Would it be if they charged for it? Android has massive issues across development, the market, the user experience and poor vendor practices that are routinely ignored by the same people that jump on every mistake Apple makes.
Don't get me wrong, Android has a lot of promise but it's popular because it's on so many phones. That's not exactly a "winner" if it takes dozens of phone to compete against one phone. The same goes for tablets.
The more Android devices you make, the more iOS devices stand out among them.
The market will decide for itself what it needs or wants.
I'm glad they have the courage to try this. Outside of Apple, most computer companies stopped innovating a long time ago. They're happy to fight over scraps in a commodity market. HP finally got sick of it and are betting their business on a major shift in strategy.
When it comes down to it, you get what you pay for. With computer taking over more-and-more tasks in our lives, it's worth it to spend a little more on a system that better suits your needs.
But who am I to argue with someone that thinks any advancement in HCI over the ancient keyboard-and-mouse is a "gimmick"?
I agree. But can you really blame people for believing what we're told our entire lives? Most of our childhood we're told to stop socializing and work hard so you can go to a good college and get a good job. When you become an adult you find out that those social contacts are more important than the degree you worked for.
As a designer, this kind of attitude is one of the many reasons I don't contribute to open-source projects. You can't touch anything without people complaining about change. Computers are very different than they were 20 years ago yet we're tied down to outdated interface principles. In Linux-land, we're expected to design for the way things have always been not the way they should be. It seems geeks are just as stubborn about change as everyone else.
Khoi Vinh is being a poor sport here. Criticism is an important part of the design world. In school we're taught to use criticism as another resource and learn from it. The design team at the New York Times could have learned a lot from this 'unsolicited' exercise. Instead, they chose to be offended.
Would it be if they charged for it? Android has massive issues across development, the market, the user experience and poor vendor practices that are routinely ignored by the same people that jump on every mistake Apple makes.
Don't get me wrong, Android has a lot of promise but it's popular because it's on so many phones. That's not exactly a "winner" if it takes dozens of phone to compete against one phone. The same goes for tablets.
The more Android devices you make, the more iOS devices stand out among them.