Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Rumors, Software, Odds and ends, Apple, iPhone
Why isn't C&P on the iPhone yet?
Yeah, in case you haven't guessed yet, I don't buy it. I'm not sure who this "source" is (and there should be an unwritten rule of journalism that anyone who wears a nametag at a convention booth doesn't get to count as a "source," unless they're talking about nametag news), but if someone from Apple says that implementation was the only reason they haven't put copy-and-paste on the iPhone, then either they're lying, or they're just plain too full of themselves. Let's not forget, despite their achievements, that this is the company that created the worst error message implementation known to man -- the iPhone won't be a failure if the copy and paste is a little more complicated than most other functions. They haven't figured out how to implement it? Surely they've seen this-- they know it's possible.
But here's why my reasoning falls down: I can't think of another reason Apple would keep it off the iPhone. Do they think people don't need to cut and paste? Is the RIAA expanding their fight against copying music to copying and pasting everything? Does Steve just never visit any sites besides Apple.com and thus never have to copy and paste anything? I don't buy the "implementation" argument but I don't, unfortunately, have a better one to put in its place.
[Via Mac Rumors]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bassir said 7:39PM on 1-28-2008
They're just trying to find the perfect way to do it.
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Greg said 7:44PM on 1-28-2008
I agree that Apple has some "interesting" error messages, but if you are going to claim that they devised the worst error message known to man, then you had better come up with something else as your example. For one thing, the dialog box cited in the Language Log editorial is NOT an error message. Second, while I grant you that the cited message, and a few others can be confusing, they pale in comparison to the cryptic [real] error messages in either Windows or quite a few iterations of Mac System 7, 8 and 9. Third, even as satire, I am not sure what your point is. The fact that Apple has created crummy dialogue boxes in no way indicates whether they might be trying to do C&P very well. Seems to me that, while C&P on the Mac is not perfect, it has sufficiently withstood the test of time that Apple might in fact care very much about getting it right on the iPhone.
Having said all that, I actually agree with the overall humor of your piece. Surely they have seen the suggested approaches out there, and surely they are aware we want it. So, what the f*** is the holdup?
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Hard of Hearing said 8:10PM on 1-28-2008
Why would seeing a parody video showing a mockup of C&P on an iPhone mean that Apple would "know it's possible"?
Are you saying that everything we see on YouTube is true?
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KeynoteKen said 8:16PM on 1-28-2008
I find most of the alternatives to be derivative of mouse driven interfaces. Of course, this is expected since that's what most people are used to. Heck, before the iPhone, it was common knowledge that the best way to navigate on a handheld device was to use a menuing system and a stylus (to simulate the tiny point of a mouse on a screen).
Craig said 8:08PM on 1-28-2008
Apple could make the Apple TV a success by putting a tuner in it. Without a tuner it's just an Apple.
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Joel said 8:11PM on 1-28-2008
I seriously don't think I know anyone who is computer literate that is so ignorant that they couldn't understand that saying "don't change" will result in NO CHANGE and "Change all" will result in A CHANGE!!!
I seriously wonder about people sometimes.
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Macskeeball said 12:30AM on 1-29-2008
Usability expert Steve Krug has a whole book named after a rule of thumb he calls, "Don't make me think." Attention to the details matters. As Krug put it, like good lighting in a store, it just makes everything seem *better*.
Therefore, the author of that post on the Language Log makes a valid point about that dialog box.
Dan said 1:24AM on 1-29-2008
I agree. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that "Change all" is the Yes the author of that post was looking for, and that "Don't Change" is the No he is looking for. My six year old Nephew had no problem understanding the dialog box labeled here as "the worst error message implementation".
If you want a cryptic error message try this one out.
Blue Screen of Death
What in that message tell me the user what caused the problem?
KeynoteKen said 8:11PM on 1-28-2008
Apple is known for holding releases to work on what some would feel are trivial things, but end up setting the product apart (like the simplicity of the iPod interface). I think there are several proposals, but one implementation likely hasn't passed all the tests of ease and flexibility. The iPhone is selling well without it, so it obviously can wait until they get it right.
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Jeff said 8:40PM on 1-28-2008
Why would not buy that statement? It is a really big thing to have implemented correctly. Rather than deal with all the problems and venom that come with poor implementation, they are choosing to roll it out right.
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smrtguy29485 said 8:20PM on 1-28-2008
The video's implementation is certainly not feasible. Watch it again. To select text, you bring up the loupe and tap the second finger, turning it into select mode. Now, once you have copied text, to paste it, you do exactly the same thing.
But wait, what if I didn't really want to have copied the previous clipping? It doesn't matter, up pops the clipboard, with options to Cancel or Paste. No matter how much I may want to copy, the iPhone won't let me. I don't think that Apple would really provide support for a system that lets you copy once piece of text before rebooting to copy a second.
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labrats5 said 8:44PM on 1-28-2008
I agree completely. Also, what if I wanted to copy something from within an app that doesn't feature the loop? Like, say, a web page, or a song from my library. No, there seems to be only two ways to do this. One is to put some sort of edit options button withing every app, but that is ugly. The far better but more difficult thing to do would be to designate some gesture that would trigger a copy&paste mode from within most every app. I would suggest double tapping with two fingers, but there are others that could work better.
roz said 8:51PM on 1-28-2008
holding down the loop and tapping again seems like the right thing. I am not sure what should happen after that.
maybe a single tap would initiate select mode, the loop could change color, drag or next tap to show end point selected range. tap on selection to copy, tap away to cancel, stroke to the right to delete.
go to paste target, hold get into loop, double tap second finger to paste.
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dannito said 8:49PM on 1-28-2008
Like hellodon said, remember the thing about missing Safari's magnifying glass. How to copy something there?!
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LightMan said 8:56PM on 1-28-2008
Hey could one of you hackers make a cut & paste deamon that could monitor the keyboard/text boxes for a special cut and paste keystrokes/screen taps?
Worst error messages ever! When I first got my iphone, there was a message saying it couldn't talk to my phone, and to restart itunes. after about 10 restarts, I looked up the message in google, and the answer was I was running 64 bit windows! Why couldn't they just say it doesn't work in 64 bit windows!!
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Ben C said 5:10AM on 1-29-2008
I'll bet that linguistics guy ranting about Apple's poor syntax makes a really hot date.
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Ireland said 9:03PM on 1-28-2008
My Copy & Paste concept is here on AI: http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=83743
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MacBookOwner said 9:17PM on 1-28-2008
"Does Steve just never visit any sites besides Apple.com and thus never have to copy and paste anything?"
I've used my iPhone since last June, and never have to copy paste anything, and I visit more than just Apple.com.
However, I also don't expect my iPhone to be a computer substitute-it has other uses-Browsing the web, finding directions, watching movies, and listening to music. Oh, and making and receiving calls. None of which require copy and paste to be useful. I also don't miss Flash at all.
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punkassjim said 1:02AM on 1-29-2008
Hear hear. I can't even begin to tell you how much I appreciate the fact that I have to wait until I get back to my Mac before I can do "productive" work. I like having a smartphone, but I can't stand the fact that my work is following me everywhere. I'm cool without copy-paste, I'm cool without Flash (I actually love that there's no Flash, and I'm even a Flash developer), and I'd rather have a limited/elegant phone over a feature-packed/inelegant phone.
Quine said 9:24PM on 1-28-2008
The worst error message ever is, without a doubt, the one i just encountered trying to fix my friend's dell printer on her windows xp machine. Note, the window did not mention dell or a printer at all, I just know the window was spawned by the dell printer driver.
Title: Error
Window Body: An unknown error has occured
Buttons: OK
That's it. Nothing happened to precipitate that, nothing to follow it. When I turned on the printer, tried to print, or tried to uninstall the driver, it popped that up.
So I did what any good person would do to fix a windows system with such an error: reformatted the volume and reinstalled windows. :)
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