“Now that Google’s Chrome browser has hit the App Store, there’s renewed consternation in geek circles over iOS’ inability to set something other than Safari as the default web browser.,” Rene Ritchie writes for iMore. “And when/if Google Maps for iOS comes to the App Store, no doubt many geeks will complain about the inability to set it, rather than Apple’s iOS 6 Maps, as the default location handler.”
“We geeks don’t just want to use things, we want to control how we use them. We want to be able to tap web links, or email addresses, or location markers, and have them open in something other that Safari or Mail or Maps,” Ritchie writes. “We want to launch Siri and have its natural language interface populate texts and make appointments and place calls in something other than Messages, Calendar, and Phone.”
Ritchie writes, “But here’s the thing — iOS isn’t now, nor has it ever been, made or meant for us geeks. And we knew this from the start.”
Read more in the full article here.
iOS isn’t meant for Ritchie… Ritchie doesn’t like good software!
I could not agree any more correctu, Ritchie just does not get it.
Google’s only interest in a browser, email, android, social network, Internet docs etc is no more than a shame to sell its users down a river. Use their products at your own peril. Someday the data collected will be used in a way you may not like. Not just for law inforcement but perhaps to check you out before hiring you or promoting you. You see the sins of your youth are expunged when you turn 18 in the good old USA. However google will sell you out your whole life and share info with people you may not want to share your most private info with. In short if you use their products you are kidding yourself. You are going to say I’m paranoid but clearly I’m not. The federal government is already using this info as are many companies to market shit to you. They already know what you like and dislike, they already share your good habits and your bad habits with the highest bidder. You are lamb eating, pooping and growing the wool they shear off you back and sell. You see the secret at google is not search it’s spy.. And spy on you is what they do. Then they offer to share your personal info with those that would sell you there crap. Even when you opt out and set your browser to not track these fuckers go around it. They suck, they will get worse you will see political candidates brought down who work against google. They own the guy you send to congress if they don’t now they will soon. Apple using their browser, their mail, their maps etc will protect your identification. Using google will not its that simple. So go ahead and download their shit grow a nice bushy coat for them to shear. Think I’m wrong that I’m off base just wait. For me and mine I choose to not enable their bad behavior.
F Google, F Samdung.
‘ Someday the data collected will be used in a way you may not like.’
Exactly! I’ve been getting 30 to 40 penis enlargement ads daily for a month now.
are the ads paying off? 😛
Is there a search engine that you recommend for users who want to protect their privacy?
Use safari turn on privacy. If google stopped playing games now that they have been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. You should be fine. Search engine I use Siri mostly and in ios6 I understand this will be doing to my iPad too. Most likely to my Macs as well. The ads serve a purpose and if clicked on should ask for info not sneak in and grab the info themselves just because you went to a page. Including this one we are on right now. Download collusion plugin for Firefox or safari and surf around a bit you will see how bad it really is. Everyone I have shown this to is pretty ticked off by the results.
Actually, the man is correct. Some geeks will no doubt figure out ways to fiddle with iOS, but the fact remains that iOS is squarely aimed at the unwashed masses. I don’t mind as long as Apple doesn’t try to turn the Mac into a glorified iPad.
Software is changeable and methods can improve. The slowest link in the chain is the user who habituates on the first thing they learn and the quick minds accept changes more easily.
Many will resist the changes and for them the world has WinXP.
Hey, I just took a shower!
Sorry, omalansky… we are way past the point of no return straight on the route to an ALL iPAD ALL THE TIME future. Steve declared Apple a “mobile device company” long ago and started the countdown to a future without real computers “for the rest of us”. Sad but true. Sorry.
They will find what they ate looking for in the jailbreak community. Wow non issue.
“We want to be able to tap web links, or email addresses, or location markers, and have them open in something other that Safari or Mail or Maps”
… what is that “something” he’s talking about?
“We want to launch Siri and have its natural language interface populate texts and make appointments and place calls in something other than Messages, Calendar, and Phone.”
Again, what is this something he’s talking about?
Seems like an article complaining about nothing in my opinion.
Other apps suck as Informant for appointments and contacts or something else besides the built in apps that Apple provides. My only gripe with IOS is that the interoperability is still, obviously by choice, way behind what you you could do with the Palm Pilot.
It’s a trade off. But it’s still a thorn as far as productivity goes. Yes, the iPhone/iPod/iPad are small Macs but they have a ways to go before they’re as useful to power users. I wouldn’t trade IOS for any other mobile OS but I would like a bit more…
Only a blind Apple fanboy will make such a rash interpretation of a completely inoffensive opinion piece…
“Again, what is this something he’s talking about?”
Uhh…. any third party app? Apple has been taking their closed garden system (which by itself shouldn’t be interpreted negatively, by the way) to ridiculous levels with their selective-partnering will certain apps to integrate with Siri.
Windows Phone 8 is going to do exactly what Apple should be doing on this front.
Just jailbreak and download browser changer. Problem solved.
Great point! It appears that he likes to whine over non-issues yet won’t dare take that first step into deep end of the pool and discover all the fun and adventure that awaits (or lurks) there.
So he’s not a geek then, just a wannabe.
Since when does a geek bother with what comes with a device? If they’re clever enough, they’ll hack it. But this bloke complains that Apple doesn’t give him a tinkerer’s paradise on a plate.
I’ll swear… logic and irony are endangered species.
exactly.
And no, he’s not a geek…
A geek would know better. He’s one of them end users that “thinks” he is a geek.
Worse than hackers somedays.
iOS simply works. Nothing else matters. Yes, I once had an android device, the legendary G1, pure crap. How fast I switched to the iPhone and never looked back. I’ve got 30 people in my company. Guess what phone everybody has.
Any ‘geek’ would KNOW to jailbreak if they want to replace safari as the default with something crappier
Does Android allow you to change default search from Google? NO
Does Android allow you to change default maps from Google? NO
Android is “Open”….. Suuuurrrrreeee
good point.
Why masturbate when you have a good partner?… If jail baiting floats your boat, though- go for it.
“Why masturbate when you have a good partner?”
Uh, that time of the month?
😉
Why would anyone want a slower browser? http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/06/chrome-for-ios-review-syncing-is-great-but-still-just-a-webkit-wrapper/
Heavens to Betsy no, never deny the true Geek his choice of uber user adjustable crapware. That level of Geekhood is truly egomaniacal thinking they know best. Some of us have a life and know that Apple has done most of the heavy lifting already for us. I use all of my Apple products a LOT but I don’t obsess over minute differences or worry about whether some Android functionality will come to an Apple device. It always does and better implemented. Looking forward to what I think will be a quantum leap in the iPhone 5 (So sorry Bleakberry 10!!)
It’s a Unix based computer that fits in your pocket, can run any software out of the box written with web technology, and run any code you want if you gain root access to it (jailbreaking). Tell me again how it’s not for geeks?
Remember OS9? Remember the transition to OS 10 and all the bitching and complaining? Well, OS10 put Apple on the map ‘big time’ and turned it into the undisputed leader of the new tech millennium. iOS is to OS 10 what takes it to the next level of ubiquity.
“iOS powers mainstream devices made compelling enough that geeks want them as well.”
There are two kinds of people. 1. Geeks. 2. The other 99% who phone us 24 hours a day for advice every time they need to touch the scren. I have told all my friends to go away because they constantly want me to do difficult geeky things like touching their iPad screen for them. People are mindless idiots who should not own complex objects like the iPad.
If you want to tweak iOS, jailbreak it.
Next problem?
Here are the tweaks I want.
No limit of folder items
Choice of quitting an app to background or close
Search that tells me where items are, no I don’t want open the item
Send more than one file to other app, without forcing me to go to that app
Etc……..
I would just like to say I don’t believe Richie is complaining about ios in this article. Ritchie is an avid iPhone/iPad and MacBook Air user himself.
I just think he is trying to say that geeks are complaining about this or that in ios and they always will but the iPhone wasn’t intended for the geeks. Even still, there are geeks who love the iPhone, he being one of them.
Ritchie is also a writer for imore.com, an Apple centric website.
iOS is built for your hairdresser, your grocery checker, and your plumber. You can do geek things to it if you’re so inclined, but that isn’t the goal. And if you do geek things outside of Apple’s walled garden, you lose your claim to the warranty. Apple’s warranty is based on you using the thing the way they designed it. It really isn’t that complicated.
Too many stupid comments on here, the author doesn’t deserve.
He is spot on. iOS was not designed for “geeks”. It was not designed to be jail broken. It’s out of warranty if you do.
That doesn’t stop someone doing it and gaining the options/fiddle factor they want but it wasnt designed for that.
MDN comments can be funny and/or informative but most on this article are neither.
Actually it’s quite depressing.
Why does he keep saying “we”??? He certainly doesn’t speak for me.
Hey, anyone else having trouble signing in to their MobileMe account….?
Doh!
OMG! I had the solution to the Universal Field Theory on my iDisk, and now it’s GONE! 😯
Apple announced long ago, and has been sending timely reminders, that MobileMe is discontinued as of June 30th. iCloud replaces MobileMe, as far as Apple is concerned.
I believe Jax44 and Derek got the gist…..
Thanks anyhow.
Where’s my UNIX shell for IOS?
I want line command for my iPhone!!!
IOS doesn’t play in a windows world, to many think mobile is the same and it’s not.
Chrome is still web-kit, same as Safari, and without the nitro js engine it’s nothing but a skin on Safari without the speed.
Even test prove Safari still beats Chrome on IOS, so what’s the use of a complaint that you can’t change default browser’s, As others have said, no tablet as yet offers that ability, not Google, Asus, Samsung not one….
Oh wait, The great open Android doesn’t offer geeks an option to change it either (above).
It’s getting down right hypocritical, no tablet IOS or Android offers that option to change the default Broswer.
It’s just a hyped up write up to get page clicks for imore, and shows how petty he is, anyone with a blog or a means can spin a story to make a buck, even if it’s bullshit with no facts.
How about those so called geeks outrage at Android for not offering that option, isn’t the selling point from Google and Android diehards that “Android is Open – it’s free and designed for Geeks and tinkerers”. Umhum…
Okay then please answer where is the option to change the default Broswer then on Android? It’s not anywhere that’s why.
So why all the shit Rene.
This bonehead was on Mac Break weekly this last week with Leo Lapourte and his thinking is screwed up, I guess he thinks since he was on Mac Break he can now spout off bullshit and get away with it.
Well Rene Richie that’s real easy to answer. NOPE!
Hell I never heard of this guy until he was on Mac Break last week and he didn’t make a good first impression.
Have to say that Ken Ray form Mac OS Ken was the reason I watched Mac Break at least he has a level head and a good sense of humor with allot of intelligent thinking.
Great. Another loser analyst.
We all get spam it’s a fact of a public email system that we have. One day soon the industry will shift into a secure and validated system of email and we will be rid of that parasite but for now it’s part of life. What isn’t part of life is, instead of the scum bag spammers writing viruses to steal our address books google is doing it for them and many of you are letting them.
It looks like the bad guys have a friend and that friend knows what you like to eat, where you like to poop, what you like to view on the Internet. What a friend you have in google. As far as penis enlargements man the water is cold.
You guys just are not geeky enough.