Random Ice Cream Sandwich announcement provoked thoughts:
Who would have thought that we'd be in a position where:
- Android is borrowing from Microsoft ("People") and Apple is borrowing from Android (notifications).
- Microsoft seems to be coming up with the most new ideas
- Blackberry is desperately trying to play catch up
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7 comments:
Apple is also borrowing from a lot of the popular jailbreak functions. Would be nice if they acted on what people wanted just a bit faster (rather than taking 6-24 months-ish).
MS does have good ideas, but they still can't design an attractive UI to save their lived. Metro makes me feel ill.
No comment on Blackberry, other than they seem popular in Toronto. For now.
I dislike the Windows phone home screen but actually like the overall "form follows function" minimalist design aesthetic once you get into the apps/workflows, but then again I'm an engineer.
On the other hand, Apple designs the most beautiful and functional hardware, no question, but I've never liked their software design. The fake materials in the UI just seems extraneous. I never liked it, even when they were in the brushed aluminum stage, but they've really outdone themselves with latest faux leather, stitching and wood paneling.
I appreciate what you mean, and I'm sure MS has engineers who think the same way. I agree in part as well. Think of it from your average user's point of view though: they see the leather binding and think "book" (address BOOK), perhaps. At least, that way the apps don't all looks the same save in their function.
Personally, the brushed metal etc. doesn't really affect me either way, other than helping distinguish at a glance that my address book is the app that's open, for example. I seem to fit Apple's target though, since I use iOS devices almost more often than my mac these days, so I don't mind it when they port iOS designs over to OS X.
Still, it's all the better for competition. I'm sorta sick of everyone copying Apple...doesn't force Apple to innovate that way.
Agreed, that's what really struck me about it. I've always assumed Apple had the huge lead on everyone on most fronts, and to see that they didn't is a good sign for everyone, including Apple users.
If you don't have good competition, it doesn't spur you to innovate.
Over the top rant on the leather look (not to be taken seriously, only for amusement value): http://gizmodo.com/5849940/ugh-god-why-apple-is-making-everything-look-like-an-ugly-wild-west
Matthew Furtado, I guess we're the only ones talking here, but this came across my feed reader this morning: http://madebymany.com/blog/apples-aesthetic-dichotomy
Pretty much the same conversation extended, but it did have this interesting comment:
"You did miss an angle. Apple has historically updated the look and feel of its operating system prior to a major shift in hardware. Remember the Macs with the translucent plastic around the screens? And the first renditions of the Mac OS that had translucent windows? At some point, the edge of the windows all changed to a steel hue … and about a year later, all the Macs killed clear plastic and went aluminum.
You could be right, and this may be a design gaffe by Apple. But I wonder with the recent (incredibly popular) leather cover on the iPad 2, if the intrusion of wood- and leather-feeling imagery in the OS signals that Apple hardware may be redesigned soon with more natural elements? After all, how much further can the design company push glass screens, because eventually all that is left is a pane of glass.
If so, it’s not a design flaw, but a design integration. Here’s me, awaiting a new MacBook pro with a comfy leather back."
I don't know, it'd be cool to have a computer in which "all that was left was glass", like in so many sci-fi films.
It's an interesting thought; guess we'll have to see what happens next year. I'm not sure I'd like a leathery computer, but if Apple says I should like it, I guess that's that eh? xD
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