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[isthisthingon]

http://cosgov.ow2.org/xwiki/bin/download/Main/KeynoteSpeakers/pillay-v2.pdf

This is not about chairs or anything metaphorically even close to chairs.  This is a global, socioeconomic divide that either is reduced through open source or it is increased through closed source.  And as I mentioned earlier, this is just the same old itto stuff so nothing new here.

It's just that any possible "wow" factor is greatly hindered by a closed, exclusionary approach to business.  You know how I feel on this man.  Let me build a box and even buy a closed source OS X and I'd be happier.  But the iTunes approach to selectively approving what can even be downloaded to your iPad, in a closed source format, is just another brick in the not-so-wow-factor wall 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_divide

There is a considerable literature on information and digital inequality that predates this current label. The concept of a digital divide is more of a new label and less of a unique concept.  ...Recently, some have used the term to refer to gaps in broadband network access.[3] The term can mean not only unequal access to computer hardware, but also:

inequalities between groups of people in the ability to use information technology fully.

[vsloathe]

The people on the other side of the digital divide ph34r m3h

'nuff said

 

[rcjordan]

Here's the article that best summarizes how I think this will play out. ALSO that its market is mostly for the coffee-table browser (with some ebook reader on the side).

"At $199, especially, the whole game changes.

Why?

Because of the way the iPad is likely to be used.

On stage on Wednesday, Steve Jobs demonstrated the primary use case for the iPad: Puttering around the house."


http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-we-have-seen-the-amazing-future-of-apples-ipad-and-this-is-it-2010-1

I have been buying EEE pcs for coffee-table browsers since they came out. I have 3 now plus 2 W2's and an R7 ...so Louise & I pretty much have small form-factor laptops lying about anywhere we frequent in the house. BUT Apple missed my price point on this one. At $199, I'll buy 2. At $300, probably none.

ALL the above kind of skips over the fact that Asus and others are going to jump on this asap. Asus has already announced one for release this year and it is likely to beat Apple to the $199 mark.

[isthisthingon]

The people on the other side of the digital divide ph34r m3h

'nuff said

 

      

[perkiset]

ITTO - "Inequalities ... use information fully"

And how exactly, does the existence of a $499 tablet reduce some people's capability to gain information? Certainly I understand where you're at. And information and democracy (the real things) single handedly bring peace and prosperity. But to assert that anything and everything must be free or within a number that YOU find acceptable is simply off base. I believe your argument to be way way overboard and not addressing the real challenges. And it's not some offhand metaphor to compare the difference between chairs or cars to data appliances at all. This is not a division of capability, its a division of luxury.

@RC, price point: what you see as value, may be different from other people ergo, you're comfortable with a $199 EEE pc. I would never be and have never bought one because I find them cheap and horrible. If price is the motivating factor, then you are not the target. The more I read first hand accounts of people having used them, the more it seems clear that there is something magical about the device that one will find of value (ergo the cost/benefit ratio is in line) ... or not. It doesn't really matter, because I'll bet (and have with stock equity dollars) that the device is going to be a runaway success ala the iPod - hardly noticed at first, then once it gained hold there was no stopping it.

[rcjordan]

>what you see as value

What I see as value is having a device being so 'incidental' in price that I don't feel encumbered by it. When it becomes obsolete or breaks I simply move on without mourning the loss. I just go find something else that replaces it or -better yet- upgrades the utility the device had for me.  The ipad just doesn't offer that much utility for my lifestyle vs. a netbook. In fact, since I type quite a bit in forums and email exchanges, the lack of a keyboard would be a hindrance.  I don't do music, photos, or social sites, so a lot of the personal media-handling attraction is lost on me.

[nutballs]

@lack of physical keyboard.

Initially I also thought as you do rc. On the iPhone I was very averse to the soft keyboard. And, initially, on the gen1 phone it SUCKED ASS. It was slow as he'll and would get stuck. Now on 3gs it as fast. So as a aresult I got pretty damn good at the thumb typing soft keyboard. I even now am using it to post here and it not a chore. (incidentally I do most of my forum surfing and posting from my phone for the past year.)

although I had the same initial reaction as you about the soft keys, I also think I will adapt quickly, or it's not hard to use like we are assuming. I can't type on apple keyboards anyway, so the dock wouldn't make it much better for me... Lol

[isthisthingon]

And how exactly, does the existence of a $499 tablet reduce some people's capability to gain information?

I remember once someone said: "I believe that we should have the freedom to live in an all white neighborhood."  How could the mere existence of an all white neighborhood somewhere someplace we don't even know about really effect some non-white person someplace else?  It's a real brain teaser but when you finally connect the dots it makes sense.

I'll take a stab at your question specifically.  Let's say someone somewhere opens a business with the express purpose of repairing, servicing, upgrading and educating people on Apple products - for a fee of course.  They are hiring people because the iPad business aspect is just booming.  On one hand you have Craig, the spoiled white trust fund phenom who was given iPads the moment they were released to the public.  On the other hand you have Mutumbo the boat taxi boy in Haiti (to keep up with current events).

These two boys show up at this business looking for work.  Mutumbo has a starving family and Craig wants to meet more quality chicks.  Who gets the job?  And to think, Mutumbo can mentally dance circles around idiocracy Craig but for some strange reason Craig has a head start that keeps getting more advantageous as the list of valuable to know "luxuries" grows.

But again perks, this is simply another brick in the not-so-wow-factor-wall for me personally.  It's not some global declaration that I think devices like these should not see the light of day.  It's just that in general, the closed, expensive and exclusive nature of Apple products exasperate this already troubling gap.  The Mutumbos of the world could give a fig about the iPad, if they had a fig to give

[perkiset]

In fact, since I type quite a bit in forums and email exchanges, the lack of a keyboard would be a hindrance.  I don't do music, photos, or social sites, so a lot of the personal media-handling attraction is lost on me.

Natch, my point about value and cost/benefit. It doesn't have that for you. But the argument that since YOU don't find value in it makes it a machine of lesser overall value is a fallacy.

[perkiset]

I'll take a stab at your question specifically.  Let's say someone somewhere opens a business with the express purpose of repairing, servicing, upgrading and educating people on Apple products - for a fee of course.  They are hiring people because the iPad business aspect is just booming.  On one hand you have Craig, the spoiled white trust fund phenom who was given iPads the moment they were released to the public.  On the other hand you have Mutumbo the boat taxi boy in Haiti (to keep up with current events).

These two boys show up at this business looking for work.  Mutumbo has a starving family and Craig wants to meet more quality chicks.  Who gets the job?  And to think, Mutumbo can mentally dance circles around idiocracy Craig but for some strange reason Craig has a head start that keeps getting more advantageous as the list of valuable to know "luxuries" grows.

Ah, so the only skills of value are that which serve Apple. So you're saying if Mutumbo understands *nix and can get a job at Best Buy as a geek but Craig can't because he's just an Apple fanboi, then it's different... right?

Really ITTO, it's not that I have a hard argument with you here so much as I think you're making much of what you do argue for look smaller by pushing this vector. For example: your notions towards patent and copyright law are widely right (IMO). But your argument that ALL of it must be eliminated is as flawed as the argument that all unions are now bloated, monstrous entities that should be eliminated. Many are, but some are not - just as SOME application of patent and copyright law is still a good thing, although the lack of common sense and exploitation by corporate entities decry that.

My point is that your blanket disapproval of Apple and their product line simply lessens the impact of your argument. Using Apple as your whipping boy boy for global inequity is just rather silly. The tablet is not a gap widener - in fact, I see it as a gap closer. There will be a LOT more people that will comfortably surf the web, enjoy email etc etc because this little gadget makes it easy enough for them to do so. You're right about Mutumbo, he could give a rat's ass about a tablet. I'd be more concerned about the lack of fibre running into his country and mobil hot spots than the impact of the tablet. Or the fact that if he speaks his mind he'll probably be killed (based obviously on the country he comes from).

[rcjordan]

My point is that your blanket approval of Apple and their product line simply lessens the impact of your argument.

[isthisthingon]

My point is that your blanket approval of Apple and their product line simply lessens the impact of your argument.

Ouch! 

[isthisthingon]

>Ah, so the only skills of value are that which serve Apple. So you're saying if Mutumbo understands *nix and can get a job at Best Buy as a geek but Craig can't because he's just an Apple fanboi, then it's different... right?



Mutumbo failed both the Win 7 exam and the Mac exam so no luck there - he's unfortunately still unemployed.  Both Microsoft and Apple give a rats as about this fact since it doesn't effect their bottom line one way or another.  The *nix point is interesting.  GNU/Linux was brought into the world by Richard Stallman's GNU and Linus Torvalds' Linux kernal.  I wonder what the FSF thinks about the tablet 

It's interesting to me when there's so much heat aimed at these people who brought GNU/Linux among other creations into the free world.  Perhaps it's because their efforts actually do impact their bottom line 

[nutballs]

he failed the exam? what useless fucking bootcamp did he go to? Hell I went to one where they said, if you fail twice, they will help you on the third try...

[isthisthingon]

>he failed the exam? what useless fucking bootcamp did he go to?

Prison.  Locked up for software "piracy"