You call this user friendly?

[nightflier]

The boss hands me a white box, saying: "this is a freebie that came with our support contract, see if you can find a use for it".

I unwrap the iPad and look it over. At first I didn't want to get finger prints on that shiny screen, but then I realize.. duh!

There 3 buttons on the edge of it. No labels or icons. I correctly guess that the push button is on/off. It boots up showing a splash screen of a partially eaten apple. Pressing the only button on the front brings up an image of a USB cable and an arrow pointing to an iTunes icon. That's it. The other controls.. the rocker switch is probably volume, then there is a sliding lock switch, neither are much help. After a while I give up and look for the manual. Wrapped in a separate cardboard box is a .. well, looks more like a postcard than a manual.

Only 4 steps are listed.
1: Download and install the latest version of iTunes on your Mac or PC.
2: .. doesn't really matter, I can't even perform step 1!

Not many companies can get away with this kind of stuff.

[M0E-lnx]

LOL

[kc1di]

Welcome to the new Apple He He 

I was at the mall here the other day and you should have seen the crowd in the Apple store..  I Don't get it at all.

And the prices unbelievable.

[Daniel]

VirtualBox

[nightflier]

VirtualBox

That is, of course, not the point. I didn't know that it is not a stand-alone device, but one that requires connecting to a "Mac or PC". I did a web search and found a guide on how to set it up in 13 easy steps. So much for "works out of the box".

I refuse to give them any personal information or sign up for some service just to be able to run the device. I lent it to someone who already drank the cool-aid and has an iPad/Windows computer/iTunes software and account, to get it activated. When it comes back we'll see what it can do. If it requires regular connections back to MCP it's out the door, or jailbreak time.

Speaking of "PC", my web searches turn up the definitions along the lines of: "a personal computer (PC) is a microcomputer designed for use by one person at a time". Leave it to MS and Apple to hijack the term to mean "Computer running Microsoft Windows XP SP3 or newer".  If you install Windows on a Mac, does it make it a PC?

[sledgehammer]

Amazing!

The goal, I believe, of all this stuff is to allow us to get at content.  Whether written on stone or clay, paper, typewriter, book, magazine, computer, or Ipad.  The medium is not the message.  The message is the message. The medium determines the $ and time it takes to get the message.  Those who get stuff from Microsoft are those who are willing to pay dearly for it. Including, I understand, most of the nation's starving students, who, in turn, are forced to pay the $ by similarly starving school districts and colleges.  But, in the final analysis, the message remains the same.  My 2 cents.

[nightflier]

Now posting from the activated device. It is actually a nice little computer, with potential for a lot of different uses.