[geeks] iPad - NOT a 'Miss' for me I'm afraid

[der Mouse]

> Also, I'm not sure that today's generation of kids won't *prefer*
> typing on the touch-screen... just because us old farts can't get
> used to it does not mean that they won't enjoy not having to mash
> plastic squares connected to springs with their fingers.

Perhaps.  But, in the absence of tactile feedback to correct slight
amounts of hand position drift, I suspect it will...not work well.
That's *my* major problem with such keyboards - my hands always drift,
and without any way to feel that it's happening, it's tough to correct.

Also, most of the touchscreens I've seen are slow enough to respond
that they couldn't take a decent-speed touch-typist; they'd have to
register a keystroke - accurately - in something under 200ms (60wpm is
somewhere around 6 keystrokes a second).  This is admittedly fixable if
the makers bother to put in the effort.  But given the apaprent design
uses for most touchscreens, I don't know how likely that is.

> You know that the physical force required to type on an iPad will be
> significantly less than most keyboards, from the lack of having to
> move a physical part, and therefore there is less risk of repetitive
> strain injury.

Is there reason to think that RSIs are related to the force exerted?  I
would counter that there also is no cushioning effect of springs, just
hard impact of fingertip on unmoving object.  Until someone actually
studies it, we won't know which direction the overall effect goes; I
certainly don't feel ready to predict it.

> I would never trust, say, a college term paper, to a $200-300
> netbook.

In what sense?

Don't forget, data you don't have backed up has to be assumed to be
data you don't care about, and that's just as true for a "netbook"
(whatever they are), an iPad, a laptop, a desktop, or whatever.  I
certainly would trust a paper to a $200 machine in the sense of using
it for making edits.  But I'd also start feeling uncomfortable if much
time elapsed between making changes and backing them up - and I'd feel
that way regardless of the machine.

/~\ The ASCII				  Mouse
\ / Ribbon Campaign
 X  Against HTML		mouse at rodents-montreal.org
/ \ Email!	     7D C8 61 52 5D E7 2D 39  4E F1 31 3E E8 B3 27 4B