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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.
It must suck to have Steve Jobs break into your house, smash your netbook, and force you at gunpoint to buy an iPad.
Which planet do you live on?
Other smartphone are not obsolete by a long shot.
I stopped reading after the first sentence.
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
The iPad totally wiped out my netbook. I don't really need a keyboard, non-shiny screen for outdoor viewing, webcam, 3 USB ports, 2 GB RAM, 160 GB harddrive space and a Windows+Linux dualboot. What I really wanted was a digital picture frame I could poke...
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.
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. Get with the program!
"Remember when I said I would never lie? Well, that was the first time."
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.
There are already a bunch of touchscreen netbooks out there. Check out the: ASUS T101MT, HP Mini 5102, Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M, and MSI Wind U150 nebooks.
http://twitter.com/object404
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!
...with the Adroid tablet, the tablet for geeks!
They already exist. A friend showed me one a couple of weeks ago (I'm sorry, I can't remember the brand, as it was far from prominent on the box) that had been brought back from Singapore.
I liked the fact that it is possible to use the thing as a *nix terminal, with the usual shell commands. Also, I liked the fact that its network interface is via WiFi rather than a paid mobile connection plan. I expect Mr. Jobs might disagree with my priorities, but what the hell.
On the downside, the finish was a bit tacky (but hey, no obvious brand...) and an excessive amount of the screen-space was occupied by a black border. But I fully expect someone will come up with a slicker offering before long.
I got one and its pretty darn good. Many reviewers agree with me. I use macs quite a bit but don't have an iphone. Its great, but far from improvement. Its has totally replaced my notebook for surfing, and checking emails at home. I take it with me and use it like a giant iphone for location based stuff (I'm a city dweller). The only thing against is that its not feasable to pull out and use while walking, but I guess thats what smart phones are for.
The ipad is really more of a consumer electronic device than a computer. Once you get over that mental hurdle its fine. Its a 1.0 product as well so some of the limits on its functionality should hopefully go away with competetion (thank goodness for it). Its not a netbook and shouldn't really be compared to one.
Everything not working everywhere is a small price to pay for breaking the MS monopoly on OSs.
TV? It's junk. I'm sorry to say it. I had high hopes, but the thing is just an overpriced miniature theatre.
In my village, we watch the puppet shows. They have all the entertainment we need. The music is better that the noise on the TV. We listen to the elders for their wisdom. And we hear about outside events from travelers. All together, it costs less than half what a TV costs.
All this hype over these electronic devices mind boggling. I just don't get it.
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.
We have a machine at work that cuts letters and designs and stuff out of rolls of adhesive vinyl for making signs, etc.
It is connected to a Win95 machine via serial cable.
It works terrific and has done so for ten years.
Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
Let us know when your iPad can do all that. Heck, let us know when you can run Flash.
It's not even the geek perspective, it;s the apple geek perspective.
As a FOSS geek I'm not interested in apple and have identified a bunch of really nice looking alternatives to the iPad. It's just a shame none of them seem to quite make it to market!
The ubergeek wouldn't have bought an iPad and then bitched about things he knew would happen, or would be reverse engineering it to run linux.
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.
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.
Apple's market share of the smartphone DROPPED last quarter - and it will continue to drop. Who's #1? Android.
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.
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?
Actually Apple isn't a dominant player in any area is it? I think iTMS may be the is dominant player in legal music stores but that's about it.
The iPod and IPhone are dominant in mindshare of their respective arenas, at least in TV and American pop culture.
I don't think it's actually that dominant in actual market share, specially globally.
Almost everybody I know is using either Nokia, LG or Motorola with a few Samsung phones here and there, I only know two iPhone users (both smug bastards) and three Blackberry users (all stuck up bastards).
But... the future refused to change.
"That's what I don't like -- deliberate devolution."
That is what is going on with VOIP, wireless phones and texting replacing conversation over land lines.
Instead of a human voice in real time, you have a typed message. A step backwards.
With VOIP if your power or your computer goes out, you don't have phone service. Not so with a land line.
With VOIP and wireless calling, call quality has gone way, way down. Problem free phone conversations used to be taken for granted.
On the other hand
It is easier to send written information.
It is also easier to avoid "facing someone" by sending them a text or an email
You have the ability to communicate by phone in a number of places, not just at home, work or wherever there is a pay phone ( remember those? )
Making long distance calls in the US is now dirt cheap. Such calls used to be the subject of heated arguments after the bill came.
If the iPads get flash, or if the flash enabled clones make it, someone will be typing "remember when you couldn't watch a hulu.com laying down on your couch?", while pointing out some things that were lost with the vanishing of laptops.
This whole argument is ridiculous. Does he think the entire industry will just give up and stop making anything similar to a netbook post-iPad? I have zero doubt there will be android tablet devices, and probably some tablets that run an OS with a more desktop oriented flavor.
These devices don't happen in a vacuum. If there is a need, there is a market.
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?
Exactly.
There are tens (hundreds?) of millions of people out there that are interested in "content" in small chunks (call them the iPod People, which might be a clever analogy, or not). They want music, notes, books, letters to read, maps, phone calls, and a bunch of other little pieces of content. In a digital world, one device can do large subsets of those. Lots of people have recognized that potential; I have memos I wrote over a decade ago, describing the functions that would be attractively served by "Mike's brick-of-plastic portable computer". Jobs not only recognized the potential, but also had the means and the courage to risk a large company's future on that potential.
There are another (smaller) group of people, which includes myself, who need something that lets them create content as well. I need something that lets me write hundreds of pages of text per year, program, generate complex graphs, etc. A device that meets my needs can also do all the things the iPod People want, but not vice versa. Like many in this group, I'm somewhat ticked off that the iPod people got their devices first, but I'm trying to be patient and believe that I'll eventually get something suitable. What I'm not doing is whining that the iPod People would be better off if forced to use the kind of gadget I need.
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?
He would rather that content creators only build native iOS apps that work only for iDevices rather than use already-existing channels
Is that why the iPhone originally intended to have apps that were just "web clips" until people whined that they couldn't write native applications?
Twinstiq, game news
Hilariously I was exactly the opposite of this. I never even considered getting and iPad, as I saw no possible use i would have for it, and i had absolutely no desire to own one. I'm not even in the market for a computer, and I hate laptops.
2 weeks ago i was in a store and had an opportunity to use an iPad for a little while. I was blown away. It was so intuitive, so easy to use and so *pleasant* to use. I didnt have to fiddle with a little trackpad or mouse nubby thingy. I didnt have to find some annoying way to position it on my lap without burning my balls or sitting in some strange uncomfortable position to give a flat surface for it. It just sat in my hands, and i pointed at what i wanted.
The next day I bought one, and now i sit in the living room with the family to check my email and browse website, even play games. I stopped playing wow because of the iPad. I'm more social, play with my daughter more (she presses the button to turn it off and then starts playing her own games while I'm reading slashdot lol), and am generally extremely satisfied with it. Not only do I like it better than netbooks, but i like it better than desktops for casual usage.
At work of course i still use a 30" monitor and 8 core machine, with a real keyboard :)
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.
If it is the factor to move the web out of flash. Sometimes evolution brings a feature that is in the end bad, but as it don't hurt a lot, keeps being there, till some big change makes it an obstacle.
To go to an example more radical than the ipad, almost don't need to use my netbook since i have my N900. Have far smaller screen and keyboard, not as fast, and have less software available. But still, is not something to worry about carrying, is always just there, is good enough, and a desktop computer or a proper notebook fill most of the remaining needs. Is something wrong with the netbook? No, just appeared another option that gave some advantages, and could adjust the pattern of use that i was giving to it.
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.
Like I posted elsewhere, I have an iPad (through work) because I do accessibility work.
We are going to iPads because they are lighter to take out into the field than a laptop, and come with a good warranty, they are a laptop replacement in some areas.
I don't have an iPad for a web server/ftp server/irc server or USENET leech because I don't need those things running for when I do work.
Its the go to device for accessibly right now, can your Linux install claim that?
http://www.tuaw.com/2010/06/01/the-ipad-could-be-the-best-mobile-accessibility-device-on-the-ma/
If your argument is that an iPad is good for sitting on the couch wasting your life, then I can both "get it" and "loathe it". Isn't life grand?
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.
Maybe Android in the US.
The rest of the world on the other hand makes up 95% of the population.
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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.
Is the iPad. Too bad it came a long so late.
The problem is that 99% of the world doesn't need and doesn't want something that requires administration. A computer needs an administrator - I don't care whether it is Linux, Windows or OS X. An administrator is required to install software (correctly and only that which should be there) and to fix problems that crop up.
What the world really wants is an appliance that lets them use the Internet. Email, buying stuff, banking, searching for porn, whatever. Things that can easily be corrupted and taken over by malicious software should the user (uninformed, unknowing, etc.) can install thinking they are getting something nice. Like Weather Bug.
What the iPad presents is an appliance that you cannot install Weather Bug on which then reports back on every web site you connect to. And you cannot install some trojan that will help someone steal your money. You also can't install some botnet rootkit which then uses your computer to send spam and make money for some Russian mob folks. Now Apple may be letting some stuff through that they should not be - but it is all fixable.
It is not fixable with Linux, Windows or OS X. An administrator is required. With proper administration there is no virus problem with Windows and no problems with dependencies on Linux.
I have a Google Android tablet. I can go anywhere on the Web I please and install apps from any site I can download .APK files from. However, I bought it as a development platform for device control applications.
For multimedia, I prefer a netbook (I have an S101) for around the house or a motel room. The keyboard keeps it in one place in an angle suitable for viewing without having to add a stand or a docking device, and netbooks have far better performance than this generation of tablets. If I'm on foot, I'd rather get my content off a small smartphone, hanging a 7" or larger tablet off my belt is a stupid thing to do.
However, the real reason why "the netbook is not going away" is that not all of us are full-time passive consumers of content. Do you write papers for school? Do you create documents for an employer?
Would you rather type a bunch of pages on a real keyboard that does not take up screen real estate or on a virtual keyboard that takes up a third of the screen better used for document? I'm working on a patent application, and I frequently edit it via remote control from my netbook to the desktop where the file is. Speaking as an Android Tablet owner, I regard the idea of editing a 40+ page document on that tablet as a non-starter and creating one on a tablet makes a typewriter sound good.
The tablet will cut into netbook sales because the people who only want to websurf and run a few apps will buy it. But IMO, the "content-only" user is a lot less common than commonly believed.
The fanboys only want to believe that the netbook is going away because Apple doesn't make one. They're irrelevant, Steve Jobs' vision of a userbase solely composed of consumers of content created by major corporations doesn't fit the real world.
Tech Public Policy stuff
Android's market share isn't close to #1, it's #4 in the US (unless it's passed Windows Mobile, which should be happening right around now), and that's higher than its worldwide share.
I think you are confusing market share with new phone sales. Market share is how much of the market is using a particular manufacturer's product. New sales is how many new customers in a certain, recent period bought a manufacturer's product. Last quarter, Android rocketed ahead of iOS in new sales, but it still doesn't even have half the market share, in the US or worldwide.
In the US, market share is:
RIM 35%
Apple 28%
Microsoft 15%
Android 13%
And while Apple's percentage of new sales did drop last quarter, they still had worldwide sales growth up 61% for the quarter. Market share percentage fell because Android sales grew by 886% in the quarter. The point that Android sales are doing really well is true, but they're no where near #1 in market share yet.
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?
"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.
Wait a minute, when did the iphone kill-off both RIM and Palm, and when did the ifad get a keyboard and the ability to run the diverse range of software that netbooks are capable of using? Did I miss something? The iphone and ipad are great for some people, I guess, but a LOT of us have no real interest in them. They're like using a platinum-plated pocket watch with a built-in cover - they look kind of cool but are not as convenient or functional as some other alternatives.
In related "news," "Marco Arment tends to exaggerate and remember history in a way that is most flattering to his own point", points out one Slashdot user, adding "And he is a poopy pants." This is a direct quotation, so it must be true.
This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
Dude, you're comparing a smartphone to an MP3 player.
Then allow me to rephrase: Apple makes MP3 players with an app store that run iOS. Where are the MP3 players with an app store that run Android?
As a FOSS geek I'm not interested in apple and have identified a bunch of really nice looking alternatives to the iPad. It's just a shame none of them seem to quite make it to market!
Eh, there were several `iPad alternatives' on the market before the iPad even existed.
Archos was selling their Android tablets 7 months before the iPad, and Archos first published an `actual Linux' firmware (using OpenEmbedded) and started contributing to upstream some 4 months before the iPad hit the market.
AlwaysInnovating started selling Touchbook beta units a month before Archos introduced their tablets--8 months before the iPad came to market.
And there were/are numerous others, too. I'm not sure whether it makes sense to compare the Nokia N-series tablets, since they're smaller, but they've been on the market for *years*, and they're not the end of the list.
Of course, that's not even counting the `iPad alternatives' that came to market *after* the iPad.
I'm having trouble understanding your "shame none of them seem to quite make it to market" comment--and even more trouble making sense out of others' comments to the effect of `if only there were any other tablet computers other than the iPad'....
-rozzin.
A lot of people have realized that they really don't need to haul around a desktop replacement laptop and that they really don't actually use all of the powerful apps on a laptop the majority of the time.
If you really need to use a desktop app, you can connect back to your home desktop using either VNC (OS X) or Remote desktop (windows) or to a corporate citrix farm. There are VNC viewers, and a citrix receiver for the iPad and I understand that other services like Logmein Ignition also have iPad apps.
Even with these remote connection apps readily available, most people will not use them often and are satisfied with native iPad apps and web apps like those from Google.
Many people have compared the iPad with the PADD from Star Trek and there is a great deal of similarity between them. Both represent a way to access information from a central computer and be able to view and edit some of that information while on the go. Neither the fictional device or the iPad was meant to replace the larger computer terminals that you have at your disposal.
Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
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.
I was initially excited when I learned that Flash was going to incorporate video, because of the state of internet video at the time. RealPlayer, Quicktime or WM just seemed like nightmares of fragmentation, (especially what real turned into.) Flash seemed like a good place to de-facto standardize on if that was going to be our only collective choice. Adobe has consistently dropped the ball on performance and security ever since they acquired Macromedia for Flash.
How is it that a company the size of Adobe can't seem to find enough programming resources or vision to finally fix Flash and/or roll out updates that don't take years? I just don't understand how they can't even seem to accidentally make it better even once, (ex. Microsoft getting an acceptable OS out after many missteps.)
As far as staying on topic, I personally don't mind a walled garden product like the Ipad shaking things up creatively for awhile if the product category has completely stagnated. We've _almost_ had an intriguing tablet for too long and it was getting aggravating watching the potential be wasted. At least there is now a roaring fire in a great category that up til now only saw smoldering kludges.
I may not completely like what the Ipad and Iphone are, but I'm quite excited to see what and how they will be competed against. (Like hopefully getting rid of Ballmer the seat warmer...)