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Doctorow’s iPad Dystopia

I’ve been eagerly waiting the iPad’s landing out here in the technological wasteland which is Australia, and while doing so, I’ve been reading up on what people have been saying about it. I have to say I’m expecting something big. People have been saying “It’s just a big iPod Touch.” and to that I say “Yes, which is reason enough for me to be excited”. That however is not my point. I think now that the iPad is in the wild, people will realise all that a “big iPod Touch” can do.

The current punditry which is really getting me thinking at the moment has mostly been coming from Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow. I think his article is well worth reading, because he makes some interesting points. His destination, however is not something I particularly agree with.

I’m assuming that even those of you who haven’t baulked at the large body of paragraphed text on this page and actually managed to clicked on that link did subsequently baulk at the large body of paragraphed text on the other side of the link, so here’s a quick summary of what I take as Doctorow’s main argument: you shouldn’t buy an iPad because closed boxes stifle innovation. My apologies to Cory, because his argument is a lot more complex and better thought out than than, but that was the best pithy summary I could come up with.

I’m part of the later part of Gen Y, so I grew up with computers treated largely as black boxes. My parents occasionally regale me with stories of how I would show my grandfather how to use our LCII before I could read. I’ve always had an interest in how things work, and I would say that it was only when OS X came about and the inside of the Unix core of my Mac was exposed to me that I really became interested in making things on the computer.

Now the iPad will certainly make it more difficult to access the core of an otherwise very powerful computing device, which is a shame, but when you come down to it, it’s a very small percentage of users who will actually end up tinkering with the innards. Now I think Apple have made a very deliberate decision here, and I think for most people it won’t matter, but I would really like to be able to play behind the scenes.

So in short, my response to Doctorow is this: Yes, we are being sold a black box, but it won’t stifle innovation as much as you think. Would I like it opened up sure? Do I think Apple will do it? I’m not hopeful. Will it stop me buying one? You have to be joking.