Our judgement of the Roman / british legacy is subject to
"Survivor Bias". If you can't see the cost paid by those who did not survive then things will look much better !
The standard of living might have improved for the descendants of those that survived but what about those who had to undergo generations of subjugation or slavery or worse? What about those wiped out? In other words at what cost was this long term improvement gained?
Are the Aborigines or US native indians actually better off?
For me the benefits of British rule are very mixed and to argue that the conquered are better off ignores the costs borne in the past. Additionally, we cannot say how things might have been if people had been allowed to develop naturally and trade under normal circumstances.
The standard operating procedure of the British Empire was "divide and conquer". In order to rule a minority was usually put in a privileged position. It should be no surprise to anyone that when the British left things often become a mess as the minority tries to hold onto power and those previously excluded fight to gain power.
hahahaha - for who ? Look how many conflicts today have their roots in the decisions and actions of the British Empire.
Seriously, yes, there were some side benefits eventually for the colonies but the cost was great and continues in many parts of the world. I resent that ignorant statement.
Good points. Also since there will be loads of users stuck on Gingerbread / Froyo the N1 will probably be useful as a development test phone in my case.
I got my Nexus one around 14 months ago. I choose it because its was the official Google developer's phone and so mostly likely to get updated! Except of course we now know that the Android benchmark device that's less than 2 years old will not be getting any more updates.
BTW - I am willing to bet that when ICS source is released someone works out how to get ICS on it. I.e - I doubt that there's any fundamental reason it can't be done?
I think you have proven something that many of us have experienced - Android may have a number of technical advantages but its rollout management is unreliable and chaotic and so many non technical users may actually be better off with IOS devices! Technical users may be able to update themselves with some effort (E.g. via XDAdevelopers) if they choose devices carefully and have a bit of luck !
Over the last few months I have been advising my non technically minded friends / family members to "just get an IOS device if you can afford it. Android is great and more flexible but App quality is generally lower and you can't be sure you can EASILY get updates even 6 months after you buy. With IOS you know the device will be supported for around 2 years and maybe even longer. With Android there is no guarantee!"
For me this is sad. I've got both an Android phone (Nexus one) and a tablet (HTC flyer). I am seriously thinking of getting an Iphone for my next personal phone and just accept the few restrictions - BAH !
Agreed. But most of the crashes I see are of the former type (I.e developers fault).
I honestly can't remember ever seeing a Flash crash actually bring down the the browser. Maybe I've been very lucky.
I see that I'm getting down voted for calling 'ED' out on his sweeping statement where he did not define what he meant by a "crash". Note that for many users a "crash" is when what ever App/game/web-page they are running stops with some error and they can't continue. My basic point is that many (most??) of these, in my experience, are down to developer error.
Many developers seem to have an irrational "hate-fest" going against Flash. For sure there's a lot wrong with it but, for me, all to often "its not the tool but the craftsman at fault".
For me there are many real world cases which can't be handled without showing the user a fatal error.
E.g. - the developer asks for an runtime created asset that doesn't exist anymore or there's a condition under which a block of code runs forever (actually in this case the flash runtime stops after 15 seconds of activity and allows the user to kill it but it's still a "crash" insofar as the user is concerned.
Where did I say that that coding is the only useful thing?
The point I was trying to make is that tools are productivity aids and if a tool gets in the way and distracts you from your main activity (or activities) too much it can be counter productive.
I use both Eclipse and VisualStudio and find those tremendous! A good tool hides unnecessary stuff from you and works in a clear predictable way. A tool is bad for me when it does the opposite.
Totally agree. We switched from SVN to Mercurial around 6 months ago and I have to say I am annoyed that I have to spend so much time messing around with the tool rather than coding.
I agree with the principle of "over design" - we old guys call it "if it isn't broken don't fix it".
However, some of his examples aren't convincing for me. I actually like the ugly Motion-X toggle switches compared to the IOS toggles which are a bit confusing I find - I can immediately see what is active / selected on the motion-X screen but on his examples of the correct" design I couldn't immediately work out what is selected/active. Also, the Motion-X tabs are much clear to me - there I said it.
To be honest the author comes across as one of those who insist on people following the "correct" rules even when they get in the way or there is a better solution.
I'll bet there are a lot of people who also disagreed with some of his examples but who won't say anything for fear of appearing "ignorant" in the eyes of the "design police".
Another important point. He states
"On average, only 3% of people who have downloaded an app use it after 30 days. Why? Because the majority of iPhone apps don’t make any sense to users."
But where is the evidence for this? He shows App usage over time graphs which don't separate between "over-designed" and "correctly designed apps" and then goes on to make an unwarranted assertion that the fall off is due users not understanding how to use the apps! How about the utility value of the apps not being enough or users getting bored with their $0.99 fun purchase ?
Lastly, if you go to the author's web site. You'll see he's designed an app for a pizza company. I downloaded it and it's beautiful (in fact I fancy a pizza now)! However, It does not use ANY standard IOS controls and has gone for a very nice custom dedicated UI!
His article spends a lot of time basically saying that the standard UI should be used but as his own app demonstrates there are cases where a custom UI is appropriate. His article would be much better if he provided guidance on when using a custom UI is better and provided evidence for his assertions.