Paul, I thought I'd left this thread, but something you said about low-cost apps struck me, and I'd like to provoke some thought here.
There have become several schisms in computing over the past decade, many of which have been spearheaded by Apple, Google, and Samsung. If one accepts that the new paradigm for computing is the cloud or portability or whatever, clearly much money has been invested in it, and consumers have returned the money spend by the companies on development. Apple had the largest cash reserve of any company, and at least twice as our U.S. Treasury Department...a staggering $160 billion, and Apple achieved this through innovation and redefining the Sony Walkman, the mobile telephone, and other consumer devices. I mentioned Samsung earlier, because they are exceedingly successful at copy-cat creations such as the Galaxy tablet.
Okay, one schism worth mentioning is between content creators and consumptive audiences. They use different technology and need different apps. For example, my kid brother just bought a Surface 3rd generation. Nice piece of machinery, IMO. He doesn't give a hoot that it's a Microsoft product; his Samsung died one day and he was going into withdrawal not being able to access YouTube. For my brother, computing is a consumptive hobby; he consumes data, he doesn't create anything, he collects pictures, he downloads "apps" (a term originally annexed by Apple, I think, but now defines all software), he's a happy sport with his consumer device. Actually, you could load and run Photoshop on his model, but again, that's not why he came to the "Tech Party"—it's email, surfing, and videos.
Me, I own a workstation, a heavy, large black lump that sits on the floor. I create content, I'm in the 10% at best, of people who own a computing device and what they do with it. For the price I pay for software, I don't call them "apps", and I really wish I could put a physical "bragging box" up on our bookshelf, but no one ships physical software anymore (okay, 2%), and our friends that come over are into consumptive computing and could care less about an AutoDesk 3D Studio Max box.
I think this schism alone is far greater than the Mac-PC nonsense. Let's get real: an experienced user can sit down in front of either UI and get productive within minutes. As Unix weenies used to call both Mac and Windows users, we're WIMP (Window, Interface, Menu, Pointer).
I have a strong desire to learn—that'll probably come after the fact—what Magix intends to mandate Xara developers to do in the near future. Is it going to be dumbed-down so it perfectly fits into the product line? Is that 10% pros, 90% hobbyists really true (would a survey reveal that?)?
A lot of us have invested serious time perfecting our skills with Xara. Am I pulling one way on the development rope, and Magix is pulling the other way?
I've got to get back to Xara and finish this month's Xara Xone stuff.
Professionally. :)
Gary
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