See What's In My Brain

About halfway through CHANGES, book 12 of The Dresden Files. One of the best in the series so far. Plot definitely lives up to the title; Butcher is really shaking things up for our favorite Wizard in Chicago.

Full, non spoilery review when I’m done…

When Apple announced the iPad my initial reaction was a great big, “Meh.”

The rumor mill prior to launch had buzzed about how the “tablet” Apple was working on was going to change the world.  Anxious for another game changing product launch from Apple, I read every post on every Apple Tech Blog out there.  I don’t know what I was expecting or even hoped the device would do, but I was sure Apple had something up their sleeves other than a giant iPod.

So when Steve Jobs took the stage and walked everyone through the first look at the iPad, I was pretty disappointed.  I remember thinking, “Oh, it IS just a giant iPod.  Oh well.”  I then went back to my regularly scheduled programming and ignored the iPad as something too expensive for what it does.

That opinion stayed with me up until a few days ago until I became aware of some of the apps and services the iPad already has in its pocket.

Netflix Instant Streaming.  The Kindle app.  Google Movies.  Hulu (coming).  Marvel Comics.  I’m more interested by the hour.  Oh, and look there: Netflix just announced that all of Joss Whedon’s television shows are available for Instant Viewing – that’s right, all 7 Seasons of Buffy, all 5 Seasons of Angel, Firefly and both Seasons of Dollhouse are available for instant viewing online to anyone with a Netflix subscription.

Wait just a damn second.  *I* have a Netflix subscription…

Offering content is not all the iPad can do.  Authors like myself can even get their work into the iBook store to be consumed by the same audience as the other content that Apple offers.  Wait – what?  Exact details are not out there fully yet, but apparently there’s plans in the works.  So I can publish my work to an audience of roughly seventy-skillion people with a few clicks of my mouse?

OK now I think I *NEED* one of these damn things.

That got me thinking: How did Apple do it to me again?

What is it about their products that is just “right” to me? It’s not the reality-distortion-field effect: I’d used Apple products back in the mid 90′s during the System 7 days and they were just as buggy and prone to fits of failure as any Windows based PC.  When I became aware of OSX in the 2002-2003 timeframe and started to give them a second look, I would have ditched them fast if they were shit believe me.  I support computer networks for a living and the last thing I want at home is more support calls from my wife and kids.

I get asked all the time (now) by people considering buying a Mac whether they should get one, and why.  Most of the confusion seems to be from people who are casual computer users who are shopping only on price (“…but I can buy a Dell laptop for $500…).  I have a hard time articulating to them all the reasons that if they are frustrated with their current Windows platform, they should give Apple’s a try.  Its even harder trying to clearly define why the higher cost is more than justified in the life of the product, and in the daily user experience.

Then it hit me.

Apple is like a Gated Community.  Stay with me…

My in-laws recently moved into a private, gated community in New Jersey for people over 48.  Its a beautifully designed community, with gorgeous houses and plenty of services for residents.  They have a huge clubhouse, tennis courts, an outdoor pool and meticulously kept grounds.

There is of course, a price to pay for living in a community like that – you can’t even plant a tree in your yard without an Act of Congress from other residents allowing it.  There are benefits to living in a  closed community though.  You can have a reasonable sense of security that your neighbors aren’t crack dealing meth heads.  The grounds are beautiful.  The management company plows your snow and mows your grass.  Pet waste is restricted to designated areas so you don’t go stepping in dog crap just walking down the sidewalk.  You can leave your house unlocked and walk down the street at 8:30 at night and not hear A SOUND beyond normal, reasonable goings on.

Its not for everyone by any means.  Some people want to mow their lawns and paint their house lime green and have six cars on blocks in the front yard.  Some people don’t want to pay a maintenance fee AND don’t want to mow their lawn, so they let it grow to a foot and a half around the rusted out shells of cars that haven’t run in ten years.  Some people don’t like the perceived “snootiness” of the community policies on visitors under eighteen and want to hear the noise of teenage keg parties and band practice from garage bands until midnight.

Then there’s people like my in-laws who considered the neighborhood they’d lived in for 30+ years as “in decline”.  They’d had enough of drunk, middle aged neighbors who liked to play rock guitar with the amp turned up to 11 at all hours of the day and night.  So they  decided to pay a premium to live in a community that provided a better user experience.

Apple products are the same way:

Apple Has a Security Guard Checking your ID at the Gate
Apple builds all of their devices – phones, iPods, iPads and computers – on a closed hardware list that they create.  Unlike a Windows platform, you can’t install OSX on just any hardware (well not legally and not without much Geek-Fu).  Instead, the hardware and software is designed from the start to work together – by the same company.

Apple Keeps the Grounds Looking Good
Apple products are designed with a sense of style and visual appeal.  The OSX user interface is well thought out and designed to offer the end user more than just mere functionality.  Very few Mac apps can ever be called ugly or hard to use visually.  The products themselves are beautifully designed.  Finally – using an Apple product is just plain fun.

Apple Makes Sure You Don’t Step in Dog Crap
With its Unix-ish underpinnings, OSX isn’t as vulnerable as Windows is to malware, spyware, viruses and trojans.  No internet connected platform is bulletproof, but OSX comes pretty darn close.  You have to work pretty hard and almost give a malicious piece of software permission to infect your system on OSX.  With Windows, sometimes its just as easy as stepping in dog crap – or, in practical terms, visiting a malicious  website that takes advantages of the well known weaknesses of your platform.

Like my in-laws’ gated community, there is a price to pay for this that some consider unreasonable.  A “Mac Tax” I’ve heard it called and maybe that’s accurate.  You get what you pay for with technology in my experience, and I’m more than willing to pay a higher price to live in a closed environment that wants nothing more than to give me the best user experience possible.  Most importantly to me: WITHOUT me having to reinvent the wheel to MAKE my device do something it wasn’t designed to do.