iPad critics should take a tablet

Aha. Worst. Pun. Ever.

An open letter to whinging geeks,

Whinge. Whinge. Whinge. It seems the more of a tech geek you are the more you don’t like the Apple iPad. It doesn’t do what you want it to do. So it’s a bad device. Wrong. It’s a good device precisely because it’s simple and it will revolutionise the way the rest of the tech world (ie “normal people”) do things online, and read media. You think too small.

You know what. Nobody makes hardware for hardcore geeks. They know you just want to pull it apart, overclock it, or install pirated software. All I hear about from my geek friends, and tech geek blogs, is that the iPad is a terrible piece of equipment and Apple are the anti-tech. Apple have pretty strick policies about what can and can’t be installed on their phones, and now on the iPad. I say good on them. They know their stuff best. Perhaps they don’t want you to install background apps because they’ll slow the processing speed of your phone down and ruin its performance. And then you’ll complain. Because you’re (geeks) whingers. They say (or at least Steve Jobs does) that part of their rationale is to keep pornography out of the hands of children (and adults) and I commend them for that.

Apple didn’t invent the super duper tablet computer that you were wishing for as you sat on Santa’s knee last year. But so what. You’re not their market. You’re such a small corner of the market that you are insignificant, and you’ll probably buy one anyway, just so that you can whinge about it not living up to your expectations. It’s their call. They’re a company. They have responsibilites to shareholders (and customers) to make products that make money. They make money when people want to buy their stuff. People want to buy Apple’s stuff. They’re pretty good at what they do.

If you want a tablet computer that meets your needs – build it yourself. Oh that’s right. You can’t. You’re not capable of fitting everything they do into a manageable size. You’re all talk. For now, you should just obey these ten commandments (when the iPad reaches Australian shores)…

Comments

David says:

The reason I didn't get a Myspace account was because I couldn't be bothered spending an afternoon choosing a wallpaper. With so much control of the page layout, the job became too much of a hassle. Facebook, on the other hand, didn't let me have any say in the structure or appearance of my personal page.

And that meant less work for me.

For the dumb masses who don't want to think about such things, as well as the people (like me, even if I say so myself) who are preoccupied by more pressing tasks, so many choices and functions was a turn-off. If Facebook had required the choice of a wallpaper, it would have maybe a tenth of the sign-ups it has now.

And that proves something.

I agree with you. I guess I could have just said that.

Nathan says:

It has been in discussions I've been reading/having – but my post wasn't about the tech so much as the proprietary attitude. I'm fine with that, I think it comes with the Apple territory)…