Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Small minds, unable to understand that a bad pun like calling a new version of Solitaire a "game changer" (with a smiley, no less) means that the post was a joke....

If you really want to get those guys riled, just say "floppy drive" (and then duck).

An emoticon (specifically, a "winkie";)) for you, means that the post was a joke?

Accordingly then, this post, by you, is also a joke:

<PSA>

Electronic devices, especially portable ones with batteries, are considered toxic waste and should be discarded with other hazardous materials. ;)

Please, dispose of e-waste properly - help keep toxic waste out of landfills.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

</PSA>

So very funny.

As is this one:

So, they are slightly less toxic - but the MacBooks still have that big cauldron of poisonous stew called a lithium-polymer battery. ;)

Your BS emoticon excuse doesn't seem to be working here.

To further downplay your off-topic post, you have the audacity to blame "Small minds," unable to understand your "bad pun," for its perpetuance.

Had your allegedly intended "bad pun" been such, you've certainly gone to great lengths to expound upon this "bad pun," further perpetuating it within this thread:

In addition, Solitaire used to be a good graphics benchmark for Windows systems. It was on every display system anywhere, and all you had to do was to win a hand. If the graphics card couldn't do the "card waterfall" animation smoothly, one should worry. (Not so good anymore, since even a GMA950 is over-the-top for Solitaire.)

It takes a small mind to generate such lame excuses, at others' expenses, no less.

Stellar.
 
Really, why would they pimp it like crazy then ?

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/touch

Seriously, I have a strong distaste for Microsoft as much as the next guy, but Apple doesn't have some sort of exclusive competency on touch screens, and touch screens have been around for way longer than Apple has used them. :rolleyes:

EDIT : there, we go, it's official, the HP slate (that's its name too.. crazy, Apple is sure not to go with iSlate now...) :

http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/06/the-hp-slate/

Looks boring as heck to me, like a giant iPod touch :

01-06-10slate2.jpg
Uh, yeah. You know those touch smart PCs that HP makes? They have some bundled HP interface that is touch enabled and you can use touch to manipulate other windows software but the UI of windows remains as touch unfriendly as ever. It has small close, maximize buttons, small scroll bars, small listbox controls, small combo box controls, small radio button controls, small menus including a right click one and a "start menu".

In a nutshell, the UI controls are designed for a two button mouse and keyboard while the iPhone OS Cocoa touch UI is designed from the ground up to be used by your fingers.

Apple will not release an OS X machine on a touch form factor, it will be built from the ground up for your fingers. Maybe Apple will make it easier to port both iPhone and mac apps to the tablet platform but it will not work without some tweaks and a recompile.
 
Uh, yeah. You know those touch smart PCs that HP makes? They have some bundled HP interface that is touch enabled and you can use touch to manipulate other windows software but the UI of windows remains as touch unfriendly as ever. It has small close, maximize buttons, small scroll bars, small listbox controls, small combo box controls, small radio button controls, small menus including a right click one and a "start menu".

In a nutshell, the UI controls are designed for a two button mouse and keyboard while the iPhone OS Cocoa touch UI is designed from the ground up to be used by your fingers.

Apple will not release an OS X machine on a touch form factor, it will be built from the ground up for your fingers. Maybe Apple will make it easier to port both iPhone and mac apps to the tablet platform but it will not work without some tweaks and a recompile.

No doubt.

The iPhone/iPod Cocoa Touch OS is a fine example of an OS tailored specifically for a multi-touch environment - no non-responsive radio buttons, maximize and close buttons, miniscule scroll bars, or buried menus.

The upcoming Tablet Cocoa Touch OS ought to be an impressive evolution, with some great new interface advancements - built from the ground up, from a 'Touch' perspective.

20 days, and counting...
 
No doubt.

The iPhone/iPod Cocoa Touch OS is a fine example of an OS tailored specifically for a multi-touch environment - no non-responsive radio buttons, maximize and close buttons, miniscule scroll bars, or buried menus.

The upcoming Tablet Cocoa Touch OS ought to be an impressive evolution, with some great new interface advancements - built from the ground up, from a 'Touch' perspective.

20 days, and counting...
Super iPod Touch alert.
 
I'm sorry but that looks so awkward. Am I supposed to lay it flat on a table or have it in my lap?

That's the beauty of this. You can use it either way. Either flat on a table, holding it up like a flat tablet in your hand, or in your lap, like a laptop (with the bottom screen becoming a virtual keyboard).

It's just sad for Apple that we've now seen about every type of tablet at CES this year. Folding tablets with 2 screens, full laptops with detachable screen that becomes an independant tablet, bland boring tablets, color e-ink readers, black and white e-ink readers...

Apple will need something very, very different to make any impact if it does go through with a 1000$+ tablet...
 
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/07/apple-tablet-rumors-evolve-into-zen-koans-its-a-big-iphone-b/

pretty sure the 'tablet' or the 'slate' whatever its called will now have either the iPhone OS or another tailored touch OS. as much as i wanted it have full blown Mac OS X, it makes sense as it should be designed with fingers in mind as the input, not a mouse like Mac OS X which was designed for Macs.

while Mac OS X is most important to Apple as it forms the foundation of all their computer (and computer-like) products, i think the Mac OS X we see today will diminish in time as Cocoa Touch OS X increases as multi touch Apple computer's gain more market.
 
pretty sure the 'tablet' or the 'slate' whatever its called will now have either the iPhone OS or another tailored touch OS. as much as i wanted it have full blown Mac OS X, it makes sense as it should be designed with fingers in mind as the input, not a mouse like Mac OS X which was designed for Macs

But the Iphone OS is OSX. If OSX can't do touch, how could Apple have used it as the basis for Iphone OSX?

Apple could easily put the touch UI on full OSX for a tablet. If they don't, it's because they don't want you deciding which apps to run on *your* tablet.
 
yes of course the iPhone OS is OS X. i outlined this in my second paragraph. but Mac OS X doesnt have touch elements as in Cocoa touch for iPhone OS X. i dont think Apple will just add touch elements to Mac OS X for the tablet. a bigger iPhone OS X will be developed more suited to the tablet and have a much better touch experience for the user. HP's slate just uses Windows 7 which has touch elements thrown in, which i dont think it the best experience for the user.
 
yes of course the iPhone OS is OS X. i outlined this in my second paragraph. but Mac OS X doesnt have touch elements as in Cocoa touch for iPhone OS X. i dont think Apple will just add touch elements to Mac OS X for the tablet. a bigger iPhone OS X will be developed more suited to the tablet and have a much better touch experience for the user.

"Cocoa Touch" could simply be added to x64 OSX - it's a UI framework on top of OSX.

A "bigger Iphone OSX" would just mean that Apple is restoring parts of full OSX that were trimmed. It might be simpler to port the UI framework for touch, than to restore the trimmed bits.


HP's slate just uses Windows 7 which has touch elements thrown in, which i dont think it the best experience for the user.

You haven't spent much time with Window 7 multi-touch, have you? The multi-touch APIs weren't "thrown in", they're pervasive throughout the UI and OS.

If you bump the UI size (Win7 has decent resolution independence), the various buttons and controls can grow to a size suitable for touching.

(I have a Dell TX2 tablet with full multi-touch, and it really is a nice interface even though few programs take full advantage today. When navigating web pages, I just poke the "Submit" button onscreen rather than finding the mouse, moving the cursor over the submit button, clicking MB1. Similarly, scrolling through text is very natural - just swipe the screen.)

So, before you say "thrown in" - try it for a few hours.
 
"Cocoa Touch" could simply be added to x64 OSX - it's a UI framework on top of OSX.

A "bigger Iphone OSX" would just mean that Apple is restoring parts of full OSX that were trimmed. It might be simpler to port the UI framework for touch, than to restore the trimmed bits. …

that very well may happen. im just thinking the UI will not look like Mac OS X as we see it today. it will look like an iPhone, Mac hybrid and still have foundations from Mac OS X that the iPhone OS has, but the UI designed with finger control in mind. it will still have its Mac OS X foundations, but i see this as the future of Apple's computer UI.

… You haven't spent much time with Window 7 multi-touch, have you. The multi-touch APIs weren't "thrown in", they're pervasive throughout the UI and OS.

If you bump the UI size (Win7 had decent resolution independence), the various buttons and controls can grow to a size suitable for touching.

no i havent. but just from the brief CES keynote demo of the HP slate it seems that its just desktop Windows 7 which is mainly targeted towards mouse input, but with touch elements added, which im sure has finger control in mind. which is OK but the majority of the UI is still designed with mouse input in mind. what if there were a few workflows that made you agitated to be using your finger and just loaned for the mouse?

im thinking Apple will design the slate around the OS experience which will totally be controlled by touch and touch only. this will revolutionise tablet design and experience and will provide a solid basis for developers to make applications that take advantage of the new touch OS, thus allowing the experience to proser, just like the Apple store did for the iPhone.
 
no i havent. but just from the brief CES keynote demo of the HP slate it seems that its just desktop Windows 7 which is mainly targeted towards mouse input, but with touch elements added, which im sure has finger control in mind. which is OK but the majority of the UI is still designed with mouse input in mind. what if there were a few workflows that made you agitated to be using your finger and just loaned for the mouse?

im thinking Apple will design the slate around the OS experience which will totally be controlled by touch and touch only. this will revolutionise tablet design and experience and will provide a solid basis for developers to make applications that take advantage of the new touch OS, thus allowing the experience to proser, just like the Apple store did for the iPhone.

For a very small device like the Iphone, Apple did a good job (although I dislike the virtual keyboard with a passion, and would absolutely prefer a slide-out keyboard).

For a 10" tablet, though, not so clear to me. Some people will want their everyday apps (Keynote/Word/PowerPoint/Photoshop/...). A full-OS tablet makes that possible. Not optimal, but as people have been saying here, they want the ability to touch up a photo or presentation - not write the next War and Peace or create the next Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Mouse input isn't an issue - with your finger or a stylus you can do anything that you can do with a mouse. Resolution independence lets you increase the size of the screen elements to make things "touchable".

Win7 makes some gestures universal by mapping them to mouse events (swiping up across text generates "scroll bar down" events, for example), so legacy apps have some multi-scroll love.

If your hardware is crippled like the Iphone (no real keyboard, no stylus, no mouse, no BT) then Apple's approach is good. If your hardware is more capable, then a full OS with pervasive multi-touch is not bad.
 
If this thing runs just the following:

1) Microsoft Word (and Office, in general)
2) Safari
3) iTunes

Then I'm sold as a student.
 
If this thing runs just the following:

1) Microsoft Word (and Office, in general)
2) Safari
3) iTunes

Then I'm sold as a student.

Substitute MS Word for iWork with full file compatibility 1,2,3 generations back, then yep.

The Google phone has a pointer. It would be trivial for a tablet with some rim real estate to have a pointer. A clickable trackball, a thumb joystick and a button, a (ewww) pen, a "virtual trackball", a virtual trackpad, whatever, or all?

Rocketman
 
I don't need word. I need to be able to read and write files that are produced by and can be read by word, because other people (bosses, clients, courts) use word.

I've been converting all files to PDFs, which copy protects, and also solves the compatibility/version/platform issue.

I request that clients do the same - all much preferred over having to resort to bloated Word.

In regard to editing, however, Word files prevail.
 
I don't need word. I need to be able to read and write files that are produced by and can be read by word, because other people (bosses, clients, courts) use word.

Since MS makes that as difficult as possible to force version upgrading so you can read files generated by folks with forced upgrade contracts. That's why I lowered my expectations to only file compatibility to 1+ generation old files.

Their goal is to compel you to own a copy of Office on the Mac. Apple is complicit with that since Office is a "killer ap" for the Mac. I suspect it will be a top 5 check box for iSlate (ATNN) as well in some form.

MS actually gets considerable revenue from mac because they get higher per CPU prices for the license than they do on the PC side due to bundling.

Rocketman
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.