Why I'm not buying an iPad (and think you shouldn't either)

[undrpsi]

No, I was considering buying one, until this article presented a new side of the argument...but it seemed as though he presented his arguments with reasonable assumptions and ideas. It's not a stretch to say that Apple's tendency to be a control freak might negatively impact the industry.

Techhie..uh..What? What arguments did he make? He whined all the way through the article. There was no constructive criticism. I am cool with "..the iPad is not for photographers because the memory is too small and it lacks a full featured photo editor.." Did he do that? No. He brought up the same old "closed loop" argument that has been ridden into the ground. So what if Apple is anal about it's programming? THEY BUILT IT! It's their right to do with it as they will. and the guys blatantly calls anyone wants one ".. it seems like Apple's model customer is that same stupid stereotype of a technophobic, timid, scatterbrained mother.."

Yeah, got a few words for a ubergeek who thinks I am a 'stupid mother' but I would probably get kicked off the board for it

And if 'this' article made you doubt getting an iPad...hey great...now leave the fanboy site and don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out. Go play on pcmagazine.com - they think it's a POS too. You'll fit right in and no one will flame you there. C'mon...I can see not getting one because of no flash (but that's going to be a non-issue soon) or no printing (I give that 1 week or less before a 3rd party app is up)...or for a 'real' reason...not this poorly written drivel. You may now go back to Second Life and find someone to share your feelings with.

 

[Techhie]

IMHO, i believe that most folks that are bitching against the iPad, and are preaching we shouldn't get one either, basically cant afford one, and dont want anyone else to have one either.

I am getting one, too bad for you, go buy an MSI Wind or whatever, quit trying to spoil it for us all.

Have you even read the article? Not to seem argumentative, but that could possibly be one of the most uninformed assumptions here. Some people could be doing that, but my guess is that if Cory Doctorow couldn't afford it, his first action to "spite the affluent" wouldn't be to write an in-depth article on Apple's media influence.

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

Hey you kids - get off my lawn...

This guy's argument makes about as much sense as people who want to buy car parts and assemble their own automobiles. Great - go do that. In the meantime, I'll go buy a Honda... and be stuck in the "Honda ecosystem" - oh no.

If other companies want to compete, they can go build their own thing - nobody is stopping them. Apple has just done it way better and first. And that has a lot of other people freaking out.

 

[Techhie]

So what if Apple is anal about it's programming? THEY BUILT IT! It's their right to do with it as they will.

Yes, however it is not healthy for any single party to have that much of a grip on software or hardware development, regardless of who it is. We all know that it is obviously Apple's platform to do what they want with, but legal action doesn't always equate to something that promotes innovation or is economically sound (for anyone but Apple)

And if 'this' article made you doubt getting an iPad...hey great...now leave the fanboy site and don't let the door hit you in the rear on the way out. Go play on pcmagazine.com - they think it's a POS too. You'll fit right in and no one will flame you there. C'mon...I can see not getting one because of no flash (but that's going to be a non-issue soon) or no printing (I give that 1 week or less before a 3rd party app is up)...or for a 'real' reason...not this poorly written drivel. You may now go back to Second Life and find someone to share your feelings with.

You can insult and "flame" the article all you want, but trying to make a personal argument over something completely frivolous is going over the line. Please be civil.

 

[DarwinOSX]

BoingBoing's Cory Doctorow gives a very insightful look at the iPad and its media from "outside the reality-distortion field."

Worth a 5 minute read, it was a breath of fresh air in sorting through all of the hype surrounding tomorrow's launch. Nice to see a sensible person on the other side of the fence who doesn't belong to the "It's just a Big iPhone" camp.

link

You must not be very familiar with Doctorow. His schtick is to be the anti-everything. It's what he does. He should stick to writing books for teenagers.

 

[iLunar]

I just don't see the argument that Apple is stifling innovation.

Does anyone remember how bad apps were before the App store? The cell phone industry had locked down apps to the point where ALL Verizon phones had their OS built into it.

Then, when the iPhone launched, developers screamed about how they couldn't develop anything for it. Apple said, hey, go use the free and open web and make web apps. And what did developers scream about? They didn't want the free and open web, they wanted native apps. So Apple responded with the App store.

Now that we have the App store, devs are screaming they want a free and open platform...cause you know, having the App store killed the internet.

And then Apple is one pushing for adoption of HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS...all web standards.

Oh, the irony.

I'm so ready for this Apple-is-closed myth to die.

 

[diabolic]

If other companies want to compete, they can go build their own thing - nobody is stopping them. Apple has just done it way better and first. And that has a lot of other people freaking out.

I agree. I don't think Apple's approach is bad for the industry or innovation.

I'd argue that Apple's "control" is exactly why their end product and experience are so well regarded.

Personally I don't put much stock in the "open ecosystem" is better for everyone argument. History hasn't really shown that so far.

Newsflash! Just because you want to tweak your netbooks and put whatever OS you feel like on any hardware you buy doesn't mean you are the only ones who somehow see the light while others don't.

App store, devs are screaming they want a free and open platform...cause you know, having the App store killed the internet.

All the devs I know aren't screaming for that. They love the App Store.

 

[iLunar]

All the devs I know aren't screaming for that. They love the App Store.

True, it's just all the wanna-be devs and techno-geeks that are screaming that the App store is somehow limiting.

 

[Logos327]

I always find the "Apple Ecosystem is so closed" argument strange.

People just seem to squirm and become so scared of it, while not realizing that social life is bound by certain, sometimes arbitrary limitations. These people are looking for a world where Wal-mart will sell anything because they believe the market will automatically correct itself...maybe so after a few hundred people say die of poisoning.

The point is, limitations, regulations and the building of walls to create ecosystems is not only necessary for a great experience, but also good. Can I do EVERYTHING I want on my iPhone or iPad? No, but I can do a lot, and the small negatives certainly do not out weigh the vast positives of living in a contained ecosystem of apps and support.

This article also reminded me in some ways of that Greenpeace article against cloud computing. I will admit to being a huge tree-hugger myself, but I also understand we cannot stagnate and live as if it is the year 2000 forever. As someone else said, change is hard, but it is inevitable and can lead to some remarkable things.

 

[Techhie]

I'd argue that Apple's "control" is exactly why their end product and experience are so well regarded.

Personally I don't put much stock in the "open ecosystem" is better for everyone argument. History hasn't really shown that so far.

Agreed to an extent. Window's quality is much harder to keep up because they are constantly worrying about making an endless supply of hardware and systems compatible, be it with 3rd party drivers or internal updates.

Even if this is the case and a "closed system" results in a better experience, it's hard to deny that it is a hinderance to development. If we were to sacrifice technology that relies on 3rd party developers to enable a single party to control all factors, would the human race progress past the point where it no longer benefits the controller? You may say that Apple is benevolent and keeps our interests in mind, but at the end of the day, they are a company like any other motivated by profit margins. I'm not endorsing a "revolution" or being a Linux bigot or anything of the like, but it's hard not to see that the future of technological development depends on free-thinking developers to come up with the next big thing, not underpaid engineers on Apple campuses.

 

[CanonicalKoi]

I know when I'm interested in a piece of technology, the first opinion I want is that of a, "blogger, journalist and science fiction author" (per Wikipedia). He was cofounder of a software company that lasted 4 years before being sold out and "European Affairs Coordinator" for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, also for 4 years (ditto). That seems to constitute the whole of his tech chops.

His whole review came off feeling like, "Look at me! I'm an iconoclast! Boo-yah, I'm so deep!" Yeah, deep, pointing out that a first generation device is not the same as one that's been around for years. Please. Look, all the reviews (the few that there have been) don't amount to anything--positive or negative. What will matter, when all is said and done, is having the thing in my own hands and seeing if I can do with it what I want to do. Period. I don't need some talking head telling me how I should feel, how I should react to a piece of technology. And I really don't need someone like Doctorow, with what appears to be a pretty darned limited experience with tech, trying to tell me. Personally, I think the only reason the OP titled this thread the way he did was to try and talk someone out of picking up their reserved iPad tomorrow so he could snipe it.

 

[dagomike]

It's ironic that in one breath praises the Apple II, and then:

But with the iPad, it seems like Apple's model customer is that same stupid stereotype of a technophobic, timid, scatterbrained mother as appears in a billion renditions of "that's too complicated for my mom" (listen to the pundits extol the virtues of the iPad and time how long it takes for them to explain that here, finally, is something that isn't too complicated for their poor old mothers).

Does the phrase a computer for the rest of us ring a bell?

Elitist snobbery. Basically if I can't mod it and it doesn't have a command prompt, it sucks. Well, real people don't like that and real people should be able to utilize technology without depending on ********s dweebs.

That has nothing to do with the iPad, BTW. People who complain about the compromises in making technology more accessible bug me.

 

[Logos327]

It's ironic that in one breath praises the Apple II, and then:



Does the phrase a computer for the rest of us ring a bell?

Elitist snobbery. Basically if I can't mod it and it doesn't have a command prompt, it sucks. Well, real people don't like that and real people should be able to utilize technology without depending on ********s dweebs.

That has nothing to do with the iPad, BTW. People who complain about the compromises in making technology more accessible bug me.

It's as if some people get off on having complicated, nonintuitive machines. I don't get it.

 

[ct2k7]

IMHO, i believe that most folks that are bitching against the iPad, and are preaching we shouldn't get one either, basically cant afford one, and dont want anyone else to have one either.

If I have offended you, too bad. I dont want you telling me I cant/dont need/are being bamboozled into wanting one any more.

I am getting one, too bad for you, go buy an MSI Wind or whatever, quit trying to spoil it for us all.

Andy

You are telling person not to impose their opinion into you, yet you are superimposing on them?

Most people can afford them, they just prefer more transparent and open systems.

Apple is moving out of the premier/premium market, and in so, I am missing being one of the only people to be able to hold an iPhone and say that not just can I afford this, but it shows my status. Everyone around me has an iPhone, I've stuck to my original for a specific reason

hmm, this is way off what I intended to say :/

 

[Techhie]

Personally, I think the only reason the OP titled this thread the way he did was to try and talk someone out of picking up their reserved iPad tomorrow so he could snipe it.

Hey now

I'm not trying to come across as another ignorant "This device is pointless and restrictive" guy, just trying to consider all sides of the fence involving not only the iPad, but it's media. After all, the hoopla is as much about the content as it is about the device itself. It's almost as if the iPad isn't really pertinent to what Doctorow is saying, it is more of an argument based on an assumption of a future stripped of innovation by a company who once preached it. It's kind of reminiscent of a certain Orwell book =P

 

[anthonymoody]

He sounded to me like he is not willing to roll with the times and change with the times. yes change is hard, but overall it is good. And you have a choice. But to piss and moan because you cannot then go get a comic book and trade it with your friends like when you were little. Please.

It just sounded to me like someone needed either some attention or a hug. I am all for constructive criticism but I saw none in that article.

This.

Cory Doctorow will be eating his words
in one year.

This.

This guy's argument makes about as much sense as people who want to buy car parts and assemble their own automobiles. Great - go do that. In the meantime, I'll go buy a Honda... and be stuck in the "Honda ecosystem" - oh no.

If other companies want to compete, they can go build their own thing - nobody is stopping them. Apple has just done it way better and first. And that has a lot of other people freaking out.

And this.

Yawn. That's 5 minutes of my life I'll never get back.

 

[mrfriggz]

The author clearly doesn't use mac products. What is iStore and iApps? <yawn>

 

[vini-vidi-vici]

It's as if some people get off on having complicated, nonintuitive machines. I don't get it.

Easy - in that paradigm, they have more knowledge than "the masses", and therefore more power. They're looked-up-to as experts.

Take away this power and they lash out.

 

[shakenmartini]

IMHO, the article writer has been left WAAAAY behind, like left in 1995.

If you are a hardware tinkerer, you don't go to bestbuy to buy a product to hack (yes, some do, but not the hardcore ones).

If you are a hardcore hardware hacker, you buy your own microcontrollers, design and burn your own circuit boards and make our own devices. Moreover, hardware hackers write their own custom OSs for their microcontrolles in assembly.

2010 called and the masses that fiddle with their devices do things like, Jailbreak their iPhones, download the iPhone SDK and write their own apps or write their own custom web apps.

I mean come on, I JB my iPhone for fun, but my wife just wants to have hers work so she doesn't JB. She also has no concept for multitasking, computer performance etc.

I also write software for my own personal amusement and function. Apple doesn't even have to approve any of it, because I can load it directly after I compile it. If I want to share it, I can share the source or publish the app. Right now all my stuff is either heavily customized or "tinkerer" quality so I don't release it beyond a small group of friends.

Comic books? Seriously, complain to Marvel on that one, not Apple. I haven't read a comic in years because I detest those very shops the author praises. Just want I want to do is go to a comic shop and have a dood with stains on his shirt talk down to me, because I don't buy plastic bag for the comic.

Now that Marvel has an app, heck I might just pick up a comic or two on occasion.

The web? Again seriously, talk about revisionist history? AOL killed itself because it never sold broadband. People actually LIKED AOL, and AOL would have been the standard if AOL wasn't so stupid to ignore broadband the way they did. People still complain about the hodgepodge nature of the web and I still can't get my grandma to figure any of it out. During its heydey, everyone was on AOL. In fact I remember paying for an AOL upgrade package so that we could have raw internet access (for my brother and I) and the AOL internet for everyone else in our house.

Don't get me wrong, the iPad is not for everyone and there are PLENTY of competitors our there if you don't like Apple's approach.

Finally, again, iMHO, the quicker the internet and computers become "appliances" the better. I love to tinker with gadgets, but when I have work to do, I don't want to have to spend my time tinkering with hardware or software. I remember the utter pain of doing work online as recent as a few years ago and the quicker these problems go away the better. Having "tinkerable" hardware just makes getting work done on your computer or the internet a pain.

 

[btcutter]

He has some good points. I wish the iphone/touch/pad ecosystem was more open, but that's mainly on principle; my feeling is that I should get to decide for my device. And I sure wish Apple would resurrect and update Hypercard, it was very .

You do get to decide on the the device. You can chose to buy Android or Window smartphone. There are plenty of choices.

Apple's job is to come up with the product they believe will provide the best user experience for those who buy the phone for majority of the consumers.

No one company can please every one. Someone will complain about something and enough people complains then change happens or else people buy difference device.

 

[anthonymoody]

Easy - in that paradigm, they have more knowledge than "the masses", and therefore more power. They're looked-up-to as experts.

Take away this power and they lash out.

Yup. See this on Giz? They (now) get this...

http://gizmodo.com/5506692/ipad-is-the-future

 

[shakenmartini]

Easy - in that paradigm, they have more knowledge than "the masses", and therefore more power. They're looked-up-to as experts.

Take away this power and they lash out.

Bingo, remember Nick Burns, the IT guy from SNL (late 1990's?)

 

[ct2k7]

Yup. See this on Giz? They (now) get this...

http://gizmodo.com/5506692/ipad-is-the-future

That article is a joke right?

 

[AJsAWiz]

IMHO, i believe that most folks that are bitching against the iPad, and are preaching we shouldn't get one either, basically cant afford one, and dont want anyone else to have one either.

If I have offended you, too bad. I dont want you telling me I cant/dont need/are being bamboozled into wanting one any more.

I am getting one, too bad for you, go buy an MSI Wind or whatever, quit trying to spoil it for us all.

Andy

I think people should buy whatever they want or not OR buy what ever they car afford or not. Basically I don't like to see anyone telling someone else what to do or not do. To each his/her own. If you make a bad decision you alone will be affected by the consequences whether it is negative or positive.

 

[marksman]

The iPad is a game changing technology advancement. It is the first wave of a massive change in how people do things, which will take place over the next 10 plus years.

These kinds of things don't come along very often. The introduction of the home PC, the introduction of Consumer Internet, potentially the introduction of DVRs, although I am not sure that rates up there across the board like the others... and the iPad. Simply because it is going to dramatically alter the utlization of computer equipment to interface and interact. If you look at that, the iPad and tablets that follow in its footsteps, are the connection between the two biggest consumer technological advancements of the last 40 years. It is bringing them together and moving them forward.

This will change how people use the internet, this will change what is defined as the computer. This is a major change and shift, and a monumental product.

In 2020 you will be able to trace a lot of what is going on back to the day the iPad came out.