iPad Delusions: The Curious Appeal of Workaround Computing

May 11th, 2011 | By | Category: Featured Articles, Timothy McGettigan

When I was a kid I was always disappointed by the toys I got. They never lived up to the crazy expectations generated by dissembling advertisers as they manipulated my soft and malleable child-mind. I remember, and now I tell my own kids to watch out because the toys they see on television are never, ever, ever as good as they appear in the commercials. Well I guess not everybody remembers their childhood disappointment because now we have a new generation of older children who, dutifully obeying the media manipulators, buy the lie and live with disappointment. But then, at least they get to live. Can’t say the same for the workers at the Foxconn (where Apple builds its iPads) are so disappointed with the way the company treats them they’ve actually had to install nets outside the windows to prevent the workers from jumping out and killing themselves as a result. Thanks S. J. for a job well done! – Mike Sosteric

IPAD workers kill themselves

IPAD workers kill themselves

Foxconn Suicide Cluster | Run to your Death

It’s slim, it’s light, it’s revolutionary, and it’s…annoying.

The iPad’s popularity is nothing short of astounding. Apple’s tablet computer has been setting sales records ever since it was introduced. At first glance, this makes sense. Apple has, once again, created a computer that is way cooler than its competition. Also, having once been burned by Microsoft’s underselling tactics (nigh unto oblivion), Apple has learned the lesson of competitive pricing. Thus, not only has Apple introduced the slickest tablet on the market, but Apple has also managed to tickle customers’ fancy by selling the iPad for considerably less than any other competing device. Very impressive.

Last fall, my netbook imploded so, over the Christmas holidays, I caved to the hype and purchased an iPad. Given all the rave reviews, I figured my new iPad was going to instantly catapult me into a new and more wondrous computing realm. Yeah, right. As P.T. Barnum once put it, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Contrary to all of the hoopla, my first impression of the iPad was chagrin at how much it couldn’t–and I was soon to discover, wouldn’t–do. For starters, after unpackaging the iPad, I was disappointed to discover that it was not a standalone computer. In other words, you can’t just turn the damned thing on and use it. Instead, first-time users must plug their revolutionary Apple tablet into some other computer that has been preloaded with iTunes–and to which the iPad must remain spiritually harnessed in perpetuity.

WHY!?

Even more annoying, users cannot successfully breathe life into their iPads unless they provide the iTunes store with a credit card number with which to make “convenient” (Read: excessive, unnecessary impulse) purchases. Although this might be great for Apple’s bottom line, it also conveys the impression that Apple views its customers as easy marks from whom it can exact never-ending tribute. Not much of a first impression.

Now, on to using the iPad. Apple likes to brag that there’s an app for just about everything. Yeah, right. I’m channeling P.T. Barnum on this one again. Suffice it to say that most iPad apps remain in development, which is another way of saying that they don’t work very well. I could create a long list of the shortcomings of specific iPad apps, but, since I’m trying to keep this article brief, I will simply say that, when it comes to the App Store, caveat emptor!

Yet, more aggravating than the functions that iPad apps can’t accomplish are the myriad operations that the iPad refuses to accomplish. Yes, you read that correctly. There are a wide variety of straightforward computing operations, which most computer users have come to take for granted, that the iPad simply won’t allow. Once such activity is attaching documents to email.

Again, WHY?!

Of course, it is possible to send email attachments with the iPad, but apparently because Steve Jobs is opposed to traditional, straightforward file management, it requires a circuitous workaround: exiting the email program (…WHY!?) and sending files one–but not two, three, four or more–at a time.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Steve Jobs: he’s a visionary who’s done more to spearhead the personal computing revolution than anyone in history, and I hope he lives to be at least two hundred years old. Three cheers for Steve! But, that said, he’s got this one wrong.

Steve Jobs doesn’t like file management (or USB drives, or Chrome, or Flash, etc., etc.,) but his customers do–particularly this one. But that’s just too darn bad. The iPad is Steve’s baby and Steve wants iPad users to compute his way, not their way. So, when it comes to the iPad, it’s Steve’s way, or the highway.

Well, I’ve tried the iPad, and I’m pleased to report that, no matter how busy that particular technology super-highway may be, there are plenty of exits–and I’m taking the very next exit to Linuxville.

No related posts.

8 Comments to “iPad Delusions: The Curious Appeal of Workaround Computing”

  1. AdoQhina says:

    HMMM….. After reading this post, I am struck by the idea that this reviewer had assumed the iPad to be a stand alone computer in the first place. Having had an iTouch and several iPods over the previous few years, I had not thought that my shiny new iPad would “be” a substitute for my laptop computer but rather “something else”…. better than an iPod and pure entertainment and fun.. Believe me, my expectations were met and exceeded! I wouldn’t part with my iPad for anything!!! I’d implant it if I could! :) I was, at one time, very hostile to Apple products and would only use a PC. I am happy to say that as a result of my series of iPod and iPad experiences – I have now purchased a beautiful new iMac to replace my old desktop…. andI couldn’t be happier. The magic of Apple is that they know what consumers want…. It is difficult to exploit someone when you are providing them with exactly what they want or need… Oh, and by the way, I am able to use my iPad for basic business applications…. Pages is a very powerful word processing app and files may be imported into your Office products! I do recommend the keyboard doc… very nice to have.. though not essential. I just like using a regular keyboard if I have a lot to type and it makes a more stable “stand” for the iPad when charging or when watching a movie, etc. It all fits into a small messenger style bag that I purchased for this purpose – if I want to take it all with me – iPad, Keyboard, Charger and Headphones. Good Luck!

  2. Timothy McGettigan says:

    If you love your iPad, then more power to ya.

    Some are happy to drink the kool-aid, while others object to its artifice.

  3. Melanie says:

    I think that there is also some shame on you for not researching your products better. Any simple talk with any apple worker no matter which product they specialize in or anyone else who own an iPad would let you know that you require a computer. Apple does not advertise the iPad as a computer substitute either. I own an iPad and i do not expect it to be a computer and I enjoy using it everyday as an alarm clock, e-reader, and simple word processor as well as using it to surf the internet and read magazines. If that is not what you were looking for you should have researched a product that would give you what you are looking for. As for impulsive buys, if Apple did do it, someone else would so people should exercise that muscle called self control. If they are that impulsive if it wasn’t the App store they would be using their credit card for other impulsive buys too.

  4. Timothy McGettigan says:

    Touche. I blame myself for failing to recognize that the iPad was a toy, not a computer. The point of my commentary was to alert other prospective iPad buyers to the pitfalls of Apple’s wannabe computer.

  5. Rick Witte says:

    Timothy, Timothy, Timothy…… You don’t get it , and you never will.

    You apparently believe the measure of all devices and their success must depend on TECHNOLOGY, the more inclusive the better. Apple’s success (at least commencing with the introduction of the first iMac) is that it’s products USE technology but they are NOT driven by it. Rather, they are driven and defined by policy decisions.

    Being possessed of a glib lack of attention doesn’t make you less the public fool for insisting on missing the essential point that ( as comments show ) EVERYONE else sees clearly. It’s pretty obvious the point of your comment was NOT to warn anyone about “pitfalls” of a “wannabe computer” that NEVER “wanna’d to be ” one in the first place. To most folks out here the transparent point was to strut your ego, blow smoke, and otherwise try to appear as the elite tech savvy guru you see yourself, more brilliant than all us idiot rubes out here, not to mention those inexplicably selfish Apple designers.

    You can call me politely “uncivil” to point out that it is nevertheless true that your serial rant was both uncivil AND insulting to intelligent users of such devices and an apology is warranted.

    I personally don’t use them, but if it wasn’t so ignorant, I would also be insulted.

  6. Rick, can you please refrain from being politely uncivil. Your ad hominum attacks here do nothing to make your case that Timothy is a “fool.” Maybe you’re being defensive at the thought that your expensive iPad is nothing more than a toy. Advertising and marketing are powerful and manipulative and you wouldn’t be the first person in history to be duped into buying something based on emotional appeal or functional misrepresentation. I know from experiences with my own children that the toys that we are manipulated into buying by advertisers rarely live up to excitement represented in television advertising.

    Is this the case with the iPad? Any out there disappointed?

    And Tim brings up some good points and raises some important sociological questions, one of which is “who makes the technology decisions that bring things like the iPad into life.” This is an important question. As sociologists we have long known that technology is not neutral. It reflects the politics, ideology, and interests of those who make it. You can check out David Noble’s work in this regard, his Forced of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation in which he makes a pretty much rock solid case that technology represents the interests of the social class who control it.

    And as for this idea that Apple provided consumers with “what they want,” that is pure sociological naivety. The multi-billion dollar advertising industry exists for the sole purpose of creating and manipulating needs. You may think you need an iPad, but I don’t believe I do. Despite advertising messages to the contrary, I need less computers in my life rather than more. Especially considering how much radiation these devices emit. I want to live a long life and healthy life unencumbered by brain tumors, unexplained cancers, and other things.

    So honestly, unless a more compelling argument can be made for the iPad than that it is “pure entertainment,” I’ll pass, and I’ll encourage the children in my life to do so as well.

    Mike S.

  7. Rick:

    If the iPad is not masquerading as a piece of computer technology, then what is it supposed to be? A fruitcake?

    If so, the iPad is as big a failure as a fruitcake as it is as a computer.

  8. Just a reader says:

    I do think perhaps an initial pre-purchase research on the iPad would have prevented some of your disappointed, but at the same time I am sympathetic. When I bought my iPad (generation one) I didn’t have any delusions that it would serve more than an elaborate, bulky eReader for me. Yet I like it for its size, color-screen dimensions, and its durable hardware. At the same time, that is pretty much where my enthusiasm ends.

    Like most people, I started out using the iPad for silly app-games. I did eventually intended to use it for productivity purposes. So after much research, several trials of shoddy stylus and finding a good one, and downloading a few Note Taking and PDF annotating apps files, now I generally use my iPad for productivity purposes, usually for notating and perusing research materials. Just for the comfort of reading on my bed or lounge, where not even a netbook would allow me to recline with ease and the monitor near my reading proximity, my iPad became indispensable for this relaxing and productive activity.

    So, was I one of those uncritical or avid Apple worshipers when I bought my iPad? No. I knew much of the craze with Apple products has to do with the hype of marketing and branding. I feel that aside from the simplified beauty and durability of Apple hardwares, their Mac OS and iOS are not efficient or user-friendly. Will I upgrade to the latest iPad 3 version? Probably not, unless they lower the price, added FLASH capabilities, and installed SD card readers. My next tablet will probably be an Android (when Honeycomb is stable) or the anticipated Windows 8 Tablets.

    Enjoyed reading your article. I’m sure your frustration is shared by many who bought a HUGE iPOD touch.

Leave a Comment