Apple vs. Google Voice II.

Quick update, inspired by a CNN rant:

Anyone remembers the "browser war" era? For those who don't, Microsoft began dominating the internet browser landscape when they added IE to Windows 98, and by keeping all version of Internet Explorer free for Windows users.

Since IE was generally regarded inferior to many other browsers, plus because nobody likes the big steamrolling corporations, Microsoft was branded as "evil" (though my personal conclusion at the time was that 98% of the people claiming to hate MS had no technical insight to make such claims).

Let me get this in bold. MS is/was bashed for including a browser in their OS by default. Even the EU decided that was an unfair move, demanding a version of Windows to be released w/o Media Player and Internet Explorer over here.

What Microsoft never did was banning browsers (and for that matter, media players, e-mail clients, text editors, etc.) from Windows. Even if their solution was always there, included for free, their platform was opened for third party companies to develop and introduce whatever applications they wanted to.

With the iPhone, Apple took the next step Microsoft never dared to do: lock out competition by claiming they've already provided software that does the same as Google's Latitude and Voice.

Which they didn't, as - technically - both applications are way more advanced. Latitude ties in with Maps, features a rich social networking possibility, and is a great way to share your whereabouts with anyone, regardless of the OS and platform they use. Voice is much more than another phone call application, as I've described below, it allows users to handle multiple phones by providing a unified call number and advanced call forwarding settings, and ports your voice mail and contact list to the online cloud, making both available from anywhere.

Apple does not come close to matching the raw usefulness of these applications. Your default iPhone software can make calls, and can show your location.

As long as Safari does not beat Firefox as a browser, and it doesn't, Firefox too should be allowed on your iPhone. Why? Because it's better. It is there? Yes.

As long as a Mac's text editor does not beat Microsoft Word (and Excel, and PowerPoint, and Outlook), MS Office should be allowed on Macs. Why? Because it's better. Is it there? Yes.

As long as your options are inferior, you need to allow third parties to offer better solutions. Otherwise people will not invest in your platform, however shiny it looks, if it cannot also perform - not twice. A smart phone is a tool, first and foremost.

Google solutions are a generation ahead of Apple. They are connecting the dots right now Apple is still painting one by one only. Banning them from the iPhone will only achieve one thing - decrease the usability of the tool. (Not a smart thing to do when every other competitor already offers cheaper solutions.)

Microsoft was branded evil a decade ago for offering inferior, but free alternatives. Apple too is offering inferior, but free alternatives, but as that apparently is not evil anymore, they also began directly banning competition from their platform.

They have lost such a fight against Microsoft in 1997, with Office. Is 2009 really the time to pick one against Google?

Apple vs. Google Voice

What I really don't get is why Apple thinks they can just defeat Google Voice like it never happened.

I get some of the of things that are troubling about Google Voice; the same problem keeps popping up with Skype, or any other software ported from the PC you can use to chat. Talks done using these apps show up as data only, instead of precious 'call' minutes, on your bill. That is cheaper, so phone companies get less money, which sounds bad, right?

Well, technically they're the exact same thing (no real difference, both manifest as digital data packets in the cell phone data stream), but you tend to spend a lot more money as long as they call it a 'call' - shame on you, btw, for allowing such nonsense overcharge to go on for so long.

Companies circumvented this by allowing applications like Skype to function over a WiFi network only. The argument is that calls on Skype take 3G bandwidth that should go to calls on phones. (Again: both are the same digital data packets... it's like arguing you should buy apples from Verizon only, because apples from trees are bad.)

But that got countered with the MiFi now. It's this wonderful device which your phones detect (and connect to) as a WiFi router (which it is), and which, in turn, connects to the internet via 3G - so suddenly Skype works on your iPhone as originally intended, using your 3G connection.

Neat, huh? But this was not the reason why Google Voice was removed from iPhones.

The problem is, Google Voice managed to pull something call service providers and cell phone manifacturers never did: portability.

With Voice, you actually don't need to move contact numbers between your old phone and your new one, your office phone and your home one; and you also circumvent the call forwarding hell. Voice offers an online (read: synced) contact list, and allows settings up which calls should ring on which phone...

...which alone would be a game breaking solution. But there's more. Voicemail is stored online as well - lose your phone, quit your provider, do whatever to mess with your voicemail, it's still available online (along with all those precious contact numbers). All you need is an internet connection and a browser to check them.

Seriously. They even do transcripts of the received messages. You can _read_ your voicemail online, which is a lot more faster than just waiting for your sister to finally get to the point. I guess it's also an invaluable help for people with hearing problems, as it's getting all-too-common to be contacted on the phone these days. But yeah, Apple's right, screw them! Or, wait...

These are real, vital features everyone who ever became a sitting duck because of a lost / drained cell phone will surely appreciate. Seriously, imagine all your phone numbers disappearing because your iPhone burst into flames (they do that). Voice helps you prevent that (not the burning though). It also filters your ex to voice mail. And your clients will reach you on whichever phone you decide to allow them to ring, as long as you give them your Google Voice number. It can even ring you on all your phones, including land lines.

Which is a problem, I guess, when one of those phones ringing is not your AT&T-powered iPhone. For some, at least.

But instead, what Apple claims to be the problem are similar functions, and the lack of assurance customer data will be in good hands. To quote the SNL folks: Oh, really?

Shared, synced contact list, the ability to effectively handle multiple phones, the ability to create customized call forwarding / voice mail rules on a case-by-case basis, voice mail messages and their transcriptions available online? Exactly which iPhone button does that?

Also, Voice requires an existing Google profile, and a sign-up for the service. Where exactly are the data concerns here, when you've already provided those personal details for your GMail account already? (Or iGoogle, or Blogger, or...) Why weren't they concerned about your Skype account when they allowed that (which also needs pretty much the same data during registration)? Or your Facebook profile?

The short answer is, Apple is feeding the FCC bullsh.t about the reasons for the rejection; and the only viable reason I can come up with is that they're trying to kill Google Voice by not allowing it to reach critical mass (which is when even your grandparents start using it, because it's so popular).

But for portability, Google Voice is clearly the best answer, unmatched by anything Apple or AT&T can provide, simply because it is not restrained. Which brings me back to my very first line: I really don't get why Apple thinks they can just defeat Google Voice like it never happened.

Especially since it's been on for a while now - hell, even I'm invited, and I live in Hungary, where it's absolutely unavailable.

Homework: spam Apple demanding Voice on your iPhone now. And if you don't have one - well, I can't honestly recommend buying simply because of this. Any other phone will be a lot more painless to use, as long as they allow these features.

Welcome to the 21st century, where we no longer memorize phone numbers, but it's not an issue, as only Apple customers lose them when their phone goes south.

Croatia - Dubrovnik, revisited

We've revisited Dubrovnik yesterday, and I've snatched a number of photos off various cameras to share here; more to come about our actual place of residence, Cavtat, and our various exploits done in its general area. Right now, quick photos of our trip to Dubrovnik!

Pictures are courtesy of Évi and Javier.

Quick warm-up, also testing Picasa: this is the harbor, which is also the "main street," of Cavtat. I've spent the better part of Thursday looking at it, and just could not get bored - think it's obvious why.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

En route to Dubrovnik; we took the boat ride, which turned out to be extremely scenic. The coastline looks fantastic: on one side, small white houses with red rooftops along the bottom of the hills, and the endless blue of the sky and the Mediterranian on the other.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

And this would be how the way back from Dubrovnik looks. Magnificent. (And we actually took it in at night, with all the lights on - Dubrovnik looked like a jewel. Unfortunately, none of us had the photo equipment to deal with the rocking boat; maybe another time.)

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

View of Dubrovnik, from the walls of the Old Town. It actually looked even better at night - as hard as it is to believe.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

And this is how the Old Town looks from those walls. The tour on these walls take a lot of time, with all the climbing and getting stunned by how great things look from up there.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

The second you take a turn to the left or the right from the main street, you find yourself in one of these alleys. Some host pubs and restaurants, others just look great.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

As much as I hate posting pictures of me on the web, this one looked as a fine exception to the general rule.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

And since I'm on the roll, here's all of us - thanks, everyone, for that most pleasant day.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

Last but one: probably the best picture we've managed to take of the Adriatic. I still need to find the words that can, one day, do the honor of describing her.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

And well, I've saved the best for last. I totally stole this one, but it's such a fantastic one when you put it in context: this picture of Javier was taken a day before, in the very evening he proposed to Évi.

From Dubrovnik, 2009.08

That's all for tonight - stay tuned for more, we're still on vacation!

Croatia - En route to Dubrovnik

It only took 13 hours afterall.

No idea how we managed to keep ourselves awake. I remember snapshots, but they are fading rapidly.

We've started the trip at 20:00 from Debrecen, and have reached Balaton suprisingly fast. (Back in June, the trip seemed to take an entire day; now it was just a matter of hours passing by.) Kinda blurry past that point; we got through customs rightaway, spent what seems to be an eternity in retrospect going around Zagreb (hope I got the name right), and I remember there were tunnels after tunnels past that point.

We stopped at some gas station at dawn, and that was actually the first time I realized we were someplace different. Every tree was small, the soil was reddish-brown dust, and white rocks with rust-like shades were everywhere - suprising change of scenery, when the last "outdoors" thing you remember is the lush green of the Plains.

From then on, the trip was actually interesting (especially with all the sneaky "succumbing to dreaming out of the blue" thing I had going on - let me get this on record, sleeping is serious business, and just flirting with it between two bumps on the road is just not what a decent guy like yours truly should do). We got to an artificial-looking lake in between some mountains (need to look it up, the agriculture in that area looked really neat and well organized), managed to get to the seaside by around 7 or 8 AM, and the blue of the sea woke us up again, and then...

Well, then I realized I was looking at a spot between the hills where the water actually met the horizon.

It was looking at the Mediterranien. I don't actually have words which could describe the magnitude of that. It was such a definitive moment, my heart literally skipped a beat. Seriously. It felt weird inside and I didn't even care. Could not stop staring at it.

Some minutes later it drove me to the conclusion that any man attempting to rule the entire world is a fool trapped by graspable concepts like state borders. It takes madness to ignore the magnitude of the sea. It cannot be ruled. With land, it's different, there's the illusion of the next hill, the next field...

...with the ocean, it's just waves, which are temporary, and blue meeting blue on the horizon. And that is infinite. Can never go there. Can never conquer.

(I haven't slept for 34 hours at that point, so that might explain the thought. And I just had to get it out of my system, which definitely explains this rant.)

Dubrovnik was a disappointment, though we kinda only passed by (that bridge is great, mind you). Will go back and check the old town sometime soon; but anywhere else, it's just a city that's hyped for no apparent reason. Also, restaurants and apartmants are a lot more expensive than here, 20 kilometers to the south, in Cavtat.

Which is where we've at last found some place to stay. For the record - most of the accomodations are taken. The place is stuffed in August. And for a town apparently living off tourism, having only one place offered is kinda ...discouraging.

But it's a small town, with a huge rocky beach, loads of fancy (and superexpensive) restaurants, nice boats going by, and airplanes(!), many wonderful sights, and a general sense of quiet.

Which is absolutely perfect for a moonkin on vacation.

Oh, and there's also this 701 meters tall mountain which I totally want to climb. The view from up there must be wild.