-- NonaFarahnik - 05 Apr 2010 My dad has never made the effort to be fluent in anything more than basic technology. When he wants music on his iPod he asks me or one of my siblings to do it for him. It is painful to watch him use his blackberry. He probably opens a web browser 4 or 5 times a year to google something (after calling and asking me how to get to google) and has no idea about what he is actually doing or what is actually happening when he interacts with the Internet. He also refuses to learn. At the same time, he is a compulsive tech-shopper who always wants the latest version of what he cannot use.

Tomorrow, he is buying the iPad. The one thing the iPad will do for my dad is to sell apps that will give him simple graphic interfaces so that he might actually use the Net in a way that is productive for him. (It will also of course give him the satisfaction of walking into Steve's glass box and holding the beautiful device in his hands, but we can talk about that with Arnold and Leff on another day).

For example, I don't think my dad has ever used yelp, but once he has the app and just has to press a button on his screen to get to a portal and type in a business's name, he will. iphone users have already enjoyed this experience for a few years now, but for me, it was never appreciably different than my browser based capabilities. Now that I realize how the ipad will change my dad's ability to garner information, I wonder if this form of Interneting matters.

I dimly remember having to type some sort of code to order my first computer to do things. Today, I just click on an icon. Is something like this happening to the world wide web?!

How do you (anyone) think that simple application-based Internet programs will change the way users use it?

Or my dad might just be a few decades too late and we can't learn much from his generation's Internet use.

-- JohnSchwab - 06 Apr 2010 Nona, I tend to think your last sentence is correct. I remember reading somewhere after the unveiling of this "magical" device that it would be a great gadget for old people (which I interpreted to mean really old, not me-level old). To anyone who is intimidated by the web, I can see the appeal of a whole bunch of well-marked buttons that will instantly deliver applications without fear of landing on some scam website or not being able to find the service I want.

However, the entire notion of apps and the iPad seems limiting. On an aesthetic level, I wouldn't want a computer or TV desktop littered with thousands of little buttons. On a functional level, I don't see what I gain. Any website I use often can be immediately accessed in my bookmarks. And, of course, I can easily imagine the frustration of not having an approved app for a particular website I like to visit regularly. (I do realize that apps for games are a different proposition - what I'm focusing on here are apps as "portals" to internet functions).

My dislike/distrust of an app-based computing experience is particularly acute if the apps are used as an excuse to decrease the functionality and flexibility of the computing experience. This seems to be true of the iPad which, without the much of the flexibility of a laptop, isn't much more than a $500, 9 inch television (on which you can read books, of course). I think the iPads and its apps are mostly about control - Apple's control. In some ways, Apple has created a version of the "Fritz chip computer long desired by the major media companies. Of course, the big difference here is that Apple is the gatekeeper. The fact that this is being hailed as game-changing is, I think, mostly due to the incredible success of Apple's marketing machine. But that, as you say, is a discussion for another thread.