Letters to the Editor
Bukk63
Published Letters: 581 Editor's Choice: 64
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The wait
[Read the article: The iPhone: A quick first look]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm sure it's different in various locales. But a friend of mine walked into an AT&T store this morning in Portland and bought an 8gb model with no waiting in line. That particular store had about 20 people waiting yesterday and didn't sell out.
I've been a Mac user since 1984 and current have two Macs and two Windows comps in my household. I'm not married to any of them, though for my personal use, I find the Macs to have greater utility and to offer better satisfaction. Whatever.
I won't buy an iPhone until I can choose my network. And even if I was willing to tolerate AT&T's lousy network, I never buy first generation Apple anything, despite my preference for Macs.
Rev 1 Apple anything is ALWAYS not quite there. Even the original Mac wasn't really useful until they released the 512K version. The original iMac, Apple's salvation, didn't really settle in for a couple of revs. Same with the iPod.
Some people have to be on the bleeding edge, and they end up being the beta testers for Apple. That's who yesterday's release was for. A later release, with better features, more stability, and probably even more openness -- hopefully all the way down to the network choice -- will be the iPhone for the rest of us.
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The Riches is dumb and boring...
[Read the article: I Like to Watch]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]And Minni Driver has a giant jaw.
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The End of Apple!
[Read the article: Another iPhone feature -- it crashes!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I'm sure plenty of folks will come out of the woodwork to spell doom and gloom for Apple because the iPhones crash. Because if it isn't perfect, well applesucksgetarealcomputerblahblahblah.
You're a technology writer, so you have a valid reason to be a first adopter. But most people are better served waiting, as I said on Saturday. Apple first versions of new products are always problematic. That the iPhone crashes is hardly surprising, but Apple has a pretty good track record of fixing problems (with a few noteworthy exceptions). There will be software updates that may solve some of the problems, but sadly for those who bought this inroductory model, it may take Rev B or Rev C hardware for the iPhone to really settle down and shine.
Yet how unusual is that? You never by the first model year of a new car either.
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I don't get it
[Read the article: Another iPhone feature -- it crashes!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The hysteria and hyperbole. The breathless hate and the desperate love. The ad hominem attacks.
For what? Apple haters: Did Steve Jobs push you down in the schoolyard and steal your lunch money? Apple lovers: did he give you your first blow job?
They're machines. They certainly have a certain elegance to them, but they're not perfect. They're also not garbage. They do what they do better than their detractors will admit and not as well as their adherents proclaim.
To get so emotionally invested in these devices, pro or con, is -- well, it's creepy.
The thing is, Apple has inspired a lot of innovation in the computer and electronics world. It's also borrowed or shanghaied a lot of innovation. And it's seen its own ideas better realized by others. Sometime they've produced real dogs, and other times they've produced real winners. They actually DO fix a number of their own problems expeditiously -- with notable exceptions, as I said. They also orphan products before their time. They sue little guys, same as Microsoft, they buy out competing technology when they can, and endeavor to crush it when they can't. They're a corporation -- not your friend, your enemy, your lover, your evil step mother.
If you like their products, use them. If not, don't. It's not like there aren't options. I use them, my wife doesn't. We love each other anyway, and our technology choices aren't even a footnote in our relationship.
Calm down. Seriously.
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Help me out, KStone
[Read the article: Another iPhone feature -- it crashes!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Point to my own hyperbole and exaggeration. Because I just don't see it.
Seriously. Help me out.
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KStone, your reading comprehension leaves a lot to be desired
[Read the article: Another iPhone feature -- it crashes!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]What you cite as hyperbole and exaggeration has been going on all over the internets all weekend. It happens every time Apple farts. It even happened to a degree in this thread. And you yourself are an example of the phenomenon I cite, your effort to walk it back by claiming no one is really serious notwithstanding.
But nice try.
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Poor non-Ann Coulters
[Read the article: Ann Coulter: Almost a "great American"?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]My friend John Coulter earlier this year got engaged to his long-time girlfriend Ann. She won't be taking his last name. He's mentioned, only half-flippantly, that maybe he should take hers instead.
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This country
[Read the article: My new roommate arrived ... with mom attached!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Only took 19 letters before someone invoked "this country," implying the U.S., and attacked the letter writer as unreasonable.
In which country, I wonder, is it reasonable for a stranger to come into your home uninvited and stay indefinitely? Where is it okay for someone to assume that they just get to move in, unwanted? Which nationality is so tolerant of bullying squatters?
Just wondering.
And, and for the other one claiming it was "just a few days," at the time the letter was written it was already over a week, with no clear end in sight.
But the letter writer should just suck it up, right? Where do you live? I want to come and squat in your home. Because, after all, it's only reasonable. Oh, and bring me a beer.
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Vimeo
[Read the article: Is Sony's Crackle video site attracting real talent?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Some of the best stuff I'm seeing out there is on Vimeo. Sure, there's a lot of "here's my day at the beach" videos, but the creative energy there is often through the roof. And even the day at the beach videos sometimes include an unexpected burst of creative zip.
Some excellent work is happening there is a fairly low-key, genuine environment.
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It's no accident...
[Read the article: The Potter leak: Winners and losers (no spoilers)]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...that an advocate of fanfic over the real thing has "baby" in their screen name.