By Jon Stokes | Last updated January 27, 2010 11:29 PM
After a decade of waiting, the Apple tablet is finally here, and reactions across the Internet are mixed, to say the least. Sure, there's always a bit of widespread deflation after a launch with so much hype behind it; nonetheless, the range of attitudes toward the iPad goes from "it's a great tablet, but I'll have to wait and see about the 'revolution' part," to "I'm so disappointed that it's just a giant iPod touch." Missing is the near-universal "Apple has changed the game" sentiment that followed the launch of the iPhone.
From: worsel [#2] 28 Jan 12:37 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#1] 28 Jan 12:52
Maybe I'm a Luddite or just stuck in the 20th century but I do not see what all the hoopla is about. All I see is an overgrown iPhone that is still tethered to Fruitco. You can only do what Apple deigns to allow you to do with it. Anything else is strictly verboten. It's not a laptop, it's not a netbook, it doesn't make phone calls, it lacks so many functions that we have grown accustomed to. It reminds me of the Newton. Apple came out with the first ever PDA but it took another company to really make it useful.
From: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#3] 28 Jan 12:54 To: worsel [#2] 29 Jan 4:15
Yeah, I think you're probably right. When the netbook came out, it was easy to see who'd want one of those. This thing, you have to think about it, and you're still guessing.
From: krazykanuck [#5] 5 Feb 20:55 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#1] 5 Feb 21:05
Yes, I hated lugging around that goddamn Stewart's Calculus text book every frickin day in my first year at university but you know what? I still want a physical text book. I just can't imaging reading dense text on a computer screen and I like to tag certain pages with stickies for quick reference later. I guess you *could* do the later with a digital version. But what do you do if you want to look at two pages the same time? For example, what if the text in page X is referring to a figure on page X+2? With a real book it's easy to flip back and forth... with an iPad? I don't know.
And then there is the cost. I buy a lot of my books second hand and barring no new version/edition the next year, resell it for most of my cost. It's liek a car - the depreciation in value is eaten by the idiot who bought it in shrinkwrap from the bookstore. For now my schoolbag will still consist of the textbooks I need for that day, a couple of Clairefontaine notebooks and netbook.
From: Ghost (ACHILLES_NY) [#11] 8 Feb 11:52 To: Cagey (KGWAGNER) [#1] 8 Feb 12:01
Whaaaat? No Flash support? That means no youtube or facebook support, not to mention a zillion other sites, how dumb is that? Leave it to apple to be one dollar short...