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too much bleeding on the edge
Wednesday, July 6 2011
I might be something of a gadget freak, but I tend to be a frugal one. Having grown up with a fascination for primitive calculators and anything with a modicum of progammability, I'm usually satisfied with cutting-edge technology from several years ago. But now I'm trying to become a serious iOS developer, so today I took delivery of an iPad 2 with 64 GB of flash storage. I'm not a fan of the bureaucracy-plagued production chain for iOS applications, nor do I support their closed architectural model. But it has a better connection to the open source world than does Microsoft code development. Also, one has to admire the simple usability of iOS products; in that department, there is no rival.
I played around with my new iPad, finding it to be exactly what I expected it to be. It's no more useful than my MSI Netbook, though it's faster, sleeker, and less clunky. Its virtual keyboard isn't as good, but it's much better than I expected (from my experience with iPhones). The main problem with using an iPad as a laptop replacement is that there's no obvious way to keep text files in a file system or FTP them to a distant file server. This is necessary to maintain client websites while on the road and is part of the reason I have to carry a Netbook around with me. Sure, there may well be apps for that, but in the closed world of iOS, you're nickeled and dimed for every little need, and, post Napster, Kazaa, Gnutella, and Vuze, it's hard to get my brain to accept that software should ever cost anything.
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http://asecular.com/blog.php?110706 feedback
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