Response to Ted

(This should be a comment to Ted's comment and article reference on the iPad, but comments, as others have commented, are so confining.)

I also liked the article, Ted. Variations on this theme, of course, have been going on for years. Some would say they started with the Mac in 1984 (or the Lisa before that). The language at that time was taking the computer out of the hands of IT people and making it more like 'an appliance.' So you could look at this as a long history of making a computer more like a toaster. John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, made a video of an imaginary 'Knowledge Navigator' device. (Surprisingly, the video was made in 1987, before the internet and, curiously, it looks a bit like an iPad--with multi-touch.) Game consoles and other application specific devices also contributed to this sense of creating a less technical, more consumable device. Also, as with any activity, more people are interested in consuming information or entertainment than creating it.

There have been other articles about this same theme. One I found interesting talked about how the iPad finalized the dominance of Steve Jobs' view of a computer over Steve Wozniak's view. Steve Wozniak is the ultimate playful engineer. He wants all the power placed in the hands of the people. You're welcome open it up and modify both the hardware and software.

Steve Jobs, on the other hand, wants the complete Zen experience where everything works perfectly without distractions or modifications. Focus is solely on the task at hand.