at dot lindsay at lindsay dot at Comments

adam: What to do if you’re concerned about Apple’s coming dominance with the iPad

2010-02-03T12:43:33Z

Ooh, thanks for the link, Ben. The pen interface is really a strawman, something to react to. I don't claim to have the only idea, but it's something to work with.

Ben: What to do if you’re concerned about Apple’s coming dominance with the iPad

2010-02-03T12:28:28Z

So it appears that the linux foundation seems to agree with your point Adam (not the pen interface, rather the current and impending dominance of apple and their UI teams) as they seem keen to do something about it: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2010/02/linux-foundation-mobile-linux-needs-magic-to-beat-apple.ars

/Ben

jke: What to do if you’re concerned about Apple’s coming dominance with the iPad

2010-02-02T22:06:46Z

I also agree. It's the way ppl - newbies - will want to use the iPad that's so revolutionary and the part that the other "competitors" will have to understand.

adam: What to do if you’re concerned about Apple’s coming dominance with the iPad

2010-02-02T18:14:48Z

Interesting thought, Adam, but I think we are talking about two different audiences here. I see the iPad as shifting focus to mothers-as-users, and away from your hacker audience (in your link). So when I put forth pen computing as a strawman, my focus was on natural gestures for people who are not necessarily computer users.

You're right, though, the first devices might be too heavy. But we can always count on weight and thickness going down over time. Pen computing may well not be the way, but those who are concerned would do well to think about alternatives.

Adam: What to do if you’re concerned about Apple’s coming dominance with the iPad

2010-02-02T17:57:02Z

I strongly agree: if you want to do something, then start from the beginning and make a compelling product. Don't define it in terms of competing with Apple; start with the goal of making something *awesome* for a definite audience, and then do whatever it takes.

But I don't think you're headed a productive direction. Have you ever seen someone using a pen tablet? You can either hold it on one hand, making that arm tired, or put it down on a desk and hunch over it, hurting your back. The flat-thing-you-touch-on-the-front form factor is never going to be ergonomic.

But what if we could have a keyboard on a mobile device? That's what I'm interested in. I've linked my name on this comment to a prototype I made of such a device. Is this a direction you're interested in?

Anne: Twitter

2009-05-13T17:40:34Z

I'm thinking about this more, especially after reading another blog rant about it. I sort of like that some people out there may be reading my random @ replies to my friends -- I know that this is how at least one of my followers found me. I don't worry about it precisely because it is an *option*, so I feel free to @ reply at will, as geeky and profane as I wanna be.

Is it a fundamental different class of user? I really don't think so. It's just another way of finding new people to follow. Just like Trending Topics is another way to find what all the dipshits are talking about, and maybe follow them if you like their dipshittery enough.

Anne: Twitter

2009-05-13T17:17:34Z

I don't know why this issue has me so full of beans! I'm even more confused as to why the "twitterverse" is so enraged -- I doubt many people actually relied on the "feature". I certainly had it turned off; I'm overwhelmed enough already by the 67 people I do follow. It reminds me of the big stink everyone made on Facebook when they slightly changed the format; now everyone's used to it and quieted down. Perhaps people just can't handle change?

However, as an old colleague once said, I very strongly agree with myself. You just can't take options away from users, period, unless the option is fundamentally broken. And this is a pretty harmless option -- your bot examples aside. It certainly should not be the default, but it should be an option, as some people clearly do use and enjoy it, and find other people to follow this way.

Summary: leave it as an option, but do not make it the default. How about:

[ ] See all @replies, even from people you don't follow? (WARNING: This could make your twitter stream very verbose!)

Chris Wanstrath: Launchpad, Github, Bitbucket

2009-05-10T10:37:03Z

While the hg-git bridge is still in beta, it is officially supported by GitHub. This means your code will be as safe with it as it would be using pure Git.

Keep in mind, too, that the beauty of DVCS is how safe your code really is: if an `hg clone` failed, your data would still be safe on the server. If an `hg push` failed, your data would still be safe on your local machine.

Martin Albisetti: Launchpad, Github, Bitbucket

2009-05-08T17:15:49Z

Hi Adam,
This is a very insightful post for me. I've picked up the task of evolving the Launchpad UI 7 or 8 months ago, and I'm slowly sinking my teeth into it. In the next 3-4 months, you're going to be seeing a lot of changes that should improve the experience for you dramatically. If it doesn't, please come and find me, if you're around freenode, I'm "beuno" and always happy to get feedback and suggestions.

Karl Fogel: Launchpad, Github, Bitbucket

2009-05-08T16:44:55Z

You wrote:

"It wouldn't be that hard to expand Loggerhead, the core Bazaar repository-view web app, to include basic social web features. It's a foolish thought for me to have at this time (when I need to put all my available energy into the thesis)."

If you could summarize some of those ideas in, say, five minutes, what would you say? I understand you don't have time to engage in a full-scale attempt to bend Launchpad to your will :-), but since we're about to open-source it (http://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing), and since Loggerhead is open source already, it might be useful for others to hear what you had in mind...

Thanks,
-Karl