> Jobs and co are using the viewing angle of a 3d graph to have the Apple share be closer and 'larger' than the farther and now 'smaller' Other section
Actually, the tablet _is_ bigger in the diagonal measurement as they claim, which is the standard measurement of screen sizes.
They're both subterfuge. Don't raise one above the other.
Without rooting for one or the other. Bigger is not a measurement. Bigger is relative to the method of measurement/definition, and its comparison with a second one. If screen size is measured/defined by its diagonal, than the screen is bigger.
What the fuck is wrong with you people? I mean, really.
No, that is definitely not how it works. You can redefine screen size into some absurd bullshit, but that just means you are crazy, not that you are right.
In some cases the screen diagonal is a good proxy for screen size and it’s reasonable to use it (for TVs, for example, they are practically always 16:9). However, when that proxy reaches the boundaries of its usefulness and you still use it, you are a fool.
Here's an interesting summary of the US Federal Trade Commission "Picture Tube Rule" (from 1966) on display size measurements, including discussion of the merits of horizontal vs. diagonal measurements. http://www.ftc.gov/os/2006/06/P9242414PictureTubeRuleConfirm...
Suffice it to say, the discussion of how screen size is to be measured is as old as television itself. It does not imply one is crazy.
Sigh. This shit is frustrating. You don’t get it, do you? How can you be so blind? How can you have this weird view? This is batshit insane and completely mystifying.
No one ever with a clear head could assume that display size = diagonal. That works if the aspect ratio is unchanging (nowadays 16:9 TV screens are competing with 16:9 TV screens) and there is no problem doing just that. It works less well with variant aspect ratios, though it still is a sort of reasonable proxy for screen size – but if you explicitly write that some screen is larger than another one while it very obviously isn’t – using the diagonal as a justification – you are just insane. Nothing else.
Plus: You are confused about the actual content of the document you linked. (In general I also have no problem with the diagonal being used in advertising. It’s not ideal but I won’t get mad about it. I will get mad about it if someone defends outright lying in ads.
> How can you be so blind? How can you have this weird view? This is batshit insane and completely mystifying.
:-)
> display size = diagonal [...] works if the aspect ratio is unchanging
I get that.
> It works less well with variant aspect ratios,
I get that too.
> if you explicitly write that some screen is larger than another one while it very obviously isn’t – using the diagonal as a justification – you are just insane. Nothing else.
I'm imagining a movie where the cops bust through the door to a suspect's apartment to find the walls completely papered with newspaper and magazine clippings of ads for televisions and computer monitors ... all oriented diagonally.
One detective deadpans to the other "Well, I think we've found our killer".
> Plus: You are confused about the actual content of the document you linked.
I only claimed that the document contained "an interesting summary of the US Federal Trade Commission 'Picture Tube Rule' (from 1966)" and "discussion of the merits of horizontal vs. diagonal measurements".
You can redefine screen size into some absurd bullshit, but that just means you are crazy, not that you are right.
Except they are not redefining it, that is how it is always advertised. Nobody advertises screen size based on actual area, it is diagonal size.
You can bitch about that being the standard way people report it, but don't blame individual people when they use the same standard everybody else does.
No, a screen diagonal is advertised, not a screen size. That’s misleading and bad and all that, but at least it’s not a flat out lie.
If you then go on and talk about some screen being larger based on its diagonal while it’s not you are wrong, wrong, wrong. It’s unacceptable. Completely. It’s crazy to even think that’s even a little bit ok.
Screen size was never defined as the diagonal. The diagonal is just that, a diagonal. It tells you something about the screen size and is an awesome proxy if you are comparing devices with the same aspect ratio, but it doesn’t make smaller screens actually larger. That’s just insane.
The diagonal is a proxy and always has been, never anything else.
That's about equivalent to saying that I did something first because I did it at 7:00 AM Pacific Time and you did it at 9:00 AM Eastern Time. I mean, clock time _is_ how we measure time, right? And 7 is clearly less than 9. Diagonal measures are a useful shorthand for size when aspect is the same, but they are deceptive when comparing two screens with different aspects.
Actually, the tablet _is_ bigger in the diagonal measurement as they claim, which is the standard measurement of screen sizes.
They're both subterfuge. Don't raise one above the other.