Weblog of a “Switcher”

A friend of mine wrote up an interesting take on the value of some products and if they are really worth anything at all:

Radical Liberation: Worth What You Pay:
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“If you’re interested in being able to do even more with your phone, like surf the web, then the iPhone quickly becomes worth the additional cost. Studies have already shown that even though other phones are capable of doing things like surfing the web it is only on the iPhone that people actually do such things regularly. That is no accident. If a user interface is so poor that people tend not to use a feature then, for all practical purposes, the feature might as well not be there in the first place.”
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A perfect example of this is the new Time Machine feature in Leopard. This is essentially a backup program, definitely nothing new in the world of personal computers. Not only have backup programs been available for decades, but every computer expert has pleaded with users to backup their important data. The reality though, according to a study by Apple of its customers, is that 90% of people do not backup regularly. (Regular, automated backups is pretty much the only way to have the backup you need when disaster strikes).
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I would also say that some smart phones like Blackberry also fall into iPhone’s category. However, I fully agree with the browsing part. I use my iPhone almost exclusively now for browsing when I am not in front of a computer. Even when my MacBook is just a few feet away. It’s just easier and way more convenient. I would never ever consider browsing with any other phone, smart or otherwise. There really is something to having a real browser in the palm of your hand.

As to backing up home computers… Microsoft Windows Vista is suppose to have a backup solution that is pretty much always on. The interesting thing about it is that it’s on for all versions of Vista as far as backing up goes, but is only accessible to restore on the most expensive versions of Vista: Business, Ultimate and Enterprise. This is great for businesses, but they already have backup solutions that work for them and really don’t need something added on to that. Home users are where backing up a computer is really important and yet they don’t allow Vista Home Basic or Home Premium to restore from the backups that Vista creates. Plus, there is the issue of the space those backups take.

I often wonder what was going thru the engineer’s heads when they created this feature. I would love to know why they didn’t allow home users access to such a useful feature.

There are folks out there that think that Time Machine is over the deep end when it comes to it’s interface. The animation and windows that go off into infinity do seem a little over the top. However, those animations don’t really slow down the feature all that much and really help the user understand what they are doing when it comes to restoring a file or folder. This also works for iPhoto, Address Book and other applications. It really gives the user a great idea of what they are about to do as well as helps them find a file or address that might have been removed my accident or somehow become damaged.

I would have to say that Apple has raised the bar for quite a few products that we use everyday. Phones, computers and even portable media players.

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 11:22 pm and is filed under General, reblog.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.