So the iPad has arrived, the fabled Apple Tablet is at long last here. Except now it’s here, everyone hates it. But I don’t hate the iPad, I think it’s the next big thing. Here’s why.
The Old School of Computers
Back when computers were first created, they were big black boxes that ran command-line code. You had to practically be a computer programmer just to use one, let alone keep it working smoothly. This situation is almost entirely parallel with the first automobiles, which required a person to practically become a mechanic to run them. Even today, computers are still boxes to be fiddled with; customization of UI, open source apps that you have to manually compile, tiny little tweaks to make things run the way you want. Any way you slice it, this way of interacting with computers will never catch on with older or less tech-savvy individuals. That’s why Apple has been perfecting the closed-system model, which is part of the New School.
The New School of Computers
As time moves forward, it becomes more apparent that computing in general has to become more closed, require less and less tinkering until the focus becomes about the content and the end goal of your work. This is the only way to make computing more personal, more intimate. It is what will bring heavy computer use into the mainstream, and Apple is clearly capitalizing on that.
Apple has long claimed that their computers are for everyone else, promoting a focus on user experience rather than extensive, detailed feature sets. This is merely the next step, making computers that no longer adhere to the old definitions, computers that break with tradition and somehow seem not to be computers at all.
These are the computers that your parents and grandparents will buy, the devices that will allow them to access the information and media that our generation can manipulate more easily than breathing. While I’d be the first to admit that Grandma and Grandpa getting a Twitter or Facebook account is something like a nightmare, they deserve the same abilities on the internet that we take for granted.
While you may think the iPad is a waste of time, or something tech savvy people would never use, I’d suggest you think again. This shift from Old School to New School isn’t just for the older people, it’s all about making content and information easier to access and edit. And what do we most use computers for? Games? There’s apps for that. Word Processing? The iPad has iWork. Browsing? iPad has a desktop-like version of Safari. The only major gripe there seems to be is the lack of multitasking. Let me ask you, would you want 3-4 programs open on a 1024×768 screen? Would that even look remotely appealing? Sure, you could hide it beneath some fancy UI trickery like the Palm Pre, but the fact remains that multitasking is unnecessary to a device like the iPad.
Remember earlier I said that New School is a shift towards the end goal, or with the task in mind? The iPad exemplifies that, like the iPhone before it. You need to create a document and send it off to someone. With a Mac, this task could be delayed by any number of distractions like fiddling with iTunes or looking at a website on Safari. With the iPad, Pages is the only app that can be open, so you concentrate on writing the document, perhaps with music playing in the background. The task that you set in mind becomes the sole purpose of the device for as long as you need it to be. It is akin to a digital chameleon, shifting at will into different single-purpose devices. When it runs iBooks, it’s an eReader. When it runs Pages, it’s a full-screen word processor with no distractions, something that has recently been trending on OS X with the likes of Ommwriter and WriteRoom.
Any way you slice it, the iPad is a useful and innovative device. It may seem stupid or unnecessary, but I believe it’s the future of all computing devices once Apple works all the kinks out, to make digital tasks more simple, more intimate, more human.
iPad: A Humanized Computer
So the iPad has arrived, the fabled Apple Tablet is at long last here. Except now it’s here, everyone hates it. But I don’t hate the iPad, I think it’s the next big thing. Here’s why.
The Old School of Computers
Back when computers were first created, they were big black boxes that ran command-line code. You had to practically be a computer programmer just to use one, let alone keep it working smoothly. This situation is almost entirely parallel with the first automobiles, which required a person to practically become a mechanic to run them. Even today, computers are still boxes to be fiddled with; customization of UI, open source apps that you have to manually compile, tiny little tweaks to make things run the way you want. Any way you slice it, this way of interacting with computers will never catch on with older or less tech-savvy individuals. That’s why Apple has been perfecting the closed-system model, which is part of the New School.
The New School of Computers
As time moves forward, it becomes more apparent that computing in general has to become more closed, require less and less tinkering until the focus becomes about the content and the end goal of your work. This is the only way to make computing more personal, more intimate. It is what will bring heavy computer use into the mainstream, and Apple is clearly capitalizing on that.
Apple has long claimed that their computers are for everyone else, promoting a focus on user experience rather than extensive, detailed feature sets. This is merely the next step, making computers that no longer adhere to the old definitions, computers that break with tradition and somehow seem not to be computers at all.
These are the computers that your parents and grandparents will buy, the devices that will allow them to access the information and media that our generation can manipulate more easily than breathing. While I’d be the first to admit that Grandma and Grandpa getting a Twitter or Facebook account is something like a nightmare, they deserve the same abilities on the internet that we take for granted.
While you may think the iPad is a waste of time, or something tech savvy people would never use, I’d suggest you think again. This shift from Old School to New School isn’t just for the older people, it’s all about making content and information easier to access and edit. And what do we most use computers for? Games? There’s apps for that. Word Processing? The iPad has iWork. Browsing? iPad has a desktop-like version of Safari. The only major gripe there seems to be is the lack of multitasking. Let me ask you, would you want 3-4 programs open on a 1024×768 screen? Would that even look remotely appealing? Sure, you could hide it beneath some fancy UI trickery like the Palm Pre, but the fact remains that multitasking is unnecessary to a device like the iPad.
Remember earlier I said that New School is a shift towards the end goal, or with the task in mind? The iPad exemplifies that, like the iPhone before it. You need to create a document and send it off to someone. With a Mac, this task could be delayed by any number of distractions like fiddling with iTunes or looking at a website on Safari. With the iPad, Pages is the only app that can be open, so you concentrate on writing the document, perhaps with music playing in the background. The task that you set in mind becomes the sole purpose of the device for as long as you need it to be. It is akin to a digital chameleon, shifting at will into different single-purpose devices. When it runs iBooks, it’s an eReader. When it runs Pages, it’s a full-screen word processor with no distractions, something that has recently been trending on OS X with the likes of Ommwriter and WriteRoom.
Any way you slice it, the iPad is a useful and innovative device. It may seem stupid or unnecessary, but I believe it’s the future of all computing devices once Apple works all the kinks out, to make digital tasks more simple, more intimate, more human.