Quote:
Originally Posted by Jason
I think a lot of bad press will come from geeks that somehow thought this was going to be more of a computer than an oversized iPod Touch.
My own take on this thing is that it is really a consumer toy. It is aimed squarely at the teen generation who want to be able to couch surf. Folks who want be able to keep one eye on the tv watching 'X Factor' and the other checking their facebook and Twitter.
It's not a computer - it doesn't even have file system access.
It's the perfect toy for the 'ten second attention span' of the Internet generation.
It will sell by the millions.
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Ayup.
zippy's take on this is correct - browsable filesystems exist, really, because the computers have been too damned dumb to handle the organization for us. Tags *really* change this for many users, allowing them to add metadata willy nilly in the same way they used folders as an organizational system. (Folders *are* metadata - a strictly hierarchical metadata.)
I think the iPad is a *fantastic* consumer product. I don't agree with the 'toy' moniker - 'appliance' would be a better term, IMO. In fact, I foresee that within 10 years, we'll have kind of a split in the computer market. There will be iPad-style UIs and apps, for the average consumer, and traditional full on OSs for the geeks and pros. The former market is, you might notice, a hell of a lot larger than the latter. And right now Apple is the only company seriously going for the former - everyone else is trying to shove the traditional model into a different form factor, without recognizing that it's not the physical *size* that keeps people away, it's the *experience*.
Frankly, I'm 99% sure I'm getting one for my Dad. He inevitably gets frustrated with his computer (yup, it's a Mac) and after a few months is tired of 'losing his files' and so on, and just gives up using it. This? This he could use, I bet, and actually enjoy it. And I think a lot of other people could too.
The real question is... how useful is this as a *stand alone* device? Is there a way of backing up info without a Mac or PC? Provide that, and this is a done deal of a sale. (Hmm - back up to Time Capsule?)