The Postmodernist

I used to be an avid fan of Apple, even though I didn’t own much of their hardware. The ideas behind the Mac user experience were great. Then MacOS was rehatched from open source software including user-space software from my all-time favorite environment: BSD.

Then came the super-hyped iPhone and user experience went out the window. It’s slavishly simple home screen with icons galore. It’s utter lack of support for multitasking (which, surprisingly, can even be found in the more typical not-so-smart phones).

And now iPad. Until today, I hadn’t realized the one thing that destroys the iPad, as I never cared to own one or even try one out. As Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan points out, the experience of unpacking your new Apple pet is belittled by the requirement to connect the damn thing to a computer. I thought this was an Apple product; shouldn’t it just work?