Doctorow on the iPad

[ardeegee]

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02...nt-either.html

(slow applause, quickly building in speed to a standing ovation)

[=X=]

What a great article.

His comments make me feel like he is envisioning The Tower of Babel within the a Tower of Babel.

=X=

[tyche]

Bitter old man is bitter. People who try and tell others what they shouldn't buy are worse than the companies advertising their products for purchase. At least the companies have a vested interest in you buying. What are these Apple whiners getting?

Sorry, I'll not only make up my own mind, I'm big enough to let others do it as well without giving them uninformed, antiquated stories of how it used to be.

For gods sake, it's a mobile os tablet computer, a trivial little device people can use to entertain themselves and maybe do something productive on.

Let the hate go.

[leebase]

Ok....I understand why Cory doesn't want an iPad. Who am I do disagree with why someone else makes THEIR choice.

But I'll probably read Cory's books on MY iPad.

Lee

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by tyche

Bitter old man is bitter. People who try and tell others what they shouldn't buy are worse than the companies advertising their products for purchase. At least the companies have a vested interest in you buying. What are these Apple whiners getting?

1. CD is 37 or 38-- that isn't old unless you are 12.
2. What "Apple whiners" are getting in whining is getting to point out that, by buying and supporting closed hardware with "walled gardens" for software and Orwellian rules about what you can and can't run, you are supporting that product model. Some (including Doctorow and, FWIW, me) would very strongly prefer a world where all hardware be open, all software is unrestricted (other than protecting against malware) and all companies that "think different" about that die from lack of customers.

[Greg Anos]

What Mr. Doctor fails to realize is the the tinker/creative class is a minority of humans. Always have been. The majority doesn't want to think and tinker. And there's more money in their pocket...

That's why there are so few rich creators.....

[DawnFalcon]

The idiots you name (you used "don't think", not me!) care the moment the lack of freedom affects them. And by now, the music industry has managed to annoy a lot of people. Films some more, Games others...

It adds up very very rapidly, and very few of the generation growing are up that type of idiot, they've grown up with ubiquitous computing...

[Donnageddon]

Didn't have time to read the article, but added it to my Instapaper queue and will read it tomorrow on my iPad. Always love reading Doctorow's essays.

[dmikov]

Excellent article. Unfortunately it is not just iPad. Creativity is kinda on decline in certain cultures.
But yeah iTunes is an abomination as far as I am concerned.

[Crowl]

I can understand the ipad not being suitable for a great many people and explaining why is more than fair enough, but trying to make the argument that it won't suit anyone just seems a bit silly.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

1. CD is 37 or 38-- that isn't old unless you are 12.

He does come across as a grumpy old man even if his age isn't that old.

2. What "Apple whiners" are getting in whining is getting to point out that, by buying and supporting closed hardware with "walled gardens" for software and Orwellian rules about what you can and can't run, you are supporting that product model. Some (including Doctorow and, FWIW, me) would very strongly prefer a world where all hardware be open, all software is unrestricted (other than protecting against malware) and all companies that "think different" about that die from lack of customers.

Other than the apps what real restrictions are there with the ipad? You might have to convert files to supported formats, but that's true of many devices.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Crowl

Other than the apps what real restrictions are there with the ipad? Y

Since the applications (including OS and firmware) are the only thing that makes computer hardware useful, that is a pretty big "other than."

[riemann42]

Originally Posted by Crowl

I can understand the ipad not being suitable for a great many people and explaining why is more than fair enough, but trying to make the argument that it won't suit anyone just seems a bit silly.

Here is the problem: If applications must be approved by Apple, and only sold by apple, and this is accepted, then real innovation is stifled, which is bad for progress. The argument isn't that it isn't a useful device, a fun device, what have you. It is that it is an unhealthy device for society and progress in general.

Let's back up and make an analogy. We all hate DRM, don't we? Imagine if every aspect of your computer had DRM?

Imagine if all innovation had to be approved by a single organization. Want firefox on your iPad? Too bad, duplicate functionality. Want flash. Too bad, Mr. Job's thinks it's glitchy and tacky. Want to develop your own application. Sure, just pay $99 a year, and agree not to share it with anyone else, unless Mommy Apple approves.

"Allowing" Kindle and Kobo apps is seen as an example of Apple being magnanimous. That's like praising a Dictator for allowing citizens to criticize the government if the critique is on an approved list.

We all understand the short term business reason for the Walled Garden. The problem is that it ends up being paternalistic and stifles progress for society as a whole.

So yeah, I think the iPad is unsuitable for as all, in the same way that I think government censorship is unsuitable for as all, even those of us who like what the government is doing.

Edit: Full disclosure: I have an iPhone. I jailbreak it so I can develop for it. I looked at programing for Android. It is 1000 times easier and fault: divide by zero times cheaper.

[pwalker8]

I've got both an iPhone and a droid phone. The apps for the iPhone are much plentiful, are cleaner, more professionally done and for the most part are far more creative. For the most part, I use the droid strictly as a phone and the iPhone for the apps. I'll be picking up my iPad today as a replacement for my Sony 505 eBook reader.

I'm certainly no fan of DRM and strip if out of all the ebooks that I buy (which is a lot, btw), but I've also seen the opposite of the Walled Garden approach in both the computer open source/shareware and the android marketplace. It sounds good, but so far the results just don't match the theory.

[Trenien]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

What Mr. Doctor fails to realize is the the tinker/creative class is a minority of humans. Always have been. The majority doesn't want to think and tinker. And there's more money in their pocket...

That's why there are so few rich creators.....

Before the advent of devices that could play music for you, playing an instrument/singing together with friends/family was something very widely spread. It doesn't matter however badly it was done, or if people kept playing the same musics and song over and over again: it was creation on a very personal level.
It's only our modern society that has fostered the idea that professionally produced material is the only kind that is worth any sort of attention.

Fortunately, the advent of the internet has broken that mold. Take a look around, see what kind of stories, webcomics and so on exists, you'll be surprised. People want to create. Many, for whatever reason, will not have the drive to keep at it, or even to begin - creating is hard work. But if the environment you provide fosters such behavior, you'll see more and more people attempting to make something, just for the heck of it, for creating something is very rewarding.

Fundamentaly, Doctorow's critic is that a device such as the ipad is one step further toward making people into passive consumers: you are not supposed to create anything with it, you're just supposed to use it to buy, again and again (newspaper subscription, books, comics, movies, you name it). As is, you mostly can't make anything with it. It says something very interesting about Apple when Microsoft, of all companies, has a project with which (if it is ever released) is more geared toward you creating something with what you get out of the box.