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Throwing Out Software That Works
theodp writes "Just as the iPhone rendered circa-2007 smartphones obsolete, points out Marco Arment, the iPad is on the verge of doing the same to circa-2010 netbooks. Should this succeed, cautions Dave Winer, we may be entering an era of deliberate degradation of the user experience and throwing overboard of software that works, for corporate reasons. Already, Winer finds himself having to go to a desktop machine if he wants to view web content that's inaccessible with his iPhone and iPad. 'There was no bottleneck for software in the pre-iPad netbooks,' he writes. 'It matters. What I want is the convenient form factor without the corporate filter. It's way too simplistic to believe that we'll get that, but we had it. That's what I don't like — deliberate devolution.'"
Yeah my 2006 Blackberry is really obselete now. Going online, checking my mail, instant messaging, and god forbid calling people has never been a worse experience. But I guess I don't have a fart button app, time to throw it out.
The iPad causes all netbooks to disappear all of a sudden?
It's your own damn problem if you bought an iPad. Should have bought a netbook.
Writing this on my EeePC. I like a real keyboard.
thegodmovie.com - watch it
Technology marches ahead. I can't check those 5.25 floppies anymore. How about those Corvus 5MB hard drives or cassette tapes of Lemonade?
That's how it is. If he doesn't like it, he can jailbreak his iPad, port Bochs, and install XP.
Dear Mr. Whiner, Please stop buying stuff that isn't what you want or need. It sounds like you need a notebook. I do too. Don't buy an iPad if you need to create a lot of content or if Flash is super important to you. There is another option called a notebook. You can buy them with OS X, Windows, and Linux (you may have to load that yourself on a lot of the hardware choices). I don't see a problem here. For people who can live within the limitations imposed by the iPad, perhaps it is a good device for them. For me, and it sounds like for you, the iPad is just a toy with limitations that don't make it worth our while.
It must suck to have Steve Jobs break into your house, smash your netbook, and force you at gunpoint to buy an iPad.
I use a smartphone (non-iPhone) and a netbook pretty much every day. They are far from obsolete, as they do exactly what I need in a form factor that provides a good balance of size, weight and battery life.
If your iPad doesn't meet your needs how can you claim it makes other devices that DO meet your needs obsolete?
I still want an iPad, but more as a cool toy than to fill any need. Oh, and I do not want an iPhone.
"You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
Was someone a bit short on the word count, and decided that "web content that's inaccessible with his iPhone and iPad" was a direct replacement for 'Flash'?
I'm about ready to grab a sledgehammer and start forcibly tattooing this mantra into the heads of every internet commenter and Slashdot editor who has to complain about the evils of Apple's walled garden: If you don't like it, don't buy it. For Christ's sake, no one is holding a gun to your head and making you buy Apple products. There are, and always will be*, alternatives. Apple gives people a tradeoff: stability and easy of use at the cost of freedom and configurability. Just because you don't like that tradeoff, doesn't mean it's not useful and convenient for others, and when you whine about it, all you're really doing is revealing that you deeply desire an iPad. Put your money where your mouth is by shutting up and buying something is.
* And yes, I've heard all the FUD about how Apple's practices are going to tempt other manufacturers into doing the same thing they are. Give me a break.
Dislike the Electoral College? Lobby your state to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
The iPad isn't crap. I'm by no means a fan of Apple, but the iPad is a very slick (if somewhat expensive) piece of hardware. Apps like Google Maps and some of the available games are very polished and work amazingly well. The problem isn't the iPad -- it's the Apple philosophy of our-way-or-no-way-at-all. Same for the iPhone; it looks like a very well-engineered piece of hardware (Grip-Of-Death issues notwithstanding), but it's horribly crippled by being tied to iTunes (which is, in my mind, has one of the worst user interfaces ever foisted on consumers -- made worse by the fact that it's rammed down our throats to use any Apple hardware.) I admire Apple's engineering, but their marketing policies have ensured that I would rather pay for a more open product (Samsung's Galaxy S series, for instance) than accept an Apple product for free.
Paleotechnologist and connoisseur of pretty shiny things.
Those who failed to consider the implications of buying very limited devices can always buy another, different device.
Until "another, different device" stops getting manufactured. Case in point: PDAs. Ideally, people like me who don't need Internet in a vehicle and don't need anywhere near the 450 voice minutes a month of the cheapest U.S. smartphone service plans would choose a PDA over a smartphone to save money. But now it seems the only major PDA that isn't a smartphone is iPod touch. Everything else, such as nearly every Android 2 device, is marketed as a cell phone and costs two to three times as much as an iPod touch. For example, a Samsung Galaxy S costs 600 USD, compared to 200 USD for an iPod touch.
The iPhone made the smart phones of the time obsolete. Every other smartphone maker (even Blackberry) started aiming for iPhone-like usability. Have you ever used a Windows Mobile or Palm (pre-Pre) phone? The iPhone changed the game in 2007. I don't even own one, but all the sweet Android phones (and WinMo 7) owe quite a bit to the original iPhone. Just look up the pre-iPhone Android phone designs.
You don't get it because you aren't the target demographic. The socially challenged male in his basement with 12 computers (all of which have been stripped to the bare plastic at least twice) and his Gentoo compiling microwave oven doesn't need an iPad.
My 80 year old mother and apparently everyone else in her Assisted Living place are in the iPad demographic and they are falling all over themselves (actually not very hard to do at 80) trying to buy one.
Get over it, dude. Go take something apart.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
While new smartphones may be better than the iPhone, I note that the iPhone still sells more and has more deployed than any other smartphone. There is more to technology battles than just having the best tech - there is also marketing, and business skill. Apple has decent technology, but not the best. It does have the connections, the close relationship with AT&T, the extremally loyal fanbase, the marketing machine and cross-promotional ability that it takes to translate technology into market share. Without all that, even the most perfect of phones sits on a shelf unsold.
I still don't understand why the iPad is pitted against the netbook. They are two VERY different devices, and in reality have VERY different markets.
Anyone who bought an iPad because that was the kind of device they were looking for were not looking for a netbook to fill that need. The same applies vice versa.
I have a netbook and I love it. I could use a tiny bit larger screen but it fills a need that the iPad could never possibly fill. I wanted a very small portable computer with a full computing operating system and a real keyboard and this is what a netbook gives me.
When it comes time to upgrade my phone, I'll be going for an Android phone with a large screen. I feel like this will easily cover what I would ultimately get out of a device like the iPad.
For reading books and whatnot, I enjoy using my ultra low power consumption eReader because of the ease of reading on the eInk display.
Yeah, maybe it sucks to have multiple devices to fill all of those spaces of use, but the iPad simply can't fill any of those spaces for me because the only need I have for a tablet computer is reading books. The only other use I'd have for it is it being a toy to play with. I'm not going to pay a shitload of money for a toy I'll probably play with for a week or so and hardly use ever again.
Have you tried sitting around on the couch browsing the web, watching video, and looking through your pictures on an iPad and on your netbook? Because the iPad is just way better at those things.
I was in the market for a netbook, but I waited until the iPad came out to see what it was. You know what? It's really cool, but it doesn't meet my primary needs as well as a netbook. I often need to do things like commander whatever large monitor is available at someone else's house or workplace, plug it into my netbook, and edit a large spreadsheet. I also do a lot of typing, some with the machine on my lap, and the iPad just gets killed by netbooks. So I went with a Hackintosh Dell Mini 10v. For my needs, it kills the iPad. But I also recognize that my needs aren't everybody's needs, and I've played with the iPad, and for some things, it's a way better experience. Yes, netbooks can do nearly everything iPads do, plus much more, but iPads do certain things better. If those are the only thing you do...
So if you don't "get it," seriously, have you ever tried doing the thing the iPad's good at on an iPad? Because I don't see how you could try it and not enjoy it, it's really smooth. I mean, the iPhoto experience on the iPad just kills my netbook.
The "article" is an absurd troll. The popularity of the iPad is not going to destroy the netbook category. Macs and iPhones are both selling really well too, but no one's complaining that they're about to destroy all other phones or computers. iPads for some, netbooks for others. Get what you want, nothing to see here.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
I'm not saying that they are not great devices or whatever if you buy one you know what you are getting or should. If you don't it is your own fault. It's called supply and demand. Apple is suppling what people are demanding and even if it falls short in an area or two most people are happy with what they get.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Does slashdot hate my posts?
The problem we see in all these opinion-pieces is that they look at the issue from the geek point of view. If a whole boatload of people are buying the iPad instead of a netbook it's probably because it works for them. Yes, people are stupid (No post is truly good if it's not condescending), but still - the iPad does what they need. :) ). My dad has a full set of tools and about 20 different screwdrivers, because that's what he needs. Same thing with the iPad and other Apple hardware. They all cater for the average user not the ubergeek.
For us geeks there are other alternatives, but does not mean there is a "deliberate degeneration of the UI". If anything, the iOS brought a UI that was more appealing to the average Joe.
Just as in any profession, there are different levels of tools for different levels of users. I have in my house one simple screwdriver and it's enough for all my needs (opening the computer case and changing cards
Whenever in an argument, remember this.
I have one, and it works fine. Great actually, as I just wrote this reply (by hand, not keyboard) in Windows 7, from a moving car.
I just hope you were not the driver of that moving car.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Let us know when your iPad can do all that. Heck, let us know when you can run Flash.
I had the same thoughts many years back with OS9 on the Mac, it was fast and did lots of things (still could). OSX is glitzier, but in some respects it hasent matched what some of those 68k and PPC apps had dine decades ago. Problem was that new development with the OSX, so we were forced away from a lot of cool stuff that worked on OS9 so we could use other stuff that only worked on OSX and now Intel.
I hate how people say the iPad is killing netbook sales. Netbooks were only popular because the economy sucked and people didn't want to pay a lot for a computer, so they got the cheapest one they could find. Once they realized that the keyboard was too cramped and the trackpad was too small, they just upgraded when they had the money for a regular notebook. The only people buying netbooks right now are the people who have legitimate needs for them, which is a small market, rather than the people who just didn't have much cash two years ago, which was a fairly substantial market.
You're such a small group that no one cares if your experience is ruined or not. Apple is a business that intends to (and does quite well) make money. Any company would have a hard time making money by designing and selling a device that only you and your 5 friends want. Unfortunately for you the world, and what the majority of the people want, is changing. The 'iPad' is shit meme has failed. It is popular, it does what many, many people want. Personally I think you're just jealous that a company that makes something you personally have no use for is so successful.
Does it weigh less than two pounds?
Can you just turn it off with a single button and toss it on the couch or chair without worrying about hard disk damage?
How well does it work with just touching the screen as an input device.
No, you are comparing laptops to tablets, like comparing a Cessna 172 to a Boeing 737.
"Yea, but you can't fly from Anchorage to Portland nonstop with 137 people, so it's not really an airplane..."
Yea, right now I'm on my laptop because I'm running BT and yep, my iPad won't BT, but since I've gotten my iPad it's used for about 85% of my casual surfing and my other laptop, the 17" gaming rig sits alone because I don't want 8 pounds on my lap.
Its not a netbook and shouldn't really be compared to one.
Since its uses are parallel to those of a netbook, I completely disagree.
For any place/purpose you could use an iPad, a netbook can do it. Additionally, there are things that the netbook can do that the iPad cannot.
The *ONLY* think a netbook can't do that your iPad can do is be an iPad. Once you've come to realize you bought an ornament it will make more sense to you why people compare it to netbooks.
Its a netbook with less options.
Its a netbook without a keyboard.
Its a netbook with limited space.
Its a netbook that doesn't run Flash.
Oh... and its a netbook by Apple, and so it has an 'i' in its name. Cool huh?
Lol. Apple. Lol.
* Why do you feel your manhood is being threatened by not being the target demographic for the iPad?
* Why do you feel that your netbook (and hence you personally) are being threatened by an improved user experience and batter life offered by the iPad?
* Why do you feel belittled when people choose an iPad over a netbook?
Your hating sounds more about you and your issues rather than the iPad. Chill out man - it's just another consumer item.
The iPad clones will be out soon and some of them will have flash and will not have other restrictions. People will use the clones, Apple will make those other things available to compete or both.
It won't because that's not what it's meant to do. If your needs call for multiple USB ports, twin internal drives with 640 GB of storage, then the iPad is NOT FOR YOU.
I could say "My truck provides a much better experience (than your economy car, for example). I can carry a thousand pounds of cargo or tow a big trailer. I can go off-road, drive through deep snow or mud and not get stuck." If those activities are what you do, then of course an economy car is not the right vehicle.
As always, it's a case of the right tool for the right job. Why is this simple fact lost on so many people? Is the desire to bash Apple so strong that it blocks rational thought? Is this the Reality Distortion Field's anti-Apple twin?
Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
Why is the iPad consistently compared to netbooks, when it is priced like a notebook
Because it is designed for the same use as the original netbook concept: a small, stripped-down portable device for media playback, web browsing, casual gaming, email and light note-taking, aimed at people who probably already had access to a full-featured PC.
...but the original netbooks sucked at that because they were made from shite remaindered PC components, drank batteries and tried to run off-the-shelf applications designed for more powerful computers with full-size screens, mice and keyboards. Even the linux-based ones just used a customised "launcher" screen in place of the desktop, over the top of the usual Mozilla/Open Office suite. But they sold enough to panic Microsoft (at a time when Vista was tanking) who started dumping cheap XP licenses for netbooks, with which the netbooks morphed into full-featured entry level notebooks.
The iPad gets back to the original "second system" netbook concept. Of course, since its Apple its only cheap c.f. the rest of the Mac range. There'll be cheaper non-Apple tablets (that have proper capacitive touch screens instead of resistive crap, run an up-to-date-version of Android, can access the Android market) sold by vendors that you'd be prepared to trust with your credit card number on the market real soon now. Just wait. Any time now. Just a while longer...
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
That should be Apple's new motto. Most people do not like to have to decide on an item out of a large selection.
Does it weigh less than two pounds?
Yes
Can you just turn it off with a single button and toss it on the couch or chair without worrying about hard disk damage?
SSD, so yes.
How well does it work with just touching the screen as an input device.
Why would I want smudges all over my screen when I could type on a physical keyboard with tactile feedback and control it without tiring my arm?
No, you are comparing laptops to tablets, like comparing a Cessna 172 to a Boeing 737.
"Yea, but you can't fly from Anchorage to Portland nonstop with 137 people, so it's not really an airplane..."
No, its more like comparing a roller coaster to an airplane. You are in the air, and it's kinda cool but entirely useless, and in the end you cant choose where you're going and end up back where you started.
Yea, right now I'm on my laptop because I'm running BT and yep, my iPad won't BT, but since I've gotten my iPad it's used for about 85% of my casual surfing and my other laptop, the 17" gaming rig sits alone because I don't want 8 pounds on my lap.
Im Guessing those other 15% have flash?
The only problem with your analogy is that, except for price, Apple products are much closer to puppet shows than to TV.
Only one provider, you cannot switch channels, that's a puppet show, not TV. And you listen to Steve Jobs for his wisdom, and hear about outside events from travelers. All together, it costs OVER TWICE what a netbook costs.
There are, and always will be*, alternatives
For 20 years, we have been stuck with a near-monopoly on desktop operating systems, because of marketing and network effects. We don't want to repeat that experience, blindly sliding into an iOS monopoly for portable devices.
Apple spends hundreds of millions of dollars on marketing their devices every year, often lying and misrepresenting their products and their history. It is reasonable for geeks to present an opposing view so that buyers can make an informed decision, know what they are getting, and understand the consequences of their purchases.
Put your money where your mouth is by shutting up and buying something is.
Why then doesn't Apple "shut up" and stop marketing their products? Why do you think that all the information we should ever get about products should come from the PR and marketing departments of companies selling those products?
It isn't about TV. It's about:
There's this new thing. I don't understand it. Therefore, I'm against it. Listen to my criticisms, people of the old ways, and heed them. The new threatens us and our established thinking. We shouldn't try to understand it. Better to shun it, stick to our own kind, and hope the new thing goes away.
The iPad comparison is not apples to oranges, it is apples to nothing. There were/are no light, small, big screened devices at bestbuy that allowed you to do email / web. For most people, the iPad is new product, and there are no competitors.
Also, what if I don't care about the relative price of an iPad and a netbook? You know what's even cheaper than a netbook? Just using the computer I already have. What if saving a few dollars and running Windows or Linux aren't my goals?
What if I want to read web sites without sitting at a desk in front of a computer?
This is the same whiney argument I hear from gamers who think the Wii is the devil. The slate computers that are coming out now are focused on the non technical and a certain segment of the geek community feels slighted. Many seem to be offended that in the end the lack of usb, memory card slots, camera and whatever features geeks cried about didn't really matter, couple that with the lack of a "real OS" being seen as a plus by the majority of people actually buying the devices and suddenly the "geek" is out of the support loop. Many geeks talk about their utopian society where everyone is technically adept and support requirements are minimal but very few actually want it.
There is no one to really blame but ourselves, just like hardcore gamers, our demands and expectations made us an unfavorable market, catering to the "casual" is less expensive, less demanding and far more profitable.
This.
A netbook can do anything an ipad can do. It's cheaper. It's just about as portable.
And it is YOURS. You have root on it and can do whatever you bloody well please on it. It's a complete computer, with a modern multitasking O/S and the ability to do anything your desktop computer can do -- except slower.
Guess which one weighs less per square inch of screen display :-).
Why turn it off? Just close the lid - suspend works fine under linux.
The drives have sensors rated for 300g - and *I* can replace them - who do you think added the second internal? It takes less than a minute.
I don't have to get fingerprints on the screen - I've got a touchpad and a FULL-SIZED keyboard (17" makes a big difference). And I can plug in an external keyboard and mouse if I want to - PLUS I have a Remote Control
My secondary video out right now is 1920x1200, not 1024x576. It's actually plugged into one of my 1920x1200 26" lcds as a second screen so I can code.
It's also running a web server, ftp server, etc., and it can saturate a 100mbps connection. Can your iPad do that?
It's not a truck, just a middle-of-the-road 3 or 4-year-old laptop with some extra ram and a second hd. And umlike Apple, it all "just works" all over the Internet. The iPad is for, as one of my friends would say, "people with more money than brains." It does nothing well.
We aren't talking about your netbook, we were talking about the 17" dual drive laptop.
No, the other 15% of surfing are not because of flash, shocking but I'm not a Farmville/Mafia Wars player.
If I'm not surfing on the iPad I'm on a laptop because someone else has the iPad and won't give it up.
I find it's more useful to file bug reports like this at https://bugreport.apple.com, rather than slashdot.
If you mod me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Do you use the terms "The PC", "The Windows", "The Linux", "The Twitter", "The Facebook", etc ?
Sometimes you don't need to use the article in order to refer to know subjects. Also, insulting the other person does not help in the discussion.
Get my e-mail after a captcha test in: http://tinymailt
Just so you don't think I'm bashing it, I like the iPad. It would be an improvement for some categories of laptop users. For example, the touch panel provides a better user experience for web browsing (as long as the site has been designed to work well on iPad). The small size makes it less distracting at meetings. The small size, low weight, and robustness makes it great for watching movies on an airplane or in a car full of kids. And so on. Your arguments, however, are way too easy to shoot down.
Are your arms not strong enough to carry a laptop that weighs more than that? What, specifically, makes lighter better? In my mind, the 5-6 pound average laptop weight is light enough that it's not a problem, so being lighter than that is only a significant virtue if it doesn't bring any significant drawbacks along with it.
More importantly, in my mind, added weight conveys a sense of robustness---a sense that the device can survive whatever abuse you can throw at it. The lighter and thinner the device, the more worried I am that I'll look at it the wrong way and it will break in half. Granted, there are advantages to light weight in terms of resisting damage when you drop it, but I still prefer the solid feel of a laptop.
No, and neither can you. You can put it to sleep. To turn it off, you have to hold down the button for a few seconds, then drag your finger across a slider. Similarly, I can put a laptop to sleep by shutting it. That's actually one fewer buttons, but who's counting?
<voice mode="Duke Nukem">SSDs, baby</voice>. If your idea of a good user experience requires being able to treat expensive electronics like crap, then you deserve to pay more (and pay more again when you accidentally hit the end table with that iPad instead of the couch). That's about the worst argument I've read to date in favor of an iPad. You shouldn't be throwing an iPad any more than you would throw a laptop, a desktop, or a Ming vase....
About as well as your iPad does for touch typing when it isn't docked to a keyboard, or, for that matter, about as well as your back and neck do when you're hunched over it typing on that onscreen keyboard.
You're confusing "Device A can't do X without extra effort" with "Device A can't do X". A Cessna can carry 137 people from Anchorage to Portland. It has to stop for fuel several times and make several trips, but it is capable of doing the job. Despite the fact that it takes a lot longer, it meets the criteria for an airplane because it can do basically anything a typical airplane can do, albeit more slowly.
Now ask yourself if an automobile is an aircraft. (Note the obligatory automobile analogy.) Both can usually get you from place to place. However, an automobile simply is incapable of doing a number of other things that an airplane can do. It cannot cross bodies of water without the assistance of a bridge or ferry, cannot take aerial photos (unless dropped from an airplane), cannot support skydiving (unless dropped from an airplane), etc.
A netbook is a Cessna; it can do anything a full laptop can do, but slower. An iPad is a Ferrari. It's a very nice automobile, but it isn't an airplane. It can go many places an airplane cannot, and vice-versa. It can support multi-touch interfaces that a desktop computer cannot. However, it cannot run Flash. Similarly, it cannot run apps that haven't been written for it yet. This will work itself out over time, of course, in mu
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I have an ipad and a macbook pro. The latter is far more powerful than the ipad, does flash, etc.
The ipad is far more convenient to use. The macbook pro (a fast, loaded, 17" dual-core model) does a lot of sitting around these days. Because the apps on the ipad are truly excellent, and the touchscreen, as it turns out, is a lovely and very direct way to interact with the apps. As far as capability goes, you know, if I really need some horsepower, I can still hang on the couch, open a connection to my desktop, and run my 3 GHz 8-core Mac or my fast Windows box with my feet in the air and a cat in my lap using the iPad.
I agree with those who are saying you "just don't get it", and furthermore, as a guy without an ipad, your opinion of it is of questionable usefulness anyway.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
It's funny, because when netbooks first appeared, they came with Linux pre-loaded, and there were high hopes that ordinary users would buy them for light use, such as web browsing and email on the go. Nowadays, you'll struggle to find a netbook that doesn't come with Window (XP or 7 Starter) preloaded, because consumers saw it as a computer and wanted to do computery things with it.
Fast forward to today, and the geeks are crying foul because Apple is pitching their iPad to consumers using the exact same tactic that the geeks used to pitch netbooks to consumers... only this time it's working.
The irony is that most netbooks have screens that are small, widescreen and landscape, which is pretty unsuitable for browsing the web because pages flow from top to bottom. For all its faults, the iPad fixes this fundamental flaw.
For any place/purpose you could use an iPad, a netbook can do it. Additionally, there are things that the netbook can do that the iPad cannot.
The problem is not that for you technical capability is the only thing you are considering. Technically if I need to drive 500 miles, a beat-up 1978 truck will get me there. But I will enjoy the drive more in a luxury car. You are neglecting that user experience is important for many users. A simplified device appeals to them as they don't have to deal with things like files. Many PC users I know keep all their files on the desktop. Which device would these users prefer?
The other thing which you fail to take into account is purpose. The reason people buy an iPad is not because they want a smaller version of a laptop. The iPad is optimized to consume and view content. It can create content but not as effectively as a netbook or laptop. And for millions of people, that is exactly what they want. The average user wants something to surf the web, read some emails, and play their media. They're not coding, writing, or mixing music. If they were, they should get a netbook/laptop.
The *ONLY* think a netbook can't do that your iPad can do is be an iPad. Once you've come to realize you bought an ornament it will make more sense to you why people compare it to netbooks.
No one is forcing you to buy an iPad. If you want a netbook, go buy one. Why do you feel the need to denigrate others that choose differently than you?
Its a netbook with less options.
Its a netbook without a keyboard.
Its a netbook with limited space.
Its a netbook that doesn't run Flash.
Oh... and its a netbook by Apple, and so it has an 'i' in its name. Cool huh?
It is a device with that allows for 11 point multi-touch support.
It is a device that knows screen orientation.
It is a device that is instant-on.
It is a device with a 10 hr active battery life and a standby life of 1 week.
In other words, it isn't a netbook. Apple doesn't consider it a netbook. For Apple and users, it fits into a separate category.
Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Things that tipped the decision into "spend": 1. I'm going to Vegas. "Easy Vegas" app is good. 2. I'm going to Vegas and I'm going to watch movies on the flight. 3. Amplitube iPad Edition came out - and it's great. 4. Instant on. No need to boot to check weatheror news, or to look up something I'm curious about. 5. The Reuters app is awesome. 6. Camera connection kit deals properly with Nikon raw format. 7. The tools for photo management are really coming along beautifully. Photogene is a good tool for travel. Since then I've discovered some new things. 1. The 10 hour battery life is both real, and awesome. 2. I have gone to a site that required flash exactly twice, and I found the same content elswehere in a format I could view. 3. I really like reading magazines on it (Maxim with Kaley Cuoco!) 4. On the most difficult setting, the Scrabble app kicks my ass. 5. I haven't turned my netbook on since I got it. 6. The screen gets dirty when I eat cheezies and surf porn. 7. There's a LOT of compatible porn. 8. I've been expecting to have to buy a wireless keyboard, but so far I haven't "needed" to. Anybody want to buy a used netbook? It has crappy battery life and a screen that semi-sucks, but it has a keyboard. Do I give a crap that a bunch of nerds online think that it's underpowered compared to stuff that's 18 months away? Not even slightly. I'm as technical a guy as they come. My workdays are spent writing industrial scheduling and simulation software on Unix. But I'm past the age where I want to screw around with stuff when I get home. Give me something that works well and doesn't give me any grief.
All of these are great arguments for the iPad as a dedicated entertainment device.
But, as a laptop replacement, like the TFA suggests? Only if you only use your netbook for entertainment purposes only.
You're on a forum full of Linux-lovers who will swear up and down that it's superior to Windows in every way imaginable. Reason and sense is not something you should expect. Masochism is.
Right, the reason the netbook is "obsolete" to Mr. Weiner is he switched to an Ipad. Hey Dave, just don't switch. Stick with your netbook.
DAILY ROTATION
They are just smaller and "CHEAPER" laptops with screens so small and low res that the desktop OSes running on them feel cramped. Their keyboards are painful to use for people with larger hands and the CPU/GPU power limits them to little more than light web surfing and use of "web" apps like Google Office.
I look at a netbook and I don't see them offering anything new to the table and feel like people are investing in them because of a false sense of economy when you are getting a device even less powerful than a 2006 MBP.
The really crazy people are those who already had a laptop and bought a netbook in addition to having a desktop.
If you really "need" a full OS on the go, get a desktop replacement and have that as your sole computer or if you really don't need desktop apps all of the time, get an iPad for apps and mobile gaming and connect back to your PC or mac desktop with Logmein or some similar service and you will have a tablet/slate with an OS designed specifically for touch from the ground up.
iPads are popular because they are easy to start using whether you are a windows user or mac user or even a novice. If you search Youtube videos, you will find that they are so easy that even a toddler can use one.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.