The “almost” device. About the iPad and the future of the Mac

Rightfully so, I think. I’m hacker enough to know what it would take to manage the safety of my own data, and I think that, for most of Apple’s customers, iCloud is the way to go.

iCloud Sync only syncs, and doesn’t make backups, but syncs between Apple devices fairly well, and it does store data off-site, which, IMO, you cannot expect 99% of people to set up and keep working with a NAS (buy a second NAS and swap them every week? Sync the primary NAS to a secondary one? Sync encrypted to a cloud provider?)

At $3 a month for 200GB data, iCloud also is cheaper than electricity costs + deprecation on a $200+ device that lasts, say, 10 years.

And yes, there will be users for whom 200GB or even 2TB will be insufficient or that don’t want to store their data in the cloud, but I think those are a minority.

There also are people who would like to sync with non-Apple devices, but why would Apple facilitate that?

Back in the day, the GS actually was considerably more fantastic than the Mac ever was. Both featured spiffy GUI concepts that people found compelling.

The GS had color, would have had par, if not a bit better speed, had it been clocked at a more respectable rate, but I digress.

Notably, the GS had expansion slots, and one could turn it on, and with nothing else (literally), author advanced programs using BASIC and the built in, simple, assembler / monitor tools.

Today, we can develop on a Mac, and it's a pretty great experience getting worse by the year, but it took a while for that to actually happen, and it's taking a little while to die too, but dying it is.

I saw the Mac back then, and wanted one, until I saw the GS. No contest. Didn't end up with a GS back then, and I got stuck on a PC. Fine. That was a real computer too, in the ways a GS was. (I do have one today though. Nice to return to my roots from time to time.)

I really didn't want a Mac again, until OS X, and the fine machines around the 2011 - 2013 timeframe. Got one, and I love that machine, and love the OS less each year. Used the crap out of it for a while. Now it's put away. I don't want to continue to invest given the path I see happening. For what it's worth, Apple did make that "Desktop UNIX" basically, largely fulfilling the promise, potential Linux puts before us all the time. Then, they seem to have forgotten why that mattered.

Enter the iPad.

On a hardware basis, they are sexy. I have owned a couple, and the one in the family right now serves three purposes:

A. Toddler toy. No joke. Touch games, robust hardware, learning apps all play out well. The usability of that device is superior for younger people when compared to Android. (though both are quite usable) If you ever have the chance to just watch a curious toddler explore one, do it. You will be fascinated. They get it. And on a usability basis, that is a real score. Progress. People who can't even read can make real use of our better interfaces. That's a net good, for all the negative I put here.

B. Movie / media viewer.

C. Reference reader.

It's not something one can easily author code on. (And even that is limited to specific apps, purposes, more of a curio than anything else)

And to me, that's the difference between a device and a computer.

Same goes for iPhone.

I use the crap out of my Android phone. I use it with touch / pen, as well as mouse / keyboard. If I want to, I can write programs on the device, interact with systems, and do all sorts of things, even save a file to an old floppy disk! (Was kind of stunned to learn that worked after watching LGR do it.)

I owned an iPhone for a very short time. Truth is, like the iPad, it has high usability, but it's not really something I want to invest in because I can't really use it like I can a laptop, or basically any computer.

And here's the thing about all of that:

Yes, I and most reading here, are not the norm. We do things many people do not, and that's just fine.

As a kid, discovering computing was life changing and I didn't have to ask anyone. Just get a machine and go! Many of us had a similar experience.

It is super important people continue to be able to do that, and I vote with my feet. I do not invest in products that push people away, or that require a lot of people just to author a program.

Yes, security is hard. So what?

That's what the big money is for. Solving hard problems. And, the thing that makes us able to solve or manage hard problems is the fact that we don't have to ask anyone to author a program.

And there is your "almost" device right there.

Don't get me wrong here. There is a place for the iPad, the closed app ecosystem and all that. Apple gets to do it, and the people who see high value from those things get to enjoy that value.

It's all good.

However, let there be no surprise about the trade-offs inherent in all of that, and people like me, many of us, making the kinds of statements you are reading here.

We get to do that too, and it's more important that continue than it is to somehow defend "selling" things to people, more like a rental in practical application in many cases, that they cannot repair, cannot understand the actual function of, etc..

Side Note Mode = 1

You know, I had a failure on my phone. I began to investigate and learned all that people are doing with mobile devices. Learned enough to understand where the failure in mine was.

Did some work, got it powered up, got my data off of it, then I had it replaced. (was kind of beat up, so no worries there) At that moment, I could have gone all the way, just fixed it. In the future, maybe I will. And if I were in a different place in life, I would setup shop right now too.

Where I grew up, came from, people didn't just throw shit away. Repair it, repurpose it, reuse it. Money was a lot harder to come by than skills were. No brainer.

Side Note Mode = 0

I feel strongly that people respond to how they are treated, what the norms are.

Treat them like dumb users, and so much on mobile does exactly that. Apps with very minimal feature sets, smart but not deep, closed cans, do not open, do not write code, do not, do not, do not...

Treat them like that, and we will see most of them become just like that.

On the other hand, if we promote the kind of culture, fix it, repurpose it, reuse it, then we get more of them able to do, build, play, change the world. Not to mention, help create robust markets where people have a lot of options.

Maybe someday more of a divide makes sense. That is not today. We do not know enough, we do not get along anywhere near good enough, and the problems are not solved, though we do continue to learn and build better solutions. This is not the time to settle. Not at all.

And there is no way an iPad is a full fledged computer replacement.

The hardware is pretty much capable. Some trade-offs in play, similar to Android hardware, which is closer. Much closer.

It's not about that as much as it is the software and the predefinition of intent, the dictating on HOW and WHAT, without considering WHY that gets in the way.