I'm with +Jason Howell here with a heterogeneous computing environment 5


I'm with +Jason Howell here with a heterogeneous computing environment

I've never cared for the limitations and locked in nature of iOS, but I have favored Mac OSX over Windows for the better part of a decade. My current employer requires me to use Windows during the work day but I do all of my personal stuff on a 15-inch Macbook Pro. I've always dug the build quality of the aluminum Macbooks and the general smoothness OSX (although Mountain Lion does still have some issues).

I do however have a couple of older windows machines around the house that I use for a media server and some other stuff. 

My mobile needs on the other hand have been well served by Android for the past three years. I like to root and customize my devices and I love many of the features of Android including the notifications, widgets and deep hooks into the Google ecosystem that keeps track of my life. I did the simple grid of icons thing for 10 years on a series of Palm devices before that.

Getting back to the Google ecosystem, one of the beauties of it is that it works with pretty much every platform. My Google calendars sync seamlessly both ways with my phone, with windows machines and with my Mac. Gmail? Yup it works in a browser on every computer and also works seamlessly with Thunderbird (for local archives because I've never liked Apple Mail) on my Mac. Contacts are also kept up to date live between phone, cloud and Mac address book. Google docs? Music? same.

By avoiding iCloud, I have a cloud ecosystem that works across a myriad of computing platforms that do what I want, where I want, when I want reliably. There is no need to be locked into a single platform. 

Reshared post from +Jason Howell

I do an Android show. But I use a Mac laptop. Time and again I get someone who proclaims that we need to ditch our lame ass Apple laptops on the show cause it doesn't make any sense that an Android show uses a Mac laptop.

I've never understood this argument. Is it that some Android fans hate Apple so much that any Apple on the set is a sign of the hosts' lack of commitment to Android?

Is it that we should be using an Android laptop cause it's an Android show? (read: they don't exist.)

Is it that we should use a Transformer Pad with a keyboard dock in lieu of our "daily driver laptop", slowing us down during a show where what we really need are LESS distractions, simply to prove that "well we do our show entirely on Android even though in this particular case, it's less efficient and distracting for us to do so."

Is it that we should instead use a Chromebook to do the show (a: something that I tried early on and eventually stopped cause, well, it was distracting and slowed me down. and b: something that I do not prefer to use in my day to day use.)

If we were to switch then to a Windows based laptop or Linux based laptop for the show, what the hell does that prove? Is that any different?

I mean… I guess what I'm asking is…. WHAT THE HELL IS THE DIFFERENCE?

Don't we use what we use because it works for us? Can I not use an Android phone and an Android tablet and still use a Mac laptop without being seen as "not quite Android enough"?

Sorry. Work for 12 hrs straight has me a bit ragged, but this comes up enough that it really puzzles me. Why does it matter?

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5 thoughts on “I'm with +Jason Howell here with a heterogeneous computing environment

  • Cheese Slap

    +Jason Howell is overlooking the obvious.  If you're going to talk the talk, then walk the walk.  It's like filming a show about Ford but filming it at a Hyundai dealership and saying, "What, what?  We're focusing on the Ford!  Yeah, I know there's a big-ass Hyundai sign right behind me, so what?".

  • Sam Abuelsamid

    As Jason said in his original post, there are no Android laptops and he tried a Chromebook and it didn't really do the job for him.  I think you're Hyundai/Ford analogy doesn't really work here because everyone is using Android phones and tablets, it's just the computers that don't match. This would be more akin to going into a multi-franchise car dealer that sells several brands and focusing on just one.

  • Cheese Slap

    That's fine, however people are taking exception to the fact that he went foreign, rather than domestic when chosing his hardware.  There'd be less backlash if he went to film it at Dodge.
    I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but acting naive about it is just lame.  He chose what he felt was the right product for the job…and some people disagree.  That's all there is to it.  The argument exists; that's all.

  • Sam Abuelsamid

    Having independently come to the same conclusions as Jason, I have to say that I disagree with those that are criticizing his choices. To me, those people are just coming across as the same kind of zealots you often find on the pro-Apple side.

  • Cheese Slap

    You're allowed to.  And they're allowed to. This is my point.  He asked "why".  The answer is "because".

    I personally see nothing wrong with choosing the best tool for the job. Makes the job a lot easier.  Other people…disagree.  And that's all there is to it.