Convergence Makes Complexity

This week's column by Ctein

Back at the beginning of the month I discussed how devices, both computer-ish and camera-ish, are converging and how that makes life more complicated. Let's talk some more about those complications.

A couple of people brought up the rumored 13-inch iPad last time. I didn't mention it because it is just a rumor, but should it appear it would only make my point more forcefully. Its size, weight, and cost would place it squarely in the middle of the already crowded set of choices I previously described. If Apple's line is model-heavy now, as I think it is, this only makes things worse.

Microsoft has had its own problems with convergence. The attempt to give desktop Windows a mobile-ish interface was not met with acclaim. There are two reasons for that, and to me they're pretty obvious ones (Apple's hardly the only company that makes bonehead UI mistakes). The first is that if your computer doesn't happen to have a touchscreen, as most don't, interfaces that are designed to be poked at don't work half so well for the user as ones that are designed for a keyboard and mouse.

Then there's that information density thing. I complained about how badly iOS 7 scales to the iPad. Ergonomically, it's designed for much smaller screen, so there's a huge amount of wasted desktop space and an unnecessarily low information density, combined with excessively large and numerous movements required by the user to accomplish things. I reiterate: this is fundamentally stupid—the principles of scaling geometries for different sized devices are well understood, both as a matter of theory and of coding. When those principles aren't followed, as in iOS7 and the "new improved" Windows interface, it becomes ludicrous on larger screens.

On the other hand, Microsoft did something very smart with hardware—the Surface Pro 2. John Camp pointed me at this clever beast, and I'm not sure I understand why it hasn't gotten more traction. It strikes me as an excellent convergence—a very decent tablet and a more-than-capable computer. It might even be the ideal portable Photoshop machine (okay, it lacks a full 24-bit sRGB-space display, but you can't have everything). Is it because two pounds makes it too heavy to be usable as a tablet? Or is it just Microsoft's lackluster reputation in the hardware area? I admit I didn't give it even a glance when it came out for that reason. I'd be interested in hearing what readers think, most particularly why it doesn't appeal to you.

Do-everything devices usually don't do well in the marketplace—it's the trap of convergence. It's hard to make one device that's a jack of all trades, and that's true of cameras in particular. The "Frankencamera" approach, for example, has met with very limited success, and that's because, honestly, it doesn't work very well. You end up with a highly adaptable device that turns out not to be superbly capable at any one thing. It turns out that while people (collectively) would like the ability to do anything and everything with their cameras, if they (individually) can't do the thing they most care about superbly, they turn somewhere else.

Maybe that affects the Microsoft tablet/computer? If not in reality, in people's perception that it can't possibly be good at being both a tablet and a computer?

Okay, back to the complexity side. Let's assume we do see these kind of convergences. It really makes life difficult for the software and operating system designers. Suppose, hypothetically, Apple went the Microsoft route and there was only one single device in the 10–13 inch screen category? What should it run? Mac OS? iOS? As a heavy user of both, I can tell you that while either of them is capable of supporting any activity you can imagine doing on a computer or a tablet (or a camera), each makes some endeavors extremely easy and others almost impossibly difficult (try writing an incremental backup program for iOS). It's a lot like your favorite camera interface; I don't think anyone's ever found one that was perfect for them, although some come close. But there's definitely no particular camera interface which seems anywhere near ideal for everybody. I could give you my gripe list about Olympus's, but there's no point. You can come up with your own gripe list about your camera. Worse, for designers, get 10 of us in a room and we'll gripe about entirely different things in the same interface.

This does not make the designer's life easy. Much like the Frankencamera, the infinitely adaptable FrankenOS is far more a fantasy than a useful reality.

On the other hand, he says cynically, this is what keeps many camera companies in business. So many of the products are so similar—that unavoidable convergence I talked about last time—that if there weren't these distinctions that are difficult to engineer out, there'd be little reason for choosing one over the other.

And, then, there are those who actively exploit this. My complaints about trying to divine the differences between cell service plans? I hate to say it but I think that's calculated. The different companies really don't have a lot to offer that's different. So all they can do is gimmick things up with features designed to target specific market demographics (which any one of you probably don't fit). They have no incentive to make the consumer choice process clear and simple. The more obscure and difficult it is to discern the real differences between the plans, the more likely you are, at some point, to just throw up your hands as I did and pick one. Because sooner or later, ya gotta. (The same can be said for health insurance. The insurance companies don't really want you to understand their policies.)

Will that state of affairs last forever? I doubt it. It aggravates people. They just don't have an alternative. That doesn't mean they always won't.

Remember the old Apple iMac commercials, back when getting online could be pretty complicated? The one that explained how to get connected to the 'Net in three steps...and there were only two. Clever design and exceptionally clever marketing. Very successful marketing, too.

Maybe complexity will give way to simplicity. It's not an impossible dream.

Ctein

Columnist Ctein converges on Wednesdays on TOP.

©2014 by Ctein, all rights reserved

Original contents copyright 2014 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Colin Work: "Exactly why I don't like video in my still camera. Sure, I know, I don't have to use it, but now my camera is more complicated than it need be—more menus, buttons that get in the way and/or could be put to better use. Interestingly, I've had to start shooting video—so I tried using my Canon 5D. Yes, it can produce some superb video—but is so awkward to use for this purpose. So I bought I decent camcorder—and was immediately amazed by how relatively simple the whole process became. Yes, I do appreciate that in the hands of a skilled cameraman, the 5D can produce amazing video. But I suspect very few decent stills shooters also make very good filmmakers—the disciplines are just too different."

Nerdie McSweatervest: "Re: cell service plans. Years ago, Dilbert creator Scott Adams coined the term 'confusopoly' to describe this."

Jim: "While you cannot please everyone, you can accommodate various users to make life easier. Twenty years ago we designed and sold test instruments that were tethered to H-P 200 palmtop PCs that let you set up tests and take data with one button press. I was just at a techie trade show where I saw several instruments, including some neat microscopes, interfaced to both Android and iOS devices by Bluetooth or WiFi. These systems allow setting up tests, taking, analyzing and storing data easily.

"Why can't I do that with a camera? An app should allow access to the camera to graphically set up all the parameters now handled with menus that are reminders of the 'dark ages' of the PC (DOS!) and store the setups in the camera under a easily-remembered name (e.g. 'critter cam' for my E-P3 with the Pana 100–300mm) accessible on a top-level menu or a programmable button.

"But, alas, camera company engineers appear to be clueless like the car companies were a decade ago. When I wrote a article on computer networks in cars, I found the original BMW iDrive had over 750,000 possible settings, many with unintelligible names...does that sound familiar?"

Comments

[Ed]

Computers wanna be more and more user freindly and wind up being turds. Sometimes I have a case of micronostalgia were I would like the 80th back.....simple command lines with deltree and shutdown - h NOW as a great possibility, but then I remember Linux on my Raspberry Pi and look SO pleased.

Ah, today I tried to connect an Apple TV to a beamer (4 years old) and needed 50 euro worth of cable (HDMI female to DVI male in two easy pieces) only to discover that a 2011 MacBook Pro could not communicate with the utterly useless piece of crap, ah, and thinking a 35 euro Pi could have saved the day, but the owner of the place loved the Apple no matter what. But hey at least my house remains Apple free (unless it's green, tastes sour sweet and is not bitten in to begin with).

Greeting, Ed.

[Mark McCormick-Goodhart]

Ctein, I'll bet Apple's already got the name picked out for the tablet you described... iPad Pro :-)

cheers,
Mark

[Joseph Kashi]

Nice alternatives to any tablet are the small and light Toshiba full-function notebooks (about 2.5 pounds with strong metal shell), 13.3" screen, lots of RAM, very fast 256GB SSD (solid state hard disk), 5-6 hour battery life, and multi-core i5 CPUs.

These are available in the $800 to $1000 range and easily run full versions of Win 7 Pro and Win 8 Pro, along with quick Lightroom 5 performance.

Devices like these are nearly as portable, similarly priced, but far more versatile than trendy tablet devices.

[steven Ralser]

I agree with the cell phone confusion. However there is one company that isn't as confusing and usually a lot cheaper - Ting. They use the sprint network, have easily understood fees and are a lot cheaper. We pay $40 for 3 phones, and only pay for data when we actually have to use it. Their customer service is great. Unfortunately you have to pay full price for the phone, and you can't use the iPhone 5. But then I'm too cheap to pay for it, I got a used android phone.

[Marc Gibeault]

I don't think there's hope for Windows devices for at least a couple of years.
http://daringfireball.net/2014/02/microsoft_past_and_future

[Hugh crawford]

In the 1960s - 1970s Nikon and Canon built their brands on the Franken-camera business. You could reconfigure the F2 with 20 or so focusing screens , at least 7 finders, 3 motor drives, 3 backs, and a lot of remote control, underwater, microscopy, close-up , and medical configurations.

Now you are pretty much stuck with whatever the manufacturers think will cover 90 percent of the use cases. And if the feature you want the most is missing, there isn't much you can do about it.

The mirrorless cameras could fill a similar niche if only the makers would just get less hung up on the whole smallness thing, and build on the concept of being reconfigurable

[Steve Jacob]

Re Surface Pro 2, I agree this device is misunderstood. Its the only machine on the market that would potentially work as a desktop, laptop and tablet.

A friend of mine bought one a week ago and let me play with it for a few hours. It breezed through D800 RAW edits in CS6 without a hitch, not noticeably slower than my i7 Ivy Bridge workstation.

Attached to his new docking station it was driving a 27" 2560X1440 display, but I could also use the stylus on the Surface instead of a Wacom tablet, which was kind of cool and a lot easier.

Pull it off the dock and clip on a type cover and you have a very light ultrabook which is quite usable for moderate typing loads.

Pull off the cover and its a slightly porky tablet with it's own kickstand. Probably better for movies than games though and quite heavy to walk around with as a slate. But I have a large phone which does most of the stuff I would use a tablet for.

So I could have just one machine that did everything, right? Not quite....

• I have 75,000 photos on 4X 3TB drives (2 inside my desktop and 2 external backups). I would need to put all four drives into a USB3 enclosure which would mean I was accessing all my photographic data over USB3 and not SATA.
• Right now, my i7 workstation is under the desk (on the floor) with the external drives resting on top. It still has 2 spare USB3 ports and another 4 USB2 ones. With the Surface I would need more desk space for the Surface AND the disk enclosure.
• I would also need a port replicator because there is only one USB3 port on the dock (dumb!). Rapidly creating a desk full of cables and devices....
• I have upgraded and run repairs on my workstation several times. The SP however requires shipping to MS and is returned reformatted. Only 1 year limited warranty and extending it to a business service plan is incredibly expensive.
• If I only have one machine I have no backup in the event of theft or failure. For the last 5 years I have had a workstation AND laptop, which means I am never without a working machine in an emergency. Moreover I seldom have anything on my laptop that I would worry about if it went missing, which as it travels a lot is far more likely.

In terms of service and support it seems Apple have a much better infrastructure via the Apple Store where you can just drop off your machine. If Microsoft were serious about this as a business machine they would offer something similar along with biometric security.

So for me, it actually only works as a laptop for travel, in which case it's too expensive, the screen is too small and the keyboard is inadequate.

If anything the Surface 2 is looking quite attractive. It's half the price and half the weight and even if it only runs Office apps in laptop mode (not Photoshop) it makes a much handier tablet.

[Scott Raun]

One of my problems with the Surface Pro 2 is that it's difficult to use as a laptop sitting on my lap. From what I can tell, if you want to use the keyboard, you really need a stable flat surface to set it on. I suspect that using it as a laptop in an airplane seat using the meal tray could be exciting.

[Timprov]

I haven't even looked at the Surface Pro 2 because I have a Surface Pro 1 and it does everything I need. It's kind of the 5Dii of portable computers - it fulfills so many of my needs that I have no need to obsess over gear anymore.

I have no idea why they haven't done better, except the way MS blew the brand with the pointless Surface RT.

[Craig A. Lee]

You asked about the Surface Pro 2. I have the first generation Surface Pro which is nominally very similar. I bought it specifically to have a smaller, more portable Lightroom & Photoshop device than my huge 17", full power laptop. The Surface's screen is a tad small for prolonged use of those applications, but the device is quite capable and has fulfilled my primary needs for it.

Perhaps the biggest issue with it is that both Photoshop and Lightroom are "Desktop" style apps and are not designed for a touch device. However, the desktop UI scaling feature of Windows 8/8.1 as well as the Surface Pro's Wacom based stylus help to offset that issue to a degree.

Ultimately, I have been quite happy with the Surface Pro. There have been occasions when having full Photoshop in such a small, but powerful package was truly a life-saver. If I were in the market for a replacement, I would not hesitate to get the Surface Pro 2. They really are the computers I have been waiting 15 to 20 year to own.

[ctein]

Dear Hugh,

And therein lie the rubs! The 1975 Nikon F2S with f/1.4 lens was pricey even for its day. In current dollars (real inflation, not CPI), it would cost between $5,000 and $6,000. You willing to pay that for a camera? Most people aren't. And weren't. And, the Nikon systems kept physically getting bigger and bigger and bigger; add on any modest number of accessories and you were into medium format weights.

The thing is, what made professional-grade cameras affordable were the innovations in modularization and mass production that Canon and Minolta developed in the late 1970s. They revolutionized camera manufacture and drove the prices onto a deflationary curve. Were it not for that, we'd still be accustomed to mid four-figure prices for good cameras.

De-modularization and reconfigurability cost money. Lots of money. They make the camera less comfortable to use, as the trade-off for versatility.

This isn't some immutable law of nature; perhaps someday someone will figure out how to do this without the disadvantages of price and comfort. So far, no one has, and I am doubtful anyone will.

pax \ Ctein
[ Please excuse any word-salad. MacSpeech in training! ]
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-- Digital Restorations http://photo-repair.com 
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[Janne]

When the original iPad came out I finally rejected it; it was too heavy for me. At 1kg, the MS tablet is heavier and the same weight as my previous laptop. Could I hold it one-handed for a couple of minutes? Sure. Could I do it for half an hour standing on the train? No way.

But there's a larger issue. I now have a Tablet Z, and as a lot of my work happens through a remote connection, I have the needed software and a Microsoft Bluetooth keyboard as well. But in practice I almost never use the tablet for work. There is something indefinably different between working on a laptop and on a tablet, even when I've set them up so they should work the same.

I do different things with the different machines, so I don't need them, or want them, to duplicate their abilities. I want my laptop to be the best possible laptop. I want my tablet to be as thin, light and tablety as human ingenuity can make it. An in-between mix is of no interest to me.

[Sixblockseast]

Sorry but I think your premise that most screens are not touch screens is a bit anachronistic. A whole new generation is growing up using nothing but touchscreens. And the percent of PCs sold with touchscreens is ever increasing. This includes laptops, tabets, all-in-ones, and even external screens. I think Microsoft is ahead of the curve on getting the UI right, though some tweaks are needed. As for the Surface Pro, it is not the only device of its kind, and the competition is increasing. Sony, Dell, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer and others all now offer similar products. But I wouldn't expect an Apple aficionado to necessarily notice that :-)

[Mike Anderson]

"Do-everything devices usually don't do well in the marketplace"

Yes, but sometimes they blow up the marketplace. e.g. smart phones. The ultimate in integration and a commercial bonanza. The previous most supremely integrated product is the programmable computer.

re: phone plans - check out the T-Mobile $30/month unlimited data plan. It's strangely not promoted, almost kept a secret, and not for those that actually talk a lot on the phones, but great for data driven phone users.

[John Camp]

I'm still not convinced by my Surface Pro 2, although I've been working on it since Christmas. But, it's incorrect to think of it primarily as a tablet -- it's primarily a laptop with good tablet functions, but if you want a really good tablet, you probably ought to get an iPad. I have to say, though, that I've read a book on the S2, and the weight (very close to 2 pounds exactly, or a bit more than 900g) didn't bother me -- in fact, it's very close to the weight of the new Stephen King novel, Dr. Sleep. My biggest problem is that I'm simply not used to the touch screen, and as a very long-time mouse user, who is very fussy about his mice, I don't find touch screens that much more useful than a good mouse. Then again, at 2 pounds, it's lighter than my Mac Air, which can't function as a tablet. (And the Mac Air's quite heavy power supply is notably heavier than the S2's) So it's very good for travel...I think there is something in these things, though, and I suspect in ten years, everything will be touch-screen...One really weird thing about the Surface 2. The stylus, which is very effective and eminently loseable, has a magnetic clip on it, that clips it onto a magnetic holder on one edge -- the same magnetic clip used for the charger. So if you want to sit and read for a long time while leaving the S2 plugged in, you have to take off the stylus, which you will then lose. It drives me crazy.

[Dan]

The surface pro 2 could conceivably replace my tablet and laptop - if it was half the weight, and ran macos (not iOS).i have too many apple devices (iPhone, iPad mini, MacBook Pro and big tower hackintosh), but each plays a role. I have thought of ditching the laptop, because the iPad is a very good email device/ web reader, but I then think about writing something really long on the tablet, or trying to edit raw photos on it. I bought the iPad when I already owned the rest of the fleet, because I wanted something I could stick in my camera bag that was more useful than a phone for web browsing and email. Even an ipad air wouldn't fit, but the mini fits just fine. No super sized phone will do for this, because the mini's onscreen keyboard is (barely) big enough to touch type on when it is turned on its side - something with a screen an inch smaller wouldn't be (and something the size of the mini would be an incredibly unwieldy phone - although that may not stop Samsung from trying it). An iPad air would be big enough to touch type on in either orientation, but it is substantially larger and heavier than the mini, and doesn't do anything else better (it isn't better for long documents, nor is it a capable raw file editor). If something the size of an iPad air was actually a capable Mac (not a PC - I will stick to the devil I've known for 30 years since my first Mac 128k) , I might replace both the mini and the MacBook Pro... Better yet, what if it were the size of an iPad air, and then featured a keyboard dock that made it the size of a MacBook Air when attached, but had extra storage. It would have to run real Lightroom ( not necessarily photoshop) and a true word processor with a file system, and be capable of running several applications in different windows, at least when docked. The Surface Pro 2 is getting there, but it is twice the weight of an iPad air, and it runs windows...

[John Krumm]

I don't know why by I'm perfectly fine using Windows 8.1 on a PC and the latest OS on my iMac. Both run the same programs well, both browse the web. I'm totally used to using the tiles on a non touchscreen computer. I have a much harder time switching between camera bodies.

In a way the internet has forced convergence on the manufacturers, making their functional differences increasingly trivial.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

This happens to me all the time; a quick check on Amazon finds Toshiba KIRABook laptops (which seem to be the ones that match the description "13.3" screen, lots of RAM, very fast 256GB SSD (solid state hard disk), 5-6 hour battery life, and multi-core i5 CPUs") costing $1400 and up, not $800-1000.

(In general, I frequently find people posting a description I think I recognize and claiming a price significantly lower than any I can find.)

Maybe I'm just a bad shopper.

[Andre]

One important thing to understand is when convergence isn't the right approach. Microsoft historically seems to have a lot of trouble understanding this. In the past they assumed that users were used to Windows and would want the familiarity and usefulness of Windows in any new device class. This led to a string of devices (tablet PCs, Windows CE/mobile phones) that attempted to impose the user interface of a desktop computer on very different type of device, and those devices ultimately failed to gain traction in the marketplace.

Having been pretty much shut out of the burgeoning tablet and smart phone market, Microsoft then developed an OS designed around a touchscreen interface. Unfortunately, they then attempted to force the touch-centric OS onto desktops and laptops. That didn't work so well (with some analysts claiming that Windows 8 is partially responsible for the world-wide slump in PC sales) and they were forced to release an update that brought back a lot of the desktop-centric user interface features.

At the root of the problem seems to be an inability to understand that different types of devices and user interfaces are good for different things. Converge the parts that make sense (for instance, most of the behind-the-scenes stuff like the underlying hardware and low-level software) but realize that the parts the user interacts with should be optimized towards the strengths of the type of device. So far that's looking like touch-screen interfaces with moderate input precision for "consumption devices" (tablets and phones used for reading, listening, and watching) and keyboard-and-mouse with high input precision for "content creation devices" (computers used for large amounts of input, programming, graphic design, etc). Either type of device can "pinch hit" in the opposite capacity to some extent, but really isn't good at it on a regular basis.

BTW, this isn't meant to be a Microsoft bashing post. They're really very good at some things. Figuring out what's going to work and be accepted by users for new classes of devices, however, usually hasn't been one of them.

[Roy]

Re: Surface Pro 2.
I have the 128 version. And I wish I hadn't. Anyone contemplating buying this device should instead buy a decent notebook plus an inexpensive tablet. It'll cost about the same. The Surface is no substitute for a notebook or a tablet (much too heavy for the latter).

After the disaster of the "RT" release version (which is being dumped at huge loss) you'd hope that MS could get the "2" right. They haven't. Check the MS forums for this device. It's a complete mess where firmware, battery life and updates are concerned with near silence from Microsoft about the lockups, looping updates, broken "updater repair tools" and appalling battery life.

Speaking of which, MS, emulating the dread Apple in so many ways, are now selling a device which cannot have its battery replaced when the performance has declined beyond the point of usability. So, after about two years (an extremely optimistic estimate on currently available information) you need to throw away a nearly £1000 device or confine it to mains power.

There are many, many, other problems with the combination of the SP2 and Win 8.1. I overshot the 21 day return period whilst waiting optimistically for the firmware fixes. I really wanted to like this device.

My advice is to buy something else.

Roy

[Craig Arnold]

I love the Surface Pro2, but it's as expensive as a full-blown laptop, and in general I don't use tablets for work, just media consumption. So I haven't got one yet.

Windows 8 touch-screen laptops are awesome though. Completely usable by anyone from age 4 upwards. And W8 is perfectly good with mouse and keyboard too. By far the most usable, fast and intuitive OS I've ever used - and in my IT department the geeks just love it.

Many of the users are baffled by it, but they are baffled by iPhones too. So there you go.

I hate touchpads, always have, and frankly find Mac OSX to be something of an abomination. I have to use quite a lot and find it constantly annoying.