No, that still has nothing to do with them. Companies that don’t have that (bad, consumer-unfriendly) policy are still allowed to exist, even in a country where that’s the common case.
Stop laying this at the feet of Apple. You can buy a thousand different tablets on Aliexpress and futz with them all you want and Apple can’t say anything about it.
Anti-right-to-repair laws aren’t mandatory; someone could make a product that allows you to mess with it after they sell it to you. Indeed, there’s a whole world of hobbyist electronics out there that Apple has no say in. Just ignore them if you don’t like it.
As noted here above many of us retain our old devices and re-purpose them for good and not throwing them away into some 3rd world trash heap. I have an old one in the kitchen for recipes and another in the den for home theater slash home automation. Most people I know, if not re-purposing them, give their older devices to kids or to grand parents. I’d be willing to bet that the number of Apple iPads ending up in a landfill is exceedingly low.
I moved to the Mac in late 1993 when I was given a Mac Plus that didn’t work. The owner said Apple wanted $300 for a new video board. It turned out to be simple, a connector to a deflection coil was run down, I just soldered the wires directly to the board.
But it was easy, the power supply/monitor board was really all analog, and used common parts. Well, if I’d needed a flyback transformer that maybe wouod have been hard to get.
I did trace out that board, still have the schematic somewhere. I also traced the logic board, though that’s more.
Apple hasn’t “dumbed things down” as someone suggested, they have aimed at a wider audience.
Technical hobbies were never common, though a spike after Sputnik. There’s an illusion in recent times, when a larger mass is loud, and coopts the notion of “tech”.
Just because things are as they are does not mean that is the only way they could be.
A tablet does not need to be exactly like the iPad to bring most of the value an iPad brings to the user. The user would not know that, because they‘d mostly not understand what actual value they get out of an iPad, and what is actually wasting their time I‘d say the iPad is rather designed in a way that brings most value to Apple.
It‘s perfectly possible to create upgradeable and repairable tablets. But that would not make so much money for Apple.
I don’t think one needs to learn to program or even build hardware to understand enough about how a computer works, what the implications of closed proprietary platforms are, what it means when there is no right to repair.
You lost me with your comments about Stallman has to do with all this, but I guess you will have a reason for making a jab at neurodiversity.
I might do that, but I doubt I doubt that would change my mind about complexity of technology and its impact on society. It may be because I have both the opportunity and the knowledge to experience first hand how badly many of these systems we rely on are build, because even the people who create and maintain these systems often cant be arsed to understand how the technology works. After all its so fucking complex, nobody could know that, right?
The course of history is not inevitable, but if people don‘t exercise their agency, others will shape history to their benefit.
I‘m talking about not wanting to understand the implications the way their stuff works has on their life, and everyone else‘s. I am sorry if I wasn‘t able to explain that better. But if people are not interested in that, why even bother with the facade of democracy?
And what exactly do you think is my hobby? And maybe, just maybe, there is areas of understanding that have more, and others that have less impact on one‘s life, and that of others.
What I mean is this: we need a certain level of understanding about the systems our life depends on, technical systems, biological systems and human systems to be able to choose the appropriate methods and technologies to use to sustain ourselves and to solve our current challenges. We even need a certain level of that understanding to even perceive those challenges, because we won‘t be able to see patterns and trends.
If we as a society don‘t share that level of understanding, we‘re may be doomed to make things worse, not better. Progress is not inevitable, that at least is obvious, right?
This does fall squarely at Apple’s feet since they are the ones using monopolist power to wrench control from the user’s of not just their products, but others. Put simply: They have no right, and they should be fought. If I buy a device. It is MINE. I can and will do whatever I damn well please with it. Laws to the contrary are evil, and Apple is evil for driving their adoption.
Hand-waving ‘free market’ bullshit doesn’t grant freedom. Even the devices you mentioned (including the oft mentioned Raspberry Pi) are nowhere near as free as devices in the past. Tinkering is still possible, but highly restricted compared to past capabilities. The noose has been tightening for years as companies use lobbying, DRM, and overbroad copyright power to limit and cripple free tinkering, all in the name of wringing as much cash out of the populace as possible. Ever growing complexity combined with draconian laws and rent-seeking monopolists makes it almost impossible to build and sell a truly open device.
Giving a company a free pass on their shitty behavior just because someone else might come along who is less shitty is…well…shitty.
I got the first iPad on day one (waited a few hours, no line, walked in told the man what I wanted and was out in minutes. boom. done.) iPad 3 retina was great, lasted a long time (my mom-in-law has it now). I got the second gen iPad Pro Grande and a iPencil and could not be happier drawing on it. I’d buy a bigger one or one with wireless charging (the charging port is the one weak point). I never noticed any StarFleet officer stop while using a tricorder or data pad and say ‘oh, crap the battery just died… luckily I brought a spare, lemme just pop this out, reset this, put the cover back on, reboot, sign in, reload apps, ok!’
Do I wish they would innovate on replaceable batteries? Sure, but the drive has been for shinier gewgaws, not more utilitarian. Their stock seems to be doing reasonably well, considering.
Two girls, 7 and 9. We’re on our second batch of iPads with them. Perfect for tiny hands to hold and use and great for watching Bedknobs and Broomsticks or The Iron Giant or The Sandlot in the car when we’re on long drives. Great for controlling my Sonos or the NEST when I don’t have my phone handy, too.
While I appreciate the article, and how it got me thinking more about the company I’ve ended up aligned with after a time when Windows was constantly letting me down, I’m a bit put off how it ended.
You listed three groups, and said “the iPad isn’t for you,” but then you didn’t follow up with alternatives.
I’m open to alternatives. Especially open alternatives. For now, the iPad is what I have and use with an eye toward opening it up eventually if/when possible.
I’ve built computers back in the day, and enjoyed figuring things out, so I’m aware of that mindset. That said, I don’t mind not having to do that with an iPad.
What I mind is the stupid way of organizing and reorganizing apps that hasn’t improved since they made the damned decision to make it page after page (or folders with page after page) of icons that have to be dragged one at a time to get them where you want then, and half the time it stops letting you drag them before you’re actually done, because… I have no idea. I had a jailbroken iPad at one point, and one of the best things I installed was a way to tag and then move groups of icons. It’s no big deal if you have 20 apps. It’s a big deal when you have over 300.
For me, one of the most recent interesting things was the launch of Apple Arcade, and the inclusion of the game “Assemble With Care” and how it was ironic that this fun and interesting game was exclusively (temporarily?) shackled in Apple’s playground.
If you hadn’t heard of it, Polygon has a good article:
If i am not mistaken your point was that in a large and complex society people will inevitably have to specialize to effectively distribute the effort it takes to maintain that society. Thus nobody will be able to understand everything. On top of that with specialization comes a focus of interest, that might even make attaining knowledge that is far from ones specialization even harder. This diversity is natural, necessary and normal.
I say we need a certain level of shared understanding to be able to collaborate effectively in actively shaping a desirable the future, and that understanding certain bits about technology is important to achieve that.
If you have an iPad running iOS 13, you can now move more than 1 icon at a time by holding down with one finger until you get them all to wiggle, then using another finger (probably on another hand) to “pick up” more of them into a stack, which you can then drop as a batch wherever you want to send them. That said, home screen editing is still a tedious task, especially when you’re trying to move icons around on the edges of a row. Worst dance step in the universe. While it’s generally still “okay” for novices because it puts all of your apps right where you need to see them, the home screen is way overdue for a power user revamp.
None of which have any bearing on whether the iPad is a useful tool in the current market. “The iPad is bad because it’s proprietary” might just as well apply to every other commercial platform these days. People gravitate toward them despite the personal liberty trade-offs because historically, “open source” stuff has been rife with terrible UX and even worse support. (How many time have I mentioned a problem with an open source tool only to be told “the code is available, fix it yourself”? Too many.)
There’s a really peculiar Randian-ness to the open software movement’s heartfelt assertion that people will accept it as the correct solution because it’s Right, while also doing absolutely none of the work necessary to accommodate people who don’t have a degree in computer science and 12 hours of free time on the weekend to figure out how to get their printer working with the latest distribution of Mint.
I was actually making a jab at his inappropriate behavior toward his female colleagues and his habit of being a terrible houseguest, neither of which can be blamed on “neurodiversity”; I know a lot of neuro-atypical people who aren’t assholes. He’s also the only person I know on the planet who’s so dedicated to the idea of Free Software that he refuses to participate in any action that would even remotely involve touching a proprietary system, so he seemed like the perfect logical endpoint of this discussion.
You’re making an argument about poor education, which is not generally something that taking apart a computer will give you. I actually agree with you that computer literacy in general, and software development standards in particular, are terrible. That’s still not something you can fix by plopping someone down in front of an Apple 1 with a circuit board diagram. If anything, the “self-taught” nature of a lot of people’s experience with software development is arguably a bigger problem for the industry because innumerable bad practices then have years to burrow into people’s heads before the educational system can try to encourage better ones (and I say this as someone who is largely self-taught and has tons of terrible development habits).
In a representational democracy, we elect people to care about these problems for us with the understanding that they will do a better job of it than we could, because they can consult with experts and craft social structures that provide the best outcomes. Technology is one of the many areas where that reasoning (which is foundational to representative government) has fallen down because of industry capture and general lack of understanding at the legislative level. Those are definitely problems, but newer generations of representatives that do get it are coming into power and even the old standards have started to catch on that what’s been built over the past 20 or so years is approaching untenability. As I said earlier, it’s certainly important to improve civic engagement so that more than just the hardcore enthusiasts and corporate lobbyists are the ones taking any interest in any given topic, but governments exist for a reason, and a big part of that reason is offloading the work of maintaining society from every single individual so that they have time to do things like go to the store or watch The Avengers on their iPad.
I say we need a certain level of shared understanding to be able to collaborate effectively in actively shaping a desirable the future, and that understanding certain bits about_______ is important to achieve that.
Technology is one of those areas, sure. But I fail to see how iPads prevent that shared understanding any more than buying a sandwich from Panera prevents a shared understanding of agriculture or paying someone to fix your car prevents you from understanding the auto industry.
But to avoid talking past each other, can you specify what specific understanding you believe iPads prevent?
i will agree with this – that keyboard was/is a total failure, and i ended up buying an external keyboard after my MBP keyboard crapped out. but in the same respect, people gripe when apple doesn’t try to innovate new things, and instead just “follows” other company designs. at least they TRIED to improve the keyboard design – it just failed, that’s all. i’m more angry that it took them so long to admit it than that they tried and failed.
I haven’t seen any evidence that Apple products are making their way into landfills any faster than competing electronic manufacturers’ products, but if you’ve seen any studies to this effect I’d be interested to read them.
If anything I’ve had the opposite experience. When my old Android phone broke I wasn’t able to fix it because it was already too obscure and obsolete by that point. But when the screen on my iPhone broke I was able to get it fixed even though the phone was several generations out of date simply because there are more places out there that service iPhones.
Uh, yes this is the iOS 10.13 thread I came for! I think. What all do you need to do to run your own apps at scale outside the partitioning of worlds that the App Store (or whatever it is in China) would do?
alahmnat [?]> You only have to pay Apple if you intend to distribute it.
Let’s say I want to backup and restore without fighting Java namespaces and having to replicate historical clouds of Adobe and Apple…and Ticketmaster? Also everyone in this story at least knows about jailbreaking hardware even if that has separate costs and it’s perhaps not Cydia anymore.
And what about the pens? I heard about USI making styli for all tablets, and it looks like Google are endorsing tablets that come with USI styli in them, but it’s not a keyword on banggood yet.
Liquor is mostly going with iPads.
I’m…gonna put my resume in with the Molly people and see where that goes then?
What’s Apple going to be a client of in the future, that? Zerodium and coinkite techs? (Must have 10 years scooter experience!) If I want an Apple that fixes up and A9s a la carte, developer zoos of choice, etc?
It was just awful, especially from a company like Apple that has a pretty storied history of great laptop keyboards. I would guess that Apple stuck with it because of Jony Ive’s obsession with making everything as thin as possible. Fuck that. I’ll happily use a device that’s a couple mm thicker if it allows me to type without feeling like I’m punching a sheet of bubble wrap.
The fact that Apple did a complete reversal and mea culpa by going back to to the previous scissor design with the latest iteration of the MBP is both really rare for the company and very telling. I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that decision was made.
I found it kind of funny how harsh Gizmodo was on the new MacBook Pro because it’s just so good when compared to the shit show of the last couple of years’ offerings.
My iPad Mini from 2013 is a dummy terminal for everything I might want while traveling that does not include personal or professional information. Could I load email and banking apps, etc. on it, or link it to cell service? Sure. But I don’t. Instead, I have something I can pull out and read (hundreds of books) or watch (lots of downloaded shows before every trip) or listen to (music downloaded from my own CDs) or play (a few game apps). If it gets lost or stolen, I don’t have to worry about what someone might be able to find out about me. I don’t have to worry when I go through border control and they ask me to unlock it. It’s not even locked, ever.
Do I use it for work? No, of course not. That’s not what it’s for. Do I drop it in my purse when I know I’m going to the doctor’s office and there might be a long wait? Yessiree Bob, that’s what it’s for.
I also have both several types of whisks, an electric stand mixer, and a food processor. They all have different uses. I don’t bad-mouth the whisk for not being a KitchenAid.
abstractamaacation-derivs:
Apple are not Journalism Daddying better than Amazon and/or WaPo, not even handicapping, for shame! [Where’s my clippings-I-saved microSD card slot unlock? Who are these Apple Studio…]
They don’t offer benefits to holding Apple [other than as noted, putting enough cobalt in their anodes to make batteries last years if they don’t balloon up like the laptops on their own under use by devs.] …or to repairability and upgrades and their cloud. [Have everyone bought a nice 1.5TB RAM US$50k Mac Pro and the secret menu iPad to go with it? Their warrantee is like BlackRock’s (no questions spares/replacement?) Ok nevermind then.)
iOS 13 is a lie, for compliance in Abu Dhabi.
