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Can NetBooks & Tablets Co-Exist?
bsk_cw writes "According to Computerworld's Serdar Yegulalp, there has been a lot of talk about whether the iPad will take the place of the netbook — or, in fact, whether it will eat into the market share for more mainstream desktop and laptop computers. But, he continues, the iPad has a long way to go before it becomes a netbook killer — if only because it has created a space all its own."
Can Cars and Motorcycles co-exist? How about motorbikes and bicycles?
How about Laptop and Desktop computers?
This is just silly.
Have you heard about SoylentNews?
Gah. These summaries are getting worse and worse. Tablets have been around for awhile. Apple didn't invent the market with the iPad. They didn't invent the portable MP3 player with the ipod, nor did they invent the smart phone with the iphone. Those markets were established, and Apple developed a highly polished version that did well in that market. Tablets have been around, and they serve a slightly different niche from the netbook. They existed side by side before the iPad, and will continue to do so.
iPads (& similar) can be THE computer for the rest of society who didn't want a laptop or other computer.
Why?
Because it doesn't have to be treated and coddled like a "computer", at least if it is an iPad.
I've seen both the very young and very old become adept in doing things they like in minutes.
I'm going to agree and disagree with your statement. Openness by itself won't do anything. However, openness leads to two things that will help tablets.
First, it opens up the market to competition. While this may not help a company like Apple, Google's Android platform allows new companies to enter the market without having to write the entire software stack. This in turn should drive prices down.
Secondly, an "open" platform allows more things to be done with it. Say some company is willing to sell me a netbook with a detachable keyboard (or a tablet with a clip-on keyboard that swivels), I would be more inclined to purchase that over a traditional netbook. Maybe not everyone, especially if it commands a hefty premium.
The one advantage that netbooks currently have is that they can run Windows and hence all the software that is developed for Windows. Until someone makes a good office suite for Android, I don't see people flocking to tablets over netbooks any time soon.
The thing about a tablet is you have to hold the thing. You can't just set it on your lap, or on a table unless you prop it up somehow. A netbook has a built in kickstand that doubles as a keyboard and screen protector. Add a touch screen and you've pretty much eliminated any advantage a tablet has.
> I know this isn't a popular opinion here on Slashdot, but guess what? *Most people don't give a shit about "open" or "closed" hardware*
Being "open" simply means that the hardware can do ANYTHING that any other PC can.
Read the data you want.
Access your data freely.
Do trivial things that you're used to doing on a normal PC like PRINTING.
A REAL COMPUTER does anything that anyone can imagine. A glorified iPod does only what Apple allows.
It's amazing that anyone actually defends this nonsense.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Can tablets and netbooks coexist? Can science and religion coexist? Can dogs and cats coexist?
Tablets and netbooks are different products for different purposes. How are they even competing? And no, the iPad won't kill netbooks. It costs thee times as much as a netbook.
sudo eat my shorts
I challenge you to demonstrate the capabilities of your crystal ball: would the comparison come out the same way if the alternative existed?
If the iPad still offered the better user experience? Absolutely.
See, you seem to be *completely* missing my point.
Given two devices, one open and one closed, guess which one would win? The one that provides a better *user experience*. "Open" and "closed" don't even factor into the equation. Which is my entire fucking point. Your average consume doesn't give a shit that they can't develop software for their little toy. All they care about is that the thing provides a silky smooth, easy-to-use experience, that it allows them to consume content they're interested in, and that it works reliably and well. That's it.
"Open" versus "closed" is an argument for the geeks. But the geeks aren't the target market for the iPad, and won't be the determining factor in the success or failure of the tablet market.
The open-ness of a PC or a netbook is what makes it so useful.
It can do anything that a normal desktop PC can do INCLUDING RUNNING THAT STUPID TETHERING APP for the iPad.
How funny is that? That $300 dirtcheap ultraportable netbook from Walmart can be the thing that I use to "manage" my iPad/iPod/iPhone/iWhatever.
This isn't about running Free Software. This is about doing anything you damn well please with your own property and having thousands of hardware and software vendors waiting to cater to you.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Said like a true Slashdot reader who hasn't clued into the fact that we are not the norm. We are, in fact, the fringe power users who like to play with our devices. We are the people who aren't held back by Apple's walled garden - we know how to jailbreak, if we want out of the garden. Heck, we are the people who actually know that Apple offers a walled garden approach and actually have an opinion on it. The rest of the market - the people who make up the vast majority of consumer purchases - don't know and if you tell them, they don't care. They use their device and they enjoy the process.
Seriously, we are not the norm. There's a reason "The Year of Linux" has never materialized...
I think you have to get a little more specific. Most people don't understand that there's such a thing as "Windows software" that doesn't work on other platforms. They want to be able to open their Office files and work with them, which you can do on an iPad.
If you want to get all technical, you can download an RDC or VNC client for iPad that lets you bring up a desktop to work with. "Most people" really don't care about that.
E pluribus unum
..except you can't save anything
All applications save. And all offer some means to transfer content off the iPad.
print anything
You can print from some apps now and it's a system supported feature in November.
access any random website
Now you really lost me since I can reach any website from the iPad, there are zero browsing restrictions.
or access any random bit of data.
99.9999999% is enough, it turns out.
It's all dependent on this idea that a computer, even an Apple computer is "too much for the masses to deal with".
Critical refinement of your statement - normal computers are too much for most people to MAINTAIN. Come on, having helped friends and family with computers, you honestly have any doubt that is the case?
The Mac used to be the proposed solution to all of normal consumer's PC difficulties.
The Mac was the hardest computer to use - except for all the others. I guess it makes sense they figured out something even less hard, since they were always at the forefront of computers that were easier to maintain and use.
There's no market inertia or vendor lock associated with it that Apple can exploit.
100% correct which is what makes the dominance they enjoy purely a result of building a good product people enjoy and not market control.
The iPad doesn't need to be castrated despite the protestations of fanboys.
The iPad is not that constrained despite the assertions of the Haters.
You got your first four facts totally wrong, I guess it follows you wouldn't understand platform constraints either.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley