Computers, netbooks & smartphone products table
For all those who were or are now confused about the computer/netbook/smartphone market, here’s a bit to help clear one the techy bits:
| Product | Hardware | Software | ||
| Open | Microsoft | Apple | ||
| Computer | Intel (x86) | Linux (Desktop) | Windows | OSX |
| Netbook | Intel (x86) | Linux (Desktop) | Windows | hack-only |
| Netbook (Gen2010) | (ARM) | Linux (Variants) | WinMo | |
| iPad | Apple A4 (ARM) | iPhone | ||
| Phone | (ARM) | Linux (Variants) | WinMo | iPhone |
Notice that there’s another column I forgot: Android. They’re a variant of Linux, and running on both desktop & netbooks (sort of). Oddly enough, Android on netbooks took all the fire/criticism up front about being too limited. Apple then stepping into the void and filled it with something just. usable. enough.
The only commentary on Apple’s latest device is two-fold: (1) No multitasking? I’m a fan of what I’ve called ‘limited computing‘, but this is a tad too constricting. (2) Likewise constricting is the iPhone AppStore: only those approved by Apple will do.
For the price, I’d rather have AlwaysInnovating’s Tablet/Netbook. It’s effectively the same thing, just with the software I already use. Trouble-spot: all linux software is old-school & menu-driven. Neither linux application communities (KDE nor Gnome) seem to be concerned with this forward motion UI’s.