Future Shock

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Fraser Speirs - Blog - Future Shock

What you're seeing in the industry's reaction to the iPad is nothing less than future shock.

For an industry that prides itself on being forward looking, the tech industry does not deal very well with change (or even potential change).  It seems the same pattern repeats itself every time someone attempts some advancement or deviation from "standard" computer.  Rather than consider how things might improve, there is a very conservative concern with any change from the present standard.

For years we've all held to the belief that computing had to be made simpler for the 'average person'. I find it difficult to come to any conclusion other than that we have totally failed in this effort.

I have made a similar argument for years.  Other than computers, there is no mature industry that has failed to evolve to a point of appliance-level ease or use.  How many people would drive their own cars, if they were required to install news "fixes" every few weeks?  Most computers today harken back to the time when every driver had to be an auto mechanic too.

I'm often saddened by the infantilising effect of high technology on adults. From being in control of their world, they're thrust back to a childish, mediaeval world in which gremlins appear to torment them and disappear at will and against which magic, spells, and the local witch doctor are their only refuges.

As one of the "witch doctors", I completely agree with this.  If you take a moment to ignore the way we reached the present, it becomes obvious the current state of affairs is ridiculous.  There is no real reason for the effort and complexity required for "everyday" computer use.  No reason, except that it is easier to populate a bullet list of features than to enable things to work in an elegant and sensible manner.

People talk about Steve Jobs' reality distortion field, and I don't disagree that the man has a quasi-hypnotic ability to convince. There's another reality distortion field at work, though, and everyone that makes a living from the tech industry is within its tractor-beam. That RDF tells us that computers are awesome, they work great and only those too stupid to live can't work them.

For those of us interested in the nuts and bolts, the journey is its own reward.  To people with a job to get done, the "journey" of learning the ins and outs and maintaining a modern computing system is an irrelevant source of frustration, distraction, and loss of productivity.


And how arrogant is it to expect and demand a user become an expert before being allowed in the clubhouse of computers?  Some of us may enjoy the challenges of involved in learning a computer system or program, but it would be foolish to forget that our enjoyment comes from the challenge.  But most people enjoy other types of challenges, and it does not make sense to force them to "enjoy" the challenges that computers provide.

Think of the millions of hours of human effort spent on preventing and recovering from the problems caused by completely open computer systems.

When you really think about it, maintaining configuration files, patches, updates, and security fixes is a huge time sink.  Imagine how much time is simply used by all the administrators, all the users across the world simply maintaining the tools they need for their work or their play.  That is time that cannot be used for work or play and time that can never be returned.


I can only think of one word to describe this situation: a travesty.  Anything that reduces that time sink is a good thing.


In presenting the iPad (and iPhone and iPod touch), Apple is offering a new way to do things.  A way that will allow most people to do most of what they want without the effort and complexity of traditional computer systems.  They are not threatening to take away the old way of doing things.  They are not threatening to take away your configurations files, your registry, or your ability to buy an old-style computer system and download and install whatever you want.


People and pundits have complained about the complete control that Apple has over this platform, but many of them nonetheless believe the device will sell well and might be a huge success.  What does it say about the current state of affairs is users are willing to hand over that level of control to avoid the mess and problems of the traditional less controlled systems?