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iPad Is a "Huge Step Backward"
An anonymous reader writes "FSF's John Sullivan launches the Defective by Design campaign and petition to rain on Steve's parade, barely minutes out of the starting gate. 'This is a huge step backward in the history of computing,' said FSF's Holmes Wilson, 'If the first personal computers required permission from the manufacturer for each new program or new feature, the history of computing would be as dismally totalitarian as the milieu in Apple's famous Super Bowl ad.' The iPad has DRM writ large: you can only install what Apple says you may, and 'computing' goes consumer mainstream — no more twiddling, just sit back, spend your money, and watch the show — while we allow you to." What is clear is that the rise of the App Store removes control of the computer from the user. It makes me wonder what the next generation of OS X will look like.
Would you like some cheese with your whine?
It's not defective, RMS et al: it's a CHOICE. You purport to like choice, but no one believes you anymore. Many consumers don't care, and even LIKE, the idea of being locked in to the App Store, because it introduces a significant amount of safety.
Also, it's not a "huge step backward" even if we agree with everything else you say, because it's what's on the iPhone. It's not backward, it's the same.
And there's no chance whatsoever that this will ever happen to Mac OS X, so don't lose sleep over it.
And I honestly don't mean this as a troll, but anyone who buys an Apple product *NOT* expecting it to be locked down tighter than Ann Coulter's vagina deserves to be disappointed. Buying an Apple and expecting freedom is like buying something from Sony and being shocked when it only supports some bullshit propriety storage or media format than only Sony makes. Apple is about doing what Steve tells you to do, or at least says is okay for you to do. If Apple could get away with locking down their Macbooks and other PC's so that you could only download their approved software, they probably would.
Apple keeps it simple: Here's what this does. It's elegant and does what it does very well. We don't want you screwing that up by messing around with it without our approval. If you want open and free, go somewhere else and take your chances.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
it's all for our own safety!
The Apple of today is more 1984-ish than Microsoft ever was at the time of the aforementioned Superbowl ad.
Walk away from the noise
For some, it'll do...for now
I'm waiting for dem jailbreak0rz. But where are the shots with the keyboard?
iPod Touch.
iPhone.
They're both spectacular devices. The iPad will work within a similar ecology and thus has a good chance of being a pretty sweet device (time will tell, of course).
But.
If you don't like it, don't buy it.
Simple.
First, the FSF needs to convince us average users need to have control. Why should average users have control over their computer? Isn't this what got us the virus nightmare in Windows?
Doesn't migrating to the iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch model mean that social engineering has much less of an impact to the security of a system? I would think this would be a good thing.
I don't think Mac OS X will ever go away from giving you the control it does (and it is quite nice), but Mac OS X is not appropriate on a device like the iPad.
In fact, I would compare the iPad to the upcoming yet-to-be-made Chromium netbook. The vision Google laid out for their device is pretty much exactly the same as Apple's vision of the iPad. Except that Apple is actually _less_ connected in to your device than Google would be.
Sure, this is bad for the FSF, but what alternative vision of computing do they offer?
Attacking Apple's products is one thing. Why not create your own open source tablet to compete, and let the marketplace decide?
It makes me wonder what the next generation of OS X will look like
A brain-implanted chip that makes clients REALLY "think different" ?
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
Apple fans want computers easy to use! Actually CHOOSE what software your computer will run is too much skill-intensive.
So I guess you wouldn't consider John Sullivan an Apple fanboy then?
Never let a mediocre career stand in the way of a good time
I see the App Store similar to a DEB repository, only the applications "allowed" by the repository administrator enter such repository and can be downloaded from there.
This raises three questions for me:
1. Is it possible (in the Apple version) to install/run software which was not obtained from the repository?
2. Is it possible to offer software free (or at a very low) cost from the Apple repository?
3. Can I use *any* license (like GPL) for my software offered via App Store?
If 2 and three are true, then it may be possible to distribute /Libre/ software in the App Store, of course charging just a small amount of money for the download (Say, I port TEH GIMP to the Ipad, could I offer it for $1.00 [of course with all the source, etc])?
Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
it having only one mouse button.
hi!
The iPad is a huge step sideways, it's neither good nor bad. Unfortunately it tries to fill a position already inhabited by existing devices (some of which are Apple products).
crazy dynamite monkey
I will not buy the iPad, because I don't like to be locked up in the AppStore. However, other people don't mind that.
I think the FSF gives much more credit to Apple than it deserves to. Apple is not a monopoly in the market; in fact, they have a small market share in the desktop, laptop, netbook and smartphone sectors.
It just has to be a web app. The App Store model is actually a response to software piracy. If anyone could write and execute app store programs without permission, it would be much more difficult for app developers to make money.
Its small enough to sprout legs of its own and too big too be convenient to carry about, well it would fit in some purses. I certainly cannot pop it out over the dinner table while out and not feel obtrusive, even at the local coffee shop it would be to overt. I guess that is where it will excel, people who want to be seen with one.
Throw in that it cannot multitask and its just a large Touch. Now if the screen were larger, one the order of 12 inches, I would be all over it. It would be large enough to display more than one item and let me interact with it. Even it were it states it runs whatever is in the foreground only.
I need the capabilities of a PC as well as the audio/visual abilities this device offers. The iPhone is nice because its sized right. It cannot do what my laptop can and as such is sized appropriately. It does not do enough to justify its size. Throw in the what the article is about, its so damn locked down in content and capability it isn't so much a step backward as a step nowhere
* Winners compare their achievements to their goals, losers compare theirs to that of others.
Because of the dev-team and their wonderful jailbreaking abilities I'm ok with iPad's DRM. The iPhone is ok on it's own and it's spectacular after you jailbreak it. It's not that tough and doing that can break Apple's controls.
I'll buy an iPad after I can jailbreak it. If you can't open it, you don't own it.
...the iPhone OS and OSX will merge (OS-XI) and the MacBook and the iPad form factors will merge. In the future all Macs will look like the iPad, they will all run Apple manufactured chips, and the only content and programs they will run will be from an Apple app store. Steve will then have realized his dream of being able to take a cut of everything that happens on an Apple device. And it will be a consumers choice to be alright about this or not. I'll probably be sort of alright with it on a (jailbroken) phone, but not on my main computing device.
If you want what the FSF purports to want in the iPad and iPhone, its only $99/year more to be a certified developer, and that allows you to upload your own code onto up to a hundred selected devices. The process to become a developer is pretty painless (I did it for my own iPod touch, simply to have the potential to do some hacking down the road).
Similar abilities exist for companies to upload their own selection of apps to corporate devices, for $250/year.
Apple really isn't limiting the freedom to tinker for those who actually WANT to tinker, instead they realize that for most users , having an approved-code-only model is something the users actually wants: it means they have confidence in the system.
How many people will happily grab tons of random free apps off the app-store? Would they have the same attitude if they didn't have apple saying "we've at least done a cursory check of this to make sure these free random apps won't *BLEEP* you up the rear"
Test your net with Netalyzr
Any device that has such a tremendous amount of hype surrounding it is bound to fail to meet EVERYONES expectations. The device has it's role in the Apple ecosystem - and I am sure it will perform that role well. Plus, everyone knows that 1st generation Apple products aren't for everyone. Just hold out and 2nd gen should ease some of the tension. Personally, I don't see the benefit of such a device - - i must not be the target demographic.
Civilization, the death of dreams.
The iPad is not a general-purpose computing device. It cannot be compared to, nor can it show the direction of, the market for general-purpose computers. This is like saying that the segway is a major step backward in international travel because it can't fly.
If the next version of OSX were to have similar limitations, that would be worthy of this line of criticism. Of course, the criticism would then be unnecessary, as the Mac would drop out of the PC market promptly of its own accord.
Slaved? In what sense?
I own an iPod Touch, and so can only install apps on it from the App Store. Last I checked however it performed its primary function (personal media player) perfectly well without doing so.
True, I do have to use iTunes to get music, etc onto it or off it, but even that doesn't require spending any more money with Apple (and in fact, the last few music downloads I've purchased have come from Amazon).
It's official. Most of you are morons.
yeah, I agree, I won't buy it because I don't like it.
In fact, I publicly announce here and now, that I WILL NOT buy anything that I DON'T LIKE.
Thanks Jeff, you've opened my eyes!
All sarcasm aside, pretty much everyone was expecting something to compete with the kindle -and- netbook/tablet pc's, ie. running a full OS X, not a supersized iphone, hence the disappointment on the iPad
Fantastic. Can anybody think of a more effective strategy for shedding market share? Given that most of this particular segment has already formed an opinion of Windows, I'm pretty excited about their remaining options.
Will the next Mac Vs. PC commercials show the cool Mac guy caged or manacled? Can't wait.
I think the complaint misses the point of the device. It's not supposed to be a full-blown personal computer. It's supposed to be an iPod for documents (including web pages and especially books -- note that bookstore), doing for them what the iPod did for music: let me carry it around and interact with it in my easy chair or my bed or on a park bench.
As the app store is a new concept it is more like a step forward, but maybe not in the right direction.
From Apple's site (http://developer.apple.com/iphone/program/distribute.html) describing the iPhone developer program:
So, by implication, you can get apps onto it without a copy of the SDK and without going via the App store. I presume that the iPad will work the same way. Not ideal, but not completely closed either.
I don't know how or if they police the 100-copy limit.
I've always been a PC at heart.
Not like the rest, the others. Everyone around me. I was at odds with my society and knew it early since birth. Unlike them, I did not "Think Different!"--the mantra of the Macs around me, the phrase on all the billboards in the city that served as a reminder to its citizenry. Sameness pervaded the essence of my being and no amount of self-conditioning I did could change that. Eventually, I gave up and isolated myself emotionally from society.
I gaze at the faces going by, the white earphones contrasting their black turtlenecks, connecting their ears to their pockets, their blank faces engrossed in hip Indie rock music and various garage bands. I envied them for their perfection against my flaws and my compulsive nature to expand, to burden my life with troubles instead of remaining, like them, simple and easy to deal with. The grandest of virtues, simplicity... the philosophy by our loyal benefactor Steve Jobs, who descended from the heavens, creating the Earth, the iron, the wind and the rain. Steve Jobs, who defined the parameters of existence, the one who set about the patterns of reality, the constants, the variables. He who made gravity, electromagnetic energy, and shaped atomic structures and brought forth motion. From these things, he crafted the elements, processed them, refined them, and from these things engineered Apple products through the purity of his mind. Each Apple product was individually crafted by his own hands with the programming code used to run each device having being compiled in his brain and uploaded to each device telepathically, breathing life and perfection into each and every unit.
Except, it seems, for me, for I was not among the many. I was a PC. They were Macs. I've always been a cold, stiff person. I got by, disguising myself by keeping my non-Ipod music player safely out of sight, which I use because of my depraved nature demanding more functionality than the simple and easy-to-use Ipods have to offer.. In the safety of my own home, behind locked doors, I ran a Forbidden, a contraband computer from more depraved, earlier days that was not given the love and blessing of being birthed by Steve Jobs. I dual booted, out of the great sin of curiosity-- curiosity, a shameful value of a PC, as curiosity has no place where simplicity matters most--using two of the great unutterable blasphemies-- something called "Windows Vista" and something else called "Linux." Although, as I mentioned before, although my tendency to be a PC and towards conformity has always been inherent to me, I was truly transformed when I found these old things in a hidden cache of computer parts predating The Purging. Perhaps the greatest sin of all, the single evil that, if discovered, would damn me forever, was the fact that my mouse had more than one button.
As I walk among the Macs on the streets, passing the Starbuckses as I went along, I wondered how it all came to this. I glanced at The Holy Marks on the foreheads as the people wandered down the streets, the Bitten Apple tattooed on all our of us at birth, and wondered if, perhaps, there could be something more to life. But again, this was a PC's thought, and not, like everyone elses', a Mac's. We were to hold ourselves to the philosophy of Steve Jobs--so as his products were designed for idiots, so too were we to be idiots. But I was not a Mac--I was not an idiot. I was simply too complicated to be a worthwhile person.
Nature called. I found a nearby public iPoo--squeaky clean and sparkly white, things weren't all bad--and let myself go, expelling the waste that had accumulated inside me. After relieving myself and committing the overly-complicated and thus illegal act of wiping my ass (I did not flush as iPoos, designed to be idiot-proof, did not flush) I left and once again wandered the streets aimlessly, hoping to find some meaning in a world where I simply did not belong, a world where if my true nature was discovered, I would be endlessly persecuted by smug, self-righteous sons of bitches.
The Lenovo S-Series IdeaPad.
From Here
Now, get a grip.
One of the things I love about Linux is a central repository for software, being able to find all software updates in one place, and having one simple way to install and remove apps.
The App Store is great in this regard. The issue isn't that the App Store restricts the user, but rather the App Store restricts the developer. Not anyone can simply get an app in the store. You have to pass Apple's magic gates.
Apple would never let any old app in the store, nor would they allow users to simply add other "repositories" to the App Store, because it would breed piracy. But the basic concept of the App Store is still solid.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Forget the App Store, you've got Safari with HTML 5 (and then some) with Apple explicitly saying they won't support proprietary plug-ins. This is going to be a widely popular platform and is going to be fantastic from a web standards standpoint. Check out Yehuda Katz's write-up (and no, I'm not him trolling for clicks).
http://yehudakatz.com/2010/01/27/the-irony-of-the-ipad-a-great-day-for-open-technologies/
As a web developer tired of IE 6, it is great news to see a platform that is going to push web standards adoption.
If I buy a compute platform, then I own it and I should be able to write programs and interact with it how I see fit. I don't want to get stuck in another situation like my iPhone, which requires "moderation" for applications; which, BTW, is not fool-proof -- I found a keylogger in one of the so-called "approved" Apps. Surprise!
I predict this will be more of an iBlunder than anything. Apple does a lot of good things, but I'm afraid this isn't one of them. The iPad is just a large iPod Touch... lousy!
hasn't that been the whole thrust of apple since the beginning - a gilded cage as one recent poster so aptly put it ? The advertising campaing that apple = freedom from the MS/ big corporations / borg / 1984 is
classic advertising
you say the opposite of reality.
eg, when your corporation has lousy customer service, you run an ad campaing touting your legendary customer service (citizen bank in boston); when you are a corporate evil doer, you run an ad capaign on Public Radio (archer daniels midland, mcneill leherer snoozehour)...when you are a major cause of pollution, you run ads touting your greeness (oil companies, toyota hybrids)
The whole history of apple has been restricting your freedom to do what only jobs wants you to do, so he can make a lot of money. People are ok with that, to paraphrase Mencked, no one ever lost money underestimating how much freedom the american consumer will give up for instant gratification
I think it just speaks to the fact that there are a lot more bottoms in the world than most people would like to admit.
over their computers. Go ahead. Give it to them. Explain that they need to right-click on the icon and choose "Run as Administrator," or that they need to run spyware scans, or virus scans, or allow the machine to install updates, or use Browser X instead of Browser Y, or manage a filesystem in a clean and organized way. What do they say? Come on, we've all heard it.
"Can't you fix it so that I don't have to worry about that?"
"Why doesn't the computer just do that for me?"
"Why do I have to do that? I never had to do that before."
"Do I really have to worry about this stuff?"
"Just make it work, I don't care how, and I don't want to know."
"I'll just buy a new computer."
They DO NOT WANT to perform maintenance, worry about security, track down tools, learn to use said tools, administer storage or filesystems, etc. Given the choice between technology that slides into malfunction when not administered properly (i.e. "it's broken" as far as they can tell) and no technology at all, most regular people will simply opt for "none," as in "I tried it for a while, but it was always broken or crashing or getting a virus, it sucked. I sold it and just went back to my old XYZ."
Say what you will, but the masses are sheep and they're happy as sheep. You cannot teach them to think, vote, raise children, or use computers responsibly because they DO NOT WANT TO BE THE SHEPHERD, only the sheep. And there will always be a market to sell them sheep-friendly devices.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Isn't this pretty much what people with real computers have always thought Apple products were like?
Seriously, they released a tablet that won't run regular OSX apps but only stripped down sandboxed app store approved apps?... HAHAHAHA
HAHA
HAHAHAHA
What idiots. Definatly a huge step backwards. But Apple Fan Bois will say look at the interface and how thin it is... its a huge step forward.
We organized actions and protests targeting iTunes music DRM outside Apple stores, and under the pressure Steve Jobs dropped DRM on music.
Jobs was on record as opposing DRM on music long before the campaign started. It was the labels that had to be convinced to change, they were the ones responsible, not Apple. Taking credit for something you had no part in does nothing for your credibility and weakens your ability to work effectively in the future.
Apple's big advantage in their recent Great Leap Forward was that they entered through the iPod. The iPod required the aquiesence of the big group of Free computing haters in the MPAA/RIAA. The fact is, that by being their freedom hating Apple selves, they managed to get these companies to release their precious content whereas before the only way to get such content (apart from buying media and ripping it yourself) was, well, illegal..
Now, I suspect that the iPad is intended as a shot across the bow in the eBook market, which Amazon created the "iPod" for in the form of the Kindle. Apple has an uphill struggle versus the Kindle, so they've given the iPad functionality that the Kindle doesn't have. Will it be enough to dethrone the Kindle? Time will tell.
In the meantime, poor engineer types like myself will troll around for discounted Chinese hardware that does the same type of thing in a less elegant way but for a fraction of the cost while preserving my precious freedom to tinker.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
Soo much other stuff to spend my money on. I'll pass.
So you don't like the closed OS. Fair enough. So why not jailbreak and install whatever you want? Or help port an open OS to the device? Because Apple won't give you tech support? If you're all about free software you should be used to relying on the community for tech support anyway.
It's a better world when free and proprietary software compete. If the FSF doesn't like the iPhone OS, it should make a better one. If the result is what users actually want (through some combination of openness, price, and quality) then great. But if not, then that's life. Proprietary software sometimes produces better products than free software, and people are sometimes willing to give up free access to the source code in order to get those products. Who is the FSF to tell people what software they should be (morally, if not technically) allowed to use? Isn't that exactly what they're complaining Apple does? It's hypocritical.
I have no problem with arguing that free software is morally or technically superior to proprietary software, but it does bother me when groups like the FSF claim that it's morally wrong to use or sell proprietary software. If it's immoral to use proprietary software, then it's immoral to eat at a restaurant that won't give you the exact recipe for everything on the menu. It would likewise be immoral to buy any product whose composition or process of manufacture is a trade secret. It would be immoral to buy any book not published under an open license. If free software proponents aren't going to be consistent with their own moral choices, where do they get off demanding that everyone else conform to their value system?
If you really dislike the iPad, it would be far more effective to harp on how the device simply isn't useful, not how it restricts freedom. The iPad has far bigger problems than the usual Apple lockdown, like its awkward form factor and price making it a device with the disadvantages of both a smartphone and a netbook, but the advantages of neither.
"16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
"We think basically you watch television to turn your brain off, and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on." - Steve Jobs, Interview in Macworld magazine, February 2004
Steve used to preach that you could tell simply by looking at someones posture whether they were consuming or creating. The hacker bent over his keyboard is a boon to society while the couch potato leaning waayy back is a drain.
Meanwhile, he introduces the iPad while leaning back in an easy chair and telling us how easy it is to buy and consume web pages, music, movies, books from the iTunes store. And it's all DRM infested, right down to the software you may or may not be allowed to run on it.
Consume, consume, consume.
"What is clear, is that the rise of the App Store revokes control of the computer from the user."
Wrong. It may "revoke control" from the power user. But, the general public will view the iPad, like the iPod, as a simpler, more friendly way to get things done. It gives them control.
The general public doesn't care about our App Store hang ups, or cries of "DRM". Previously, the general public has struggled to install and play movies / apps / music at all, now they can tap a finger and it's there. Did these users prefer the pre-App Store world, where you had to have specialist knowledge to access this media? I doubt it. They couldn't access that world at all.
Here on Slashdot, we see the iPad bringing "DRM", and view it as a "huge step backwards". However, the general public sees the iPad as easy access to movies and apps, simple, straightforward accessible computing. The general public see it as a huge step forwards.
Our loss of control, as geeks, is most people's gain. Don't you think that complex media should be accessible to the general public, quickly and easily? We cry DRM at Apple, but do we really mean that we just don't want the general public in our clubhouse? What's wrong with the iPad and the "consumer mainstream" derided in the story? Not everyone wants to pop the bonnet and fiddle with the engine. In fact, hardly anyone does.
The story is seriously blinkered.
We have gone from Windows which gives any piece of software I install complete control of my computer to iPhone OS which gives Apple complete control of my gadgets. It would be nice to have a computing device that was truly mine.
Why would you do yet another tablet pc to compete with the Kindle? It's not like there aren't dozens of tablet pcs out right now that are completely failing to compete with the Kindle.
I think they made a perfectly good choice for a sort of media-and-app platform that doesn't do much else. Sounds like it'd be a hell of a lot more fun to pull out than my fricking laptop (wait for boot, scroll around with the shitty little touchpad, or drag out a mouse, try to find a good mousing surface, give up and use leg, etc) and despite carrying the damn thing everywhere, I don't even use it as often as my web-enabled phone, just because of convenience.
I don't know. I'm not an Apple fanboy, and this thing interests me. No enough to be an early adopter, but enough to get version 2.0.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Take the phone away from an iPhone, and you have an iTouch. Make an iTouch bigger, and you have an iPad.
Is that basically the way it works?
These FSF "campaigns" are so ugly and so ineffective. From what I understand, only half a dozen or so showed up at the Apple event; I'm fairly certain they didn't leave people with a positive impression of free software which would have been their main objective.
But the worst thing is how misguided these protests and product-bashing websites are. It's all about trying to convince people that they really don't want supposedly "locked down" gadgets, when in fact (sadly for the FSF) that's not what people care about at all. They just want something cool, that works, that's easy to use, that's useful, etc.
The FSF is supposed to encourage and promote "freedom" and choice, yet their approach reeks of lecturing people what they should and should not want. The FSF should be working exclusively on constructive projects that build up free software rather than trying to tear down what other people have created just because they think it's bad. These sideshows are really not helping the cause.
This author takes full ownership and responsibility for the unpopular opinions outlined above.
The troll did not understand or he pretended not to understand. The iPad is a consumer device not a computer.
what? you mean most people who buy ipods really just want a solid MP3 player with an elegant interface, and maybe some extra applications? pfft.
come on, man. you know most consumers secretly want an open platform device they can code for. just the other day my grandmother was decrying that she can't run linux on her nano.
---
Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
Microsoft wanted money for its products. Google just wants to know a lot about you. Most people don't care about privacy. So Google is shaping up to be Microsoft+{Nielsen+Gallup}+{Madison Avenue} all rolled into one.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I have read some of the comments about the new iPad and there are valid concerns. Sure Apple limits what can be installed on the device. But after having to service hundreds of Windows based computers over my lifetime I thought this was probably a good idea. Not all developers take the same care to assure their code structure is solid. Apple at least sets some standards to the applications prior to allowing them to be in the Apps store. Now for the most part the developers out there are responsible but there are a few apps that leave something to be desired. What I think to be a good and solid advancement is the functionality of the device. I know a great number of seniors and this device opens out new mobility for them, not requiring the standard limiting inputs but to browse and contribute without typing or mousing. I think this device could completely eliminate the teacher as we know it. Also, seeing as governments and industry organization have put their foot down in my consumer products of late with respect to assuring they get their piece of the revenue, I doubt that will go away any time soon. (DRM) But then like a faithful friend of mine always says, "you get what you ask for, no fail." And the DRM is what the consumers asked for and got.
As long as the device is capable of opening user-documents that don't have any DRM, I don't really care if it's got DRM everywhere else.
For what it's worth, my wife saw Apple's press release video and she heavily hinted that I ought to be buying her one for our next anniversary.
I admit that I'm almost sold too... but it needs to achieve the points I remarked above before I'll put my money down on it.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
The history of computing is littered with mistakes and dead-ends. If this is all that bad, it'll go the way of the Lisa, the Apple III, Clippy, the Coleco Adam, and others.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Microsoft Courier but wait that is still a vapour....
2006 iPad commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eF0y0IfpPU
Hacks it, installs Linux (of whatever distribution) and makes a Beowulf cluster of it, or (dear God no) works out how to install Windows on it.
You would have far less problems with speeding if all cars just work and had a speed limiter installed that just worked.
There would be less theft if every car was bio-keyed to the person and every person tracked...
Do I need to go on?
Why are the privacy nutcases always so ready to imagine the most terrible wrongs about potential abuse of power by the government, but think it is super okay to give all control to a corporation?
Apple has severe intrest in controlling how people consume their media and their hardware is reflecting this, making it harder and harder to install alternative methods. You can of course believe they won't abuse this, you can but you would be a silly person.
I really don't know if your kind can ever learn, there have been enough example shown that when companies get to comfortable with themselves, it is bad for their customers. Car companies that only produce the cars they want to make, not the ones they want, tell me, how is detroit doing? MS stopping development on IE because it had won, so why continue to invest? Apple buying up competing software and then stopping development.
Google is doing it as well, support h264, so that no competing video service can be started easily since they can't afford the millions in licensing costs.
It is all very subtle and long term, but you only got to be old enough to remember the old unixes to know how right the FSF is.
And the fact that you claim Ubuntu does the same... sudo -i [your own password] is all you need to do to have total control. One command and you can change everything and access everything...
If you want to see why the FSF is right, install IE6 as your main and only browser. If you last for less then a day, donate some money to the FSF.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I don't see what the iPad has to do with OS X. The iPhone OS is built for a completely different purpose than OS X is. iPads are meant to do a relatively few things (read books, consume media, browse web, play games, etc.) very well and intuitively. OS X does a lot of things very well and is incredibly powerful. In our neuroimaging lab we used to run Linux as our main processing OS (we still use it a lot) but we are transitioning over to OS X because we can do everything we need to do that Linux can do plus much more.
As someone in academia, the iPad would be perfect for much of what I do. I can take notes on it (including notes when I do therapy or psychological assessments), check my email, write papers and reports, read articles and books, listen to music, run all sorts of other apps (including terminal ones with ssh support), transfer and display brain images, and more. With the right adapter I could use the iPad to run Keynote presentations from.
I do some of these things on my iPod Touch - I use it all the time for my work - but the screen size limits some of what I can do. Could a netbook meet my needs? To some degree but the tablet form factor of the iPad is key for me. I could purchase a different tablet computer but again, their form factors are larger than the iPad. Plus, they usually cost more.
Besides, the iPad is competing with the Kindle to some degree and a Kindle with a 9.7" screen is only $10 cheaper than the iPad. I know the smaller Kindle is slightly more than 1/2 the price of the iPad but it does far less than 1/2 of what the iPad does (but the Kindle is very good at what it is designed to do, so I hear).
I'll probably purchase an iPad - maybe not this 1st rev. but possibly when it is updated in a year or two. I think Apple is going to sell a lot of them.
Because we've all seen what a dismal failure the iPod/iPhone/Touch devices and the App store have been.
Really? Take a look at this article from a week ago which pretty much describes the interface that the iPad has. I'm excited about the idea of a locked-down device. Why? Because I like my iPhone. It does everything I want it to do and nothing that I don't want it to do. It's never crashed. I'm not tempted to fill it with junk. I would love an iPad but can't afford it at the moment. I would love the ebook reader and being able to browse from the couch without my MacBook burning a hole in my legs. I would love to be able to hand it to our teenage cousins and know that they can't break it on the software side, again unlike my MacBook.
You can install any application you want on an iPod Touch, iPhone and presumably the iPad as well. If you own or manage the device you have 2 options. You can either get the development environment and install applications directly to each device or you can set up a server (intended for but not restricted to enterprises) that manages all the devices in your control. You can install and remove any application, backup and restore data and setting, etc. What you cannot do without jail breaking the device is violate certain restrictions on using some OS APIs or distribute applications to devices you do not directly manage. You can distribute applications to others without jail broken phones who either have a developer set up or enterprise server. You can distribute pretty much anything to people with jail broken devices.
As far as I know, Apple doesn’t arrest, prosecute or sue people who jailbreak their devices. They just don’t support them. Fair enough. If you use unsupported APIs on any OS or application you’ll generally find that you won’t get vendor support or cooperation doing that. No one can stand behind a product that is not being used as it was intended. As a customer, your reasonable expectations about a product and its support are those expressed by the vendor. They don’t include anything that the vendor expressly does not support. They don’t include whatever you can dream up.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most. - Clement Mok
It's supposedly going to be available 2nd quarter this year for the same price.
I have an iPhone since the original came out and I'm now on a 3GS. I absolutely love it and when I even consider using my WM6 phone that work provides I shudder thinking about it. I have a very strong feeling that there must be a lot more planned for this thing than what we've been shown so far. Apple was throwing out a lot of big phrases like 'most important project of my life', blah blah. A future software update must be in the works that greatly enhances this thing.. I've never really thought to myself the iPhone is great but only if it was twice the size.
These artificial limitations that Apple puts in place are completely unnecessary, and unjustifiable.
Maybe if I use a car analogy, you'd understand it better. These days, virtually every consumer-grade vehicle has a gas tank that can be filled at virtually any gas station. If you want to buy from one station instead of another, you're perfectly free to do so. After all, there's no justifiable reason to put any limitations in place. It's your car, you should be able to fill it up however and wherever you want.
Now suppose Ford comes out with a new, trendy car that appeals to yuppies, hipsters and homosexuals. It comes in flamboyant colors, has no controls but a steering wheel and an accelerator, and costs a fuckload more money than any other comparable car on the market.
Ford wants to exploit these fools even more. So they create their own line of gas stations, that sell the same fuel as everywhere else, but at five times the cost. Then they change the hole in the gas tank to a star shape, so that you can't fill the car up anywhere but at their gas stations.
Ford doesn't have a legitimate reason to do that. It's outright exploitation, facilitated by artificially-introduced limitations.
Now, some of the smarter fools realize that they can create an adapter that lets them fill their cars up at any normal station. This is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, given that the constraints they're facing are completely artificial. But thanks to lobbying certain politicians, some car manufacturers have gotten legislation passed to make the use of such adapters illegal!
That is exactly what we see with Apple today. The limitations they put in place are artificial, and completely unnecessary.
I can certainly understand and support the idea that users should be allowed to do whatever they want with their general purpose computer. But it's absurd to suggest that Apple has to make that machine. At best the argument is "they shouldn't do this because it's a slippery slope", but even that seems a bit of a stretch given the current state of the market.
Now if you wanted to make this argument in a market where locked-down was the only option -- like cell phones or DVD players -- I might have more sympathy. But this particular instance just makes the whole movement look whiny.
Your microwave oven doesn't allow any third-party software to be run, has no data interface ports, and in general is quite difficult to modify even though it's controlled by generic, programmable digital electronics. But that's exactly how most people want it. There are certainly some users who would like to be able to reprogram their microwave, but the vast majority of users prefer the completely locked-down version they currently have.
Why should computers be any different? Yes, it is physically capable of running other programs. And I count myself among those who would actually run other programs on such a device, if given the opportunity. But we aren't (or at least shouldn't be) in the market for an iPad, or any similarly-restricted device. Just as the electronics market supports the sale of both general-purpose magnetrons on purpose-built microwave oven the computer market can support both general-purpose and purpose-built workstations.
What has choice done? It's given us the chaos of spam, malware, worms etc...
The average consumer should get a locked down device such as what Apple are proposing, a limited device with a closed market. And you do realise this is really no different to a games console.
Full blown computers should be reserved for those of us who know how to manage them responsibly.
The only thing they should do, is ensure that the locked down devices and the apps on them use standard APIs and formats, so that those of us with full blown machines and the knowledge to use them can still easily communicate with the non technically literate.
Computers as they are today are simply too complex and difficult to manage for the average consumer, so you either give them something simple or you take the management out of their hands.
http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
While I hate to be quoting Apple, the iPad is the start of a computing appliance. You'll pick this up in the morning while you make your toast and catch up on the news (reading or watching; big media or Facebook). It's not meant to replace the laptop (and do you think Apple wants to kill that product line?).
Everyone is thinking in traditional computer form-factors while Apple is trying something new. Whether they succeed or not is anyone's guess. A lot better products have come and gone - the best tech isn't always the winner.
You would think that the FSF would have at least given Apple credit for using the open, non-DRMed ePub format. Getting major book and periodical publishers to sign up for an Open standard is a big plus. Yes, Apple didn't eliminate all DRM and release a GNU/Herd based platform yesterday, but with the iPad Apple continues to move (slightly) in the direction of more open media, which is good for everyone.
In short, the FSF should give Apple credit for what they did right and encourage them to do more instead of haranguing them for not doing everything you want at once.
I think the iPad is destined to be another Apple TV.
It's expensive, functionally limited, and a good deal less portable than an iPhone or iPod. I've got several good friends who are mega-apple-fanboys (I'm a moderate apple fanboy, BTW), and not one of them is the least bit interested. Every one of them thought the iPad would be a general-purpose computing device, and it just isn't.
Every one of them would prefer to have an iPhone and a netbook, or an iPhone and a MacBook Air. Frankly, I agree with them. I just don't see the draw of the device.
I'm sure that Apple will sell quite a few of these devices to people who will use them as portable web tablets and video players, but I just don't see the iPad having near the market influence of the iPhone. Apple would have to dramatically alter the OS of the iPad to do that, and I think they are unwilling to support 3 different OSs at one time (they're concerned about fracturing the developer base, and OS X and OS iPod are enough). All that being said, I agree with the FSF's opinion in principle, but refuse to fear the market damaging effects of a device that I just don't think will be that successful.
Now, if the iPad was running Android, or WebOS, or an OS that was easier to tweak into a general purpose computing device, than it's fate might be different. Even then, it's seriously overpriced compared to your average netbook, and I have a feeling that Acer and ASUS's response would be Netbooks sans keyboard.
People just need to face it; as much as John Q Nerd wants a cool-looking Tablet computer, tablet machines continuously fail in the marketplace. Touch devices just don't sell well unless they are pocket portable.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
It is a huge step backward, but that is the direction Mass Market Computing is going. Choice and openness generally only bring problems and fragmentation in the market. Look at windows, it can be a mess because of all the "choice" you have. Look at games, a majority of the market has gone to consoles. I believe that computing will go the same way. We, well maybe not slashdot members, but the mass market will all buy the same pre-made (and subsidized) box in exchange for lock-in. Fortunately it will succeed because it will work with less problems then the general platform. Just wait for the PS4 and Xbox 720, they will replace the PC for the majority of users. Apply is just trying to do this in a more portable fashion.
I don't have an Apple device and never have specifically because I'm not given enough control over them. This is nothing new. If this device doesn't offer me the openness that I want, I'll pass without letting it hurt my feelings.
Each year there seems to be more whiners and squeakers complaining that some new device isn't what they wanted it to be or doesn't have this or that. The iPad is what is is! You now know what it is! Acknowledge that and move on!
Geez, don't stand next to a Porsche and bitch about the mileage! Don't stand next to a Kia and bitch about its lack of performance!
And please tell me that so many "smart" people didn't really expect some miracle, magic bullet device that executed all other Apple products?! LOL
Well, allow me to retort. I found a little quote for you (FTA, forgive me my sins) to get your apple-flavored perspective tamed down a little:
However, on the iPhone and its new tablet, Apple does not provide publishers any way to opt out of the restrictions -- even free software and free culture authors who want to give legal permission for users to share their works.
Of course Apple is at liberty to suck the teats of the "major" booksellers, but the inevitable popularity of the device, (and compared to what already exists out there in eReader land, it is indeed a step backwards/sideways/loop-de-loop/whatever), this will have a considerable chilling effect on the visibility of the "free culture" material that slashdotters seem so eager about these days. Every day I read how outraged we all are about ACTA and Disney and DMCA blah blah blah, and this little iPuppy that everyone is drooling over significantly reinforces the majors by playing straight into their pockets.
You claim that our dear undermensch consumerist mouth-breathing brethren value safety over freedom, which you're free to claim as much as you wish, but are we geeks supposed to sit aside (the non-active "good" guys) and let the REAL copyright thieves (the very active "evil men" of the *AAs) take all the candy from the kids because we just let them?
What other cliché can I enjoin to ask you to remove your iPod alternative-reality brain plugs - first they offered The Dark Knight for $30 in HD on my tablet, but I let them, cause it was cool - then they made me pay for it again when the director's cut came out, cause the original was automatically expired by remote, but I didn't care, cause I'm a nerd and I'll pay through my nose for a director's cut - and then they removed it from the store and my machine forever cause some reactionary paid-for appellate judge got his tits twisted after some remote relative of the original author of the Batman comics whined and paid to have the film "censored" cause he wasn't collecting enough royalties, and it was too late for the EFF to save the movie, cause we'd spat in their faces so many times they had already given up.
Come on, pudge, the restrictions don't need to land on MAC OS to be worrisome - it's worrisome enough where they are already.
So, like electric vehicles and charging stations, then?
When did the future switch from being a promise to a threat? -C. Palahniuk
The thing that most geeks don't take into consideration is the "Can my grandmother use this?" What good is a world of software and open systems if the person who is trying to use it, can't even figure out how to adjust the volume? Linux and Microsoft just can't seem to wrap their head around this concept. I think it's actually a huge step forward! Imagine a world of technology that is available to EVERYONE, not just us elite geekoids and those who are the right side of the digital divide! This device bridges the digital divide.
(unashamedly filched from BoingBoing's Xeni Jardin)
Worse than that, since all the media talks about is the latest trendy new Ford, it soon becomes like you're the oddball if you don't have their latest model. Everyone crowds around Ford's latest models and everyone else is all but ignored.
Children growing up only see Ford's car and think that is synonymous with a car and soon all there is is Ford and their overpriced overhyped standard.
Right time for another dried frog pill before the slashdot car analogy gets out of had
"The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
Do you conflate the Kindle with a tablet computer?
I don't. Anybody else?
Then don't buy the fucking car? What part of choice are you missing? Is it that you WANT to be a trendy homosexual hipster yuppie but can't afford the price of admission? No one is twisting your arm to purchase it. You are just bitching on other peoples behalf.
For apple fans, the locking down is a feature ! You'd never think of installing a Free and Open firmware on a Hammer ? would you ? I agree with the free argument, but I also want computers to be a commodity as easy to use as any tool and objects we use everyday. In that sense the iPad is a step further in that direction. Now if it could be open, use open standards and keep the experience. I am all for it. By the way, I guess it's gonna be hacke quite fast.
I hear a lot of people saying that why buy it if you already have an iPhone, but a lot of people don't have one. I have a Blackberry that my company makes me use, and an iPod Touch I use for music and surfing the web from the couch. This is a perfect upgrade for that type of device. Larger screen, still has WiFi, has bluetooth, and potentially 3G for when I don't have a wireless signal to hop on to. It also makes me ponder eBooks since most people I know don't want to purchase a stand alone eBook reader from Amazon/B&N/etc. I'm not looking at this as a replacement for my laptop, or desktop, or gaming console. I see it as a 'hmmm, that might be able to replace what I use my iPod Touch' for. Obviously it's not as easy as tossing it in my pocket, but that's the trade off for a larger screen.
I will shred my adversaries. Pull their eyes out just enough to turn them towards their mewing, mutilated faces. Illyria
OS X, based on Darwin, isn't what I would call locked down. At least not any more than Windows. We've converted random homemade apps to work on Mac (by a professor's request, not because is was cost effective in any way). The iPhone without jailbreak is pretty much how you said: very good at doing what Apple wants it to do. But Apple hasn't clamped down on Jailbreak either.
The iPad is very niche. It'll probably also be jailbroken (likely with the same hack that jb's iPhones) but before that I wouldn't think of it as a computer. It's pretty much meant as a distribution device, not as a production device (you read from it, you don't write). If you accept that it's not a gaming/Cray/design machine, only something you use for leisure on the couch, then it'll be easier for you to ignore.
Apple has certainly raised some eye brows with recent purchase of an advertising company which together with that OS patent that prevents the user from doing anything with the computer until they have confirmed they have seen the ad makes for some interesting computing horror scenarios.
I'm currently invested into Apple hardware and genuinely like OS X, but it does make me wonder in anticipation about where their desktop offerings are headed. I certainly hope they won't make a silly mistake of turning their currently general purpose desktop computers into a locked down environment akin to iPhone or iPad.
As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
If the multi touch is also pressure sensitive, these will be substantially cheaper than Wacom's Cintiq. Give these the ability to use Wacom pens, and even thought I am not a graphic artist by trade I would pick one up. On the other hand, news like this suggests Apple intends this to just be an over-sized iPhone, killing their chance at getting their artist market to fork over even more cash.
If the "artificial limitations" are "completely unnecessary, and unjustifiable", then consumers won't buy it. In your car analogy, people can still buy Chevys and Hondas.
I happen to agree about completely unnecessary - I suspect that Apple has a justification (they think they'll make more money), but their choice of what to make doesn't control my choice of what to buy.
I am very disappointed in what I've read about the iPad - but on the bright side, I'm going to save a lot of money!
An iflop :)
Jack of all trades,master of none
When the telephone was invented, you simply COULD NOT use the device independent of the monopolistic phone company. When the television was invented, you just COULDN'T stick an antenna out the window and watch your neighbor's 16 mm home movies. You had to use a BROADCASTING company! I tried to change my Gillette razor blades the other day - I COULD NOT BELIEVE I had to buy expensive "Gillette" razors only! The reasons why TV, telephones, and even razors simply work, as opposed to being a consumer nightmare, is because they are based on proprietary models and are consumer goods, not hackers' tools. Apple has tiny, fragile devices that it does not claim to be PCs (or PCs for the rest of us). As others have said, if you don't want an iPad/Touch/phone, don't buy one. Try a Kindle. Oh, wait...
a step in the right direction. finally content producers will be closer to making a living!!! yay to a quality content! yay to paying for it
The GP brought up the Kindle, so I was responding to that. Imho, the Kindle is a piece of shit. Single function device locked into one vendor. Blea.
I personally don't see the ipad as a tablet PC at all: for one thing, it's not really a pc. It's a embedded system that runs media applications and some cute little apps.
As a device that does that, for a similar price point, it kicks the shit out of media readers like the kindle, and it does (frankly) all the crap I'd ever actually use a tablet pc to do.
If you want a tablet pc, there are plenty on the market.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
Now wait a minute. Before all the FOSS types get into a slathering fury (oops, too late), consider:
- The SDK is free. Free! Download it and start developing apps already.
- Distribution is free. Free! There's nothing stopping you from signing up and giving away your self-righteous apps for no cost; include the source code or a link thereto if you like. And if you do want to make a buck (er, $0.99) off each copy of your app, that costs you a measly $99/year (surely your app is good enough to get a hundred people to buy it, right?).
- The much-defamed App Store censors mostly just take a cursory glance at each submission to make sure the app is well-behaved (not malicious or destructively stupid) and socially acceptable to all audiences (how much FOSS pr*n are you planning to develop, eh?). Is it really too much to ask that someone double-check your work for brokenness before spreading it to the unwashed masses? Have you _seen_ what got thru that process unabated?
OK, so it isn't totally completely unquestionably end-to-end FOSS. I'll understand if RMS doesn't approve, but that's his shtick, not ours.
- App Store is the only distribution process. Well, except that you could publish your source code and let anyone with the SDK compile & run it sans censors.
- DRM everywhere. Well, not really - seems you can put whatever content you want on it via iTunes (music is not DRMed anymore, remember? and I shouldn't have to say anything about videos, right?) and the SDK. I expect the iBook stuff will prove the same: minimal-if-any DRM, easily circumvented.
And what does the RMS-approved FOSS get you? ..." isn't preferable to "it just works" for most users, including most of us geeks who don't want to have to screw around with your app which wasn't even given a cursory independent stamp of "not blatantly broken".
- Android is showing diminishing quality of apps with increasing conflict. Windows has been there forever.
- "Oh, you just need to
You want choice, you have choice: get a Droid. A lot of us appreciate a little formalized cooperation, at trivial cost, to ensure stupid code doesn't run rampant.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
We note your concerns and indeed if personal computing had started in the manner you suggested, then it would be a different world. For instance, IBM would not have had any need for Microsoft to provide BASIC so users of their new device could write their own utility programs. No BASIC, no asking Microsoft for an operating system. Is your mind blown? My mind's blown. I'm taking a moment.
And with that wavy cross-dissolve my Scene 2 what-if speculation/flashback concludes and I'm back from the alternate scenario. A dream, but it was so real. And you were there. And you. And... but I digress.
I'm soon off to walk to work. Now I could drive and when I get in the car, I sort of understand implicitly that my freedoms are restricted as to what routes and lanes I take and how fast I may go and what colors I correlate with acceleration, but I do accept it. I like writing programs and I like what free and open software has done to make my life better. I can't write programs for my iPhone. On the other hand, telephoning on my computer, though improved, is problematic. It sure doesn't fit in my pocket. I guess the point I'm making is give us some credit. We understand what we are and are not getting. When we need more, we'll use something else. In my case that something else is running Linux or FreeBSD.
In conclusion, I hope you have a good day and while we will keep a chair available, we'll plan to have someone else bring the cookies to our inaugural iPad User Group meeting.
Cheers, Dan
P.S. I could write programs for my iPhone, but the hassle isn't worth it. It'd make more sense to deliver custom functionality via a webhost under my control and that way any networked computer I have access to could use it.
The iPad is as much of a computer as the AppleTV is... it's just an appliance that lets you get or view content through the small window controlled by Apple. I like it and would get one for a few tasks, but it wouldn't replace my laptop, cell phone, or anything else. It could replace a GPS with Google Maps and I like being able to play videos for the kiddos in the car. It may also be nice to have in the kitchen to look-up recipes or to view weather or our daily calendar. And I think it would make an awesome eBook reader, but that's it... I wouldn't use it to do my budget, or pay my bills, or do anything productive. And with no Flash support or Hulu or Netflix, it's very limiting. If this thing was a full blown computer with OSX or something that would allow installing other operating systems like Linux, that'd be different, but for now it's nothing more than a simple appliance for doing simple things... no more and no less.
I've never understood this particular brand of grammar-nazism. "Going" describes action, "forward" describes direction. You can go forward, just as you can go in any relative direction, backwards, up, down, in, out, left, starboard, etc.
The car was going backwards, but now it is going forward.
What am I missing?
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
Or custom GPS solutions that only work with vendor-supplied DVD's, but are convenient for the customer to obtain and use? It's a matter of convenience.
Currently hooked on AMP
The iPad is not a netbook. In a way, it is LESS than a netbook. It does more than a Kindle or Nook, but only if you bring your own bandwidth. And it's tightly controlled. The OS and the apps are quite cool, but it's a lot less flexible than a netbook.
Pricing is rather interesting too. It outperforms traditional e-book readers, but it costs more. A lot more unless you can live with supplying your own wifi. It underperforms vs. netbooks, but STILL costs more. The iPad competes a little bit with iPod touch and iPhone, but not at all with MacBook. Unfortunately, it doesn't compete with conventional netbooks either.
In order of preference, I would like to buy the following:
1. OS X netbook for under $1000
2. MacBook running OS X (which I already own)
3. MacBook Pro
4. Conventional netbook with Ubuntu
5. Conventional netbook with XP
6. Conventional netbook with Win7
7. iPad
8. iPhone on Verizon network
9. iPod touch
For all the hype, the iPad is in 7th place on my list; unlikely to go any higher unless somebody finds an easy way to hack it open. Notice how Apple could have put this product at the top of my list, and yet they were content with 7th place. This is the kind of arrogance that the market will punish.
Clearly, the purchase price is only part of the cost of owning an iPad. Unlike a MacBook, you will use it only as Apple wants it used. And Apple will get paid whenever you add software -- no matter who writes it. If Microsoft made netbooks, this is what they would look like.
Notice how Vista and iPhone on AT&T fail to make the cut.
In all honestly, a $600 NetMacBook running Snow Leopard would have been much more newsworthy.
Someone essentially says "don't shoot yourself in the foot" and for that, they are wingnuts. Wow.
Personal computers are consumer devices, and if their history had taken the same path that these damned closed widgets are taking, they would suck more than they do now. I must be getting old, because I never would have guessed this is subjective or controversial.
Let's look at this another way. You are using an internet website right now. Imagine if you were on CompuServe or AOL instead, because those services were pretty much built on the same values we're seeing coming out from Apple and Amazon right now.
I don't think many of these people are buying the "car", but you see, the way consumer feedback works, is that when people have a specific reason for not buying a product that they otherwise might want, they're going to make it very clear to the manufacturer and others just WHY they're not buying it so that hopefully their complaints, along with the complaints of others, will lead to a change.
This whole "just don't buy it" thing is getting ridiculous. What you're basically teaching the next generation to do is to accept whatever the corporate overlords give them, or go to a corner and shutup. Don't dare try to influence any of the actions of a corporation - you are a mere peon and should just accept that the only thing that is to flow from you is cash or nothing; not ideas, creativity, or ESPECIALLY complaints.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
It's an appliance, not a computer. Nobody complains about not being able to install applications on their coffeepot, television, or microwave oven... If you want a computer, you need to buy a computer instead of an appliance (gadget, whatever).
99% of the computing activity that goes on daily is information and media consumption, not creation. First and foremost, we surf the web and, along the way, watch photos or various media clips that we encounter. Gone are the days when a computer meant something used for word processing or writing a spreadsheet. While we still do those things in similar absolute amounts, the sheer number of *other* things we use our computers for has dwarfed these activities to the point where there is a large market for a machine optimized primarily for consumption. The netbook was aimed at this catagory, hence its name. A key to success is that such a device needs to be able to do rudimentary creation or at least editing. Again, witness the netbook. The keyboard is cramped and the screen is small, but this is fine for occasional road-warrier-style editing while mostly being used for reading email and internet surfing. The iPad fits this niche very well, with a much slicker and more intuitive UI. Why must it be labeled and treated as a general purpose computer even though almost none of its customers would use it as such even if it were so capable? Tech journalists treat every product as if it's intended for their personal use. As for the app store, Apple's centralized control has thus far resulting in only a literal handful of highly-desired apps being rejected and not made available. A handful out of more than 100K. This is an exceedingly small fraction, with almost zero impact on how anyone has used their iPhones and iPod Touches unless Google Voice is your raison d'etre. Improving usability by a few percent while opening up the floodgates to a far larger share of malware might not actually be the right tradeoff for the majority of customers who, again, are using the device for consumption and will likely never even buy more than a handful of apps to supplement the build in apps. There's no slippery slope here because the same model wouldn't be tolerated on a Mac. Once those who'd be better served with an iPad are taken out of the equation, the remaining Mac customers buy these machines because they actually create content, need choice and see a net benefit to having control vs. having to search many stores for the app they need and police for malware. Indeed, since the software used for most purposes tends to have already been largely standardized (Office, iLife, Photoshop, Final Cut, etc.), most users don't actually even exercise that much choice at this mature point in the product lifecycle, tending to prefer to stay compatible with the knowledgebase that exists for these dominant products.
Things work, a single vendor to complain to if something goes wrong.
Frustrated people go to Apple and don't mind paying more money in doing so. People choose to have less choice for reliability.
Most people realize that Apple has fewer native software applications (choices) than other computer OS's.
People want products to work and not have to learn about the command line to install something, tweak something - period. Most people don't (or won't) make time to learn the command line.
There will always be other organizations that will find profitability in creating/developing solutions that Apple doesn't.
I can't see this thing as a computer. It has no conventional keyboard. On-screen keyboards are really only good enough for typing a URL. In other words, the input capability of the iPad is only good enough to navigate, and not to create or edit. This device is a content delivery mechanism plain and simple. Sure, there may be some useful apps for specific uses (the local Apple store uses iPod touch with a credit card reader as a POS device) but it is not a useful general purpose computer by any means. I'd hate to type this post on it.
The hype machine (tech media) was a barrel of fun with their blind guesses.
And now the hype machine (tech media) is all angry because the hype *they* created and fed didn't pan out. Classic. They're like all the disillusioned Obama voters. :-D
And what is with making the caparison to feminine pads? Did you do the same before when someone mentioned a pad of paper, or shoulder pads or someone padding their expense account? Seriously, I don't get it. Eh, that's memes for you.
As for the iPad itself, my hopes were:
- Retractable blades around the edge so I could use it as throwing weapon like Oddjob's bowler hat in Goldfinger.
- A wheeled "rover" dock that would allow the iPad to roam around my house like a pet.
- The long awaited eros.com App.
I really find the iPad crap. It's more than the cost of other tablets that give you full hackable desktop OS but most importantly it's got NO USB host! Even phones have USB host now! (Nokia N900 off the top of my head)
With USB host you can make your portable device do pretty much anything: want more storage? Add a pen drive, hell with a battery powered USB charger the N900 can run a laptop disk! Want a decent keyboard? Just plug in your desktop keyboard!
And I would of thought "Apple customers" would of wanted USB. Take photos with your fancy digital SLR camera, plug that into your tablet and upload them strait to your employer/local paper/flickr stream. The N900 can do that...
It's an iPod touch, but without the convenience of being able to put it in your pocket. Why?
They were right - the revolution did not get televised. It was posted on YouTube instead. All in 120 characters. SLOOSH!
Who's saying you don't have a choice?
By publicly complaining about this shit, the FSF is providing a valuable service. If no one complains, the companies will think that users are OK with it, and everyone will start doing it. Maybe they'll add even more restrictions.
What is clear, is that the rise of the App Store revokes control of the computer from the user.
So buy a PC (with Linux if you prefer) or Mac (which, in other news, will still run any software or OS you like and comes with a complete SDK).
The non-Mac iProducts are not intended as general purpose computers - App Store or no the lack of keyboards, storage, interfaces, multitasking etc. makes them unsuitable for that. They're web browsers and media players.
Now, its worth being a bit vigilant against the possibility of true general purpose computers disappearing from the market, but currently I see no sign of that. Maybe the DBD people should be concentrating their ire on the likes of Ubisoft who are dictating what people can do on general purpose PCs.
Meanwhile, Big Brother's App Store is giving many Mom'n'Pop developers access to a single, high profile sales channel and payment collection system.
Also, DRM is a problem that affects virtually every other ebook reader and has been hobbling the industry since before the iPad was a twinkle in Jobs' eye. Go protest outside the publishers and authors' associations that are actually causing the problem.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
This whole "just don't buy it" thing is getting ridiculous...Don't dare try to influence any of the actions of a corporation
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks. If the corporation is smart, it will listen to the signal and try something else.
The computers in my refrigerator, car, DVR, television, telephone, microwave, and assorted other appliances only let me do what they were designed to do, and nothing more.
Harmph...
The iPad is NOT a general purpose computing device. Get used to it. As computers become more integrated into our lives, they will look more like appliances.
Geez, if you want a computer, buy a computer, NOT AN APPLIANCE.
-ted
Except the limitation in that case isn't artificial.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
their hardware has always been proprietary, why would you expect their software/services to not be?
who cares if apple (yet again) cuts their nose off to spite their face.... screw 'em....
the kool-aid drinking Jobs worshipers will buy it because they don't know any better, the rest of us will get a PC based tablet and continue to make fun of "them"
FSF is saying, "this one is a bad choice, and here's why."
"Believe me!" -- Donald Trump
The kind of "freedom" that is the hallmark of Richard Stallman, GNU and EFF is very simple -if you have programming skills you are free. Otherwise, you are, well, unfit.
The basic problem is that the "open" computing platform has pretty much failed the consumer. No matter what security features are implemented in software, consumers will circumvent them to obtain what they believe they want: free software, porn, money, etc. The end result is a compromised computer that is no longer completely under the control of the user. And such computers can have a very negative impact on all users everywhere.
The average consumer has no way to utilise the sort of programming freedom that Stallman would like to see people have. They need a checked-out, validated, "App Store" where both useful and useless things can be downloaded and will never, ever compromise their computer. And if an application is found to be bad after it is released it can be "recalled". Period. If we had this today for Windows there would be no spam epidemic, no malware and little or no phishing. Instead what we have is an environment where the Internet is not safe for users with no special knowledge.
We are certainly going to see less and less "freedom" for users in the name of keeping out the bad stuff. Users, not programmers, do not need freedom but they absolutely need safe computing. We aren't going to teach that. With great freedom comes great responsibility and the spammers, thieves and scammers don't seem to be properly exercising responsibility.
Seriously, they could make their own Linux version of the iPad, or even make a Linux distro that can install on the iPad. Nobody's stopping them.
While I can see the point of the FSF view on closed systems. I'll counter it by suggesting that FSF position of "fully open" systems is just as "defective by design".
DRM allows the idiots that want to protect their copyrights the right to protect and earn a living off of it. You might not agree with the whole "profit" motivation, however, if it means the difference between being able to read a book or not being able to read a book, then what the FSF is doing is tantamount to censorship.
Yes, DRM doesn't work. It is and will be broken. WE understand this. As for APPSTORE restriction, so freakin what? There are many many things in this world where you can only get approved addons from one source.
What you don't realize is that APPLE's reputation is that of making things that "Just Work". If you want a free and open ecosystem, use Microsoft or Lunux. Both allow you to run whatever you want on their products.
My wife is a good example of the target market of such a device. She just wants it to work. Her iPod, she wants it to hold and play music. She wants to go and get the music she wants and finds it on iTMS. As for the iPod, she didn't even know what it was when I got it for her. It took her all of few minutes to figure out how to work it.
You and me, we're geeks. We like to tinker, toy and play with things. And when things go wrong, we like to figure out why, and fix it. We are NOT the target market for iPod, iPad and iPhone aren't for us.
We look for "features", build our own, use Android and such because that is what we're about. My wife just wants to listen to music, read a book, make a phone call.
What the FSF doesn't realize is that their "ideals" are, for all intents and purposes, "defective by design", because it doesn't take into account the need for something to "just work" that doesn't require a geek to configure, tweak, install, maintain it.
And this is why Linux is not on the "desktop". I just set up Ubuntu for one of my relatives, on his laptop. While it installed and configured itself perfectly with one exception, that one exception would be a deal killer if I wasn't capable in fixing it. The wireless setup was broken.
Now you may feel the need to point out that was a driver problem related to the manufacturer not having proper Linux drivers, and you'd be right. Ubuntu people have decided that they know best for people and don't include proprietary drivers. Because of this, it is DEFECTIVE ... and BY DESIGN.
The problem isn't "Defective by design", it is competing and mutually exclusive design principles. And as long as we have a choice in what principles we value, then we have freedom. THE MOMENT we lose that, then we are enslaved.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Stop thinking of it as a computer and just as another piece of consumer electronics and you'll be much happier.
The iPad is something which does a limited set of things very well.
First off, it is based on iPhone OS 3.2. What the hell?!?!??! So you're telling me I'm going to spend at minimum $500 on a device that is just as locked down as an iPod Touch or iPhone? I'm going to have to hack the damn thing just so I can run an unapproved application? Great. Thanks for that, Apple.
Secondly, it is completely devoid of ANYTHING...no external ports (except when using dongles hooked up to the 30-pin connector...huzzah for accessories :/), no flash support, no multitasking (oh great, so I can't have AIM and Safari open at the same time? Epic Fail.)...it just seems to be an extremely restricted device considering the $500 entry price.
Third, what exactly are you getting for that price? Let's look at the fully loaded 64 gig/3G-enabled version. For roughly $800, you are buying a locked-down device with zero expansion options, zero USB ports or flash card readers, and no way to upgrade. For $800 you could put together a full-blown gaming computer or buy a REALLY nice laptop...hell, you could even buy a used tablet convertible and get the benefits of a tablet AND a laptop! But no, with Apple you get a locked down non-widescreen non-expandable device.
Fourth (and this isn't that big of a deal, but it is still a missed opportunity) Apple should have included a stylus with the system. Think about the people that use Wacom tablets, like the Penny Arcade guys or countless other digital graphic artists/designers. If Apple had included a stylus and well-designed software, this thing could be used as a portable Wacom tablet. Digital artists would have MURDERED each other for a chance to buy this thing had they included a stylus. Nope, that's a whole 'nother market Apple shunned with this thing.
Honestly, my biggest issue with it is the fact that it uses the iPhone operating system. By keeping it locked down like that, they have severely limited the appeal of this thing...they should have either ported over OSX (which would work GREAT on a tablet with minimal interface changes) or just built a new operating system from the ground up. But no, they decided to put on a velvet glove and slap the shit out of their customers...and they'll buy it! They are so focused on the fact that the hand has a velvet glove they are ignoring the fact that they are being slapped by it!
Basically, this COULD have been an amazing device...but regardless of what they did right, Apple made some unbelievably stupid decisions that puts it firmly in the "what's the point" category for me.
It is also worth mentioning that if this tablet had been announced with all the same features (both missing and included), but it had a Microsoft or Google logo instead of an Apple logo, people would be treating it like the plague. Fanboyism is a terrible disease.
Living With a Nerd
As a device that does that, for a similar price point, it kicks the shit out of media readers like the kindle,
Except that in reality it costs about 2 to 3 times as much (plus additional monthly fees to AT&T), has to be recharged after three chapters of a book and is unreadable outside the house...
and it does (frankly) all the crap I'd ever actually use a tablet pc to do.
Yeah, even Granny might want to download the pictures from her digicam to view them on a bigger screen... Oops, no USB host port. Or she might want to video chat over Skype with the grandkids... Oops, no webcam - or USB host port to attach one.
You mean all the feminine hygiene jokes? ;)
I think the FSF's usual approach isn't completely realistic in this case, given so many similar devices are so locked down. We need to support the mostly open platforms like Android (Google) and Maemo (Nokia N900).
p.s. Nokia N900 currently offer the best browsing experience possible on a mobile phone, including solid flash support, as well as the best skype and sip integration for a mobile phone, and they're shipped with linux shell access enabled.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks. If the corporation is smart, it will listen to the signal and try something else.
Not buying the product means SOMETHING caused me to not lay down that money. It could have been priced too high. It might not have been fast enough. It might not have run Windows. It might not have had an integrated keyboard, webcam, or removable battery. The 3G connectivity might not have been compatible with my preferred carrier. It might have exercised too much control as to what software I can run.
If the corporation is smart, they want some level of feedback from the people who didn't buy it so that they know just where the hell they went wrong. Otherwise the next generation could very well be "iPad - now with a floppy drive!!!!!" and they're still left scratching their heads as to why certain people aren't on board.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
These artificial limitations that Apple puts in place are completely unnecessary, and unjustifiable.
Maybe if I use a car analogy, you'd understand it better. These days, virtually every consumer-grade vehicle has a gas tank that can be filled at virtually any gas station. If you want to buy from one station instead of another, you're perfectly free to do so. After all, there's no justifiable reason to put any limitations in place. It's your car, you should be able to fill it up however and wherever you want.
I'll run with your car analogy.
On one hand, you could justify Apple as making a car that your mom can drive. All the futzy-bits are taken away. Put gas in it. Go for scheduled maintenance. Make sure your oil is changed. It just works without needing to know the details. A PC would be more like the old muscle cars grease monkeys would constantly be tinkering with, adjusting the points and timing and always under the hood with a wrench and pliers. Anything that takes away control from a grease monkey would be hateful to them. All the black box stuff on cars today, grease monkeys hate that. But it makes grandma's life easier.
The market would be fine if there was room for tweaking cars and no-tweak cars. Unfortunately the trend is to run with more computers, more specialized tools, and more barriers to entry. An independent mechanic has to spend $20k on diagnostic tools. There's no reason why a common laptop shouldn't be able to plug into the car via USB to read the codes but they charge big bucks because they can. It keeps the little guys out of the business. And there's all manner of specialized tools required to work on the cars rather than designing to do the most work with the least number of tools possible.
I applaud moves that simplify things for one segment of consumers while leaving options open for others. What I don't like is when a move signifies an industry trend that will eventually remove options.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
The iPad isn't your device. You didn't make it, and you didn't invest any of your time working on it. The iPad is made by Apple Inc., and works exactly how they want it to work. Apple isn't hiding anything, they've made the rules of the road abundantly clear.
We live in a free country. If you don't like the thing don't buy it.
The issue is that if a sufficient number of people do buy the "closed" cars, "open" cars become commercially unviable.
I think this has actually happened to an extent. Cars come with sealed engines such that only authorised mechanics can work with them. That gives the car manufacturer an effective monopoly on parts and labour -- via franchises.
Anticipated profits from this channel allow these manufacturers to push the retail price of the car down. Now a user-servicable car is more expensive than a non-user-servicable car. Fewer people buy the more expensive car. A positive feedback loop is established.
Now the manufacturers are free to push up the cost of parts and of service franchises, which is bad for the consumer. Due to the closed nature of the cars, you can't get any old grease monkey to fix your car for cheap.
We're not there yet for all components of a car, but I think it's getting pretty close for some core components.
The analogy to computers is pretty easy to make.
I'm more interested in what you believe that you can do with the iPad, that you cannot do with any of the slates that were brought out at CES? From what I can tell, the only thing you get with the iPad is the app-store.
My wife has an iPhone. She runs her free-lance business off it, so we don't jailbreak it. AT&T's network, their rules, etc. If she also gets an iPad, with no 3G, I'll jailbreak it without a second thought.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
I like how you gloss over that whole middle ground where, if you see a need for a device or other product that the market hasn't filled, you go into business and make a shitload of money filling that need.
These are the dirty little secrets that none of the "open and free" advocates want to admit to:
1) The "freedom" you're spouting off about is only valuable to a consumer if they have the technical expertise to take advantage of it. 90+% of people do not, and of the maybe 10% who do, a vanishingly small number of them actually care to spend their days hacking devices that already work.
2) You're lazy. If there was truly a vast demand for a "free" version of this product, you'd go into business and make a mint for yourself producing it. But you know in your hearts that what you're demanding is for - at best - a small niche / hobbyist market, so you take the safe route and bitch about Apple instead.
Apple seems to be the exception to the rule. They are notorious for ignoring user feedback and instead telling users "trust us, we know what you want better than you do." Complaints and suggestions fall on deaf ears.
Then the next shiny thing from Apple comes out, and people line up to buy it. Why the hell should Apple change their approach?
I completely agree.
Much preferred the classic Apple logo with the gay pride flag right out on front where you can't miss it.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Part of the point is the concern that *all* cars will come like this. Make the analogy slightly worse: say you can only have your tank filled by a "qualified technician". We shown that people can fill their own tanks for decades. Now we have to pay another high fee for something we used to be able to do before. If CorpX sees CorpY making a profit from this, CorpX'll jump right in line.
Why the hell should we pay $500-800 for a tablet?
Tablet PCs aren't that much are they?
The "just don't buy it" thing is precisely HOW you influence the actions of a corporation. If Apple can't sell these things because of the closed-ness, it will change overnight. If 90% of consumers don't care and buy it anyway, then the vocal 10% that do care will just be ignored. The "just don't buy it" thing is far from ridiculous. It is precisely how you vote in the corporate world--with your dollars. If you buy it, then you are endorsing the product and encouraging the company to keep doing what they are doing. My guess with this iPad, however, is that like the iPhone many people simply don't care about the open/closed debate and will buy it anyway. That or they are happy that unlike Android, there aren't known malicious apps being downloaded in the app store.
And I'm not saying I like the closed system. I'm an app dev and I would much prefer to skip the annoying approval process, but the bottom line is that consumers don't care or they really wouldn't have bought it.
You can choose to look at this compared to a laptop, which would make it "defective" or you could look at this compared to a Kindle, which makes it far superior. I don't want it for
I'm evaluating phones now - I'm the owner of a 64G Touch 3G, am wielding a Pre+ on a 30-day trial and have used a number of Android phones.
Apple Pros:
navigating launcher is fast, quick, easy to use. One button. Consistent behavior in metaphors (delete, back, forward).
Bright, large screen.
Arguably accurate/responsive touch screen.
Incredible on-screen keyboard and editor.
Videos, integration with iTunes.
Most applications (productivity) seem well thought out and designed.
Software ecosystem.
Apple Cons:
Harder for me to write software for (as a non-dev, I don't care, or can move to Webapps).
Large phone.
Tied to AT&T.
Not expandable (sd card)
Pre Pros:
Small, comfortable size.
Multitasking
Wifi Hotspot
Synergy
Pre Cons:
$10/m for access to VZ Navigator GPS
$30/m for Wifi hotspot. For $30 more I can get a separate MiFi, and be able to browse and talk at the same time.
Launcher is SLOOOOOW.
Keyboard editing is more difficult - it's harder to arbitrarily edit text in a paragraph.
Browser is nowhere near the ease of use of the Touch.
Screen is smaller.
Screen digitizer is not very accurate.
Synergy: synergy is about contact and communication integration. It should allow me to email a facebook user from the contact app. As it is, it just shows me contact data that exists in each source, it doesn't utilize native communication tools. It also only supports LinkedIn and Facebook. After 6 months (since the Sprint release) I'd have expected that they'd have added Facebook or Twitter.
Tied to Verizon.
Software ecosystem is an unknown at this time. It's growing, but I'm not at all sure about marketshare and uptake.
Not expandable (sd card)
Droid Pros:
Software ecosystem
Powerful interfaces to communications (SMS/Email)
Decent size for a phone
Bright display
Droid cons:
midsize display
Launcher is slow - navigating is noticably slower than the Touch.
Digitizer is less accurate.
Expandable with memory cards.
Interface is not standardized (this is arguably not a con).
My big fingers can't use the top row of the slider keyboard comfortably.
<rant>Why can't we have one communications standard (GMS/CDMA) in this country?</rant>
I'm pretty sure my Pre+ is going back to the store. It's cute, it's nice, but it's not my hoped-for Treo replacement. The Touch with it's onscreen keyboard is arguably better as a PDA than the Pre+ is with it's REAL keyboard. And I never thought I'd say that - I was vehemently against getting the iPhone or the Blackberry Storm for just this reason - I thought I couldn't live without a physical keyboard (I've had Treo's since the 600, and a Kyocera 6035 before that, and an original Pilot and a Visor before that). So before I ditch Verizon and go to the iPhone, I'm going to give the Blackberry Storm 2 a try.
This just strings up on my mine and I am surprised that nobody say this.
If they make this machine running mac os x. Wouldn't iPad would cannibalize their own laptop market? Think fully functional and apple approved portable computer for under $500. It would be very unwise business decision for Apple.
All patents are negated by this prior art.
Obi-Wan: "I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were sudden
The iPad is the future - computing as we know it is coming to an end. We, the geeks, the hackers, the programmers - are the minority.
We all thought DRM was going to come-in through TPM modules in the BIOS. We thought AMD and Intel would begrudgingly add support under pressure of the RIAA. We thought Windows would add support and that Linux would be the last bastion of free computing left. But it isn't going to happen that way. It's coming from a totally different angle.
What will happen is that various specialized devices, that are 100% DRM encumbered from the start, will slowly replace the PC until it becomes an expensive specialized device for programmers.
First the iPhone comes out. Then the iPad. The all the iPhone and iPad clones - until these devices become ubiquitous. That covers internet, document editing, email, and limited gaming. That's maybe 50% of what the average Joe uses a computer for. Major gaming and social networking can be done on XBOX/Playstation/Wii - also 100% DRM devices. Then those devices will handle your movies, your TV watching, and your DVD/Blu-ray/DRM'd streaming video. Now we are at... 75%? Eventually, 90% of what computers do will be done more easily on some specialized DRM'd device. The idea of the infinitely configurable totally hackable PC will die away. Most consumers won't know the difference.
So how do we break this? Maybe come-up with some super-cool thing you can do on a computer that nobody thought of yet... something that can't be done on these devices? Maybe Android is the answer? I dunno. But I see the tidal wave coming...
whatever you say, there are clearly more than enough cocksuckers out there to keep apple afloat, lets face it. even if they're so daft that they just want to avoid getting a virus on their phone.
they can dig their own graves (in a walled garden) and support their favorite corp but the point here is that they don't realize the implications of their behavior. not only are they screwing themselves but other users as well
it could be a fair point to say that if a consumerist is buying into the apple dream they're not likely to to care about other people- and that might be what underlies this.
what is important to recognize is that apple is and always has been a detrimental influence on computing and technology. the pretty designs quickly look tacky and we are supposed to just go out and buy more of the same tat. what we're left with is more and more restrictions on our lives.
The iPad is not a computer - it is an information appliance.
Sure it has computer components, but it is not meant to be a general-purpose computer. It is a sealed-box with tightly controlled access to tools and data. It is aimed at the same crowd that buys a TV and pays for a cable connection. They can only choose what is being offered to them.
This has been Job's dream since before the first Mac, when Jeff Raskin convinced him that computers were too hard for non-technical people to use. The smart thing about this design is (like a TV) it just works. Most people will accept the limitations, because too much freedom may not be a good thing. These are the same people who run as admin on a Windows PC, and click on any little thing that pops up. Their "freedom" turns their PC into brick in short order. So a limited device that just works is fine for them.
I'll wait for the more open clones to appear and do what I want. Apple is rightly aimed at the crowd that is willing to cash for the comfort of not thinking. The thinkers/doers will wait for something more open. This is not a product meant for us.
Place nail here >+
s unreadable outside the house...
If there's one piece of FUD about the i/pod/touch/pad I really hate, it's this one. I can't comment on the kindle or e-ink, but I've spent plenty of sunny days outside over the last 18 months happily reading on my ipod touch screen. I can only imagine the ipad, with its much bigger display, is going to be a breeze to read in the sunlight.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
I'm a Microsoft Support person at work and Linux / open source guy in my spare at work.
I had both Microsoft and Linux (type) device at home for years. I bought a Mac.. Now when I go home after work I have a life I use the mac to surf the web, reply to a few emails but that is it. This is all most home users need. It always works, it doesn't do much and it is kind of pricey.
I'll be buying one of these to replace my mini-hp running linux that I use on the bus or from travel. Because it isn't for programming, writting essays.. it is for what 99% of people do.. surf the web, read some mail and look at the odd credit card required site.
If the "artificial limitations" are "completely unnecessary, and unjustifiable", then consumers won't buy it. In your car analogy, people can still buy Chevys and Hondas.
The problem becomes when Chevrolet and Honda see that Ford is making more money in a month than they make in a year and decide the same business model is good for them, too.
Next, they'll get even more lawmakers to agree with them that just because all the big car companies are doing the same thing and have a single industry lobbying organization, it's not collusion or price fixing. As a matter of fact, it'd be just like the music recording industry, and we all know they aren't doing anything to hurt consumers.
For the $10 less, the Kindle gets you a persistent wireless connection for data without paying another penny.
Where are these sealed engines that only authorized mechanics can work with that you're talking about? I know dealers imply such bs when you buy, but there is no such warranty that can be voided that way legally. Effectively, there are many things that are more difficult to do at home, now, but they can still be done.
Now, what you're real point is still makes good sense. If enough people buy "closed" options that it puts the "open" option in the dark then eventually there will be no "open" option because it simply won't give a good enough return on investment for the manufacturer.
"Growing old is inevitable; growing up is optional."
Buying an Apple and expecting freedom is like
OS X is not locked down BLAH
Yeah. OS X is not locked down until you try to write a wifi (airport?) driver for it.
It only works when the average consumer is knowledgeable and educated.
The case here is that the people who are not buying this, because they do not agree with the artificial restrictions Apple has wrapped around their product, don't constitute a large enough number to hurt Apple.
And since the money is flowing to they coffers anyway, the industry gets a kind of green light to go and cripple more products.
"Vote with your money" only works when a large number of people know and care enough to actually buy an alternative product (assuming there is an alternative product available.)
Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!
My employer bought me an iPod touch, because I should write a client for it for our in-house software.
... i will replace my private mbp as soon as possible.
The device was delivered with os v 2.x but 3.0 was already out. so I had to fire up a virtual machine, install itunes to get the update. No updates for you it said, until you are registered. well i started registering an itunes acc and found out they want my credit card (just in case?) for the free update and free apps i want to install.
This was a real WTF moment!
iAnything? not with me any more. If they start pulling stunts like this with OSX
sometimes, I would prefer to have simple and limiting to complex and free. I don't *need* to have complete and total control over my phone, my music player, or a simple internet device. These are items that just need to work out of the box, be aesthetically pleasing, and do the job they are intended to do. That doesn't mean that I'm anti-Free Software, but that I don't want to use it for everything that I do. ... For that other 5%, jailbreaking is trivial and allows complete control.
Jailbreaking may be trivial to you, but not to most, and not without risk and violation of contract.
To all those (not you) claiming that the Apple appopoly is merely about security and compatibility, imagine a simple system of certification, where apple would put its stamp of approval on apps that meet a certain set of standards, only distribute certified apps, and make it very clear to the customer that it will only honour warranty issues when certified apps are used. Then we could have third party app repositories, with more or less acceptable compatibility and security standards, and a reasonable degree of openness.
Of course, the network carriers have their own concerns here, but they could impose their own restrictions, too, to protect themselves.
There could even be caveat emptor warnings included in the app install process that checks on an app's certification status. We'd still have the hardware manufacturer lording it over users and developers through the certification process, but it would be a lot less feudal.
Damn those pesky terrorists
Actually, the "just don't buy it" thing is precisely how the market works. If you don't think the device fits your needs don't buy it. If enough people don't buy it, it will go away or get changed.
You are an idiot.
Apple's main computer lines are *NOT* locked down. I've been using them for oh, twenty years now. The laptops, desktops, servers are not locked down in any way shape or form.
The iPods, iPhones are all hackable, jailbreakable and can have other OSes installed on them.
So what the devil are you rambling about?
YEAH!! Imagine if there was some type of popular (i)phone that only allowed you to install what the company wanted...
It sells.
Here's my problem with the "so don't buy it" argument...
Should a company be forced to dictate what an end user does with a hardware platform after the purchase? My belief is that the user should have the final decision over what software and media is installed on his hardware. I believe that DRM which restricts the use of software or media on any device is wrong. This is not the same thing as DRM that prevents theft of content.
The iPhone platform is also NOT the only platform that has these kinds of restrictions; it's simply the most visible. Nintendo, for example, restricts who can get a developer license. The Wii dev site warns off the states that the home developer, and the Wii homebrew war has been an ongoing battle for several years. Don't get me started on the XBox Live ban.
This is one reason I'm actively trying to move off of the iPhone platform and on to Android. But there are a couple of apps I need that still have not reached Android... until they do, I'm stuck in the iDRMsphere for a bit longer.
Or perhaps we can use the xbox analogy. An xbox is a device that is basically a computer that only runs (without hacking) products that are licensed by Microsoft. These applications either come on discs or are available for download and are written for "licensed publishers" working on "approved titles." The cost to entry is much higher than the $99 apple developer fee. Oh wait, that is even more difficult to develop for than the iPad and no one is complaining about it. The bottom line is that there are multiple models for doing this. Many instances of open models (like car after market parts, software on general computers, etc) and plenty of closed models (like the iPhone, XBox, probably much of the electronic equipment hidden in your TV). This is nothing new. It just depends on what consumers think ought to be on this particular device and if they are willing to pay for it--which I guess we will see in 60 days.
I think the disconnect is that we're thinking of this as a computer while Apple is thinking of it as a new device. We think--we'll its just a computer so it ought to have an open software install base. Apple thinks of it similarly to the way MS thinks about the xbox 360--this is a specialized device with certain use-cases that aren't fully satisfied by a computer and we think this is the right way to handle it. The real question is not whether this is right or not, but whether consumers will buy into it or not. The moral issue that people are making seems more to be a lot of hot air than anything else.
I'm a big Apple fan, wouldn't trade my MacBook for any PC, and willing to live with all the limitations of the iPhone for it cool looks, but this time Mr Jobs simply screwed this up.
Apple has done tremendous job bringing most desirable toy to the market, but crippled it down to the level that makes me sick.
Keep It Simple - well, it may be a main motive, but for something that was suppose to replace a laptop or a Netbook in my bag, iPad doesn't seem to do the job.
Lack of camera on the portable device in the Skype age is simply unacceptable, and I can only hope that Mac OS will not go iTunes way.
It won't be 6 months before we have it cracked and replace the whole god-dammed mess with proper linux. Then we'll get some virtualization going and put some windows on the fucker. And then and only then I'll buy one. I hated microsoft for so many years for their lack of creativity and efficiency.. But I love microsoft now compared to apple. Applites are like the elfs from terry pratchett's series: cold, sterile , "perfect" creations. I'm sorry, but as a famous fictional researcher said once , "perfect" leaves no room for improvement. I'd rather not be perfect. So I sit here and hack away day after day on my colinux/windows installation and try to transcend the bits and the bytes and the API's and the DLL's and the rings of my processor, until we are one.
Sure, tell the manufacture.
Slashdot is not the manufacture of the car or the iPad, so bitching here isn't doing anything other than trolling.
My father used to sit on the couch and whine, bitch and moan about politicians, but never once did he leave the house to tell anyone outside of it how he felt.
His bitching was useless and annoying to those around him, just like the posts to this effect here.
With a slight difference, if no one buys a product, it won't stick around and other ideas will be needed to stay in business.
Considering the way iPhone/iPod sales go ... I'd say that the complaints here are from such a tiny group that no one gives a flying fuck.
The irony is that this isn't even new to the iPhone. It wasn't the first iPod with apps you know?
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Really ? If I want to create an app as a hobby project, what are my alternatives ?
Either I do all that extra work, pay al that extra money and hope I sell a lot of copies to earn back my investment and make a profit or I let Apple handle that stuff and make a profit on the first sale, not having to worry about anything other than just my app.
Easy choice for me. IMHO the power of the whole app-store model is that it empowers small time (hobby) developers to play in the same league as the big boys. That also partly explains the huge amount of apps available.
That's a great feature BUT the Kindle is only for reading books and things like that. That feature is handy if you run out of books to read and you want another one right away (or if you are browsing through a book store and want to purchase some of the books you see - however, many bookstores now are offering free WiFi so you could do the same thing with the iPad or even just make a note of the books and buy them later).
I could see purchasing the smaller Kindle but there is very little reason to buy the larger Kindle now (unless you want things to read while you are away from an electrical outlet and you need the week long battery life of the Kindle).
Ah, but:
I'm the family mechanic. For some reason my family is full of lazy bastards who can't figure out how to pump gas into their car. It's a simple process, but they just can't be bothered to do it themselves. I've spent *years* trying to teach them, but they always have some excuse or another as to why they can't do it themselves.
Now they discover that the Ford gas stations are all full-serve, while every other gas station has gone self-serve. I have two options:
1. I tell my family members to buy the non-Ford cars. I give them instructions on how to pump gas. I write it on a little post-it note and stick it to their dashboard. But invariably, several times a week, they call me from the gas station and ask how to turn on the pump, or where the gas tank is, or something similar. And I know that I'll have to drive other there in my non-Ford vehicle and pump it for them.
or
2. I tell my family members to pay a bit more money and get the Ford. Sure, they can only buy gas from Ford itself but they're OK with that. They like having it done for them because they just aren't into cars like I am. Sure, they like driving around and getting from A to B - but they *really don't care* how they got there, or if their Ford is missing some of the features of my non-Ford. They're just happy to get to their destination without breaking down.
You know what else? If they go with option #2, then I get to enjoy my long non-Ford drives uninterrupted. I discover that they just don't call me for car advice as much. When they do call, it's because they actually want to talk to *me*, and not for support.
After a few years of this, I really begin to appreciate Ford for that they offer, and for freeing up my time.
Does that help you to understand it better?
This article, and several posts here, seem very over-dramatic.
It's a $500 gadget. Most of us have electronics in this price range in several different rooms and in our offices.
Apple created this product and it is what it is. Why is the author freaking out about it? You can still use a laptop, a Mac with OSX, Windows, Linux, etc. No one is shoving this new product down the author's throat.
This is not a step backward on anything. WTF is he being so dramatic? Don't buy one and get on with your life. Apple has customers who are going to shit themselves and go buy one as soon as possible. That sounds like good business to me.
Maybe the author should compare Apple stock to other companies during the recession. They are pretty good at selling shit. Apple customers are extremely loyal and many will love this new product for the exact reasons you hate it. For Apple and Apple customers this is a step forward.
I agree. Maybe this is just a sign of my age, but in my mind "computer" and "phone" occupy two different zones. My phone is much more of an appliance, like my microwave oven, that I really want to Just Work. If it has some extra features, cool, but they can't prevent the core function from Just Working.
My computer, OTOH, I really like being a general device and would never buy one that I couldn't install arbitrary stuff onto.
So I'm not crazy about the iPhone Apple Store tie-in, but I can live with it.
As for the iPad, I think I want my tablet device/ebook reader to be a computer, too.
So why did Apple remove the "I'm rich" app in the first place? I was about to jailbreak the darn thing just to install it for free...
Buying or not buying are the ONLY true signals being transmitted in any market. Repeat after me: The Market Is The Best Way To Transmit Information. Listen To The Market. Love The Market. Obey The Market.
Yes, you are allowed a choice. FSF simply wants to make sure you make an INFORMED choice.
I don't see "Defective by Design" mounting a campaign to outlaw the iPad.
If, at the end of the day, someone is OK with (or even prefers that) their tablet PC being locked up by Apple, or the device's other attributes outweigh the disadvantage of vendor lockin, or even if someone yells "OOOHHHH!!! SHIIINY!" and pulls out their credit card to pre-order, that's absolutely their choice.
FSF is about freedom. Even your freedom to give away your freedom, actually, though their general goal is to try to let you know when you are about to do so. From there, the choice is yours.
A lot of people will say, and rightly so, "who cares? This is a toy, and I'll never do any serious computing on it, so why shouldn't I have a simple UI built by a company that is known for good UI design." And they're absolutely right in making that decision. Few people actually enjoy hacking their devices and recompiling kernels on them. For those of us that do, iPad is a deeply poor choice (until it can be jailbroken, which should happen about one picosecond after the first unit ships).
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
I'm sick of this "If YOU don't like it then YOU don't have buy it" people keep saying because one day it might just lead to that, my only option. I dislike the iPad, and I'm not polite enough not to stop myself from bashing it. It's worse than an ereader for books, it's worse than a netbook for the internet, it's worse than a DS for gaming, it's closed and apple controlled. These are known facts and that's what sticks out to me the most. To someone else, possibly the general market, what they see is that it's better than a ereader for the internet, better than a netbook for books, better than an MP3 player for gaming and is controlled by apple so it "just works". If it penetrates the general market and everyone buys into it then the people who agree that they're "interested in portable computing" gets left behind.
If you will assume with me that the iPad represents a new product line and not an extension to the iPhone or the iPod, then you need to view the product in the context of the coming decade, not the coming year. And in that context I highly doubt it matters much if the store is open. Right now, on the iPhone/iPod Touch, you can write write a productivity app that works offline, is snappy and has a native look and feel: all with HTML5. The only downside is that the performance is not as good as a native app. Not very important for most apps, but it is a problem for graphics apps like games. But given the trajectory of JavaScript performance, do you really think this is going to be an issue for much longer?
HTML5 apps can't be prevented by Apple or anyone else. And they have the added benefit for the developers that they work on multiple platforms.
Further, I actually don't think that the primary target of the iPad is who we think it is. It was announced as a media device because that is the market that Apple has experience with and because the press loves consumer devices (most of them are so dumb that when a product isn't intended for them they claim it is useless). Look at environments like hospitals, industry, etc. where "instant on" is a whole lot more important than speed. The iPad, with the proper software (which won't be installed through a store - this would be managed by the enterprise agreement), would be a major step up compared to the current tablets in use. Health care alone accounts for 17% of GDP; this is likely to grow with our aging population. Do you really think Apple doesn't want part of that market?
Anyhow, point is, it the store is open or closed, it doesn't really matter in the long term.
Developer of Heap CRM and Torch Project Management (WBP SYSTEMS)
These artificial limitations that Apple puts in place are completely unnecessary, and unjustifiable.
Maybe if I use a car analogy, you'd understand it better. These days, virtually every consumer-grade vehicle has a gas tank that can be filled at virtually any gas station. If you want to buy from one station instead of another, you're perfectly free to do so. After all, there's no justifiable reason to put any limitations in place. It's your car, you should be able to fill it up however and wherever you want.
Now suppose Ford comes out with a new, trendy car that appeals to yuppies, hipsters and homosexuals.
Hey! That's uncalled for, and I'm sure the yuppies and hipsters are offended too :p.
Up until recently, we the 10% were the ONLY market for these devices. It was our buying that put Apple in the position that made it what it is. Now they're taking "Our" devices and retargeting them at a new market, nine times our size, and ignoring everything we say. Of course we're upset!
Your analogy completely misses the point. Apple is not selling their own gas, they act as a broker for other people selling gas and take a cut.
Say I find a small oil well in my backyard, build a DIY refinery and I produce 100 gallons of gasoline each day. I can go to the apple-branded gas station and ask them to sell the gas for me, they take a 30% cut of the selling price.
Your alternative is that I operate my own gas station, just to sell 100 liters of gas each day. Running the station will probably cost more than the profit I make selling the gas.
Running your own chain of gas stations is fine if you're a big ass oil company, not if you're a small time seller. Forcing everyone to resell through the same brand of gas stations levels the playing field.
So what your saying is to just buy it and then complain about it? The easiest way to get a corporation to see the error of their ways is to hit them where it hurts, and got a big corp, complaints aren't hurting them and are very easy to ignore (do a search for Skype on Windows in Bootcamp on a MacBook Pro and the finger-pointing and lack of corporate help going on there), it's the cash flow that needs to be hit.
Consuming for the sake of complaining about it is just silly. if you dislike because it won't do what YOU want it to do then don't buy it. if it says it can do what you want it to do but won't, then complain. but Apple has never said this was a general purpose device, it's just an oversized (and in my opinion, mostly useless for power users) computing device. I like the idea of a book reader, and I like the idea of the ibook store, but not at a $500 price tag. therefore it doesn't meet my needs and I won't buy it. Although I can see it being useful for my father-in-law who's computer I'm constantly cleaning up, so I might nudge him in this direction.
On the other hand the iPad is exactly what I wanted. I can already buy a full Mac OS tablet and I don't want it. I want a bigger better iTouch and that is exactly what they are offering. The idea of a windowing desktop and the associated hassles is idiotic and a relic of the past. Us geeks can have a full system when we need it but the vast majority of people don't need or want that. Secure, easy to use, just works is what most people need and want.
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.
"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one." - Benjamin Franklin
Support Right To Repair Legislation.
And at least with Apple, you don't actually have to buy any applications for the device to be useful.
If you could invent a system where you could refrain from purchasing any gas, but still have a useful car - I suspect Ford would pay you a fortune :)
(Also, in most countries the quality of fuel is regulated by government - which could be in some ways compared to the App store review process. Perhaps we just prefer governmental big brother to a corporate one?)
Didnt we used to do these back in grade school? I believe they were called Mad Libs!
I own (NOUN), and so can only (ADVERB). Last I checked however it performed its primary function (NOUN) perfectly well without doing so.
True, I do have to (VERB) (PROPERNOUN), etc onto it or off it, but even that doesn't require spending any more money with (PROPERNOUN) and in fact, the last few (NOUN) I've purchased have come from (NOUN)).
There, now everyone can have fun with it!!!!
Stupidity only gets you so far, then you've gotta try
A product in search of a market.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
You only having sex with women is a artificial limitation - you have the ability to accomodate men also, but for reasons of your own you choose exclude half of the population from your services.
So, I guess what i am saying is... suck my dick punk!
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
Frankly, it doesn't matter if it happens to OS X. What matters is that it could become the standard going forward
The geek has been touting the net appliance - the thin client for the home user for fifteen years.
Now he has what he thought he wanted and now he knows its price.
Oh my, I am so amazing, I'm a total hacker, I run Windows! I mean, it's so open, and lets me do anything I want with it, I can write my own programs for it too! It's the hackers choice of OS!!
This message was brought to you by Sarcasm and Troll Feeders United (STFU)
It will only be a few weeks before the iPad is jailbroken like the iPhone.
Steve's focus has shifted. What does he have to prove? The challenge and thrill of pushing the curve of personal computing are for younger men. No longer do you hear Steve talk about how awesome, fast, and powerful something is. Now, it's about making it sleek and clean, at the expense of expansion, user access (batteries, RAM, all a thing of the past) and function (unitasking? how is that not a step backward? vendor lock-in?)
It's now a matter of what's easiest to use, most comfortable, and what develops the relationship between Apple the device vendor, and Apple the content vendor.
If you think the Mac OS has a future, you're looking squarely at it. What the iMac did for floppy drives, USB, and the iPod did for CDs, and Apple TV seeks to do with video and TV, the iPad aims to accomplish with the next most precariously positioned medium - print.
People will always need tools to create content, it's true, but you can bet as online application delivery becomes the norm, and iPod-style dashboard apps take prevalence over shrinkwrapped retail media, so will the look and feel of the environment for running those apps.
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks. If the corporation is smart, it will listen to the signal and try something else.
Oh sure. I am equally convinced that Apple will be crying in the corner because MBGMorden did not buy their shiny new tabloid euh tablet.
Nothing wrong with voting with your dollars. There's also nothing wrong with speaking up against things you dislike.
Really? That's contrary to what I've read. So perhaps there's hope for the iPad yet... for those that are into that sort of thing? Myself, I only ever use the front entrance; hence I avoid Apple's products.
Besides, some places have legislation which criminalizes such activity.
Some people are just too stupid to use a compiler, or even extract a zip file. These are the people who don't appreciate having control over their own hardware. I say let them all buy Steve's latest shiny gadget. I'll stick with cheap machines that are under my control and do what I say.
It is funny that people will go spend $500 on the latest crippled gadgets, but hey, the economy needs them.
I unfortunately missed reading anything about what came out at CES due to my schedule at the time so I cannot really comment on the other tablets. I'm sure many of them are great and maybe even better than the iPad. The main bonus with the iPad is exactly what you noted - the app store.
I know many do not like the 'locked-down' nature of the app store and the other limitations of the iPhone/iPad OS but the App store is established and very functional. There is a lot of junk on it but there are also many great and useful apps too (I'm just thinking about what I have on my iPod Touch). Many of the iPhone apps would be even more useful if the screen was larger, which it is on the iPad.
The overall UI of the iPad is also likely more polished than anything that was announced at CES. I'm not saying the other tablets have bad UIs (although some probably do) or that the iPad's UI is perfect, but it will be polished and useful (because the iPhone OS already is).
The integration with the App Store (and book store) is extremely important. That is how the iPod became dominant. Other players didn't have UIs that were quite as good (many were really good, they just weren't quite as good) as the iPod's but more importantly, they did not have the tight integration with a music store that had good prices. I know many people complained about the $.99 price for songs but the ease of use of the store was big and $.99 isn't very much money (until you buy lots of songs!).
The other slates that were announced were probably really cool and useful. However, I already have some investment in Apple's App Store because I have an iPod Touch. I use iTunes for my music (although I usually purchase from Amazon's store) and have a MacBook. I admit, I am a fan of Apple's products (most of them anyway) but much of that is because I've used other computers and OSes and MP3 players but prefer Apple's. Much of that is due to OS X, actually. I spend a lot of time in the CLI and having a bash shell with the nice but powerful UI of OS X seals the deal. I've tried many flavors of Linux but in some ways they are too flexible for me. Many times they do not 'just work' either, while OS X for the most part does (I know the reasons for that but that's a different discussion).
One last comment. We recently got some new iMacs in our neuroimaging lab. Some of the undergrads in the lab had never used a Mac before (at least not since elementary school). Just yesterday two of them sat down at the computers, used them for a minute or two and were completely sold on them. They enjoyed using the computers instead of just used them. That's what keeps me tied to things Apple - I enjoy using OS X and my iPod. I can't say the same thing for Windows (any of the releases) or even many distros of Linux (there are many things about Linux I enjoy but I never get the same sense of enjoyment as I receive from using OS X).
Am I affected by Steve Jobs' halo? Of course I am. Am I biased towards Apple? Yes, but that bias comes from experience. I'll consider some of the other tablet devices but they would have to have some very compelling features for me to purchase one instead of an iPad.
Well if it's entertainment (software, music, movies) the corporations will just lie and say they lost sales to pirates and ignore that a large percentage of their customers told them flat out why they were refusing to buy it.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
And these "whiners" are helping by telling what that something else should be, for them to buy it. Market research for free.
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
My brother-in-law had been whining that he couldn't get such a product for years.
If all the linuxy types out there could stop arguing and build a machine that does WAY LESS but actually works we would all be better off. Google OS looks like an attempt at that. All people want to do is surf, email and text, etc. They don't want to backup/install/unitstall/decontaminate. The iPad is what they want. Suck it up and accept it.
The average person WANTS AND NEEDS a surfing machine that is 'Locked down'. Why the OSS movement can't figure out how to do that is beyond me. Just require all software to be signed in order to execute on a consumer 'surf only machine' by both the OSS (through a peer process) and the developer. Developer types and others can continue to use un signed software - they apparently 'just know' when to trust an installer.
It should actually be easier to do this than continue on the Ubuntu path. Drop entire systems (both hardware and software). Think Firefox vs Mozilla - which one had fewer features? Which one won?
When you live in an idiocracy and the people who have the ability to see naked emperors are few and far between, there is no chance for the enlightened to influence corporate stupidity through boycott. There are too many fools willing to shell out their money for the latest overhyped shiny for us to make any perceivable difference in the corporate revenue stream.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
It's not a general purpose computer--it's severely restricted if you are comparing it to those standards.
It's more like a dedicated device--like a book reader, gaming platform, music player, GPS, DVD Player or a dedicated web browser--Just with the ability to switch modes.
If you look at it that way, it's pretty reasonable, it does many more functions than any of the other dedicated platforms.
It's really just a big iPod touch. I didn't hear anyone say that the iPod touch set computing back--but this device is because it has a larger screen?
Still--it's not a replacement for a laptop or computer. If anything, it should operate in conjunction with a computer--like the other iProducts do.
I'm curious what those applications are, which keep you tethered?
Except, you know, you're not required to pay AT&T anything, and you CAN read it outside the house, and the battery life is supposed to be 9-10 hours, so maybe if you read REALLY slow...
And webcam? Why the hell would anyone want to run around with a huge ass tablet trying to take pictures of people? I just don't get it.
I said it would do what I would want it to do: Browse the web, goof off, do email, hell, maybe even watch a movie. Sounds perfect for that.
The criticism that it doesn't do what granny would want is fucking hilarious. Who fucking cares what granny wants? Bitch probably doesn't even have a cellphone yet! Granny ain't the target audience here.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
How much is that 10% worth?
True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
Nice car analogy, except that it's completely untrue, and wouldn't even be legal. There's no vehicle sold that can only be worked on by "authorized mechanics" and even the open protocol that's used to interact with the ECM to get diagnostic codes is mandated by law in the US. They couldn't lock it down if they wanted to. Aside from reprogramming a new odometer to have the correct mileage, there's nothing a Ford dealer could do to my car that I can't do at home in my own garage. And the tools to do that are available too; third-party shops have them, they're just too expensive for me.
I think Slashdot has been overrun by a new type of person... I can't believe how many people are posting in favor of this locked down, DRM ridden piece of steve jobs crap. It flies in the face of everything I learned reading this site for the last 10+ years. Now I don't know what to believe. This thing can't even run Linux! What's going on??!?
It is, if there is a perfectly suitable standard for the power outlets and voltage/current specifications. The argument is not that electric cars can't fuel at regular gas stations, it's that electric charge stations are often vendor-specific FOR NO REASON. Positive, Negative, maybe a simple protective shield to avoid shocks, that's it! Any alteration in the plug format is a lock-in scheme... they could just as well give you a pair of booster cables and hope you don't short them across your nuts... power is power.
-Billco, Fnarg.com
I'm sure I'm not the first but to avoid confustion, can we just call this the iphone maxi...
By making this a large ipod, apple has done the right thing for appliancizing a computer. For work, most of us will need more than an appliance which is as it should be. The iphone maxi will be excellent for goofing off with. My only concern may be that its too large to lug.
Also, it's not a "huge step backward" even if we agree with everything else you say, because it's what's on the iPhone. It's not backward, it's the same.
Except the phone part. It doesn't do that.
I'm not too impressed by the iPad, but I'll wait to see if other people find it useful before I judge it.
The analogy to computers is pretty easy to make.
So we need a computer analogy for a car story??
The "sealed engine" is the computer in the system. If a manufacturer decides to encrypt that, or use specialized error codes, and only give the key to "authorized dealers," all of a sudden any non-authorized mechanic is in for a world of additional difficulty. As for doing it at home? Good luck getting the interface at all. It'll be a damned sight more expensive yet.
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
You can simply send email to yourself with the book in pdf.
Steve Jobs has demonstrated that at least THAT works.
You think the 'just don't buy' it argument is ridiculous because that argument doesn't your point of view. Most people simply don't see any problem with it and find the Apple model works just fine. It's called free market. If people didn't like it, it wouldn't be so hugely popular. Developers don't have to design for iPhone/iPod Touch if they choose not to. They like it, because it gives them a publisher/distributor for a 30% cut without any of the hassle.
The simple fact is, due to iPhone, you have a very similar choice which purports to be open in the manner you describe. Buy a droid and move on. Your opinion is irrelevant to any corporation in the business for a profit. It all comes down to bottom line, and in this case, it works just fine for Developers, for Apple, and for end users.
This isn't a very fair analogy. You can't run a car without gasoline. You can have an iPhone/Touch without ever buying an app. You can fill it up with any and all mp3s. It's annoying but you can convert any video you want and put in on you iPhone/Touch.
The apps are more like upgrades. And if you want to upgrade a car you are many times limited by compatibility issues. The razor-blade revenue model isn't limited to Apple, it's pretty much prevalent in every industry. Clearly you have never needed to fix anything in your car. You wouldn't be so happy with the car companies then.
Also, gas stations are pretty consisten. The quality of the product is very homogeneous in gas stations across the country. Computer apps are not like that. I need to be sure my phone works as a phone at all times. I have no interest installing some wayward app that may or may not crash my phone and make me miss a call. I am happy to put this responsibility on Apple's shoulders
Now, if you were talking about the AT&T lockin you'd have a point.
It still works, just slower. There is always alternative product.
I'm not quite ready to dump my iPhone over this, but I won't be buying an iPad. I can accept these limitations on my mobile phone, since I mostly just use the stock set of apps anyway. If these sorts of limits start showing up in MacOSX, then I'll "upgrade" my MacBook Pro (and my 3 other Macs) to linux instead of the next great feline. That's not a huge ding to Apple, but once I'm off their OS, I'll stop buying their hardware. I'll stop suggesting it to my family and friends.
blog
Ford wants to exploit these fools even more. So they create their own line of gas stations, that sell the same fuel as everywhere else, but at five times the cost. Then they change the hole in the gas tank to a star shape, so that you can't fill the car up anywhere but at their gas stations.
The difference is, Ford doesn't have the Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field. To Apple, the "Ford" here is making it easier for the owner to choose-- less choice means it's easier to decide. What could be simpler than that? That's a good thing, as long as you're not a power user. But Apple has never been about power users, it's been about computing for dummies. Get used to it already. So you're not a dummy. So don't buy Apple products, get it?
They want a secretary.
Or, you go to the Andriod station, borrow a pump for free, sell your 100 litres of gas, and go home with all your profit.
Canada: The US's more awesome sibling.
that's the right question
I'll take your analogy to its ridiculous conclusion...
I go to Subway and demand they add muenster cheese to my sandwich, and I order a pint of beer. Of course Subway doesn't offer this because of the horrible closed nature of franchises and lack of customer choice. This is somehow "bad for the consumer" as opposed to just shopping somewhere else that does offer muenster cheese and beer?
Open your own sub shop, start your own computer company, or simply buy something else instead of demanding that Apple (a very large corporation that supports thousands of families) do things the way YOU want them to.
Personally, I contend that it's wrong to look at the iPad as a computer. That's not the intention of the product. It is an appliance much as a washing machine, coffee maker, or toaster. It's designed to do some specific things and do it well just as the previously mentioned examples hopefully do their respective functions well.
An appliance such as a coffee maker isn't designed to be hacked into. It's designed to be functional and simple for the average consumer to use. This is what the iPad is.
OS X will continue for its market base, the user who needs the complexity of a full operating system and the iPad is perfect for your mom or grandmother to finally get on the internet, email, download books, etc. without needing a part-time geek to hand hold them through the process each time.
(as an aside to that, my 90 year old grandmother bought a Kindle and really likes it, but needs help getting through the menu system anytime she wants to buy the next book.)
Not everyone wants to fiddle with every little setting in an OS. I would say a majority just want to pick up the device and the device works. This is the primary reason the iPhone has done so well and is likely why the iPad will do really well.
Web hosting that doesn't suck!Dreamhost
You buy Apple-branded hardware which grants you the privilege of licensing Apple's Operating System Software for use on that hardware. You don't ever 'buy' the OS, just permission to use it.
They only grant that permission to owners of 'official' devices. Apple retains all ownership of the software, even the low-level software on the computer *you purchased* that allows it to run the licensed software, which is a proprietary wedge between you and your ability to exercise freedom of choice.
When you buy a Mac, you don't own squat, *except for* a SATA hard disk and a few empty PCIe slots, except for a round, shiny disk and some cardboard. The same is triply true for anything in the iFamily (TV, Pod, Pad, Phone, etc).
Wow, that's a stupid and useless car. I wouldn't buy it. But I have an iPhone (jailbroken). What gives?
Let's accurate-up that description a bit.
All cars on the road work, but are a real pain to use. Some haven't changed since the 50's and barely have a cupholder. Some have cupholders, automatic transmissions, and crazy stereos, but are constantly stalling and the volume button is on the passenger door, so it never gets used.
Ford comes in and makes a car that doesn't have the most tricked out stereo, and less cupholders than some people might need, but enough for most. But most importantly, they put all the controls for this slightly-less functional stereo right on the wheel, where they can be used with barely any effort.
So people are using all the features of their cars, which is something that very few people had ever done before
But these come at a price. There's a custom fuel intake that grounds the nozzle before you put it in. It's not compatible with most fueling stations, but it almost entirely eliminates the risk of fire. Ford-brand gas is the only one who uses that gas nozzle, and no other company dare start a gas station that works.
But hobbyists have been making adapters since the month the car came out. You're limited to the safety of the adapter - which is usually very safe - but you're trusting the hobbyist.
Would you still buy the car, considering that you'd actually be able to use it's features and Ford has the largest network of gas stations in the world?
This isn't entirely apt - the iPhone/iPad can run without applications or indeed any interaction with the App Store - but close enough. Most people would place the value of having an easy-to-use moderately functional car over the value of being able to pick your own gas station, when it's easy enough to pick a Ford one.
I have developed a truly marvelous proof of this comment, which this signature is too narrow to contain.
Some of those codes are mandated by the government. Most of them are not though and without jumping through a half dozen hoops and or paying a lot of money as a regular consumer you can't find out what they mean.
Because they're nutcases. Privacy advocates understand the broader threats. Maybe that could be a good litmus test for people: do they just live in fear of big brother, or does their strategy address the little brothers too?
Word up. I'm with you. These devices are fine if people want to buy them, but I'm not willing to deal with the shenanigans. (Actually, my honest opinion is that it's not fine, people making those choices are making bad choices in my eyes, and their bad decisions have market effects on the rest of us.)
You lost me at calling homosexuals fools. Your points are valid but you need to find some class.
Actually, that analogy is partially incorrect. You need fuel for an automobile (flamboyantly coloured or not) to operate. A more appropriate analogy is that the hipster yuppie flamboyant car has no controls other than a steering wheel, gas pedal and brakes. It does, however, have a dashboard with a bunch of proprietary Ford designed, star shaped plugs for 'accessories' like heating, air conditioning, a stereo, GPS unit, DVD player, etc.
Most people expect some basics in their car: heating and a radio are two that come readily to mind. Well.. you can't go to your nearest Fry's or Best Buy to get a radio without paying for an illegal adapter to use a stereo designed for any other car on the planet... or pay the 'extra' cost for the Ford certified stereo. Same goes for the rest of the accessories... sure you can buy another car and use a Garmin GPS that powers off of the lighter plug, but in this new Ford, there is no Lighter plug. That's a customized special accessory, authorized by Ford. The end result is you pay extra for a lighter plug that is a given in every other car (even though it's the same damn lighter plug that every other car has, other than it's Ford Certified) just so you can get power from the battery.
In essence, both parent and grandparent posts are correct:
1. You have the ultimate control - Just because Jobs stands up there in his artsy fartsy turtleneck and causes the hipster yuppies to cream themselves over the iFork (that will only insert into Apple certified foods, God forbid if you try to use it to, say, loosen a double-knotted kids shoelace or something) or whatever crap he's peddling this year, it doesn't mean you have to buy it. I saw the iPad and snickered. It has no place in my life... I have laptops that do more, and an Android phone that fills the void for the more portable needs I have. The Android at least has an option to install apps from outside the Market.
2. The star shaped plugs that Apple sells... totally pointless. It is an unnecessary control put onto a device. My hope (and it's completely unfounded, I know) is that the free market will "correct" that mistake by point #1. I doubt it though. People will grudgingly accept almost any peddleware shoved at them if it makes them look cool.
Have you tried adjusting the timing on anything newer than 1998?
Didn't think so. There's your answer ITG: where once anyone could preform routine maintenance on their automobile if they so chose they no longer have that choice thanks to a host of computer-controlled systems with proprietary formats and tools required to access them.
GP is 100% correct.
Pretty much utterly clueless.
The opinions of the typical /.'r represnt maybe 1/10000 of the general population of computer users. Yes you all want to tinker with the bits under the hood, you all want to be able to do xyz, but guess what, YOU are not the intended users of this thing.
I can see this thing in doctors offices in a big hurry. Right now if you go to Kaiser or a lot of hospitals or doctors offices they aer either dragging you into a room with a Dell something or other, or they are dragging around a laptop of various sizes to be able to take notes.
It has a high res screen, look at your x-rays at your bedside. Note the chart at your bedside, send in the pharmacy order, etc. etc.
An architect with all the designes on-line at at 3G speeds showing you his latest rendering, etc. etc.
There will be new apps to go along with the over 100000 apps that already exist for this device and they will be coming fast.
You want $$$ shell out your 99 bucks and start coding big important apps and you will be doing very well. You don;t need the app store you just code, compile and test and upload to the device.
Stop bitching because you can't make it run whatever app and make some money.
Hey KID! Yeah you, get the fuck off my lawn!
Apple has created a device that follows a design philosophy started with their first generation iPod: Less is more.
Apple's iPod didn't support every possible audio format. The iPod (originally) only played music, that was it. The iTunes Store was the real selling point for the iPod. With an iPod you had access to all that content and having to purchase then rip a CD (or troll limelight) to get onto your MP3 player was no longer a requirement. Apple won the electronic music device market by making things simple.
The iPad is a device which makes computing VERY simple. The Apple app store is to computer software what the iTunes music store was to music files. Is it going to be a tinkering geeks favorite? No, of course not. Is it likely to be well received by it's intended audience (lay users), yes most likely.
The Generation
I'd say something witty here, but I'm not that bright.
A couple of years ago everyone realized the computer was on it's way to becoming an appliance like your toaster or microwave, and were pretty optimistic about it. Well, the future is now... and people still complain about it. As others have stated, this isn't a general all-purpose computer, and it's not meant to be. Jobs was right when he said the netbook doesn't do anything better. It only does things smaller and, with every passing generation of the netbook, they're increasing the size of the device until it's indistinguishable from a laptop. The iPad is in practice what the original netbook was supposed to be - a device just for surfing the net, watching videos, reading books, playing games, and looking at photos. It's a useful appliance. All the Apple hate is pretty ridiculous, as with this they are progressing technology. Without the iPad, we'd see 10 more years of netbooks getting bigger, phones getting smaller, and Microsoft releasing Slate PCs as if they're new. If the iPad takes off, which it probably will, in 2 years time everybody will be scrambling to get a iPad like device out there, and enough of them will run existing OSes that you can install programs to and hack to your hearts content and you know what? They all won't compete with the iPad because people don't want freedom in computing... they want an appliance that they can rely on not to get viruses and have their kids come fix every 2 months.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Why not let the users complain, then? I don't need, or want, the FSF speaking for me. The FSF speaks for its self and it's own interests like any lobbying group.
Or it could mean that more consumers are voting with their money that they like the product, and don't really care about the App Store restrictions.
Unimpressed with the limitations, I'm not buying an iPad. And I dumped over $60,000 worth of their stock at $208/share. That decision looks pretty smart right now, since they dropped below $200.
I might get back in at $180 because Apple really DOES have marvelous technology. And they could make so much money by opening the iPad. Even more by introducing a Verizon iPhone, I think it's only a matter of time before the board makes them do both.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Apple really dropped the ball here. And it's a shame, because many of us really wanted them to trounce MS with superior products. The iPad is one of those rare products that is sold with vastly reduced capabilities simply to spread the revenue out over the life of the product.
The absolute TOP of what I would spend for a glorified web browser is MAYBE $299. But I don't need one, so I can get by quite easily by spending $0.
Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. As I recall, wasn't it the "walled garden" approach that led to the demise of Apple in the mid 1980's? Didn't they fire the CEO based on the disastrous results of that strategy? And that man's name was? Oh, never mind.
Make the analogy slightly worse: say you can only have your tank filled by a "qualified technician".
You mean like in New Jersey?
Ceci n'est pas un sig.
Oh wait, that is even more difficult to develop for than the iPad and no one is complaining about it.
Er, you're mixing apples and oranges in your analogy. The correct comparison is that the Xbox is much cheaper to develop for than any other console. The PS3 is notoriously difficult to program for, and Nintendo artificially restricts who is even permitted to develope for their systems. Microsoft, on the other hand, simply charges a developer's fee and uses license agreements to get a slice of whatever anybody sells on their system. Anybody who knows DirectX (and that's anybody who developes PC games, which is a LOT of programers) can develop an Xbox game and sell it. That's not true for the PS3 or the Wii. Microsoft also has extensive and comprehensive documentation on their API developed from years of use, which makes writing games much easier. That simply isn't the case for the PS3 or Wii.
Conversely, since most computers don't have a choke point at the device, the iPad is much more expensive to develop for than any other computer. If your company and project is big enough the extra cost becomes minimal, but this virtually eliminates any small, independant software operation trying to "make it" in the computer world. I can, and have, written programs that I use on my computer on a regular basis which cost me nothing more than the time it took to write the program. This is not possible with the iPad, period.
In other words, your analogy makes the opposite point you were trying to make. Sorry pal.
Security is mostly a superstition... Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. - Helen Keller
Which devices? The iPod that made Apple a household name? Mac workstations which are used widely by creatives? The iPhone which from day 1 was derided as too closed / not functional enough by the geek cognoscenti here at Slashdot?
Scary thing is, I think you actually believe this. But you're wrong. Apple did not become a 50Bn company by catering to a couple thousand neckbeards in their parents' basements. You did not "put" Apple where it is, and they do not "owe" you anything. If you like their products, buy them. If you don't like their products, don't buy them. If you think they've overlooked a segment of the market and you have a killer idea, go into business and compete with them.
"our" devices? ignoring "everything we say"? If you don't like it, GO MAKE YOUR OWN. If there's as much demand as you seem to think, you should be wildly successful.
Buying or not buying are the ONLY true signals being transmitted in any market. Repeat after me: The Market Is The Best Way To Transmit Information. Listen To The Market. Love The Market. Obey The Market.
I'm not sure whether you were joking or not. But just in case - it's nonsense. It's a strong signal, to be sure, but all rational businesses heed much more than that.
The Market responds to all kinds of info. Just watch oil prices shoot up when the weather forecast is cold.
You think Apple doesn't have people analysing places like Slashdot?
It's 2010. The producers of Lost study Lost fan forums, and make agile changes to the show in according to what they find.
If the makers of a TV programme do that, surely savvy makers of gadgets study comments on prominent tech blogs.
That's the gayest car analogy I've ever heard!
Apple has created a device that follows a design philosophy started with their first generation iPod: giving our customers control over their own device is bad. Orwellian control is the only way to ensure we get our cut. We're rich, bitch!
Fixed that for you.
Living With a Nerd
A teacher gave us an assignment. Write a letter to your favorite (or least favorite) business.
Almost all of us got a response, and most of us got some coupons or other free stuff. Of course that was in 1985... i wonder what kind of responses our class project would receive if we tried it nowadays.
As stated above, the problem with this is, as these types of devices continue to be developed they encroach on the free and open market. Those people with the 10% expertise to take advantage of openess are also the same people who are trying to develop the next generation of products. If we prohibit them from making amazing advances BECAUSE of the closed ended software, we end up hurting natural progression. The 90% of the masses that it just works for don't realize that that same closed nature might be preventing them from accessing software they might really want...
An inventor is a man who asks 'Why?' of the universe and lets nothing stand between the answer and his mind.
Boy, what a bunch of whiners.
The iPad is not a computer for anyone who reads Slashdot. It is for those who simply want something that they can surf the web with, do a bit of email, and read a few ebooks. It is computer as an appliance. If you're interested in this, and want more, buy a MacBook. That uses the same base OS and is not locked down.
Then, there are the "sheeple" comments. People who buy this are sheep who simply follow the herd! They don't want to think! They're stupid!
No, they're not. They're quite intelligent and have decided to use their intelligence to handle things like dating and relationships instead of spending hours reading random tech forums to find out what they need to do to prevent some virus on their computer from stealing their money. Android isn't locked down, and the iPhone is, but then it was Android that had at least four trojan apps that were suppose to be banking apps, but ended up stealing banking info. You want to run root on your phone? Get an Android! If you simply want something you don't have to think about, get an iPhone.
It's an overgrown iPod Touch. Deal with it! Is it useful? Barely. Is it worth the money? Probably. Am I going to buy one? Probably not. Does Apple care that it annoys hackers and tinkerers? Definitely not. They sold it wrong and should have marketed it as a full size Touch then it would have scored some cool points. Calling it a game changing device is laughable.
It keeps me dry.
Few people actually want to speak up in public. So obviously there's not much value in free speech. Right?
And even if only 0,1% of all people take advantage of the ability to hack away themselves, that doesn't mean that other people don't have any advantage. I have written not a single line of the Linux kernel, and yet the mere fact that the Linux kernel exists has given me an advantage. And it gives an advantage to any Windows user to, as soon as he surfs the web.
Sure, because it's so easy to get into every market where something bad happens ... yes, any self-respecting person should be able, at the same time, to mass-produce and sell computers, printers, smart phones and gaming consoles, write all sorts of software, write books, music and web sites and produce movies, ... and obviously everyone has the necessary money to start such a business.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
if you don't like what the corporate overlords give you, become a corporate overlord yourself.
More to the point, Apple is sitting on more cash than Microsoft, AND has had it's best year ever in the depths of the Great Recession, while Microsoft keeps laying off.
The FSF likes choice just fine. However, part of choosing is making an informed choice. And the FSF is pointing out that perhaps the iPad is not the best choice. Why are you against the FSF making legitimate complaints? Why are you against them publicizing the issue of DRM? No one is forcing anyone not to buy something. They are merely making recommendations. It almost seems as though you want consumers to make uninformed choices, rather than thinking things through and investigating their purchases. You DO want consumers making informed choices, right?
As we have seen, the Apple store does not guarantee safety. But if consumers like being locked into one provider, they can now make that choice. If this weren't publicized by the FSF, how would all those consumers who want to be locked into one provider even know that Apple was making that possible? The FSF is doing those consumers and Apple a favor, pointing out what a great thing Apple is doing for them.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
What a presumptuous group here to think that every appliance on the market that happens to be run by a computer is for the Slashdot target demographic. Our demographic are full Personal Computers, not electronic appliances that are run on a computerized system. Take off the blinders ... we aren't the only market in the world.
"From what I can tell, the only thing you get with the iPad is the app-store."
And perfect synchronisation with my iPhone and Mac: contacts, events, documents all available without having to rely on web-apps (e.g. Google Docs) when I'm in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and an interface that's been vetted by an obsessive perfectionist.
An interface that doesn't get in the way of what I'm trying to do is a major selling point for me.
It's time to introduce the Hippocratic Oath for software and hardware engineers.
It is under development, but for now it reads:
I swear by Hephaestus, god of technology, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment, the following Oath and agreement:
I shall not create locked down software and machines of any form.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.
If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
Why does Apple get a special brand of outrage every time it releases a product? Where's the outrage when Microsoft, Sony, AND Nintendo all announced that you can't program for their powerful computers unless you bought a very expensive kit, and even then your product couldn't be released without going through a thorough review process and paying more substantial sums? Oh yeah, nobody cared because that was par for the course for consoles over the last 20 years and anyway, it's just a game system. Where, even, was the outrage when Amazon and Barnes and Noble announced that you can't program applications for their eBook readers? Oh, it's just meant to read books. So now Apple comes out with a similar device but this one reads books, plays games, browses the web, plays music and movies, and allows anybody to program pretty much anything for it for a fairly low price with the added functionality of easy distribution and pay system... and HOLY FUCKING SHIT THEY'RE NOT LETTING US INSTALL TIDDLYWINKS 3D ON IT BY OURSELVES AND LOAD IT WITH ALL THE APPLICATIONS WE COULD GET OFF DOWNLOAD.COM!! WHERE'S MY PITCHFORK!?!?!!!!
The iPhone and iPod Touch opened up a floodgate of hungry customers toward simple, single purpose applications. I'd think that the developers on this site would be going apeshit over the fact that now there will be millions of more paying customers with easy access to your software and with backward compatibility toward a device that already has over 20 million users, but instead, you're busy bitching about how you can't "do what you want with it." What more do you want? The ability to install GCC on it? Guess what, it's give and take... if you want the freedom of installing any application that your heart deems worthy, then you're going to pay for it by not having the casual market care about the device because it's too complicated for them... and there are plenty of devices like that out for you already.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks. If the corporation is smart, it will listen to the signal and try something else.
No signal is significant if it cannot be distinguished from the background noise. What signal do you suppose Macdonald's sees in the fact that I didn't buy a BigMac yesterday?
There's a basic problem in trying to interpret the lack of something as a strong signal. Last week noone, anywhere in the world, bought an iPad. You can't get a much stronger signal than that, if not buying an iPad is a signal. Of course, I could be wrong, perhaps that's why Apple announced one yesterday?
Do you suppose "They" don't like something we're doing, because, even though SETI has been looking for years, no alien has contacted them? How strong a signal is that?
It's hardly laziness that keeps people from making their own similar but free devices. It's all about the legal and financial landscape.
There are so many patent landmines that it's almost impossible to start up something innovative without running into somebody's patent on something. Companies like Apple with a large portfolio are at a distinct advantage, since they have leverage to use with other companies. The start-up has no ability to leverage their portfolio, even if they have one. If a larger company wants to infringe on a small company's patent, the smaller company will rarely have the budget for a legal team to make them stop.
Then there's the financial landscape. Right now, it's much harder than it was in the 80's and 90's to get venture capital for this sort of thing. Additionally, the cost to get into some of these markets has grown; it's in the tens of millions for consumer electronics. To make matters worse, it doesn't scale well. Most of the cost is in the research, development, and plant set-up. These costs are approximately the same whether you sell 10 units or 10,000 or 10,000,000.
One final thing, we're talking about programmers and consumers, not necessarily people with business acumen. It's not laziness, it's just not their skill set. I know a thing or two about programming. Imagine my surprise when I found out I can't just program whatever I want for my wife's iPod touch. I didn't bother starting a new company selling free iPods. It's not because I'm lazy, but because: a) I have a real job, b) it would cost way too much, c) few people would buy it, d) it's impossible to do without getting sued, and e) it's a hell of a lot easier just to put the program on a server that my wife can access on Safari on her iPod instead.
So Mac OS X is clearly getting more and more locked down in the areas where Apple is positioning itself (movies, music etc).
That's typical Apple proprietary stupidity; they've been doing this for 20 years. But it isn't the same as locking down the machine.
Apple isn't yet attempting to control what software you install.
"If a manufacturer decides to encrypt that, or use specialized error codes, and only give the key to 'authorized dealers,' all of a sudden any non-authorized mechanic is in for a world of additional difficulty"
In fact, manufacturers have done exactly that, been sued, and lost. Keeping those error codes secret is not legal in the US.
"I'm sorry, I'm Canadian."
Your mileage may vary.
Huh? I'm a grad student on a rather paltry salary, and I can afford to develop for the iPhone/iPad/Touch. The dev fee is only $100, and sounds a lot like the XBox system. You pay your fee, you give back some of the money (if you don't give it away free) and they have some controls on output (which I'm sure XBox does too -- they're not going to let a Nazi Jew-murdering game get published.)
As far as the API, it uses the same language and many of the same APIs as OS-X development, so if you've ever done Mac development before its quite easy to get started. I'm not sure I see how its different. In the end, there are a number of closed ecosystems, and a number of open ones, and both are thriving side-by-side -- which is the point the parent was trying to make.
They are only unnecessary to a bitter whiner like yourself. It's not rocket science here folks. Computers are not cars, get that through your thick skulls. If you don't like it don't buy it. Obviously you don't need Apple products so why the bitterness and clothes tearing?
Why bother
Have you NO sense of humor?
This is not the product you or I thought it was to be, and it defiantly is not the product Joe Schmo blogger thought it was. Nor should it be, but it may well turn out to be market defining.
Things we know it is not:
A Full Computer/Laptop or what most people deem things to fall into those descriptions
A Open Source Love fest, hack me to pieces device only a pocket protector could love...
A god device that was going to allow you to video conference while walking down the street and chewing bubble gum.
A replacement for the flux capacitor!
Things it is:
A Internet Appliance driven by Touch and ease of use.
Gives you enough access for simple tasks with cutting the fluff of the extras.
I like to call it a 'end table' device. I don't think it directly competes with netbooks, I think it's market-ably 'different.'
Scenario:
You come home from work drop your laptop/bag case in your favorite corner hiding spot, grab a beer and plop on the couch and turn on the boob tube. As you're numbing your mind, you think of something you want to look up real quick on the net or have the sudden urge to check email. Instead of reaching in your pocket for your phone (a true mobile device) with the really small screen, squinting just to make out the text on the page, you pick up your iPad (think coffee table books/magazines). You do your thing. End game. Quick easy efficient.
I think a lot of people get too concerned that things need to be the end all to be all to every solution... Apple isn't going to kill their other product lines or profit margins plain and simple!
That said, would I pay $500 for such a device? No, probably not as I do not have that disposable cash. If I did have that money, I would more then likely use it for some other need or desire. Are there people out there that might? Sure, how many? Dunno...
I'm gonna stop with the car analogies here. Android is also problematic for a lone developer, the problem in 2 words is: device fragmentation.
Android's device requirements are not nearly strict enough. Want to play back video in your Android app ? Chances are you'll have to provide several different versions of the video because not all devices have the same codec support.
The specs say, for example, that the device should be able to play back mpeg4, but it doesn't specify the bitrates, profiles, resolutions, etc. that should be supported.
So you'll still need to buy every popular Android device just to check if your video will actually work. And that's just video.
People, this is not something you would use as your primary computer. I see the iPad as a recreational device, something to get information to me. I would never use this as a device to produce anything, let alone as my main computer. This blog takes a realistic perspective. Bill on IT
This is the last place anyone should complain about the iPad being locked down, it will be hacked, and sooner or later a linux variant will appear so you can do what you want with it.
The author should quit crying, or more likely, quite trying to gain readership by hopping on or hyping up the "I hate the iPad" crowd, ffs it hasn't even been released.
"If any question why we died, Tell them because our fathers lied."
This whole subject is one large troll. So, I'm done.
Why bother
Considering Apple is not the government, has no ability to "punish" you for hacking your device, and the ability to hack your device and its software is not a natural ability of most people, your analogy sucks.
What, other than laziness, prevents you from designing a product, pitching it to investors, and bringing it to market? I didn't say it was easy or trivial - I said it was possible.
What, other than laziness, is preventing you from finding like-minded people, developing a business plan, finding investors, and doing this? No business starts as a 50 billion dollar a year business. But good ideas, well-executed, become 50 billion dollar a year businesses. And there is absolutely nothing to stop you from designing a business plan around "free" and "open" software and devices, recruiting other like-minded people to your cause, lining up investors, and launching your business. If the market is as desperate for this feature as you imply, then it should be wildly successful, and you should have a line of investors in the street outside waiting for you to take their money.
Of course not - but venture capitalists and other investors do.
Your gas tank analogy fits better with a "wall charger".
Most applications (productivity) seem well thought out and designed.
????
Itunes - 2/5 - A slow bloated shop application, that makes it near impossible to actually efficiently getting a variety of items onto your smart device. Even dragging and dropping takes forever, because iTunes can't properly do in the background, what should be done in the background.
Photos - 1/5 - The most worthless application available. Can't show original images, but only downscaled crap. You basically have to buy another application from the appstore, to view images on your smart device, but then you can no longer actually get the images onto it in an ordinary fashion as Itunes automatically make your images small and crappy when putting them on the device. Of course, it is all "in the best interest of the user".
Videos - 2.5/5 - Videos are listed in a single long structure. No hierarchy at all (at least not that I have been able to find). The player itself is pretty buggy with the tap to access the controls sometimes stopping to work, and some problems with skipping. And the skipping controls generally suck pretty bad. That it gets 2.5 is because if you actually get a compatible file onto your device and don't want to skip around much, it is actually usable. And one good feature is that it remembers your position in the video (and even backsteps a few seconds when turning off/on). Of course, making a file compatible is an art in itself.
Music - 3.5/5 - Actually usable as long as you design playlists on your computer. I have a few minor complaints, but nothing worth mentioning. I don't see what is especially great about it however. It feels like a relatively average application.
Weather - 2/5 - Can't even remember the last update. Not a problem for those having a phone device with constant internet connection, but it sucks for the ipod touch users. Same with a couple of the other applications that come with the device.
App Store - 2/5 - Are they actually trying to sell anything? Browsing the App store is painful with the crappy work it does of sorting applications. The iTunes Store isn't any better. Unless you know exactly what you are looking for, you shouldn't bother. And it is even worse if you don't live in a huge country, because Apple in all their wisdom (none) made the reviews country specific.
Safari - 3.5/5 - As with the Music application, Safari is actually working ok. I have issues with the behavior of the zoom and as usual, no control options at all, but otherwise it works fairly well.
I am a non-fanboy who impulse bought my ipod touch when my previous mp3 player broke. I needed something quickly, as I travel by bus daily, which is unbearable without a player. And with Apple having a pretty good reputation, I simply went with it. But I do feel like I bought into the rat race with the user unfriendly control freakiness.
The most interesting thing I have noticed about all of this is that this is what they did with their computer market. If you make an application you must pay a royalty. That is the reason dos then windows pcs out paced apple.
Application people wanted to be able to design apps and not have to pay a royalty to the OS manufacturer.
This was for the most part the downfall of apple computers in the apple vs pc race.
Flash forward.
Apple comes out with a smart phone. Looks good has good hardware. Locked down so if you design for the iphone then you must pay royalty. Amazingly this time all the application developers jump on board. Interesting enough is that some application developers are starting to question this as apple denies their app and produces one of their own.
Either the Devs will start to wise up and the i-anything will start to go they way of the apple computer again or it will become the next form of how an OS gets designed.
The people buying computers in the beginning were just as non informed as they are today. The difference is the developers started making the decisions.
Buy a computer.. well apple only has 5 applications you can use, while this Dos PC has over 10,000 applications.
which one did everyone buy?
love the taste, hate the texture
Anything that doesn't run Linux out of the box is a huge step backwards. It's like a gas company chairman getting up and telling us electric cars are a huge step backwards.
BeauHD. Worst editor since kdawson.
I wonder why people don't have this same outrage over car manufacturers building their cars as "closed systems". They build their cars just like Apple builds a computer system, controlling each piece so one or another doesn't fail. Is it just the life or death difference that applies with cars? Just like a car if you really really care enough to dig around you can modify apple software, if you know engine's etc. go ahead and mess with your car, but do so at your own risk. Seems to me it used to be the wild west, which was great for innovation to a point, but now we've reached a phase where a designed experience is the way to progress "safely". I'm not complaining, just knowing what I'm getting when I buy Apple. If you don't dig it just don't go with Apple, but don't complain at me about crashes and viruses.
Where's my Ubuntu pad with a usb port? Come on Corporations, make me one already. Is it because the multi-touch patents?
Burn FAT not OIL
Ugh. In my defense, it was early when I read this, and the general tone of most of the responses have been whining and bitchy - chalk one up to my annoyance at all the people who think whining on slashdot will somehow change the world.
The ipad is not a computer, it's a digital media appliance, as is most every modern phone, gps, e-reader, digital media player, and dedicated gaming platform on the market. This class of function-specific digital devices is about reliability, user experience and performance. A controlled operating environment attempts to consistently deliver those things by restricting the entropy induced by random user code. Boiled down, unbounded tweak-ability = break-ability. Do most consumers want to debug an appliance every time they add a feature? If you want a general purpose computer, use a general purpose computer. I want my game box and my phone to just work, as the iPhone does. I want some simple customization THAT DOESN'T BREAK ANYTHING, which I get now from the app store. It's exactly the right model for 95% of the user base who just wants the d@mn thing to work. GPS units proved it. The ipod proved it. The iPhone proved it again. If I can get a fast web browser and digital media player on a cheap, reliable, gorgeous large-screen internet appliance that works through an entire trans-continental flight, without the liabilities of a conventional 'open' operating system, why the h3ll not? Sign me up.
What everyone is missing about this launch, is what I think will make the ipad a RAGING success.
:-)
Apple now [arguably] has a better eBook than the Kindle (If Stanza on the Touch is anything to go on), color, with WiFi, and 3G, and a boatload of storage.
Apple has a well-known DRM chain. Apple is popular with the kids.
Apple is going to get textbook manufacturers to create iPad-only content for kids heading off to college, making the iPad a mandatory tool to have for school, and finally allowing the textbook publishers to kill the used-book market for good.
That's my prediction.
My netbook is also a recreational device, it gets information to me.
I happen to dual boot mine with both Windows XP and Linux, I watch movies on planes with it as well.
But I can also put what software I want to use on it, rather than what I'm told I have to use.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
And the artificial limitations introduced by Chrome OS when it is fully capable of running linux binaries and source aren't a hassle?
Where are the DBD and FSF campaigns about that?
How do apple know it's the closedness? Rather than, say, not locked down enough. Or doesn't play HD iTunes movies.
Each car company creates and locks down their own computer control system and auto parts. There was a time when the 'user' could tinker and mod theirr cars easily, but most consumers just want a car that works. They want a car that turns on in the cold and drives the way it should whether they are going fast or slow, and the car makers have provided that, at the cost of limiting access to internal control systems. Same with the iPad - most consumers just want a phone that works, that is intuitive and easily expanded. While symbian phones could be expanded, it required so many steps that the average grandma/mom/dad/user never got around to expanding anything. iPods just work. The iPhone just works. And now the iPad will just work. And that is why they have been and will be very popular. Most Slashdot readers will continue to tinker with the inner workings of the latest *nix release and spend their evenings curled up on the couch figuring out how to run a Sega Genesis emulator on their toaster. Meanwhile, the average user will happily shell out $500 for a really cool gizmo that will sit next to their couch like a photo fram displaying beautiful photos of the grandkids, until they pick it up and shoot off a few quick emails to friends and family and check the latest headlines at the New York Times. You all are not the target market, so get over it.
Let's add to the car analogy.
20 or 30 years ago, cars needed a lot more maintenance than they do today. And automatic transmissions weren't as common. So people were generally more connected to the road and more skilled under the hood. But most people (then and now) use a car as an appliance, and they want it to be as simple and trouble-free as possible. End of story. They don't have the slightest interest in even shifting gears, let alone changing the oil. They just want to get in, turn the key (or press the power button), shift into "D", and go.
There will always be those who do want a stick shift and will tinker under the hood to tune their car's performance. And this is a good thing. But the vast majority of drivers are not like this. They don't care if they *can* pop the hood because they never will.
AT&T NO CARRIER
That's why I prefer Android's approach
You know, it used to be the other way around, but...
Leave it to Apple to make Microsoft and Google look good.
Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.
"It just works"! Snrk.
Only if our hypothetical charging station has lobbied to make it illegal to buy a gasoline-powered generator and use it to charge your vehicle.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
I'd contend that's less of a vendor lockin formula, and more a problem in establishing a standard that would allow for the improvements that come regularly. Different battery designs charge in different ways; do we want to say that we should make a single standard charger with a set voltage/current that a modern battery can accept, thus ruling out possible advances in battery or ultracapacitor design that might require a different design?
By contrast, gas is a fairly simple proposition. You need to pump a liquid from one storage tank to another; the design on the receiving end (a hole connected to a pipe) is pretty easy to agree on. The size of the tank isn't increasing substantially (I seem to recall even early cars had tanks of a couple gallons in size), so if the design limits the pumping speed a bit, it just means spending 5 minutes instead of 1 minute fueling up. With an electric car, it could mean standardizing on a 4+ hour charge, to the exclusion of the ideal target of a 5 minute charge.
That said, one way to standardize would be to move the specialization into the car. If the car can do the transformation and manage the charging if provided with wallsocket power, then it would be trivial to standardize: You charge from an extension cord. Problem is, that adds hundreds of dollars or more to every car. And that adds up. So right now, we're getting a different sort of compromise: The car is cheaper and lighter, but it requires the charging circuitry to be at the station. You don't need to pay for as much charge control and transformation circuitry (there are hundreds of cars for every charge station), but you end up with a mishmash of "standards".
Once electric cars actually become available to more than a tiny fraction of the populace, and the battery tech advances to the point where more than a tiny fraction of the populace is interested, I expect to see standards, but right now, there's no real incentive to standardize.
$_ = "wftedskaebjgdpjgidbsmnjgcdwatb"; tr/a-z/oh, turtleneck Phrase Jar!/; print
In other words, rather than not buying something, you should vocally boycott it.
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
If that scenario happened, it would be because the damn consumer LIKED the product and it's accompanying business model. If you don't like the product of said company, don't buy it and for our sake, don't go bitching all over the interwebs how you feel it's so UNJUST that a business run their business differently from the way you would choose to.
The issue is that most customers don't understand these reasons for not buying a closed product. I understand how that feels -- I don't know enough about cars to make that kind of educated choice. I know that in a world where everyone was fully informed, an open car would depreciate in value less than a closed car, because the maintenance costs would be lower. But nobody thinks about that when buying a car, so it doesn't work.
Likewise, someone non-technical would happily buy a locked down computing product, and use it happily for a while. Then they might reasonably ask "I'd like to make it do [something]" - and the answer would be "Sorry, the way it is, is the way it is."
The parent's complaint is that simply not buying something lacks the specificity that more detailed critiques and complaints have.
Don't just crap on something, offer an alternative.
Many consumers don't care, and even LIKE, the idea of being locked in to the App Store, because it introduces a significant amount of security.
"People willing to trade their freedom for temporary security deserve neither and will lose both." -- Benjamin Franklin
As another poster has mentioned, this is happening in the car industry: engines are locked off, so that only Ford mechanics can work on Ford engines. Ford sells cheap cars, people buy them, then Ford bleeds them out of cash on service because they have a monopoly.
People gave up their freedom and got screwed.
When your interests conflict with Apple's, do you think Apple will serve yours? Why? When a non-Apple music playback application would suit you best, but Apple won't let you have it, despite people wanting to give it to you, will you thank Apple for keeping the App Store clean and safe from competition^Wviruses?
Also, I encourage you to have a look at the underhand C code contest. How competent do you think the QA workers are? How diligent? Exactly what is the safety you're buying?
I don't see how the iPad can be viewed as a "step backwards".
- As an eReader, it does MORE than the Kindle and its ilk. It uses the ePub format, so it should be able to view non-Apple-distributed books, magazines, etc. This is kinda like the arguments that iPods are "closed", even though they'll happily play your MP3 files.
- As a mobile computing device, it runs the same apps as the iPhone, and new/updated apps will soon take advantage of the iPad's hardware.
- From firsthand accounts, it's very fast. Faster than the latest iPhone.
- It doesn't run Flash. (Yes, that's a benefit.)
Stop whining. If you don't like it, don't buy one. Get a netbook instead. Truly, though, the iPad is going to be a HUGE success. With or without you and the FSF.
Why is that a con again?
GLaDOS for President 2016! "Well here we are again. It's always such a pleasure." -- GLaDOS, 2011
but the bottom line is that consumers don't care or they really wouldn't have bought it.
Many don't care because they don't understand, or only fully realised the limitations after purchasing it.
After logging in slashdot still does not take you back to the page you were on. It's been that way for 20 years.
File under "If you don't like it, change the channel."
What could you do with the iPhone that you couldn't do with any of the smartphones already on the market? Not much, but for most of the things I'm likely to do, I can do it way more easily thanks to an interface that was thought out and well designed for the particular device. As opposed to the old technique of trying to stuff windows into a tablet.
You get the app-store and an OS based on the iPhone. It's a pretty decent touchscreen OS.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
Ridiculous and erroneous. There's nothing stopping you from adding muenster cheese to your Subway-bought sandwich, nor eating it while drinking beer.
There are, however, technical measures put in place by Apple to prevent you from installing whatever system or application you choose on the iPad, so the analogy breaks down.
No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
You don't expect to run arbitrary code on your DVR (or at least most people don't)
No, I just expect to run my choice of entertainment software, which is mostly but not entirely stable over time.
I just want Frozen Bubble, Battle for Wesnoth and Nexuiz on my Wii. Nothing arbitrary, just those games. In the eyes of Nintendo, that is arbitrary.
Similarly for tivo/apple/$name, of course. I don't want my TV-box, or my telephony-box, or my $box to be a general purpose device. But I want the way it serves a specific purpose to be the way I choose.
And that can only really happen if the device is general purpose.
(And runs Linux :D)
Would you like some cheese with your whine?
It's not defective, RMS et al: it's a CHOICE. You purport to like choice, but no one believes you anymore. Many consumers don't care, and even LIKE, the idea of being locked in to the App Store, because it introduces a significant amount of safety.
Also, it's not a "huge step backward" even if we agree with everything else you say, because it's what's on the iPhone. It's not backward, it's the same.
And there's no chance whatsoever that this will ever happen to Mac OS X, so don't lose sleep over it.
I wouldn't say it is a step backward, but rather just sidewards. I own an iPhone, and love it. But I don't want to carry around a big iPod Touch. I was hoping that they could create a device just like they did, but rather use the Mac OS X on it instead of the iPhone like firmware. A main problem is that you have two types of people. People like me who love tech and want the nitty gritty of control, and those who want simplicity. Apple is essentially just created the iPad for those who want simplicity. But I want control so Mac OSX would be better for me. The last thing I want to mention though, is we don't know what Mac OS X will be like in the future, that isn't our call, but what I hope is they don't make it like the app store and that is all that you can do. That is my two cents.
I think the complaint is more at the level of market analysis. The argument is that the market would be better if Apple let you click a little check box that said "permit install of non-Apple store apps" -- like Android has for their OS/market place. The choice problem is that if I want to buy an Apple product b/c I like the features, I can't install the features I want on it.
Classic example: my partner has an iphone. I have an android phone. She used to be able to use Google voice search on the iphone and in fact taunted me with it, when I still had a winmo device. Then apple decided to eliminate that app, so she's stuck without it. The switching cost for her to move to android is relatively high, so this one feature doesn't make her buy a new phone, but it still sucks for her and all the people like her.
Why is it good for the general public if Apple runs their business this way? They may be entitled to make these choices, but I think all the complainers/haters are voicing a larger concern, that Apple's behavior is creating less value for the public (and perhaps more value for Apple). Classic business dichotomy, and certainly a complaint voiced on /. about Microsoft Word and Windows a bijillion times as well.
Up until it was made illegal only relatively recently, you CHOSE to buy and sell slaves. do you view such practices as acceptable? except, now, the slavery isn't recognised as such, because it is several degrees removed, behind "Intellectual Property" laws. so your post basically says that you are ignorant and happy with it. please remind me where you come from, where you were educated and what you believe in: i would like to make sure i never go there, and i would like to be inspired never to be like you.
Good catch. Not a con, a fuckup on my part.
Thanks.
Great counter. I make no bones about it, I have fallen in device love with my Touch.
:-/
I'm not sure I'm going to like it when I eventually have to replace it's battery. As a music and video player, I don't see it becoming obsolete anytime soon, except for that.
All told, I think the experience all-around is better with the Apple devices. And it's probably going to make a better smartphone/pda for me. Do I wish Apple had a portrait-style sliding keyboard like the Pre+ does? Yes. But I'll make do without it.
Average users don't WANT control over their computers. Go ahead. Give it to them. Explain that they need to right-click on the icon and choose "Run as Administrator," or that they need to run spyware scans, or virus scans, or allow the machine to install updates, or use Browser X instead of Browser Y, or manage a filesystem in a clean and organized way. What do they say? Come on, we've all heard it.
I don't think you need to do any of that on OS X. And I don't think people complain much about OS X in the way you described.
Yet there's this terminal application that gives the users total control and the power to fuck up their machines, royally.
The freedom to make your own choices if you want, but with sane default choices made for you.
(Man, I wish I could say that Linux is 100% there with a straight face...)
I wish it was that simple.
Lets go for an extreme example, I'm sure it will be taken out of context but I might as well try getting the point across.
Lets pretend Apple managed to make an exclusive agreement with another large organization, like say the government. This exclusive agreement means that all voting goes through Apple's proprietary software on their fancy new iPad.
Now of course, it is your choice to disagree with how things are done and not buy the iPad...
Yes, it is an extreme example. But you don't seem to be understanding the GP's point here:
accept whatever the corporate overlords give them, or go to a corner and shutup.
It is in their best interest to trap and control you. Stop telling people to just take it!
I have to buy the right to use the hardware in a way that I want to?
No. Not at all. You're welcome to poke at it with a magnetized needle or any other tool you've got in order to program it the way you want.
You could even recreate the work other people have already done in creating an open toolchain on the iPhone. Or you could just use that toolchain.
You can even use the developer tools Apple has created for free -- they give those away.
If you want to participate in the marketplace that Apple has developed, though, they ask you for fees.
Tweet, tweet.
That has *got* to be one of the worst analogies I have ever seen on /.
Yeah exactly, there's a lot of evidence of this already happening. Why just the other day Google released their version of the iPhone and they've totally locked it down just like Apple...err...what's that? It's not locked down? You can install whatever you want on it? Oh...
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
post 1001?
Ford can do whatever it wants to. If you don't like it, buy a Chevy.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
What world do you live in?
--Expandable with memory cards.--
How again is this a con?
Totally agree with this analogy. Unfortunately there is no one out there to stop Steve from testing the waters with these new restrictive innovations. The bottom line however is that consumers will speak with their hard earned cash and the cult of Jobs will grow. No matter how much we hate on their latest gadget it will be a success and the best we can hope for on this front is an improved spec sheet for version two next year.
I think the attitude that can be so frustrating on Slashdot is the sentiment that anyone that doesn't want to mod or jailbreak every possession is a moron. Everyone who just wants a computer that does what they want safely and simply is a moron - and only Linux geeks are smart. A physicist or historian who is brilliant (and probably just as geeky in their arena as we can be in ours) is contemptible in your eyes.
This is an appliance - and this is what most people want - an appliance that does a specific set of tasks. Press a button, and it just works. Many of these people in fact ARE morons, but many are not, and simply "geek out" on music, history, medicine, or something else - and don't have the mental energy or time for PC/Mac/Linux maintenance.
Better still buy a competing product which is more like the one you want. When Acer, Dell, Lenovo, HP and the rest come out with their tablets in six months time you will get to make your preferences known by buying the one you like. Hopefully then Apple will realise that because lots of people buy the Lenovo one it's features must be the ones everyone wants.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
It's my choice to buy or not to buy the iPad (a ladies monthly thing?) so I understand the constraints placed on it. MY CHOICE, and consumers will make or break it. There are always restrictions on software, it may be minor, or major, like having an SDK that only the rich and famous can obtain, but times change and so does technology. If nothing else, we SHOULD see a pile of Linux based competitors, but I doubt it, MS will see to that, and introduce a lame, Win based clone.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Poor proof-reading. :-)
I think the complaint misses the point of the device. It's not supposed to be a full-blown personal computer. It's supposed to be an iPod for documents (including web pages and especially books -- note that bookstore), doing for them what the iPod did for music: let me carry it around and interact with it in my easy chair or my bed or on a park bench.
Why can't it be an "iPod for documents" in an open-platform way? For that reason, why does the iPod / iPhone need to be DRM?
That's the point / question.
How is using electricity instead of gasoline an artificial feature?
Not necessarily. I'm assuming all electric vehicles will have a standardized method of charging. After all, if each manufacturer had their own charger, people would take their money right back to a gas-powered car.
And, it's not illegal to create or make an adapter, though the homemade ones might be dangerous.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Complaints are very important to companies. A good company (or in fact any org) will listen very carefully to complaints. Someone actually has the time and the hope that you will improve. If they didn't think you could improve, they wouldn't waste their time :)
Slashdot is not the manufacture of the car or the iPad, so bitching here isn't doing anything other than trolling.
Wrong. Many, many people don't have the time or brilliance to explore every ramification of every product. Some people come to places like Slashdot for the purpose of absorbing the opinions and analysis of other people. Slashdot is a good choice in that the variety of responses is wide, and it's reasonable to expect that irrational or misinformed comments will either be moderated or replied to. Point is: posting to places like Slashdot is absolutely more functional than trolling.
"Oh no... he found the
they could just as well give you a pair of booster cables and hope you don't short them across your nuts... power is power.
Um, no, no it's not. If you'd like to test that theory, go climb the nearest electrical tower and plug your hairdryer into the wires. I take no responsibility for the result.
Less dramatic demonstration: plug your lead-acid car battery directly into an AC wall socket. Hilarity ensues. The phrase "the goggles do nothing!" is bound to come up.
I don't know if you noticed, but 9 volt batteries tend to be shaped differently than the AAA - type. No, this was not an aesthetic choice, or an attempt to ensure vendor lock-in - there are very real, rather good reasons for doing it that way.
OS X is not locked down. This is something that started with the iPhone.
Of course OS X is locked down, it's only available on a Apple Hardware. Duh...
If OS/X was truly not locked down, you could install it on cheap Acer hardware.
Apple fan boys selectively forget that there exists a world outside of the Apple Ecosystem when making an argument on behalf of Steve Jobs.
"Think Different"
Does it run Linux?
i don't think anyone is accusing the app store of charging 5 x more for stuff
If only one company was allowed to ever own charging stations, yes.
These are the same people that did a DOS on the Genius bars to protest the iPhone (they tried to book every appointment slot at every store for a weekend, encouraging people to make multiple appointments at multiple stores).
I wonder if they'll try that again (it got a lot of negative reaction in the press and here on Slashdot), or if they will come up with something new? Maybe borrow a page from the animal rights groups, and toss fake blood at people, chanting "iPad is Murder" or some such?
This is not an argument. That consumers make choices is the definition of the market, not an argument for it. You say the market will produce the best outcome - so whatever outcome the market produces is best!
You say that no-one should concern themselves with the the actual, practical consequences in the real world. Whether the system is locked down is "irrelevant": the actual outcome - the actual impact on people's lives and freedoms - is beside the point. All that matters is that this was a result of market choices. This is a purely abstract position that explicitly claims that practical reality does not matter.
You say, "Just wait a year, and we will see if Apple made a good decision." So we will find out whether Apple acted in its own interest. Yippee. This tells us nothing at all about whether the outcome will be good or bad, and it doesn't give a hoot about the actual empirical results. Consumers often make choices that do not lead to outcomes they would prefer. If there's a conflict between your theory and actual evidence, I'm sorry but evidence wins. Of course, real human good and bad don't boil down to a single number like price, so that involves making value judgements. Maybe you're uncomfortable with that, but there is no way around it. To make value judgments, you actually need to - you know - make value judgements. There is no magic solution that makes that go away - not even, for all its merits, the free market (which, whatever else we think of it, I think we can all agree is not "free").
But your amoral slight-of-hand claims that value judgements are superfluous. This is no different than saying "the hurricane was the act of God, therefore it must be good." Only you are replacing God with the market. Maybe you have faith that markets do produce ideal outcomes. Fine. But that is a personal conviction, not a reason "why markets are so great." You deceive yourself if you think it is.
So basically the complaint is that computers are getting more like consumer appliances? How is that a bad thing? Appliance computing, well certainly not a one-size-fits-all solution, is likely to appeal to a lot of people who are not, and don't want to be, highly computer literate.
Strikes me as a huge step to the side, offering a parallel way of doing things. Does it do less than a typical personal computer? Yes. Is that a bad thing? Wholly depends on the user.
In that case, yes. Like electric vehicles. I think the GP contradicted you because he presumed that you must be disagreeing with the person you replied to (as is normal Slashdot procedure) and because the parent post was correct, attempted to find a way to show yours was wrong. In fact, you are both correct and we have TWO bad situations of artificial constraint.
In future, you should probably wait for someone else to post a reply when you want to agree with someone, that way you can reply to the second person's post enabling you to both support the GP that you think is right and honour the Slashdot protocol of only posting to correct someone.
HTH,
Harmony.
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Obviously their philosophy happens to line their pockets. For a design philosophy like apple though adding the ability to move outside the predefined limits of the UI philosophy would in itself be bad for the majority of users.
This is like the way that Windows hides system files from novice users but enables non-novice users to toggle being able to see them. Of course enabling that means having to write all sorts of extra code to allow that toggle, to allow for the different view perspectives.
I think Apple has come to the conclusion that operating systems have become incredibly complex and that the average user experience can be greatly enhanced by hiding that complexity.
Complexity minimized by iPad/iPhone OS:
file systems
file extensions
directory structures
minimized peripheral device considerations
minimization of virii due to app store
All of those things are just headaches for the average user.
The Generation
I'd say something witty here, but I'm not that bright.
There are now too many locked-down mostly-read devices, and there's going to be a shakeout. Pick the wrong one and you're going to be screwed.
There's a table of what reads what.
This incompatibility isn't going to last. The market will support one or two incompatible standards. Not five or ten.
Pretty much NOBODY was expecting full OS X on these things. All the rumors for the last 6 months have been that it would run a modified iPhone OS...
A fool throws a stone into a well and a thousand sages can not remove it.
That is exactly what we see with Apple today. The limitations they put in place are artificial, and completely unnecessary.
Apple create products that generally Just Work(tm) where you don't to put up with shit. Microsoft (to take one example) does not IMHO--at least in the consumer space. Apple provides an easy-to-use App store that is fairly convenient to both developers and device users; no one else really does (though they're finally coming online).
People purchase Apple products because, on average, they're the least shitty thing out there. That's the reason we have iMacs at my home: because after a day of working in IT, I want to come home and not have to do the same thing.
If you feel that not having to put up with shit is not worth the price that's your prerogative, but calling people who want to minimize hassle "fools" is the reason why normal people will ignore you. Insulting your customers is generally not a good sales tactic.
If you want people to use open systems then release good products that run them. Google is certainly having a go at it, and I hope they succeed. But in the mean time Apple has some of the least shitty products out there, and if you can't see the advantages they bring to the non-geek masses, that's not the fault of the "fools".
Bad analogy...
At least for an iPod, the main function is to play music, as a car's main function is to burn petroleum. You can play .aac files in an iPod from apple or you can burn Ford's high octance fuel. But you can also play .mp3's from anywhere else like Amazon or even make your own. Just like you can burn fuel from other gas stations, even make your own (i.e. biodiesel).
Both platforms have proprietary parts built in, the app store on the iPod and say some security features of the car. Lose your key? Have to go to Ford. Want play a game on your iPod, have to go to the app store.
I really dislike the whole tightly controlled closed system. However, I was hoping that Apple would release exactly what they did, because I wanted an ebook reader that didn't suck, and the ipad is truly very sleek, and is certainly the best reader on the market (i know it does much more, and is being marketed as much more than just a reader). If anyone else could manage to build hardware as nice and polished as what Apple always manages to come out with, I would much rather get something else. What would be great is something in the form factor of the iPad running Android. If you build it they will come. I don't think it would be long before someone released an Android version of something like iBook, and that would be perfect. I think instead of everyone sitting around bitching about what Apple did or didn't do, they should build the competition.
Well, even coffee makers today have coffee pad systems. Instead of being able to use any coffee powder or roasted beans i like, i have to buy the correct format from the manufacturer. The whole world is becoming a fucking ink jet printer!!!!
When you buy a Mac, you don't own squat, *except for* a SATA hard disk and a few empty PCIe slots, except for a round, shiny disk and some cardboard.
And this differs how from a Windows system, or even a Linux system?
It's not that I particularly care to defend Apple's closed (aka tight integration) policies regarding their products. I don't necessarily agree with their approach, nor do I disagree. I find some aspects troubling as much as I find others completely overblown.
But what these critics are consistently overlooking is one simple fact: competition. Look at the iPhone. It's so easy to look back with hindsight and say how it was a technological inevitability, but really, I want you to try really hard and remember what kind of phones we had on the market before the iPhone. Tortured user interfaces, nested menus, inelegant text input methods, tiny screens, and pathetic multimedia capabilities. Features were not designed from the ground up, but rather tacked on like afterthoughts. And look at where we are now. We have Google Android. We have touchscreen phones with big screens. We literally witnessed a revolution in mobile phone technology that the iPhone precipitated and yet these critics don't seem to recognize this fact. All they do is complain about lock-in, but had Apple not stuck its neck out and designed the iPhone, the mobile network operators and the handset makers would not have had a fire lit under their collective asses to deliver a better product to the consumer. Sure, we had "smartphones" before Apple. We had Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and Symbian. We had these things but they were STILL limited and expensive. Apple changed the mobile phone game and nobody can legitimately deny that.
The iPad is the same thing. It's not supposed to be everything everybody demanded at the outset. The iPhone wasn't--it wasn't even 3G originally. It didn't have the App Store at first. Apple's mode of operation, if it hasn't been made completely obvious by now, is to get the basics down first, then refine and expand later. That's what they did with the iPod (remember, it had a real hard drive inside, instead of flash memory?), the iPhone, and now the iPad. This is just the first step of many to come.
Only Apple has the balls these days to take a concept, refine it, and make it work. Remember all the other tablet vaporware hype in the past year? Everyone has somehow conveniently forgotten. There's NOTHING like the iPad out there right now. Not even CLOSE. And now that Apple has shown its hand, it's now up to the competitors to show what they can do. Apple took on all the risk of developing this product, now the competitors will see the market's reaction and make something that could be better and more open, just as what happened with the iPhone.
Are we getting it now?
It's always easy to criticize the innovators. It's easy to forget what life was like before the breakthroughs, because the most well-designed technologies become so natural and integrated into your life that they become second nature. The iPad is literally like something out of Star Trek, so much so that I thought it should've been called an iPADD. And now it is up to others to step up to the plate and provide their own devices, with more openness, with an even better interface, if they are really sincere about delivering choice.
OP, I think, is not disputing the strength of the just don't buy it position. What s/he's saying is that it's not the only option, not even the best option, and isn't the only glib (and annoying) reply to anyone who complains that the product is unsatisfactory. A better option than just not buying it, he says, is to provide feedback to the manufacturer as to why you're not buying it, so that the manufacturer can make a more measured and prompt response and re-release a product that actually serves your need. In this manner both parties are satisfied with the least expenditure and in the least time. That makes it the benefit-maximizing solution and thus superior.
Well, it depends. When he's not taking his dried frog pills, his world could be *anything*.
Conversely, since most computers don't have a choke point at the device, the iPad is much more expensive to develop for than any other computer. If your company and project is big enough the extra cost becomes minimal, but this virtually eliminates any small, independant software operation trying to "make it" in the computer world. I can, and have, written programs that I use on my computer on a regular basis which cost me nothing more than the time it took to write the program. This is not possible with the iPad, period.
Your argument makes sense up until this point. Let's use your own words (changes in bold) to argue how expensive iPad development is: Apple, on the other hand, simply charges a developer's fee ($100) and uses license agreements to get a slice of whatever anybody sells on their system. Anybody who knows XCode(and that's anybody who develops Macintosh/iPhone software, which is a LOT of programmers) can develop an iPad application and sell it.
I'm not sure how a $100 developer fee and small percentage of each sale equates to expensive. Sell even 130 copies of a $1 app and you have completely recouped your initial investment.
For that other 5%, jailbreaking is trivial and allows complete control.
Last I checked, circumventing DRM is ILLEGAL with real prison sentences and everything. How is that TRIVIAL?
So we can have control of our devices, but we might have to go to prison for it. Nice.
If your point was that you're horrible at making analogies, then yes, you did.
Your latent homophobia and chromophobia (fear of "flamboyant colors") aside, if Apple produced a car I'd buy it in a heartbeat.
Would you like some cheese with your whine?
It's not defective, RMS et al: it's a CHOICE. You purport to like choice, but no one believes you anymore. Many consumers don't care, and even LIKE, the idea of being locked in to the App Store, because it introduces a significant amount of safety.
pudge, I'm disappointed that you think the DRM issue is about choice. In a free market, yes, customers do have choice, and economic incentives will solve the problem. But that is not what we are facing here.
The DMCA already prohibits the creation and distribution of software that removes DRM. The corporations will pass new laws prohibiting the unauthorized modification of DRM devices. They will pass laws mandating the inclusion and honoring of DRM in broadcast and content streams. Eventually, they will pass laws requiring all devices to include and support DRM. They already tried all of these things with the CBDTPA. That effort failed, but it takes extraordinary naivete to think that they will never try again.
Right now, the iPad represents a choice. But Apple's goal is to provide this choice and then remove other choices through legal restrictions. The whole reason why this is a trap is because the first step looks positive and seductive. And the reason why the FSF is making noise is because many people, including you, don't realize the dangers of this trap.
And there's no chance whatsoever that this will ever happen to Mac OS X, so don't lose sleep over it.
It doesn't take much creativity to come up with ways to deprive customers of the OS X platform, even without changing OS X. For example, Apple could restrict the sale and support of OS X to professional or enterprise level machines. That would have functionally the same effect as depriving mainstream customers of choice, since most people can't afford the high end machines. Right now, the only thing preventing Apple from doing this is profits. Once the appropriate laws are in place, however, Apple would get enough profit from their App store to more than replace their OS sales, and no fear of competition because of legal prohibitions. Then we'll start to see the hammer come down.
You might argue, why not just oppose the laws when they arise, instead of worrying about this now? The reason is that preemptive opposition has a greater chance of succeeding. I strongly object to the premise that we should wait until the last possible moment before resisting loss of choice. By then, it could be too late.
An asinine comparison.
You have the choice to buy-in or not buy-in. It's fairly difficult to be a citizen of Earth today without knowing about the AppStore and the DRM associated with it. If you don't like it, buy a Droid or an HP tablet or some other random device.
It's incredible that so many people are taking their personal time to belittle or berate the iPad - and Apple - and the product isn't even shipping. Fanboys love to espouse the virtues of their platform only slightly less than the rest like to belittle it.
If you don't like being "locked in" to buying Gillette razor blades then don't buy their razor. And you can shave while you listen to your Zune, which is so incredibly "open", isn't it?
It's a mobile computer, not a new health plan.
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks.
I beg to differ. There are billions of products I abstain from buying, every day, without them necessarily being bad products. Simply not buying a product does not send any signal at all, since it is the default. The only signal that may be sent is if almost everyone chooses to not buy a product, but that signal is still very unclear. The producer might just think that their marketing is lacking, or any other of a hundred reasons other than "our product sucks".
The only way to send a clear signal that you don't like a product is to tell the manufacturer so, either directly to some representative of theirs, or indirectly by posting messages on blogs, message boards, etc, about how much the product sucks.
cant wait to get me 1 of them their iPads cause compooters r hard 2 figger out and my girl sez it so kool. peace out.
I'd hope that rather than teaching the next generation to be EVEN MORE PASSIVE, that this would instead activate the "build a better mousetrap" gene and that the next generation would design and builda a product to put this generation out of business tout de suite.
Or custom GPS solutions that only work with vendor-supplied DVD's, but are convenient for the customer to obtain and use?
No, because in these cars, you're still free to buy and use a Tomtom or a Parrot if you don't like the manufacturer's.
With iPhone/iPod/iPad you can *only* go to the AppStore. Jail-breaking is not considered a legitimate end-user procedure. And Apple-approved applications are also technically limited (no multi-tasking). (On the ground that most users don't need it. Completely ignoring users which want to have a background web-radio music player or alerts for IM)
Back in you GPS example, it's like if the DCMA made it illegal to own a GPS-holder to use whatever brand GPS device you want. Instead you are forced to use only the GPS device from your car manufacturer which is special purpose-built to fit your Dashboard. And for some stupid reason it can only show cities whose name doesn't start with a Z. (On the ground that most users are in the USA where this letter is rare. Completely ignoring users living in Eastern Europe, for example).
As opposed to the Palm Pre, for example, which although has an App Market, let you also use apps ("cards") from other sources. Gaining root access is a normal operation which is enabled on all device (not only "special developer" ones) letting advanced users make weird uses of their phones if they want. And multi-tasking is not only normal, but the "Plus" generation of Palm phones even comes with extra memory to enable more simultaneous "cards".
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Well, even Apple can push the arrogance too far. Rumor has it that Steve had Sony as a role-model (talk about reversed roles these days). Regardless, Apple should pay some heed to what happened with Sony. Back in the day, they were regarded as superior and could extract their "Sony tax" with imprudence. After a while, product development centered more around what was good for Sony rather than good for the customer. People still bought Sony products... for a while. Then, it had gone to far and the Sony didn't actually provide premium product anymore. After a while, the buying public actually got wise to that.
These days, Sony has learned the error of its, my Reader now even has an SD card slot in addition to the MemoryStick. This would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
I see the same happening with Apple. The products look nice in the ads, but when you actually use them, they look like small squids with all the dongles you have to plug into them (yes, I'm looking at you, MacBook DisplayPort dongle, and you "iPad camera connectivity pack"). My Dell may not look so good in the ads, but it looks better in actual use as it has an internal SD card slot, PCMCIA slot and enough USB and display connectors that I don't need to carry a ton of crap to connect it to do something useful.
Why did Apple do this? It's obvious to all except the most fanatic fanboi that it is a question of maximizing Apple's profit, not "improving the user experience". Apple is by no means the only company doing this - Microsoft has taken greed to another level with the Xbox memory accessories, for example.
Time for a really customer-centric company to take over the throne, methinks.
What a horrid example! Would you replace a Ferrari's brakes with some Ford parts? Is Ferrari exploiting these fools (amazing how much fools can afford nowadays) because they can't take it into "Joe's Autogarage"? I mean car parts are car parts aren't they? There is no reason why Ferrari can't standardize on all parts that are more commonly on the market.
Funny how North Americans are fine with selling their soul to get a discount on their mobile phones by locking into a contract and having their phones SIM-locked...yet all this noise about the iPad and it's "closed" ecosystem.
People need to be both vocal AND not buy it. Otherwise they may think that the product failed because it didn't make your penis bigger.
This is why saying "just don't buy it then" is a silly response to "product Y sucks because of issue X". One would think if they are bitching they probably aren't going to buy it, they just want to make sure people know why.
The device I want differs maybe by 10% of significant details from what is already on the market. They are essential, they are showstoppers. I can change another 30% because they don't matter. But another 60% must stay or the device will be broken, useless.
So I go into business and make a device that is 60% identical to $KNOWN_BRAND and 40% original, with 10% really revolutionary. Then $KNOWN_BRAND sues me to hell for violating their patents on that 60% of the device, force me to stop production and drive me out of business.
Wake up, please.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
No, there are laws stopping me from drinking beer at Subway, when they don't have a license. There's nothing stopping me from going to a restaurant that does sell beer and muenster cheese, though, just like there's nothing stopping me from buying something other than an iPad.
The point is that Apple can configure their product however they want, but I don't have to buy it if I don't like their offerings (no muenster, no Subway for me).
But you can't help but notice how the things went horribly wrong :
Apple in 1984 :
"Hey, don't be a sheeple like everybody else ! Don't let an evil corporation decide what you should do ! Buy our Macintosches and get a product that will let you think in any innovative way you want !"
Apple, 25 years later :
"Hey, wan't to be as cool and as hip as all the other cool guys ? Go buy our iTrendy iProducts ! Just don't do anything silly with them. We decide what goes on an iPhone/iPod/iPad, because we know what's good for you. We select which are the best application, we select which feature another studio can use if they want to innovate. (WARNING: attempt to circumvent this limitation to do what you want the device in creative new ways may infringe the terms on your contract/make your plan cancelled/violate the DMCA/voids the Warranty/exposes you to viruses)"
If you told 1984-era Steve Jobs how the iProducts work, he would probably never believe you that he'll be leading a company doing that.
I agree that the iP*s are appliances. It's just weird whan a company which spent so much effort creating a public image which was all about freedom (from corporation) has turned into a corporation whose most popular product is precisely controlled in terms of what can go on it. And is actively doing everything possible to make this situation remain so.
Meanwhile other appliances have been very successful without the need to restricting users' freedom. Both old devices (such as those based on PalmOS and Windows CE) and modern devices (like the latest running WebOs) have been made in a way where the user can get administrative right on any model out-of-the-box (not only special "developer" models) and use them to do what pleases them without arbitrary restriction by the manufacturer (old PalmOS where single-task OSes. Nonetheless, methods existed to have some background tasks anyway, and Palm never did anything to prevent this. Unlike with the iP*s). This never did prevent these devices to be successful.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Cars come with sealed engines such that only authorised mechanics can work with them.
Uh, What planet do you live on where this is true?
"But they want that option to be there for their expert to fix it."
As the "personal mechanic" for most of my family's computers, I love the idea of the App Store, because I can be sure that Kazaa and it's ilk will never be available on those devices. I don't want to have the option to fix my cousin's iPhone, I want it to work and stay the hell out of my life.
Never let a lack of data get in the way of a good rant.
Then dont buy it... Go buy a Microsoft tablet (I have, they SUCK) besides... iPad isnt even a computer... its like a read-only device...the fact that you ca create documents on it via iWork is simply amazing... try doing that on a Kindle. Its not a freakin computer... so all your expectations are void
Not doing something is never a signal at all unless someone becomes aware that you actually decided NOT to do it. Consider the HUGE number of people who have elected NOT to buy an Apple laptop. Are they sending a "strong an clear signal"? No, they leave a giant, ambiguous sign that says, "you haven't appealed to 95% of the market for some reason."
Meanwhile, they get a clear signal from the other 5% that yes, their product is desirable and in fact is profitable. This leads them to continue doing what they are doing.
If the corporation is smart, they will listen to their potential customers AND existing customers for ideas to make their product more appealing.
Not getting involved isn't the only signal you can send. You can be vocal about why you aren't buying. In fact, it seems like an excellent idea, now that I think about it!
-Dan
Of course some criminals have come along and put up some gas stations that look exactly like every other gas station unless you look really really close. And, if you use one of these gas stations the gas you put in your car will make it explode unexpectedly.
The nice feature of Fords new expensive car is that the tank won't accept the hose from any of these stations (good or bad) only from their brand new stations but they guarantee your car won't explode with their gas.
Some stick with the old car and keep a good lookout for the bad gas stations and keep truckin right along.
Some buy the new car for more money, have not a care in the world and keep truckin as well.
Some buy the new car, modify the tank to accept the old gas station hoses. Some of their cars blow up as well.
Everyone's made a choice.
Honestly, it's been fun living in the wild, wild west of computing, but there is certainly an appeal to a mature, stabilized market.
DRM executed properly is a good idea. It allows the owners to control their creation. In the past, it has always been too obtrusive. Now that it will be transparent to users, is it so evil?
I dunno, I can't really make up my mind either way! There's a certain part of me that likes the freedom of OSS, but there's another part of me that just likes stuff to work.
TBH, I think Linux/OSS really missed the boat on this one, and they're going to be left behind. Sad.
Once again, if I want to play divx encoded files on an Apple product I can't. See any App Store items for it? I dont.
The release of the iPad will be good because it means the other companies will try to release better tablets without the resources of an app store. Thus the iPad may not be the end-all-be-all of tablet computers but the stepping stone to better tablet computers (albeit from other companies). Not unlike how the iPod started the race for the best MP3 player.
My EU car - a Renault brand - has a plastic cover over the engine with seals. I could rip the seals and look inside, but my 4-year warranty will be gone.
So i won't.
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Someday Apple may have a MacBook in a similar physical package, but I don't view the iPad as a computer as we've seen them since the Apple II. I think it's a communications appliance with some elements that are found on traditional computers like the shared file folder for transferring files.
Sure, let me just buy a semiconductor manufacturer or two, fly to Asia to meet with my manufacturers, and get a team of a few hundred expert electric engineers working full time to do that.
Or have you never heard the term "Barrier to entry"?
Also, saying 90+% of people "do not have the technical expertise" to want to run ANYTHING apple doesn't allow in their store, or to want to move content that they own to another device free of arbitrary restrictions, well that is just plain wrong. Even if there is some truth to the fact that most people in the market aren't incredibly technically proficient, the best choice is to make the market available AND allow installation of unsigned apps. This allows people who become interested in exploring the technology they own to do so.
Apple seems to be of the view that "So long as most people are not technologically proficient, we should keep them that way so we can rape their wallets."
There's no hope of ever hacking the DRM on this thing? The world-wide hordes of soldering iron wielders are forever locked out of this thing?
Sure they are.
Besides, when people get tired of paying big cake at the Apple Store for DRM Approved Content (TM) that they can easily get elsewhere for nothing or already own in another format, then Apple will change their policy. Duh.
I think its a cool thing. I'm going to buy one. If they piss me off, I'll return it. That'll piss -them- off.
Yeah, the guys who manufacture processors are truly gonna give me the same deals they give Apple. All I have to do is drop Steve Jobs' name right? Then the chips will come floodin' in? Oh I guess I'll need a BIT of capital first regardless... Let me just make a quick craigslist post... "Billions needed for initial production of new product to compete directly with Apple's iPad -- without using any of their lock-in schemes, industry connections, or brand recognition in order to guarantee you profit."
I'm sure the money will just start pouring in.
Seriously though, are you fucking stupid?
What am I missing?
That particular brand of stick up your ass.
This is exactly what I don't get.
I'd recommend some time thinking about Nontransitive games before proceeding to think about the topic. I think half the problem here is that lots of geeks love straight transitivity.
The other half of the problem is that geeks tend to believe in absolutely objective standards--even binary standards--for utility. So you got discussions about the iPhone that were something like "Why do people like the iPhone more than OtherPhone? OtherPhone can tether, and has been able to for years! OtherPhone is clearly superior, because tethering is important to me!" And if tethering is important enough to you, OtherPhone is superior. I can relate: it's one of the reasons I don't have an iPhone. But here's where I think a lot of geeks lose the thread: they can't imagine that anyone else has a different utility curve than they do. I like tethering because there's a lot of things I like to do with my laptop that I'd find annoying (if not impossible) to do on most any phone. But what a lot of people would use tethering for if they had it with the iPhone... the iPhone does just fine by itself. Thus they don't care about tethering. Or maybe they care about it a *little*... there could be a whole range of how much someone might care about tethering. Maybe someone gets some marginal utility out of the occasional ability to connect a laptop via their phone when they're on the road... but not enough to outweigh the overall utility they derive from other features of the iPhone. Again, I'm not really talking about the iPhone and tethering specifically, I'm using it as an example of this idea that a feature that's of crucially high utility to one person might be of marginal if any utility to another.
So, with those in mind, let's talk about how the iPad might compare to other devices.
it can't make calls
Not true, actually. It would be accurate to say that it is less useful for making calls, it can make calls using VOIP apps. But yeah, like the Nokia 8xx series, it's probably a worse phone than... well, most mobile phones.
On the other hand, it's a better phone than a Kindle or Nook or just about any eReader out there. In fact, chances are, it's probably a less awkward phone than most netbooks.
It's an unportable iPod
While it's accurate to say that it is less portable in the sense that it's more awkward to store in a pocket, this will fit comfortably inside a handbag, a bookbag. Less portable than a mobile phone... but not less portable than a paperback.
Equation: phone > iPad ~ eReader some netbooks > other netbook
It's an eReader with a bright ass screen that will strain your eyes.
It's a worse eReader than those with eInk for reasons of eyestrain and battery life... for people who spend long consecutive amounts of time reading. But it might be a perfectly acceptable eReader for people who are casually reading for an hour or two and can charge it once a day, and for reasons of eyestrain and battery life, it's certainly a better eReader than most mobile phones, and probably many netbooks.
Equation: eReader > iPad > phone/pda/most netbooks
It surfs the internet the way Apple says you should (no flash, IE: no Hulu, etc).
It's a very bad device for viewing flash sites / playing flash games. If that's a priority for you, definitely, this is not your device.
Equation: depends entirely on your enthusiasm for Flash-delivered content.
It plays limited games so it's not going to dominate the handheld market.
It's always possible there are games you like that aren't a part of this particular ecosystem, but "limited" hasn't even occurred to me. There are over 20,000 titles for Cocoa Touch devices. Even if you go by the 80-20 rule (80% crap, 20% worthwhile), that's around 4,000 acceptable titles. That's competitive with the DS, PSP, PCs, and certainly eReaders.
Equation: DS/PSP/PC ~ iPad ~ i
Tweet, tweet.
"Why are the privacy nutcases always so ready to imagine the most terrible wrongs about potential abuse of power by the government, but think it is super okay to give all control to a corporation?"
Because a corporation can't shove you in jail or kill you if you break their rules, obviously. Governments however are known to do this. Try holding back a portion of your taxes, see how you make out. Compare and contrast with unpaid phone bill.
Keep some perspective here dude. I've got $500 bucks tied up in an iPad. Worst case I chuck it in a drawer, kiss my tiny investment goodbye and never ever EVER buy another Apple product ever again. Like that never happened before.
Do you really, really think a mere computer company is going to make it so you can't watch your pirate copy of Avatar or whatever? Even the Communist Chinese government can't do that, and they are trying to as hard as they can.
Meanwhile, I have yet to make Ubuntu do what stupid, pain in the ass Windows XP does out of the box. There's always some library/driver/missing instructions issue that fucks it up. I want to see you playing mainstream video games on Ubuntu, then maybe you'll have an argument. Meanwhile, the eeeeevile corporations are makin' money because they get the job done. Sucks, eh?
So what you're admitting is that freedom isn't all that compelling a sales point for most people, and that nobody would invest in a product that is an iPad "but free of lock-in" because it wouldn't sell except to a couple hundred of you neckbeards who get all frothy about your freedom to tinker?
Seriously though, thanks for chiming in to agree with me, I appreciate your support.
You think Apple doesn't have people analysing places like Slashdot?
It's 2010. The producers of Lost study Lost fan forums, and make agile changes to the show in according to what they find.
People who frequent the Lost fan forums are obviously a significant portion of the Lost show's target market. What makes you think that the Slashdot forums are actually remotely comparable in terms of Apple's target markets? We're definitely a portion of it, but the significance is extremely questionable.
Nobody said freedom is easy. You have to make choices all the time. So there is a chance you'll make a mistake.
For some people convenience is more important than freedom and that's okay. There's hardly a chance to make a mistake, but there is the chance of being arsed to the max with the whole thing.
Moste like to have control over something while giving up control over something else. Some people buy microwave food, others grow their own food, some use Linux, some like the iPhone.
Personally i share the vision that personal computers and free information exchange through the internet are amongst the greatest things ever invented. I feel a huge potential is wasted if this technology is dumbed down in the wrong way so that it takes away possibilities as well as responsibilities from the users. That's why i allow myself to complain about things like the iPad. Back in 1995 people were rightfully laughing about Microsoft Bob. In 2010 the iPad is something similiar, just more attractively designed. I think it is a pity that our mothers and grandmothers are given up upon. Probably some will give such devices to their kids in order to save maintainance troubles. Convenient but not a real progress.
Or he could begin with phrases like "I agree", "well said" and the like.
Yes, because there is only one $KNOWN_BRAND of any given device category on the market.
Multiple vendors never compete profitably in the same space with shockingly similar products.
I must have been dreaming about all the manufacturers who make laptops, desktops, smartphones, tablet devices, and other electronics. I will now endeavor to wake up!
Mod this guy up, if only for his sig.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Yes, because nobody sells processors on the open market. Apple owns them all and refuses to cut deals with any competitors.
90+% of the people "do not have the technical expertise" to write code for their own devices and thus do not care about the "openness" of the device. In terms of music/video content, this is a big ipod. You don't have to buy through the itunes store, you can load & play un-DRM'ed content quite handily on it, just like I do every day on my iPod.
Apple has chosen NOT to "allow installation of unsigned apps." Just like Ford has chosen not to "install a diesel engine" in the Focus. If you need, or want, a diesel engine, buy a vehicle that offers that option. Go buy an Android phone, or an OpenMoko. Vote with your dollars, and when (if) Apple notices that a significant portion of the market is steering clear of their devices "because it's not open," they have the choice of opening it up, or foregoing revenues from that segment of the market.
As far as Apple keeping people technologically ignorant, that's just plain silly. They offer a way for you to write applications for their device, and a way to publish those applications for use. It may not be the way YOU would choose to do it, but they are not exactly saying "sorry, no developer access."
Freedom of choice is a funny thing. If you want people to respect yours, you have to allow others to choose to do what you consider the wrong thing to the extent that they are not harming you. Nobody is forcing you to pay money to Apple, or buy their products - therefore they are not "harming" you with their choices.
Rough estimate: one ninth of the other 90%?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
I pretty much agree read my blog
http://schwiz.net/blog/2010/macs-ipad/
[x] Big FAIL at use of checkboxes
Users are ok with it. Blowhards aren't..
Guess why G1 had no multitouch.
HTC offered Apple a lot of money for license on the patent. Aple said "no".
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
5 minutes Googling will tell you exactly how to adjust the timing. It's not some dark industry secret. Just put your car into service mode and adjust the timing. The new 'default' will be accepted once you take it out of service mode. For instance, on a typical GM, it just requires shorting two pins in an easily accessible connector usually located in the arm rest. A plain old paperclip will work just fine.
Claims that a 'regular' mechanic can't work on a car are about as valid as saying a PC hobbyist can't work on a Dell. The work is more complicated than the 'olden days', but any cheap auto manual can be picked up at any parts dealer and you have all you need to know for your basic shade tree mechanics.
And yet the G1 still made it to market... and other touchscreen phones like the droid and the nexus one have also been released!
I can see what you mean. When Apple refuses to license their technology, it's absolutely impossible to release a competing device.
I'm not lazy, I'm gunshy. The whole Crunchpad debacle makes me want to stay far far away from trying to design and develop consumer electronics. I can't afford the lawyers. And how well did it work out for him? Is he making a mint? Heh. No. He's going to take a loss on that project, in time, if not in actual cash. So much for the capitalist dream. He'll thank his lucky stars if he can get out without four patent infringement and two look-and-feel lawsuits.
Actually for consumers who bought Linux netbooks just to use as browsers, it will be an attractive option.
Of course you missed the tiny adapter that allows you to plug inyour camera via usb or insert the SD card. Read before whine, it will save you some humiliation.
Except, you know, you're not required to pay AT&T anything
...but if you don't pony up the $15 a month, you don't get internet access - unlike the Kindle...
and you CAN read it outside the house,
Have you tried to read and work on a laptop in the sun? I have used both LCDs and e-ink and know the difference.
and the battery life is supposed to be 9-10 hours, so maybe if you read REALLY slow...
Which means daily recharging, which means lugging cables and adapters on every trip - unlike the Kindle which fits in my coat pocket and keeps going for a month even if I read a lot...
And webcam? Why the hell would anyone want to run around with a huge ass tablet trying to take pictures of people?
Not photos, skyping.
Who fucking cares what granny wants? Bitch probably doesn't even have a cellphone yet! Granny ain't the target audience here.
I was trying to find a demographic for whom this is not just another gadget, but actually more useful than a netbook or Kindle would be at less than half the price. The ease of use would be great for the Granny demographic. Of course if you put it like that, I see that the real use case is as a hipster status symbol...
Imagine if your car only drove on tires meant for it, premium fuel, and when you took it to the mechanic it got the same parts rather than some somewhat compatable parts.
THIS is the reason apple is so fantastic, they control what goes in and out of their devices, therefore they can have an device that operates as intended without fighting crappy parts that kind of work. If you dont like this then you have other choices. This is the REASON people buy apple, for that level of quality and stability because they dont let every bitch and hoe on their equipment. I imagine your car would run better if went this route as well...wait that is what premium cars already do, ever owned a cadillac?
CS: It is all sink or swim...oh and did I mention there are sharks in that water?
How's that BSD based OS working out for you by the way?
Does DRM matter in the cloud era? Or does it matter as much? If you develop, run and "live" on the net all you "really" need is a text editor and connection to the intertubz?
I know I am missing a huge chunk of something or other - but DRM of a device just doesn't seem that important.
I moved from Windows somewhere around 1995 to Redhat 2.0.2 I think - kernel 1.2.13. I used all the distros and even built my own boxes. And bootstrapped from Gentoo, etc.
I stayed with linux until about 2003. Why did I change? Because finally one day I got really sick of having to face yet another hour trying to get my printer to work. Do I believe in all these FSF ideals? Sure. I even think they're important. But frankly, I need to get on with my job and my work. If free software can produce something that is elegant and just works as well or better than this Apple stuff, I'll come back. Until that time, I have stuff to do.
Maybe if I use a car analogy, you'd understand the problem.
Imagine a world where by filling up your gas tank at the 'wrong' station will result in your car exploding on the highway. To top it off, you can't know which is the 'wrong' station, and the 'wrong' station moves and changes constantly.
So some guy comes up with the idea of adding a special filter that will prevent you from filling up your car with the wrong gas. But the guys making the wrong guys are smart, and keep adapting to avoid the filter. So the filter gets larger and larger and heavier and heavier. And it makes filling your car take an hour instead of 5 minutes.
So along comes a company with a particularly funny-shaped fuel nozzle that only works at their gas stations. And they test the gas at all of their stations to ensure it won't result in a mid-highway explosion.
If someone wants to chose the more expensive pre-screened gas via the more-expensive pre-screened car, why should they not have that right?
Short non-car version: It's the security, stupid.
My parents do an excellent job of catching malware on their PCs, because they can install anything from anywhere. They won't catch one on their iPhones. I think that's a good thing for users like them, who are never going to adequately understand security.
For those that understand security, like me, I know I'm either gonna pay more or I'm going to have to take the time investigating each app to see if it is secure or not. My time is worth more than Apple charges, so I'm happy to pay them for the service.
Of course you missed the tiny adapter that allows you to plug inyour camera via usb or insert the SD card.
Yes I did. It wasn't in TFA (or any other), was it? How much does it cost extra?
Read before whine, it will save you some humiliation.
Flamebaiter. By all means, go ahead and buy it - just spare me the withering fanboy invective before you haven't even used it.
I am using my iMac with a logitech wireless mouse, but it came with a 2 button mouse (well ok, appearance-wise there were no buttons, but you could right or left click on it without any problem).
This is such a stupid and tired meme. Apple computers haven't been stuck with a 1 button mouse in a long time. Its like me laughing at IBMs because of their 640k memory limit or something. Beyond stupid.
Digging it up as a lame joke every once in a while just makes you look like an ignorant/jealous idiot.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
Personally I like to use my computers as doorstops, unfortunatley when my new Dell stopped browsing the web becuase the door had been slammed into it so many times they wouldn't even repair it under warranty!
It isn't a locked down general-purpose computing device just because you say it is.
Its a limited tool, intended for people who don't need a computer, but want to be able to browse the web and do certain other functions that are similar in some regards. In reality I think its better to compare this thing to the iPod Touch, more than any other device. It owes more to that heritage than it does to laptop/netbook computers.
It doesn't use the same OS as all of Apples other products, and I imagine the OS it is using owes more to the iPhone/iPod Touch than any other source. Its an Apples/Oranges (pun intended) comparison to treat this thing like its some kind of netbook and then criticize it as a result of it not matching your expectations for its functionality. If you want a computer from Apple that meets those expectations go buy a Macbook Air,Macbook or Macbook Pro. All of them are excellent computers.
Nor is the iPad arbitrarily locked down. Its locked down because the manufacturer chose to do so, no doubt for solid business reasons - including their ability to ensure the products stability, security etc. You can make apps for it, the SDK came out at the same time as the product. Much as you might like to have manufacturers make the product you want, they are under no obligation to do so. If you don't like it, don't buy one, but there is no point in whining about it because it doesn't meet some personal standard you insist is the only valid one.
While I have no personal need for one, I think this thing is going to prove wildly popular down the road. I think the bulk of /. readers are missing the objectivity to see just how appealing this thing will prove to be to the general public.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
People "choose" to buy products with DRM too, by that logic.
Though yes, thankfully you are right that it is a choice for Apple, as they are such a minority of the market. But given all the free advertising they get, it is worth being vigilant: what if the Apple-only coverage that the media have adopted leads to Apple becoming the only choice? Or what if other companies adopt their model?
We need to speak up against poor computing solutions, especially if everyone else is just hyping it as "OMG It's Apple It Must Be Great".
I agree on all counts - and have said the same elsewhere - but you summarize my opinion very well. We are not the audience. My wife will love one of these - and not because she is a shallow computer user (she already has a netbook and a desktop and is a very good and knowledgeable computer user) but because it perfect fits a niche of computer using that she would want to find a device for: browsing the web with an easily portable device with good battery life, sending and receiving email, and the ability to write.
The biggest limitation I can see is the on screen keyboard which may not prove to be all that good for typing, but then you can apparently add an external keyboard so that may not matter much.
I build web-based applications, and believe me I can see the attractiveness of something like this in certain environments. Think of the PADD devices they carry around in Star Trek. This is that device more or less. I would no more want to be able to hack that device than I would want to be able to hack my TV Remote - I just want it to work.
"The first time I got drunk, I got married. The second time I bought a chimpanzee, after that I stayed sober" Arian Seid
But if it's just an appliance, you might as well get one of many cheaper cut down appliances.
Your post is just speculations on what you think various devices are like, and based on some misinformation about how popular Apple actually are in the phone market. But since it's pro-Apple, that's an instant ticket to +5 "insightful".
the iPad is perfect for your mom or grandmother to finally get on the internet, email, download books, etc. without needing a part-time geek to hand hold them through the process each time.
Finally? Portable devices - including those that are "appliances" - have been around already, and cheaper too in most cases.
Of course, I see you assert that the Kindle is awful based on a single data point, and then conclude without having seen an Ipad that it must be better, than all other appliances. Let's have evidence, not speculation.
I would say a majority just want to pick up the device and the device works. This is the primary reason the iPhone has done so well and is likely why the iPad will do really well.
The Iphone hasn't done "so well", it's done okay. The vast majority of phones, you can pick up, and the device works (why wouldn't it? Take it back to the store if it's so defective - is that the best you can say of Apple, that it works?), and that includes the 95+% of the phone market that isn't Apple.
Why would a device that's less useful than an Iphone, bigger, and more expensive, do better?
So the Ipad is less features for money money? Right.
The iPad is a device which makes computing VERY simple
How? Have you even used one?
These answers aren't even consistent - the other guy alleges that the Ihype isn't a computer at all.
Is it going to be a tinkering geeks favorite? No, of course not. Is it likely to be well received by it's intended audience (lay users), yes most likely.
Then Apple have shot themselves in the foot. With the sole exception of the Ipod, it's only among geeks that Apple have popularity. The geeks delude themselves into thinking that Apple are the number one company (good god, what has this place become? I remember when people were concerned about Microsoft, and promoted open systems in opposition. Long have those days gone, here on Appledot). Yet the reality is that most people are buying phones from other companies.
This whole "just don't buy it" thing is getting ridiculous...Don't dare try to influence any of the actions of a corporation
I'm pretty sure that not buying a product is a strong and clear signal to a corporation that their product sucks. If the corporation is smart, it will listen to the signal and try something else.
See, the thing is, this reasoning doesn't work for the same reason that invading Iraq was both wrong and a stupid idea, yet Americans re-elected Bush anyway.
I mean... if, say, the stupidest 30% of people in the world all buy Apple products exclusively, then Apple will still be well rich enough to dictate standards etc for the rest of us, especially given that the rest of us are unlikely to all buy the same thing as one another to set up a powerful competitior. So Apple can quite happily ignore the "message" I send because for every person like me 10 techno-phobe idiots will buy their products based on an ad with bright primary colours and sexy people dancing to catchy music.
PLUS let's not forget that if I choose not to buy Apple's stuff they STILL affect my life because (a) they lobby my government and influence the laws that bind me and (b) their sheeple stampede causes other companies to emulate them instead of innovating. So I think proactive anti-Apple intervention going well beyond "not buying their products" is quite acceptable, frankly.
Read Pynchon.
So to summarise your post:
1. The consumer choices of the majority of people is a good determinant of whether a legal and technological IP system is a good and fair one.
2. It is ok if 10% of people are oppressed by the ignorance of 90% of people.
Read Pynchon.
Complexity minimized by iPad/iPhone OS:
file systems
file extensions
directory structures
minimized peripheral device considerations
minimization of virii due to app store
All of those things are just headaches for the average user.
And what phone has all of those? Most of them don't. If you don't want Windows (which I presume you allude to), there's plenty of alternatives, most of them more popular than Apple, and cheaper too.
Actually, if you'd mentioned the Apple II, then I'd agree with you. But from Day One, the Macintosh was designed to be a closed system, not expandable, closed. It brooked no other OS, and hardware upgrades were very limited.
The idea that you could free your creativity and whatnot also has carried over to now. Watch the video where iWork on the iPad is explained. They tell you it's all about the creativity and allowing you to get more done.
What Apple is offering is a product that works more like an appliance. No viruses, anti-virus subscriptions, or spyware to worry about. An easy way to get books, video, music. To us techies out there, this is 'teh Evil', but to regular folks this will appeal.
"...Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam..."
In the US, we have the Magnusson-Moss act, which expressly permits the car to be worked on by folks other than the dealer while keeping the warranty intact.
Other counties may vary, of course, such as yours. Which is a shame, really.
Kid-proof tablet..
Your metaphorical gas stations, however, are subject to regulations which make sure the fuel they are selling will not ruin your engine, contain lead, or have too low of an octane rating. Which is all Apple is doing by screening apps.
I agree with all your criticisms of Apple - but please, can we drop the association with people's sexuality, and the childish claims that gay people would want to use their shitty products, and because they supposedly like being trendy? (Last time I looked, being straight was more "trendy" than anything else...)
I find it interesting that Apple's "Think Different" mantra is now conveniently shoved under the carpet, with them pretending it never happened...
Except products more open than Apple's do exist (lots of them!) And 90+% of people are buying those products. No one is asking for things for free, so you can take that straw man elsewhere.
If we're going to have hype about Apple splashed all over the media as if it was election day, with people saying how wonderful Apple are, then people equally have the right to voice their criticisms of that product.
And your analogy is obviously accurate, because plainly if Ford came out with such a car, it would sell remarkably well.
I think the objection isn't about grammar, it is that the phrase is usually redundant (since I, for one, lack a time machine to go backwards or sideways), and we already know the GGP is talking about the future.
Only the ones that sell primarily to readers of tech blogs.
I agree on all counts - and have said the same elsewhere - but you summarize my opinion very well.
Thanks. That $20 check is in the mail. ;-)
I would no more want to be able to hack that device than I would want to be able to hack my TV Remote - I just want it to work.
Exactly that. There's a time for hacking--I have a couple of older computers running various flavors of Linux and a Windows XP machine I use with my ham radio equipment. None of those computers are vital so I don't mind too much when I try out something new and end up having to reload the OS. That's fun stuff. But sometimes I need to get work done without worrying about fussing with the hardware; that's what I reserve my laptop for--when I just want things to work. I don't experiment with that one so whether it's open or closed doesn't matter to me at all. For a lot of people, that's the way it is for all their computers all the time. There's nothing wrong with that, and there's certainly nothing wrong with Apple or any other company building hardware that meets that need.
This ain't rocket surgery.
Give Google, RIM, Nokia, etc., time to see what becomes of their "iPhone-killer" devices. Many are available with no carrier lock in, so if they still sell one unit for every five iPhones, I suspect that the Apple model will start to become a lot more attractive to both the handset makers and the carriers.
Also, even if Android phones (for example)) outsell iPhones, unless it's by a factor of at least the number of separate Android models, Apple would still be winning.
It is funny you bring up Henry Ford.
My boss always says, "If Ford asked the customers what they wanted, they'd say they wanted a better horse."
I agree with this philosophy in that there is a CHOICE. I CHOOSE not to buy/partake/drink the Apple koolaid because I don't like their offerings. I hear HP has a Tablet coming out that will run Windows 7... I'll bet that isn't locked into some kind of "artificial limitation".
Something that is unnecessary has never stopped people from doing it.
The problem is that most of the whining here comes from people that looks like "rebel" adolescents, not people with purchasing power. They will be dissmised acordingly.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
"Could a netbook meet my needs? To some degree but the tablet form factor of the iPad is key for me." Explain? Nice 'n' shiny?
It will make it there, by hook or by crook they will lock it down.
People accepting the lock-in on the iphone is just the beginning, as another said on this thread buying Apple is accepting that you will do as Apple say you will with your devices.
The Ipad is the first step towards weaning you off any kind of freedom with your computer, Apple would like nothing better then to wall up every device you own. This is the first sign that Apple wants out of the X86 market, I wouldn't be surprised if the Macbook and Mac mini make a disappearance soon, then the Macbook pro's and Imac's convert to Arm Architecture using a similar OS. Of course the fanboys will lap this up. Apple no longer makes computers, not that they did as they have only sold the iMage for the last decade.
Mark my words, the x86 mac is dying, Adobe have seen the writing and are putting more effort into CS on Windows and it's not like Apple have never switched processor arch's before without caring about the consequences, Apple only went to x86 in the first place because IBM couldn't supply them with the PPC chips they wanted (remember that IBM supplies the PPC chips in the Xbox360, PS3 and Wii, so loosing apple was like a mossie bite to them). Now they will make the switch to ARM and you fanboys will like it.
I have other shocking predictions but you aren't ready for them.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
More along the lines of OSX on the desktop (x86) will die and OSX on the phone (ARM) will take over.
The Macbook (non-pro) and Mac mini form factors will die, Macbook Pro and Imac's will switch to the new processor arch and run the new OS. The Mac Pro tower will cease to exist.
Spot on.
Adobe has already seen the writing on the wall and started making CS for win better. Apple want to be in complete control and are willing to sell the entire farm for it. Apple are leaving the X86 market as it does not make up enough of their total sales to justify keeping and the fanboys will follow no matter what Apple do. Apple have switch processor arch's with reckless abandon before.
This move is what will kill Apple, the number of Mac fanboys are quite low and the "cool" factor is a very fickle mistress. Apple have bet that they will remain relevant through their image alone. Granted this is how they became relevant but it will only last until the Next Big Thing(TM). It's not like Apple's hubris hasn't (almost) killed it before.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Isn't this slashdot? If you don't like it, just put together a touch screen, mobo/proc, some flash memory and your favorite distro. Or did everyone find a girlfriend over the weekend?
So, I need to fork over a yearly fee just to run the programs I want to run?
What have you been snorting to believe that the FSF would support this? I think you've just handed their point to them on a platter.
This would be nothing short of extortion if it happened, but it wont because as soon as Apple catches on to this Apple would just start restricting the developer program to actual developers. Meanwhile many dev licenses would be retroactively pulled.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Unless you're near a wap, I assume you mean...I guess though I'd rather see the internet in, you know, color than in etch-a-sketch.
I have zero use for the Kindle, so just about any device would have more use than that for me. I'd rather just carry a book in my laptop bag than carry a mediocre toy with only one function which it does sort of as well as the real thing.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
The App Store is just the modern version of Best Buy. Yes, Apple approves products before putting them on the shelves. You think Best Buy didn't select only certain titles to put on it's shelves. You want complete control? Download the SDK and write an app.
Closed vs Open are nothing but a couple of marketing terms. They don't mean anything. Apple maintains a high level of control, because their users expect a high degree of integration and quality. You know what happens when you lose control? You end up recalling billions of vehicles, shutting down production, and halting sales.
Isn't it cute that the Fanboi's use 'Mom', 'Aunt' and 'Grandma' to defend the indefensible?!
I mean, Moms-Aunts-Grandmas brigade is out there demanding closed, easy to use gadgets and so has Steve given us the veritable iPad?
with 1400+ replies, it might have been said, but Archos has been making this kind of hardware for years. There's also the crunchpad (but I wouldn't buy the joojoo. don't like the politics there.) the Archos 9 runs windows 7, which sucks less than expected, and would probably support a linux/bsd OS. Since I don't have the ching for one, I haven't tested this, but the archos 5 and 7 both run linux. Anyway, I'm very interested in what comes of this "pad" movement.
I'll probably purchase an iPad - maybe not this 1st rev. but possibly when it is updated in a year or two. I think Apple is going to sell a lot of them.
That's exactly what made Vista so popular...
I think Apple has come to the conclusion that operating systems have become incredibly complex and that the average user experience can be greatly enhanced by hiding that complexity.
I completely agree with you. As an IT Technician, I see so many users having to figure out things that they shouldn't even need to know exist, to do their work. I think the iPad software keeping it simple is a great idea, and using the app store to install apps is much easier to understand than the current methods of installation used by Mac OS X and Windows. The reason why so many people are complaining about it on /. is that they are not the intended audience.
You're missing the point. What you are seeing is not the gizmo itself. You are seeing the future of the Standard User Interface. Apple is going post-GUI here, moving their experience with iPod and iPhone to a larger form. This is a way to bring users around to interfacing with computer (applications) forgoing what we now consider essential: the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. If you think this is about a $500 netbook or laptop, you are missing the entire point: this is a continuation of a paradigm shift happening right in front of you.
Keep Doing Good.
more money to the marketing team and "funny" advertising. Don't change the product - change the consumer - frankly, it's getting easier these days to create a market than it is to create a genuinely innovative product. Just convince the mouth-breathers, the money will flow...
Back to car analogies...
Simple explanation to a 30 year tech in the biz, versus my expertise (seven years max):
A PC is a '72 Chevy Pickup; a Mac is a Mercedes coupe.
A MB has a certain aesthetic, but its built with specific options in mind: handling, power, braking, etc.
The Chevy can be modified to ANY extent, and with low expenditure compared to the MB.
I am not saying that the MB is not modifiable, but you have to go to someone like Brabus to do it...as far as the truck goes, the guy down the street can help....
Unlikely, they'll just blame it on piracy and legislate themselves a subsidy.
People are almost forced to comply with the decisions that major corporations like apple and google make while developing their products. Of course no one needs to go buy an IPad, but millions will anyway even if it was a horrible decision. I thought we lived in a democracy, and people had a say in the elements that surrond their everyday life and freedoms, even in the IStore.
This whole "just don't buy it" thing is getting ridiculous.
Hmmm. So, instead of exercising their free will, and choosing not to buy the product, people should be forced to buy it?
... and then they built the supercollider.
I say something similar about all the media talking heads that rattle on and on about how so-and-so is a lousy political leader, I keep saying we need to do this, everybody else is so wrong, yada yada yada...
"If you're so damn smart and so damn right and everybody else is so wrong, YOU put YOUR name on the ballot!"
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Yeah, except it's Microsoft that has had its best year ever and has also been more profitable than Apple (35.02% compared to 21.56%) this last quarter. But hey, TUAW said it and they must be right, 'cause it sounds so good!
I need to find a computing device that costs twice the price of a netbook, has about 1/10 the storage capacity but a similar-screen.
It definitely must not be able to multitask and I don't want it to be able to play any Flash video.
Oh, and because I don't get away from my computer very much, I am suffering from muscle wasteage and cannot lift anything weighing more than about 3/4 kilogram.
Can somebody please assist? Thanks.
Gentoo Linux - another day, another USE flag.
Well, I'm sure you can do all those things on those other tablets, but are they anywhere near as great to use? From what I've seen, they're all just desktop OSes shoehorned into small screens. I want an OS designed from the ground up for a small, touchscreen-only interface.
As long as there is a need and a demand for general purpose computing devices (and there is a large demand outside of consumer electronics), manufacturers will continue to make them.
Additionally, time and time again we've seen the ingenuity of people to get around limitations imposed by certain systems (*cough*iPhone*cough*).
So reality is not as horrible a picture as you are painting for us.
The sky is *not* falling.
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
The communications protocol is mandated. A base set of codes (the majority of those you'll ever encounter) related to the emissions control system is mandated, with manufacturers able to add more codes of their own in another range as useful. Those codes are also public knowledge, though, even though they're not specified by the standard. Any OBD-II code reader can read them, and the vast majority have the meanings of all of 'em already programmed in. If not, you can Google it, and the information is out there.
But even aside from what is and isn't part of the OBD-II mandate, everything about auto repair is accessible. Just because you may not have purchased the tools to do a job doesn't mean they don't exist. You can go out and buy the factory service manual (exactly what the dealers get) for your car if you want. You can go buy the same tools the dealers use, on the open market, if for some reason you don't want aftermarket ones. As for paying a lot of money, a hundred bucks for a code scanner doesn't really seem extreme to me, but the issue isn't whether necessary tools are free, but whether service can only be done by the manufacturer, and that is not at all the case.
You don't have to "win" to make a profit and stay in business.
If everyone always did exactly what the market leader was doing, then back in the 90's Apple would've stopped making computers and just shipped an OS like Microsoft does. Of course, then Apple would've gone out of business and we wouldn't be talking about iphones today.
One time I threw a brick at a duck.
I've never like Apple any way. This move just sends the message that Apple thinks the end-user is a complete moron and in capable of accepting the responsibility for their own computing decisions.
Software Licensing issues asside, when I buy computer it is mine and absoluely no one is going to tell me what I can and can not put in it. I and I alone am responsible for its computing health. No matter how hard they try to idiot proof something there will always be at least one idiot to prove them wrong. Beside safes computing isn't Rocket Science and it is even simpler than A^2 + B^2 = C^2.
I'm not a user of Apple computers, but I did get an iPhone. It turns out to be one of the most useful devices I've ever owned...and, despite AT&T, it even makes phone calls. The iPad, however, is nothing more than an over-sized, over-priced iPod Touch without the camera. Plus, it lacks external data accessibility via connections (USB, flash drive, handwriting, Flash compatibility, etc.) If it tends to be around long enough, perhaps Apple will add some capabilities to it. Then I might consider it.
I agree that some people might run into the scenario for the reasons you describe. Unfortunately, I don't feel these people are justfied to complain when they become disappointed with whatever product they purchased.
I never run into an instance where after I buy a product I am disappointed by it's feature-set. Why? Because before I purchase something, I do research and inform myself, which is a step usually skipped by the average consumer. Then these individuals just bitch to make themselves feel better, to ease their mind about their bad uninformed decision.
People just like to bitch. I myself find great annoyance with people who bitch about their own uninformed decisions as they themselves cause the large majority of their dissatisfaction. Bitching when one is uninformed has no basis in reality as there is zero ground to stand on to back up arguments and gripes. Maybe people need to understand to hold themselves accountable for their own dissatisfaction. Then and only then will I become a more satisfied person. Until then I will continue to lose faith in humanity and the troubles people unknowingly bring upon themselves.
I would create a sig, if only something of value could be said with just 120 chars.
Okay, that actually makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.
Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
Your post makes sense provided Apple was targeting the iPad at folks who frequent tech blogs. But I'm presuming that Apple is targeting a different demographic.
I've used the iPad Nano (ie, an iPhone.)
The Generation
I'd say something witty here, but I'm not that bright.
Well, that's really what comes down to.
I'll give the iPad (as seen on Weds) one big mark against it though: no flash support.
Since the iPad is a tool for using the web as much as it is an e-reader, Flash should be supported.
The Generation
I'd say something witty here, but I'm not that bright.
I guess it's one of those 'different strokes for different folks' things, as I find the UI getting in the way all the time. I don't want it to constrain and limit me when I'm working, I need to be able to get stuff done without fighting the UI.
Lunix does it for me, even Win7 is pretty damn good. OSX just doesn't make the cut.
(not the GP that you were earlier replying to)
I'm SO sick of car analogies
If I read one more car analogy I'm going to run out to my car, get it rolling in neutral and lay my head in front of the wheel.
Liberty.
What people forget is the appeal of convenience.
The Ipad, and other Apple devices, maybe closed, DRMized and can download software only from Applestore. But as long as the device and its ecosystem is convenient and provides a good experience, most people wont care about its limitation.
And that is what Apple is good for. Provide a fuzzy warm feeling when you use their products.
You call it a huge step backwards, I call it a huge step forward. No one should have to deal with the crap that computers make them deal with for the most part. I shouldn't have to scour the internet far and wide to find applications and hope that they are not trojaned. As Steve Jobs pointed out, Apple set out to make a device that can do internet as well or better than any other device/computer, does email, photos, music, video/movies, ebook reader. They wanted to make this as painless as possible. I think computers took off in the home in spite of their difficulty of use. But I think we may be beginning to see the end of the general purpose computer in the home for most people. Firstly, game consoles have made computer gaming really niche. The internet grew without any thought or planning, which may or may not have been a good thing, but it probably now feels out of control for most people. They want the internet to be made simple again, and this device does that. We are moving into the post PC world.
Nope. It is just the imagination of some derided people.
It's working really great. What does that have to do with anything? It simply underscores the point that people are not clamoring for "open"/"free" as a feature point. If they were, BSD would be destroying Mac OS X market share. Instead, you see that people are opting for the consistent & well-integrated experience from Apple - the one which curtails their "freedom" to do something that 90+% of computer owners have zero ability to actually do - modify their software and hack their hardware as they see fit.
Agreed with an important difference. Cars weren't being touted as the guardians of freedoms and expression.
Or the car manufacturer will discontinue that model and therefore the stop making replace computers aka ECUs aka Engine Control Units.
Car collectors don't even bother collecting cars that have closed ECUs. Why? You can't get the necessary info to replace them once the limited life electronic components fail. And such a car will never pass required SMOG tests and is therefore WORTHLESS.
I have an early 90s sports car. I can no longer buy an ECU for it. The ECU is completely proprietary and the manufacturer hasn't made any of them since the late 90s. The last available ECU for that model has been sold.
Reverse engineering the ECU would be very expensive. It has tens of inputs from various sensors and how it reacts to all those inputs is unknown except to the manufacturer. And even if you could reverse engineer it, the state SMOG laws consider that an illegal modification of the car. So all you can do is scrap the car.
So now, if you own that car and your ECU fails you are SOL. You can't get a SMOG certificate and you can't drive that car in ANY US state.
Facebook is billions of individual "Skinner Boxes." And if you use it you are the pigeon!
Um. They offer a keyboard dock as an accessory (scroll down, there's no anchor to link to), and of course the wireless keyboards and mice also work with the iPad.
But really, it's meant as a couch computer, nothing more, nothing less. If it doesn't appeal to you (as it doesn't to me), don't buy it.
Who is General Failure and why is he reading my hard disk?
Gaining root access is a normal operation which is enabled on all device (not only "special developer" ones) letting advanced users make weird uses of their phones if they want.
Also allowing other less advanced users to completely hose their system with the possibility to take down a whole network in the process. Hasn't happened yet, but ya never know.
Out-of-the-box administrative access to the system has been available for ages on PalmOS and Windows CE based device. And there has never been an epidemic of users hosing their machine. Of course some idiots might have broken their machines. But everything was perfectly ok for most of the users (either because they don't use this ability, or because they know how to use it without breaking the stuff).
The PalmOS is also an interesting example for another reason : multitasking. It has never been a multitasking device at the core. It was always geared toward 1 single task running at a time.
Nonetheless, even on the old motorola 68k based OS, there where hacks enabling application to run in background. Palm has never attempted to stop them. In fact, on more recent ARM based OS, APIs have been made available that make it possible to run music player or messaging software in the background: The user experience remains single-task at the core, but 3rd party developers aren't limited if they feel necessary to implement new original features.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Ok, then can you point me to the iPhone version of Pidgin or Adium ? No ?
See the point I'm making: I know that *technically* the iPhone has the capability and *does* use it for some stuff.
The fact is that Apple is still not allowing 3rd party application running in background. So no Pidgin or Adium which stays logged in the whole time.
- The notification api is a way for a server to send a special notification that will get interpreted by app not currently running in foreground, but by a special handler. It's not true multi-tasking and requires that the server actually sends notifications to the iphone.
In case of IM, that means you *could* get a multi-standard client if you use something similar to Meebo, where the IM-client is running on the server and the server send notification to the ipod.
But no way to have a background task which monitors whatever you want.
- the streaming api is not background either. it's just that the iphone api can now receive a command like "open http://myradio.fm/" and start playing that in background. So if your web radio is just a plain HTTP stream, it can now get played in the background.
But anything else requiring an app running to play doesn't work. Pandora users are still complaining, for example.
It was limited for technical reasons which you are either unwilling to research or unable to understand.
Which technical reasons ?
- the machine run on an OMAP3 (iPhone/iPod) or OMAP4-equivalent (iPad). That processor can do multitasking and does it on every other machine using such chips.
- the machine run on a kernel, not that much different from the one running on Mac computers. It does multitasking for Macs, used to do it for Nextstep, and cousins running *BSD can also do multitasking. But not the iProducts.
Given that, the reason is not a technical one, but an artificial reason. The explanation usually given are :
- to save battery life if too much applications are running simultaneously (even if every other compating product with multitasking doesn't have a noticeable problem)
- to keep the whole experience simple to use and grand-ma firendly. (Multi-tasking is soooo confusing).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs, what the hell are you doing? iPad is a disaster. From the name iPad (what happened to iSlate?), to the crappy home made CPU (no Apple can't make a chip as good as Intel), Adobe FLASH banned (what? are you stupid!!), a device clearly built with one thing in mind - sell lots of apps on the Apple app store. Oh, and of course books (what a new idea). HA HA HA. iPad is a joke - period!! Can I get an AMEN? While I'm in the middle of an Apple rant I can't help but think that Steve Jobs has turned Apple into exactly what he hated - IBM. Remember, the picture of Steve flicking-off IBM and his speech "do we want a world dominated by IBM?" He's become as big as IBM but one major thing separates Apple from IBM. Apple has an arrogance that IBM never had. Apple thinks it knows more than the customer and thinks it's not vulnerable to failure. iPad is the beginning of the end for Apple. Just watch them slip, product, after product, after product. Apple got lucky with iPhone (the only Apple product that matters). They stole a lot of other peoples ideas, technology and time. When you take so much and don't give back someday the piper will come calling. You'll see!!
How exactly is not buying a device that you don't want oppression? If 10% of the people don't like the product and then also don't buy it, I don't understand how you call that oppression. That's like saying, "I don't like the policies of China, so I refuse to live there," and then go around complaining to everyone about how much China is oppressing you. You might be able to say that China is oppressing its citizens, but it isn't oppressing you.
Anyway, you clearly didn't read carefully the post I was responding to. The poster said that they are tired of hearing "don't buy it" and I responded that not buying it is the correct way to send a message in a capitalist society. If you think something Apple is doing is "oppression," as you say, then don't give them your money. Duh.
This is true. However, if a product flops you can bet that the company will have a team of analysts and focus groups working to figure out why, regardless of how vocal people are being.
I agree with you. What I was taking issue with was "This whole "just don't buy it" thing is getting ridiculous. What you're basically teaching the next generation to do is to accept whatever the corporate overlords give them, or go to a corner and shutup." which simply isn't true. Not buying it is not going "to a corner and shut[ting ]up." Its treating the corporation as it ought to be treated. "You, corporation, are not worthy of my time nor my notice until you actually make a good product." That is a perfectly fine way to respond to a corporation, and you can bet if a product this anticipated flops there will be a TON of focus grouping and analysis to figure out why even if people are having protest marches on the streets (over a stupid device, I mean come ON how much complaining can a group of people who haven't even used it yet generate?)
How to buy hardware (this has been like that since the beginning of personal computing): 1. See what software you need to run, what problems you want to work with 2. See what hardware/OS setup allows you to do that 3. Get the best performance for the best conditions that you can get I want to do statistics, work on images, run public domain or commercial software such as LaTeX or Gimp, and so obviously I am very happy with my Windows Vista Netbook that allows me to use compatible software. If all I want to do is consume pre-packaged goods and just use Apple's software store than I am OK getting an iPod, iPhone, iPad. Nothing wrong with that. But if at step 1 I list other software, why even bother with Apple? Check what other platforms offer and get something else. If there are people that are happy buying iPads, there is obviously a market for these. Besides, all you wave when jailbreaking these devices is the Apple warranty. After the device has been jailbroken / jailgebraked, you are relatively free to install other software. So purely technically speaking you are not at all bound or tied to the Apple store. You can do with the hardware whatever you see fit. I remember when Apple Powerbook G4s had a laughable wireless signal reception and so first thing to make these halfways useful was to swap the antenna - so, take it apart, change antenna, reassemble. That did not mean that Apple stopped me from having fun with wireless LAN - they just did not feel they had to be responsible for me making their computer at least halfways useful. If you study these issues before jumping into such a purchase you'll not be perplexed.