Sorry, but Cory Doctorow must think that everyone is or should be a hacker god, capable of writing a couple thousand words on any tech gadget and not just consume the product as intended.
He went off on BoingBoing today about why you shouldn’t buy an iPad, and he let everyone know he wasn’t going to be buying one either. Which is fine. But I think Doctorow has become the FOX political pundit of the tech world. Like Glenn Beck, he thinks that everyone was peaches and cream back in the day [I'm from that day], and people could do what they want with their gadgets and they owned them.
Sure. That was in the infancy, and the term hacker had a meaning beyond being a computer penetration expert [or script kiddy] and that is what we have hear. Doctorow uses things like the Maker Manifesto where you don’t own anything unless you can tool around inside the guts of the gadget. Frankly, it appeals to a certain demographic, or more precisely, psychographic. That mindset that says, HACK IT OPEN, see what makes it tick, and if you manage to put it back together with a few screws left over, it means you are more efficient.
Times are a’changin Cory, change with them or you just grow old and keep repeating the mantra “I remember when” which is what this article pretty much is all about. People who want more, will find that outlet, probably just Netbooks. But if the market swings towards a particular trend, it means that the people want it. And they want it in that form factor to a greater degree than us hackers.
Frankly, it is up to the people, in large quantities, to shift the direction. Keeping comics in paper form is nothing but a Luddite sensibility. And a supplier will supply if the market is there. But if I can carry around my entire National Geographic magazine collection on my iPad, damnit, I’m going to. I prefer it that way. I can get everything on this little gadget.
Seems strange that a technophile would shy away from innovation and something new. Doctorow’s contrarian tendencies towards technology seem to be at odds with the way that some people perceive him. Like a younger Dvorak, I’m expecting him to give a boisterous “BAH!” and cross his arms.
I know Doctorow is hell bent on getting rid of DRM, I’m game for that. I’d love to share my books, and software, even resell it to someone else when I’m done with it. But, there has been found a happy medium with Apple iTunes products. Low cost, and ease of consumption. I’ll easily pay a $1 for an application I can’t trade. But I’ll shy away from anything more expensive unless it is really good.
How about we give the hyperbole a bit of a rest. Apple is innovating in a market that would rather have you use CD’s and be happy with copper land lines. They aren’t so much in bed with the entertainment industry and phone companies as they are poking them with a stick when THE CONSUMER announces they aren’t happy with the situation. AT&T bolstered their network and Apple tweaked their phone to make it easier on the bandwidth [at least, they say so], and the entertainment companies are opening up their iron fist to DRM free versions.
Okay, I’m done. I can’t think about it anymore. I get the feeling that Doctorow wants a giant technological drum circle. I’m pretty sure that he wouldn’t be as well off if everyone thought the same way. He is filling a niche, the technological contrarian, or at least protected technology contrarian. A lot of people simply don’t care.
Crusade on Cory, Crusade on.
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