[blhack]

>|Answer this: You have somehow given a completely unlocked iPad to a child that will run any unsigned executable.

>|How are they going to figure out that they can hack its guts?

I have no idae, I think the point is that they can't.

>|Now answer this: You have given a child a personal computer running Windows 7 or OS X 10.6.

>|How are they going to figure out that they can hack its guts?

http://www.python.org/download/

http://www.gentoo.org/main/en/where.xml

http://openbsd.org/ftp.html

http://gcc.gnu.org/

http://docs.python.org/tutorial/

http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on of things that I can do on my PC that I will not be able to do on an iPad. If the iPad philosophy becomes the norm (which it probably will) we're boned.

Apple has set a precedent here. They have said "It's okay to release a PC, then totally limit what software can even be installed on it. It's ours, you're just licensing it and that is fine.". Other manufacturers are going to take note.

[raganwald]

t's okay to release a PC, then totally limit what software can even be installed on it. It's ours, you're just licensing it and that is fine

No, an iPad is NOT a PC, it's an iPad. Apple sells another product, a Mac pro, that's a PC. I'm typing this on a Macbook Pro, that's also a PC. And there's the Macbook Air, that's a PC as well. But the iPad is not a PC just as my car is not a PC, even though I'm sure it has RAM and ROm and various CPUs in it. I hear you can buy a fridge with a web browser. That isn't a PC with freon-cooled CPUs, it's a fridge.

[statictype]

Your fridge is not in danger of replacing your PC.

Your argument makes sense if we were talking about the iPhone. What role is the iPad meant to play, if not a simplified PC replacement ?

[raganwald]

An iPad is not in danger of replacing my PC, I completely agree with Apple's proposition that it's a third class of devices.

I won't program on an iPad. I like the look of iWork, but I can't see myself composing my next presentation on it. I won't be (legally in Canada) ripping my DVD collection on it. I might write comments like this on it, but without a stylus I can't see myself writing a blog post on it.

An iPad may replace my mother's Macbook. And it ought to. She surfs the net, writes email, does her banking, and skypes. She has no need of a device that she can tinker with.

I see iPads as a threat to books and also as a threat to secondary televisions. The big screen isn't going away, but a lot of people like a smaller TV in their bedroom or kitchen. Being able to watch movies and favourite shows on a small device may displace these extra televisions.

[DannoHung]

I didn't ask you to solve the question of, "Where they can figure out HOW to hack its guts", that would be a pointless question to ask, here of all places. I asked you how are they going to figure out that they CAN hack its guts? Mark said that he had to press a two key combination to get dropped into an evaluation prompt and that he could start hacking right then and there.

A kid with a new computer today has gotta figure out first that it CAN be programmed and then what a good way to program it is. If he's got no guidance and no foreknowledge, he'll be floating in a vast, featureless ocean of jargon, languages, libraries, and frameworks.

We've drowned the burgeoning tinkerer before he even had a chance to start. Apple's just held the funeral at sea.