Oh yeah, SMS is an utter rip. I think it’s $.35 to send or receive one now from the major carriers. Of course you can buy pre-pay plans to reduce the cost, but all of the reasonable low cost options (200 texts for $5/month) were removed a few years ago in favor of a single whopping expensive $20 unlimited plan. All of the carriers did it at once too. Oligarchies in action.
Luckily we have the FCC to protect consumers, except for the parts that are totally captured by carriers or legally barred from doing their job (Net Neutrality is on the chopping block folks, carriers want to charge you again for the bandwidth you already paid for and they’re not letting some pesky regulatory agency get in their way).
If it were confined to cell phones, Usians would have a couple dimes to rub together. Unfortunately, getting charged at market bearance rates applies to nearly every commodity and service on offer over here.
Capitalism: Worst system on earth, except for all the others… (At least we have somewhat regulated capitalism, so monopolies can’t quite get away with murder.)
It never was about being outside. Apple is for people who need good design. Microsoft/Windows is equivalent to being forced to eat at McDonalds for every meal. Then there is Linux, I will let you make your own culinary simile for that one. Apple is the design equivalent of good solid basic food, and you have to pay a little more, naturally.
Regarding plastic, there has always been plastic in iPhones. The claim they make is to reduce the use of PVC. The new phone is polycarbonate, exotic, like a tape measure case. The iphone has had plastic under the hard surface all along because good design is about function first. Hard surfaces resist scratching and the new glass is pretty strong (says the guy with a cracked iPad screen.) So your product, from Apple’s point of view, looks good longer in the user’s hand. Big points for people who dress to go to work. You can pretend that it is all vanity, but you will only believe that if you don’t have to interact with ambitious people every day in a culture that uses any slip to cut you out. Apple is smart to realize the need and is doing a service to provide a quality product and push the conversation from glitz to function. There has always been at least one company that fulfills this roll, Mercedes Benz, Rolex, even at a lower level of the economy companies like Moleskine are “hip” because the product is designed with a function-first aesthetic that celebrates a conscious approach to making choices.
If you insist that design is meaningless and everyone can do it then you will not see the appeal of Apple.
Linux is that much more open… an interactive/participatory event, where you’d better be prepared to help set up the show and may have to help create some of the exhibits.
Design is meaningful… but design isn’t just look and feel; it includes function and flexibility. How you weight those will determine what appeals most to you.
The best tool for you is the one that best suits your way of working on the tasks you care about performing. No one tool will be best for all users and all purposes. And that includes computing environments.
