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Presidents corner

President's Column for January 2012

There are only 10 kinds of people in this world: Those who understand binary and those who don't.

If you don't understand the humor in that joke (I'll explain it at the end of this column), you're among the audience Apple is targeting with Lion and iOS.

In iOS, there is no user-accessible file system. You don't tell an iOS app (like Pages, for example, where I'm writing this on my iPad right now) where to save your document; it just gets saved to the sandbox that Pages has been given for this purpose by iOS. In Pages, furthermore, you don't even get to name the new document until you exit that document and, even then, you may leave the default name that Pages has assigned ("Blank Document 1" in the case of this document I'm writing). Contrast that with all MacOS and OSX apps that work on a new document in an unsaved state until you actually initiate a Save (which, for a new document, is actually a Save as...) and provide a name for that document. Additional changes to that document require a Save by you (or agreeing to save the changes when you close the document) or else the changes after the first Save are lost.

In iOS, all document changes are automatically saved so that, when you close the document or exit the iApp, you are never asked about saving. Apple's iOS philosophy has migrated over to Lion (10.7.x) to a certain extent. In Lion, Pages only asks for a document name when you first save a newly created document; thereafter, it automatically saves any changes to that document. If you wish to "Save as..." then you must, instead, select "Duplicate" from the File menu and are then asked if any changes you made since you opened that document during this session should be incorporated into the original document prior to making the duplicate. Confusing? Get used to it.

Apple has even taken the step of hiding the user's Library folder in the Finder. Apparently some users have been foolish enough to toss required files that are not explicitly locked by the OS and, in so doing, render their Macs unbootable. In this case, Apple's move supports the philosophy that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. One could make a legitimate case for forcing users to operate in a standard rather than administrative user account (as has been the recommendation from virtually all security experts) but Apple has been all about choice...until now evidently. That Library folder is off-limits but there are simple means to get to it if you have a legitimate need.

The long history of personal computing has given us standard methodologies that, Apple believes, will not serve us well in the future. Why should you worry about whether you've remembered to save a file? Isn't that just so 20th Century? The paradigms that served us well in the past (and those who have accidentally quit without saving changes may not believe they truly have served us well) always deserve a second look...and a third one...because that's the way it's always been done has always been the most dangerous and essentially retrogressive philosophy. Companies that embrace yesterday die a painful death and it's often their stockholders and customers who share their pain.

Lion is the end of Rosetta (the technology that lets OSX PowerPC apps run on Intel Macs) but there are rumors that Apple may be licensing Rosetta to Intuit so that might permit Quicken 2007 to work in Lion. If this is really happening, I'd guess that this will be so embedded in the app that there won't be a way of making it work for other apps (but I've been surprised by enterprising hackers before). What I'm saying here is that AppleWorks users had better get their database files converted over so a Lion-compatible app can pick up the slack. Other AppleWorks files (word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation) can be opened without a problem by Pages, Numbers and Keynote; but database files will need to be exported as CSV or tab-delimited text so that whatever app you choose can do your database work from then on. (And we'll have a database app demo during 2012.)

The times, they are a-changin',wrote Bob Dylan, and we-all of us who are not on our last Mac-had better not be, in Larry Jones's words, a Yandell (a one-way street).

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That binary joke at the start of this column? Binary math counts from zero to one so the number two is represented by a zero in the rightmost column (no 1's) and a one in the next column (one 2) and that's '10'. The number four would be represented as '100’ with each extra column on the left being twice the value, so counting from right to left would be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 and so on.


by Barry Jay Levine


Confused about iTunes Match? Apple tries a new explanation


Hey, iOS users! Are you still scratching your heads over what exactly iTunes Match is supposed to do for you? Apple has done its best to come to your rescue with a new web page designed to answer your lingering questions about the service.

Launched last month, the $24.99-per-year iTunes Match service lets you store your iTunes collection in Apple's cloud-- even content you've ripped from CDs or purchased from other music sites. From the cloud, you can then sync and listen to your music across an array of devices, including an iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Mac, PC, and Apple TV.

But there's at least one area of confusion that Apple has attempted to address on its new page: Does iTunes Match stream songs or download them? Well, it depends.

iOS devices will start playing songs from iCloud as they download, though they'll also store them locally for you to play without a network connection. PCs and Macs will stream your songs, but you can download them by clicking on the iCloud download button. And Apple TV will only stream your songs.

Further, you can store as many as 25,000 songs in iCloud, or more if you buy them from iTunes. But only the tracks you want to play are stored on your device.

Apple also explains that iTunes Match can handle any music format iTunes itself uses, including AAC, MP3, WAV, and AIFF. The service will support up to ten different devices.

You also have the option of downloading and playing music via your 3G connection or only Wi-Fi.

And for people who purchased or ripped songs at a low quality, iTunes Match will automatically match your music with a higher-quality 256-Kbps AAC DRM-free format.


CNET | News | Apple
byLance Whitney