This strikes me as an especially misguided, misinformed expedition. To start out on your journey by purchasing a notebook that's incompatible is a sure sign you're doing something wrong. Like a man protesting the oil spill in the gulf by abandoning their car only to buy a goat instead of a horse by accident.
Why do people rail against Apple for making the iOS "walled garden" and yet have nothing to say about Sony or Microsoft and their locked down game platforms? At least Apple lets people produce applications and opens up their marketplace to everyday people. Microsoft charges an extraordinary amount of money for their 360 developer kit, XNA being a toy when compared with the real thing. The PS3, likewise, is way beyond the reach of any hobbyist.
Apple charges $99 for the developer kit, cost of Mac notwithstanding, and your application has a very good chance of being accepted. Call the App Store what you will, but it's a very good place to do business.
Why do people rail against Apple for making the iOS "walled garden" and yet have nothing to say about Sony or Microsoft and their locked down game platforms?
Consoles aren't trying to replace general purpose computers, iOS devices are.
And you don't think that Apple has sent the clear message that they don't see the iPad or iPhone as a general purpose computing device?
I think they've done a pretty great job of indicating that these are appliances and are not to be considered as a smaller Mac. I don't think this is necessarily the right thing to do, but sometimes you need a dictatorship before a democracy. It'll be interesting to see how this pans out.
And you don't think that Apple has sent the clear message that they don't see the iPad or iPhone as a general purpose computing device?
My point exactly: in Apple's world, general purpose computing is gradually going away. My prediction is that in 5 to 10 years, the ability to run software of your choice on Apple products will be limited to ludicrously priced "pro" and "developer" systems. If the rest of the industry follows suit, as Microsoft is doing with Windows 7 phones, it's not going to be fun.
Some people are replacing their computers with the iPad and the iPhone. The media is doing a very good job of saying that the iDevices are the future of computing.
I think you miss the point. iOS is part of the Apple stack, and to Gilmore's point, development of the main OS X platform has been shifted towards iOS. The whole Apple set up assumes you use OS X + iOS + iPods, etc.
Sony have nothing to do with being part of the stack of any operating system, and while Microsoft owns XBOX it too has little-to-no integration with Windows. Your comparison therefore seems irrelevant.
Comparing the Apple App store as a 'better place to do business' than XBox or Sony PlayStation is also strange as the two are completely different in terms of proposition, customer demographic, development resource requirement and potential return on investment.
Why do people rail against Apple for making the iOS "walled garden" and yet have nothing to say about Sony or Microsoft and their locked down game platforms? At least Apple lets people produce applications and opens up their marketplace to everyday people. Microsoft charges an extraordinary amount of money for their 360 developer kit, XNA being a toy when compared with the real thing. The PS3, likewise, is way beyond the reach of any hobbyist.
Apple charges $99 for the developer kit, cost of Mac notwithstanding, and your application has a very good chance of being accepted. Call the App Store what you will, but it's a very good place to do business.