Apps - An interesting comparision

[kristalsoldier]

How does the so-called app situation compare between the major Phone and Tablet OSs...

See here: Top 100 Apps Availability on iOS, Android, Windows Phone & Windows 8 - Evangelism - Infragistics.com Blog

 

[oion]

Except. Remove all the "website clone" apps where the website actually works in IE10/IE11 and try that list again.

Having to maintain dozens of individually programmed, installed, updated apps is completely inefficient when you can have a synced favorites list.

Oh yes yes, the touch-friendly aspect. I don't even find that a big deal. Zoom click, touchpad hover.

Edit to add: THAT IS AN OLD LIST. August. I mean, Facebook. Come on.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Yup... old list. And, I agree about the app culture where app means a replacement of a website. I prefer to think of app in the classical sense, that is as an application or as some (me included) would refer to as 'programs'.

 

[oion]

Yup... old list. And, I agree about the app culture where app means a replacement of a website. I prefer to think of app in the classical sense, that is as an application or as some (me included) would refer to as 'programs'.

Indeed, I refuse to call things like Photoshop or even a full web browser "apps." They're the full-bodied "applications," same with MS Office on Windows RT. "App" to me, thanks to the iOS/Android app culture, means "a simple arcade-style game or neutered representation of a web service."

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Except. Remove all the "website clone" apps where the website actually works in IE10/IE11 and try that list again.

Having to maintain dozens of individually programmed, installed, updated apps is completely inefficient when you can have a synced favorites list.

Oh yes yes, the touch-friendly aspect. I don't even find that a big deal. Zoom click, touchpad hover.

Edit to add: THAT IS AN OLD LIST. August. I mean, Facebook. Come on.

Website clone apps are useful. Not a requirement, but to claim that a tab in ie11 is equal to an app is to fail to see the benefits of the website app in the first place. Switching between tabs in ie11 is different than switching between apps. That makes switching between them all inconsistent and cumbersome. MS needs to allow the launching of live tile shortcuts to launch in separate instances of ie11. That would be incredibly useful.

Another reason for website apps is to customize the experience for the device it is being viewed on. Sometimes I prefer the full desktop version of a site, but others times a custom subset of features optimized for a touch interface are preferable.

Edit: upon further inspection, that list is deliberately skewed toward website apps and conveniently ignores productivity apps. Fanboys will be fanboys.

 

[macmee]

I don't think I want any apps on that list ever.

 

[oion]

Website clone apps are useful. Not a requirement, but to claim that a tab in ie11 is equal to an app is to fail to see the benefits of the website app in the first place. Switching between tabs in ie11 is different than switching between apps. That makes switching between them all inconsistent and cumbersome. MS needs to allow the launching of live tile shortcuts to launch in separate instances of ie11. That would be incredibly useful.

Another reason for website apps is to customize the experience for the device it is being viewed on. Sometimes I prefer the full desktop version of a site, but others times a custom subset of features optimized for a touch interface are preferable.

Edit: upon further inspection, that list is deliberately skewed toward website apps and conveniently ignores productivity apps. Fanboys will be fanboys.

Exactly, it's skewed by first glance. And being useful or not is missing the point (I don't find tab switching at all cumbersome, but clearly that's just me).

Consider the entire premise in the title: "iOS, Android, Windows Phone & Windows 8"

Why the ever living heck would you compare a walled-garden app store against the behemoth desktop OS with millions of actual desktop software? That alone already discredits Nick Landry, especially since he goes the extra step of using bright red negative "danger no-no" color. Stick with Windows 8 Phone and he might actually have something there.

Then Surface gets confusedly tossed into the mix: Check out the first comment on that post.

Brian Noyes
on Thu, Aug 8 2013 4:37 PM

Here are a few missing from your list that are big blockers for me from dropping my iOS devices in favor of my Surface or for getting a Windows Phone:

GMail

Words with Friends

Xfinity Play / Connect

TripIt

He's subsequently set straight in comments like that of Kevin Nasello, but Gmail? Really?

My biggest problem with (web) app thinking in terms of the Surface is that it's extremely rigid, compartmentalized, and short-sighted. The only time an app is "needed" is when a website is incompatible with IE11. Everything else is gravy. Actual productivity apps like... the chemistry equations calculator thing that other guy made--much more interesting. The problem with "needing" more and more discrete, individually updated apps is that that also introduces a whole other kind of mess; what, do apps people want to move away from Web browsers entirely? See, that's just not feasible in the long term.

(Huh, Xfinitytv.comcast.net is streaming fine in IE11. I didn't even realize I had access, woot. Had to disable my Tracking Prot Lists, though.)

 

[kristalsoldier]

We can't tear away tabs in IE11 on the Surface can we? At least I don't know how to do it. If we could, that would be very good and helpful.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

We can't tear away tabs in IE11 on the Surface can we? At least I don't know how to do it. If we could, that would be very good and helpful.

No we can't, and yes that would be very helpful. A tab in IE11 is a helpful work-around but not the preferred solution for the reasons I stated above. But a few simple tweaks to IE11 could really go a long way.

I'm concerned that the "good enough" mentality will prevent a "good" solution from appearing.

 

[oion]

We can't tear away tabs in IE11 on the Surface can we? At least I don't know how to do it. If we could, that would be very good and helpful.

Do you mean open a tab or move a tab into its own window? Because you can do that in both Metro and desktop versions of IE11 (not sure about IE10 in Windows 8.0). If you do that in Metro, the new window is automatically snapped; the interface method is a bit weird, though.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Do you mean open a tab or move a tab into its own window? Because you can do that in both Metro and desktop versions of IE11 (not sure about IE10 in Windows 8.0). If you do that in Metro, the new window is automatically snapped; the interface method is a bit weird, though.

How do you open a tab and move it into its own window in IE11?

Edit: OK. I see what you mean. Press down on an open tab and choose from the options! I did not notice that till right now. This is very good and makes things very convenient. Thanks.

 

[oion]

How do you open a tab and move it into its own window in IE11?

Edit: OK. I see what you mean. Press down on an open tab and choose from the options! I did not notice that till right now. This is very good and makes things very convenient. Thanks.

Yep, though of course the Metro snap view is limited to 2 windows, and if you have more than two tabs open in Metro IE, the tab list is duplicated and closing one tab might close the window if you're not careful (I don't normally use Metro IE this way so I haven't figured out all its funky tricks). Pulling a tab on desktop IE is pretty self-explanatory, at least, and you can use the taskbar long-press trick ("Show windows side by side") to make two or more windows appear perfectly snapped.