Ive been watching the iPad launch and first adoption with interest and some dismay. Some of my friends, who definitely qualify as Major Geeks, bought one and absolutely love it, while being aware of its limitations. Fair enough. I can see a parallel there with me loving my Saturn sedan, even though it is not a sports car; it does certain things very well, and I am happy with that. It's not the geeks that have me bothered anyway: they know what's going on and have made educated choices.
What bothers me about it all is the sort of sheep-like acceptance by the general population of the walled garden it represents. I never like to see people blindly accepting restrictions of personal freedom, though one could argue successfully that most people don't need more from their "Internet experience" than what an iPad can provide: an easy way to access Facebook, watch some YouTube, check mail, play some games. And the subtle beauty of it is that it doesn't need all the maintenance and patching that a Windows box does, nor does it need geek know-how to run like Linux does. It's simple, easy, safe, and relatively inexpensive. Perfect for approximately 80% of the users out there.
So I find myself in a bit of a personal quandary. I dislike the creeping resurgence of the walled garden - AOL was the training wheels for the internet and I had idealistically hoped that one day people would grow past the need. I was wrong. I watched this video and died a little inside.
As a geek and amateur security nerd, I have to appreciate the popularity of the iPad. It will, one can only hope, reduce the number of infected PCs and pissed-off users, and slow the dissolution of the Internet a little bit. As a person who is acutely aware of the concept of "use it or lose it" as it applies to personal freedom, I am deeply dismayed. Which is more important, in the end? Safety or freedom? I know which I'd choose for myself, but which is right for the mass of users out there? And at what ultimate cost?
As usual, I do not have the answers. I only have questions that keep me awake at night.
Rancid Slime and Email Marketing
2 days ago
As someone whose mother has, for years, referred to "the hard drive" when she means "the case that encloses the CPU, memory, hard drive, and other fiddly bits of the computer", I am not at all surprised by this video.
Browser was that turtle creature that Super Mario fought. He breathed fire and threw hammers... much like Usenet regulars.
As it happens, I'm reasonably computer-literate -- not a power user by any means, but able to do my own maintenance and troubleshoot most problems. But there's no reason why I should have to be. I don't know the names of most of the parts of my television or my car; I use them, and if something goes wrong I take them to an expert. Why should computers be held to a lower standard? Why *should* I have to know the difference between a browser and a search engine, any more than I have to know the difference between a carburetor and a differential?
The brilliance of the iPad is that it offers the abilities that most users want, and requires no knowledge beyond what is necessary to make it work. It's made the leap from computer to appliance, and that's just what most users need and want.
Personally I want my wife's grandparents to move from the PCs that I have to support every time I am in town to the walled garden of an iPad. Their experience will not be diminished and I will finally be freed of my support duties.
That said, I'm not so concerned because people are still free to choose to jailbreak the iPad or get an Android tablet once those become available. I look at the walled garden approach more as an attribute of the device, to be weighed and considered like any other attribute when making a buying decision.
I'm not sure that I see the 'restrictions of personal freedom' that you're talking about. There are definitely issues with the iP*d universe that are to do with the control Apple wields over it. Most of these restrictions translate to 'stuff Apple won't let into the App Store': you're restricted to using the *apps* (and books, I guess) that Apple thinks are ok - *on the iPad*. There
But outside my iPad use, I haven't given up anything. I still have my laptop and desktop computers, and my phone. The iPad has replaced each of these devices in a number of use-cases - but never all. I still have and use all of them.
You're understating the browsing experience by a lot - with the exception of flash (which, on my computers, I turn off by default), there isn't anything 'web' the iPad restricts.
What are the personal freedoms that people are giving up?
Vincent, youre one of those geeks this isn't about. I'll be happy to discuss this with you on IRC, as my thoughts and feelings about it are fairly undefined at present, and it seems we are talking past each other in this case.
I just want to know how many people he had to interview to get those responses. Either way, come on folks...really!