iPhone 4.2.1 vs. Android 2.2

Following up on my "The Future is actually going to be Linux" article, I can safely and easily say that at least in one aspect, yes:

Customization: absolutely outstanding.  Makes the iPhone look like a complete and total joke:

• Tons and tons of great widgets and the terrific Zeam interface.  Awesome.
• Ringtones of whatever you want.  If you already own the MP3, you don't have to buy anything else.
  
• Change the amount of data you want to cache in Google Maps
• Multiple different mapping programs that will cache huge data sets (Mapdroid, Locus)

More software that so far much better with tons more features:

• Multiple broad-format audio players including WinAmp, DoubleTwist, and the awesome network-audio capable 2Player
  
• Calendar: Jorte
• TodoList: Astrid
  
• Browser: Firefox
• eBook, text file reader: CoolReader
• Barcode tool: Barcode Scanner
• Navigation: My Tracks
• Remote Desktop: Remote RDP Lite
• Mail client: K-9 Mail

Other strong points in Android's favor:

• Dramatically better selection of freeware applications, including some great GPL'd software that Apple legally will not allow (Weight Chart, KeePass, AppsOrganizer, and many more)
• A torrent client, file manager, and capability to open many different file types with a variety of available programs
  
• Adobe Flash support and a great game selection via the Kongregate client
  
• Super-simple WiFi, Cell Phone, and GPS on/off switch via Elixer
• Better keyboard and "landscape" interface (that doesn't occasionally work as with the iPhone)
• Multitasking via "Perfect Task Switcher"
• SSH, SFTP, and Samba client (all tested and work great) and an FTP server (SwiFTP)
  
• Open standard encryption tool (APG)
  
• Figure out what the device is doing what with OSMonitor
• Built in voice-to-text is way more accurate on Android than the free Dragon Dictation
• Almost all Google's services seem way better on the Android, although this isn't fair to say since Google could conceivably cripple their iPhone offerings.
• Usually much higher resolution pictures and video, as well as the ability to usually just swap out a tiny SD card to double the amount of space on your device.

So far the only places that iPhone comes out on top is ease of use and generally smoother, easier to use hardware.  Battery life seems to be a bit better, but the yawning difference between these two devices very much shocks me.  Essentially, Android is an actual computer while the iPhone is just a gadget.

The press constantly seems to be talking about issues in Android's future: patent issues and the fragmentation of the Android OS.  For me, Android is so far ahead, it would take a very long time to lose its standing on the points listed above to Apple.

The future is actually going to be Linux?

Although its become a joke, many optimists still say "this is the year of the Linux desktop" and this year may have seen their dreams come true in maybe a way they didn't expect.  I've been watching the Google OS for quite some time, but maybe more impressive is the predicted dominance of Android in the coming market.  Not only is it a commercially viable Linux product, but one that is expected to take over phones as well as tablets.

Watching Microsoft throw away around a billion dollars when the Kin project failed followed by producing their new web browser that doesn't run on the most popular operating system in the world makes me wonder where their priorities are.  It seems they're focused on a strategy more similar to Apple's than on the ubiquity of Windows operating system.  As mobile devices increasingly take the place of PCs and laptops, mobile devices will increasingly become the tools we rely on.

In terms of stability, Android's open internals based on a solid operating system pull it far in front of Palm and Blackberry (I have both, and both are very crashy).  Apple carries similar stability but its higher price, small hardware selection, and one-carrier-only selection puts them at a disadvantage.  The iPhone has had other problems including short battery life, poor phone reception, and other hardware issues.  Fundamentally the thing is a phone and not addressing this first and foremost is absurd.

So Android is a phone that doesn't shy away from hackers and tweakers?  An app store that doesn't have an until recently totally mysterious and indecipherable (and still not great) system for accepting submissions?

Negatively, the Android system has not made life easy for developers, the real heart of any "smart" device.  Using an open system with a wide variety of hardware without clear standards has created a fragmented OS base that has some of the same problems as the many distributions of Linux (SuSE, Redhat, Ubuntu, etc.)  Still, if Android can address this confusion, its going to be difficult to buy anything else.

Mixxx DJ software

Remarkably easy and intuitive DJ software that's also open source and runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux.  If you've ever been curious about how its done or wanted to try your hand, this is a perfect way.

Big thanks to the authors and contributors of this great freeware.

Linux transition

Windows used to have:

• All the applications I need
• Tons of great freeware
• Lots of cool customization tools for the user-interface
• Runs games
• No fuss -- just works

That's losing ground


Software permanence

Great applications for Windows come and go.  Microsoft's Photo Editor was replaced by a complete crap Photo Manager.  Microsoft Office ribbons.  Meanwhile, if I buy another computer, it comes with a Windows version that doesn't run all the applications I want.  I have to upgrade to Professional, Ultimate, and Enterprise version to get Windows XP compatibility and that comes at the price of multiple downloads, disk space, and extra RAM.

Mac has a similar problem: great software for the platform frequently doesn't follow into the next version.  Several programs I've wanted to try have required 10.6, which I don't want to upgrade to for fear of losing even more programs that only work on 10.5!

If something comes out for Linux and just about anyone uses it, the program remains available pretty much forever.  Once the code is out there and available, it seems to create a permanence.  Once you've got it, there is no re-learning how to use a program in Linux.


Gradual improvement

Microsoft could not described as gradually improving; many didn't consider Vista an upgrade over XP nor Office 2007 an upgrade over 2003.  Vista was bloated, slow, and problematic and almost nobody thinks the DOCX format was an improvement of any kind for office users. 

Meanwhile, Linux is gradually getting better and every version adds more and more, each of the upgrades for free.  Its not up to speed with Windows or Mac OS, but there has never been a downgrade.


The future

Microsoft hasn't created anything new for the marketplace in years and is just resting on its old business model: OS, Office, and forced upgrades of both.  This is not a company for the next 10 years and putting time and effort behind them is just putting off the inevitable.

The hope behind ChromeOS and/or Linux on the Desktop

Note: this article is very out of date.  I was hoping that there would be some kind of clear next step for the OS that I could use to revise this article, but instead I post it as a kind of hope for the future.

ChromeOS is an entire operating system that's purely a web browser.  There are some problems with this but one advantage is finally escaping vendor lock-in with your computer.  Purely web-driven technologies will allow developers to make software that immediately runs on 90% of computers, as well as allow both software and platform developers to compete with each other.

This contrasts when Microsoft locks users into their model and Apple increasingly locks people into theirs.  Vendor lock-in was the problem with the recent Google's Books program: you could only buy their books (which they frequently didn't own) from them.  Its bad because makes it possible for the both recent Apple vulnerabilities and the long, long list of unpatched IE 6 problems over time.  When there's no competition, you kick back and relax.  I can see management saying: "What are the customers going to do -- go somewhere else?"

Hoping that companies effectively create standards and then nurture them is counter to the nature of business.  Yet standards are necessary and good because they provide a consistent user experience and make people use computers faster and easier.  Its open standards that allow people to go elsewhere when someone abuses their market position.  The hope behind ChromeOS and/or the Successful Linux OS is making some better standards than Linux has had so far, while still keeping them open. 

Anytime you buy a car, you buy whoever gives you the best deal. Vendor loyalty is your decision and it should be the same in hardware and software.

Compelling Linux

GHack has a series of good articles on things Linux does better why you should switch, and why you should switch now.