constructive cynicism
Apple calls this thing magical and revolutionary. When I watched The video of the announcement, I thought that they were probably on the right track but maybe being a little hyperbolic. Then today I was watching my wife and daughter cuddling on the couch and looking at satellite pictures of volcanoes on the iPad.
It’s not hyperbole. This is it. This is the version of computing that we have been promised for the last twenty years.
I lived through the Dark Times of Apple’s history before the Second Coming of Steve. I watched Apple repeatedly delay Copland and all their next generation projects while Microsoft’s gargantuan R&D department turned out impressive-albeit discordant-projects that they always put at being 5 or 10 years away from market. I would watch those Microsoft demos and worry that Apple would be a fair computer company but wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace of innovation.
Well, it’s been a little more than 10 years and I’m writing this on a wireless touchscreen handheld computer from Apple while all Microsoft has been able to do in the intervening years is build a search engine and not totally fuck up their Windows and Office legacy.
Welcome to the future.
