Pixel lover and cartoonist. Still have my original Apple IIgs. See more at clango.org or follow him on Twitter @rstevens.
5 Comments
Lol. Good one.
It is not a "computer", it is a device that computes. A computer lets you do whatever you want, an iPad walls some of that off. What if I want something Apple doesn't like? I can install that on a Mac (for now), but not on an iPad. Do they have XCode for the iPad? Or just "learn to code" stuff?
First of all, it's a comic. A joke. Something meant to make you laugh and be entertained for at least a moment.
Second of all, a computer isn't something that lets you do whatever you want. If one wants to be accurate, a computer is "an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instructions given to it in a variable program." And that's what my MacBook does. Also my iMac, my G5, my Dell, my iPad, my iPhone, and even my old iPods. By that definition, my old HP48G is a computer.
The point is, the comic is funny.
First, yes it is a joke. But it can cement an idea that people believe, whether true or not. Just watch the news, same idea.
Second, I should have specified. The colloquial term "computer" is a Dell/HP/Lenovo/Mac, that is what I am saying here. As an abacus/sliderule* is technically a computer, as Webster's has it as "one that computes; specifically : a programmable *usually* electronic device that can store, retrieve, and process data" (did you cut the start of the quote to fit your definition?). When you ask someone what a computer is, they think Dell/HP/Lenovo/Mac. Apple is trying to confuse the colloquial definition. If I brought an iPad and a Mac back 20 years, they wouldn't call the iPad a computer. They'd marvel at what it could do, but when I said "You can only install things from this place, after they approve it as something that doesn't offend *them*", people would laugh and prefer the Mac. I feel bad for the non-techy parents who buy this for their budding programmer/IT kid who wanted a "computer" but gets an iPad instead of an RPi with a kit.
I see the humor, but I didn't chuckle like I normally do at these.
*Technically, it does store data if you put it away with the values still on it. It doesn't store much, but it stores some.
Basically, another quick one would be, a colloquial computer has multiple ways to do things. An iOS device is you figuring out how/if Apple wants you to do something. For a lot of people, that works. But a colloquial computer doesn't really tell you how to use it.
