AMITIAE - Sunday 26 May 2013
Cassandra - Weekend Review |
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By Graham K. Rogers
Opening GambitSteve Jobs did give to charity after all, but just kept it quiet: no apology from NYTimes. More on taxes and Apple: comments from Irish government and US tax expert. Consensus: fix the laws, not Apple; stop grand-standing. Google, Yahoo, Cisco, and others play tax games in the Cayman Islands, Caribbean and Switzerland: no anger from Levin on this? Apple rumours: iOS 7 interface changes; iWatch; OS X update. Microsoft lies in tablet advertising. Pixar management tips.
Apple StuffThere seems to have been enough news worthy enough to shake me out of my somnambulance - that is what a good vacation does for me - and comment on some of the sillier stories currently going around that are related to Apple
In his item, Sorkin is alternately critical and fawning on Jobs - reminding me of the recent televised hearing of the Senate sub-committee that is after Apple for tax - but behind the criticisms of Jobs, lie criticisms concerning Apple's cash reserves, is more in the line of, He has all that money, he should DO something. Apparently he was. Despite the NYTimes previous criticisms of Steve Jobs, the title and main thrust of the article by Clair Cain Miller is on the work of Jobs' widow, and Jobs' himself has a half-sentence reference that, sort of infers that, perhaps he was giving to charity as well. A final quote on the charitable work of Laurene Powell Jobs' and the Emerson Collective, comes from one of the venture funds Ms Jobs is involved in: "the fact that they've not needed to splash their name around speaks quite highly to their intense focus on the work." Isn't the question about doing good because you want to, rather than doing good to gain publicity or because of the tax credits.
When Cook was unable to reply further, Levin went on the attack again, missing out what the evidence presented had told him: he had preconceived ideas and conclusions that nothing - not even the truth - were going to sway him from. During the hearing Rand Paul was highly critical of the way the Committee had decided to use Apple as a whipping boy (although Cook and Co. had volunteered to appear) and after, commentators such as Rush Limbaugh also made angry comments about the two main speakers on the Committee: Levin and McCain. It is not often that I agree with such right wing personalities as Paul and Limbaugh. They - and the Committee stars, and the witnesses - all agreed that Apple had used the laws (so the use of morals as a stick to beat Cupertino with was even more disingenuous) and what was needed was a change in the laws. Note also that some of the laws had been changed as far back as in the Kennedy era, but the law-makers themselves had diluted the provisions passed in regulation changes since. And they had the gall to criticise Apple?
Also, as I predicted in those articles, the changes wanted will affect ALL corporations - even News International and the Koch Brothers. In the meantime, Electronista reports that now "Google, Yahoo, Cisco, and others have been found to be using an assortment of tax loopholes and off-shoring" to keep their tax bills lower. It would seem that the comments in Apple's statements to the Committe about Cayman Islands or Caribbean accounts were more pointed than were realised. Why am I not surprised: and once more, where is the outrage especially from Senators Levin and McCain, the Grand-Standers in Chief? I also almost liked an article by a writer on tax matters, Howard Gleckman of the Tax Policy Center, which is part of the Brookings Institution - a well-known centrist US think-tank. He expresses no surprise at the situation: "Apple cut its taxes with the same tools multinationals have been using for years to minimize their worldwide tax liability." He helpfully explains the tools used, especially deferral, transfer pricing, and check-the-box. And then he spoils it at the end with the cheap comment on hiring software experts instead of tax lawyers as "It might win back some of the market share it has been losing to Android in recent years." Stick to what you know, not what you read in Bloomberg.
In addition, supporting some of the comments above, is news from The Fairer Platform, concerning the latest build of 10.8.4, the next update to OS X, Mountain Lion. As well as mention of the new WiFi standard, there are several other interesting additions [My source for this was MacDaily News.]
There are several ways this could go, but an approach in which all apps look pretty much the same is unlikely to be Ive's way. While there are certain design parameters, variety is also a keynote of design, although the controversial Contacts and Calendars interfaces are almost certain to have some of the new treatment. We must wait for WWDC. While it was expected, several sources, such as Federico Viticci on MacStories, report Apple confirmed that the Keynote speech will be on 10 June, which is a Monday. I agree that Tim Cook will open the conference, but the next speaker will probably be Phil Schiller. Who makes the pitch for iOS 7 and OS X is a guess, although Craig Federighi was on stage last year for OS X and did a good job, although Rene Ritchie on iMore favours Eddy Cue for an appearance too. Ritchie wonders about Jony Ive taking the stage, but I think neither he nor Bob Mansfield will appear on stage, though I expect Apple will run videos with these two commenting.
Building on the reports of the interface changes, Daniel Eran Dilger writes a fairly lengthy commentary on changes that are needed to the interface. He does note that four attempts by others to improve their interfaces met with comparative disasters - Microsoft, Palm, Nokia and Blackberry - adding that Android is so diverse there seem to be several different platforms.
Half and HalfI put this out as a separate item on Sunday morning, when an item by Elliot Temple on Microsoft advertising dishonesty caught my eye.I wrote a few days ago about some questionable use of what is called "photoshopping" of images, but for dishonesty in advertising you may not even need to go that far according to an article by Elliot Temple on his Curi blog. He examines a comparison that Microsoft made that showed the iPad was smaller that the ASUS VivoTac Smart with a diagonal measurement of 9.7" compared to 10.1". There is more to this than meets the eye and Temple shows that the screen area is actually larger on the iPad.
Other MattersThere was a recent interview with Ed Catmull, the president of Pixar conducted by Martin Giles from the Economist. Scott Berkun has been sifting through some of the transcript he made from the video and has come up with some useful quotes. I particularly liked
The notion that you're trying to control the process and prevent error screws things up. We all know the saying it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And everyone knows that, but I think there is a corollary: if everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up. It's better to fix problems than to prevent them. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and over plan things. This should be over every bureaucrat's desk, especially the part, "if everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up". That is why often nothing gets done here.
Graham K. Rogers teaches at the Faculty of Engineering, Mahidol University in Thailand where he is also Assistant Dean. He wrote in the Bangkok Post, Database supplement on IT subjects. For the last seven years of Database he wrote a column on Apple and Macs. |
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