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iPads On American Campuses? Maybe Next Year
Velcroman1 writes "Slashdotters have read extensively about the iPad pilot programs at colleges and universities: Australian schools are iPad crazy, we read yesterday, and thanks to the iPad's success, 2011 will be the year of the tablet. But on US college campuses almost half a year after the iPad's launch, it's a whole different story — at least so far this year. FoxNews.com reports that high-profile schools like Duke and Stanford are far more cautious about the device than has previously been reported. 'It definitely facilitates studying and recall because you don't get bogged down by all the paper,' noted first-year Stanford med student Ryan Flynn. But it's still a work in progress. 'The iPad isn't the best input device. Some people have gone back to paper and pencil.'"
I loathe anything forced onto me and as such, I'd not like to be forced to use the iPad. If anything, I would like to use one of the many Android devices or even Google's Chrome OS. Let's urge these many OEMs not to cede the educational market to Apple and its control freaks.
Or, you know, give people a device that does what they need in a more convenient form factor and leave the politics of free software out of it and stop whining about the purchasing choices other people make. Maybe even accept that their decisions are valid even if you don't get them.
But, hey, feel to paint issues in black and white as you see fit. God forbid someone thinks you're being alarmist and that they don't find the experience to be restrictive and limiting. Or, you know, I could go spend hours trying to find get a device working under Linux like I used to.
You know, 10 years ago the average person backed away from the rabid OSS people as they ranted on about more or less the same things because they came across as fanatical nut-jobs.
Thus far, I don't have any more DRM on my iPad as I do anywhere else, and I've only gotten free software -- of which there's tons of it out there.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
There's functionality and there's ease of use. Let's discuss this.
What functionality does a regular laptop have that an iPad+Keyboard doesnt?
For one, a mouse. Sure, you can tap, but that's clumsy if you need to reach, or if you are trying to remote into a computer.
For another, multitasking. I'm not just talking about the iPad doing two things at once, I'm talking about the user being able to do two things at once. With a notebook, I can easily arrange my screen so that I have a reference (such as a webpage) while I'm typing something out. With modal applications, that's just not possible. I have to switch back and forth. Even with iOS 4.2, I doubt switching will be as easy as with a real computer. Is there even a keyboard shortcut for iOS4 to enable multitasking?
The iPad is good for a lot of things, but I think it will be a long while before it's a complete laptop replacement for a the majority.
I can get a really decent laptop for what the iPad runs. I'm lugging around a pretty but huge Dell Vostro laptop to class, which makes me drool over the tiny netbooks. They fit on the desks easily and can run more then 2.5 hours without hunting for a power outlet.
"I'm not a quack, I'm a mad scientist! There's a difference." - Dr. Cockroach
Let's face facts. Most college kids are going to use these iPads to dick around. The college where I taught a course a couple of years back had given MacBooks to all their students. If I wasn't standing over their shoulders they'd be happily chatting away with friends or wasting time on some other site. It was routine to be going over something with them and have a chat window pop up. What was especially ridiculous was that the classroom, like many others around the campus, was equipped with desktops so there was no real need for these laptops. But it certainly was more convenient that they worked on their own machines.
I suppose in retrospect I could have demanded they close chat programs and browsers. But then, we're talking about a university class here. If I wanted to babysit a bunch of children I'd go teach in an elementary school. And if you're teaching a class with upwards of 20 or 30 students what do you do then? You could demand they keep the computers turned off, but then the school provided the damn things.
It would be nice to see universities expend this much effort on controlling costs. Why the hell is a college education so damn expensive anyway? The professors I've encountered seem to have a carefree attitude towards spending, something I had never experienced in the corporate world. What incentive do they have to care when there's a steady stream of income? They can endlessly raise tuition and nobody seems to care.
Naysayers of the iPad miss the point? Huh, here I thought that all the hype about desktop, laptops and netbooks being killed off by iPads was created by Apple fans.
A small sample:
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9175600/The_iPad_is_the_future_for_home_computing
http://gizmodo.com/5506692/ipad-is-the-future
http://www.macworld.com/article/146038/2010/01/ipad_future_shock.html
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/02/ipad-future/
http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/27/ipad/
This space for rent.
Yes... ANY criticism of the messiah is "irrational" or "hate".
I understand the value of the form factor. It's something that needs to be taken away from Apple and put to more effective use.
If you are going to make up bogus "swimming in the cool-aid" kind of nonsense. Try some some other forum where there aren't people lurking about with multiple jailbroken iDevices.
Been there. Done that. S-s-s-s-seen it for myself.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.