Does Chris get it?
If you read my previous post and bothered to go out to the Robert Scoble's post which prompted it, you will see me kind of going toe-to-toe with Robert. In my own opinion, I think Robert just doesn't like being confronted much less being wrong which is why we have been going back and forth. I also think he has become such an Apple fanboy that he can't see past his Mac to understand that there are excellent products and features being delivered by lots of companies besides Apple.
But that is just my opinion.
I would like for you, the 12 regular readers I have - :) - to correct me if I am wrong.
If you want the short version, go read Scoble's post. Then read comments #5(me), #7(Scoble), #24(me), #28(Scoble), #32(Scoble), #39(me), #41(Scoble), #44(Me).
I would like to know if, in your opinion, it is me or Robert that does or does not get it.
Cheers!
Comments
Anonymous
December 27, 2007
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December 27, 2007
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December 27, 2007
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December 27, 2007
Good post(s) Chris! Typical of these types of discussions. The PC meets or beats on all technical points mentioned in Scoble's original post. When presented with that, discussion degrades into the subjective aestetic argument. Even here, infinite choices of PC size and form factor vs. the MacMini you get only what Steve J. lets you have. I read (and like) Scoble's blog, but the content is always flavor of the month type stuff. The 1001st new social networking fad, a change of the color at the Apple store that will change the world, etc.Anonymous
December 27, 2007
I'm not a regular reader. I found your blog after Scoble's blog, after reading Dave Winer's blog. My opinion: I don't think you get Robert Scoble. Search through his blog for Second Life posts. The pattern goes something like this:
- Second Life is pretty cool.
- Second Life is an operating system!
- Second Life kicked me out, but that's cool because the XBox 360 is the most awesome thing ever! You're trying to debate rational technology with a "technology evangelist" (a term I dislike, given that "evangelists" are typically associated with getting people excited into an irrational fervor). You might as well try debating biology with a real, church-style evangelist.
Anonymous
December 27, 2007
Dear Chris -- Have you not learned? Your sound arguement does not matter -- Scoble is simply not happy if he does not have the last word. Blake Handler Microsoft MVPAnonymous
December 27, 2007
@stuart - Apple has been a combined software/hardware company since day one and has never varied from that path. Microsoft has been a software company since day one. Yeah we have keyboards and mice, XBox and a few other things, but we are a software company. I can't see us producing our own PC's ever. Not that it isn't a possibility, but....why? Lot's of companies doing a fine job already. But why aren't they producing cool, pretty cases? I blame the motherboard manufacturers. The small boards have fewer options for expansion and those smaller boards are the ones that offer the best options for aesthetically pleasing cases that people want in their living rooms. Your standard motherboards are still too large to fit into "pretty" cases. So we are kind of stuck with larger, less appealing options. Or you pay a LOT of money for some of the custom Media Center PC's out there. Not something MS has any control over. There is also the issue of storing the growing amounts of digital content people are consuming and storing. This meeans more local drives which also keeps the case sizes larger. Good News - terabyte level drives will fix that problem in the next couple of years. iPhone - what makes the iPhone anything close to revolutionary is the multi-touch interface though I do give credit to the web browsing. The multi-touch opens new doors for interacting with the device but you are still accomplishing the same things that Windows Mobile and many other phones and mobile devices have again been doing for years. The Web browsing experience is interesting, but is what anyone who has a laptop or desktop has been able to do for the last decade just more mobile. I imagine you will see other devices doing the exact same thing a lot cheaper real soon. Cheers...Anonymous
December 27, 2007
@kizzer - I am hoping he doesn't take it that direction.... :)Anonymous
December 27, 2007
@Andrew - I get Scoble enough to know that I needed to respond to his blog post. He wields an amazing amount of influence and sometimes his narrowmindedness gets the best of him. I just wanted to make sure the readers of his blog were educated to what is really available out there and not just what Scoble says is out there. Cheers....Anonymous
December 27, 2007
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December 28, 2007
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December 28, 2007
@sferris - sigh.... I did not posit any question regarding why someone would or would not run Windows in the living room. I requested feedback from my audience regarding the thread Scoble and I had. That thread dealt primarily with the capabilities of one platform vs another and whether the MacMini was revolutionary in it's capabilities vs what Windows had been doing for many years. I believe I have sufficiently made my case that a Windows Media Center can do anything the MacMini can do and better with more extensibility and be just as pleasing to the eye in the living room. To follow the tangent you wish to take us down.....Security - Windows Defender and the Forefront Client consume very little resources. We (MS) make those products. Computer Associates eTrust antivirus is practically invisible. That is a 3rd party product. SpyBot Search and Destroy is also very unobtrusive. That is a 3rd party product. It just so happens that I use all of those on every Windows machine I have and I have never had any performance issues resulting from any of them. It is not difficult to find a sutiable solution if one simply does a little research and puts a little effort into it. Macs are not immune to security issues and while we could go back and forth all day long over who has the most secure platform, I see no benefit is doing so. Security is not what this discussion was about. The word security never popped until your comment. I have made a solid case while staying on topic. Those that don't agree, including Scoble, hit a wall then take it in different direction to try to save face. I agree with virtually everything in your second paragraph. I am waffling right now between completley cancelling my cable service and consuming all of my content through P2P services or diving into the fray with a cablecard system. I believe the future of content delivery is through the Internet, not through the cable/satellite comanies. But that future isn't quite here yet. I would simply point out that again, everything in your second paragraph is possible on the Windows platform as well. There are many software and hardware vendors extending the functionality of Windows Media Center machines. I provided a link to an enthusiast site in my original comment to Scoble as an excellent source of information on this. Cheers....Anonymous
December 28, 2007
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December 28, 2007
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December 29, 2007
What is the advantage to buying a Mac Mini and purchasing your video via iTunes? I don't get that. For the price of the cheapest Mac Mini which is $600 plus tax and shipping (not $500), I can buy a Tivo Series 3 and an extra 750GB external eSATA drive. Of course I would need a cablecard install and pay the subscription fees for the video service and TiVo guide but that would be a much preferred solution over a web browsing Mini. Don't get me wrong, I like the Mini form factor but it doesn't meet my HD needs. Let me know when it does. Maybe we'll know what Apple has next in a couple of weeks at MacWorld.Anonymous
December 29, 2007
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