Link: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/04/02/why-i-wont-buy-an-ipad-and-think-you-shouldnt-either.html

Cory Doctorow is my favorite writer. I've read more of his books than I have all other books combined (I'm not much of a book reader... yet). He has a kind of unique quirkiness to him that allows him to envision futures not radically different from our own but ones that have a few minor skews to modern-day life that captures the spark in the end of how the future really turns out. I don't think his talent carries over to reality though.

In the linked post above, Cory explains why the iPad is a bad idea, he's not buying one and you shouldn't either. Another "slippery slope" critique. He brings up the contempt that techies have for their moms. Indeed, I did make a comment about my mom maybe being able to "get" an iPad. Call it "an incredibly low opinion" if you like, but it doesn't change the fact that a novice from another generation will never have any interest in schematics being packaged with their device. Basically, sometimes you can't teach an old dog really complicated new tricks and that's okay! If you can give them easier tools that require minimal experience to understand because they're natural and they're happy with it, let them be! Every novice doesn't need to be an expert someday.

Another point I'd like to mention is that during his diatribe, Cory points out examples of how tech has gotten more restrictive and their under-workings less accessible so that it provides less inspiration to youths that may find it empowering to learn how things work. Fine sentiment, but it completely ignores the fact that computer technology has gotten way more complicated in the intervening years since the Apple II. If you had screws in the case of your iPad, would you really learn that much more about "how it ticks"? What if you had the full schematics? What would you really be able to do with the thing with that information? Sure, many geniuses with some training could figure out somethings but your 8 year old will not.

Schematics and simplicity were things afforded by the early industry because it was just starting. The industry was barely a few years old, everyone was learning together. 35 years later, we've learned all the basic science. The evolution continues but corporate dominance rendered much of the complete openness/transparency impossible. The amount of money in R&D that goes into new products is immense and companies can't provide you with the roadmap for free. In short, your expectations are too great and reliant on an era from the last millennia.

One area I do completely agree with Cory though is that our physical mediums which we were able to call our own, trade with friends and sell second-hand are rapidly dying in this digital age and it's a terrible thing. Purchasing is now about copying. Copies that we as consumers don't have the right to distribute and doing so makes you a criminal. More of our dollars will never be able to be reclaimed when our use of the content is over. Call it evaporating money. I'd rather be able to trade or sell my purchased digital copies of things when I deem I've had enough of them. DRM could of course make that happen with ease but rights holders would make far more money on the evaporating money scenario than they would by letting us cut into their profits being able to trade and sell our downloads secondhand.

Maybe that'd be a nice idea for Cory's next story?