01.29
In Open Source , apple , hpc , prt.sc | Tags: apple, appstore, ipad, iphone, opensource
I just read a great blog post linked by Pedro Telles in his blog Spinning Beachball.
Alex Payne says it all about the future of Apple and the App Store and what it means to future generations of users. It’s refreshing to read something as clear minded as this.
Perhaps the iPad signals an end to the āhacker eraā of digital history. Now that consumers and traditional media understand the digital world, maybe thereās proportionally less need for freewheeling technological experimentation and platforms that allow for the same. Maybe the hypothetical mom doesnāt need a real computer. As long as real computers stick around for people who do need them, maybe thereās no harm in that.
I agree that the more advanced personal computers get the less you need to know what is under the hood. That makes perfect sense to me. However I don’t think that this is the end of the “hacker era”, not even close. I actually think that in the future you will hold extremes of open and closed systems. Hackers are hackers because they insist on trying to understand what they don’t and break into what “the man” says they can’t.
This might be a rather inflammatory remark but Linux is “marketed” as a hacker’s OS and I think that is very far from the truth. When you can look at the source code where is the challenge? I remember how much fun it was to tinker with undocumented system calls back in the day and how that sort discovery process was really the fuel to keep tinkering with the innings of the system.
I for one welcome these closed systems, because I like the challenge of the unknown, undocumented, evil, perverse code that is just sitting there for me to play with until I break it and then reconstruct it, leaving pieces out, adding some in and at the end of the day I go to bed with a smile on my face because I managed to do something that wasn’t suppose happen.
This morning Levi posted this I don’t agree with much of it. I can see the point, of protecting the user from him/herself, of controling the app pipeline, yadayadayada. but I just can’t agree with it, like I don’t agree with the whole concept of the app store (even though it’s the only app store that works, that doesn’t mean I have to like it). If you follow the blog post from where Levi got the inspiration for his post you will see the term “Walled Gardens“. Here’s the deal: just because your prison is pretty doesn’t mean you can get out. And just because you don’t want to get out doesn’t mean you’re not missing out on something.
I think when my MacBook Pro dies I’ll get myself a quadcore (or whatever is trendy at the time) desktop and run linux on it. I will also get an iPad. I like apple, I really really do but I’m not sure I want to play the commitment game any longer.
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You’ll get an iPad? Why? There’s plenty of tablets coming out soon, also with ARM chipsets. There’s no multi-tasking. There’s no connectivity ports. Seriously…
And buying a desktop? What is this, 1998? :D
For you too see my point of view we must start with your last remark:
Desktop = quadcore, infinite ram, quad-monitor isn’t a problem and neither is getting surround sound. With that in mind, and assuming these things are important to me, I then need a portable side kick, now bare in mind that I don’t think that I need a side kick for the desktop. what I need is something that keeps me connected to the internet, has great power consumption, 3G and something that doesn’t embarrass me in public.
Now, who cares what other tablets are coming out soon. what are they running? Windows? Forget it. No.
What linux apps out there are ready for a tablet form factor? Hell, they aren’t ready for a netbook form factor! Have you tried using thunderbird on a 7″ monitor? Reading emails feels like you just stuck you head in a bush and you can never see the whole picture.
I have a toshiba tablet laying around the house, and I can assure you there isn’t a single working linux solution, simply because even if the window manager can cope with a tablet (Enlightenment being your best bet) the applications simply don’t cooperate.
Apple does what Apple does. And what it does is create a user environment for every new device they create and *that* is why competition can’t get anywhere near them for years after a product is released. I want an iPad because I *want* that comfort when I’m on the road and out of my environment.
Multi-tasking. People have a hard time detaching from the rumors that arise before apple passes any sort of gas. the iPad isn’t a beheaded macbook, it’s not suppose to be. It’s suppose to be a device where you send emails, browse the web, log on to ichat, update your twitter and write haiku’s on our livejournal while sitting at a coffee shop wearing a turtleneck shirt and designer jeans. That being said: it’s a *secondary* device if you a are a power user and It’s a *primary* device if you are grandma. and in both those scenarios no multi-tasking is perfectly acceptable if the trade off is awesome battery life.
The only remotely annoying thing about it not multi-tasking is that I can’t be logged on to my IM wile I’m doing something else. Granted. Everything else is gravy on this kind of device.
Why the iPad? 10 hours of battery life and even if you think that’s a lie and cut that number in half it’s still 1 or 2 hours more than the competition can do on their best behavior. The whole system is designed for a touchscreen with that specific resolution, even the iphone apps that you can run are designed based on a touchscreen paradigm. there’s no cheating, there are no developers “winging it” with a port jotted down over the knee (no pun intended) stuff works on the iPad because it has been developed specifically for the iPad.
It won’t break in front of anyone, it won’t beg for drivers, there is nothing that can be broken. it’s a giant ipod touch with a 3G card, more memory and a better processor, and while other joke about that, I think that’s actually a good thing because my ipod touch never crashed once, never locked up and never gave me a spinning beach ball that took as long as a reboot to “fix” an applicational problem (OS X has obviously done this to me countless times).
No connectivity ports. What will I what to connect to on the road? a USB pen? c’mon, you know my line of work. a stranger’s USB pen is not going anywhere near a hole in any of my computers. an external keyboard? I for one (everyone else is) will not assume I’ll need an external keyboard until I try the virtual one on the iPad. To properly answer that I need someone to give me examples of what the hell they want to connect to an iPad. if you go to the specs page you’ll see a USB connector and an SD connector. to what extent you’ll be able to use the USB is unknown at this point. if there’s any ports I’d like to see on the iPad it would be and external monitor output so I could get my presentations off of it. We’ll see if that comes out or not.
So seriously… what are the alternatives, with those features and with a similar price tag?
I see your point.
However, Android and Moblin (http://moblin.org/documentation/moblin-netbook-intro) have, for me, more potential in the long run. And tablets running Android will appear, sooner or later.
Jumping through hoops is what got me into liking computers and hacking them, and I’m a complex user to fit in a use-case. Apple doesn’t even give a crap about use cases, and feeds you an experience that you have to accept, the hoops simply aren’t there for you to jump around. Accepting the iPad is a perceived failure for me, as a user.
A walled garden is very shiny on the inside, I agree, but I don’t think I’ll ever shake the feeling of wanting to venture outside. Is this really where we want to go? In 2010?
I have my N900 for my email/IMing/etc. needs, and I’m much more interested in a 10″ e-Ink display for reading purposes. Hope the Kindle DX takes a blow from all this flak and lowers the price.
And one more thing (no pun intended): comparing a 10″ email experience on the iPad to using Thunderbird on a 7″ device is just plain doublespeak :D
lol, I wasn’t comparing screens. I was referring to the fact that applications are seldom adapted to the form factor they’ll be running on.
I picked thunderbird because I think it’s the most crass example of that, but get any netbook and you’ll get a nice custom made home screen and as soon as you launch an app you get whatever is stock (a few exceptions apply)
even if the kindle dx drops it’s price, how low do you think it can get? the only thing going for the kindle right now is it’s library.
but mind you that you are still buying proprietary technology oozing drm, it’s no better than the appstore, I’d go as far as to say that it’s a bit worse (at least apple never deleted any apps from the customer’s phones)
So are we saying that if you have a feature rich device openness and compliance to open standards is important, but if we’re talking about a much simpler device are we willing to throw those ethics out the window?
you can jailbreak (should we coin “gardenbreak?” LOL) the kindle and it will be a matter of time until you get to jailbreak the iPad. in all likelihood I’ll be riding that train the second it hits the station.
regarding Android and Moblin, sure. I’ll have to see it happen before I form an opinion, though.
My interest in the Kindle DX is SOLELY the bigass eInk screen. I have my own PDFs :)