control* became the governing language. As did “Quality” (process control, documentation, and all that seemingly inglorious stuff). Very applicable, somewhat theoretical. I was laid off in 2009, did a stint somewhere else, and returned in 2013. I am not really trying to compare myself to Steve Jobs, but I’d like to suggest that, after experience with and separation from an organization … You come back different. So, too, with both Steve Jobs and with Apple. This kind of rejuvenation helps when you turn 50 years old (or 55 in my case).'
on Saturday Apple video: Why Steve Jobs bought Pixar (1996) - 'I’ve never heard that particular explanation for the phrase: “The stick and the carrot.” Steve Jobs was quite the innovator as both a marketing guy and manager. Excellent clip.'
on Microsoft, start your engines - 'Isn’t this what ‘Windows on Arm’ is? A different OS that looks like Windows on Intel but runs only on ARM cpus and won’t run the legacy WinTel applications?'
on Saturday Apple video: Why Steve Jobs bought Pixar (1996) - 'Without Pixar, there would most likely be no Apple 2.0 for Steve Jobs, in my opinion. Catmull helped turn Jobs from a forceful genius into a stronger partner. The Pixar environment that Jobs entered modeled truth-telling and collaboration, which gave Jobs a place where listening, restraint, and respect for other people’s expertise produced better results.'
on Horace Dediu: At sweet 16, iPad still hits sweet spot - 'David. IMO the iPhone is Apple’s most successful business product, hands down. All over the world business execs threw away their blackberries and demanded IT get them iPhones. (even though it didnt have a physical keyboard – haha Ballmer). Companies very quickly went all in on iPhones and I believe that was the foot in the door for more Macs in business. Workers who got iPhones, loved their first ever apple product and then bought iPads, Macs and Apple Watches. The flywheel always spinning.'
on Apple TV is coming to Amazon Prime soon - 'I always thought that’s what Steve Jobs meant when he said they had figured tv out (or “cracked it”? I forgot the term he used). It was the idea that you could painlessly find all your streaming content from all your streaming subscriptions from one place, under one hood: TV. Cleanly searchable. Leave it to Netflix to prefer to make it more painful for users. Netflix has become the least visited service for me, and I’m tempted to dump it.'
on Apple Watch falls off China's top 10 best-seller list - 'I’ll give it a shot. My hunch is seemingly correct, per AI: Generally, more people prefer round smartwatches because they resemble traditional watches, though square/rectangular designs are often considered more practical for viewing content. Polls indicate a preference for round designs (approx. 63-90% in some surveys), while rectangular options like the Apple Watch lead in the general-purpose, tech-focused market.'
on Apple Watch falls off China's top 10 best-seller list - '@John, In fairness to Apple, their watch competes in my mind with the medical tricorder in Startrek, rather than any other actual watch on the market. So, not fair! But both blood-pressure measurement and blood-glucose monitoring have been rumored for many years. They are nowhere to be seen. I want a precise body temperature reading. And why not “complete blood count” while we’re at it? I’m sure these things are technically very difficult and would also necessitate regulatory approval and other vexing things. But they would revolutionize healthcare delivery worldwide. They would also enhance Apple’s financial position quite considerably. And “it’s too hard for us” is not an excuse Apple is normally comfortable with. I really can’t recall significant medical hardware innovation in Apple Watch beyond very obvious and incremental stuff in several years. The AW Ultra 3 brings satellite connectivity, matching Garmin, which is nice. But it’s not medical innovation. And that’s what I really want to see.'
