Okay, this is sort of appalling. Apple should have the iPhone already logging every dropped call, every slowdown, and geotagging the data for anonymized upload. I sort of assumed this was going on already, but apparently not.

Just require unreviewed apps to put their profits into escrow for half a year or so. If they violate terms, they forfeit it all. But, of course, that actually requires clear guidelines versus the nonsense they have now.

Which is why I would go with an SSD/Green drive combo. Despite the MacMiniLoco people using them en masse, realistically as a home server the power consumption won't change too much for a single device.

Of course I think the MacMiniLoco people are a bit crazy too - It is a shame that Apple won't make a blade version of the xServe.

I still think I'd take a slightly larger Mini for it to use 3.5" drives. Instead of dual 500gb drives, you could easily stick in an SSD for system and some eco 1.5tb drive for a real home server (or even dual 2TBs). The 2.5" drive just adds to the expense.

Also eSATA should come to macs already.

I'll probably buy one, anyone who has to write real emails - like business or legal emails or technical ones - will want one just to be able to spell out terms that aren't in the dictionary. And the touch keyboard sucks after about a paragraph or two.

Of course it could have been done a lot better - it is ugly, it could have incorporated a battery in it, and a keyboard that slides down and out of the way when you need access to the screen. But it is a start.

"In contrast, consider in how many ways the Mac's successful history drags the platform down. A commitment to existing APIs and historical design practices show up in nearly every Mac development project."

Legacy APIs and precedent is the price of success. You don't just throw it all away just because some of it is less the elegant. You are basically advocating a transition that is more ambitious than the OS 9 to X transition.

"With the iPhone, you see a great new platform evolving without the need to be fully backwards compatible."

There are a lot of apps that will be only SL compatible. More than that, Apple has thus far shown no fear in leaving older computers behind. The iPhone is a terrible model for desktop computers, and is barely tolerable as a mobile platform in its closed nature. What made sense on a mobile network that is controlled by oligopolists doesn't make sense when you are trying to compete against commodity hardware in an open market.

There article basically is some sort of geek dream to eliminate old APIs and cruft even further. Advocating a closed platform redesign of a mature OS for no real reason than a bit of elegance is pretty much what defines an amateur.

Google domains, IMAP Idle support, More customizable growl notifications...

Sure developers are upset - but Apple has them by the balls. If you want in on the mobile space there is only one game in town.

When developers, en masse, walk away from the platform, you might get real reform. But where are they going to go?

Hmmm... jail breaking is suddenly becoming a lot more tempting. And I never do that sort of thing.

Second the Tripit rec, even if it is still pretty rough, with tons of "chart junk", it is still ahead of WorldMate at this point.