Linkinus is a pretty nice IRC client as well. I believe I got it on sale on the App Store for like $5. I'm sure it's more now though.
I definitely suggest HomeBrew over MacPorts and Fink. I've had much better luck with it.
TextWrangler is a great free editor. I use Sublime Text 2 for anything that I may need some standard editing. For more complex stuff or if I'm doing more than opening a single file, I prefer MacVim.
It depends on what you're editing. If I'm ever writing any C/C++/Objective-C I ALWAYS use XCode even if it's only as a text editor and not a project manager/compiler, due to its fantastic syntax highlighting. TextWrangler's great as a replacement for TextEdit, but it doesn't do syntax highlighting as well as it could.
I'd rather be "stuck" with a solid, stable, and useful operating system on a device that needs to be reliable and always available.
Am I disappointed in iOS6? Yes, but not necessarily am I concerned that I'm "stuck" with it.
Primarily my disappointments are pretty geeky.
1) Not enough major advancements (inter-app communication)
2) It seems a bit weird to introduce so many non-developer features in the keynote, at a developer conference.
Regardless, I don't think we're "stuck" with it. I think they need to up the game for iOS 7 though, and if they don't then we may have a bit of a problem.
I think the authors point is that Apple used to lead, but with iOS 6 you can clearly see Apple being the laggard.
That makes him uneasy about Apple's (and iOS's) future. Remember how Microsoft used to kick ass? Remember how they used to drive/dictate how the entire PC industry was supposed to run? You remember that?
Slowly but surely they stopped doing that. Anti-trust lawsuits didn't help either. And where has that landed Microsoft today?
A cautious company, almost afraid of releasing a new version of MSIE, a web-browser, a minor component of their OS, which isn't 100% standards-compliant and with only the correct draft-specifications included, because last they they released something which did something differently than Firefox, the entire internet hated them for it.
A software company afraid of releasing software. At this point they are a turtle hiding in their shell. Not a very interesting thing to follow.
Apple isn't quite there yet, but it has been clear from the last years' (lack of) progress and development, that iOS is at a clear standstill. It makes you wonder why and what the future holds.
So his point was not if iOS 6 is terrible or not. His complaint is basically that he expected better from Apple. And now Apple is seemingly no longer able to deliver that.
To be honest here. I carried a 5.5lbs PowerBook G4 around to college for a couple years. I hated it. I'm not a big guy by any stretch of the imagination (5'7", 120lbs) but as soon as I added books, paper, folders of hand outs and homework to the list of things I was carrying.. I really wanted the laptop to be lighter.
My last year of college was spent carrying a 2010 Air around with me instead of the PowerBook and it was a signficiant difference in weight.
You just have to realize that a laptop isn't the only thing people carry around. So 4.6lbs isn't a big deal, but when you add it all up then the number starts to increase. Extra savings is beneficial.
I've not seen the display in person. But some initial take aways are this:
People kept saying that the iPad's Retina display wasn't worth it and that they couldn't see the difference. Then quickly proclaimed after a week or more of usage that they cannot fathom going back to the iPad 1 or 2 display.
I suspect the same is true of the new MBP display. While it may seem "ok" now. Give yourself time with it and you'll have a hard time going back to anything else.
My experience with the iPad 3 is kind of the opposite. Initially, I was floored by how great the display looked (for text, especially), but now, I hardly notice it. That being said, I haven't really spent enough time with previous iPads to compare. I strongly prefer reading on the iPad over reading on the crappy monitor I have at home, but the beauty of the text is only part of the reason for that.
I think this is sort of similar to what I was explaining.
I was mostly talking about the detractors, but those that do like the display aren't exactly different in the end.
If I were a betting man, I'd say you would probably compare the old iPad to your crappy monitor. Perhaps not as crappy in terms of colors, but in terms of reading text.
It was reading text and technical PDF files that really made me purchase the new iPad. It's such a drastic upgrade in this department that I can't imagine ever going back to the iPad 1 that I gave to my mother.
Scaling is really needed at this point. Primarily due to the size of the screen. If the screen was larger then allowing the native resolution wouldn't be a problem. But at the current screen size (15") you would have a really hard time reading text.
There are images out there of each of the hiDPI resolutions including the 1920 resolution. On my 1920x1200 resolution 23" cinema display it is readable. But even I squint a bit at text on this display and it's 23". I can't even imagine trying to use that resolution at 15".
Sorry, but Apple's "we know better than you" attitude is spot on with this particular thing.
I've been an Apple user for years and bought my first Mac (PowerBook G4) about 10 years ago. My main computer is a Mac Pro (2006) and is in dire need of replacement. I'm pretty peeved that the Mac Pros are not on the upgrade list this week. But I will not argue with them about this particular choice in not allowing native resolution on the new MBP Retina display.
Native resolution on that display would be next to impossible to view easily.
Fragmentation at the API level is the real problem. Not at lack of "built-in features."
An app written for iOS 6 can run on the iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS (not to mention the iPad 2 and 3, and the newest iPod Touches).
An app written for ICS can only run on those 7% of devices running ICS.
This is how fragmentation works. The only fragmentation happening on iOS is for the original iPhone, iPhone 3G, iPad 1, and the old iPod Touches.
The only one that I don't quite grasp is the original iPad. Running on the same processor as the iPhone 4 and is much faster than the iPhone 3GS. Color me somewhat confused by this one.
First, APIs are simply features exposed for developers' use. A map function not supported on a device, means the API isn't supported neither, and if your 3rd party development needs this API, it needs this function, namely access to this feature.
Second, you are confining yourself to fragmentation from a developer perspective, and fragmentation matters for other purposes too.
Third, your Android example is flawed; to just shuffler your argument; a function developed for Android 2.3 can run on 2.3 and later versions. And you only need ICS, in case you need a new "built-in feature" available in ICS. Alas, an ios6 app benefiting from new maps, won't work in a substantial proportion of ios devices.
Fourth, the other side of fragmentation is diversity; and you may write a corporate app, for a pen based samsung galaxy note, with a giant screen and give it to your sales users.
