Engadget has an interesting piece today,
written by Josh Topolsky, talking about how with the 2nd iteration of the iPad Apple is defining the market for computing. Evidently, we're now moving into a "Post-PC" world where the iPad defines a new generation of computing where specifications don't matter.
I don't really feel like it's terribly productive to respond to the troll bait about Android v iOS v WebOS or whatever your preferred mobile OS is.
I think parts of his analysis make sense...tablet computing brings new opportunities for rethinking the way we use our computers and how we relate to the internets. The internets as a massively interconnected worldwide communications medium.
Tablet computing
does bring these new opportunities. It allows us a rare opportunity to rethink things; even more so than with the move from the Command-Line Interface (CLI) to a Graphical User Interface (GUI). But it's important to bear in mind the ways in which we are constrained by the powers behind the OS...and the company that wrote the OS.
Apple has become a middle-man. They are organized as a completely vertically integrated market stack, which gives them tremendous flexibility. Flexibility in which part of their captive market to capture maximum profits. And it
is a captive market.
They own the hardware: numerous patents covering the most elegant parts of the macintosh experience. The touchpad; sleek and easy to use. It drops into the background as soon as you use it, soon you don't even remember that you're navigating. Swoosh, Tap.
The battery life; Are there any other laptops which run for 7 hours, or even close to it?
The automated graphic switching might be covered by patents.
So might the GPGPU coding (Grand Central) which allows processes to more easily leverage the extra horsepower of that discrete graphics card.
And the only OS you can easily use on this hardware that provides all the above benefits?
Mac OS X.
Sure, with a lot of effort and some drivers you can mostly get Windows or Linux to install. It should be noted though that even Windows which is fully supported by Boot Camp doesn't get the same battery life or do graphic switching as well.
And once you're captive to the OS you are captive to the numerous shortfalls which make using Open Source software on a Macintosh a bit like asking to have your fingernails ripped out. Apple has ensured that, although you
can install and run whatever software you want on a Mac; only Apple approved software runs well. If Apple had greater market share you might finally hear congressmen getting interested.
Or maybe not...
One of the things that works really,
really, REALLY well on a Mac is using iTunes! CRAZY, right?! well, iTunes works amazingly quickly and doesn't seem to bog down your computer much at ALL, on a Mac! When I first got my MacBook Pro, I was frankly amazed that iTunes starting up didn't take 5 minutes and that I was able to shut it down without waiting!
And Apple takes their share from iTunes and the App Store, don't they? We've all heard about it.
Developers pay a lot to be in the App Store, and Free Apps are almost unheard of.
It costs money to be an Apple Dev.
Which is absolutely their right. Apple has every right to be a profitable company. I do not for one minute believe that they deserve to be anything but profitable.
But I want to see a future in which we have a
choice. The marginal costs of producing and distributing most forms of artistic expression have fallen to damn-near zero; there is no real excuse for maintaining an archaic system of compensation whereby MASSIVE corporations have been allowed to amass ungodly fortunes at the expense of our artists! None at all.
I do not believe it is the Government's
job to provide for archaic business model insurance. I.E., there is no guarantee that what was once profitable will always remain so.
Apple is a media mogul, and they behave exactly like one. They recycle average ideas to convince the public that they've got new ideas. They do everything in their power to enforce the use of
their highways and that we'll pay
their tolls. All of which is fine, if we never imagine anything outside of
their ideas, but if we'd left it up to them we would never have had VCRs or DVRs or Recordable media of most forms or bittorrent or anything else that might potentially threaten their business model.
So, please, before you start gushing to me about how wonderful the new Apple product is...take a second to think about whether you
really want to like in a Post-PC future where someone else does
all your thinking and imagining for you.
