Out of curiosity, what sites do you visit that actually function with all these bits disabled?

Or did I misunderstand, and you allow-list sites that you regularly use?

Hah! I think the word I'm looking for is... "oops". :)

I agree, but I think those segments have a lot of life in them. Of course, when those devices are passé, then a lot of other companies will need to make some significant shifts as well. I'm keen to see what Ives, Cook, etc will come up with.

Apple will continue. They still have strong leadership, Jobs will be chairman, and progress will continue. It's not like they're suddenly going to stop making Macbooks, iPhones, and iPads.

If I were into buying stocks, I'd watch to see whether APPL takes much of a dive, and get ready to buy.

The term "smartphone" was coined by Ericsson, for the r380. It ran Symbian and had a touchscreen. Oh, and "users could not install their own software on the device." So what was that about a general computing device? Sounds more like a smartphone is a phone that can run purpose-built applications. Or perhaps a PDA that can connect to a cell network.

No corporation is stopping you from getting a Symbian or WinMo device. I'm sure there are even some very nice ones out there, for certain values of "nice". I understand that you're upset that you can't or haven't found something that suits your purposes, but companies are not obligated to fulfill your desires. The success of devices that don't do what you want is not an impingement on your freedom.

Running arbitrary code is what delineates a smartphone from a "dumb phone"? First off, what is the advantage in running arbitrary code? What do you mean by "arbitrary code"? What are you looking to do?

I've been using my iPhone for about 3 years, and not once have I lamented the lack of a file manager. Now mind you, I'm not toting around spreadsheets, etc, but it's done a pretty fantastic job of managing my music, audiobooks, tasks, notes, as well as myriad other functions. Compiled, purpose-built applications have done a pretty great job of elevating this device above the status of a so-called "dumb phone".

I'd like to know what arbitrary code you want that can't be put into an application. Or are you bothered by Apple's code vetting process?

Wow, way to be a condescending prick. The whole point of computing devices is to make tasks simpler.

I wonder how you would feel if, in order to feed yourself, you had to hunt or grow your own food. Do you know how to do that? I sure don't. I wouldn't care to be catagorized as a "dimwit" by a hunter, because I don't know how to kill my own deer for dinner. But I'm sure glad that the agriculture industry has come around, and made it simpler to put food in my stomach.

As a software engineer, I'm glad to make shit easier for people to do. Your attitude can go crawl under a PDP-11.

Your clients are a bunch of Neanderthals too, eh?

I would like to thank you, sir, for providing me with further means to waste hours and hours of my time. Which I surely shall be doing.

You think that's what a woman's orgasm is like?

At my work, all the computer names are purely functional. However, when I was in school, it was better: Native American tribe names, for example. But my favorite was the natural disasters in one lab (earthquake, tsunami, headcrash, etc.).

No offense, but... do you get out much? There are a lot of people who like Windows, regardless of various passing frustrations.