Zis Mac

Alan Zisman on the Mac

iPad Promises to Free Users from Files and Folders and Drives

- 2010.02.23 - Tip Jar

Follow Alan Zisman on Twitter.

Popularity:

Short link: http://bit.ly/bGLfPx

When Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, and the rest were walking the Yellow Brick Road, they found the Enchanted Forest a scary place indeed, filled with "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!"

For too many computer users today, the equivalent chant might be "files and folders and drives, oh my!"

I know some of us have gotten good at saving files and finding them again when we want them, but for lots of computer users, this remains a puzzle, along with far too much of what it takes to keep our personal technology up and running, to say nothing of productive.

Software and hardware is generally designed by the people who are comfortable with file systems, installing device drivers, and all the rest, and who, despite generally good intentions, usually don't really understand how frustrating their products can be for far too many people.

For over a decade, Windows has provided users with My Documents, My Music, My Videos, and similar folders, but many users still manage to store everything on their (cluttered) desktops. Windows 7 tries to help users with what Microsoft calls "libraries" of categories of files, making them appear together regardless of where they are actually located on your hard drive. I'm not sure it helps.

Some applications have simply taken the user out of the loop. Does it matter to Mac users how Apple's iPhoto, for instance, organizes their image files behind the scenes, as long as they can open them and see thumbnails of all their photos?

iPad with New York Times app In January, Apple - to no one's surprise - announced the iPad, a tablet computer, as had been widely expected. Wildly over-hyped before the announcement (though not by Apple, which managed to manipulate the media by saying nothing in advance), afterwards much of the media claimed to be disappointed, focussing on what they feel the iPad is lacking.

Many proclaimed it "just an over grown iPod touch" with no built-in camera, no hard drive, no standard USB ports, and no memory card slots. Less attention was paid to what else is missing: Like an iPhone or an iPod touch, it keeps the user at a distance from all those messy things - files and folders and drives, device drivers, software installers and uninstallers, and the like.

These have divided computer users into two classes: a minority who "get it" and everyone else, forced to rely on the technophiles for help.

iPad running new Mail app I haven't gotten my hands on an iPad; in fact, as I write, no Canadian release date has even been announced. (And remember, Canada got the iPhone about a year after our American cousins.) I don't know if it will prove to be "magical" and a new category of product filling a middle ground between smart phone and laptop, as Apple's Steve Jobs proclaimed.

Most of what we do with computers is either content creation or content consumption. Apple showed off a few content creation applications for the iPod - a new version of their iWork suite of word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation software, and an inexpensive third party paint program already available for the iPhone. But its strength is going to be content consumption, browsing the Web (at least those parts of the Web that don't use Flash); keeping in touch via email, Facebook, Twitter, and the like; reading ebooks; watching video; and listening to music.

And I suspect that when I finally get my hands on one, I'll find it good at those tasks, somewhat awkward if I want to use it for writing or keeping financial records, but superb at letting people use it without needing to be aware of files and folders and drives.

First published in Business in Vancouver February 16 - 22, 2010 issue #1060

Join us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Alan Zisman is Mac-using teacher and technology writer based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Many of his articles are available on his website, www.zisman.ca. If you find Alan's articles helpful, please consider making a donation to his tip jar.

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: PowerBook Duo 230, introduced 1992.10.19. Just over 4 pounds, the 33 MHz 230 helped launch the Duo line.
May 21 in LEM history: 99: Not censorship - 01: USB and FireWire drives - 02: Hooked by a PowerBook - Printer sharing for Mac OS X - 04: Less frequent OS X uprades: Good or bad? - 07: I won't get an iPhone this year - Can 262,144 colors be considered 'millions'? - Most durable 'Book - 3 GB in a Mac mini? - 08: Quadra a great server for vintage Mac network
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Opinions expressed are those of their authors and may not reflect the opinion of Cobweb Publishing. Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all.
Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2013 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad, iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, Mac Pro, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it, and we don't share the information we have with others. For more details, see our Terms of Use.