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Category: thought

point and counterpoint … and counter-counterpoint

chrisbowler:

patrickrhone:

It started with Gruber describing the revolution he believes is happening in computing right now:

“This, to me, gets to the heart of the revolution at hand. A decade ago, my first PowerBook was a secondary machine to the desktop anchored at my desk. Now, my main machine is my MacBook Pro, but it feels a bit like an anchor now. My mobile secondary computer is my iPhone.”

This was responded to by in post from my good friend Chris Bowler:

“I couldn’t disagree more with the sentiment above. Yes, the iPhone is a game changer. Yes, it’s a revolutionary device. But a replacement for the desktop (and even if you use a laptop as your primary computer—and I do—it’s still receiving ‘desktop’ usage)? Not for this guy.”

I wanted to add my two cents. I believe that, in this case, Chris is outside of the norm. The iPhone has largely replaced my Macbook as my portable computer. I now only bring my Macbook along when I need it to assist in client troubleshooting or under some pretty extreme circumstances. Even in those cases I lament having to do so. I know I am not alone in this. I have had many conversations with other iPhone users and this is the case for them as well.

My buddy from Minnesota makes some good points on this topic. Unfortunately, I think my point was misunderstood and we actually share the same opinion. I will not argue that, for many people, the iPhone has taken the place of the laptop to perform certain tasks when away from home base.

But that’s not the point I was trying to make in my post referenced above. It’s my fault—I guess I diverted from Gruber’s point in that he was saying the iPhone is now a better option as a mobile computer. True.

I was simply referencing the fact that, for me, the iPhone will never replace the desktop, the ‘home base’ setup. There are certain tasks that I simply won’t do when I’m out and about. Yes, I can type a blog post on the iPhone, but I’d rather not. I’ll wait until I’m back at home base to do that.

The iPhone is a satellite device, just like laptops used to be. Now the laptop is the desktop. Sure, whatev. But my comfort, my greatest computing enjoyment comes from the desktop environment. And the iPhone is not going to change that.

For completeness sake.

Gizmodo – My Most Memorable Gadgets, By Steve Wozniak – Memorable gadgets

Gizmodo – My Most Memorable Gadgets, By Steve Wozniak – Memorable gadgets

“The word ‘meaningful’ has the root ‘meaning’ which implies some emotion. In that sense, my first transistor radio, at about age 10, would fit the bill. It gave me portable music that I could listen to all night long as I slept, every night. 20 years later came the walkman, and 20 more years later came the iPod, but the real change in life, the one having the most ‘meaning’, was with the transistor radio.”

As much as I rag on Gizmodo for their page view obsessed and often broken self linking, I stay subscribed because they occasionally produce a gem like this.

Becoming Minimalist

Becoming Minimalist

marco:

I had a thought last night that I wanted to wake up this morning and get rid of 75% of the ‘stuff’ that I own. […]

How do you start to get rid of these things?

Get some sort of external storage. The basement, a small rental storage unit, your parents’ place, or New Jersey. The less convenient it is to access, the better.

Put nearly everything you own there. Leave out only what you’d pack if you were going on a trip for 2 weeks.

From that point forward, remove only what you need, as you need it, from storage. You’ll almost never need to do this.

After a year, get rid of everything that’s still in storage.

This is very sound advice from Marco. I’m in the process of doing this with the bulk of my clothing right now.

The thing where my laptop has become my desktop and my phone has become my laptop…

It started with Gruber describing the revolution he believes is happening in computing right now:

“This, to me, gets to the heart of the revolution at hand. A decade ago, my first PowerBook was a secondary machine to the desktop anchored at my desk. Now, my main machine is my MacBook Pro, but it feels a bit like an anchor now. My mobile secondary computer is my iPhone.”

This was responded to by in post from my good friend Chris Bowler:

“I couldn’t disagree more with the sentiment above. Yes, the iPhone is a game changer. Yes, it’s a revolutionary device. But a replacement for the desktop (and even if you use a laptop as your primary computer—and I do—it’s still receiving ‘desktop’ usage)? Not for this guy.”

I wanted to add my two cents. I believe that, in this case, Chris is outside of the norm. The iPhone has largely replaced my Macbook as my portable computer. I now only bring my Macbook along when I need it to assist in client troubleshooting or under some pretty extreme circumstances. Even in those cases I lament having to do so. I know I am not alone in this. I have had many conversations with other iPhone users and this is the case for them as well.

For me, the iPhone is enough to handle every computing task (web, email, social networking, notetaking, etc.) I generally need to do while on the go. I take it to the coffee shop to get work done, manage my task list and write blog posts (yep, using the on screen keyboard). I have taken it and the Macbook with me to conferences only to find that my Macbook stayed in my bag acting as dead weight. When I went to Macworld last year, my Macbook stayed on the desk in my hotel room after half way through day one. The iPhone was the better option to take to the conference itself.

I believe that a shift is taking place. For most users, the laptop will become their desktop machine that has the added option of being able to be portable when absolutely needed. In all other cases, the iPhone will not only suffice but will, due to it’s high portability, excel.