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In his recent Monday Note [Jean-Louis Gassée laments about the things that are far too cumbersome to do on an iPad](http://www.mondaynote.com/2013/02/03/ipad-pro-the-missing-workflow/):

>Once I start writing, I want to look through the research material I’ve compiled. On a Mac, I simply open an Evernote window, side-by-side with my Pages document: select, drag, drop. I take some partial screenshots, annotate graphs (such as the iPad Pro prices above), convert images to the .png format used to put the Monday Note on the Web…
>On the iPad, these tasks are complicated and cumbersome.

As I always say, I wish I did more writing on my iPad, but the fact is that Gassée’s problem seems to be one of an unwillingness to dive into the App Store more than a problem that is a true limitation of the iPad. As best as I can tell here are Gassée’s problems/issues:

1. No easy way to save pages to Evernote
2. He can’t view research material side by side with his writing app.
3. Adding a link is difficult.
4. He cannot take partial screenshots.
5. He knows of no way to add annotations to a screenshot. (Really?!?)

The points that Gassée is making are all valid — it is *more* difficult to do all of these tasks on the iPad, but not nearly as difficult as Gassée makes them out to be.

As for item 1, well just install the Evernote bookmarklet and you should be all set — not sure what the issue is here. Yes, bookmarklet’s are hard to install in iOS, but you can install it on your Mac and sync it over.

Spend just a few moments browsing the App Store and you might come across [Writing Kit](http://getwritingkit.com). In one app Gassée can take care of items 2 and 3 — well mostly 2. Still that’s just one app. Enter any number of captioning and photo editing apps that take no longer than 5 seconds to find browsing the store and you [take care of 4 and 5](https://itunes.apple.com/app/skitch-for-ipad/id490505997?ls=1&mt=8).

If the argument is simply *more* cumbersome and not impossible, then yes at times it is more cumbersome on the iPad — but my text editor of choice on the Mac doesn’t have a link button living above the top row of keys like most iOS editors do on the software keyboard.

Because Gassée can actually do what he thinks he can’t do on the iPad, the question becomes: is the iPad truly more cumbersome to use?

*Some* things are harder to do on the iPad, while others *are* easier — that I think we can all agree on. What I find interesting is that tasks often are at the same level of “cumbersome”. The reason the iPad can seem more cumbersome is that there is an ideological shift required by your brain when you move from OS X to iOS. If you can accept this ideological shift between the two then you can begin to realize that things aren’t necessarily harder, they are just different.

Ask a computer user, that grew up only using the iPad, five years from now which is more cumbersome, Mac or iPad, and I think the iPad will be handily winning that competition.

Gassée, though, is arguing that a Pro model is needed for business use, but I don’t think a Pro model is needed as much as a shift in the way IT departments work is needed. Instead of saying that all files live in this non-iPad accessible thing: the more user friendly shift is not to make the iPad more complex, but instead to make the systems *less* complex.

Because if you ask me the better solution is always the solution that keeps things simple for users.

I applaud Yahoo for hiring Marissa Mayer as CEO, but it [sounds like she has fallen into a futile search for the holy grail on the web](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-25/yahoo-s-mayer-sees-future-in-personalized-mobile-web.html):

>“There is a way that you can introduce advertising such that it’s not intrusive, it actually adds value to the end user, and it actually enhances the experience,” Mayer said. “And that’s what we need to work on.”

I wish her the best of luck on the pursuit, but it seems like a fools pursuit to me. An ad is an ad. There are good ads, and there are bad ads. The problem is that there exists only a precious few companies willing to take the time and money to create the good ads.

It’s not a problem of placement, or display, it’s a content problem. Until we reach such time that bad ads no longer work, advertisers will have little motivation to go out and create a truly good ad. Mayer can try to force this, but ultimately she still will need bad ads to pay the bills.

I’d offer up iAds of proof of this. You don’t see many, but when you do they are much better than most other ads on iOS. That said, Apple seems to be having a tough time filling the spots.

Apple is having a tough time with it.

Facebook and Google don’t care enough to even bother. So can Mayer succeed where Apple has seemingly failed?

Yes, she can, but it won’t be easy or fast. I also wonder how lucrative it will be given that you are asking for more money to be spent making better ads, so will advertisers really be willing to pay the same high rates for placement? I’m skeptical.

[*The View From Fuji* posts a great tip](http://theviewfromfuji.tumblr.com/post/41329858242/dropbox-selective-sync) which allows you to store your files in Dropbox, but not on any Mac. It’s a clever solution to a problem that [I see with Dropbox](https://brooksreview.net/2013/01/archiving-cloud/), but it’s not the best solution.

Essentially you add files and folders to Dropbox as normal, and after they are uploaded you use the Selective Sync feature to no longer sync that folder with your Mac. Thus all that data is just in the Dropbox cloud.

The problem? This works well for iOS, since you can browse all the files in the Dropbox app, but it doesn’t work well on the desktop where you would have to browse those files on the Dropbox website. So yes, the files are not on your Mac (or any Mac), but they also are now not easily useable on any Mac.

What is the job of a stock market analyst, you know the people who set lofty expectations for financial performance of publicly traded companies (i.e. the people who set forecasts that Apple never meets), what is their job?

I found a lot of definitions, but [let’s go with The Free Dictionary’s](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/market+analyst) (([I much prefer this definition](http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/definition-of-a-stock-analyst/318193).)) :

> an expert who studies financial data (on credit or securities or sales or financial patterns etc.) and recommends appropriate business actions

In other words it is the job of these analysts to do a couple of things:

1. Study and know the market.
2. Recommend actions.

That means that these analysts need to make the most accurate guess that they can for the future performance of a company so that investors, whom the analyst works for, can make the most informed decision of when to buy and sell a particular stock. (Close enough, well, closer than analysts get to doing their job anyways.)

Given that definition, why are stories worded: “Company A missed expectations”? Shouldn’t the correct wording be: “Analyst John posted a bad guidance”? Of course it should be, but no one actually cares about that analyst’s ability to predict the future, because trying predicting the future is futile. So instead we look at who failed to meet a goal set by a person with a business card that reads “analyst”.

*Side Note: I just promoted myself to “Senior Analyst” here at The Brooks Review, please cite me using that title, so that my words carry weight with the likes of CNN, NYT, WSJ, Reuters, et al.*

When people refer to “guidances”, “expectations”, and so forth, they are really just referring to an outsiders best guess, formed by analyzing historic data. In other words: this is not the company themselves saying where they expect to be next quarter, it’s just a third party saying where *they think* a company should be based on an analysts best guess.

And yet, these guesses are being reported as if the company actually has a duty to meet them — and has failed if they do not meet them.

This is really like readers trying to guess how long my next post will be, and then getting mad at me if they are wrong about that guess. In other words: it’s the dumbest fucking thing I can think of to try and predict.

[Relly Annett-Baker writing about her own depression](http://rel.ly/2013/01/depression-and-me/):

>That’s what depression does. It takes something that should be joyous and challenging and full of discoveries, and turns it into a time of loneliness, fear and a desperate feeling of not being good enough. Of shredding every last ounce of self-esteem and self-respect. It turns you into your worst enemy. It feeds off your inner self doubt.

Fascinating read, and scary to think how “silent” depression is — something that many people don’t know they have and those around them may not be able to help with. Even then, even with all the help, sometimes, well sometimes…

[Bill Rigby reporting for Reuters](http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/22/us-microsoft-book-idUKBRE90L04320130122):

>”For Microsoft to really get back in the game seriously, you need a big change in management,” said Joachim Kempin, who worked at Microsoft between 1983 and 2002, overseeing the sales of Windows software to computer makers for part of that time. “As much as I respect Steve Ballmer, he may be part of that in the end.”

This is a very damning report about Ballmer and Microsoft’s board. There’s a few things about it that make me take the report with a large grain of salt:

1. Kempin left in 2002, which means Ballmer was only CEO for two years while Kempin was there. I’m doubtful that was enough time to form the opinions he currently holds, which means his insight into Ballmer is less insider and more outsider with insider reports.
2. I know nothing of Kempin and so this could be like listening to advice from Warren Buffet, or Donald Trump.

Even given those caveats, if true, this is a damning statement:

>”They missed all the opportunities they were talking about when I was still in the company. Tablets, phones…we had a tablet going, we had tablet software when Windows XP came out, it was never followed up properly,” said Kempin.

I assume he doesn’t mean a convertible PC, but I think there’s a simple reason why Microsoft wouldn’t want to release a tablet back in early 2000-2002 — they wouldn’t want to cannibalize PC sales. Whereas Apple doesn’t care if it is their own products cannibalizing sales, Microsoft does. ([See this post](http://rampantinnovation.com/2013/01/15/one-strategy-one-pl/) for reasons why.)

Still, I agree, [Ballmer is going to run the ship into the ground](https://brooksreview.net/2012/11/microsofts-guy/).