A laptop computer was first conceived of in 1968 by a man named Alan Kay. He envisioned a “personal, portable information manipulator†and thus began our desire to have all information at our fingertips. Many versions of this vision followed, the Osborne 1, Kaypro II, Compaq Portable,
just to name a few. They all followed a common design theme, although
they certainly looked different. Each unit had some form of a monitor
and a keyboard. This was simply the standard two way street; the
operator typing in commands on the screen and the monitor dutifully
displaying the desired information, linearly. The monitors weren’t
fancy, looking quite dull in fact, lacking color and depth. Some of the
front runners in the monitor game included Atari, Commodore and Apple Computers, Inc.
This was in the late 1970’s to mid 80’s and there was not a great deal
of differential between how these “laptop computers†looked or
operated. Believe it or not, it was not until 1984 that the first
standard for a computer mouse
arrived on the scene. The mouse offered another manner in which to
select information on the computer screen, and it was even somewhat
intuitive. It was an obvious substitution for what came most natural –
touching the screen to select what you wanted. Touch screen devices
started coming out in limited supply again, in the 1980’s. It really
should have been called a poke screen, not touch screen, because you
could only touch one small spot at a time, and initially only with a stylus or special pointing device.
That’s it. From day 1, portable computing was one form or another of
a monitor, keyboard and poking at the screen in some instances. What
you did on a laptop was limited to what you could make it do with the
tools given. You could type on it, read the responses back and poke
things to select. It worked fine. It had been that way, again since the
beginning. Nobody was complaining that you can’t talk to the computer
and have it respond. Ok, fine, there are always people wishing for
talking computers, however I’m referring to the run of the mill, every
day “Joe†computer user. It did what it was supposed to do, what was
expected from it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Today, things are different. We all think different.
In our mind we have a check list of things that we expect our
technology to do for us. Is it possible to do everything? It is highly
unlikely that there will ever be one device that will be all things to
all people. The real trick is to devise a product that will be the best
at a select number of things. Divide and conquer if you will. Something
that will literally just do what it is you want it to do, intuitively,
the way you just naturally do things. It shouldn’t require extensive
training, or any training for that matter. It should just work.
The Apple iPad falls right into place with both the logical timeline
and progression of how we interact and process information on the go.
For example, close your eyes and imagine yourself sitting at a table
with a newspaper in front of you. Ok, don’t like getting your hands
full of ink, imagine a book. You pick it up and you read it. You see a
picture in the book and want a closer look, so you either lean closer
to the book for a better look or find a way to get that image larger.
Since the iPad can’t read your thoughts, yet, the second option of you
touching the picture with your fingers and enlarging it works just as
expected. Turn the page by reaching down and flipping the pages with
your fingers. It works just as advertised.
Without running down the list of features that the iPad will offer,
suffice to say that what it does, it does, well perfectly. Read books,
read newspapers, listen to music, write letters, email friends, play
games are all, dare I say native like functions of the device. They
don’t feel like add-ons, they feel like they are part of the device. It
has, like my then soon to be mother-in-law proclaimed about me,
“unlimited potential†. Think about it. Sit and think and try to concoct
a better way to do any of the things that the iPad does, in a better
way than it does it. I challenge you. I consider myself a pretty smart
fella, and I know I can’t think of any better ways. In our minds we
limit what the iPad can do, not vice versa. Anything that it lacks
today, chances are it may possess tomorrow, or the day after. Oddly
enough, you may forget or not even care then if it does.
The iPad can do everything it was designed to do, quite literally,
perfectly. What it can’t do and never will do is be precisely what
every gossip and rumor columnist say it should.
Karl Susman, Westside Gadget Guy
